Blue Divide

by ExecutiveShrimp

AU, 2x1: Detective Duo Maxwell is called to the scene of a murder and kidnapping. When it is discovered that he knows one of the victims, he becomes the prime suspect. In a race against the clock, nobody knows who can be trusted.

3. Chapter 3

Shima Yi: Duo does make an excellent criminal, but I love him too much to make him the bad guy.

PrussianTails: Thank you for reading and reviewing this story, I really appreciate it. I'm glad to hear my lemon scenes have improved, because reading some of my older material they feel pretty awkward to me :S

Ffreeloader: Your remark is unfair and uncalled for. I have not discontinued any of my stories. I understand that it must be frustrating that I don't update very often and for that I do apologize, but I do not appreciate being accused of 'not finishing my stories' when I always work as hard as I can to update to the best of my abilities. I'm glad that you like my work, but I happen to need more time than many other authors to put something out there that I'm happy with, if I rushed to finish my stories, I guarantee they will be no good.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead: Thanks for your review! "Brothers" will update soon and after that I start work on the next chapter for "Dirty Job" :)

CaseyCuervo: Thanks! You're the third one to point out the lemon as being good, so I'm guessing they really are improving :P Thank you for reading and reviewing again, I hope you will like the conclusion of this story.

TheSpaz: Thank you! I had a lot of fun puzzling this together! I hope you will like this final chapter :)

Sodarkness: Thank you for your double review! I hope this third and last chapter will not disappoint!

Dyna: Wow, thank you so much for your wonderful words of support. I hope you will enjoy this last part.

Celestinasong: Thank you for taking the time to review both chapters. I'm glad you liked the story so far and I hope this last installment will not disappoint you. Please shre your thoughts with me :)

AngelStarlight: Thank you so much for giving this story a chance :)

Hikaru Itsuko: Thanks for reading and reviewing :) Everything will get wrapped up in this final chapter, let me know that you think :)

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Author's note:

Thank you all for your amazing support! I can really use your support for this also (prepare for shameless plug!):

The prologue for a future project of mine has been submitted as a stand-alone short story to the "Reinvent Reality" contest hosted by inkitt.com. Please visit www.inkitt.com/stories/20525 and give this story your recommendation/vote (and if you're feeling particularly generous: a review). I have no illusions of winning this contest, but I'd like to make it to the top 10% so my story will at least be taken into consideration, and that is really all I could ever hope for and want.

www.inkitt.com/stories/20525

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Warnings for part 3: Language, violence, sexual content

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Blue Divide

Part 3

Milliardo didn't interrupt him, not even once, as he told him the entire story; everything there was to tell. He started with briefly recounting his past in foster care and in the orphanages, to make Mill understand that he hadn't been secretive about his identity because he didn't care for them or because he was some psycho-killer. Then he told him about how he had met Heero, embarrassed to admit he called a suicide-prevention-hotline. His face grew hotter still when he bit the bullet and told him about the change in their relationship, from friendly to sexual – without consulting Heero or considering his apparent wishes. He concluded the account with his activities from the night before, knowing how unbelievable the coincidences must sound to Mill: the fight, the vain threat to kill Heero, the cryptic text message, parking in the shadows behind the store for half an hour before going in and even cleaning out his car in the wee hours of the morning.

As he described everything that had happened, he finally realized just how bad it all looked and he knew that in any other case it would be considered a slam-dunk, so with a heavy heart he couldn't really blame WuFei, or anyone, for holding him responsible. He had opportunity, motive and evidence mounted against him. Any other dirt-bag would have been hauled off to the county jail for processing by now.

With vulnerable eyes he looked at Milliardo – the closest thing he had to a friend at the moment – and he begged him to understand and to believe in him, even though he realized he didn't deserve it. "I had nothing to do with his disappearance."

"I believe you," Milliardo breathed and he seemed just as surprised at his own words as Duo, but it was immediately followed by relief. He cleared his throat and consulted his notes. "So, you also think nobody had any reason to kidnap Heero other than to get back at you?"

Duo nodded.

Carefully, Milliardo said: "You do realize that there still hasn't been any contact. If this is someone trying to punish you – for whatever – the odds are-"

"The odds are that Heero is long dead," Duo interrupted and he clenched his jaws together and curled his limp hands into tight fists.

Milliardo agreed. "They would have reached out to taunt you, otherwise."

"Yeah," He croaked. "Is it true what WuFei said?" At Mill's frown he explained: "Do you really only have divers and cadaver dogs out looking for him?"

Mill shook his head. "You know WuFei's tactic, he likes to rile the suspects up. Officially, we are still treating this as a kidnapping, we are looking for a living person. But I do need you to realize that-"

"I know. I know. But I can't think about that. Even if it's stupid to be in denial like that."

The other sighed and after a pause he reached out and briefly wrapped a warm hand around Duo's trembling fist, hoping to call him. "I'm really sorry, Duo."

"I'm fine. I'll be fine," He asserted and he angrily wiped his hand by his eye, just in case a tear had spilled without his permission. "What now?"

Mill bit on his bottom lip. "I can't let you go, Duo. I believe that you had nothing to do with this, but with the evidence there is against you, we have to keep you downstairs in holding. I won't arrest you, but when the forty-eight hours are up and we have no other lead, the higher-ups may force me to book you and take you over to county."

Duo nodded in understanding. He wasn't about to fight the protocol any longer and obstruct the investigation. He was willing to cooperate, it was currently the only way for him to help them find Heero.

"I'll get you your old case files so you can continue looking through the mugshots. Perhaps you can ID John Doe through a visual search. The facial recognition program is coming up with nothing, but with half of his face missing, that might be an error."

"If he's in the files, I'll find him," Duo vowed.

He was escorted down to the basement and placed in one of the holding cells. Duo felt suddenly claustrophobic in the tight, concrete space. He took a seat on the bench that doubled as a narrow, uncomfortable bed and he wrung his fingers nervously. As promised he was brought his case files, dating as far back as four years. They arrived in large boxes and the officers stacked them in the corner for him. The room felt even more tiny, more cramped, now that about a quarter of the space was swamped with boxes. He took a moment to collect his cool and keep himself from hyperventilating, but he didn't allow himself too much time. As soon as he felt ready, he opened the first box and started leafing through the files, pausing to really scrutinize the mugshots and compare them with the picture of John Doe's face.

He was so focused on his task that he had no idea how long he had been working and with no window and having had his phone taken away from him, he had no concept of time. He was startled when the door to his cell opened and Trowa walked into the cell carrying a paper bag that smelled of spicy Thai food.

"What time is it?" Duo's stomach spontaneously started to growl once his nose picked up the mouth-watering scents. He opened the first carton contained and dug in with the plastic fork.

"Almost seven." Trowa crouched down on the floor and his emerald eyes scanned the papers that Duo had spread around himself.

Duo had a hard time swallowing his first bite as he did the math and realized Heero had been missing for about seventeen hours.

"Any luck?"

"No," He replied gruffly and washed his first bite of chicken down with a big gulp of water from the bottle Trowa had brought him. "You?"

Trowa fixed worried eyes on him. "I only have more bad news."

Duo felt like he was going to be sick.

"I went to your apartment this afternoon."

"Yeah?" Come on, spit it out!

"I found a bloodied shirt in the bathroom sink. The shirt is your size. The blood… looks to be Heero's. It matches his blood type that we pulled from his medical records."

Struggling to remain clinical and detached, Duo inquired: "How much blood?"

"A lot, but nothing… definitive."

He nodded, somewhat relieved.

"What are these files?" Trowa wondered, studying the chaos that surround Duo.

It looked like a mess, but the files were organized. "Since I was going through the old files looking for mugshots, I figured I might as well try to identify the cases that might be reason for revenge."

"You've had a lot of bad guys locked up, Duo. I imagine all of them will want revenge."

"Sure, sure. But for the sake of it, I narrowed it down to the more likely suspects. You see, this stack, that's cases where people had the motivation for revenge, but not the means, or balls, rather," He pointed at the largest stack, "These are the cases where someone involved had means and motive to get back at me," He grimaced, part of being an undercover cop meant you eventually had to betray the people that you had convinced we're your best friends and some of the guys had a particularly nasty reaction to it, "But kidnapping or- or-… otherwise, isn't their MO. Last but not least," He patted the smallest collection of files, "The guys from these cases; kidnapping and stuff is right up their alley and they made it clear that they wanted to fuck me up."

"But you don't recognize anyone in the mugshots?"

"No, but I figured John Doe could be a friend, or a hired help. So I need you to get me the files on all the known associates of these guys, including everyone involved in these two gangs." He handed him the files. "Hurry." Duo expected Trowa to promptly leave, but instead the agent lingered, looking hesitant. "What?" He asked with a fearful tone.

"The bloodied shirt…"

"Not this again," Duo growled. "I'm innocent, Tro! Obviously someone is trying to frame me."

