Aizen sat in the rental car two miles from where they'd last detected the tracking chip from Ichigo Kurosaki. He'd parked to the side of the road near a heavily wooded hill where he could see the roadway before him clearly, but was not immediately visible from the road behind him.
He knew it was Kurosaki; he hadn't any doubts about that. His preliminary work from years back after Isshin Kurosaki's death was his own endeavor, not agency-related, and the younger Kurosaki had disappeared before his study had come to fruition. But he knew it was the right boy, now a man.
He looked down at the small light on the sweep unit monitor, which had remained stationary for fifteen minutes. The signal had frozen in seemingly nowhere, broadcasting stopped, indicating that something was jamming it, but not dead. He was uncertain exactly what it meant, but had ordered Esparo and Grimmjow to cover the two other roads leading to the surrounding area with instructions to pull over and park but stay aware.
His radio crackled and Esparo's voice came over it. the twenty minute wait already evident in the younger man's impatient tone. "You want us to just sit here and wait, Aizen?"
Aizen nodded and held his radio closer, an unfolded map in the seat next to him. "Sit there and wait, Ryan. He's got to take one of these roads out. Are you in position, Grimmjow?"
"Yes, I'm here," Grimmjow's sour tone came back. "I think we should move in and --"
"I'll do the thinking," Aizen snapped, suddenly piqued with the temporary subordinate. "Listen, we've got no authority here, so let's keep the locals out of it. Kurosaki's tag is covered, and he's got to move sometime. Keep your eyes open, and don't let him pass. First one to find him takes him to the chopper outside Brichein. I want him in the air and on the ground just over the Germany border at our rendezvous point. Whoever gets to him first."
"Yes, sir," Esparo said, followed by an affirmative grunt from Grimmjow.
Aizen sat back and watched the afternoon sun stretch across the French countryside, hoping his patience would pay off before Ichimaru suspected anything.
The occupants of the stone household were a strange collection of odds and ends, Rukia had decided as she finished tea with the woman called Yoruichi, but she was guessing the most baffling one yet was the man introduced as Tessai. She couldn't tell if the strapping fellow who served the tea and then went outside to 'adjust the owls', as he put it, was a butler, a handyman of sorts, or the children's weird mad uncle.
It didn't much matter, she finally decided as Ichigo returned from the depths of the basement with Urahara. The two men joined them where she and Yoruichi sat on the porch that opened to a view of the pond, a mild breeze lifting the dark-skinned woman's dark purple-cast hair. Rukia hadn't learned what Yoruichi was, exactly, either. In fact, she didn't know who anyone in the group of people in Urahara's house were, or how they were or were not related to each other. Certainly the children didn't look anything like him. Rukia was quite sure Jinta didn't look like anyone she'd ever seen.
"Seven-hundred-thousand," Urahara said, nodding at Rukia as he and Ichigo met them on the porch, looking smug and magnanimous at the same time. "Agreeable to you, Rukia?"
At the number Rukia had looked to Ichigo, who was grinning at her. "Dollars?"
"USD, yup," Urahara said, nodding.
Yoruichi stood up, lending a feline grace to the movement, eyes going to Urahara. "You're sending them some paint, too, right?"
Rukia set her tea cup on the tray beside Yoruichi's empty one, frowning as she got to her feet. "Paint?"
"The temporary undetectable blocking liquid we saw earlier," Ichigo explained as she stood beside him, watching her eyes go to Urahara. "What do you think of the amount, Rukia?"
She looked up at him, standing on tiptoe to his ear, her voice dropping so only he could hear. "That's not the number you told me before we left, Ichigo."
He nodded, a hand going to her arm, his voice matching hers in volume. "The other buyer will bring you the bulk of your profit. He's the one who'll be interested in your more exotic stones. Trust me, Rukia, the money will be what I promised."
Urahara cleared his throat, grinning slyly at their exchange as Yoruichi collected the tray, watching their guests. "I deal in the more common stones, Rukia. The pup here has clients with more elaborate tastes than mine. You'll get your money, whatever he's promised you. I've known the -- Ichigo's family long enough to vouch for that."
Rukia looked from him to Ichigo, nodding. "Seven-hundred-thousand is fine," she said, smiling, her breath faltering just a little at saying the amount aloud. She looked down at her purse.
"Oh, we've got the big bills, don't worry 'bout lugging around a suitcase," Urahara said, waving off her unvoiced concerns. "You do want cash, right?"
Ichigo nodded. "Right."
It took half an hour to wrap up the transaction, and the packet of money fit neatly into Rukia's small purse, she noted, even with the remaining pouch of gemstones and her wallet. A small bottle topped with an eyedropper stopper was included, and Urahara had given Ichigo instructions on how to apply it, and how often to use it to avoid being detected. Rukia listened in, feeling as if she'd wandered into someone else's life for a few hours as her surroundings caught up with her.
The mosquitoes were real enough, however, as she and Ichigo and the large man named Tessai walked the two-track back to the car late that afternoon.
"He can't find a better way than cut the engines?" Ichigo said, batting at a mosquito, and then flipping one off that landed on the top of Rukia's dark hair. "Reversing battery connections? Sounds like something Jinta would do."
Tessai spared him a look of disdain, in his hand the strap to a car battery he carried. "It works, Ichigo. And it's basic."
"Yeah, a little too basic for his gadgety mind."
They reached the rental car where it had stopped, the buzz of insects louder than when they'd left it two hours ago. Ichigo opened the passenger door for Rukia and she got in and sighed, her purse clutched before her on her lap as he rounded the car and opened the driver's side door.
He pulled the car's hood lever beneath the dashboard and the hood outside popped up a few inches. He closed the door and joined Tessai waiting at the car's front bumper, where their conversation was muted to Rukia inside.
