"See anything?" Havoc asked as he crouched behind a boulder next to Edward.
"That building, west side of town," Edward said handing the binoculars to his Colonel. "You can see guards at the top looking down."
"Ah," Havoc agreed looking through the binoculars where Edward indicated. "That's the place. But if they've been turned into slaves, why would they all be locked up in one place during the day. Wouldn't they have them working somewhere?"
Edward took the binoculars again and started to scan through the area one more time. Further to the south of the city he could see movement but it was too far to see clearly. The regiment was stationed a hundred miles north of Chenxing. Instead of just the two of them, Edward agreed with Havoc that it would be best to take along two squads as they moved out across the flat plains of Xing. It had taken them two days of hard traveling to cover two thirds of the distance. Then Edward and Havoc continued alone, hoping to avoid detection as they moved closer to the city. They made their way slowly within five miles of the city, hiding within the rocky hills that surrounded Chenxing to the north.
"We'll wait for nightfall; see if anyone returns from the south. It's too far to see but there's movement there," Edward said handing over the binoculars once again to Havoc.
Havoc took the binoculars back to look for himself. "I don't know about this Ed. We can't just barge in there with our guns blazing and attempt a rescue without any Ishbalan casualties."
"I'm hoping all the Ishbalan captives are being kept in one place at night. I was thinking, instead of moving in the army we could get them by tunneling in."
"Tunneling?" Havoc asked looking at Edward.
"Yep," Edward said nodding. "Though I don't want to extend the tunnel all the way to the encampment. It's too far and I don't want to risk a cave in with so many people trapped inside. This is what we're going to do," Edward said sitting up and facing his Colonel. "I want you to return to the two squads we left back and bring them here." Edward paused running over the plan again in his head, making sure he had all the details in place. "I'll get a tunnel started behind these hills, then under cover of darkness, I'll tunnel into the city so that it will open up in the middle where those guards have been patrolling, then try to get out as many Ishbalans as possible."
"I don't like it," Havoc said immediately. "You don't know what's beyond those walls. They could be in separate cells and the Ishbalans could also be held in different locations."
"Then I'll go in to scout first," Edward said.
"You'll be caught," Havoc argued. "And wouldn't they just love to get their hands on an Amestris General to use as some kind of bargaining chip. I know we're allied with Xing but for you to go in without the Xing ambassador is just asking for trouble."
"You forget I'm a great alchemist," Edward said grinning. "I can change my appearance to look like an escaped Ishbalan. Once I'm subdued they'll throw me with the rest."
"Wait, wait, wait," Havoc said not liking the idea of Edward going without someone to watch his back. "I am not letting you go in there alone. Roy would kill me if he found out I did and what about Elysia? What do I tell her?"
Edward winced at the thought of Elysia. But he had to put that behind him. Havoc was no alchemist and it would be too suspicious to have two Ishbalans trying to escape if they both went in to scout. No, Edward had made up his mind. He was going.
"Colonel Havoc," Edward said officially. "I expect you to follow my orders."
"I hate it when you get official," Havoc said through gritted teeth. "And the military dog in me can't help but obey but I'm going to ignore it. How do you expect to hide your automail? You think they'd be fooled to think that you just happen to have an automail arm and leg just like the Fullmetal Alchemist. You forget just how far your reputation goes. I'm going."
Edward was stumped. Havoc always voiced his opinion but whenever Edward had made up his mind, the Colonel followed orders. But Havoc did have a point.
"How do you plan to get in?" Edward asked conceding defeat.
"I'll pose as a deserter of the Amestris army looking to escape into Xing, lost my way and ended up here."
"You look more like an escaped convict to me," Edward noted trying to keep a strait face.
"Are you trying to tell me something?" Havoc asked smiling at Edward's joke. "So it's settled. I'll go in and scout. I'll return in three days back where we left the two squads. And Ed, I don't think you should stay here watching."
"I wish you would stop that," Edward snapped, irritated that Havoc had read his very thoughts.
"You're so easy to read," Havoc said. "Besides, it's too much of a risk if you stayed here. You could be spotted and that would seem too suspicious if an escaped convict was caught in the city and an Amestris General found spying. Remember Ed, a Colonel is expendable not a General."
"Don't say that!" Edward exclaimed not liking the idea of Havoc going in alone and unarmed but Havoc's plan had more of a chance for success than his own. "Fine," Edward sighed. "I'll just watch your back as you cross into the city, then I'll return to the squads."
"Yes, sir!" Havoc said saluting. "It's a good think I brought some spare civilian clothing with me."
