Chapter 74

Colonel Une and Heero arrived at Kiri's room the next morning just as Sally was exiting.

"How is she this morning?" Heero asked. Sally had already been told that Une wanted to speak with Kiri so she'd made it a point to check on her first thing.

"She's fine. I've told her to go easy on the talking for a few more days but she should be fine to answer a few questions. If she starts to sound hoarse, she needs to stop talking and write her answers for the rest of the day so take it easy on her, okay?"

Une and Heero both nodded and then Heero knocked on the door. Wufei let them in and settled himself inconspicuously in the corner so as not to draw Kiri's attention away from the Colonel.

"Good morning, Kiri," Colonel Une greeted as she took a seat so she could speak to Kiri without making Kiri look up at her.

"Morning," Kiri murmured. She was obviously nervous. Colonel Une was tempted to change her mind about the upcoming mission but she quickly quashed the inclination. They needed a lead in this case and this was the fastest way to get it.

"We spoke before about you going to see your parents," Une started. Kiri nodded. "Have you decided whether or not you will assist us with this endeavor?"

"Y-yeah."

"What is your decision."

"I'll help," Kiri said softly.

Une was relieved that she wouldn't have to force Kiri to be cooperative. "In that case let me explain how we would like to go about this. We will fit you with a device that will record all of your conversations with your parents. Then we will drop you off at their new home and you will do your best to get them talking about their agreement with Chase. Once we have what we need we will extract you. Any questions?"

"New home?" Kiri asked, concern in her eyes.

"Apparently they moved about a year after you were taken," Une told her.

"Oh." Kiri looked troubled by this revelation but Heero wasn't sure why. "How…how long will I have…to talk to them?"

Wufei wasn't sure if she was asking because she didn't really want to go or if she was hoping to get a nice long visit with them.

"You will stay as long as is necessary," Colonel Une told her. "Should you desire to stay longer we will take that request into consideration when the time comes."

"Okay. What am I supposed to talk to them about? What information do you need?"

Colonel Une resisted the urge to smile. Kiri was bright and Une appreciated that she wasn't dealing with a clueless bubblehead that needed to be coached in everything.

"You'll need to find out how they got involved with Chase in the first place, how you ended up working for him and if they know anything about Chase's current activities or future plans."

Kiri thought for a moment, a troubled look on her countenance. "What if…they won't talk to me?"

"Then we'll extract you and try something else. Kiri, you don't need to be afraid of failing. I will not be disappointed if you cannot get them to reveal anything. Agents Yuy and Chang already confronted your parents and were unsuccessful. This is simply another tactic before we resort to less desirable methods of interrogation."

Kiri fidgeted on her bed. "Okay."

"Do you have any other questions?"

Kiri shook her head.

"If you come up with any, you can ask any of the agents and we will answer them. There will be more instructions when we get closer to the actual infiltration and interrogation."

Kiri nodded.

"Doctor Po says you are recovering well so I expect that we will be performing this operation soon. Continue to follow her instructions and I will be in touch."

Heero and Une left and Kiri let out a sigh of relief.

"You sure you want to do this?" Wufei asked. He hoped that Kiri would be honest with him and not tell him what she thought he wanted to hear.

"No," Kiri answered. "But I want to know why they let this happen. I don't know if it will change anything but I just…I guess I hope that I get closure or something."

Wufei nodded. "I understand. Now, what would you like for lunch?"

Preparations for the mission that they had dubbed "Operation Kiri" were going smoothly, much to Heero's delight. Duo had wanted to call it "Operation Get Liars to Tell the Truth" but everyone thought it was too long and stupid so it was quickly outvoted.

"Come in, Heero."

Heero looked at the band around his wrist. He lifted it to his mouth. "Roger that, Duo. I can hear you clearly."

"Good. Report to mission headquarters."

"Roger."

Heero headed down the hall to the small communications room that Duo was using to test the equipment.

"It looks like everything is up and running. Once we move it out to the truck we'll test it again to make sure everything is wired correctly. Then we can get this over with," Duo said as he continued to type commands into the computer.

"Duo…are you okay?" Heero could tell that Duo was upset about something, but as usual he was putting on a mask to cover it up.

"I told you before that I don't think this is a good plan," Duo said. "It isn't fair to make Kiri go there and confront her parents. That should be our job."

"She agreed to it," Heero said with a shrug. "I told Une that if she refused I wouldn't force her but Kiri agreed so I really couldn't change Une's mind after that."

Duo sighed. "Yeah. If I'd known that I would've talked to her first and told her to tell you 'no.'"

"Duo, that would have been interfering and I would have had to discipline you," Heero told him sternly.

