"So what have we got?" Hilde drummed her fingers on the table impatiently. Duo shut the door of the meeting room carefully, and went to sit down across from her, next to Heero who was setting up his laptop.
"Not all that much," he muttered ruefully. "At this point, we're pretty sure Ibsen are running weapons out to the colonies. They've been having a lot of good luck recently � winning a couple of government contracts, that kind of thing. We can't point to bribery there yet, but in the salvage case it's pretty cut and dried. I'd guess their motive for sticking their necks out so far on L3 was the danger that salvagers might go to the authorities once they found the weapons."
"It was just disassembled components," Dorothy contributed, tossing her hair back over her shoulder and crossing her legs. "That's salvageable material."
"Yeah, but anything weapons-grade needs all kinds of permits." Duo flapped a hand dismissively. "Whatever. My L2 contacts are reporting an increase in Ibsen's presence, as well as more supposedly unaffiliated toughs hanging around."
"Unaffiliated?" Dorothy queried with an obvious amusement in her eyes that made Duo seethe a little, somewhere down deep.
"Most of the muscle on the streets belongs to the gangs." He shrugged; it was simply the way L2 worked. "Not even as organised as the Earth cartels; they run drugs, brothels, fights, intimidation�"
"I've gotten some of the same thing," Hilde put in diplomatically, fending off an altercation between her friend and her partner. "Street crime and unemployment decreased dramatically last year in a few sectors of L2 and L3."
"The poorer Colonies," Duo muttered. "Like someone's taking the toughs off the streets and putting them to work on something?" He shared a concerned look with Hilde.
"Exactly. It's all legal employment though � signed and registered." She turned to Heero. "What about their databases?"
Duo made a face as Heero paused momentarily in his typing. "There's nothing on here that isn't perfectly legal and above board. All cargoes registered, customs stamps logged, no mention at all of the warehouse we visited. In fact, according to their schedules there were supposed to be no vehicles within a fifty-mile radius of the area on Friday."
"What about Duo's shuttle?" Dorothy twined a strand of platinum hair around a finger, cocking her head attentively. Duo scowled.
"It wasn't my shuttle, and there was conveniently no record of it whatsoever."
"Nothing?" Hilde frowned and scooted her chair closer to the table. "But I thought it was registered as belonging to the company before it wrecked!"
"Not any more." Heero's expression was grim. "I checked the VRD register."
"What? Are you saying someone deleted it?" Dorothy blinked at them, her peculiar eyebrows shooting up her forehead.
"Pretty clumsily." Heero frowned. "The alterations to the record were made between five-fifteen and six-thirty AM on the twentieth of March, from within the VRD server. Either it was an inside job or an onsite hack."
"So." Dorothy scowled, an expression that frequently terrified recruits, and adjusted her position. "We have weapons manufacture and smuggling, corruption, and strange things going on at Lagrange Two. What's our next step?"
"Your next step is to pump Andrew Read for information." Duo grinned rather maliciously; he didn't quite know why, but there was something about Dorothy Catalonia that simply rubbed him the wrong way. Of course, the same could be said for quite a lot of people�
"He and his vice-president are attending the Industry and Economic Recovery summit in Barcelona this week," Heero took over. "There will be a number of balls and other social occasions to which local dignitaries are invited; I've already put your name on the guest list."
Where anyone else would have groaned, Dorothy's eyes lit up. "Excellent." Duo noticed with amazement that she actually did tap her fingertips together, precisely as if she were the villain in some cliched B-movie. "I'll leave for Tarrasa at once."
Shrugging, Duo figured that the woman just wanted yet another chance to show off her elegant evening gowns and barbed wit. It was all the same to him� "Hilde, get onto Mark; tell him to get a load together � preferably electronic components or something. Crate it up and bug it, then call Ibsen and hire them to take it out to the scrapyard."
"Transmitter bugs or recorders?" Hilde was already making notes on a datapad.
"Recorders, in case they sweep." Duo grinned irrepressibly; he was finally going to get to practise one of his favourite talents. "Me and Heero are gonna go and have a rifle through their HQ."
Dorothy was opening her mouth to say something that would probably have been rather cutting when there was a soft knock at the door. The four of them exchanged glances, and Duo shrugged, raising his voice. "Come in!"
