Chapter 14:
Kira realized that he really, really hated Orga Sabnak. There was nothing – absolutely nothing – likeable about this guy: the repulsive look on his face, the obnoxious cock of his head, the sly glint in his eye. How many times had he sworn to kill the guy but never got to doing it? As he stared up at the gun Orga Sabnak was pointing straight at him, Kira realized he had led a life without any regrets, except, maybe, this one.
"Put it back into the case, Kira," Orga repeated, his tone dangerous. He had lowered the black handkerchief covering his face and a mad grin was twisting his mouth.
Over his shoulder, Kira saw that both Stellar and Auel had also been held hostage. Orga's female teammate had an arm wrapped across Stellar's shoulder and a knife pressed to her throat. Close to the door, Auel was pinned to the wall by Clotho Buer's gun. A familiar rage began rising in Kira. It was like being devoured in flames, every vein in his body tingling and clamouring for his attention.
He opened his mouth slightly but before he could even say a word, Orga had read his mind and was already shaking his head, a rueful smile lighting up his face. "Don't even try," he smirked, "Sting has got problems of his own."
"What did you do to him?"
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Orga gestured in the direction of Kira's ear, indicating for him to contact Sting. Kira hesitated, trying to size up his adversary. He knew Sting was staked out in the white limousine, surrounded by computer monitors and surveillance equipment. The only other member unaccountable for was Shani, and he had left the house earlier to station himself alongside Sting to provide technical assistance. Would they be confronting each other now? Yes, there was such a possibility. And were Orga Sabnak and his teammates crazy enough to risk it all? Unfortunately, the answer was a yes.
"T, we need back-up here," Kira muttered
The voice that came through his earpiece was strained and agitated. "I'm a little busy, K. Right now, I've got Shani Andras' .45 handgun jammed in my kidney."
Before Kira could even reply, Auel tore suddenly out of Clotho's grasp and launched himself at Orga, striking blindly with his fist. But Clotho gained foot on him and clubbed him over the head with the butt of his gun. Auel went down into a heap on the carpet and Clotho stood over him grinning, with his gun aimed at Auel's head.
"You son of a bitch," Kira breathed.
Orga Sabnak just laughed, as though reveling in a compliment. "You have no idea how long I've been dreaming of doing this," he hissed. "Previously, it was professional jealousy. But now, I don't need to come up with some plausible excuse to pacify Rau. After how you revealed your name to Lacus Clyne, I can just tell Rau that I killed you to remove a potential threat."
"Pull that trigger and we're all going down, Orga," Kira snarled. "We haven't got much time left. You're wasting it by killing us. When the police comes charging in, none of us are getting out alive."
Orga made a dismissive gesture with his gun before aiming it back at Kira. "Maybe you can't," he smirked, "but we can."
"Team #4, can you hear me?" Athrun yelled into the microphone on his collar. There was no reply, only a buzz of static.
"Team #4!" He shouted, "Team #3? Team #2?" No reply. Athrun sped across the garden, leaping over a flowerbed. He had caught the attention of Team #1, which was patrolling the garden and they were too heading for the house. But something – or someone – had disrupted the line of communication between the teams and he couldn't contact any of the teams within the house.
Shit, shit, shit. Athrun tore through a bush, ignoring the branches that snagged and tore his trousers. Son of a bitch!
Kira glanced at his trapped teammates. Auel was temporarily out of action. Sting was most definitely out. He could try kicking Orga's legs out from under him, since he was still crouched low with the vial and its briefcase in his lap. But he could see that Orga did not have a silencer on his gun. It would probably have made the gun too bulky to smuggle into the house. So if the gun accidentally went off when Orga fell, chaos would ensue. The only one left with a little bit more chance was Stellar. If she threw her head upwards – hard - and clipped the woman under her chin, the woman would go out like a light. Kira turned his gaze on Stellar and saw her amber eyes brighten with understanding.
He saw her bend her knees slightly, building up the tension in her thighs. And then all of a sudden, the door of the study creaked open and a pillar of light flooded into the room.
"What the hell-" A startled voice arrested their attention. Framed in the doorway was a uniformed officer. He froze for just a second, and was already yelling into the hidden microphone at his collar when Clotho descended upon him. He yelped and brandished his gun, trying to get an aim, but Clotho merely dodged and came up behind him, then slit his throat with a knife. Blood sprayed across the wall as the blade severed his jugular artery and he fell to the ground on his front.
