Chapter 14

From an alley across the street, Tidus watched the police cars drive off and felt the world falling away underfoot. His body was paralyzed, yet somehow he was in the backseat with Yuna, feeling every shred of fear and betrayal and despair that she must have been feeling with an intensity that positively paralyzed him.

He left her. He left her all alone and she was gone, gone, going, never coming back, and it was all his fault.

For what felt like a long time – really, only seconds – all he could do was crouch in place, hidden from sight, and feel that terrible emptiness spreading through his gut and into his chest. He tossed her to the lions and watched them drag her away into their cave. He might as well have been the one to put a bullet to her head. And he hadn't even told her his name.

But then, without warning, his anguish disappeared, only to be replaced by a sweeping anger that left him breathless and trembling, fists clenched, blind to the brick wall across from him. He was suddenly up on his feet and running, hardly aware of the bag struggling to weigh him down, focusing instead on finding a car as fast as humanly possible.

The nearest car was a rather nice silver one, sleek in design and fairly new. Too damn bad. His elbow smashed through the window without a second thought, and a heartbeat later he was under the wheel with several wires in hand, ignoring the startled people on the sidewalk. When the engine sprang to life, he roared off down the street. His hand scrambled around for a map of the city, eventually finding it in the dashboard. He spread the paper over the wheel and his eyes alternated between watching the road and scanning the map for various routes to the police station. That would be the most likely destination. They would process her, keep her in a holding cell, and then someone – probably Kelk, or an associate of his – would intercept the arrest and take her to wherever it is they were operating from. His hands tightened on the leather of the wheel and he shifted gears, now racing through traffic like a deranged blur.

He caught up with the cop cars faster than he had anticipated – they had been following the same track he had been to get to the station. Quickly he veered off down a side street, one that paralleled the main road, hoping to cut them off. If there was a way to stop them before reaching the precinct, he was going to do it; the idea of attacking a station full of cops was not a particularly appealing one.

Instead he drove faster and swerved down another alley, heading right for the head of the cop car procession. He stopped at the entrance and kept his head down, watching for the car Yuna had been put in. He wasn't sure exactly what he planned to do, and hoped a brilliant scheme would hit him upon seeing her.

As the cars went by one by one, a frown creased his forehead. So far he hadn't seen Yuna in any of the backseats, and the end of the line was fast approaching. If his growing suspicions were correct, she'd be in the very last one. He watched and waited. Three cars left. No sign of her. Two cars left. Still nothing. That left door number three.

He decided not to think too hard on what he was doing. Suddenly he was slamming his foot on the gas and rocketing forward into the street, ramming the front end of the cop car at top speed, praying he had not miscalculated. Had he stopped to think about it, he would have found a dozen reasons to talk himself out of it, and Yuna did not have that kind of time on her hands. Options were limited.

The impact would have killed him, or at least critically injured him, had he not opened the door and rolled out moments before his vehicle smashed magnificently into the target. The front side crumpled with a deafening crash, while the tail end swung out and knocked out a fire hydrant, sending a geyser of water in the air. There was an instant pile up as traffic behind didn't stop in time, and the cop cars in the front screeched to a halt before the police hurried out, guns at the ready. People on the sidewalks screamed and then crowded closer for a better look, and there was a flurry of cell phones dialing and people shouting above the noise for someone to call an ambulance.

Tidus had already crept up to the side of the car he had slammed into and yanked open the back door, which had manage to avoid being rutted shut permanently. Yuna blinked up at him in a daze, a bloody gash on her temple giving him a momentary pause. There were shards of glass all over the back seat, some of which nicked her along the way down. She didn't look badly hurt, but she was definitely shaken, and he couldn't help noticing that there were tears on her face. He reached in and grabbed her, guiding her hands to a sharp bit of steel left exposed after the collision so he could cut the white plastic off her wrists.

Seconds later he wrenched her upright and kept her pinned at his side as he ducked away from the street, using the chaos around him to his advantage. She was still too shocked to speak, and seemed to be totally bewildered. Tidus set his jaw grimly and led her back into the alley, remembering the manhole cover he had passed over earlier. Sewers were anything but pleasant, but even if the police decided to check it out, there were endless tunnels and corridors to escape through. It would take them hours to track the two of them down, and Tidus had no intention of staying in Zurich that long.