The door cracked open, and a delicate face appeared around it, crowned by a smooth sweep of bright red hair. "T�a Dorothy?"
Duo grinned lazily as the blonde woman stood, beckoning her young charge in. Mariemaia had grown some since her grandfather had tried to use her to take control of the Earth Sphere; at twelve years old she was dainty and long-limbed, beginning to grow into what promised to be an outstanding beauty.
"Maria, what is it?"
The girl shot a bright, sunny smile around the room, then addressed her guardian, smoothing her school skirt over her knees. "I was just wondering if you would be leaving soon? Une will be here late again."
Duo blinked, surprised to realise it was already almost five. Dorothy raised one bifurcated eyebrow. "I think I could be persuaded to give you a lift. Unless there's anything else?" she glanced back to Hilde, who looked to Heero then shook her head.
"We'll call you if anything comes up. Have fun in Spain."
"T�a Dorothy, you're going to Spain?" Mariemaia's young voice followed them out as the door swung closed behind them.
"Well." Duo glanced between his partner and his friend. Heero was intent on his computer, as usual, while Hilde looked bored. "We know what we're doing?"
"Well I do." Hilde grinned maliciously at him. "Can't say much about you, Maxwell."
"Yeah, fuck you too Schbeiker." Duo leant back in his chair, folding his arms. Damn the woman, she was in one of her moods again, which meant he was probably about to be humiliated. "You wanna sit in on mission planning for tomorrow night?"
"Nah." She waved a hand dismissively, eyes focusing on Heero. Duo swallowed as a very� predatory� smile appeared on her face. "Hey, Heero?" she asked sweetly, "do you want to come out with us this Friday? All the gang will be there."
Miracle of miracles, she had actually distracted the Japanese Agent's attention from his computer screen. Duo felt an utterly preposterous thrill of jealousy run through him. "I can't. I'm having dinner with Relena."
"Oh, come on," Hilde wheedled, leaning forward across the table in a manner that Duo, seething, recognised as flirty. The next moment icy panic washed through him as Hilde threw him a too-bright smile. "Couldn't you cancel? Duo was really hoping you'd come� and maybe wear those tight � erk! Duo!" she protested as he dragged her out of her seat by one arm, stiff-arming the door open and yanking her out of the room entirely. "I was only trying to help!"
"Yeah, well you weren't! Helping!" Duo tugged distractedly on his braid, wishing he were anywhere else. "Hil, how many times do I have to tell you to keep your meddling nose out of my life?"
"Duo, even I can see�" she began, but he cut her off ruthlessly, not wanting to hear it.
"We're friends, Hilde, that's it. That's all we are and all we ever will be. Please don't try and, and�" Fuck. Duo lowered his head, slumping miserably against the wall.
"Duo, I really think you ought to give him a chance." She laid a sympathetic hand on his arm as he snorted inside. Give? Hah. Been there, done that, got the neurosis. He just� It was bad enough to know that nothing else could ever be enough, without Hilde throwing in his face what he couldn't have.
"Hil, you know nothing, OK? Leave it be."
"Well, OK." She sighed, raking a hand through her hair. "I think you're an idiot, though."
Duo barked a vicious laugh. "Yeah, you and half the rest of the world. You want a lift home?"
"Nah, I'm good." She leant in and briefly startled him with a peck to the cheek. "See you later." Duo was still raising an incredulous hand to his face as she disappeared down the corridor towards her office. "Damn." He shook his head ruefully, sighing as he turned back to the meeting room.
Heero was still sitting at the table waiting for him, wearing the most inscrutable expression Duo had ever seen � and, Duo thought nervously, that was saying something. "Um." He scratched the back of his head and pulled out an apologetic grin. "Sorry about that, Heero. You wanna get on with planning this thing, then?"
***
"Are you ready yet?" The voice over the earpiece was small and tinny, barely more than a whisper, but Heero's annoyance was unmistakable. Duo didn't tear his eyes away from watching the patrolling guards as they made the rounds of the depot facility which served as Ibsen Shipping's European headquarters. Luck was on his side; they didn't have dogs. While his eyes were timing their passage before the high chain-link boundary fence, Duo's hands were busy patting himself down, checking that all his equipment was in place and that his pockets were securely fastened.
