Deliveryman Part 4
So, I was a sneak agent for the Preventers now. I seriously considered running away and hiding someplace where they would never ever find me again. It was what I did best of course. But that would mean leaving behind my friends and the life I had built. How did I manage to get myself into these situations?
I was beyond pissed at Heero. Goddamnit I never should've given in, never should've told him anything. I should've denied it up and down when he confronted me about that disk. But no, like I've already said, when it comes to Heero I've got a serious weakness, and unfortunately I think he's somewhat realized it. Oh, not that I'm head over heels for him, but that I don't want to disappoint him or something. He sure knows how to play me, that bastard.
After the incident with the slave ring, things went back to normal for a few weeks. Well, somewhat normal, anyway. I wasn't talking to Heero. When he called I'd ask him if it was Preventers business, and if it wasn't, I'd hang up on him. I know it was pissing him off, but I didn't care. The last thing I had wanted was to be under Une's thumb and that's where he had put me.
Oh, I know it wasn't fair of me. There was no way I could've handled that last mess on my own, but it still didn't stop me from blaming Heero for my situation. It was better than blaming myself. I knew eventually he and I would have to have it out, but I preferred later to sooner, if you know what I mean. The Preventers would call on me eventually and then I'd have to talk to him.
As it turned out, it wasn't the Preventers who called first- it was Quatre.
Let me just say that Quatre Raberba Winner may look like an angel and have fooled tons of people into thinking that he's just the sweetest guy ever, but some angelic sweetheart he's not. This was the guy who destroyed a whole colony while on the Zero system. No one else can claim that- not even the Perfect Soldier. Quatre also runs the business his father left with an iron fist- and the business world is a lot more dangerous than Oz ever was. Quatre is not someone to mess around with.
"Duo," Quatre gave me one of those sweet smiles of his when I answered the phone. "I was wondering if you were busy this weekend? I have a job for you."
"Oh?" I raised my eyebrow at him. "What kind of job?" Quatre's smile changed subtly.
"A Shinigami kind," he answered. "I strongly suspect that one of my financial managers is pulling a fast one. I need some evidence."
"And how do you want me to get it?"
"I want you to swing by his office this weekend and see if you can pick anything up." Ah, a clever way of asking me to commit a B&E and steal some, hm?
"That doesn't sound very- legal."
"And that bothers you how?" Quatre was still smiling, but I could hear the steel in his tone. I backed down. Like I said, Quatre is not someone to mess around with.
"I suppose I can help you out."
"I have Commander Une's support on this, so Heero will be joining you. He already has the info you'll need and can be your base support." I frowned.
"I don't need his help if it's a simple swing through, Quat."
"Well, I'm not really sure how simple it will be."
"What do you mean?"
"Heero will tell you." Quatre gave me an evil smile. "You boys have fun now." And the little bastard hung up on me.
So much for my quiet weekend at home.
Heero arrived on my doorstep an hour later, laptop in hand. I opened the door and found myself the recipient of one of his glares. I almost told him that Quatre's smiles were infinitely scarier, but as I mentioned earlier I have no desire to get my throat ripped out. So, I stood to one side and ushered him in.
He slapped the laptop down on my counter and opened it up without saying a word. I ran my eye over the blueprints of the office building we were supposed to break into. It didn't look that bad. I snuck a side look at the man standing next to me. He looked really angry. Like if he still had Wing Zero he'd probably be stomping on me with it. That kind of angry. Great. This was going to be a fun weekend. I cleared my throat. Looked like it was up to me to get the conversational ball rolling.
"Quatre said that you would tell me why this wasn't a simple job?"
"Are you going to let me talk to you?" Heero growled turning his head to look at me. I blinked at him, surprised. "Or should I just type out my reply for you?"
"You can talk to me," I told him, trying to keep my voice level.
"Oh, of course," he sneered, "that's right, this is business." Crap, he was really upset. For a moment I wondered if I had been too hard on him. Ah, hell I knew I had been, and if I was going to be relying on him as my backup it would be better if he wasn't quite so upset with me.
"Look Heero, I'm sorry- okay? I know I was a little bit harsh with you these last couple weeks..."
"A little bit harsh?" He snapped back at me. "My best friend stops returning my calls, won't even listen to my apologies, stops talking to me at all unless I have business to discuss with him- that's only a little bit harsh?" Okay, this wasn't going well. "Damn Duo, I'd hate to see what you'd consider really harsh- maybe cutting my heart out and eating it raw?" That was practically snarled at me and I had to snap back:
"You're the one who put me at the mercy of Une!"
"You're the one who decided that he was going to play Batman!" I blinked at Heero for a moment, amazed that he even knew who Batman was. Then, I couldn't help it, I started to laugh. "What's so funny?" Heero growled.
"If I'm Batman, does that make you the Boy Wonder?" His lips twitched.
"That's not funny Duo."
"You in yellow tights? Yes it is." The tension in the air had lessened and I felt safe enough to chuckle. Reaching out a hand, I touched his shoulder gently. "I really am sorry Heero. I know you were trying to help. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you. It was wrong of me."