He rounded the corner, relieved that Yuna was becoming more aware and picking up the pace. The cops were still too busy checking on their injured comrades – probably dead – and attempting to calm the scene. But it wouldn't be long before they started the chase. Halfway through the alley, the manhole appeared and Tidus dropped down to shove the lid aside, grateful for the adrenalin fuelling him. Yuna did not even hesitate to drop down the ladder, though her hands were shaking and Tidus wondered if she would be able to keep from falling. He followed after her, closing the lid above him just as a few cops were about to round the corner.

The smell was awful, but he had prepared himself for that. At least it was relatively dry on the ledge above the underground river of dark, discoloured water. He landed on the pavement beside her and paused to let his eyes adjust for a moment before grabbing Yuna's arm and dragging her down the tunnel. He guessed they were heading north, but the knowledge didn't offer him anything to go on. He had a flickering memory of the city map he'd scanned in the car, but there was no particular place he could think of heading towards. For a while he just concentrated on getting as lost as possible, as far away from the cops as they could get.

After about six minutes of silent running, he finally noticed Yuna's laboured breath and sluggish gait. He slowed down and eventually stopped in a small alcove to let her catch her second wind.

"We'll just rest here a minu –"

Her hand met his cheek with a resonating smack, stunning him into silence. Her rage had finally caught up with her, and he could practically feel the electricity crackling around her.

"You son of a bitch," she snarled, in a tone he would not have imagined she possessed. "You left me. You left me."

It took him a moment to collect himself. "I'm sorry," he told her, wincing more at the venom in her voice rather than the sting of her handprint. "It was stupid of me."

"After all I . . . all the times I could have . . ." she went on, waving her hands wildly. "And you just . . . bastard!"

"It won't happen again," he said sincerely, wanting to reach out and touch her but fearing to. "I promise you, never again. I'm so sorry, Yuna."

She didn't say anything. In the dark, he could only dimly make out her features, but he could see her eyes blazing into his. Her breath was quick and shallow, and he could imagine her fists balled up at her sides. He swallowed and licked his lips.

"Please forgive me," he tried, too anxious to care about the tremour in his voice.

Still she remained silent, and the sudden notion that she might try to leave him sent a cold wave of dread through his body. "Please . . ."

He heard her take a deep, shuddering breath and he saw the glimmer of tears on her face once again. "I-I thought you were abandoning me," she whispered. "I was so scared that you . . . that you might have left me behind."

His heart must have shattered at that moment. There was no other way to explain the sudden, almost crippling pain in his chest. "Never," he said hoarsely, reaching for her at last. "Never, never, never."

She did not protest or pull away, much to his relief. Her arms encircled him so tightly that he could hardly breathe, but he only squeezed her back even more. He rested his chin on top of her head and he closed his eyes, wondering at how close he came to losing her.

"My name's Tidus," he said quietly, rubbing broad circles in her back with one hand. She pulled away enough to meet his gaze and stared up at him thoughtfully, before nodding. He cleared his throat, feeling vulnerable and exposed under her eyes. "We've got a lot to talk about," he went on.

Without answering, she went up on her toes, signaling for a kiss. He pressed his lips against hers, softly at first, but then she deepened it and he felt her backing herself up against the wall, dragging him with her. Her fingers moved under his shirt and she raked her nails down his stomach, making him gasp. He had not been expecting to be turned on by it, but he could feel himself responding even as the marks still burned. Their lips met again, more fiercely than before. She bit him, hard. He let her, knowing this was reckless and stupid, and not at all romantic, but not caring in the slightest. She tugged at his jeans and he obeyed without hesitation, unbuttoning and pushing them down along with his underwear as she shimmied hers down as well. He wedged her between himself and the concrete wall, lifting her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist.

It was quick and heated and full of sorrow, and forgiveness. When they were done she cupped his face between her hands and pulled him down for another kiss, the last tender moment they could share before the need to move again took over.