"I'm good to go, buddy," he breathed into the tiny collar pickup, turning his head to make a quick sweep. "Ready on the security?"
"I've been waiting on you," Heero reminded him irritably. "Sixty seconds on my mark � three, two, one, mark!"
Taking a deep breath and checking once more that the guards were out of earshot, Duo rose from his crouch into a sprint towards the electrified fence. Even though he knew that Heero had already hacked the system and shorted it out, he still cringed mentally as he grabbed hold of the wire mesh. Infinitely grateful for his partner's assiduity in seeing that he didn't get five hundred volts earthed through him, Duo set the toe of one boot hard against the fence and boosted himself up enough to catch the top with a gloved hand and flip himself over in a vault worthy of Trowa.
He landed in a defensive crouch, boots hitting concrete with a dull thud, and the next moment was up and running for the cover of some crates he'd marked in his preliminary scope. He flung himself down behind them, breathing hard, just as the first of the guards turned the corner of the building again. "Damn, I'm getting out of shape," he muttered to himself and almost bit off his tongue as Heero's soft snort whispered in his ear.
"I take it you're in?"
"Yup." Duo waited for the footsteps to pass his position, then dared a peek around the corner of a crate. The blue-suited guard was heading around towards the administration building, right on schedule. "Okay, here we go," he breathed, mostly for Heero's benefit, as he rose and broke into a silent sprint after the man, ghosting up behind him just as blue-shirt turned the corner and flattening himself against the wall. Listening avidly, Duo could hear the sound of heavy footsteps halting, then the jangle of keys and the soft click of a well-oiled lock. Excellent � that makes my job a lot easier, and quicker.
The slam of the door shutting behind the guard was his signal to move out. Slipping around the corner like a shadow, Duo pulled the lockpick roll from a thigh pocket and set to work, pressing himself as close to the plain metal door as he could. It took longer than he would have liked to shift all the tumblers; the lock was old and its interior angles worn. Or maybe I'm just out of practice�
"I'm in," he breathed into the collar mike as loudly as he dared, inching the door open slowly enough that he could peer around it without being seen himself. "All clear." Breathing a sigh of relief, Duo slipped through the door and pulled it closed behind him.
He was confronted with a corridor running left to right, leading into an open-plan office area. At this time of night, the building was all but empty, the only illumination the red glow of security lights dotted at intervals along the walls. Keeping to the shadows, Duo made his way to the left, away from the main offices, towards what was marked on the plans Heero had downloaded as the stock control room. He could feel the rush of adrenaline beginning to seep into his veins, heightening his senses and streamlining his movements.
"Just like old times," Duo whispered to Heero as he ducked into a storage alcove, hearing the approaching footsteps of the guard's return. "I haven't had this much fun in years." Crouching uncomfortably behind a waist-high set of shelves, he calmed his breathing carefully, listening to his own heartbeat and waiting for the guard to pass his position.
"Just remember not to blow anything up," Heero reminded him wryly; Duo quirked his lips and stood smoothly, easing out of his bolthole just as the security guard turned the corner into the office area.
"You're always spoiling my fun," he muttered under his breath, hearing Heero laugh in his ear. "Okay, made it." Duo tested the door he wanted, pleased to find it unlocked. Still, caution was necessary; he pulled a small aerosol can from a pocket and gave three quick squirts to the hinges and latch, the hiss of the lubricant sounding horrendously loud and making him wince. The door opened soundlessly to him revealing a darkened room that bulked with the shadows of desks and computer monitors.
Knowing better than to try the lights, Duo reached for a penlight, shining the narrow beam around the room. Yep, fairly typical office setup, three-computer array�
"Look for the network sockets," Heero's voice came to him over the comlink. His partner sounded impatient�
"I know, I know," Duo whispered back, circling around the desk to shine his torch over the computer housing. "Right, only two connected." He was already fumbling in a pocket for the transmitter Heero had given him, transferring the penlight to his mouth as he tapped at the keyboard, bringing the hibernating machine to life. "Damn, do they not even password this thing?" He shook his head in disbelief, slipping the connector end of the little device into the port and inputting the code sequence to start the data dump.