"I know. And Peacecraft knows. Fuck, I think even Chang is starting to open up to the possibility. But it looks really bad; a bloodied shirt in your bathroom. There's no evidence of a break-in."

"You and I both know how easy it is to pick a lock with the right tools."

Trowa nodded. "I do but-… Whoever is framing you, they're doing a pretty good job. I just spotted the DA going up to Khushrenada's office."

Fuck, Duo cursed inwardly.

"Everyone is really eager to wrap this one up. They want to make the case go away, get it out of the media-"

"The media?"

"Some anonymous informant," Trowa rolled his eyes, "told a reporter that a state police officer was a suspect in the case. Every news outlet is going crazy on this one. They've already been blasting the force for being homophobic, for months now, saying that we don't look out for the gay community. And now they are saying that a cop is responsible for what they've labelled as a hate crime, they have your name and everything, and their spinning the story to make it seem like we are trying to cover it up to save our own asses."

"Fucking Hell."

"Peacecraft's sister was in here too, flipping out. She's pushing for a swift resolution to the case. She and the DA are convinced that even if you didn't do it, you look good enough for it."

Duo shot up. "They plan to pin it on me?"

"Don't worry. We're all on your side-"

"Don't worry?!" He exclaimed. "They want to cut the investigation short! Which means they also want to stop looking for Heero! Case closed, done deal!"

"Calm down," Trowa barked at him. "Peacecraft and Khushrenada got your back. I'm just giving you a head's up. And we're still all working the case, even WuFei. We're going to find Heero, Duo." He reached out and squeezed his shoulder as a show of support.

Duo nodded meekly and sat back down. He urged Trowa to hurry and get those additional files for him and he flinched when the agent locked the cell door behind him.

He stared at the mess of files on the floor and a thick, suffocating blanket of hopelessness settled over him and wrapped around him tightly, constricting his every breath. If Relena and the District Attorney had their way, he would get locked up and they would bury the investigation as quickly as possible to get a handle on the negative media attention. They believed Heero could no longer be saved and figured the only thing they could save at that juncture was their own asses. It wasn't the first time authorities were getting ready to throw someone under the bus to protect their reputation, as far as he understood it, that was 'all-in-a-day's-work' in politics, but only in the most extreme circumstance were they willing to offer one of their own officers on a silver platter to the incensed public. Nothing spoke to the imagination of the masses as much as a potentially crooked cop and it never failed to serve as a lightening-rod.

Trowa was quick to return with more case files. "This is everything." He put the boxes down with a grunt and then left Duo to it.

Duo worked tirelessly; reading case files and studying mugshots. But his search would prove to be futile. None of the men in the pictures matched the John Doe. Either they were looking in completely the wrong direction, or John Doe was an associate who had managed to keep his record clean. Whatever the case, it was a dead end.

He estimated that it was early in the morning by the time he realized his hours of work had been in vain. Heero had been forcibly taken from motel room 102 over twenty-four hours ago. If he had ever even made it alive out of whatever car he had been stuffed into in the parking lot, his chances of survival were slimming at a rapid, frightening pace. The odds of him being found alive were hurdling towards 'negligible'.

For the first time, he allowed himself to cry. He had been fighting it, afraid that once he would go to that emotional place he would lose his way in the maze and he would be a useless, bawling mess. But there was no fighting it any longer.

Heero could be long dead by now, he forced himself to acknowledge. His warm, supple body could be cold and rigid. His golden complexion could be white. His soft, pink lips could be blue. His vibrant, cobalt-blue eyes could be faded and grey.

And all of it would be Duo's fault. He was the one who let a nice, innocent guy get involved with an alcoholic cop with a predilection to get himself in trouble. He was the one who had decided their relationship would be purely physical. He was the one who had chosen the motel. He was the one who left him alone, when Heero begged him not to.

He might never get the chance to tell Heero that he was right. Duo was a coward. He had himself convinced that he stayed hidden in the closet for the right reasons, but if hiding your identity is hurting the people around you and is preventing you from living your live, no reason is good enough. Now that the secret was out, amidst this flurry of life-changing events, he realized how small and insignificant it was in the grand scheme of things. His sexuality had been a barrier between himself and everything and everyone around him his entire life and he had been hiding behind that barrier because he was scared – a coward – even though it never gave him any sense of security. It only made him all the more anxious, being so preoccupied with this secret. Everybody knew he was gay now and yet Milliardo and Trowa and even chief Khushrenada and WuFei were still on his side, without a single look or word of judgment. If they wanted to get rid of him because he was a fag, they were given the perfect opportunity – pressured even, by the District Attorney and the State Attorney General – and yet they still protected him and helped him to prove his innocence and to find his lover.

The epiphany only disheartened him even more; he might have gotten Heero killed because he was afraid of the veritable 'monster under the bed' – his childish fear could have cost Heero his life.

The bolt on his cell-door was unlocked and the door swung open. He expected it to be Trowa or Milliardo and was a little shocked to be faced with the statuesque Treize Khushrenada.

He jumped up. "Chief." He studied the man closely and noticed that in spite of his perfect hair and impeccable suit, he looked like he hadn't slept all night.

"No luck with the mugshots, I take it?"

He shook his head. "No, sir." He watched the tall man take a seat on the bench and fold his hands together. "Sir, do you have any news for me?" He asked with shaking breath.

"No, unfortunately I don't."

"To be honest, sir, at this point, no news is good news to me."

He nodded in understanding. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine," He lied and he could tell by the look in the chief's eyes that he didn't fall for the deception. "Trowa told me the media and Peacecraft's sister are urging you to close the case and arrest me."

"I have to be honest, Duo," He started ominously, "You look good for it. A murder conviction without a body is always tricky, but with the way things are I don't think any lawyer will have any trouble convincing a judge and a jury of your guilt. No offense."

"I know. It looks bad."

"What I mean to say is: if we don't find Heero, I don't think there is any way to prove your innocence and when your forty-eight hours are up, I either have to let you go or have you arrested and with the evidence available to us, you'll understand that the first of those options is not really an option."

"I know, sir. But I don't care what happens to me, I just want to find Heero."

Treize chuckled bitterly. "You will start to care after the first couple of years in a maximum security federal prison, for a crime you did not commit."

"I probably will, but right now I just want to find Heero," He repeated.

"I'm going to be very blunt right now and tell you that for me the opposite is true. After a few years I'm sure I will lose sleep over this case if we don't find mister Yuy, but right now I care only about the consequences to our department and that some of our past work might be undone."

Duo frowned at that. "Sir? What do you mean undone?"

"You are considered a persona non grata. Every lawyer worth his salt, who worked a case where your involvement was key in convicting a criminal, has been calling my office for more information because they seek to overturn rulings based on your witness-accounts and police work. They claim that now that you are 'a murderer' and possibly involved with one of the gangs you used to do undercover work for, you are not trustworthy and their clients should not go to jail based on evidence handled by you or your testimony."

A cold shiver went down Duo's spine.

"According to the DA over half a dozen serious criminals that we put away in the last two years have a good chance at getting off now that your reputation is besmirched. And their lawyers are badgering me to get some alone-time with you so they can put the screws on you."

Something in Duo's head clicked. A thought occurred to him; a new angle to approach the case which may very well be as useless as any other method that they had tried, but he had to follow-up. He asked: "Who called first?"

Treize shot him a quizzical look. Duo wasn't making any sense to him. "Is that relevant?"

"Probably not, but… humor me." He knelt on the floor by the case files, ready to scrummage through them.

"Dermail," The chief answered. "He's-"

"Quinze's lawyer."

"Mister Carnbee, yes."

Duo pulled the shortest stack of files towards him and sifted through the folders until he round the right one. The White Fang bust was his last case before he went to rehab. The recentness of it made sense. Quinze was in prison awaiting trial. It would take Duo's testimony to get the crook the sentencing he deserved. If Dermail could manage to persuade the judge to dismiss the case, Quinze would be released immediately, so he had motive – aside from the fact that Duo's betrayal had royally pissed off the proud gang leader. 'Disappearances' were right up White Fang's alley too; kidnapping for ransoms and getting rid of rival or defected gang members were par for the course.

"What are you thinking?"

"Well," He scratched his head and went through the mugshots yet again, as he explained absentmindedly: "What if this is a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of deal? What if the plan was not just to make me miserable, as revenge, but also to get Quinze out of prison in a single move?"

"That could be true for a lot of them. Quinze isn't the only one who benefits from your fall from grace."

"But his lawyer was the first to call. Perhaps because he got a heads-up."

Treize shook his head at the speculation. "White Fang fell apart. Members split up into smaller factions or joined other gangs, all renouncing Quinn Carnbee as their leader."

"Yeah, but all it takes is a couple of loyal fucks to pull this off."