Duo shrugged. "Yeah, but then I wouldn't be worried about how everything was gonna go down. What if they say something to her and get her upset? What if she can't handle what they tell her? What if—"

"Duo, stop. 'What ifs' aren't going to help us right now. You need to get focused. Everything will be fine if we follow the plan."

Duo nodded. "Right. Sorry. I'll get it together."

"Is anything else on your mind?" Heero asked.

"Naw. It's just this. I don't know why it has me so on edge. Maybe it's because Kiri isn't an agent and she doesn't have any kind of training. She can't defend herself if something goes wrong when we're not with her. She's been through enough."

Heero nodded. "I understand. Once this is over I will tell Une that Kiri is not to be used again. Does that appease you?"

Duo nodded. "Thanks, 'Ro. I appreciate that."

Heero smiled and leaned in to steal a kiss.

Colonel Une knocked on Kiri's door and waited for someone to let her in. Sally had informed her that Kiri was well enough to be released and it was time to get her ready for the mission. Quatre opened the door.

"Colonel Une, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Quatre asked as he stepped aside to let her in.

"Dr. Po informs me that Kiri is better. I thought we would prepare for the upcoming mission."

Kiri was sitting on the bed, her legs dangling off the side, and she looked up at Une. A tremor of fear registered in Quatre's empathy.

"When did you want the mission to take place?" Quatre asked, trying to keep from sounding upset. He'd said he didn't want Kiri used as bait but nobody listened to him.

"I thought that we ought to do it sooner rather than later. I have scheduled it to occur in two days' time."

Quatre nodded and gestured for Une to sit in the chair while he leaned against the wall behind her. He knew he needed to keep himself calm so that Kiri wouldn't think there was something wrong.

Kiri fidgeted a little as she sat on the bed.

Colonel Une cleared her throat. "Kiri, I know that we've discussed this before but since it is a briefing, we'll go over everything that we need to do so that you understand how things are going to happen, okay?"

Kiri nodded.

"The objective of this mission is to get intel from your parents. We need you to find out why they sold you to Chase and if possible for how much. Any information you can get about Chase from them will be considered a bonus. We'll have you wired so you won't have to remember what they say; we'll be recording it, okay?"

Kiri nodded.

"Any questions so far?"

Kiri shook her head.

"The agents will collect you and transport you to your parents' apartment. After outfitting you with the appropriate equipment, they will escort you inside. They will leave you as long as necessary to get the information we need and then they will extract you."

"How…how long will I need to stay?" Kiri asked softly.

Colonel Une considered the question for a moment. "I am not sure. It may be a few hours, it may be overnight. Either way I will instruct them to extract you within twenty-four hours."

Une didn't catch the frown on Kiri's face.

"If your parents haven't talked by then, I don't think it will be fair to make you stay there unless you would like to stay longer. Is that acceptable?"

"I think so," Kiri said softly.

"If you need extracting earlier, we will give you a code word that you can work into the conversation and the agents will come in and get you. That way if the situation is dangerous they won't know that you're calling for backup. Do you have any further questions?" Une asked. She wanted to make sure that Kiri understood what was going to happen. She wasn't a trained agent after all and had never done this before.

"I…I don't think so," Kiri answered.

"Well, if you think of anything else, you can ask the agents and they can answer them, okay?"

Kiri nodded.

"Good." Colonel Une stood. "I will see after your mission."

She let herself out and Kiri let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay, Kiri?" Quatre asked as he made sure the door was secure.

"I think so, but..." Kiri bit her lip.

"But what?" Quatre prompted when it looked like Kiri wasn't going to finish her thought.

"I've never done this before. What if I mess it up and make things worse?" Kiri bit her lip and looked like she was going to cry.

"You can't mess it up," Quatre assured her. "Even if your parents slam the door in your face and you don't get two words out, you won't mess it up. This is just to see if they will tell you what they wouldn't tell us, remember? So you have nothing to worry about."

Kiri nodded.

"Does it make you feel better to know one of us will go in with you and make sure things are safe before we leave you alone?"

"Yes."

"You understand that we won't be able to stay the whole time because there's a good chance your parents won't talk if we're there?"

Kiri sighed. "I understand. But maybe once I'm in the door I won't be so nervous about it and it'll be okay. I just hate not knowing what's going to happen."

"I understand. The first mission is usually the hardest." He gave her a gentle smile. "But I'm sure you'll do great. And we'll be recording everything that happens so you can just sit back and let them talk all they want."

"What if I ask the wrong questions and they don't tell me what you need to know?"

"I think we can come up with some questions for you to ask to get the conversation rolling if that would help you."

Kiri nodded.

"We've got two days to prepare you. I'll talk to the others so that they can help when they're watching you, too."