They were halfway down the alleyway when the warehouse exploded. There wasn't even much noise, just a soft whoomph and a sudden shockwave of compressed air that hit him in the back and knocked him to the muddy ground. Duo screwed his eyes shut and flung his arms over his head, hunching down against the ground as flaming wreckage showered around him. A distant part of his mind sneered at the ineptitude of whoever had set the charges; by the sound of it they had blown the roof off the building, but not much else. There was a sudden sharp exclamation somewhere ahead of him, and with a shock the world spun back into real time.
Now there was noise; the crackling sound of burning from the warehouse behind him, the shrieks of alarms and sirens on buildings and cars all around� Duo scrambled up, his eyes immediately taking in the situation and sending a hundred conflicting messages to his brain. It was part of who he was to be able to process them immediately, where others would have floundered.
Hilde was down on the ground some metres ahead, slowly pushing herself upright. Heero was sitting against the wall of the car park, both hands wrapped around his left calf and blood trickling through his fingers. Duo noticed with a strange sort of amusement that he looked perfectly calm, as though this was something he did every day. It had been, once.
Hilde looked up at him with a rueful grin. "Not really what I was planning for today, I have to say."
Duo couldn't help it; he started to laugh.
"Jesus wept." Duo rubbed his aching eyes with the back of his hand, only succeeding in smearing dirt across his face. "Yuy, I swear you're not satisfied with a mission unless you end up in the infirmary."
"Hn." Heero refused to look at him, instead peering down as Sally deftly sutured the three-inch shrapnel gash in his leg.
"He takes more care than you do," Sally reprimanded him lightly. "I remember having to practically tie you to a bed last year to keep you from following him out, even with a broken leg, Duo."
"Yeah, well," Duo grumbled, squeezing his eyes shut and slumping down in his chair. "It's my job to keep an eye on Mr Mission over there." He jerked a thumb irritably in Heero's direction. "Fuck, my head hurts. Sally, you got anything for an aggravated hangover?"
"Aggravated?" She sounded amused, though Duo couldn't see the expression on her face. "I can get you some stronger painkillers if you'll give me a moment to finish here." She tied off the last stitch and wiped her hands on a towel, reaching for a dressing and a roll of bandage. "Heero, make sure to keep off this as much as possible, and come back and see me in three days or if there's any infection � you know the drill."
"I know." Heero took the bandages from her, finishing the job himself with his customary efficiency. "Get Duo something for his head before he complains our ears off."
"Hey." Duo shot a vicious glare at him, but as usual it had little effect. Sally laughed, rising and going to a cabinet, returning with three pills and a glass of water.
"Here you go, Duo."
"What's Maxwell done to himself now?" They all turned; Wu Fei was standing in the open door of the examining room with a particularly irritated expression on his face, no doubt at having been called in on his day off. Well, tough shit buddy, Duo thought, swallowing his pills gratefully. If I have to suffer rude awakenings and idiots trying to blow me up, I'm damn well gonna spread it around.
"He has a hangover." Heero stood gingerly, testing his weight on his left leg with care.
Wu Fei grunted. "Why am I not surprised?"
Duo snorted and pushed himself laboriously up from the chair. "Don't push it, Chang; I am really not in the mood. Let's just get this over with so I can go back to bed." He looked to Heero. "You need a hand there?"
"I'm fine." And indeed, as Heero made his way out of the room he was barely limping. Figures, Duo thought wryly, following his partner and Wu Fei over to the elevators, Sally's exasperated sigh bidding them farewell.
"Hey, 'Fei, what've you got in you hair?" Duo jumped onto tiptoes as they made their way into the lift car, peering at the Chinese man's raven-black hair, which was speckled with peculiar white flecks. He put out a curious hand, trying to brush them away, but succeeded only in disarranging the pulled-back strands.
"Maxwell!" Wu Fei lifted a hasty hand to fend Duo off, too late, and sighed explosively, yanking his hair tie out and scraping his hair back into another inhumanely tight ponytail. "It's paint."
"Huh." Duo smirked. "Messy, 'Fei. You sure you haven't just got dandruff?"
"Speak for yourself, Maxwell." Wu Fei spared him a smirk. "At least I don't look like I got dragged through the mud on my way to work; you could at least spare the effort to make yourself presentable." He picked up the end of Duo's braid with two fingers, sneering in distaste at the mud and dirt caked in it.