"I see you had ideas of your own how this should go," Edward noted crossly.
"I am more experienced than you are Ed when it comes to the military," Havoc said getting up to go behind an outcrop of rocks to change his uniform. "You can never be too prepared."
Havoc was late. As he was late, Edward had maintained a continuous lookout for him. The men tried to get him to eat something or rest but that was the last thing on his mind. He tried to remain calm, but between worrying about Havoc, not knowing the situation in Chenxing and hoping him and the two squads weren't discovered so close to Chenxing; Edward was anything but calm. Even though he didn't feel it, and that pesky feeling of dread kept haunting him, he tried to give the appearance of being in control for the men under his command. They needed a leader to set an example for them so Edward kept his cool. He knew Havoc was completely capable of taking care of himself but he was never late and it made Edward think the worse. He thought about charging into Chenxing with his full force thinking he could use the excuse that they were holding an Amestris officer hostage. But Edward knew he couldn't do that. He and Havoc had planned this. They were in the wrong. If Havoc was discovered and killed as a spy Edward didn't know what he would do. There really wouldn't be much he could do except bear the responsibility and the humiliation of a failed attempt to retrieve the Ishbalans from Chenxing. On top of that would be the guilt that he had sent Havoc to his death and he had enough guilt to deal with.
On the fifth day Havoc returned looking worse than he had left. An old sergeant had finally convinced Edward to get some sleep, promising to wake him if Havoc had returned. The old sergeant barely placed a hand on his General's shoulder when Edward's eyes snapped open, wide awake.
"Havoc?" Edward questioned getting up.
"Yes, sir," the old sergeant answered helping Edward up and reached for his jacket. Not waiting for the old sergeant to help him into his jacket, Edward left the tent.
"Fuck!" Edward exclaimed as he looked Havoc over. He was leaning heavily on one of the soldiers who had spotted Havoc coming upon their camp. "They sure worked you over."
"You're telling me," Havoc said as he winced when he sat down. "But that was the easiest scouting mission I've ever been on though."
"What do you mean?" Edward asked handing Havoc a canteen of water.
"I was fortunate enough to be caught by another spy," Havoc said after taking a good long drink.
"Explain," Edward said anxiously wanting all the details.
"When I entered the town I was surrounded then taken at gunpoint to some leader of theirs. There was this man with him, some confidante of his who took it upon himself to interrogate me. He worked me over and asked all the right questions, loud enough for others to hear but he also asked questions that were only meant for me. He knew I wasn't an escaped convict, said he recognized me from some newspaper clipping. His name is Fao and he had been a soldier once for the late emperor of Xing but found religion and came here to retire. He became a well respected member of the Chenxing community and was brought into the confidence of some very wealthy landowners." Havoc paused and winced. Edward wondered if he was suffering from a couple of broken bones. He wanted to get Havoc medical attention but he also wanted to hear the rest that Havoc had to say.
"Anyways," Havoc said continuing. "Those landowners had nothing against Ishbalans, except that they were very stubborn about selling their land. So these landowners started stirring up trouble for the Ishbalans and getting the Chenxing natives and their religious righteousness set against them. In a nutshell, Fao said all he wants is for us to get the Ishbalans out of there before any more are killed. He has connections with the Xing government and they would rather deal with the situation in Chenxing themselves. They will bring these landowners to trial along with any other conspirators."
Edward sat back to take in everything Havoc had just told him. Part of him wanted to ignore the Xing government and rush in and pull out the Ishbalans and bring down those responsible himself. The Ishbalans were Amestris citizens and were owed their freedom and peace of mind, and as citizens Edward had promised to protect and bring to justice those who had committed horrible acts against any Amestris citizen. But he didn't want to risk lives that way and he would be risking his men and the Ishbalans. He had to swallow his anger and focus on his original mission. Get the Ishbalans out of Chenxing as soon as possible and as peacefully as he could.
"Did he happen to know what happened to the Xing ambassador?" Edward hoping that maybe things could still be settled peacefully somehow.
"The group was intercepted and killed," Havoc said looking straight into Edward's eyes. "Ed, there's a lot of scared people in that city. There's only a handful in control but of course they're the ones with the guns."
"I can imagine," Edward said looking away irritated that he couldn't do any more for the people of Chenxing. "But we'll just have to leave that to Xing to handle. Our priority is the Ishbalans," Edward said and Havoc nodded in agreement.
"You get some rest now then tell me what Fao has planned," Edward said helping Havoc up.