Part 2: Cover Up
LOCATION: Storm Breaker Security L.A. Office Building
Heiji grumbled, straightening his tie one more time before collecting his serving tray loaded with champagne flutes and made his way into the party room, passing a sign that read: "Storm Breaker Security Welcomes Congressman Anthony Horowitz. Private Party. Tickets Required." He spotted Saguru among the guests wearing a nice tux.
"Next time, I wear tha suit," he growled as he passed the blond, heading towards Shinichi who was on the other side of the room.
"Sayle is here," Shinichi reported, dressed in a suit of his own. "I'll make contact."
Shinichi took a glass from Heiji as they passed each other.
"Good," Saguru said, spotting Sayle as well. "See what you can get out of him. Kid, Miyano-san, time to hit his office."
LOCATION: Roof Top
Kid and Shiho were up on the roof decked out in all black and connected to repelling gear. Kid was going through his final checks when Saguru gave them the go-ahead.
"I have to head back to the office. I just remembered something," Shiho said nervously after peering over the building's edge.
"What?" Kid asked, adjusting Shiho's harness.
"I just remembered gravity," Shiho said, an edge in her voice.
"Relax~" Kid grinned. "I designed this rig myself. The line is carbon fiber. Five point harness. Weight support here, here," he tapped both her shoulders "and here," tapped her chest, "auto-breaking resistance on the main pulley back here," he finished, tapping the small of her back.
"So it's tested?" Shiho asked, her tension easing just a bit. When he put it like that, it sure sounded safe.
"Not yet," Kid said, making another adjustment to hide his smile. She was too easy to tease.
"Not yet?" Shiho snapped. "When the hell were you going to test it?"
"Now," Kid said as he gave his lovely companion a small push off the roof.
Shiho gasped as she stumbled forward and over the roof's edge. Kid jumped after her in a more controlled dive. He'd fed out the line enough so that she would slow a couple floors above and then stop right outside the windows of their target floor. Shiho was clinging to the line with a white-knuckle grip by the time her descent slowed.
"Do that again, Kid, and I'll kill you," she hissed at him once she was capable of words. "And trust me when I say that not even Hakuba-san will be able to find your corpse."
LOCATION: Private Party
Saguru sighed, able to figure out only too well what had happened. "Okay, Miyano-san. Kid. There are guard sweeps every ten minutes. That means you have nine minutes and twenty-eight seconds."
"Working on it," came Shiho's very angry sounding response. Saguru did not envy Kid in the least.
Across the room Herod Sayle was speaking with Congressman Horowitz and Shinichi was approaching them.
"Storm Breaker is going to be very happy with the new Appropriations Bill," Sayle was saying.
"Pardon me, Congressman," Shinichi said, smoothly cutting into the conversation. He was speaking with a British accent he'd perfected over the years after his time in England working alongside Saguru at Cambridge and during his short stint with U.N.I.S. "Lee Williams. I'm with Executive Orders."
"They're a London-based Defense Contractor," Sayle explained to the Congressman before turning his attention to Shinichi. "Herod Sayle. Executive Orders doesn't work for the U.S. government."
"Yet," Shinichi grinned. "Perhaps we can do something about that."
"Yes, well, it was very nice to meet you. Now you'll have to excuse me," Horowitz said, walking away.
"You're not poaching are you?" Sayle frowned, eyes narrowing at Shinichi. "Appropriations Bill 718? Those are our defenses contracts, so don't even bother."
"Mr. Sayle," Shinichi tutted, turning on the charm. He held out a hand. "Surely there's enough war to go around."
Sayle shook his hand, staring him in the eye before smiling.
"Miyano-san, what's this Bill they're talking about?" Saguru asked, watching Shinichi make amiable chatter with Sayle.
LOCATION: Sayle's Office
Shiho was sitting at Sayle's computer typing away while Kid was searching around the office.
"I'd love to give you an answer, Hakuba-san, but this man has an RFID security card reader on his power supply so I'm a little busy at the moment," Shiho muttered, eyes narrowing as she concentrated on getting around the computer's security system.