"It's the files that are passworded," Heero informed him quietly; Duo could hear the ever-present sound of tapping keys in the background. "Some sections of the drives are quite heavily protected, I'm downloading them whole."
"Right." The transmitter was almost silent, but the soft beeps it emitted were still too loud for Duo, putting him on edge. Looking around for something to do, his eyes fell on the rank of filing cabinets against the wall, and he shrugged, pulling his lockpicks back out. "I'm going to have a look at their hardcopy."
"Ten minutes," Heero murmured back, obviously absorbed in watching the download. Duo kept one ear on the door as he slid out file trays at random, moving slowly to avoid squeaks. Unfortunately for him, the filing system appeared to be either completely random or completely indecipherable to anyone who didn't work here. Files were grouped under random strings of letters and numbers, and without even the advantage of enough light to see by Duo couldn't really make head or tail of them.
Well, I guess just jumping in anywhere is better than nothing. He shrugged and pulled up a handful of files, sifting quickly through the layers of paper and plasfilm. Backorders on Colonial supplies, manifests from years back� Jesus, do these guys ever throw anything away? Most of the documents from this tray appeared to deal with perishable foodstuffs, so Duo moved on to the next. Hmm, what do we have here�? Medical supplies to L3, salvage permits from the war� Five hundred cases of surgical lube?! Do I even wanna know? He couldn't contain a soft snort of laughter.
"What?" Heero's voice in his ear was very intent.
"Some of the old manifests," Duo murmured, shoving the papers carefully back into the slots they'd come from. As far as he could tell, the files were organised externally by date, which meant he probably wanted the cabinets at the end of the row. Moving down, he settled into a comfortable cross-legged position on the floor, picking new reading material at random. "Hm, monthly payroll lists, that might be useful�" Slipping the digital scanner from another pocket, he captured quick images of the stapled pages and slid them back where they belonged. What else� hardware audits, fuel consumption rates? Might be useful, but we don't have the time right now. There, manifests. Grabbing handfuls of pages, Duo began scanning as quickly as possible, trying to get as much information documented as possible.
A soft beep from the transmitter attached to the computer attracted his attention just as Heero's satisfied voice entered his ear. "Done. Time to extract, Shadow." For a moment the use of his codename left Duo disoriented; he wondered if perhaps Une or one of the other ranking officers was in the room with his partner.
"Right." Unwinding to his feet, Duo stuffed the manifest lists away and slid the file drawer closed carefully. It still made a small clunk, but according to his calculations there would be no guards in this part of the building right now. If he was lucky. Detaching the transmitter from the computer drive, he returned it to its place in his pocket and made for the door.
Duo was lucky; he got off the premises without any major incidents, although there was one close scrape when a guard came around the warehouse end of the strip off-schedule, forcing him to take emergency refuge in a half-empty dumpster. He just thanked everything he held holy that the rubbish the thing contained was made up mostly of packing refuse; he had far too many memories of spending time in crates of half-rotted food as it was. A few crouched moments of tense stillness and then he was gone again, cueing Heero to short out the security fence and making a clean jump back onto neutral turf.
It was while he was making the short walk back to the convenience store where he had left the unmarked car he'd borrowed that Duo encountered trouble. They were clumsy, their footfalls pitifully obvious on the dry asphalt pavement, their breathing just as stentorian to his trained ears. Duo allowed himself a small smirk as he heard them closing in on him, one hand drifting to the deep pocket of his vest where his gun was concealed.
The attackers struck quickly, one darting in from the side with a knife at the ready, clearly aiming to pull Duo into a threatening grip and extremely surprised to find that the long-haired man had already twisted away, evading his grasping arms neatly.
"Sloppy, sloppy," Duo taunted the scruffy pair sarcastically, looking them over carefully. Both were young, perhaps a year or two older than he and looking younger, with the pinched faces and bruised eyes of habitual substance abusers. They wore ripped denim jackets and combat pants, and looked both desperate and dangerous. In contrast, Duo knew that he presented the picture of the ideal victim � young, slight, and fey-looking in close-fitting black 'work' clothes.