Her fingers pressed against the purse's top flap, her mind slightly numbed to the money inside. $700,000, she thought. It would take Michael -- how long? Ten, fifteen? Nearly twenty years to make that kind of money.
Cold rushed through her head as she thought about the amount. In front of her the hood was raised, Ichigo's grouching tone reaching inside the car as he debated something about mechanics with Tessai.
Rukia dipped her head to see beneath the hood, watching the old defunct battery being replaced with the new one.
Gets paid for cheating, her mind kept repeating. Insult to injury after his last affair.
She tried to push thoughts of the morning's brief conversation with Michael out of her mind as the hood slammed shut, giving her full view of Tessai standing akimbo in front. Ichigo opened the car door and slid behind the steering wheel.
"These eccentric wizards are all the same," he grumbled as he fit the key into the ignition. "They can do, but they can't undo." He turned the key. Nothing happened. He tried a few more times, cursing after each twist of the key. "We're still within residual range. We'll have to push it back and try again." His eyes went to where her hands were tight on the purse. He grinned, bringing a tentative smile from her. "Slide over here and guide the car while we push it back."
She nodded, her voice failing her as she stifled thoughts of Michael.
"You all right, Rukia?" he asked in a lower tone, frowning at the wounded expression shifting back over her face.
She nodded again, setting the purse to one side, attempting a better smile. "Fine."
He didn't believe her, but nodded. "Okay."
He got out of the car and she positioned herself behind the wheel.
At the car's front bumper Ichigo and Tessai bent to lean heavily against the hood on either side of it. Rukia put the gear shifter into neutral and the men heaved it into motion. She turned in the seat to see the trail behind her and directed the car back down the overgrown path, close-fringing branches slapping against the closed window as the men grunted at the effort, with Ichigo muttering curses at the technology and the heavier model of German car.
Ten minutes later Ichigo and Rukia were back on the road, both relieved to be moving again, but she with not all the satisfaction that should have come with the new contents of her purse.
Ichigo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, her lingering pensive expression not what he'd anticipated after the visit to Urahara. "Don't worry, Rukia. The German contact is worth at least one-point-five million."
The amount nearly made her dizzy, but she sighed, trying to focus on the events of the afternoon rather than her home front. "With the twelve hour window for the paint stuff," she said, the chemical terminology still alien to her, "can we get home without being discovered?"
"Not a problem." He turned the car down the next slope of road, following the pavement that wound between fields divided by rows of trees. "We might have to re-treat the bills on the way, on the plane, but that won't be a problem. They're all large bills, not too many to do."
She frowned, looking to her handbag. "They're very large bills, Ichigo."
He nodded. "Don't worry about that. I know a place you can get them exchanged."
They passed a gray car parked to one side of the road without seeing it until it was behind them, taking little notice of it.
But Grimmjow had seen them, his quick eyes darting from the now active tracking monitor he'd been watching to the driver as the car passed him. He grabbed his radio and pressed the button at the side as he turned the steering wheel.
"I've got a paint," he said into it. "It's him. There's someone else in the car. I think it's a woman.
Aizen's voice came over the radio. "A woman? She's immaterial. Go ahead and take him."
Grimmjow already had the car in gear, making the sharp hook turn that put him behind Ichigo's car, farther back in the lane, but closing the gap with speed. For a few moments Ichigo was oblivious to the menace behind him in the gray car, but Grimmjow's intentions soon became apparent.
The gray car matched the speed of Ichigo's car as the front rental sped up, taking the sloping road at increasingly dangerous velocity as Ichigo scowled into the rear view mirror. Grimmjow's hands tightened on the steering wheel as he pulled the car alongside Ichigo's door, topping a hill that caught them blindly on the other side of a curve.
Ichigo glared at the rude driver in the gray car, swerving to the outside of the lane as the passenger side tires caught the shoulder gravel, making Rukia brace herself against the back of the seat, eyes widening. The gray car lurched ahead and into the lane before them, slamming on the brakes, forcing Ichigo to stomp on the brakes, halting the car to barely avoid colliding. Grimmjow threw open his door.
"Dammit! You piece of shit bastard!" Ichigo yelled out the window as Grimmjow approached them. He threw the car into reverse as the agent kicked the driver's door, extending an arm, a gun clicking in Ichigo's face.
"Put it in park! Hands up! Both of you!" Grimmjow yelled.
Ichigo's hands tensed on the wheel as the gun barrel inches from his face leveled on Rukia's terror stricken form. "Who are you?"
"Out! Now!" Grimmjow yanked open the door and waved to them with the gun.
Ichigo threw the car into park, eyes narrowing on the taller man as he eased out from behind the wheel. Grimmjow's attention went to Rukia, who was trying to force herself to follow Ichigo out the driver's side. Ichigo stood at the back door, the gun still aimed at his forehead as Grimmjow reached one large hand into the car and pulled Rukia out by her shoulder.
"What the hell do you want?" Ichigo bit out.
Grimmjow pushed Rukia in front of him towards the gray car, nodding for Ichigo to follow. "You, too!"
Rukia muted a cry as Grimmjow shoved her into the back seat of his car seconds later.
"Get in. You're driving," he told Ichigo, pointing the gun toward driver's door.
Ichigo glanced to Rukia's shaking form in the back seat, his jaw tightening at the look of horror on her face. He opened the door and got behind the steering wheel. Grimmjow got into the back seat beside Rukia and poked the gun barrel at the back of Ichigo's head before going to Rukia.
Ichigo glowered at him in the rear view mirror, eyes darting from the agent to Rukia, the gun now pressed up to her temple, her face pale.
"Where to?"