Kid was feeling a little bored as he searched the place, finding nothing until he moved a painting aside.
"Really?" the thief scoffed. "So old school. I found a safe behind a painting. How cliché can you get?"
"Focus," Saguru's voice hissed in Kid's ear.
Rolling his eyes, Kid set to work on cracking the safe. His eyebrows nearly shot up into his hairline when he realized what he was dealing with.
"Ok, not so cliché," he remarked. "You're not going to believe this, you guys. It's voice activated."
LOCATION: Private Party
"All right, one problem at a time," Saguru sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Kudo, I'm going in. We need to get Sayle's RFID card to Hattori."
Across the room, Shinichi was still making conversation with Sayle.
"My company's focused on meeting senators, but I'm thinking congressmen."
"You know the great thing about congressmen?" Sayle asked. "Fifty, a hundred grand well spent will get one elected, but then once they're in, the incumbency rate is over ninety-five percent so you can get an average eighteen, twenty years' use out of one of them. In these uncertain times, buying a United States congressman is one of the best investments a corporation can make."
"Ugh," Kid scoffed. "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. I'm a professional criminal and even I find that disturbing."
Saguru ignored Kid's comment and took an appetizer off one of the trays waiters and waitresses were carrying around and dipped it in some sauce before moving towards Shinichi and Sayle.
"We've been providing military advisers, internationally, for over forty years," Sayle continued.
"Helping rebels overthrow their governments, Mr. Sayle?" Shinichi asked, eyes lidded in amusement while Saguru passed behind them, wiping a little of the sauce on his appetizer across the back of Sayle's jacket.
"No," Sayle shook his head, but a sharp grin appeared. "Overthrowing the government is too harsh a way to describe it. We just help them along. A kind of collaboration."
Saguru threw the appetizer away and grabbed a napkin, heading back towards Shinichi and Sayle.
"Oh? Is that what you Americans call it?" Shinichi asked, smirking, turning his attention to Saguru as he approached them.
"Sorry, but it appears that you have a little dip on your jacket, sir," Saguru said, pointing to the smear of sauce. He was speaking in a southern American accent, much to the team's amusement. Shinichi had wondered why Saguru hadn't posed as the representative from Executive Orders, but Saguru had made the point that he needed Shinichi to distract Sayle so that Saguru could help the others run the operation. It was still funny to listen to Saguru speak in an accent that wasn't British, however. It was only through experience and skill that Shinichi managed to keep a straight face.
While Saguru had Sayle distracted with his jacket, Shinichi lifted the man's wallet and removed the RFID card before putting the wallet back.
"Can you believe this?" Sayle sighed. "First day I've worn this. Thanks."
"Lets see if we can get someone to help you with that," Shinichi said, looking around a bit before spotting Heiji nearby. "Excuse me? Garcon?"
"Yes, sir?" Heiji asked, a polite smile in place as he approached. He spoke with an American accent as well, one more polished than his usual speech.
"I was wondering if you could help us," Shinichi said, slipping the RFID card to Heiji under the tray he was carrying. "We seem to have gotten a little stain on this jacket."
"Oh, look at that," Heiji tisked, sympathetically. "Let me take care of that for you."
"If you could splash a little soda water on it," Shinichi was saying.
"Ah! Hold on a moment," Sayle said, taking his wallet out of his jacket. "Let me keep this. Man of my position shouldn't forget his wallet. That's embarrassing."
Shinichi and Saguru chuckled along with him while Heiji walked away with the jacket and RFID card. He set the tray he was carrying down at one of the tables before sneaking off somewhere private so that no one could see what he was doing.
"There's no magnetic strip," Heiji frowned after examining the card.
LOCATION: Sayle's Office
"That's because it emits a little radio frequency," Shiho told him. "Just put it up next to the phone I gave you."
She placed her own phone next to the RFID reader on Sayle's desk. After a few seconds the display screen said, "receiving code data." When the transfer was finished she easily got through the rest of the computer's security measures. "I'm in."