Khushrenada grimaced. "It's a stretch."

"It's a lead," He insisted.

"Dermail did call hours before the others and was very well prepared…" He mused aloud.

"We need to look at calls Quinze made from prison!" Duo spoke in a hurry. His body was energized with a new surge of hope. "If he arranged this, he had to have placed a couple of calls to old friends and he probably called Dermail sometime during the past couple of days to tell him to get ready."

Khushrenada got up. "I'll get your team on it. Sit tight."

"Sir!" He called as the tall man was about to leave. "Please, let me come upstairs. I can be of use!"

Treize shook his head definitively. "If word ever got out that you worked on this case while you were still officially a suspect – and the only suspect – we will all hang. I'll make sure Peacecraft keeps you informed."

Duo stared at the door as it was shut and flinched at the sound of the lock falling into place. A panic swept over him. It wasn't easy to relinquish control like that in an investigation. He was used to being Mill's right-hand-man, being on top of everything and delegating work. This was the most important case and he was forced to stand on the side-lines and wait for news, keeping himself busy searching through mugshots without any hope of his efforts actually being of any help.

With breathing exercises he had been taught at rehab he managed to calm himself down and he sat on the bench. With his eyes closed he thought about his undercover time in the White Fang biker gang, hoping he might spontaneously remember a detail that could be of use.

He had infiltrated the gang before, as a low-level enforcer, alongside Milliardo – then known to the gang as Zechs Merquise. 'Zechs' worked his way up in the ranks but Quinze remained untouchable. In an attempt to force Quinze's hand and tempt him to do something stupid to get revenge, Duo exposed 'Zechs' as an undercover cop, dangling him in front of Quinze like bait. Unfortunately, Quinze didn't fall for it and the mission was cut short. The DA was pretty pleased that they had gotten enough dirt on three of the lieutenants to get them locked up. Duo's character, 'Duo Maximillian' – or 'D-Max', much to his horror – simply disappeared.

Thanks to his previous work in the gang, he was the ideal cop to send in undercover again for what was supposed to be a quickie. Going undercover wasn't really part of his job description any more, since he had made detective, but he was willing to turn his life upside down again for a couple of months to get Quinze. The biker gang was waging war with a rival and in the ugly mess of their own creation Quinze could slip up and they could finally pin his crimes on him. He ended up going undercover for seven months, much longer than planned, but it was worth it. Quinze trusted 'D-Max' and boasted about kills he had ordered and people he had tortured. The evidence they had on him was mostly circumstantial, but in combination with Duo's testimony of the stories Quinze had told him, it was enough to arrest him and have the case go to trial.

Quinze resented that his own arrogance and vanity had been his downfall. He didn't go without a fight. When they came to arrest him, assisted by a SWAT team, some of his guys opened fire on them and Duo and another officer got shot. Luckily neither got seriously injured.

Quinze was smart enough not to pick up a rifle himself, but framing Duo for a crime was more elegant than Duo thought him to be capable of. The more he thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. It appeared that the men who had come to take Heero had completely lucked out that Duo's actions happened to implicate him. Aside from planting a bloodied shirt in his bathroom, they hadn't actively made an effort to frame him and the shirt felt more like an afterthought. And someone had released his name to the press, involving the media wasn't an apparent part of White Fang's wheelhouse.

WuFei was right, the reason Duo was a good detective was because he could get into the mindset of a criminal and not just the average criminal, but any specific type of criminal. He had gotten to know Quinze very well. Kidnapping Heero in the dead of night, speeding off with screeching tires and leaving an accomplice and potential witnesses, fit with everything he knew about the way the gang operated under Quinze's command. Breaking into his apartment – the only time evidence was actually planted against him, as opposed to the evidence being an unfortunate coincidence – and leaking his name to the media to force the authorities into pinning this on him in their hurry to sweep it under the rug, was an entirely different approach and unlike anything White Fang had ever attempted.

Quinze was getting help from someone, he concluded.

The White Fang leader had ordered the last remaining men loyal to him to kidnap Heero. Quinze was the kind of man who believed blackmail could solve any problem, his plan had likely been to have Heero kidnapped to coerce Duo to retract his testimony and let the case crumble in on itself.

Someone else –someone with inside knowledge of the case – saw the direction in which it was all headed. They watched the coincidental evidence pile up, implicating Duo as the guilty party and this person decided to fine-tune the original plan and take steps to frame Duo and put pressure on the case to ensure that, in the ensuing frenzy, discrepancies that could acquit Duo would be conveniently overlooked.

He wondered if Dermail was responsible for the more sophisticated attempt to actually frame him for what had happened. Dermail was a piece of work; he was the lawyer for more scumbags like Quinze, as well as crooked politicians. At the Bureau Dermail was known as the 'DIY-lawyer', he fixed things, although the nickname was misleading because no one ever believed he did the dirty work himself. He was the kind of man with all the wrong friends in all the right places, helping inconvenient lawsuits be swept under the rug. But Dermail wouldn't have been able to keep track of the developments in the investigation that ended up pointing to Duo as the prime suspect. If he was the one planting evidence and calling reporters, he still had to have relied on someone else to feed him the inside information.

He would have to wait for insight into the phone records. Until someone came to his cell to keep him in the loop, he was left to worry about the implications of these two different approaches.

Quinze's plan required Heero to be kept alive and used as leverage, whereas the plan to frame him benefitted from Heero's body being discovered in a way that would further implicate Duo. He reasoned that Heero was probably being kept alive as a back-up plan for now, in case the framing would fail, then they could go back to the initial idea of blackmailing him into silence. However, once it would be clear that framing him had been effective and all that was needed was the final push – a body being discovered – Heero would be of more use to the kidnappers dead.

Tomorrow afternoon, his forty-eight hours would be up and as it stood the police couldn't let him go, they would have to arrest him, seeing as he was still the prime suspect and the public was hungry for his blood. He knew that when that would happen, the shift would occur and the kidnappers would abandon plan A in favor of plan B.

Heero will be killed and his body will be found in a couple of weeks, enough time will have passed so the estimated time of death would roughly match the night of his disappearance and he will probably have been shot to death with a 45 millimeter Gen4 Glock, the same kind of handgun Duo carried, but there would no round so no ballistics – White Fang always shot their victims in the neck.

Duo was brought breakfast and then later lunch by a guard. He asked for Milliardo both times but all he ever got in return was: "He's busy, but I'll see what I can do." He knew it was a good thing that Mill was too busy to come downstairs and have a chat with him, but he was anxious to tell his boss about his theory and have them look into it. He had to convince them to get him out of that damned holding cell and especially not book him tomorrow or Heero will have outlived his purpose.

The one to bring him his dinner was Milliardo. Finally.

He accepted the tray with food from the fourth floor kitchen but he set it aside with complete disinterest. "Tell me."

"You should eat first," Mill suggested, nodding at the tray. "The guard told me you haven't eaten a thing for breakfast and lunch either."

"I can't eat," He stated definitively. "Did you look into Quinze's call history?"

"Yes. We've been digging through people's phone-records all day, not all of them obtained in a strictly legal fashion." He flipped open a folder and reviewed: "Quinze called his lawyer the day before the yesterday. It looks like you were right. It could be a coincidence, but it appears that he gave Dermail a heads-up."

He nodded eagerly. Finally the investigation was going somewhere. "Did he make any other calls?"

"Hmhm," He turned a page. "The last couple of weeks he's made calls to one particular number. We traced it to a Gatland Black." Milliardo produced a photo from the file and stared at it for a moment before turning it to face Duo. "I'm not sure, but he could be our John Doe."

Duo took the picture and practically pressed his nose against the image. "It's him."

"It's an old DMV photo, with the state our John is in, we can hardly be sure…"

"It's him. I'm sure," Duo emphasized.

"How?"

"Because I've seen him before. I've seen him at a couple of White Fang meetings when I was under." Duo spoke hurriedly, excited by the development.

"It's a dead-end though. We have no records on him, no known associates. We checked out his place, of course, but there was nothing there."

"It's not a dead-end! I know who he usually partners-up with. They were a regular 'dynamic duo'. They could have been working together for this job!"

"Alright, what is his name?"

Duo blinked. He didn't know. His heart sank into his boots. "Fuck, I don't know, they called them 'black and blue'."

"Cute. You didn't recognize 'Blue' in any of the mugshots?"

He shook his head hopelessly.

"Then he probably has a clean record as well. Two guys without a criminal record are a good card for a criminal like Quinze to have up his sleeve for stuff like this."

"Speaking of that, I think it was never Quinze's plan to frame me. I think Quinze only wanted to blackmail me with Heero, he lacks the imagination for anything else."

Milliardo nodded. "I was starting to think the same thing, it was too much like a 'happy accident'."

"Someone else took notice of the turn of events, that my actions made me look guilty and they decided, after the fact, that it would be an even better idea to frame me." He added poignantly: "I think it's someone closely involved in the investigation."

