A/N: I really didn't mean to make this take so long. I've had a hard time getting my muse to focus on any writing lately. There's a lot of story recap in this chapter so hopefully none of you will have to reread the whole thing just to know what's going on (unless you really want to, of course).

Chapter 62

Paul spent the night dozing in a chair in Kiri's room. By morning Kiri had still not regained consciousness. The chair wasn't comfortable and as the sun started to rise, Paul made a mental note to get a deep tissue massage. He was stretching some of the cricks out of his spine when there was a soft knock on the door.

Paul opened the door a crack and then stepped back to let the man in. "Agent Wind, it's good to see you."

"You as well, Agent Johnson. Colonel Une asked me to take over for you while you attend a meeting. Is there anything I should be aware of for this assignment?"

"The girl's name is Kiri. She probably won't wake up but if she does, you should know that she doesn't talk. She will respond to 'yes or no' questions and she will write responses to other questions. There's a pen and paper in the drawer for her. And she's very wary of strangers, especially men, so be careful not to scare her."

Agent Wind nodded. "I will be careful. Colonel Une said that she was holding the meeting in Briefing Room C. The sooner you get there, the sooner the meeting will get over with."

Paul thanked the agent and quickly left.

Agent Wind settled into the chair and observed the girl for a moment before opening a book. At least this assignment would let him catch up on some reading.

"Good morning, everyone," Colonel Une greeted them all grimly. "We have a lot to discuss so let's get started. First, I would like Heero to report on the situation in general and then I will ask each of you in turn to give further details. Agent Yuy."

Heero stood up. "Two months ago I headed a group assigned to raid a residence on a tip that a human trafficking ring was in effect. As a result of that raid we discovered a single living witness. A young woman, age 19. She had been beaten and starved and as a result of her treatment and injuries she was very sick upon arrival here. Once she regained consciousness she was able to communicate to Doctor Po that the man who had held her captive was called Perdu. On further investigation it was discovered that Perdu was actually Donovan Chase, a lawyer representing the members of the trafficking ring that we had already apprehended. On learning that Chase had been given permission to see the young woman, we decided that it was better to move her to a safer location rather than risk giving him access to her again. We placed her with Catherine Bloom, sister to Agent Barton because we felt that she was best suited to protect the girl under the circumstances."

"What led you to that conclusion?" Colonel Une asked.

"Catherine Bloom lives and works with a traveling circus. The constant changing of locations would make the girl harder to track. Also, one of her acts is knife throwing. We felt that was a skill that could be used if necessary to defend the girl. Another reason she was placed there was because after the rough treatment she'd received at the hands of men we felt the girl would feel safer with a female guardian."

Colonel Une nodded. "Continue."

"The girl has been residing with Catherine Bloom, who has been sending regular updates about her health to Doctor Po. Up until yesterday it seemed that all was well. Yesterday morning I received a call from Agent Winner, asking for a medical transport because the girl had been injured during an incident with one of Chase's operatives."

Colonel Une nodded and Heero sat down.

"Doctor Po, would you please give us an analysis of the girl's condition when she first arrived?"

Sally stood up. "The girl came to me in almost the worst condition I'd ever seen a victim. Her back was littered with whip marks and her body was covered in bruises. Her knee had been dislocated and her shoulder showed pulled ligaments, which were likely the result of being pulled harshly around by her arm. While she was fortunate enough not to have been raped or to have any broken bones, she was severely emaciated and dangerously dehydrated. I wasn't sure she was going to survive that first night. When she finally regained consciousness she was terrified of everyone. She flinched or cringed every time someone spoke to her and she refused to speak to us. After a little encouragement, she did agree to communicate through writing. She told us her age and that she had been in those living conditions for five years."

"Did she tell you her name?"

Sally shook her head. "She seemed to think it was dangerous to let us know too much information. She wouldn't believe that she was safe here."

"Thank you. Agent Barton and Agent Winner, you went to check on the girl several times. How would you say her condition was?"

Quatre stood up. "The girl's condition improved dramatically while she was in Catherine's care. Her injuries healed and she was able to communicate more freely."

"So she started talking?"

"No, Ma'am. She isn't talking yet. However, due to the injury to her shoulder she had to write with her non-dominant hand which resulted in slow short messages. Once her right arm was better her responses became more detailed."

"How would you say her mental health was?"

"Much improved as well," Quatre told her. "She was happy with the circus. They treated her well and she felt safe."

"Agent Barton, do you have anything to add?"