Kid, meanwhile was still messing with his own phone and the safe's voice lock.
"Kid, what's the status on the voice lock?" Saguru asked.
"I've been sampling Sayle's speech, but I still need a few more sounds," Kid reported.
"How many?"
"I only need the sounds, puh, tuh, oo, ah, eh, oh, ah, uh, ke, kuh, a, ef."
LOCATION: Private Party
"Oh, only those," Saguru huffed sarcastically. He'd excused himself from Sayle and Shinichi's company and was back to being inconspicuous in a corner of the party room. "Hattori."
"I'm on it," Heiji said, grabbing two appetizer trays and headed back towards Shinichi and Sayle. "Hello."
"Ohh, yum," Shinichi said, eyeing the dishes Heiji presented them with.
"Appetizer, sirs?" Heiji asked, looking at Sayle.
"Sure," Sayle shrugged. "What have you got?"
"I've got the pâté d'escargot avec bière d'Argentine and," Heiji frowned at the other dish, "what looks like old duck, kind of greasy."
"I guess I'll have the first one," Sayle said.
"Of course," Heiji said, offering him the second tray with the "duck."
"Well?" Sayle said, looking at Heiji expectantly. "May I have some?"
"The greasy duck?" Heiji frowned.
"Oh, no," Shinichi said, wrinkling his nose. "I wouldn't have the greasy duck."
"No, I wouldn't suggest it," Heiji nodded in agreement.
"No," Sayle huffed in exasperation." The other one."
Heiji raised an eyebrow, his expression one of polite confusion.
"The pâté d'escargot with the bière d'Argentine!" Sayle practically shouted.
"Excellent choice, sir," Heiji grinned, offering the man the first tray.
"Who is this clown?" Sayle scoffed, addressing Shinichi as he took an appetizer.
"Pretty good," Kid's voice snickered over the comm. link. "Got most of them. Okay, now all I need is ef, uh, and kuh."
"Wait for it," Heiji said, smirking to himself as he turned away from Shinichi and Sayle.
Sayle took a bite of his appetizer and promptly spat it out.
"This is shrimp! It's shrimp you stupid fuck!" he yelled after Heiji's retreating back.
Kid's snickering returned over the line. "There we go~!"
"Okay, Kudo, start the walk away," Saguru said, smiling to himself. Heiji winked at him as he passed by.
"I was wondering if I could drop by your office sometime?" Shinichi asked.
"Anytime," Sayle said, smiling politely now that he'd regained his composure.
Shinichi nodded farewell and headed towards Horowitz.
"Kudo, where are you going?" Saguru frowned.
"Playing a hunch," Shinichi mused.
"Fine, but play it fast. Miyano-san, what have you got? You have three minutes."
LOCATION: Sayle's Office
"Too much," Shiho frowned. "They have all of Rider's medical records. Which, sure, is pretty normal, but they've got psych evaluations, high school records, and they're reading his e-mails."
Kid joined her, sitting on the edge of the desk with a folder he'd taken from the safe.
"They're also tapping his phones," Kid reported. "I've got surveillance photos of Rider here from the hospital yesterday."
"Why spend so much money watching our client?" Shiho asked. "I mean, investigations of the shooting were done months ago."
LOCATION: Private Party
Saguru felt his stomach drop, thinking back to the trucks they'd seen in Rider's video. "Because it's not about the shooting. The cover-up has nothing to do with the shooting. It's about the trucks Alex saw and recorded on his camera."
Putting aside the feeling of unease that Shinichi felt upon hearing Saguru's statement he approached Horowitz. "Congressman."
"Yes?" Horowitz said, smiling politely at Shinichi.
"Your support on the next Appropriations Bill would be very helpful." Shinichi smiled back.
"We've already earmarked the no-bid contracts for Storm Breaker. They deserve it."
"Nobody's perfect," Shinichi shrugged. "Look at all the trouble they had with the shooting in Najaf."
"I'm sorry," Horowitz said, shifting a bit – a sign of nerves. "I don't really follow that sort of news. I just review the contracts."