"Hey!" Duo snatched his hair back. "Mine, Chang. And for your information I happen to think I'm pretty neat for having been dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn, then blown up and thrown in the mud." He flipped the braid over his shoulder haughtily.
"Eight-thirty is hardly the 'crack of dawn,' Duo," Heero put in quietly, face blank. "I assume the Commander wants to debrief us personally?" This comment was obviously addressed to Wu Fei, so Duo occupied himself as the elevator doors opened and they made their way along the corridor to the Lady's offices with picking as much of the mud and splinters as he could from his hair and clothing.
The rest of their group was waiting for them in one of the smaller briefing rooms, Hilde and Dorothy joined by Lady Une and her aide, Agent Chivers, who were both busy speaking into vidphones. Duo ambled in with a wave for the women that became a lazy salute as the Commander looked up at him, and flopped into a chair across the table from Hilde. Heero limped over to take his place next to him, looking a little irritated at the way Wu Fei was noticeably hovering over him � not that anyone but Duo would have been able to see the slight tell-tales in his expression.
Duo sent his partner a tired grin. God, but he would be glad when today was over and he could fall flat on his face.
"All right then." Une set the vidphone aside and folded her hands on the table in front of her. "Agent Yuy. I trust you aren't too severely injured?"
"No." Heero glared at Duo, who thought better of opening his mouth to contradict that statement. "Minor shrapnel; Sally stitched it."
"Very well. Gentlemen, we are looking at a rather serious situation here. Based on the reports of the witness, and your own findings at the scene today, it's clear that we have not only smuggling but weapons manufacturing and supply going on right under our noses. I'm pulling you all off your other cases � Wright and Lapage will handle security at Parliamentary functions until further notice. Yuy, get into Ibsen's database and try and get us some leads. We need to know who's financing this and why, not to mention where the cargo is headed."
Heero merely nodded, fingers twitching almost imperceptibly for his keyboard. Duo grimaced, already guessing what his own assignment would be.
"Maxwell and Schbeiker, get on to your contacts; find out as much as you can about what Ibsen are up to. Most of their business is in space haulage � try and gauge the general mood of the colonies as well. Catalonia, same for Earth � any rebellious sentiments. It's far better to be safe than sorry. I want a background check on the company executives, too."
"Fine," Dorothy said crisply, flicking her hair back over one shoulder. "I suggest we prepare to infiltrate as well, if no concrete information is available."
Duo perked up. "I could get into their head office like that," he snapped his fingers derisively. "We checked it out already, their security is crappy. Say the word, my Lady, and we'll go and have a rummage through their files�"
"No." Une gave him a tight smile. "Not yet � I want to see what forensics comes up with on the warehouse first, and what Yuy can get hold of."
"Hmph. Whatever, I'll go call Howie then," Duo muttered. Actually � he's on Earth at the moment, I wonder if I could scrounge a shuttle off that bastard Gerhardt�?
Une opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the discreet chirp of the vidphone. Chivers scooped up the handset deftly.
"Director's office, this is Agent Song� Oh, Andrews. Hold for a moment, please�" She looked up at the Director, holding out the handset. "It's the forensic team, Commander."
Une took the phone, listening intently to whatever Lieutenant Andrews was saying, occasionally nodding her head and murmuring a few words Duo couldn't quite decipher, the mouthpiece shadowing her lips. "Interesting," she said finally in a louder voice. "I'll be waiting for your full report, Agent."
She looked up at the four Agents who had been waiting, her face almost� amused. "You might be interested to know that the news reports of a gas explosion aren't just a polite fiction."
Duo sat bolt upright with a gasp as something clicked in his head. "I knew that wasn't a proper detonation pattern! They must have connected the door handle to a minor charge and just let the gas take out the rest of the building! And of course all it did was blow the roof off� Damn," he muttered, feeling unutterably stupid for not having realised it earlier.
"Interesting MO," Heero commented quietly beside him, and Duo calmed a little. "Is that all, Commander? I need to get down to IT."
"That's fine for now," Une nodded in dismissal. "Dorothy, I need a word with you�"
Duo heaved himself to his feet and followed Heero out of the room and over to the elevators, muttering mostly to himself. "Damn, working on the weekend again�"
Heero's fingers hovered over the elevator touch panel. "Where are you going?"