"Not at this time, Colonel."

Colonel Une nodded. "Catherine, would you please tell us what you observed of the girl while she was in your care?"

Cathy had been fuming at the refusal of these people to call Kiri by her name. "Well, Colonel," she said, the anger evident in her voice, "Kiri has been very helpful and pleasant. She helps with the horses and has been running errands and making popcorn and coffee during performances. She's an absolutely wonderful girl and anyone who would hurt her is a monster."

Trowa put his hand on Cathy's arm. "Calm down, Cathy. Colonel Une is just making sure she has all the facts straight," he told her softly.

"Calm down? Calm down?! How can you tell me to be calm when everyone is being so cold about this? Kiri could have been killed and you all talk about this like…like you're discussing the weather!"

"Catherine," Colonel Une interrupted, "I understand that you're not an agent so let me explain. We are all very concerned about the girl's health and safety. However, in this particular meeting the point is to examine the facts of the situation without allowing emotions to cloud what happened."

Cathy scowled. "She has a name, you know. You could at least do her the courtesy of using it."

"The name she uses is not her real name," Heero pointed out. "In the interests of keeping our emotions from clouding our judgement we elected not to use it."

Cathy glared at him. "Okay, then, Boy. If that's the way you want it, that's how we'll do this."

Heero was going to retort but Quatre put a hand on his arm. "Let it go, Heero. She's upset and arguing with her won't fix it," he murmured so only Heero could hear.

"Cathy," Trowa said softly, "that's not helping. Calm down, please. Just tell Colonel Une what Kiri has been doing at the Circus."

Cathy took a deep breath and blew it out. She still wasn't happy about how things were going but hearing Trowa use Kiri's name helped some of her anger dissipate. She wasn't an agent. She wasn't able to remove her emotions from the situation as they were able to do. But she was able to tell the Colonel how much Kiri was improving.

"Very well. When Kiri came to me, I wasn't sure what to make of her. She was hurt and scared. Once Trowa left, I decided to take her shopping for some things she needed, like shoes that fit and a coat. While we were out she got really sick. I called Sally and she said it was probably because Kiri hadn't been exposed to a lot of the germs going around for the last five years so her immune system wasn't up to fighting them off. It was pretty scary for a few days. I wasn't sure she was going to get better, but she fought through it. Once she was able to be up and about I introduced her to some of the Circus staff. She was shy but eventually opened up a bit. Torvald, the strong man, and Paul," Cathy gestured at Agent Johnson, "took to her and she seemed to take a liking to them as well." Cathy looked at Paul. "You know, I never realized you were a Preventer Agent. Don't you think you should have told me so that I knew I could trust you alone with Kiri?"

Paul frowned. "You didn't think you could trust me? Did you think I'd hurt her?"

"Well…no, but Trowa left her for me to take care of. I worried about her when I couldn't keep an eye on her. I didn't know if she would try to make a run for it when I wasn't around. It would have been nice not to have to worry so much. And she might have felt safer around you if she'd known, especially since she'd been so mistreated by men. You know that you scared the living daylights out of her the first time you met."

Paul grimaced. "Yeah…that was an unfortunate meeting."

"What happened?" Duo asked.

Paul scratched the back of his head. "Well, I saw a kid over at the corral, and we've had issues with people feeding the horses stuff they shouldn't be eating so I yelled at her to get away. Fortunately the Manager showed up and took her back to Cathy. In my defense, Trowa hadn't seen me yet and I didn't know who she was or that she was supposed to be there."

"Was there anything else of note that occurred at the Circus, Catherine?" Colonel Une asked.

"Not until Carter showed up," Cathy said, disgust evident in her tone.

"Agent Johnson, would you please report on the girl's progress as you saw it? We'll get to yesterday's issue in a few minutes."

Paul nodded and stood up. "The girl came to the Circus terrified of everyone and everything. As time passed she got comfortable around Catherine and many of the Circus members. She was doing well, as Catherine reported, until Carter showed up."

"Did her physical health improve as much as her mental health?" Colonel Une asked.

Paul nodded. "Once her injuries healed she was able to help feed and brush the horses, she helped put up and take down some of the smaller tents and she also ran written messages back and forth across the Circus grounds. I was going to start her helping with some of the other animals this week."

Une nodded. "Does anyone have anything to add before we move on to yesterday's events?"

No one had anything to add so Colonel Une said, "Agent Johnson, please tell us the events leading up to Carter's arrival at the Circus."