"Of course," Shinichi said, bowing his head.
"Excuse me," Horowitz said, hurrying away.
"Lets go," Saguru hissed at Shinichi from behind. "Kid, Miyano-san, bug out and head back to the office. Kudo, Hattori and I are going to the hospital."
"Do you need to talk to Rider again?" Kid asked.
"The shooting wasn't an accident," Saguru said softly, but urgently. "Alex, isn't a victim, he's a witness. Does Storm Breaker strike you as the kind of company to leave a witness alive?"
Heiji rejoined them while Saguru was speaking and traded a worried look with Shinichi as they followed Saguru out of the building.
LOCATION: Los Angeles General Hospital Hallway
"He's not in his damn room," Saguru huffed in agitation as he and Shinichi hurried out of the room assigned to Alex Rider.
Elsewhere in the hospital Heiji was putting on a doctor's coat he'd taken from a now unconscious intern.
"I'm checking all the corridors that are connected to the exterior doors," he reported.
"Where could he be?" Shinichi asked. "You don't think they got to him already, do you?"
"There were no signs of a disturbance in his room," Saguru shook his head.
He frowned, trying to think of where Alex could be. Then he got an idea and hurried off towards the rehab room he'd first met Alex in. Sure enough Alex was there, alone practicing walking with support from the parallel handbars.
"Sorry, doc," Alex huffed, "I know it's closed but…" Then he caught sight of who had entered. "James?"
"We have to get you out of here," Saguru said, grabbing a wheelchair and moved it in front of Alex. "Now."
"Why?"
"Storm Breaker. Come on."
Shinichi helped Saguru get Alex into the chair.
"Friend of yours, James?" Alex asked, noticing that Saguru wasn't alone. "Alex Rider."
"Shinichi Kudo," Shinichi smiled. "Lets get you some place safe."
Elsewhere, Heiji scanned the hallways and passed two large men in doctor's coats.
"Hakuba, get 'im clear, I can't find-!"
"Excuse me!" Opps. Busted. Heiji had just passed one of the nurse's stations. "Do you work on this floor?"
"I, uh…" Smooth, Heiji. "What floor is this? I'm in orthopedics, so…"
It was at that moment that Heiji happened to look down at the nurse's feet and saw that she was wearing Crocks. The two men he'd just passed had been wearing boots. Shit. Heiji spun around and hurried after them.
"Hey!" the nurse shouted at him, but he ignored her.
Further down the hall Saguru, Shinichi and Alex were just reaching the elevators but so had the two men. Saguru noticed them checking rooms and Heiji could be seen racing towards them silently from behind. One of the men spotted Alex and pulled out a knife.
"Get the elevator," Saguru ordered Shinichi.
Thinking fast, Saguru grabbed a nearby gurney and pushed it down the hallway to block the two men's path. That's when Heiji reached them. The hitter shoved one of the men into the wall and then knocked the second one into the gurney, flipping him to the ground. The first man came back at Heiji with a knife, but Heiji deflected it easily and punched him in the gut. He spun around in time to dodge a second knife from the other man who'd recovered from being flipped over the gurney. Grabbing an IV pole, Heiji deflected a second jab from the blade and used the pole to knock the man to the ground and punched him several times to incapacitate him. That was one down for sure.
"James!" Alex cried out, pushing a defibrillator cart towards Saguru.
Saguru grabbed the paddles. Heiji saw what the others had in mind, so when the other guy got up and tried to get him with the knife again, he grabbed the other guy's arm and pushed him in Saguru's direction.
"Hello," Saguru smiled, pressing the defibrillator paddles to the man's chest when he stopped right in front of him, setting off the charge. The man went flying and was rendered unconscious. It was at that moment that the elevator doors finally dinged and opened behind Shinichi and Alex.
"Go," Saguru ordered, holding the elevator doors open while Heiji took a bag off one of the attackers before joining them.