"Hm? Oh, I'll stop off at IT too," Duo waved a hand absently. "I can call Howie, but most of the rest of the guys I'll need to email."
"Right." Heero poked the button for the ground floor, and they rode the lift down in slightly uncomfortable silence.
"So," Duo finally ventured as they were walking down the slightly inclined corridor towards the IT department, "were you already in this morning, or did they call you?"
"I was here." Heero pushed open the door to his small and infrequently used office next to the server rooms. Duo had helped to design this part of the building when Preventers had moved headquarters three years ago in 198, adding his expertise to Heero and Wu Fei's to make the vital heart of the organisation as impervious to sabotage as possible. "Were you out late last night?"
"Yeah." Duo scowled to himself, heading over to the side desk while Heero seated himself behind his custom-built array of machines. He had been so stupid, leading that guy on � a man he didn't even know! � and then freaking out like that� So dumb. "How d'you think I got so drunk?" He frowned at Heero's laptop � the battered replacement of the machine his partner had carried all through the wars only to lose when they ditched their shuttle on X18999 in 197 � waiting impatiently for it to boot. "Lucky Hilde managed to get me home, really." Or God only knows where I'd have ended up� probably waking up in an unfamiliar bed with a sore ass courtesy of some guy I was too drunk to fight off� Fuck.
Too many memories; Duo wasn't going to go there, not now. He opened a communication window, tapping in the long string of digits from memory and waiting while the system dialled through all the rerouters.
"You should be more careful." He could hear Heero's fingers flying across the keys behind him, could hear the slight faltering in the rhythm� but there was nothing but icy detachment in the other man's voice.
"Yeah, well." Duo snapped his jaw shut on what else was threatening to come out of it, shaking his head abruptly. No. Do not go there, Maxwell�
A series of soft clicks from the laptop signalled that the machine was finally connecting to the satellite phone line, and Duo sighed, slouching down in his seat and angling the camera lens as it began to ring once, twice, three times�
There was a harsh beep and muffled swearing on the fourth ring as someone picked up the handset, fumbling with the video controls. "Sweepers Offshore, how can I� Duo!" The face of a nondescript middle-aged man in ratty blue overalls streaked with grease appeared on the screen. "How are you, kid? We haven't heard from you in months!"
"Hey, Grib." Duo summoned a tired grin. "I've been better, but it's not important � is the old man there?"
"Livvi's just fetching him now." Grib peered short-sightedly at the screen. "You look like shit, Duo�"
"Thanks." Duo rolled his eyes. "You're doing wonders for my self-esteem, buddy." Behind him, he heard the rhythm of Heero's typing falter again, then resume at an increased pace. Perhaps he'd found something�
"What's all the fuss about?" An insanely bright Hawaiian shirt entered the vidphone field, and Grib was scooting out of the way to let Howard sit down. "Duo? You look like hell, kid."
"Yeah, thanks, Howie." Duo stuck his tongue out. "I feel worse, so no laughing, 'k?"
"Hung over?" Howard peered at Duo over the edge of his sunglasses concernedly, tipping more of his bald head towards the camera.
"Yeah, then dragged into HQ, blown up, and dumped in the mud." Duo kicked at the table leg distractedly. "I just wanna go the hell home, get a shower and crawl back into bed for the next twenty-four, so let's make this quick huh?"
"No-one but you, Duo." Howard grinned wryly, then seemed to settle into 'business mode.' "What do you need?"
"Anything you can tell me about Ibsen." Duo scrubbed a hand back through his fringe, pulling it off his forehead. "Anything at all, old man; there's some bad crap goin' on�"
"Ibsen, huh." Howard scratched his chin, eyes narrowing. "Can you secure this line� no, better yet, meet me in London in� three days. That's what, Tuesday? Yeah."
Duo frowned, thinking. "If I get a shuttle from Une� Yeah, it's doable� Hold on a sec." He spun in the chair, finding Heero already looking up at him; their eyes met with an odd intensity that sent a thread of tingling heat through Duo. "Heero, RV with Howard in London on Tuesday?"
"Acceptable." The other man broke the locked gaze first, bending back to the computers as they beeped for his attention.
"Fine." Duo turned back to the screen, blinking away the odd spell of the moment. "Yeah, Howie, we'll be there."
