Chapter 15:

Athrun ducked under the yellow crime scene tape that stretched across the entrance of the study. The crime scene technicians were already at work and the room was in an utter mess. Glass was strewn across the carpeted floor, the window now a gaping hole bordered with shards. A cold, face-numbing wind was blowing into the study. Books lined the floor in disarray and there was a splatter of blood covering the pages of an open book. The body was lying close to the heavy mahogany desk. Face-down.

Zachary Jones. Thirty-one years old. Twelve years in the service, three of which were in his department. A father of two – an eight year old boy and a five year old girl. Athrun imagined telling Zachary's wife that her husband wouldn't be coming home for breakfast. Or lunch. Or ever. He watched the crime scene photographer snap photographs of Zachary's slit throat and turned away so that he didn't need to look into the wild, frightened eyes of his officer.

Athrun surveyed the crime scene and spotted a brunette with shoulder-length brown hair bent over a dark stain on the carpet. "Miriallia," he called in greeting as he approached the crime scene investigator. Miriallia Haw glanced up and gave him a brief smile before turning back to her work. She was swabbing the blood soaked rug with a cotton bud which she carefully placed and sealed in a bag. "Rough night?" She said simply.

Athrun didn't reply. He had an officer dead and another in serious condition. He had six injured guests and a media circus congregated outside the Clyne Mansion. 'Rough night' was an underestimation. "Just tell me what we've got."

Miriallia stood up and handed the evidence bag to her assistant, then shrugged back at Athrun. "Three blood stains." She pointed at an arc of blood on the wall. "That's number one: an arterial spurting pattern. From the victim." She gestured at Zachary Jones' body. "Knife across the throat - severed jugular artery." At the sight of Athrun's raised eyebrows, she smiled and explained. "There are two blood vessels in the throat – the jugular artery, which leads from the heart and the jugular vein which leads to the heart. When the jugular artery is cut, the pumping of the heart causes blood to escape in spurts, hence the pattern."

Athrun nodded to indicate his understanding. "What about the blood on the books?" He jerked his head towards the shelves and its mess of papers.

"That's number two." Miriallia stepped around the body and crouched down beside the pile. She lifted a blood-stained page with her gloved hand. "Your people found Yzak Joule lying here unconscious. This is likely to be your agent's blood. But we're taking a sample back to the lab and we'll be able to give you a confirmation soon."

Then she stood up again and strolled over to the dark stain she had been analyzing when Athrun spotted her. "This is number three and the one that can't be accounted for." She put her hands on her hips and frowned at it, deep in thought. "If we're lucky," she gave Athrun a sideward glance. There was a perceptive glimmer in her eyes. "This blood could belong to one of the criminals. In which case, I may be able to give you the identity of the infiltrator."

Auel was bleeding from his forehead, a heavy trickle of blood that ran into his eye continuously. Stellar had torn the hem of her gown to use as a bandage, but it was now soaked in the thick red liquid. "The son of a bitch," Auel hissed as Kira held the makeshift bandage to his brow so that Stellar could rip off another corner off her dress.

"Shut your mouth and lie still," Kira said in reply and his teammate settled back quietly against the leather seat, his head against the window.

Kira scooted over and allowed Stellar to clamber over him to tend to their injured companion. He leaned forward into the empty space between the front seats and pointed at a fork in the road. "Pull over there, Sting."

The green-haired driver glanced at him in bewilderment. He was sporting a split lip and a broken nose and blood was gushing down his front, into his mouth and staining his shirt. "Pull over, Sting," Kira repeated, "let me drive. You're disoriented and dazed."

"I'll live," Sting retorted. His voice was slurred and sounded nasal, both from the blood and the broken nose.

"I never doubted that," Kira said mildly, "but I don't want to risk having an accident when police all over the country are looking for us."

Sting obeyed without further complaints and they ended up in a deserted street, one wheel on the kerb as the white limo jammed to an unsteady halt. Kira got out and was just in time to catch Sting as he tottered out of the driver's seat. He guided the injured man into the backseat where Stellar immediately tried to stem his bleeding. Then Kira slid into the driver's seat, shoved the gear into drive and tore down the street with screeching tires, driving as fast as he dared to without rousing the attention of any police officers they might meet on the way.

