A/N: Sorry the updates are slow, but I promise I'm still working on this. :)
Chapter 68
As he left Colonel Une's office, Trowa got a text from Cathy.
"Kiri's just waking up," Trowa told Duo. "Do you need help getting that treat you mentioned?"
"Sure! I'll drive."
"Wait, I thought you already had it," Trowa said with a frown.
"Well…sort of. I mean, I know what I want to get her, but since I wasn't sure when she was gonna wake up I didn't want it to go bad before I got it to her. It'll be quick, I promise."
Wufei and Quatre exchanged a shrug. They had no idea what the others were planning. Duo suddenly turned to them.
"Hey, you guys wanna help?"
"With what?" Wufei asked suspiciously.
"A celebration party. Kiri's awake now so I was gonna get her a treat and have a little party in her room. Nothing big but something to get her mind off of things for a little bit at least."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Quatre asked. "Shouldn't she be resting?"
"I was gonna get her donuts and chocolate milk, not take her bungee jumping," Duo retorted. "If you guys don't wanna help that's fine but don't ruin it for Kiri."
"Don't get upset, Duo," Quatre placated. "We'll help. What would you like us to do?"
"Trowa and me are gonna run to the store. You guys round up some chairs and hunt down Sally. I'll send Paul a text and tell him to meet us up at Kiri's room. I'll text you when we're on our way back so you can help carry in stuff if we need you to."
"Okay. We'll see you in a bit then."
Trowa and Duo headed down the hall and Quatre turned to Wufei. "Shall we find Sally first and let her know the plan? If she's with a patient she might not be able to come right away."
"Sure. Sally probably knows where we can find extra chairs."
After Cathy left, Heero looked at Kiri. She looked a little tired but not too bad off, considering what she'd been through recently.
"You have a visitor. You will be respectful. You will listen to what she has to say."
Kiri hesitated for a moment before nodding. Heero wondered if he ought to tell her she wasn't in trouble but decided that it might be a waste of time. She would find out soon enough. He went to the door and let the Colonel in.
Colonel Une took in the room as she entered and sat in the chair that Catherine had recently vacated. Heero stood at attention.
"At ease, Agent," she told him. If he did relax at all it wasn't noticeable, but Une was used to Heero's ways and continued with her task. The girl on the bed seemed nervous.
"I am Colonel Une. I am the head of the Preventers Agency. My agents tell me that you won't talk."
Kiri looked down. Heero had seen the look on her face. She looked like she was scared and about to cry. He'd promised Quatre that he would keep Une from bullying Kiri so he spoke up.
"Permission to correct your information?"
Kiri looked up at him in surprise. Colonel Une nodded for him to continue.
"Female subject 342, Codename: Kiri, is physically unable to speak due to injuries sustained at the hands of her captor, whom she has identified as Perdu, which we have discovered to be the alias of one Donovan Chase."
Une nodded and turned back to the girl. "Do you have another method of communication?"
Heero watched as Kiri felt around for her pen and paper. Apparently they were in her blind spot because Kiri got close, but she never quite managed to touch them. After a moment he moved to the other side of the bed and picked up the paper. He grabbed Kiri's wrist. Her head jerked up and she looked at him, an unsure expression on her face. He hadn't meant to startle her, so he put the paper in her hand, hoping it would explain why he'd grabbed her. A small smile told him that she understood, so he nodded to her and held out the pen. She took it and looked back at the Colonel, who had watched the exchange with interest.
Une noted that Heero's manner wasn't as brusque as it usually was. She wasn't sure if it was Maxwell's influence or Winner's. Winner had mentioned that the girl was jumpy and liable to refuse to cooperate when frightened. Perhaps Heero had taken that into account and was responding accordingly. Whatever the case, she was responsive and now seemed to be a good time to interrogate her.
"I have a statement here that was passed on to me from Agent Barton. I need you to confirm that you wrote it."
Une held out the statement that Trowa had passed on to her and Kiri looked at it for a moment before nodding.
"You do know that these are some very serious allegations?"
Kiri nodded.
Colonel Une started asking questions. She started with the questions that she knew the answers to, like how long Kiri had been at the house and how old she was. Sally had given her a list of questions that she'd asked Kiri and Colonel Une had studied the answers in order to fully interrogate Kiri. To anyone who wasn't trained, it would seem like Colonel Une was intentionally trying to mess Kiri up, and to a point, she was. She had to be certain that Kiri's story wasn't changing. If it changed, that meant she was lying about something. If they were going to get Chase behind bars, Kiri needed to tell the truth. If Chase got her on the witness stand, Une was certain he would tear her apart.
Kiri answered every question that Une threw at her. The more Une thought about how Kiri might react to Chase if she saw him in the courtroom, the more nervous it made her. If Kiri shut down on the witness stand they were sunk. Chase would get away with everything.
"If you are not telling the truth, you need to tell me now." Une wasn't entirely sure where that outburst came from. Kiri's story hadn't changed one bit from the time she'd been found. For Une to accuse her of lying was low and Une knew almost immediately that she'd gone too far.
Kiri stared at Une with disbelief written on her features. After a moment her lower lip trembled.
Heero was certain she would cry this time. He could see why she would, though. The Colonel's accusation was a bit harsh. All the evidence pointed to Kiri telling the truth. There was no reason to accuse her of lying.