Milliardo chuckled darkly. "Hell, Duo, you're locked up in a cell and still you manage to beat me to it, huh?"

With a frown Duo questioned: "What do you mean?"

"Noin helped us dig a little further – off the books – and we had a peek at Dermail's phone records. Guess who he has been on the phone with three times the day before yesterday."

Knowing Mill didn't actually expect him to start guessing, he waited wordlessly.

"Dorothy Catalonia."

The name didn't instantly ring a bell and at Duo's obvious frown Milliardo explained:

"Relena's Communication Liaison. She's been keeping tabs on the investigation, calling every other hour to Treize and myself to get more information. She knew everything about the investigation as soon as it happened. I think she had been feeding Dermail the information and pushing my sister to demand your arrest."

"Holy shit."

"Indeed. We always suspected Dermail had strategic friends all over the legal system and it seems Dorothy is one of them. We also found out Dermail called one of his druggie-goons and we picked him up for questioning this afternoon. He admitted to planting the bloodied shirt in your apartment on Dermail's orders. None of this will hold up in court because we didn't go through the proper legal channels to get a hold of Dermail's phone records – God and WuFei won't let me forget it-"

Duo snickered.

"But we might have just found a single, loose thread to an entire woven blanket of spies working for Dermail that he has been relying on to keep his rich and powerful buddies out of prison all these years. Because he's not even that great of a lawyer."

"What about Heero? Did the guy say anything about Heero?"

Mill shook his head. "His only job was planting the shirt. But I think that if we keep pulling on this thread we might find him. We're doing everything that we can, okay? You have to trust us."

"I do. I do trust you."

Milliardo offered him a smile and placed his hands on Duo's shoulders. "Why didn't you trust us before? Why didn't you trust me?"

"Because I'm a coward," He said and he chuckled bitterly.

"When all of this is over, I want us to be friends. Real friends. Is that okay?"

Duo nodded and he bit on his lower lip to stop it from trembling.

Milliardo pulled him into a hug.

Stifling a sob, Duo joked: "Does that mean you will finally admit that you have a crush on Noin?"

The tall, blond-haired man pulled back and shot him a quizzical look. "What?"

"Come on. You've been in love with her for years and I know something happened at Lando's retirement party."

Milliardo stammered but was unable to produce a convincing lie.

"Just tell her how you feel, okay? Don't run away from it, you'll regret it. Trust me."

He nodded, understanding what Duo meant. "I'm going to get back to work. Hang tight."

"Get me out of here, Mill. Please. Let me help!"

"Not yet, Duo. We can't afford to fuck this up. Some really powerful people are breathing down our necks, if we make even the tiniest mistake they will force us to arrest you. I told you, you have to trust us."

"Yeah…" Duo sighed as he was left behind in his tiny cell once more. He sat down and took as many bites from the meal Milliardo had brought him as he could stomach, which weren't very many. He did gratefully drink the can of soda, the fizzy drink helped subdue his nausea and the sugar had an energizing effect on him.

Duo leaned his back against the wall and forced his eyes closed to get a little bit of rest after not sleeping the entire night. The investigation was moving forward and reaching a point where the smallest discovery could lead to finding Heero. He kept wiping his hands on his thighs, the anxiety made his palms sweaty.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Mill or the others to handle this investigation and given Duo's current, emotional state they were probably better equipped to solve the case anyway. But he wanted to help as a way to redeem himself and to amend the mistakes he had made in the way he had disregarded Heero. He had mistreated him as he ignored the beautiful opportunity to have actually have a life worth living. Heero could have been the best thing to have ever happened to him and yet he had purposefully stopped it from happening and that had been a mistake. He wanted nothing more than to take the other man into his arms and just let himself be overwhelmed by the fresh scent of his hair, that reluctant smile and those eyes that only saw the good in him, not the bad. Heero knew of the darkest parts of him and still he was unafraid. Heero knew of the ugliest parts of him and still he loved him. Duo knew he had done nothing to deserve it – to deserve him – but he would; he wasn't going to be a coward anymore.

He stretched out on the bench and closed his eyes. He calmed his breathing and took himself back to the time he spent undercover in the biker gang. He wanted nothing more than to remember the nights he had spent with Heero, but those memories were of no help. He had to focus if he ever wanted to make new memories with the Japanese man.

He had met the duo known as 'Black and Blue' only a couple of times. Quinze limited their interaction with the rest of the group to keep the police from finding out they were part of the gang. Their 'clean' status – no criminal record – made them a valuable asset. Quinze made sure to protect that asset and they were allowed more fuck-ups than any other member of the crew. As a result, they were particularly loyal to the gang leader, so it made sense that they would still be willing to help the imprisoned and disgraced man even after the gang had fallen apart. Quinze and the duo had a symbiosis that was equally beneficial to both parties. They did the personal jobs for Quinze that he didn't want the police to know about, so nothing could trace back to him and in turn he gave them respect, cars and cash.

The 'Blue' half of the twosome was a shorter, very muscular guy, with a complexion that suggested a Latin descent. He was mean as piss, that's what Duo remembered about him mostly, listening to the other guys talk about them. Of course there was some resentment, the other bikers recognized the favoritism, that they deemed unfair. They used to trash talk about 'Black and Blue', saying that their motor cycles weren't up to snuff and that they couldn't ride for shit. In a biker gang, that was about the most offensive insult, because everybody measured masculinity based on their bikes and their skills to ride them – 'How you ride your bike says more about what kind of man you are than how you ride your bitch', that's how one of them put it.

In any case, 'Blue' seemed to take issue with his lack of popularity; he was short-tempered and vicious. It didn't surprise Duo that, of the two of them, Heero had managed to take out Black, but not 'Blue'. Black was big and intimidating but cumbersome and slow, in every sense of the word, that much was instantly apparent from watching him from across the clubhouse. 'Blue' was different, with an obvious chip on his shoulder he felt like had a lot to prove and he compensated his size with violence. Quinze would sometimes complain to Duo that he had 'gone rogue' or 'went ape-shit crazy'. Not that Quinze minded the man taking his anger out on one of their victims, but he was worried about them leaving physical evidence. The man hadn't been wrong to fear that, on his last mission 'Blue' left about two hundred pounds of physical evidence behind in the heat of things: his partner.

Utilizing a mental technique they applied on other witnesses when trying to solve a challenging case, he envisioned himself in the clubhouse, standing at Quinze's side, trying to figure out what he was really saying to one of his lieutenants when they were talking in a code he hadn't yet fully mastered. Black and 'Blue' were there that day. When it was time for them to leave, 'Blue' came to Quinze to show his respect, patting him on the shoulder before walking out and the only distinct feature Duo remembered about him was the pungent smell that hung around him. He was always smoking cigarettes and chewing nicotine gum at the same time. The cigarette hung loosely between his lips, sticking to the moist skin and the gum was rolling around in his mouth. It was a disgusting habit to curb his hyperactivity, hastily smacking his mouth to consume the nicotine in the gum and dragging non-stop on a cigarette simultaneously.

It had scared Duo to see how bad a nicotine-addiction could get and he had almost quit smoking on the spot, it was the only thing he could think about all day after being exposed to that smell and the awful smacking sound of that mouth as it worked that piece of gum. If 'Blue' smoked and chewed gum as rigorously throughout the day as he did in those couple of minutes Duo had been studying him, he must go through two packs of each a day.

He shot up. "Well, fuck!" He exclaimed and he immediately scrambled to his feet and started pounding on the steel door, calling out the guard's name. "Patrick! Patrick!"

It took forever but the guard finally responded, opening the hatch in the door to glare at him.

"Can you please get agent Milliardo Peacecraft down here for me?" He begged. "I know how to find Heero!"

"Who? What?"

"Just tell him! Call him to get his ass down here!"

Patrick shook his head at him and shut the hatch. Thinking he was being ignored Duo was about to start slamming his palms against the door again but then the heard the crackle of a walkie-talkie and Patrick asked one of his security colleagues to get agent Peacecraft.

Duo paced back and forth in the small room, only three steps each direction, as he waited impatiently for his boss to come downstairs. When it was taking too long he opened the White Fang file again and searched for a list of properties owned by Quinze and other prominent members of the gang. Those homes and warehouses served as bases of operation for the gang's illegal activities. He had been to a couple of them himself; drug-dens and safe-houses. Knowing the case inside and out he crossed out the buildings that Quinze sold off after White Fang fell apart and he narrowed the list down further by eliminating locations that were too far away. He ended up with a list of eleven properties, ranging from a large factory off the highway to a small cabin in the redwood forest, each one was officially marked as abandoned, but they were the most logical place to keep a kidnapping victim.

The door opened and Milliardo stepped inside. "What going on? Patrick said you know where Heero is?"

