Dreams Won't Let Go Part 6
Resolve
Duo greeted the new day in unhurried gradations. First he untangled his ratty braid that had bunched up between the pillow and his shoulder blades. Next he squinted at the bedside clock, 8:21am. Finally an elongated stretch, arms over his head and toes pointed at the footboard, realigned his spine.
In the same slow progression, he slipped into his rumpled trousers and wrinkled shirt and crawled around on hands and knees to recover the discarded socks hiding under the bed.
Shuffling into the bathroom, Duo emptied his bladder, braced his hands on the sink, regarded his drowsy reflection in mirror then splashed lukewarm water on his face to chase away the last vestiges of sleep.
He found Heero, hair still damp; dressed in stonewashed jeans and white tee shirt, seated at the kitchen table pecking away on the laptop. The legal pad pages from the previous night remained undisturbed, but the crumpled sheets had been banished to the trash bin.
"Mornin'." Duo mumbled as he retrieved a half gallon carton of store-brand orange juice from the refrigerator.
Focused on cracking Ms. Morgan's frustrating code, Heero briefly diverted his attention from the deciphering quest. "You could've stay in bed longer."
Not certain if "staying in bed" meant Heero was content with working solo or the sleep period hadn't covered ample hours for adequate rest, Duo shrugged. "Woke up, got up. You want some juice?"
"Yeah."
Duo filled two glasses and set one by the laptop.
Knowing his partner's habit of spiking his beverages, he inquired with a sardonic snort. "Think you can drink this without the boozes?"
"You're being smart-assed this morning." Heero commented as he took a sip of the unaltered juice.
Glass in hand, Duo settled into the seat beside his comrade. "You don't need that vodka shit."
"Don't get self-righteous with me." Heero shot back. "I've seen you too hung over to properly operate Deathscythe or stoned and acting the fool in a futile endeavor to evade whatever in hell was eating at your guts."
Anticipating an argument or physical altercation, Heero prepared to counter the ensuing assault. Yet Duo didn't launch a tirade nor did he resort to blows, instead his expression was curiously unreadable.
"I was really fucked up during the war," Duo acknowledged with a heavy sigh, "All of us, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, even you, were running from a lot of ghosts, some exhumed from our pasts and others spawned from violence and destruction."
When Heero offered no comment, Duo continued with a hint of sadness flickering over his misty eyes. "Most of those ghosts are still lying in wait to burrow into our minds and invade our dreams. I found out the hard way, altering your senses makes you vulnerable and doesn't exorcise one damn ounce of sorrow from your soul."
Thoughtfully contemplating Duo's insightful discernment, Heero studied his own conduct during the war and in the aftermath of peace.
"I'm not flawless." he admitted, resisting the urge to masquerade as the Perfect Soldier. "I have no right to judge you or criticize how anyone chooses to cope since my overindulgence of alcohol has done nothing to eradicate my demons."
"We gotta let go of the past." Duo declared. "I don't know how exactly, but we, ah hell, we can rely on each other. Yeah, we can challenge the devil and win."
At a loss for words, Heero nodded. He and Duo were a formidable team, both in wartime and now as Preventer partners, and he had no doubts with mutual tenacity they would finally vanquish their ghosts.
Not comfortable with the serious shift in his and Heero's conversation, a roguish grin brightened Duo's face. "Remember the day after we all arrived at New Edwards, out of boredom I got high and kept calling Wufei "The Woofer" until I goaded him into a sparring session?"
Heero also smiled as he recalled the Chinese pilot's indignation at the "braided clown's disrespectful audacity ".
"Chang was ready to tear your head off but you stood your ground."
"Considering I was pumped up on false courage, I was lucky to limp away with a bloody nose, one black eye, all my teeth and muscles that were sore for only a week." Duo took stock of his absolute trouncing. "Yea "The Woofer" beat the crap outa me, but no matter now I'm fixin' breakfast."