"Shit," Orga wrinkled his nose. He glared at the collapsed body and threw a disgusted glance at Clotho, who was busy wiping his knife on the shirt of the dead officer. "You couldn't have done a cleaner job?"
Clotho merely grinned.
"His friends should be coming soon," Orga smiled, turning back to Kira, "time for us to be on our way. But first, let's finish you off."
He flicked off the safety of the gun and the finger on the trigger began its descent. And that was when all hell broke loose.
Kira watched as Orga Sabnak's body flew and slammed into the opposite shelf. A silver-haired man in a tuxedo had thrown himself at Orga and they both fell in a spitting, kicking heap. Books rained down on their writhing bodies.
And right on schedule, Sting's voice burst through their earpieces. "I've got the car waiting outside the gate. Get down to the main entrance!"
Galvanised into action, Auel launched himself at Clotho and they wrestled across the room. Stellar and the woman were tackling each other on the ground. Both fights ended quickly as Clotho and the woman were eager to assist their leader and at the first opportunity, abandoned the fight and dove into the mess of struggling limbs. Kira could hear both Orga and the silver-haired man yelling, but he didn't wait to see who won. He grasped the vial, shoved it into the pocket inside his black garments and ran for the exit. He snagged Stellar's wrist and hauled Auel by the waist and dragged his teammates out into the corridor.
The corridor was empty but it wouldn't be for long. There were feet thundering overhead as officers came running along the corridor, up and down the stairs. "What do we do now?" Stellar gasped, watching Kira's face anxiously.
Then they heard Shani Andras' voice, "Orga, I've got the van out front. Get out now!" Back in the study, there was a loud crash and they turned just in time to see Orga, Clotho and their female companion hurling themselves out of the glass window.
"What do we do?" Stellar repeated. Kira glanced down at the crowd of guests on the first floor. Only a few had raised their heads to glance up in alarm at the commotion. Most of them were still mingling and socializing. Then he caught sight of the gun in Auel's hand. He recognized it. Clotho's gun. Auel must have wrestled it from him. "Shoot," He snapped at Auel and pointed down at the crowd. Auel immediately fired a bullet into the crowd below. BANG! There were screams, and the guests sank to their knees. The music stopped and a frightening silence descended as they lay prone on the ground, shielding their heads and covering their ears. No one moved. Even the footsteps on the upper floor appeared to pause for a second.
Auel fired a triple-tap into the crowd below. BANG, BANG, BANG! That got them moving as screams permeated the air and the swarm below dissolved into chaos.
"Move!" Kira yelled at his team and they scrambled for the stairs. They descended into the screaming, panicking crowd and were quickly borne towards the exit as people dove for the doors, pushing and stumbling over each other. Kira struggled to retain his footing as the crowd surged for the exit. He was shoved into the cocktail table and it overturned with a resounding crash. He heard shouting over the chaos and saw uniformed officers stream down the stairs, trying, but failing, to control the crowd.
"Kira!" A hand found its way into his and he spun around to see Stellar, panting and red-faced. Sweat and tears poured down her face, smudging her make-up. Her hair was escaping its updo in wild strands. There was a wild, feral panic on her face. "Move!" He shouted, pulling her after him.
Thrice, their sweaty hands nearly separated as they tore through the crowd, Kira pushing and heaving with his shoulders against the people in his way. Stellar struggled to catch up. "What about Auel?" She was crying as Kira dragged her along.
"He knows where he should go!" He shot back, not stopping for a second. He was aware of a dash of fear inside him, and he hoped that Auel really did know where to go. It was impossible to spot or identify anyone amidst the terrified horde of guests.
They burst out of the main doors of the Clyne Mansion as the crowd dispersed in all directions, free from the bottleneck at the exit. Kira flew down the grand staircase, Stellar hot on his heels. There was utter chaos at the roundabout. Cars jammed, horns were blaring, tyres screeched on the asphalt. The police had just begun setting up a barrier to contain the crowd, but cars sped past it. People streamed past the officers as though they didn't exist, paying no heed to them.
And parked at the exit of the roundabout was the white limo.
Kira put on a burst of speed, tugging hard at Stellar as he dashed towards the car. The door flew open when they approached and Auel gestured wildly from the back seat. "Hurry up!" He yelled. Sting was already hitting the accelerator as they neared the door and the limo was moving. They flung themselves through the open door and the limo took off with a wild screeching of tyres. They tore past the police barrier and joined the fast escaping line of cars headed for the main road.