"No! But I know how to find him!" He handed him the list and tapped the piece of paper excitedly. "He has to be at one of these locations and I know how to find out which one!"

"Duo-"

"No, Mill, let me talk! Look, I was trying to remember more stuff about this character that always worked with Black that would help us track him down-"

"Duo-"

"Zechs, please, shit!" He continued in a hurry before Mill would interrupt him again: "This guys has a serious nicotine addiction. We need to call the gas stations and convenience stores closest to these locations and ask if a Latino-looking guy has come by, today or yesterday, buying cigarettes as well as nicotine gum. A store clerk might remember because it's a pretty odd combination!"

"Duo! Fuck! Shut up for a minute will you?"

Duo reeled back.

Milliardo glanced down at the list and shook his head. "I've already sent uni's to each and everyone one of these places. Normally we wouldn't be able to spare the manpower, but we've been hitting a dead-end so…" He sighed and looked apologetic as he concluded: "The places are abandoned."

"Even the factory? Did they really check the factory? Because that's a big place!" Duo pressed on.

"Our guys checked the factory, Duo. There was no-one there." His voice was gentle and careful, aware that he was bringing bad news.

Defeated, he dropped back down onto the bench and he stared at his limp, useless hands. "I thought…"

With a sigh Milliardo sat down next to him. "I know. It's okay. It would have been a good lead on any other case, but this one is different."

Duo looked up at him.

The other agent smiled sadly. "Duo, someone you love is missing, is in danger. When bad guys mess with a good cop, he messes with all of us. I have every guy in our department working the case and a dozen state troopers have been assisting us, they have been out all day checking up on every tiny lead."

"And they don't care that he is my 'faggot lover'?" Duo asked bitterly.

"Well, I didn't tell everyone, because it's none of their business," Mill admitted, "But the guys that do know, they don't give a fuck." He chuckled. "When this is all over, you owe a lot of guys a beer. And Noin too."

"Fuck." He choked out a laugh.

"I'm sorry if I ever made you feel that I would think less of you if you told me that you were gay," Mill spoke poignantly. "I know there have been some inappropriate jokes, from a lot of us, and that wasn't right."

"It's fine. Most of those jokes were mine anyway." He made a face. "Well, mine and WuFei's. He's been pretty outspoken about 'fags on the force' in the past."

"WuFei doesn't think less of you now that he knows you are gay."

Duo raised his eyebrows.

"He thinks less of you because he thinks your attitude and method are a disgrace to the force," He laughed and shook his head.

Duo let out another laugh but then a tear rolled down his cheek and he quickly buried his face in his hands to keep Milliardo from seeing.

Sympathetic to his pain and despair, Milliardo lay a hand on his shoulder and the small gesture made Duo sob.

"He's dead, isn't he?" He wailed. His emotions over-powered his self-conscious need for control.

Deciding that a lie would be useless, Milliardo simply agreed: "Probably."

Duo scrubbed his face with his hands to wipe away the tears and with red eyes he regarded his boss. "Promise me, Mill," He started with a strangled voice, "That you'll take me out there with you when you track this son of a bitch down."

Milliardo nodded reluctantly.

"And promise me that if Heero is dead, you'll let me kill the motherfucker responsible. Let me shoot this guy between the eyeballs."

"You know I can't let you do that, Duo."

"He'll deserve it."

"I know." He glanced down at his watch. "I have to get back to work."

"Let me come upstairs with you," Duo begged. "Please. I just want to call those gas stations and stores, just to be sure."

"Duo, it's the middle of the night-"

"Then I'll start with the ones that are open 24/7."

He reminded him: "You're still a suspect."

"And everyone knows that is bullshit!" Duo argued. "Mill, the longer I'm here, the worse Heero's odds get. If there is no progress in the case, I'll be arrested tomorrow afternoon and as soon as the media gets a picture of me being hauled out of this building in handcuffs, Heero is dead! Let me help. Don't make me spend another night in here, twiddling my thumbs!"

Milliardo looked to the side and seemed ready to shoot him down.

Duo understood his reluctance. Mill could catch a lot of heat if things went wrong and it wasn't his intention to get him trouble. Not any more than he already had, that is. He only intended to help the case, to help Heero, and he couldn't do that sitting in a holding cell, slowly going crazy waiting to have a bomb dropped on him.

Then the agent said: "Yeah, you know what? Fuck it. Come on."

Relieved and determined Duo got up and followed Mill out of the cell. Patrick shot them a questioning look but decided not to voice his concerns, they were obvious anyway.

Stepping into the bullpen Duo had never been more self-conscious. Every agent turned to stare at him when he stepped onto the floor. He was aware of how awful he must look. His clothes disheveled and torn in places from his fight with WuFei. His braid partly undone with whisks of hair sticking out. His face haggard, showing his extreme exhaustion and emotional turmoil. With tight mouth and slight frown he straightened his shoulders and marched to his desk. It was the first time many of them were seeing him as a gay man and he wanted to command the same kind of respect as before and not let them think that he was weak – even though he was weak at the moment, a mere shadow of himself. He felt like a wounded animal that shouldn't show it's physical limitations or else it would simply be preyed upon.

But then he realized it was the middle of the night and everyone there was working through the night to find Heero and he felt shitty for reverting back into his old behavior where he felt he had to hide his emotional truth to look strong. So instead he nodded at them in silent gratitude, offering an uncomfortable, apologetic smile before sitting down.

"Really?" WuFei turned to Milliardo. "Do you think this is a good idea?"

"It's fine. Technically, he's still in our custody."

Duo jumped when he felt hands land on his shoulders and he looked up to find Trowa standing behind him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to help."

He nodded. "Mill said you knew where Heero was?"

Duo grimaced at the miscommunication and how mistaken his earlier exuberance had been. "No. I- I just thought I had figured out a way to find him. I remembered that the guy Gatland Black pairs up with is a serious nicotine-addict; smoking cigarettes and chewing nicotine gum. I thought tracking those purchases would lead us to one of Quinze's properties."

"But we already checked those out."

"Yeah, I know…"

WuFei peered around his desktop monitor with a deep frown. "The guy that has Yuy both smokes and chews nicotine gum?"

"The guy I think has Heero, yeah." He shrugged dismissively. "I thought it would be a rare enough combination of purchases-"

"It is!" WuFei exclaimed.

Duo, Trowa and Milliardo gazed at the Chinese man expectantly.

"When I was at the gas station where Duo stopped for cigarettes," WuFei started to explain, "I had to watch through a couple of minutes of footage before Duo showed up. And, seriously, about two minutes before Duo walked into the store there was a guy at the cash register paying for gas and purchasing a pack of nicotine gum and asking the clerk for cigarettes! I remember it because it was so odd."

Duo got up from his chair and leaned over WuFei. "What did he look like?"

"Short. Broad shoulders in a muscle T-shirt. And Latino."

Duo doubled over. That was him! And Duo had been right there! He had been parked behind the store and that single car that passed behind him and headed for the pumps must have been the car Heero was in! He was right there!

Milliardo took over. "Did the gas station have camera's monitoring the pumps?"

"Yeah." A lightbulb went on in WuFei's head. "We'll have his license plate number!" He moved his mouse to open a program on his computer. "The clerk sent me all the footage from that night, I'll have his picture and his plate number in a couple of minutes."

Trowa guided Duo back to his chair. "Sit down. Before you pass out."

"I was there, Trowa," He mumbled.

"I know. But you couldn't have known."

He nodded numbly but Trowa's words didn't make him feel any less shitty.

Within a couple of minutes WuFei yelled-out: "Got it!" They showed Duo the images from the store cameras and he confirmed that the man in the video was the man he had seen at the White Fang clubhouse with Black. WuFei pulled up the video of the car parked by the gas pump. The license plate was easily legible and the Chinese agent got to work while the other three analyzed the footage. They could see someone sitting in the backseat of the car, but all they could see was the back of a head, titled to one side, almost resting on the shoulder. It was Heero and he was out cold – Duo dared to hope he wasn't already dead at that point – and he was probably made to look like a sleeping passenger.

WuFei had another Eureka!-moment and presented them all with a name:

"Benicio Luiz."

B. Luiz.

'Blue'.

As hypothesized, his record was clean, he was a supposedly upstanding citizen. He owned two properties, a house in Harrisburg and a cabin in the Appalachian Mountains, between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Officially, they had to hit both locations simultaneously so they had to spread their manpower, but it was obvious the cabin was a safe bet. If Luiz and Heero were at either of those two places, they would be in the privacy of the cabin.

Milliardo purposefully didn't inform Khushrenada or any of their superiors of the progress. Without any real evidence, they hadn't moved in on Dorothy Catalonia yet and they weren't sure who they could trust. Milliardo, Trowa, WuFei and Duo would head West for the cabin and Noin's team would go to the outskirts of Harrisburg to search the house.

