Chapter 61
"What do we do, K?" Auel's voice sounded worried and anxious. "Do we split up too?"
"No," Kira replied, "they're only separating for the time being. Stay on the woman."
There was a moment of hesitance but both Auel and Sting murmured their understanding.
Kira and Stellar watched the woman walk down three blocks and hail a taxi. They waited until she had got on and the cab was on the move, before Kira quickly steered the van into traffic, three cars behind it. He put enough distance between them such that it wouldn't rouse the woman's suspicion but not so much that they would lose her trail.
For half an hour, the cab traversed the streets with no apparent destination or pattern in mind.
"Where the hell is she headed to?" Stellar muttered as they slowed down at a traffic stop. Kira didn't reply. He had no answer, but he figured they would find out eventually. He wasn't particularly worried; he was still certain that the separation was merely a distraction and that Orga's team would congregate again soon enough. Patience was key. Predators triumphed because they struck at the right time, at the right place.
At the half hour mark, Kira caught sight of a dull red sedan in his rearview mirror and pulled back so that Sting could take over. The moment Sting's car was in place behind the cab, Kira steered out of the traffic and turned into the first carpark he saw and they took a breather from the pursuit. For the next thirty minutes, Sting reported his location at regular intervals before Auel replaced him. Kira and Stellar returned to the chase when the hour mark was up and the van slid in in front of Auel's grey automobile and they watched Auel retreat from the rearview mirror.
The chase was steadily heading downtown. Already, they were on the outskirts of the city, traversing neat neighbourhoods and streets. But still, there was no indication that the taxi was stopping, still no clue as to where Orga's female team member was headed.
"Are you sure they're not separating for good?" Stellar asked anxiously as they travelled down the same street for the third time and slowed down at yet another traffic junction, easing to a halt two cars behind the taxi. She craned her neck so that she could catch a glimpse of the cab. "There's been no sign of Orga, Shani or Clotho. Maybe they've decided it would be safer to split."
"No," Kira said, flexing his fingers around the steering wheel, "if you think about it: would we split if we were the ones being chased down?"
Stellar hesitated for a moment before replying. "If I knew it was Orga's team coming to get us, I wouldn't choose to separate because that would be four against one. Individually, we're gonna have a very slim chance of survival."
"Exactly." The traffic light turned green and the cab began to move. Kira depressed the accelerator and followed suit. "So Orga isn't stupid. He knows we will come at him as a team, so he will choose to counter us as a team. This is just a distraction."
"It's a sickening waste of time," Auel snapped, his voice sounding harsh and impatient through the earpiece.
"Well," Sting drawled out, "Live with it. And stay in your lane. Quit trying to overtake me. We're drawing unnecessary attention."
Kira was about to warn Auel and Sting off for jeopardizing the mission, when all of a sudden, the cab, which was ahead of them by four cars now, picked up speed and swerved round a bend. "Kira!" Stellar exclaimed in surprise, but he was already on it. He slammed his foot into the accelerator, overtook the four cars between them and rounded the corner quickly. Only to find that the taxi had stopped abruptly by the side of the road, and the woman was getting off. Head turned in their direction, watching as their van roared noisily onto the street.
Kira didn't stop. He went right past the taxi and all the way down the street before turning another corner out of sight.
"We missed her!" Stellar cried out, batting her hands frantically at him to draw his attention. "She stopped around the corner behind!"
"I saw that," Kira retorted. The woman was trying to throw off her pursuers, Kira realised as he floored the accelerator and swerved onto another street. She had tried to catch them off guard. He debated for a second if the woman had seen them, or known that they were tailing her, but he concluded that she didn't. Not even when their van had sped past, because Kira made sure that they were going so fast that the woman wouldn't recognize who they were. Whatever the woman had done was just a basic maneuver, just being cautious. It was what every one of Rau's spies would do, it was exactly what he would do if he was in a situation like that – mess around with the pursuers, then stop the car right out of sight and watch who would go past. Most people would panic and hit the brakes, screeching to a halt some distance away, but that would give them away immediately. Thinking fast on his feet, Kira hadn't stopped. In fact, he had gone on right ahead, so that he didn't draw the woman's suspicion. So Kira was certain then that the woman didn't know they were following her.
Or at least, he prayed that she didn't know.