"Then I'll meet you at Gatwick," Howard answered easily, pushing his sunglasses up on his nose. "See ya then, Kid." And he signed off without a further word. Duo blinked, then figured that the Sweepers must be pretty busy, if they were running a load in to London in two days time. Shrugging, he pulled up a 'net connection and headed out to one of his 'dead' email boxes, already composing the messages he required in his head.
Sending them off � and careful to save a copy of the message he had sent in case it was ever needed as evidence � he backtracked to the private HQ intranet and fired off another brief message to Une, requesting use of a small shuttle on Tuesday and giving brief details of the planned meeting with Howard. Hopefully, given the emphasis she had placed on the urgency of this case, the Commander wouldn't kick up too much of a fuss about abuse of Agency resources.
"OK, I'm done." Duo slumped back in his chair with a sigh, fingers automatically closing out the connection and flipping the machine into power-save mode. There was no reply from the other side of the room, and he wasn't particularly surprised to look up to find Heero hunched over his monitors, gaze fixed unerringly on the scrolling code and fingers hovering over the keyboard. It was a far too familiar scene, one he'd first seen during the 195 War when he'd been bored to tears with waiting for orders and Heero had refused to leave the laptop or even acknowledge his existence. Duo had grown used to the uncanny fixation eventually, even grown thankful for it. It was just another aspect of the intensity that was Heero Yuy, after all�
"Fuck." Duo bounded to his feet, lifting his arms over his head and trying to stretch out the kinks in his back. He wandered across to stand behind his partner, bending to peer at the screens. Heero was running code in two of them, most of which Duo couldn't dredge up the energy to follow, but the central monitor was showing a fairly ordinary-looking business site, discreet in blue and white with the Ibsen logo running down the side.
"Huh." Duo flicked his hair back and tapped Heero on the shoulder.
"Hm? Duo?" The Japanese Agent lifted his head fractionally, just enough to be able to view his partner from the corner of his eye.
"I'm done here; I'm gonna head home and get some sleep. I'll see you Monday�" Duo had a sudden thought � "Unless you wanna come out for pizza with us tomorrow night, Hilde and the guys, I mean�?"
Heero blinked slowly up at him. "I can't."
"Oh. OK then." Duo shrugged, turning away and already berating himself, his hand slipping from his partner's shoulder.
"I'm having dinner with Relena, she's just got back from a colony tour." Heero's words, delivered to his retreating back, made Duo falter a little, but he took control of himself and flung a cheery wave over his shoulder as he shoved the office door open.
"Well, have a good time, then. Give Ojousan my regards!" If Heero said anything more as he left, Duo didn't hear it.
"Hey, Duo!" Hilde leant back in her seat, waving violently as Duo slouched into the restaurant. "Over here!"
The guys were at their usual table near the bar, Hilde sitting between two of the other Preventers, Walters and Dayell, though Duo noticed that Ryou Iwasaki was conspicuous by his absence.
"Heya." He took the seat they'd left for him against the wall, grateful even after all this time to be able to put his back to it. "Where's Dragonbait?" They had nicknamed Agent Iwasaki that due to the slight crush he'd had on Wu Fei in his first year at HQ; Duo had been tempted more than once to drop that bombshell on the irritable Chinese pilot, but he'd promised Ryou not to, so he was bound by it� Still, it would be lovely to see Chang gape like a fish again, it'd been a while since Duo'd been able to really surprise him.
"He bailed; I think he has a date." Takeshi Dayell was soft-spoken, half-Japanese and a good friend of Heero as well as Duo; he'd become one of 'the gang' when he'd worked with Duo and Hilde on a kidnapping case and managed to distract the criminals while Duo snuck in and rescued the Senator's daughter.
"Oh?" Duo waved one hand at the bartender, miming a drinking action, then folded his arms on the table. Seven-thirty; Heero would be picking up Relena about now�
"Yeah, apparently he's been very cosy with that new guy in Legal." Hilde winked at him and grinned; Duo knew how much she liked to gossip, despite her hard-headed practicality.
"The blond one? Tall, over-tanned?" Faint, inexplicable threads of jealousy were twisting in Duo's gut, and he sighed. Hilde gave him a strange look.
"Yeah, that one. O'Neil, I think his name is."