"Well, the Manager and I have been discussing getting an assistant hostler for a few months. Even with the girl's improved health, she just wasn't strong enough to help with some of the harder jobs. An opening was posted on the Circus' website and the Manager conducted the interviews. He told me that Carter came with a letter of recommendation from Trowa, which is why he was chosen over the other applicants."

"Did the Manager perform a background check on Carter?" Colonel Une asked.

Paul shrugged. "I can't be positive. He may have taken Trowa's recommendation as check enough."

Colonel Une nodded, but she wasn't happy. If the Circus Manager hadn't bothered with a background check that meant that others at the Circus might not be trustworthy. There was no telling if any of them had tipped off Chase as to where the girl had been placed.

Paul continued. "The day that Carter arrived, I showed him around the circus grounds and outlined his general duties for him. Catherine and the girl were out shopping so I wasn't able to introduce her to him until that evening."

"And how did the girl react?"

"Well…I thought she was okay," Paul admitted. "She seemed a little nervous but since she gets nervous around new people anyway I didn't see it as anything out of the ordinary."

Cathy snorted.

Une looked at her. "Is something amusing?"

"Kiri has been much better about being nervous around new people. Torvald found her bawling and it took us hours to calm her down after Paul introduced her to Carter."

"And you knew she was so upset because of Carter?"

Cathy shook her head.

"She was too upset to tell us why she was crying. We didn't find out until the next morning," Quatre interjected.

"She didn't sleep that night," Trowa said softly.

Cathy looked at him. "You're forgetting that she had a nightmare and then she didn't sleep."

Trowa nodded. "Oh, yes. She was only asleep for about twenty minutes before Cathy had to get me and Quatre to try and wake her up because she had another violent night terror. Once we got her awake I think she was too afraid to try and sleep again."

Sally swore under her breath. "I had hoped she wouldn't have any more of those," she muttered.

"Her nightmares have seriously slowed down," Cathy insisted. "I think that seeing Carter was just too much for her. I totally blame him for Kiri's nightmare that night."

Colonel Une nodded. "What happened next?"

"Trowa stayed up with her," Quatre said. "And Agent Johnson came over to Cathy's trailer the next morning because he was angry about something with the horses."

Paul nodded. "That morning, I went to get Carter and he was gone. So I went to see if he was already helping to get the horses ready and when I got there one of the mares had a cut ligament on her hind leg. There's no way for an injury like that to happen accidentally when she's been confined to her pen so I know it was done intentionally. I had to deal with the issue as soon as possible so it kept me from looking for Carter for a while, which I can only assume now was his intention. Since Carter was the only person at the circus that hadn't proven himself trustworthy, I figured he was the one responsible and went looking for Agent Barton in order to ask why he would recommend such a person. When I got there, Barton told me that he hadn't recommended Carter."

Trowa continued the story. "That morning, after sitting up with Kiri all night, I figured that she should at least get dressed and we could try again to figure out what had upset her so much. So I sent her to shower and I went looking for Catherine. But she wasn't there. Quatre slept on the couch that night but he hadn't heard or seen her leave and when Kiri came back out to the living area she confirmed that Cathy hadn't said anything to her about leaving. That was when Paul arrived, angry about Carter. Kiri, still being skittish from the previous day, hid in one of the bedrooms when he banged on the door."

"Paul asked Trowa why he'd recommended Carter and when Trowa said he hadn't recommended him, Kiri came out of the bedroom and wrote down that Carter worked for Perdu," Quatre told the group. "That was when Catherine called."

Colonel Une looked at Catherine. "Would you be so kind as to tell us what happened to you that morning?"

Catherine nodded. "I didn't sleep well and woke up early. I was too restless to try and sleep again so I figured I might as well run into town and pick up some groceries. I hadn't been expecting Trowa and Quatre so I hadn't stocked up beforehand. Since everything was quiet I assumed everyone else was sleeping so I just slipped out as quietly as I could. I tried to get the truck started but it's been having issues. Trowa had been working on it when Torvald showed up with Kiri so I guess he hadn't quite gotten it running before everything happened. I was going to go back inside when Carter drove by. He asked if I was going somewhere and when I told him I wanted to go into town he offered me a ride." Cathy sighed. "I should never have gotten in that car." She took a shaky breath as she tried to keep her emotions in check. She still blamed herself for what happened to Kiri.

Trowa reached over and rubbed her arm. "It's okay, Cathy. What happened next?" he prompted gently.