"A, T, report your locations," he said quickly. Auel and Sting did, and since Sting was closer to where they were, Kira gave him the coordinates where they had last seen the woman and ordered him to scout the area. "Go slow. Don't pick up attention. She could be on foot now," he explained.
"Got it."
Fifteen minutes passed, as Kira and Stellar made meaningless circles around the streets, deliberately keeping away just in case the woman had really spotted them. At the very least, she would recognize the vehicle they were in. And then, Sting's voice cackled through the earpiece, loud and clear. "Picked her up on Southstreet. She's on foot," he confirmed, "Can't keep up with her like that. She's spotted my car. A will take over?"
"Okay," Kira affirmed.
"Roger that. I'm round the bend. Be there in twenty seconds," Auel replied.
The pale blue-haired assassin took over the surveillance, easing to a stop by the curb, while Sting and his red sedan disappeared into traffic. He watched closely as the woman, who was a street away from his parked vehicle, strolled through the crowd, her hands stuffed into her coat pockets. Auel pretended to rummage through the glove compartment of the passenger seat, so that his body was inclined slightly out of sight, but he had a clear view of the woman and where she was headed. They were on a street with ornate lamp posts and tidy flowerbeds dividing the buildings – a far cry from the rundown motel that they had been staying in previously.
The woman kept walking, head down against the wind, collar of her knee-length coat turned up to hide her face.
Until she came to the steps of a little hotel, with a pretty arch over its glass door and neat windows with white ledges and trim. The woman paused and glanced over her shoulder, then mounted the steps and stepped through the glass doors.
"She's entered a hotel on Southstreet," Auel reported.
There was a pause on the other end, then he heard Kira say, "Any sign of the others?"
He glanced out of his windshield, then at the rearview mirror. "There's no sign of-" He stopped abruptly, interrupted, when a taxi drew up behind his sedan. The moment he caught sight of the dark, peach-red hair, he ducked down, pressing himself flat against the passenger seat.
"K?" he muttered, "Clotho Buer just appeared."
"Okay," Kira said. "Can you see where he's going?"
Auel lifted his head so that he could peer over the edge of the window at the passenger seat. Clotho Buer was just several feet away from his parked car, back towards him. Just standing there, with his hands in his pockets, gazing up at the hotel the female team member had disappeared into. Then he shifted his footing, and Auel ducked down again. He was just in time too because Clotho was glancing over his shoulder at the grey sedan.
The next time Auel felt safe enough to lift his head, he saw Clotho Buer moving swiftly through the crowd, heading for the hotel's entrance.
"He entered the hotel too," Auel said. "I've just had a close shave, K."
"Alright," said Kira, "pull back. I'm parked just down the street. We'll take over from here."
Auel sat up slowly in his seat, scanning his surroundings to make sure there was no one coming up on him from behind. In his rearview mirror, he caught sight of the grey van Stellar and Kira were in, still and unmoving at the mouth of an alley, hidden in the shadows. Jamming the gear into 'drive', Auel pulled into the traffic on the main road and disappeared with the flow.
It took seven more minutes before Shani Andras arrived, stepping off a bus, and another ten before Orga Sabnak appeared on foot. They entered the same hotel and for the next hour, there was no more sign of them again. Kira checked his watch. It was close to 8 p.m. and the starless sky was pitch dark. All around, the street lamps had flickered on, bathing the still vehicles parked along the road in orange radiance. The streets had emptied out, with only an occasional vehicle or two and a pair of lovers strolling down the street, heads close.
The hotel stood silent and inactive. Five stories high, wide and broad. Dozens of windows were lit, staring out at them like little beady eyes. One of them had to belong to Orga Sabnak's room. Question was: which one?
He glanced at his watch again. The second hand ticked on persistently, the minute hand lay poised, hovering between the eleven and twelve. Almost 8 p.m. Almost time.
Athrun had spent much of his life in the Clyne Mansion. He had grown up there for goodness sakes! So he was pleased to find that he remembered exactly the location of the loosened fence.
The Clyne Mansion was… well, a mansion. It was gargantuan architecture, with a grand staircase leading up from a driveway paved in granite setts and a polished marble portico that furnished the entrance. Inside, there were dozens of rooms – a bedroom belonging to Lacus, another to Siegel, one that was always kept ready for Athrun if he needed it, a study, a lounge and numerous others for the many guests that Lacus and Siegel entertained occasionally. Externally, the manor was surrounded by a towering hedge, that was, like all parts of the Clyne Mansion, neat and kept. A wall of leaves and branches. It wasn't easy to climb, because though it looked sturdy, the interwoven branches couldn't take the weight of an adult. And as a child, Athrun had himself scaled the hedge hundreds of times, until he reached adolescence and found out, through painful first-hand experience, that the branches could no longer hold his weight. It was later that he discovered that there was another way through.