"Fucking fairy," the one with the knife snarled, moving in for a slash that Duo evaded easily with a jump that he turned into a vicious kick that connected solidly with the head of his erstwhile assailant, slamming him backward into the ground at high speed. His shaven head connected with the pavement with a sickening crack that Duo ignored � he hadn't used anything approaching lethal force and he knew it � as he landed in a crouch and stood, pulling his gun smoothly and taking aim at the other guy's shoulder.
"I suggest you get the fuck out of here right now," he growled, well and truly pissed off as the inept mugger turned pasty white and began to shake. Within seconds the skinhead had broken into a junkie's shambling run towards the nearest side street, leaving his concussed associate littering the pavement.
"Feh." Lowering the Beretta, Duo prodded at the prone body with his toe for a moment, producing a low groan. Well, at least I don't need to call an ambulance for the stupid bastard. Shrugging, he holstered the gun smoothly and turned away, striding quickly toward the lights of the 24-hour gas station and the car he had parked in its lot.
"Status." Heero's cold voice in his ear took him back to the war years with a start; Duo shivered as he fumbled the keys out and let himself into the old Ford.
"I'm fine." Suddenly unbelievably weary, he leaned forward, resting his forehead on the steering wheel and wishing for just one tiny particle of caring in his partner's icy tones. "Two guys tried to jump me; I put one of them down with a kick an' the other freaked when I drew."
"No injuries?" Maybe, Duo thought tiredly, he could just kid himself that his partner was actually worried about him to be asking such things.
"No injuries," he echoed. "The one guy's probably gonna have a headache though."
"Okay. Get back to headquarters, Duo." There was a click, and then static on the line as Heero signed off. Knowing the white noise would irritate him, Duo pulled the earpiece out and slipped it into a pocket before starting up the engine and beginning the short drive back to HQ.
"Right you are," he muttered to himself as he took the nearest sliproad onto the motorway, sliding the gears into fifth and the car into the fast lane.
The drive back to central Brussels was relatively short, and exceedingly boring as the motorway wound through industrial districts; there was barely any traffic at all this close to three AM, the road winding emptily away in front of him in the orange glow of street-lights. It was both empty and eerie, and it suited the way Duo felt.
He pulled into the back garage shortly before three-thirty, tossing the keys to the mechanic on duty and heading wearily for the lifts. Heero was waiting in their office, as he'd expected, ensconced behind a computer screen and staring intently at scrolling data.
"Hey." Slumping down at his own desk, Duo fished the little scanner out of his vest pocket and hooked it up to his own computer. "Got anything yet?"
"I'm still cracking the some of the passwords." Heero glanced up at him. "I can leave this; do you want some coffee?"
"God, yeah." Duo rotated his shoulders gingerly. "Thanks, buddy." His partner left the room in efficient silence, and Duo sighed miserably. Damn it, Stone Man's back again� I am never going to figure him out. He perked up as the computer began uploading images to the desktop, page by page. "Let's see�" Quickly pulling up the recognition software, he began converting the images to text format.
Heero came back after a few minutes carrying two mugs; Duo recognised the distinctive aroma of green tea mixed with the comforting bite of his own coffee. "Thanks." He gave his partner a tired grin and sipped gratefully as Heero came to stand over his shoulder, looking at his monitor.
"The payroll?" he asked.
"Yeah." Duo shrugged. "I figure we can at least check it against what they've got on the system, see if it matches."
"Hm. Good idea," Heero said thoughtfully, and Duo twisted himself around to look up at his friend.
"What'd'ya think up now?" His eyes widened slightly as their eyes met, but he refused to let any sign of his reaction show and after an achingly long moment their locked gaze splintered.
"I need to cross-check what we just downloaded with what's on their operator system," Heero muttered over his shoulder, already heading back to his desk as a series of chimes announced the completion of the code program he'd been running.
"Yeah, whatever." Duo turned back to his monitor, paging slowly through the information he'd gathered. At first sight, the cargo manifests and carrier route designations seemed perfectly legitimate and above board, but he went through them carefully nonetheless, taking careful note of the destinations and ports served. This sort of data-sieve work was boring as hell, but it was a necessary part of Preventer casework. They had research staff, but at this time of night, and on a case this important, it was necessary to rake through the information themselves.