"Andrew O'Neil," Mark Walters chipped in. Blond himself and built like a brick shithouse, as Hilde had been known to put it, they had dated briefly when she'd first joined Preventers, but nothing much had come of it. He divided his time between Investigations and training, putting each new batch of rookies through their paces over the obstacle course and firing range. Duo remembered shocking the hell out of the man on his first day by racking up a perfect one-hundred-percent score to match Heero's; at the time he'd just been glad that none of his skills had deteriorated in a year of peace, but the amazed drill instructor had become a good friend after he'd gained his badge.
"Well, good for them, anyway." Duo picked up the beer the waitress had set before him, flashing her a smile as he took a sip directly from the bottle. Least someone's getting some�
"Are you getting anywhere on your case?" Dayell enquired politely; Duo and Hilde groaned in perfect synchronisation, then laughed as their eyes met.
"Please, don't even ask." Hilde covered her eyes.
"Don't even think about work," Duo added wryly. "Heero's been huddling over the computers all weekend." And part of this sudden backsliding might just be the little revelation Mrs Levy gave us� It wasn't as if he blamed the woman; it had been their good fortune at the end of the war to have the government acquiesce to Quatre's request that they not release the names of the Gundam Pilots. As far as the public and the media were concerned, the five of them had just quietly faded away back to wherever they had come from. After six years, even someone who had seen their faces during wartime newscasts would be hard pressed to recognise them. So the woman hadn't even known what she was doing, letting that bit of information so casually fall. '�killed in the war� a Gundam�'
Duo had been leaving HQ yesterday when Sally had sought him out, dashing up to him in the underground car park and trying to offer� reassurance. It was an odd sort of comfort, after all; the man was dead and his wife a widow, whatever the circumstances. But Sally� maybe it was living with Wu Fei, maybe it was just her nature, but she'd looked Levy up in the database. He'd been an OZ soldier, and despite his death, despite his orphaned child, somehow� it helped.
A little.
Duo reminded himself that that was probably something he ought to tell Heero. Heero� Fuck. Not going to go there, Maxwell!
"Sounds like him." Hilde rolled her eyes, and Dayell laughed. "I swear, sometimes I think he's in love with that laptop of his!"
Duo grinned. "Ms Schbeiker, believe me, you have no idea. Are we gonna order anytime soon or am I going to have to starve to death?"
Monday was a fairly boring day. Heero stayed holed up with his computers in the basement mezzanine while Duo wandered around their upstairs office, looking over the files they had on Ibsen and trying to get a secure phone connection through to L2. He'd had one piece of luck; one of his contacts back on his home colony had replied to his email, hinting that she might have news. Duo had been intrigued enough by the cagey message she'd sent to try and track her down, but he was having no luck so far.
Dorothy had turned up early in the morning demanding copies of all their files, but Duo hadn't heard from her or Hilde since. He assumed they hadn't come up with anything particularly interesting, though.
Sliding his chair back towards the desk, Duo pulled the vidphone towards him again and began punching in the codes for a secure, scrambled line. Three seconds to get the soft tone that told him his clearance had been accepted, then more number strings, the codes for L2 and a rather seedy shop down an even dodgier alleyway.
Miracle of miracles, this time it actually rang. Duo silently thanked whichever benevolent spirits oversaw the rotation of communications relays and space colonies, and toggled the switch to kill the camera at his end.
"Hello?" The screen fizzed, then a blurry picture resolved from static; a tired-looking woman with too much makeup and too little clothing, smiling artfully.
"Hey Mirri." Duo grinned, despite knowing she couldn't see it. "Ya gotta minute?"
The woman gasped, hand flying to her mouth, the red of her fingernails clashing with the brighter shade of her lipstick, and peered furtively sideways. "Gimme a sec, I'll go lock-up the shop�" She vanished in a swirl of leather and lace that gave Duo an eyeful of entirely too much flesh for his taste. Wincing, he kicked his feet up onto the desk and leaned back in the chair, pulling the phone into his lap.
"'Kay." She was back, and thankfully pulling on a dirty bathrobe over the fetish gear, scooting up close to the camera. "What d'ya need, kid?"
"Whatever ya got. I know you get your stuff through Ibsen, Mir, that's why I mailed ya." Listening to her harsh, slurring speech, it was far too easy to fall back into the pattern of the child who had left L2's streets so long ago. More than a mode of speech, it was almost a separate language of its own.
"Yeah, well, I bin seein' more'a thems around f'ra bit. Deliv'ries're twice-week now, usedta be lucky ta get twice-month las' year. More'a the stevs comin' in too � new jobs't the spaceport." She was biting on one finger nervously, eyes darting frequently to the side.