The hedge was held up by a fence that stood within it like a scaffold. It was a tough thing, made out of steel, but years ago, the gardener had run his riding mower into the hedge and dented the fence. While the leaves and branches grew over it, Athrun had discovered that the dimpled fence had been uprooted at a corner, leaving a gap big enough to crawl through.
Athrun found it again, exactly where he remembered it. They were facing the back of the Clyne Mansion and if they jumped up and down, they could just catch glimpses of the manor over the top of the hedge.
The grounds were dark, the lights in the mansion were off, all except the solitary lamp that shone down on the marble portico with an orange glow. But it wasn't empty. As they were coming up the road, Athrun had caught sight of two patrol cars hidden under a cluster of low trees. Someone – possibly Murrue, or more likely, the Police Commissioner – had ordered the Clyne Mansion to be placed under surveillance. If it was the former, then Murrue was most likely protecting Siegel and keeping a watch out for the kidnappers. If it was the latter, then the Police Commissioner was most likely hoping that Athrun would turn up, and if he did, to capture him. Athrun wasn't sure which, so he decided to avoid them all.
They had abandoned the stolen car some distance away from the Clyne Mansion and stole round to the back on foot, where Athrun had hoped that the fence hadn't been repaired. He crouched down by the hedge, drew out a pocket knife and began hacking away at the overgrown leaves and branches. It took some time, because the hedge was deep. It was dark and they couldn't see, but as Athrun stuck his hand through the hole he had made and felt along the contours of the fence, he grasped nothing, only an emptiness where the fence was separated from the ground.
Bingo.
"Over here," he whispered to Cagalli, who stood a distance away, keeping guard.
The blonde woman hastened over and sank down beside him. "It's impossible to see," she groused.
"Here," he said again, taking her hand and guiding it to the gap under the fence.
Cagalli ran her fingers along the perimeter of the gap. "It's not that big. Are you sure we can get through?"
Athrun gave a shrug, even though Cagalli couldn't see it in the darkness. "We'll just have to try. Come on, you go first, Cagalli. You need to cut through the hedge on the other side, okay?" He handed her the knife butt-first, then rummaging blindly in the darkness, tried to help her through the hole in the hedge and under the fence.
Lying on her belly, Cagalli wriggled her way through, until she came pressed up against the wall of leaves and branches on the other side. The pointed ends of the fencing dug into her shoulders like the tines of a fork. "Shit," she cursed softly as she tried to access the pocket knife, but it was a tight fit. Then she felt the tension above her shoulders ease a little as the fence lifted off by a fraction.
"Are you alright?" Athrun panted.
"Yeah," she gasped as she twisted her arm around and sawed at the branches and leaves. Above her, she could hear Athrun's heavy breathing as he strained to raise the fence off her.
"Cagalli…"
"Almost there." She wheezed, stabbing frantically at the bush ahead of her. It was damp and hot; the smell of the grass was intoxicating; something seemed to be crawling across her neck, but Cagalli didn't stop. Not until the knife struck air and her arm tore through the brush and emerged on the other side of the hedge. Digging her feet into the ground, Cagalli propelled herself forward, pushing and shoving against the wall of leaves until she broke through and tumbled out onto the other side.
"Cagalli!" the whisper that came through the gaping hole was anxious and worried. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
Scrambling up onto her hands and knees, she crawled back and stuck her head through the gap, "I'm fine. It's all clear. Come on."
The rustle of leaves and branches, and then Athrun was pushing his way through. Cagalli wove her hands through the branches until she felt the cold steel of the fence and with all her might, she tried to lift it the way Athrun had. But the fence didn't seem to give at all. She heard Athrun curse and grunt. Athrun didn't have a large build; he was lean and lithe actually, but he still had a broader frame than Cagalli and the gap underneath the fence was a tight squeeze. Jabbing both elbows into the dirt, Athrun used the momentum to draw himself inch by inch through the hole. It seemed like hours before his shoulders could clear the fence, and then the rest of easier and he hauled himself through.