"We got to the main road and Carter suddenly hit the gas. I told him I wasn't in a hurry and he could slow down and he got a strange look on his face." Cathy frowned as she tried to think of words to describe his expression. "It was like…like he was possessed. He told me that as long as I did what he told me to do everything would be just fine and I didn't have anything to worry about. I was going to jump out of the car but he told me that if I did he would immediately turn around and go after Kiri. He knew that Trowa and Quatre were in my trailer because his exact words were 'I'll kill the Preventers to get to her and I'll enjoy doing it.'" Cathy shuddered. "I spent the rest of the ride to the cabin trying to think of how to get away from him.

"When we got to the cabin, I decided to make a break for it and I jumped out of the car but he caught up to me. I always carry one of my throwing knives so I threw it at him but somehow he managed to catch it." Cathy sighed. "He caught me and used my own knife to hold me hostage. Once he got me inside the cabin he tied me to a chair and told me what to tell Trowa when I called him. He said that if I didn't do exactly as he told me to he would slit my throat."

Cathy started trembling. She tried to make herself stop but she couldn't. Trowa wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay, Cathy. You're safe now and he can't get you," he whispered to her.

"I'm sorry," Cathy said softly. "I don't know what's come over me. I can't…I can't stop."

"It's okay," Trowa told her again. "It's probably PTSD. You don't need to be embarrassed by it. I want you to focus on breathing with me. In…out. Good. Again. In…and out."

Colonel Une waited until Trowa helped Cathy to calm down and let her go before speaking again. "Catherine, I would like you to go to a counselling session at the Preventer Clinic before you return to the Circus. They'll give you some tips on how to deal with any further PTSD incidents. Agent Barton, will you make sure she goes?"

Trowa nodded. Cathy didn't bother to claim she didn't need help. She knew that if she hadn't been so worried about Kiri that she would have had a reaction before now.

"Can you continue now?" the Colonel asked Cathy.

Cathy nodded. "I think so. Um…so Carter untied my arms but he left my legs tied to the chair when he gave me the phone. I called Trowa and told him that Carter wanted him to bring Kiri and that he would trade me for her. When I hung up the phone Carter tied my arms back up. While we waited for Trowa to show up Carter ate and talked about…about how pleased his master would be to have Kiri back. I told him to shut up and he told me that he might change his mind about trading me. He said that his master would find a use for me." Cathy shuddered. "I was so grateful when Trowa showed up but…I'm not sure Carter was planning to let me go. If Kiri hadn't done what she did, I don't know if I could have gotten away from him."

Colonel Une nodded. "Thank you, Catherine. Agent Barton, would you report on what happened next?"

Trowa nodded. "After Cathy called me and said that Carter wanted us to trade Kiri for her, Quatre and I weren't sure what to do. We knew that trading her wasn't going to be an option but as we were trying to figure things out, Kiri wrote out that she wanted us to trade her because she couldn't let Cathy go through what she'd been through. Quatre promised her that we would get her back but even though she nodded, I could tell she didn't believe us."

Colonel Une frowned at how casual Trowa was being with his report but decided to overlook it because she figured he was trying to set Catherine at ease.

"We drove to the location Carter specified and as we got out of the car, Carter pulled Cathy out onto the porch, a knife at her throat. He told us we had to send Kiri to him before he would let Cathy go so Kiri walked up to the porch without a fight. I could tell she was scared of Carter but I think she likes Cathy enough that Kiri couldn't stand the idea of her getting hurt. When she got over to Carter, he refused to let Cathy go. He told Kiri that he wanted her to give us a demonstration of what she had been trained to do." Trowa wrinkled his nose in disgust. "He implied that we might want to make use of her skills."

"Did he specify what it was that she was taught?" Colonel Une asked.

Trowa shook his head. "No. He told her if she didn't do what she'd been trained to do he would hurt Cathy. Kiri didn't want to do it. She shook her head to tell him 'no' but he pushed the knife into Cathy's throat and Kiri dropped to her knees. She…" Trowa didn't want to discuss what Kiri had been forced to do but he knew that Une needed the information in order to properly charge Carter. "She gave him a hand job. It's possible he wanted her to take it further than that but," Trowa grinned, "she broke his dick, which provided Agent Johnson and myself an opening to take him down."

"However," Quatre put in, "Kiri ended up injured. When she twisted her wrist, Carter backhanded her. The knife was in his hand and it cut her across her left eye. The force of his blow knocked her off the porch and she landed very hard. She lost consciousness and as far as I'm aware, she has yet to regain it."