Duo would have freely admitted that sorting through paperwork and matching up patterns was his least favourite part of the job. He lived for the moments when he could take up his old mantle of stealth, practice his speciality of sneaking in and out of secure facilities; even after all this time it gave him a thrill like no other to know that however vigilant the guards, they were completely unaware of his presence. When there were no Preventer missions requiring his particular expertise, Une sometimes put him to work sneaking into Relena's offices to test her security. More often, though, his case-free days were spent out at the training facilities near Antwerp, putting recruits through their paces in sabotage, demolitions and explosives technology. A grin crossed his face; that was fun. The chance to blow things up was one of the few things he missed about the war years, and it was only a pity that Preventer duties so seldom called for pyrotechnics of the kind Duo preferred.
Something on the screen caught his eye, and Duo frowned, trying to puzzle out just what about the figures before him didn't fit the picture. Supply shuttles for the L1 Colonies� L1 C and D sectors� there's definitely a weight differential going in to those colonies. He called up the expanded documents, trying to match shuttle payloads to dates and weights. This can't be right�
"Heero, come look at this." Duo pointed to the screen as his partner once again took up position behind him. "See these three shuttle listings? They're all substantially bigger loads than the others listed for the month."
"Hn." Heero examined the screen with a curious expression. "Do you have the cargo listings?"
"Yeah, here." Duo pulled up the other window with a twitch of the mouse. "It's all listed as hardware supplies, see? Joist and girder sections, and pipe fittings. But there's a lot more weight in these loads than in these other ones," he pointed, "going into L3, even though the manifests are exactly the same, right down to the numbers."
"Which colonies?" Heero's voice was intent; he was bending over the back of Duo's chair and staring at the screen as though it contained all the enemies he had ever fought. Duo was familiar with the Japanese man's mission focus, but couldn't help but shiver at the intensity of his partner's eyes. Or maybe it was the soft heat of Heero's breath on the side of his face and neck� he was standing damn close�
"L1 C36122, D9059, and C88178," Duo all but squeaked, wanting to shift away from Heero's warmth but frozen in place, finding himself incapable of even the smallest movement.
"Those are fairly wealthy sectors," Heero mused, straightening almost reluctantly but leaving his hands resting on the back of Duo's chair, a tantalising warmth through the thin black turtleneck the American was wearing. God, he's�
"What's the timescale?" Heero's question jolted Duo abruptly out of the reverie he'd been sinking into, a hazy mental plane inhabited by phantom hands and the memory of heated skin�
"What? Uh, they all went out on the same day," Duo managed after a start of surprise, flushing almost uncontrollably. Christ, it was getting worse� "Mid-month. You want me to check port records tomorrow? Monday I mean," he corrected himself; it was tomorrow already and after the eighteen-hour day he'd already put in he knew he'd be sleeping til mid-afternoon. Hilde could handle whatever needed doing at the office, and the spaceport record offices were hell to deal with over weekends.
"That might be advisable." Heero gave him a rather penetrating look. "You're exhausted, Duo. Go home and get some sleep."
Duo gave him a wry look that was rather spoilt by the yawn that, as though summoned by Heero's words, suddenly threatened to split his face in half. "Pots and kettles, Yuy, you're knackered too and I know damn well you'll be in here until dawn at least."
Heero looked at him steadily for several moments, then (obviously sensing that Duo was going to be stubborn about staying till he left) sighed heavily and headed over to his desk, switching his computer onto hibernate mode and picking up his laptop case, shrugging into his jacket. "Well?"
Duo simply gaped at him for a long moment before recovering his wits, pulling the microphone unit from his collar and leaving it on the desk along with the camera unit. His own Preventer jacket slung over his shoulder, he chugged down the last of his coffee and followed Heero to the door and locked up after them. "I take it you want a lift then," he observed wryly as they headed for the lifts. There were always emergency staff in the building, but most of the higher level Agents kept regular office hours unless they were on a major case, so the halls were practically deserted.
"Thank you," was all Heero said. "I appreciate it." And, Duo thought with exhausted amusement, it was obviously up to him to interpret that comment as he chose.