The teams were downstairs in the armory, putting on bullet-proof vests and strategizing, when WuFei approached Duo.

Before the Chinese man could say anything, Duo defended his involvement in the bust. "I need to do this WuFei. And Mill already promised me, so don't even try-" He fell silent when his gaze landed on his gun – his Glock – being handed to him by the agent.

"If you're going to come in with us, you need to have this."

He accepted the pistol. He hadn't expected to be allowed to carry a weapon. He figured Mill would object to it because he might seek revenge and he had expected WuFei wouldn't trust him with a firearm since he was still, officially, a suspect in the case.

"When I'm out in the field, Sally feels better knowing you have my back," He explained, as stern and unyielding as ever.

"Thank you," He spoke reverently.

"I mean, I still think you're a shitty detective, but you are the best shot."

Duo chuckled. "I was about to say the same to you. But I'm honored to have your back."

"Good. Don't shoot me with that," He nodded at the handgun.

"Don't worry," Duo holstered the weapon. "If I ever try to kill you, I'll choke you with your own, hideous tie. Again."

"Ready?" Mill eyed the gun on Duo's belt warily but didn't say anything, hoping that Duo would know better than to use it in the manner he had proposed earlier to enable his revenge.

The two agents who were normally at odds nodded in unison.

"We'll head to the address in the suburbs and wait for you guys to get in position," Noin said in her usual, no-nonsense tone.

The teams separated, climbing into black SUV's in the parking lot and going in opposite directions.

Trowa was behind the wheel, flooring the gas pedal. Milliardo was in the front passenger seat but sat turned around and strategized with WuFei. Duo paid them all little attention. He watched the streetlamps as they sped down the highway and when they turned onto a dark, gravelly road heading deeper into the woods he forced himself to look at his own reflection in the black window. His face was a ghostly pale, his eyes equally lifeless. He wouldn't just be saving Heero, he would be saving himself.

They stopped half a mile down the dirt-road from the house so their approach would be stealthy and coordinated with Noin's team before moving forward, inching up the driveway towards the cabin. Milliardo signaled that he and Trowa would go through the front and Duo and WuFei would take the back.

With his weapon drawn, Duo fell in step behind the agent, stepping in his footprints in the mud as they circled the house. His heart was pounding and blood was rushing through his ears. He was sure his thundering heartbeat would give away their position. When both duos were in position at the doors they went inside. WuFei used his powerful legs to kick the door in and the two men stormed into the house, searching every dark room with the flashlight they held next to their handguns.

"Clear!" WuFei called when the kitchen and den turned out empty.

"Clear!" Said Trowa when he found the hallway, bathroom and bedroom to be abandoned as well.

"Fuck!"

"Duo, calm down," Milliardo urged.

"He's not here!"

"We can see that, Duo!" He bellowed in response. "Let's search the cabin for clues while we wait for Noin's call."

They flicked on the lights. There was nothing useful to be found in the cabin. No one had been there in months, it seemed. Everything was covered in a film of dust and cobwebs occupied every corner.

Then Trowa, who was in the bedroom, called: "I got something!"

Duo rushed into the bedroom and he didn't see anything out of the ordinary until he followed Trowa's pointing finger to the ground, to the disturbed dust on the floor. He followed the trail to the chair in the corner. There were marks in the dust by the legs, the chair had been moved and very recently. He studied the chair closely and noted one of the wooden armrest had been nearly snapped off and he could imagine the wood breaking when someone tied down to it tried to escape. And then Trowa pointed to a corner of the rug that had been flipped over revealing clean, dust-free wood.

"They were here," Duo was sure of it.

"Looks like they got into another fight. Heero is a feisty thing, huh?"

Duo couldn't help but smirk. He remembered the two of them slamming into doors and walls, hitting their heads on the headboard, tearing clothes off each other and scratching and biting, snarling and cursing. "Yeah."

"Where would they have gone? And why would they have even left in the first place?" WuFei wondered.

Milliardo excused himself when his phone rang and mouthed: 'It's Noin'.

Duo knew she was calling only to inform him they weren't at the house either. A suburban house was a stupid place to keep a hostage. These guys weren't rocket scientists but they definitely knew better.

"Maybe Dermail hooked him up with a more secure place?" He suggested. "We should go back to the station and look into what kind of property Dermail has access to in the region."

With no other options available to them, that's what they did, even though they were exhausted and increasingly hopeless. On the way back to Harrisburg the unspoken truth hung heavily in the car, but none of his team members was willing to say it out loud. Luiz could have killed Heero at the cabin and buried his body out in the woods somewhere. But Duo couldn't give up and what kept him going was the thought that Quinze would never let Luiz or Dermail waste such a valuable hostage before he was absolutely certain he had outlived his purpose and not until Duo was officially arrested would that be the case. Quinze knew that his reputation could still be cleared and if that were to happen his case would go to trial after all. At least, he hoped Quinze was smart enough to keep his back-up plan.

When they arrived at the station Noin was already there, waiting for them in the armory where they stripped off their bullet proof vests.

As Duo walked into the bullpen he noted, with dread, the clock on the wall. It was nearly morning which meant Heero had been missing for over forty-eight hours.

They looked into the property owned by Dermail and by Dorothy, to cover their bases. Dorothy Catalonia only had her downtown apartment and they hypothesized she was only involved to the extent of being an informant. Dermail, as a fixer, was the one who had been given the responsibility and Quinze was one of his best clients, surely deserving a more personal touch; it would be someplace he had control over but was sure wouldn't be investigated.

The list was long. Dermail had many industrial and residential buildings in his name. Technically, his name was on all the leases, but only because part of the services he offered was signing paperwork that his criminal clients didn't want to sign themselves, so many of them had him purchase real-estate for them. Whenever there was a bust Dermail would claim them to be squatters and he was never linked to them.

The team only managed to narrow the list down to the twenty-three most likely options. It was too much ground to cover, especially given the time constraint – in a few hours the DA would come marching into the office demanding Duo's arrest.

Milliardo instructed a handful of state troopers to check out as many of the addresses as possible. In the meantime they put out a BOLO on Benicio Luiz and the team would apply the method Duo had suggested before: they looked up all convenience stores close to the possible hide-outs and asked around for a man who had come by to purchase cigarettes and nicotine gum. It was a long list and for many stores they had to talk to several employees before they could rule out that he had been there. And even if all stores close to a locations did not get a visit from Luiz, they still couldn't cross that location off the list. He had been on the move from the cabin to the new location and he could have stopped at any given place for a supply to last him a couple of days.

It was nearly noon and the state troopers had only cleared nine properties. The team was getting agitated when their phone calls turned out pointless every time.

Noin stormed into the open area and before she could say anything, Mill scolded her protectively: "I thought I told you to go home and get some sleep!"

"I know! I know!" She sat down on the corner of Duo's desk. "I think I have something."

Everyone looked at her sharply.

"I was looking through the list of addresses for these properties owned by Dermail and some of them had phone numbers listed as well and I recognized one of them!" She placed two lists on the desk, one was the list of the properties, the other was Dermail's phone record. She had highlighted the matching numbers in neon yellow. "Dermail called this landline number. He called to this place!"

"So? He has friends doing business on these properties," Milliardo supplied.

"Yeah, but I think he has been pretty consumed with this kidnapping-ordeal the past two days," She shot back. "But of course I took into account that it might just be one of the drug-dens run by one of his buddies, but I looked it up and it's one of those futuristic mansions, in the middle of nowhere, and it's being renovated. I looked up the permits and the place has been stripped bare, down to the concrete. He has someone holed up in that place and he had to call landline because cell phone reception is spotty up there, at best."

"Or he called the construction crew…"

"It's a Sunday," She rebuffed.

"So it's an overzealous construction crew working overtime…"

She leaned in closer to the blond agent. "I get it okay. You've reached a point in the investigation when it's hard to believe you might have actually found something, but I'm telling you: we've found something. It's only about forty five minutes North of Luiz' cabin."

Milliardo looked at his team members one by one.

"We should go check it out," Duo said with hoarse voice. He knew Mill was apprehensive about putting him through a repeat of the previous night, but they had to keep going.

The agent nodded in consent. "Okay, let's go."

Noin's team went with them that time. Duo could tell his boss was nervous about being in the field with the agent he had secretly loved for years, but he couldn't worry about Mill's feelings in the moment, he already felt like he was stretched too far; spread too thin.

Sitting in the backseat of the SUV again, he adjusted his vest and touched his gun to make him feel more secure. During the two hour drive to the remote mansion in the mountains, Duo remembered, involuntarily, the first night he had met up with Heero at the Sunburst French Creek motel.