Athrun tried not to interrupt the work of the crime scene investigators as he strolled around the perimeters of the room. There were investigators picking through the broken glass and fingerprint analysts dusting the window sill. Miriallia Haw was directing her technicians to disassemble and remove the security cameras. Investigators were crawling under the desk and inspecting the metal safe, with its door wide open. The medical examiner was arranging for the body to be transported to the lab. When he passed by the gaping hole that the window had become, he noticed investigators scouring the grounds with torches. Athrun had sent Lunamaria and Nicol to the Jones' house to give Zachary's wife the devastating news. He would go down personally when dawn broke to offer his condolences.

Keeping an eye on the goings-on of the crime scene investigation, Athrun fished for his phone and dialed Dearka's number. It rang twice before Dearka picked up. "How's Yzak?"

Dearka replied in hushed tones. "He's in the ER right now. We're going to have to wait till the doctor's out to know how he's doing."

"Keep me posted."

"Got it, chief."

Kira turned out from the highway into a side road, leaving the heavy traffic behind, and continued driving. They were now on private property and there was no traffic police to look out for. The road was empty of all cars and he sped down the driveway like a madman. The two-way road had been laid through a forest and was boxed in on both sides by trees. For twenty minutes, they drove past looming trees and dim streetlights before they caught sight of the building in the distance.

Le Creuset Corporation.

A giant made of stainless steel and glass, it overlooked the forest and the driveway that wove through it. As they neared the building, a metal gate loomed into view and Kira slammed his foot onto the brake. The limo skidded to a halt inches before the gate. A security camera swiveled around on its hinges and stopped, its lens focused on Kira. A woman's voice emitted from a speaker. "Please state your identification number."

Kira leaned his head out of the open window, "K-022378"

After a minute, the gates were buzzed open. They met two more similar barriers and at the third, a group of security guards glanced in through the wound-down windows and hurriedly waved them through.

Kira guided the limo around the building and stopped at a well-camouflaged steel door in the back. The door burst open and men in uniform and white lab coats came running towards them. Kira left the engine idling and pulled Auel from the backseat. Auel had drifted into unconsciousness towards the end of their journey and was immediately conveyed onto a stretcher and borne away into the midst of the building.

A man in a lab coat nodded pointedly at Kira, "Rau wants to see you."

Kira glanced over at the remainder of his team. Sting appeared a little glazed over and his face looked terrible, but the bleeding had slowed. "I can make it," he grinned reassuringly.

Led by the scientist, they entered the building and strolled briskly through white sterile corridors. Soft white light shone overhead and reflected on the white polished marble floor. They headed for the lift lobby and crammed into a lift – the scientist, the three of them and two other guards in uniform. The lift buttons showed that the Le Creuset Corporation had only thirty floors with no basements, but the scientist typed in a number on a keypad and the lift began to descend.

The ride took an entire minute as they descended deep into the ground. When the lift doors opened, they were in an underground facility, half a mile under the Le Creuset Corporation. They stepped out into a dimly lit corridor with rough cemented walls and floors. Harsh fluorescent lighting shone down on them and a heavy antiseptic smell hung in the air. The scientist walked them through the maze of corridors, past iron doors that led into various labs.

He stopped outside a wooden door and knocked twice. "Come in," a muffled voice came from within.

The scientist swung the door open on its hinges. "Sir, Kira's team has returned to base," he informed.

Rau Le Creuset was seated behind his desk, both his feet propped up on its surface. He had a finger on his globe and he was spinning it. Clockwise, and then anti-clockwise. Repeatedly. He beckoned to Kira and his teammates with his other hand, then signaled for the door to be closed. When they were alone, his expression hardened. The silver mask hid his eyes but his mouth was set in a thin line. "Where's Orga's team?"

"We don't know."

"Don't know?"

"The police showed up and we escaped separately."

Silence fell. Rau's expression looked murderous. "How did that happen?"

"We had five minutes in and out," Kira replied coldly, his voice and eyes void of emotion, "Orga and his team turned on us. They wasted the time and the police caught up to us."

The crash shook the walls as Rau swept the globe off his desk. It collided into the wall and shattered, raining to the ground in pieces.

"Where's the rest of your team?"

"Auel was injured. He's being attended to."

"And Orga's team? No news at all?"

"No."

"Did you leave any clues behind?"

"No."

Rau sank his fist into his desk. "The idiot!" He snarled. He turned furious eyes onto Kira. "And the vial? Where is it?"

Kira reached into his jacket and removed the little glass bottle of yellow liquid. "We got it."

Author's note: There! Two chapters in a row! Don't forget to review, review, review! Bad comments, good comments, all accepted. If you spot any mistakes, please feel free to point them out too! (I just realized that in chapter 8, during the confrontation between Shani and Kira, it should have been a broken nose, not a blackened eye!)