"You okay there, Mirri?" He pulled a datareader towards him with his free hand, tapping out quick notes in shorthand. If they're running more frequently� it has to be money, doesn't it?
"Yeah, s'just�" She glanced away nervously again, then turned in towards the screen, speaking quickly. "Kid, there're new faces around � more'n us'ly. Beefers 'n toughs, an' they ain't gangers � too organised. You 'member, what were like that las' year�"
Shit. "How many?" Duo rapped out urgently. "Blatant or hiding?"
"They hide, mos'ly," she told him softly. "O'ly a fews, but f'r I to notice � yanno they's all in here s'metime� Three-four, 'gether, lookin' smart, then gone � see'm hangin' the corners 'casion'ly, som'the girls says they cruise."
"Weapons?"
"Not so's y'd see. A few � bulges wh're ya don' espect'em, even this business!" She laughed raucously, exposing yellow teeth with shreds of unidentifiable food caught in them. Duo shuddered a little, then sighed.
"'kay. Else? Causing trouble at all?"
"Nah, they stays outta that � keeps right ta th'shadows yanno. Just so's y'can see 'em bits� Ol' score, kid."
"Yeah, I know." Duo rubbed one hand over his eyes, cradling the vidphone handset between his neck and shoulder. "Thanks, Mirri. I'd say call if ya get trouble, but�"
She laughed, bosom heaving beneath the filthy robe and earrings twinkling, reflecting light in little stars into the camera lens. Glass and gilt, Duo had no doubt. "Yeah, I know kid. Don' matter. Business's good, an' mos'ly the gangers stay off." She shrugged. "See ya, Duo," she whispered, painted fingernails reaching up to disconnect, and then the screen went fuzzy again.
"Luck, Mirri." Duo sighed again, hanging up and scooting back to his desk, opening a new file on his computer and recording the conversation word-for-word, then starting to type up his conclusions. He'd have to tell Dorothy to see if she could find out where Ibsen were getting the money to run twice-weekly supply shuttles to even the poorest colony, because God knew the L2 government had fuck all to do with it. Heero, too�
As if on cue, the phone chirped abruptly. Duo had the handset swept up before it could ring again. "Maxwell."
"Duo?" Heero's voice had always sounded strange across vidphone lines, sort of tinny and nasal. Duo grinned a little; obviously to think of Heero was to bring him to your door� pity that didn't always work� Fuck, I am not going to think about it! Enough!
"Yeah?" Heero frowned into the camera; he was wearing his headset rather than using the desk model, probably so he could type and speak at the same time.
"Why is the phone masked?" Duo blinked, then looked down at the console; had he neglected to turn the camera back on�?
"Oh." He pressed the switch hastily, flushing slightly. "Sorry, I was talking to a source."
Heero perked up. "Anything relevant?"
"Maybe." Duo scrubbed at his forehead. "She says Ibsen are running to L2 twice weekly now instead of fortnightly, and there are lots of new jobs at the spaceport. All of which means�"
"Money." Heero looked thoughtful.
"Yeah, and maybe worse, she's been seeing groups of guys � tough guys, military-looking � hanging around. Maybe with concealed weapons, difficult to tell. Threes and fours, in the shadows, but quite a lot of them are coming into her shop or using local prostitutes." The expression on Heero's face at that was priceless, and Duo laughed. "Mirriam's� I used to know her, before the war. She was a hooker then, but she runs a sex shop now. She knows everyone."
Heero was blushing, Duo was sure of it. Their eyes met, dark-blue to indigo, and Duo couldn't help the slow smile that spread across his face. "Anyway, it all adds up to trouble on the way."
"Rebels?" Heero seemed to snap back into focus instantly, eyes narrowing beneath the shaggy fringe of his hair.
"You know as much as I do." Duo spread his hands in defeat. "I'll tell Dorothy, and she can get on the money thing, and I'll have Hilde call Martins too, he might know something more."
"I'll look too." Heero frowned at something off the screen, and tapped a few keys. "I called because I found old manifest lists from two years back. Ibsen was running construction materials for WGI back then."
"Winner? Fuck." Duo reached for his computer, typing this new piece of information into his little file system. "I'll call Quatre."
"I already did," Heero informed him. "He's meeting us in London tomorrow."