As soon as he stepped through the door of room 102 he was all over Heero and the shorter man eagerly returned his heated kisses. His hands wandered with definite desperation. He had been thinking about this hook-up all day, remembering the brief taste he had gotten when he appeared on Heero's doorstep just the previous week. His hands kneaded the flesh through obstructing clothes and with a growl he pushed the hem of the thin grey shirt that Heero wore up his torso, all the way up to his armpits and he stroked his coarse knuckles down his exposed sighs, feeling the suggestions of ribs and tense muscles underneath the silken skin.

Their hips were fused together. He could feel the heat of Heero's erection pressed between them as vice versa was true for the other. Duo maneuvered Heero around and pushed him back against the door. He stepped back only long enough to rid them both of their shirts and to appraise him lustfully for a second before pressing their bodies together again. Duo felt the hardness of Heero's stiff nipples against his chest and the tickle of the other's bangs as they merged with his.

The whole experience was very intense. He had been abstinent since he went into rehab and all the bottled-up sexual energy released at once in an explosion that set his every nerve-ending alight and it felt like an orgasm in and of itself, but instead of leaving him satisfied, it left him hungry for the taste of that golden skin.

He kissed the sensitive shell of the ear, the long neck and the shoulder while his fingers figured out where Heero liked to be touched most.

Heero's words were jarring in the heat of the moment. "Isn't this the motel where those four guys were killed?"

"Three," He corrected. "Only three of them died."

"Right. Wasn't the other guy paralyzed though?"

"Something like that." With a frown he stopped his assault and peered into Heero's eyes.

"Isn't this place a little… creepy?"

Duo grinned and recaptured his mouth in another kiss and when their lips parted and Heero looked at him, dizzy and dazed, Duo assured him: "I promise I'll protect you." He took Heero's hand and guided it to the handgun in the holster on his hip.

Heero bit his bottom lip and his erection firmed even more.

Duo took the gun out and let Heero feel the weight of it in his hands. "I'll keep you safe."

The younger man was clearly impressed and turned on. He inspected the handgun curiously and Duo marveled at those long, golden fingers exploring the cold, black shape of the weapon.

The agent took the gun and placed it on the desk next to them, then he cupped the beautiful face in his big hands and kissed him again.

With his concerns about the safety of the motel seemingly forgotten Heero was easily persuaded to join Duo on the bed. Heero wasn't easily frightened anyway, he had a painful past of his own that, at the very least, had done him the kindness of equipping him with tools to deal with any hardship the future would throw at him.

Heero's body yielded like water to his every touch and surged around him and made him feel weightless. He demanded nothing but gave everything, letting Duo kiss him where-ever he pleased and uncertain hands returned the sensual touches.

Not able to stand the tease any longer, Duo sat up and unfastened his pants and let the weight of his belt drag the fabric down his thighs. He stroked himself through his underwear, the thick shaft curving up to his left hipbone. Heero reached out and replaced his hand with his own. In the meantime Duo fought with the buttons of the fly of Heero's jeans and once he popped the last one he moved off the bed to strip the denim and the cotton-blend of his briefs down the length of his legs and stepped out of his own slacks and underwear. He retrieved the condoms and lube from his pocket and threw them onto the bed before climbing on top of the Japanese man.

Heero spread his legs without hesitation and wrapped them around Duo's hips.

"I want you on all fours," Duo said. It was easier for him to keep sex impersonal if there would be no eye-contact.

Heero didn't allow him to pry his legs away and flip him over. "No, like this," He pleaded with vulnerable voice.

He didn't want a discussion to get in the way of what he needed, so Duo didn't argue. Without much ado he put on the condom and smeared an excessive amount of lube onto himself. As he positioned the head of his erection at the opening, Heero stiffened and he said:

"It's been a while."

Duo had figured as much. He tried not to embarrass him when he asked clinically: "Do you need me to prep you?"

He shook his head. "Just go slow."

Slow wasn't really his speed and the last thing he wanted was for Heero to need him to stay still inside him for a minute. He had past experience with lovers having trouble adjusting to his size and he had discovered that being inside someone and not moving, merely holding them and kissing them until they relaxed, was far too intimate. He decided he had to avoid it. He poured more lubricant into his hand. He rubbed two hands together to warm up the liquid and then he made sure his fingers were slick enough.

Heero didn't say anything as he slid his index finger into him and only let out a slight gasp as he added another finger after a while, and another and another, to properly stretch and prepare him. His expression was one of focus, until Duo bundled his fingers together and deliberately started to massage his prostate. Soon, the younger man was covered in an sheen of sweat that gave his golden skin an attractive glow and he was moaning freely. He had his head tossed back and his dark hair fanned out on the white sheets. The spread thighs were tense and the muscles quivered. His erection twitched and pre-cum beaded on the red crown.

Judging him to be ready, Duo retreated his fingers and got into position again. Because he had stretched Heero with as many as four fingers, he was able to thrust into him without much resistance.

Heero let out a long, deep moan and curled his spine to look down his body at where they were joined. "Ahh, you're big."

Duo didn't say anything and ignored the swell of his own ego. He hooked his hands in the hollow of Heero's knees and pushed them back against his chest to gain the best access and he started rocking into him. Heero allowed himself to be overpowered by Duo and overcome with pleasure. He was loud, just the way Duo liked it.

The Japanese male grabbed the end of his braid and held onto it in a tight fist as the pleasure built towards a climax at an unforgiving pace. He tugged on his braid and pulled his face down to connect their mouths in a passionate kiss.

Duo preferred not to kiss during sex – and that was never an issue because he hardly ever did it facing his partner – but in the moment he couldn't deny the other anything and he greedily engaged his tongue in battle.

He shouted his lover's name when he reached his climax, a first for him. Once he pumped the last of his semen into the condom he pulled out, got rid of the latex and unceremoniously took Heero's neglected arousal into his mouth. When he could tell the man was close, he finished him off with his hand, angling his penis up to his belly button so he would spill his white hot passion onto his own stomach.

"That was very good," The agent said with a grin.

"Yeah?" Heero smiled sloppily and agreed: "Yeah."

"Mind if I take a shower before I go?"

"Mind? Go?" Heero repeated quizzically.

He realized Heero had expected him to stay and spend the night with him. He should have been more clear, but it was an uncomfortable conversation that he preferred to avoid for as long as he could.

Heero propped himself up on his elbows and stared at him and for a moment Duo lost his intentions to leave in the depths of those breathtaking eyes. But he shook his head and remembered he couldn't afford to fall in love and he had a feeling Heero was the kind of guy who could make him fall and make him fall hard if he was giving enough time; if he stared into those eyes long enough, if he kissed those lips often enough, if he held him to him for even a single night. Duo had himself convinced that that would be the real act of cruelty, to let them both fall in love but never let the relationship out in the open, so it was better to strictly limit their interactions to sex, in that seedy motel room.

He kissed him for the last time that night. The electricity that sparked was brushed off as post-orgasm bliss. Duo took a quick shower and then left with a pathetic 'Catch ya later' and a halfhearted wave.

He thought his careful steps to prevent himself from falling in love – which amounted to him being a total asshole to Heero – had at least been successful, but the detail in which he could remember that encounter and every encounter after suggested otherwise. His hairs still stood on end whenever he remembered any kiss, any touch, any thrust. And when he did, every part of his body tingled in anticipation to do it all over again; to immerse himself in the refreshing cool of those blue eyes and bury himself into the soothing warmth of that body. Yet what he wanted most of all, was just to have Heero smile at him again, that endearing grin that bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes. It was a yearning that went beyond lust and undeniably begged for that other 'L-word' to be spoken out loud, even if only in a whisper.

That very first time, he promised he would protect him. He had to honor that promise. He had let Heero down in so many other regards, he couldn't let him down again.

"Duo, we're here."

Duo gave Milliardo a nod and the men climbed out of the car and with the assistance of Noin's team they headed up the driveway. The mansion appeared between the trees, a building of sharp angles and vast expanses of glass and concrete. They split up into pairs to cover all the exits and synchronized their entries, opting for the soft approach where they picked the locks and snuck inside.

For a few seconds all Duo could hear was their boots crunching and shuffling on the bare concrete floor, until suddenly he heard a voice bellow, and they all froze.

"You fucking cunt!"

He winced at the sound of a dull thud and a painful cry but then his heart swelled. Heero was still alive. He was in pain, but alive!

All teams rushed to the source of the sounds, coming from behind a door that seemed to lead down into a basement. Milliardo made sure that Duo stayed at the back of the pack. He quietly tried the doorknob only to find it locked and he had them all step aside to make room for WuFei, the master at kicking-in doors.

"Quit your mewling, you disgusting piece of shit!"

Duo's blood boiled. He gripped the handle of his gun tightly in his sweaty palms.

"Fuck. What is taking so long?" Luiz wondered angrily. "Dermail should have called by now. Your boyfriend is being hauled off to prison as we speak." He cackled. "I'm going to enjoy killing you. I'm going to cut you open…" Heero cried out. "… right here. And you can watch your own guts spill to the floor."