LOCATION: Leverage Conference Room
Heiji emptied the contents of the bag he'd taken from one of the attackers onto the table. There was a money clip, a pack of cigarettes, a note, another knife, a pair of sunglasses and a gun. With a sneer of disgust Heiji unloaded the gun and Shiho checked the serial numbers. Shinichi picked up the note and read it aloud.
"I can't live with the pain, I'm so sorry… this is a suicide note," Shinichi scowled.
"And the gun is registered in Alex Rider's name. The bill of sale belongs to a gunshop a mile from his house," Shiho reported.
"I have Alex squared away in a safe house," Saguru reported as he joined them looking tired and wary. He was holding a bottle of liquor and a glass.
"Play time is over, Hakuba," Heiji frowned. "It's only a matter a' time 'fore they come after us. Tha tall one, tha way he used a knife, ex-Marine, prob'bly Force Recon."
"You ID'd a guy off his knife-fighting style?" Kid asked, eyebrows raised.
"It's a very distinctive style," Heiji snapped.
Saguru sighed, pouring himself a glass of liquor before placing it on the table and taking a swig from the actual bottle.
"For later," he said when he saw Shinichi's incredulous look. Shinichi only wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"I didn't sign up for any of this," Shiho said softly. "What I did before… nobody got hurt."
"I mostly stole jewels and works of art for a living," Kid said, frowning.
"I never actually hurt anybody with my cons," Shinichi said, crossing his arms.
"I actually hurt people, so…" Heiji shrugged.
"Hakuba, if anything had happened to this Rider guy-" Shinichi started but Saguru cut him off.
"You know, you guys called on me," Saguru snapped. "You remember? You asked me to run the team, agreed to play by my rules. Now walk out if you have a problem with that. Walk out any day if you have a problem with that. It's simple."
They all traded hesitant looks.
"We finish this one," Heiji said at last.
"Just one," Kid nodded.
"…So how do we hit them?" Shiho asked after a moment of silence.
"Congressman Horowitz," Shinichi sighed, not looking happy. "He's our in. Looked me straight in the eye and told me he'd never even heard of the shooting."
"So?" Kid asked.
"Guy was fidgety and when a person looks someone dead in the eye like that unblinkingly, you know they're making the effort to get a point of some kind across. Especially if it's a lie or a man that has something to hide. Funny how people think that that works. His stare was too intense. Word of advice? Blink at least once if you're going to lie and keep a relaxed posture."
"All right," Saguru sighed. "Horowitz is Sayle's pet Congressman. Let's see if we can get him to bite. The best way to get two people to reveal a secret is to get them to turn on each other."
Shiho, Kid and Heiji nodded before leaving. Saguru watched them go, taking another swig from his bottle. With a scowl, Shinichi got up from his seat and snatched the bottle from Saguru.
"Shall I put this away for you?" he all but snapped as he left.
"Didn't sound like a question," Saguru called after him.
Once Shinichi was gone, Saguru picked up the glass he'd set down earlier and took a sip from that.
"Yer gonna drink yourself ta death one a' these days."
Saguru jumped, not expecting anyone to have stayed behind. He turned around and saw Heiji lounging in his chair as if he'd never left; packing away the stuff that had been in the attacker's bag.
"Maybe," Saguru sighed, setting the glass back down and took a seat at the table.
"Ya do that when things git personal," Heiji noted, nodding at the half-empty glass. "Ya know our client, don't ya? Ya've been callin' 'im Alex, and he called ya James back at tha hospital. Ya close?"
"No," Saguru shook his head. "But our mothers know each other from their University days before they got married. The Riders moved here to the U.S. and Alex and I didn't meet until I went in to speak to him about the job."
Heiji nodded, standing back up.
"Don't git too drunk, man," he said, "or else I'll tell Kudo where ya keep yer stash of hard liquor."
Saguru snorted, a small smile forming on his lips. "I have a high tolerance. I'm not even buzzed yet."
"Keep it tha' way," Heiji nodded. "Ya can get smashed afterwards."
"Noted." Saguru nodded, downing the rest of his glass.
Heiji shook his head, but left the other man alone.