Une sighed. "I'm sorry. I…Chase is a lawyer and a damn good one at that. He's making this investigation harder than it needs to be because he's likely to get a death sentence for his crimes. He's done more than even you know but we can't prove everything else he's done unless we can prove that he's responsible for this trafficking ring. And you are a vital piece to that puzzle. He's doing everything he can to discredit you and the Preventers. So I have to be absolutely certain that what you're telling me is the truth. Do you understand that?"
Kiri nodded. She still looked like she thought she was in trouble, but Heero didn't think she was going to shut down on them.
"Good." Colonel Une was relieved that Kiri understood. It made her feel a little better about having to interrogate the girl. "Now, just to clarify: is what is written in this statement true?"
Kiri nodded again.
"Is everything else you've just told me true?"
Kiri nodded a third time.
It was Une's turn to nod. Kiri's answers were just what she needed to hear. "Did you know your parents were involved with Chase?"
Kiri bit her lip and shook her head.
Colonel Une decided that maybe that was the wrong question to ask. The girl looked like she was about to cry. But it also seemed a good segue into what she really wanted to know. "It's okay. You're not in trouble. Your parents used you and we'd like to know why. I would like for you to go back to your parents and see if you can get them to tell you why they got involved with Chase and how you ended up working for Chase. Do you think you can do that for us?"
Kiri frowned. Une was afraid she was going to flat-out refuse. If Kiri refused Une would have no choice but to coerce the girl into agreeing. It wasn't something she wanted to do. The girl had been through so much already that Une could see why she wouldn't want to agree but they'd run out of leads. They needed this information and this was the best way to get it quickly. This would go so much better if she went along with it willingly. Maybe if she made it seem more like a request than the demand it really was Kiri would be more open to agreeing.
"I don't want you to answer right away. I want you to think about it. You're going to be staying here for a while anyway. Your eye needs to heal and I want Sally to see if there's anything that can be done to help you speak again. If you do decide to confront your parents, I don't want you to go in too sick or hurt to protect yourself. Until we know why they're cooperating with Chase, we are assuming that they are just as dangerous as he is."
Kiri nodded and Une took her leave. Heero followed her into the hall.
"Do you think she'll do it?" the Colonel asked quietly.
"It's hard to tell. But if she refuses, I would like you to reconsider this request. Send me and Wufei again instead."
Colonel Une raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that will be effective?"
"No. But Winner is concerned that forcing the girl to do this will result in her refusal to be cooperative in everything. We can't risk losing her help when it comes to identifying the men she knows to be involved with this case. We can still use her knowledge to accuse and apprehend the clients that used those girls."
Trowa followed Duo through the grocery store to the baked goods.
"I'm gonna pick out some donuts. Why don't you go find some milk?"
"What kind?"
"Uh…I dunno. Does she like chocolate?"
Trowa shrugged. "I think so."
Duo thought for a second. "Get plain, chocolate and strawberry. Then she can pick."
Trowa nodded and headed for the milk case.
Duo busied himself picking out the most delicious looking donuts in the case. He had room in the box for one more. He looked over the selection again. A Bavarian cream or an old-fashioned cake donut? Which one would Kiri like better?
"Anything else?" Trowa asked as he walked up with the milk.
"Just picking out the last one," Duo said as he grabbed the Bavarian cream and put it into the box. They were his favorite kind so if Kiri didn't pick that one, he'd eat it. "Let's go!"
As soon as they pulled up to the hospital, Duo sent a text to Quatre to let them know they were back. Quatre must have been waiting because he came out immediately to help them bring things in.
"Wufei and Paul are trying to find some extra chairs. Sally had to finish up some things but she'll join us when she's done," Quatre said as he grabbed one of the gallons of milk. He frowned. "Did you grab cups and napkins?"
"Oh…no. I didn't even think about that," Duo admitted. "I'm sure we can find some somewhere."
"Cathy, Colonel Une won't upset Kiri," Paul told her after Kiri's door shut.
"You don't know that," Cathy said. "We never know what's going to upset her because she can't talk to us and tell us why."
Paul sighed. "It's frustrating but I think she's doing much better now."
Cathy nodded. "She is," she agreed. "I just hope that she can feel safe when we get her back to the circus."
Paul cleared his throat. "Um…about that."
Cathy looked at him with a frown. "What about it?"
"Kiri may not be coming back to the circus any time soon. Sally is going to see if she can help her speak again and I don't know how long that will take."
"Trowa mentioned it. So?"
"Colonel Une wants me to get back to the circus as soon as possible. She seems to think that it would be suspicious if I stay here because of Kiri."
"So…when are you going back?"
"I thought I should head back tonight, but I wanted to say goodbye to Kiri and Duo wanted me to stay for the little party he has planned for her. He seemed to think she'd be upset if I ducked out early."
"Oh." Cathy wondered if she ought to go back with Paul or wait a few days until she was sure that Kiri was settled.
"I wondered if you wanted to come back with me now or if you wanted to wait. If you want to wait I can let the Manager know."
"I…don't know," Cathy admitted. "Part of me wants to stay with Kiri but I don't think there's anything I can do to help her and sitting around all day doesn't sound like any fun to me."
"I'm sure that Kiri will be fine here. You know Trowa won't let anything happen to her."
Paul's phone chirruped and he looked at the text message. "It looks like Duo's back with the treat for Kiri. They might need help getting the extra chairs. Why don't we go help them get the stuff and you can think over what you want to do."
"What about Kiri?"
"It shouldn't take long to run downstairs and get things. Une is still talking to her so it isn't like she's being left unattended. Besides, the sooner we go the sooner we can get back."
Cathy nodded and they headed down to meet the others.