In record time Duo served up two generous portions of scrambled eggs, wheat toast, strawberry jam and freshly brewed coffee.
The laptop shoved aside and the decoding temporarily put on hold, Heero and Duo consumed the mid-morning feast and reminisced about their least haunting combat memories.
*********
After breakfast Duo loaded the dishwasher, tidied up the kitchen and excused himself for a much-craved shower.
Bathroom heater set on high, he adjusted the water temperature, stripped and finger combed in a futile effort to detangle his scruffy mane. Drawing back the shower curtain just far enough to slink in without leaching out all the steam, he backed into the hot but tolerable spray.
For several minutes Duo let the muscle soothing flow cascade over his head and shoulders, soak his hair and drip over buttocks and down thighs. The hiss of water, the measured pulses striking the tiles synchronized a rhythm and tempo that could have lulled him to sleep had he not been standing.
Tension melted away. Traitors and theories and mysterious codes were momentarily forgotten. But when an unexpected recollection surged to the surface Duo was caught totally off guard.
Suddenly Heero's kiss rekindled a fire that could not be ignored. Back braced against the wall, Duo closed his eyes and surrendered to the mesmerizing fantasy the kiss evoked.
Soap-slick hands moved of their own accord to fondle nipples and trace ragged trails over Duo's stomach. Enthusiastic fingertips tunneled around his cock that, like a good soldier, was standing at stiff attention.
A low moan hummed in Duo's throat as he imagined Heero's hands dispensing the tactile stimulation. Breaths quickened as a powerful tremor gathered in his groin with sufficient force to buckle his knees.
Thrust.
Up and down.
Base to tip and back again.
Faster.
Water pelted.
Rougher.
Heart hammered.
As primitive lust guided each stroke Duo hissed through clenched teeth.
On the verge of climax, his mouth gaped wide to emit a groan that could have been heard in the kitchen if the bathroom door had been opened.
Finally driven beyond the point of no return; with a sturdy shudder and a reverent whisper of Heero's name, Duo gave up his seed. Although as quickly as the milky discharge spurted over his hands all evidence was washed away leaving only illusive tingles as proof of his phantom lover's touch.
Arms limp at his side; fingers trembling, Duo took a moment to regain his composure.
He knew by the time he bathed, shampooed, rinsed, redressed and spent the better part of twenty minutes combing and braiding his hair, there'd be no physical aftereffects to divulge his covert masturbation, but regrettably, his frayed emotions could prove to be the ultimate betrayer.
In numerous situations Duo had witnessed his partner's aptitude for reading the slightest changes in tone or body language and while this well-honed skill was advantageous in sizing up the enemy, it could very well prove to be his downfall.
If Duo wasn't cautious, Heero might pick up residual pheromones or subtle hints of edginess in his actions.
"Acting the fool again." Duo chided his lack of willpower to rein in his hormonal impulses.
*********
Duo took a centering breath, steeled his nerves and stepped into the kitchen. "Any luck?" he inquired to target Heero's concentration on the laptop.
"I've narrowed the variables to three sets."
Like a cagey mouse trying to outwit a cat, Duo dared to gaze over Heero's shoulder at the screen filled with possible sequencing combinations.
Tilting his head, Duo ran a series of mental computations, none were conclusive. "This code is exasperating." he began to voice his aggravation, then. "I'll be damned."
Heero paused, quieting the clacking keys.
Perhaps Duo's prior release of tension had sharpened his wits or he'd been granted an epiphany. "Suppose these," he pointed at the repetitive pair of letters flanking the margin, "are the key."
Heero glanced at Duo then back at the screen for a long moment of studying. "You're right." he gladly gave credit where credit was due. "A.S .is listed six times. A.S." he repeated to prod the letters into surrendering their secret.
Duo didn't need to nudge the obstinate initials. "Antonio Sanchez." he growled out the cryptic solution.
With the Devil's disclosure, ambiguous answers materialized from obscurity. Patterns of unfathomable letters and enigmatic numbers lock stepped into precise clarification.