They collapsed against the hedge, breathing hard, then when they had gotten their breath back, they stole across the backyard, darting here and there to avoid the motion sensors installed on the grounds. Athrun had been involved in planning the security system for the Clyne Mansion and he knew it like the back of his hand. Silently, they made their way up to the house, and using the keys he had, Athrun unlocked the door to the kitchen and they stepped into the Clyne Mansion, shutting the door behind them.
At half-past eight, the screen on Kira's laptop flashed and the image of the hotel lobby appeared. Stellar leaned over for a better look.
"Alright," Sting's voice came through the earpiece, "I'm transmitting the security camera footage to you now."
For a couple of seconds, the image on Kira's laptop lay frozen, and then it began to move. The security camera in the lobby was angled such that it showed the entire area, the entrance on the left and the desk on the right. The tiny pulsing digits at the corner of the screen showed that it was 19:03. People were strolling through the lobby, like ants of various colours. At the top of the screen, a cluster of guests sat in plush couches, reading. As the digits changed to 19:05, Orga's female teammate passed through the glass doors.
She scanned the area and headed for the lobby desk, where she leaned over the mahogany surface and spoke to the manager. Kira and Stellar watched as she signed papers and took over the pass key that he handed her.
"Zoom in," Kira said.
The image on his screen expanded and swiveled so that the desk was brought up into focus.
"Freeze it," he said.
Sting did, and the footage paused on the screen. "Room 06-23," Kira read off the digits that were faintly visible on the pass key. "A, call up the floor plan."
The security footage on the screen disappeared to be replaced by an architect's drawing. "06-23 is over here," Auel took over the line, as the blueprint maneuvered and spun on the screen, enlarging itself until a room was marked out in red. "That's their next hideout."
The house was all quiet and silent. They tiptoed up the stairs, Athrun leading the way. There was no sign of anyone. No movement and no noise at all. He wasn't sure if the officers were camped outside, or whether they were in the house. Either way, Cagalli and Athrun couldn 't afford to be seen.
His doubts were cleared when they emerged on the third floor and saw the light spilling out from underneath the door of Siegel Clyne's bedroom. "What do we do now?" Cagalli whispered as they snuck up to the closed door.
Was Siegel Clyne alone inside, or were there police officers with him?
There was only one way to know, and Athrun took hold of Cagalli's wrist. With his other hand, he twisted the burnished doorknob and flung the door inwards. Only to find himself face-to-face with a gun barrel.
"It's me," Athrun smiled, "You can put the gun down, Dearka."
The Glock lowered and Dearka Elsman grinned back at him. "Welcome back, Chief."
A snort interrupted their brief reunion, and they turned to see Yzak Joule leaning against the wall, arms crossed before his chest. He looked unharmed from the confrontation with the gunmen, except for a bandage around his head.
Siegel Clyne sat in an armchair, a glass of Scotch held between his fingers. Athrun knew that his adoptive father had never been in favour of Scotch; he was a man who preferred the finer tastes of wine. Siegel was obviously distressed and he looked up earnestly when they entered. "Athrun, Cagalli, sit down. We've been expecting you. Do you have news? Have you found Lacus' whereabouts?"
"Yes and no, Siegel," replied Athrun as Dearka backed away and pulled up two chairs. Athrun and Cagalli sat down so that they were facing Siegel, who was flanked on each side by Yzak and Dearka.
"I need to know more about the serum that they're after," Athrun said, "especially any involvement by other pharmaceutical companies. Like le Creuset Corporation."
"You think Le Creuset Corporation is behind this?"
"It's not impossible. That's what we're trying to find out."
A serious expression crossed Siegel Clyne's face as he paused to sip his Scotch. "Le Creuset Corporation did indicate interest when the serum was first created. So did many other pharmaceutical companies. But you already know that we refused to release it onto the market, because the formula is still unstable. A lot of good can come of it, but so can a lot of bad. So we decided to keep it confidential, until we can find a way to stabilize the formula."
"Did Le Creuset Corporation persist in obtaining the serum?"
"They did. In fact, Rau Le Creuset met me a couple of times and proposed negotiations for a patent. He offered a price that was way higher than the market value, but I had to refuse and he left it at that."
"Do you know if Le Creuset Corporation has been following up? Are they working on their own version of the serum?"