"Fuck you…" Heero growled.

Milliardo held up his hand and counted down.

3…

2…

1…

With a mighty kick the Chinese agent made short work of the door and Milliardo and Trowa rushed in first, screaming: "Police! Drop your weapon! Show your hands!" Noin and WuFei followed them down a narrow flight of stairs, their guns trained. The four of them stopped at the bottom of the staircase, all aiming their weapons in the same direction, but they were frozen in place.

Duo knew Milliardo would have preferred it he stayed away until they would resolve the stand-off, but he couldn't stand by at the top of the staircase, not knowing what was going on, not knowing if Heero was alright. With light footfalls he made his way halfway down the steps until the entire basement came into view.

At the center of the hollow, concrete box, were Heero and Luiz and Duo felt like breaking down at the sight of his lover but he forced himself to remain composed.

Heero's wrists were tied with silver duct tape and held up high above his head by a metal hook coming down from the ceiling. He was still wearing the clothes from that night; his black boxer briefs and his white shirt, but the shirt was stained with dirt and blood. He was blindfolded by a strip of black cloth. Trails of dried blood came down from his nose that stained his lips and smeared red all the way down his throat to the first button of his shirt. The young man was visibly trembling.

Luiz looked beat-up himself. He had a thick lip and a bruised and swollen shut eye.

Duo wanted to say something to make Heero feel at ease, but he didn't want to risk him moving in reaction to whatever words of comfort he might have to offer.

Luiz stood right in front of Heero, with one of his big arms wrapped around his slim waste. The man held up a long, gleaming hunting knife and he had the tip of it right against the blindfold, by Heero's left eye. He glared at the officers that had him in their sights. "I'll kill him! I'll stab him right through his fucking eye and scramble his brain."

"Put the knife down, Luiz," Milliardo ordered. "Or you'll get a double tap in the heart from every single one of us before the blade has even pierced the fabric. That's eight rounds of lead in the heart, you don't want that."

"I'm not aiming for the heart," Noin said darkly. "I'm aiming for your dick. You definitely don't want that."

Mill also wasn't counting all the bullets in Duo's clip which he would pump into Luiz' gut if he caused Heero any further harm.

"I want immunity!" The criminal demanded and paused to chew his nicotine gum. "I know things!"

"You're not in a position to negotiate, Luiz. You kidnapped and tortured a man for sixty hours."

"Tortured? This disobedient cunt asked for a beating! He killed my friend and look at what he did to my face!"

Duo grinned.

"Still, it doesn't look like you've been taking care of him, Luiz," Milliardo pointed out.

Heero was badly beaten and dehydrated. He barely had the strength to remain standing. The basement was hot and stuffy too, the air was stifling, Heero was soaked in his own sweat and could be suffering from a serious heatstroke. Duo's rage was further fueled by the sight of cigarette burns on his exposed legs.

The agent continued: "Looking at him, I don't really feel like going easy on you."

"I can give you Dermail! And that blonde bitch, Cat. And many more like them!"

"Fine. That's cool. Drop the knife to the floor and let us take you to the station. I'm sure the DA will offer you a pretty sweet deal."

Luiz was looking at jail time no matter who he was willing to rat out, but he could seriously reduce his sentence if he cooperated.

Luiz stared at them all for a moment as he contemplated his options. Realizing that if he wanted to live, he had no choice but to surrender. He slowly took the knife away from Heero's face. He dropped it and kicked it across the room.

"Get down on the floor and put your hands on your head!" Noin shouted and she moved in as Luiz obeyed her instructions. She lowered herself down on top of him, purposefully digging her knee into his back as she roughly put the cuffs on him.

Duo had expected he would want to pull Luiz away from her and kick the shit out of him and make him feel a kind of pain they didn't even know about in the Federal prison he was going for the next couple of years, but instead he forgot all about the man – the poor excuse of a man.

He rushed down the stairs and Trowa, WuFei and Milliardo made way for him. He literally stepped over Luiz' prone body to get to Heero.

"Heero?" His voice cracked. "Baby?"

"Duo?" His face contorted and he started to cry.

"Shhh… Shhh…" He reached up and undid the knot of the blindfold and carefully peeled the soiled fabric away from his face.

Heero's eyes blinked open and for a moment he smiled when he recognized the familiar face but then he broke down in sobs and lowered his head.

Duo put his hands on the slim waist and lifted him up just enough to get his hands free from the hook and Heero dropped his arms around Duo's shoulders. The younger man smelled of sweat and urine, having not been allowed to relieve himself in a bathroom since he was taken – but Duo didn't care about that. He hugged the shaking body to his tightly only to realize he had been the one who was shaking.

The Japanese male pressed his face against Duo's chest. "You left. You left!"

Duo cried freely. "I know," He wept miserably. "I'm so sorry. I'm never going to leave you again," He vowed. He cradled Heero's face in his hands and made him look up at him. With a breaking heart he studied the pained expression in his beautiful eyes and the blood on his handsome face. He leaned in and placed a kiss on his lips, even though they were dry and cracked and had clotted blood on them.

"I love you," He said, realizing the overwhelming, overpowering truth of his words. He was not going to make the same mistakes again and deny them both the truth they needed to be outspoken.

Those lips formed a smile again and even though the bottom lip was trembling, the smile didn't fade away that time.

After allowing them their moment, Milliardo interrupted: "EMT's are on their way. Let's get him out of this sauna."

"Yeah." Duo wasted no time and lifted him up in his arms and carried him outside.

Even as Heero breathed in the fresh mountain air, he was still panting and sweating. He looked too pale and sickly.

Duo gently placed him on the steps of the front door. He cut the duct tape and carefully peeled it off his skin. WuFei came up to them and helpfully gave Heero a bottle of water that he had quickly fetched from the car and placed towels and more water at Duo's feet. Heero barely had the strength to hold the bottle to his lips. When he ended up spilling more water than drinking it, Duo took the bottle from him, ignoring his glare and with a hand on the back of his neck he tilted Heero's head back and helped him drink. When he had had as much as he could handle, the American let him catch his breath and he soaked one of the towels with water from the bottle and wiped his face and neck clean of blood as best he could and then he told Heero to lay down on his back and he drenched a clean towel in water and dapped his forehead and chest to cool him down.

His breaths came out in miserable wheezes and yet he smiled when Duo leaned in and kissed his cheek.

Wrought with emotion Duo failed to stifle a sob. He stroked his hand through Heero's damp hair. "Will you be okay?" He choked. His complexion was so void of color it worried Duo.

"Yeah… I will now… Now that you're here…" Heero breathed.

An ambulance came rushing up the driveway and Duo made room for the EMT's so they could work, but he kept a tight hold in Heero's hand. They opened up his shirt, revealing hideous bruises that were a telltale mark of cracked ribs and there was a long, fresh, but thankfully superficial cut across his lower abdomen, where Luiz must have shown him how he would gut him.

Noin and her team left to escort Luiz back to the station. She briefly touched Duo's shoulder and offered him a smile and Duo watched her have a quiet conversation with Milliardo before climbing behind the wheel of their SUV. Luiz was in the back, sandwiched between two of her agents. He noticed Milliardo's embarrassed smile.

Once the paramedics had checked Heero's vitals and had put an oxygen mask on him, the they transferred him onto the gurney and Duo followed closely behind. He got an odd look when he was about to climb into the back of the ambulance, normally agents didn't accompany victims to the hospital.

"I'm coming with you," Duo stated, leaving no room for argument. "He's my boyfriend."

The two men simply nodded and made room for him. One of them asked him to pull the doors shut and he was about to do that when Milliardo appeared.

"Noin said we should go on a double date as soon as Heero feels better."

Duo smiled and simply nodded and Milliardo shut the doors and banged on the back to let the driver know he was free to go. With a jolt the ambulance started moving and Duo scooted further to the front to sit closely next to Heero. "Is he going to be okay?"

One of the EMT's gave him a reassuring answer: "He'll be fine once we just get some fluids in him. I don't think he'll be at the hospital for more than a couple of days."

Duo nodded and exhaled in relief.

Heero mumbled something incoherent, so Duo leaned in close and helped him momentarily take off the oxygen mask so he could speak.

"I knew you would come for me."

"Yeah?"

"You promised you would protect me."

"I did. But I didn't do a very good job." He couldn't stop his gaze from traveling down Heero's abused body.

"You did. You kept your promise," Heero declared.

"I'll do a better job from now on. I'm not going to be a coward anymore, that I also promise you." He smiled at him and reached for the oxygen mask, but Heero stopped him.

"I got an extra dining room chair for you," He wheezed.

Duo chuckled and kissed him lightly before placing the mask back over his mouth. "Good," He said with a grin, "Because I'm coming home with you."

---

The end.

If sappiness was a crime, I would be hauled off to jail right now… SORRYNOTSORRY!