Colonel Une thanked Quatre and Trowa for their report and then turned to Wufei, Duo, and Heero. "Heero informed me that Quatre called him and asked for a medical transport. Agent Chang, did you lead the medical aspect of your assistance?"

Wufei nodded.

"Please tell us what you found when you arrived on the scene."

"Quatre was kneeling over the girl, keeping pressure on her eye. Cathy was next to him. She had a handkerchief to her own throat, applying pressure to a cut. I quickly checked the girl over and found that she was unconscious and had a serious eye injury. Agent Maxwell brought over the stretcher and we quickly transferred her to the helicopter. Agent Yuy came over and told us to go ahead and he would accompany Agents Johnson and Barton back with Carter in the car."

"Agent Yuy, why did you not see fit to place the suspect in the helicopter as well? He was injured, after all," Une asked.

Heero looked at her evenly. "The man was a threat to everyone around him. I did not feel it was wise to place him in a confined space with two injured women and not enough agents to restrain him if it became necessary. Agent Maxwell was piloting and Agents Winner and Chang had their hands full dealing with the girl's injuries. As it was, it took both Agent Barton and myself to keep the man restrained while Agent Johnson drove the vehicle to the hospital." He chose not to add that he had ordered Johnson to hit every pothole they could find.

Une nodded. "I think that brings us to you, Dr. Po. What was your assessment of the girl's condition this time?"

"The first thing I noticed is that she has put on weight, which for her is a good thing. The injuries she had when we first found her have healed and her back didn't scar nearly as much as I thought it would." Sally looked at Cathy. "Thank you for taking such good care of her."

Cathy wanted to protest that if she'd been taking good care of Kiri then she wouldn't be unconscious now, but Sally was still talking.

"Kiri's new injuries include a concussion and a laceration across her left eye. I had to bring in a specialist to perform surgery on her eye. We won't know until it heals completely whether or not she'll lose her sight in that eye."

Colonel Une waited a moment before asking, "Does anyone have anything else to add?"

Nobody answered her, so she said, "Then in that case, this meeting is over. I would advise you all to be on alert for any further suspicious behavior by those around you. There is no guarantee that Chase hasn't hidden more operatives nearby. Given the extent he's gone to in order to get to Kiri so far I doubt he's going to give up now. Catherine, I think you ought to seriously consider whether or not the circus is a safe place for you right now."

Cathy was about to protest but Une held up a hand to stop her. "I think it would be wise if you stayed with Trowa for a few days, at least until I'm able to release Agent Johnson to return to the circus with you. After this incident I don't want to leave you unguarded until we can get Chase and his cronies under control. Besides, you need to recover from this incident and I'm sure the circus manager will understand."

"And Kiri will probably want to see you when she wakes up," Trowa added softly.

That did it. Cathy nodded. She knew she needed to get back to the circus but she also wanted to make sure that Kiri was going to be okay. And the colonel had a point. If Chase had anyone else watching the circus, they'd know when she came back. Having Paul there to watch her back would be nice

"Then you are dismissed. Maxwell and Yuy, may I have a word with you?"

Duo frowned and glanced at Heero who gave him a nearly imperceptible shrug. He had no idea what Une wanted either.

Trowa led Cathy out of the meeting room. Paul, Wufei, and Quatre followed, quietly discussing why Une would want to talk to Duo and Heero but not the rest of them.

"Trowa, can I see Kiri before we go back to your place?"

Trowa nodded. "Duo is supposed to watch Kiri next so we might as well keep an eye on her until Colonel Une is done talking to him."

"He was awfully quiet today," Cathy remarked as they headed for Kiri's room. "I thought you usually couldn't shut him up."

Trowa nodded. "He led a raid this week on L2. The guy that owned the property where we found Kiri had another property and Duo went to check it out. Someone tipped them off and they'd poisoned the girls by the time he got there. One of them died in his arms."

Cathy stopped walking and stared at Trowa.

Trowa realized she'd stopped walking and turned around. "Cathy? What's wrong?"

"Those poor girls," Cathy whispered. "How many more are they going to hurt before they can be stopped?"

Trowa wrapped Cathy in his arms. "We're doing everything we can, Cathy. We want them stopped just as much as you do. But every time we get a lead it runs us into a brick wall. But I don't want you to worry. They'll screw up sometime and we'll get them. They won't get away with this."

Cathy nodded. "I know you'll get them, Trowa."

"Let's go see Kiri, okay?"