"I'm sorry too," he took a deep breath. "I didn't know Une was going to blackmail you into this arrangement- I thought she was just going to ask." For some reason, that statement made me feel even better.
"Okay, Robin, tell me about our weekend plans."
I wanted to kill Quatre when Heero finished explaining the situation to me. Kill him slowly, with a spoon. This was no 'simple' B&E. The building was wired with the newest and best of the security systems. We couldn't hack in from the outside and sneaking in was going to be a stone bitch. At least the damn place only had one live guard. Of course, he sat in the nerve center of the place watching tons of those little tiny monitors.
Heero was not going in with me. He was to be the eye in the sky for me- I would only have his voice on the end of the headset as I performed this 'little job' for Quatre and Une.
I still wasn't sure why the Preventers were involving themselves with this kind of thing. White collar crime was not their area for the most part. Ah well, it's not like they were going to tell little old me anything anyways.
I went into the building through the front door. Surprised? Why? I told you- I'm a deliveryman. I had every right to be there. In my hands I carried a package for my target- a legitimate one too- from Quatre. The guard buzzed me in without a second glance.
The guard was at the front desk, the nerve center of the building's security.
"Delivery," I told him in a bored tone as I handed him the paperwork to sign.
"Who's it for?"
"John Andrews," I said after I looked at my clipboard.
"Kind of weird to be delivering on a Saturday."
"I don't question it, dude, I just drop the crap off. You gonna sign for it or what?" Yawning, I dropped the package on the counter. "We don't make another round here 'til Tuesday."
"Oh, that makes sense." The guard looked down at the clipboard and I dropped the pen I was holding onto the floor at his feet.
"Oops, sorry man." He bent down to get the pen and I quickly pushed a disk into the security system in front of me. I was leaning casually against the counter when he sat back up. He signed the clipboard and handed it back to me. I handed him the package. He turned his back to me for just a second and I grabbed the disk when it popped out of the system. "You have a good day now," I said to him as I sauntered out of the building.
"You too," he waved me out the door.
"Did you get access?" I muttered.
"Access confirmed. We are in," Heero's voice said in my ear. "I'll open that back door for you in 5 minutes."
"Confirmed." I got back in my van, in case the guard was watching and pulled out onto the street. I drove behind the building, parking behind the dumpster. I went to the back door and waited for Heero to tell me that it was clear.
"It's open. You're clear."
"I'd better be," I muttered. Heero had to do some fast work on that computer, covering my tracks in the system as well as his own. He was feeding the cameras false images, opening doors and trying to find me the clearest way to Mr. Andrews's office. If it had been anyone else I would've been very worried. Heero has a special relationship with his laptop however, and I put my faith in that.
Heero got me up to Mr. Andrew's office. I had to hack into his computer- fortunately, this guy was no computer genius. He had been a bad little boy- there was quite a bit of money passing through his hands and into some business called White Dog Inc.
Heero got very quiet on the mike when I told him that. "What is White Dog?" I asked him.
"Keep your mind on the mission," he told me. I nearly snapped back at him that it was my neck on the line here, but like he said- mission first.
I got back out of the system after copying anything that looked important to a disk, and with Heero's guidance, left the building.
He was waiting for me at my house, and I handed over the disk. "Do I need to call Quatre?"
"I already did. He said to thank you." Heero put the disk safely away. "Duo- no one's approached you recently- from the colonies?"
"Approached me for what?" I asked him.
"Well, you're a known gundam pilot- especially on L2. No one has talked to you about- going back to that job?"
"How could they? The gundams are gone."
"There are other mobile suits."
"Heero, what the hell are you getting at?" He didn't reply right away, just studied me.
"If someone did come and ask for you to take up arms for the colonies again, would you do it?"
"Why do the colonies need someone to fight for them?" I was confused. What the heck was he getting at? "I thought that everything was resolved between Earth and the colonies."
"Some people don't think so."
"White Dog?" I felt my eyes widen as it hit me. "It's White Fang isn't it? What the hell are those bastards up to now? We're at peace!"
"Nothing yet- we think it's just talk." Heero frowned. "I wasn't supposed to say anything to you, but you are the only gundam pilot with no known attachment to the Preventers. It's possible they'll try and recruit you."
"And if they did, you'd have someone on the inside," I countered.
"Don't you dare!" Heero snapped at me. He took a firm hold of my braid and made me look him in the eye. "They've already killed several of our infiltrators."
"But I'm a gundam pilot," I told him with a grin.
"Duo-"
"If the opportunity comes up, don't you think Une will want me to take it? I'm not going to go looking for these guys but if they come to me..."
"I'll hope that they won't."
"I'll be careful Heero." His mouth quirked in a slight grin.
"Just like always, Duo?" And then to my total and complete shock, he kissed me. Briefly, but with a bruising force. For once I found myself completely without words. "I have to get this to Quatre," he said when he released me. "I'll be checking up on you later. Stay out of trouble Duo." And he was gone.
I sat down at my desk, mind reeling. Has the last 2 minutes just really happened? Or had I been working too hard? I blinked at the door. If that was a hallucination, I was going to hope that I was losing my mind.
TBC...
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