As if guided by divine intervention, ten entries were exposed as standard sixteen-digit configurations, most likely bank accounts or credit cards. Other clusters composed street names and site addresses.
Matching the cyclical letters, the same address also appeared in six entries. "Should we assume this location is our objective?" Duo speculated.
Heero shrugged. "Maybe, but in our line of work assumptions can get you killed."
"Then we trail the fox to the den."
"What's the plan?"
"David Austin has been locked away in an isolation cell all night," Duo reviewed the traitorous agent's status, "by now he's havin' a fit to get out. Let him sweat until late afternoon then claim he's being released on a legal technicality and I bet he'll lead us to our goal."
"You think he's stupid enough to head for the den?"
A grin blossomed on Duo's lips. "He was dim-witted enough to cross us."
"Point well taken." Heero agreed.
*********
David Austin sat at a rectangle table in Interrogation Room B. appraising his reflection in the two-way mirror on the facing wall.
Twenty-four hours worth of stubble shadowed his jaw lines and chin. Purplish semicircles under his eyes made the bloodshot orbs appear sunken in their sockets.
Sleeping in his clothes added another layer to his disheveled appearance and he speculated his deodorant had failed somewhere around midnight.
The veteran agent presumed some green, snot-nosed Lieutenant fresh out of the Preventer Academy was monitoring him for any signs of nervousness so, even though his guts were turning cartwheels, he lounged in his chair with the casual posture of false apathy.
Shoring up his aloof expression, Austin mumbled under his breath, "Gawk all you want."
Nevertheless the pseudo-relaxed facade frayed threadbare when Heero and Duo stepped through the door. Regardless of Austin's nonchalant charade, he flinched as recollections of Agent Yuy's murderous rage jolted every nerve ending like a million volts surging at once.
It took all of Austin's control training not to bolt from his seat when Heero slapped both hands on the tabletop, locked his acidic glare and growled. "Commander Po decided there's no conclusive evidence to detain you."
Duo, displaying his own incensed glower, took up his role in their "bait the fox" ruse. "I presume you can tell my partner ain't happy about lettin' you go, well, I have even more incentive to be furious so I'm puttin' you on notice."
He leaned closer so only the fox could hear and hissed. "If our paths cross outside this building I won't hesitate to put a bullet in your brain."
The seeds of apprehension planted, Heero added a bit of fertilizer. "I promise you won't be able to take a piss without looking over your shoulder." He confirmed Austin's dire odds of eluding the Grim Reaper's executioners.
"That did the trick." Duo declared, watching through the two-way mirror as a pale, visibly shaken Agent Austin was escorted from the room.
"Our quarry isn't pleased to be discharged into the big, bad world." Heero concurred as he checked his watch. "It will take fifteen to twenty minutes to process Austin's release. Meanwhile, given he knows I drive a Viper, we'll secure an inconspicuous vehicle from the motor pool."
*********
The waning sun perched above the cityscape-scarred horizon like a large, round dragon eye dyed cotton ball clouds in assorted hues ranging from fiery red to mauve to dusky gray.
Agent Austin stopped just outside the Preventer Headquarters main entrance to scan left, right, across the street then repeated the anxious scrutiny.
With faltering steps, the result of constantly glancing over his shoulder, the clearly flustered agent scurried down the sidewalk, paused at the parking lot security gate to swipe his ID Clearance Card then made a beeline for his emerald green Silverado 4X4.
Headlights flashing and horn beeping confirmed the keyless remote control had deactivated the driver's side lock. In the same frazzled fashion, Austin jerked open the door and, in his haste to slide inside, bumped his head on the metal frame.
"We did a good job of spookin' the bastard." Duo commented from the passenger seat of the afore-mentioned non-descript SUV parked two rows behind Austin's truck.
Heero nodded with hopeful optimism. "Now let's see if our plan bears fruit."
TBC...
Back to Karen, The Huntress's Fanfictions Page