"There are rumours," Siegel said, tipping his glass thoughtfully, "that Rau Le Creuset has been recruiting the best lab scientists he can get. No one's quite sure what he's working on though."
Athrun cast a glance at Cagalli, then turned back to Siegel. "Do you know if Le Creuset Corporation has been involved in genetic research?"
The blonde-haired man frowned, tapping the brim of his Scotch glass with his index finger. "Well, Le Creuset Corporation focuses mainly on the production of oral medication," he explained, "genetic research doesn't feature largely in its business. Why the question?"
"The last time the perps broke into the Clyne Mansion, one of them left behind a blood sample. The forensic lab has confirmed that there are signs of genetic alterations in the blood sample. And then, after the incident with the gunmen at the safehouse-" Athrun nodded in Yzak's direction, "-Cagalli and I tailed the gunmen to a warehouse, which apparently is leased under DEX enterprises, and there were bloodstains in one of the rooms-"
"Is Lacus alright?" Siegel Clyne sat bolt upright. The Scotch sloshed over the brim of the shallow glass and the honey-gold liquid trickled down Siegel's fingers, falling onto the carpet and staining the maroon-coloured fabric. Siegel Clyne didn't seem to notice.
Athrun raised both hands in a placating gesture, "It's not Lacus' blood, Siegel, relax. It belongs to one of the kidnappers. For some reason, it appears as if they were trying to create the crime scene, maybe fake Lacus' death. I don't know why, but right now, my guess is that Lacus is still alive. And the forensic lab has apparently confirmed that the sample of blood we just found, along with the DNA taken off a toothbrush belonging to one of the kidnappers – long story, so don't ask – contains the same genetic alterations. These people, these kidnappers, they're like… I don't know, genetically-modified creatures. It's right out of a sci-fi movie."
"And you think Le Creuset Corporation 'created' them?"
"Is that possible?"
Siegel Clyne shrugged his shoulders. He placed the whiskey glass on the side table, and ran both hands down his face, as if trying to rub away the exhaustion. "It's not impossible," he said, echoing the phrase Athrun had used.
"And one more thing," Athrun glanced over at Cagalli again. Saw the grim set of her lips and the pain in her amber eyes. He turned back to Siegel. "Remember Kira, Cagalli's twin?" He waited until Siegel nodded. "Of course," he muttered.
"The forensic lab has confirmed that the blood sample, the one we found in the warehouse, is most likely Kira's."
The best way to corner a predator, Kira decided, was to divide and conquer. The problem with confronting Orga's team was that they had no advantages whatsoever. Orga's team comprised four members, but so was Kira's team. Rau's spies and assassins always operated in four-man teams, each member specializing in a particular area to increase efficiency. So Kira didn't have the advantage of numbers. And in terms of skills, both teams were most likely compatible.
The only way then to win, was to separate Orga's team and take them out one by one. The same way they had attacked the convoy when they robbed the serum. To divide and conquer. An age-old battle strategy.
But what was the best way to divide a team that was determined to stay together?
Author's note: There you go! The next chappie! So sorry for the delay, I just finished my exams and had to take some time to get back into the mood for writing. Hope the quality of this one hasn't dropped. I'm anticipating more action in the next one, and possibly a shocking revelation, if I can squeeze it in. So keep reading, guys! And to my fellow readers,
Fts-peace: I'm glad you liked the asucaga scene. I was worried it was getting a little cheesy! Hope the romance is just right!
Hitomi65: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter. Hope you will like this one too!
hardcoreGSfan: Well, I suppose how Orga's team fits in will be revealed in the next chapter or the following one. It will contribute to the trigger that leads to the final reunion between Kira and his family and friends.
Seiba Artoria: hehe, I always felt that Lacus had some kind of power over all the characters, the way she's all innocent but can get what she wants. The encounter between both teams should be coming up in the next chapter, so hope you will like it then!
Nitameicya: Hello, it's great to hear from you. Appreciate your comments a lot because they gave me a different way of thinking about Cagalli. Well, I agree with you, there is a lot of potential for Cagalli to be on the police force and work together with Athrun. That could be another great fanfic. And yes, I do realize that Cagalli doesn't have a large role in this story. I've been trying to amplify her, but Kira and Athrun still seem to take center stage. I'm still working on it. Hopefully, she will have more contributions in the upcoming chapters!