000

Somehow, after they finally emerged from the sewers, they found themselves in a small hotel in the town of Appenzell, close to the Swiss-Austrian border. It had been a two and a half hour drive from Zurich, once they found a car, and that was after the hour they spent running through the underground tunnels to throw off any police pursuit. Had it not been for the fact that the sun was only just beginning to set, Yuna would have guessed that they had been moving for over a day. She was exhausted, starving, and she was acutely aware of the smell clinging to her clothes. On her thirty-seventh yawn, Tidus – strange to finally have a name to call him – pulled into the hotel parking lot and insisted that they get some rest. But after showering, changing into fresh clothes, and ordering room service, Yuna was suddenly incurably eager to learn about what her companion had discovered in the vault. During the drive she had been dozing on and off, so he remained silent with his thoughts. Now, however, there was nothing to stop them from pouring over his findings together.

They sat at a small round oak table in their room, with the contents of Yuna's bag strewn across the surface. After they counted the enormous wealth now in their possession – 500 000 Euros and 500 000 in US dollars – they turned their attention to the folder of names, dates, money counts, and bank account numbers. The list was so massive that neither of them really knew where to begin. They decided to split the list in half – Tidus took the first portion, and Yuna took the second. The dates went as far back as forty years ago, and most of the names were foreign and unfamiliar. Yuna recognized a couple, but she could not place exactly who they were.

"This is hopeless," she sighed, throwing her papers down. "How are we supposed to know what we are looking at? All I see are names and numbers."

Tidus didn't reply, apparently too deep in thought. Yuna chewed her bottom lip and picked the papers up again, slightly embarrassed at her outburst. If he could be quiet and concentrate, then so could she.

But then her eyes landed on a particular name and she felt her blood freeze. "Oh my God."

Her companion looked up, noting her expression and voice. "What is it?"

"Look at this name," she said, pointing to it and showing the paper to him. "Bernard de Chaplaine. He was a friend of my father's in the French cabinet. He died seven months ago in a plane crash just outside of Toulouse."

Tidus frowned and took the list from her, his eyes boring into the information. Bernard de Chaplaine. 10/10/07. 250 000. 461-573-0906. "In a plane crash?"

"That's what it said on the news. Some sort of engine failure, I believe."

"I'm not so sure that's the case."

He stared down at the name for a long time, and Yuna could see the gears in his mind working, searching for any shred of familiarity. When he put the paper down and sighed, dropping his head into his hands, she reached over and put her hand on his knee.

"We'll figure this out," she said quietly. "I know we will."

"I think I just did," he replied grimly. "This looks like a kill record."

"A . . . a what?" Yuna asked, even though the name was self-evident. "You mean a . . ."

"Every person 'my company' was hired to kill. It's all here. This is my legacy we're looking at," he elaborated, standing up suddenly and moving to pace around the room. He kept throwing glances over at the document, like all he wanted was to be as far away from it as possible.

Yuna's heart twisted painfully. "All those names . . ." she whispered, resting her hand on the folder.

"I must have been a good, loyal worker," he growled, looking like a caged tiger the way he was circling the room. "A true soldier. How many of those names am I responsible for, I wonder? If I'm such a goddamn pro, I bet I was 'employee of the month'. Fuck, I must have just loved that."

"Stop that," she ordered, closing her eyes.

"I probably had no spine, no mind of my own. They asked me to jump, I probably asked how high. Hell, there must not have been a single order I'd disobey for those bastards," he went on, as if deaf to her.

"You didn't kill my father, did you?" she demanded, jumping to her feet. "And when you probably had a chance to shoot me as well, you didn't. So what does that say about you? Dites-moi!"

He pulled up short and gaped at her for a moment before he seemed able to calm himself. "I don't know. I don't know what happened that night, or why I . . . why I couldn't . . ."

Yuna sighed and rose to her feet.

"It's not a question of 'couldn't, Tidus," she said gently, walking over to him and taking his hands in hers. "We both know you had the power to do it. The truth is that you made the choice not to, for whatever reason. And that is who you are. Right here and now, with me. This is the real you. I don't know how many times I have to tell you before you'll see."

For a long time he simply gazed at her, making her feel that familiar warmth in the pit of her stomach with the look in his eyes. Then he squeezed her hands and looked down at them as if in disbelief that they were in his grasp.

"I must have known," he said quietly.

"Known what?"

"When I saw you on your boat, with your father. I must have known how you . . . that I'd fall –"

A loud, sudden knock at the door shocked them both into reality. Tidus sighed a little and opened it up to accept the room service, leaving Yuna to stand there with a racing heart, staring into the space where he had just been standing.