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"Close Proximity"Written By: Fancy Figures Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, wish I did, just
enjoy writing about 'em for free etc Pairing: 1x2, 3+4, Warnings: AU, Duo POV, drama, yaoi, lemon Rating: NC 17 Summary: Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy are members
of the highly specialised Project Team, dealing with those matters
that are too sensitive for normal political channels. But there was
a time when they were something very much more than that – until
one particular mission went horribly wrong. Written for the 2005 Novella Challenge - voted 2nd place
"Close Proximity"
Chapter 15 Day Three 19:43 For a second, I didn’t understand what I was hearing. Sounded like feeding time at the zoo and a walk in the Rainforest, all rolled into one. Guess I hadn’t really registered the unusual silence around the trailer park until the parakeets set up their cries. I must have jumped somehow, because Heero touched at my arm to calm me. “It means he’s here,” he said, quietly. There were no dogs left on the park to bark a warning when anyone approached, of course, and when I’d suggested to Heero that he rig up some string and tin cans across the corridors between the trailers, I’d been treated to a particularly contemptuous glare. So then he’d told me that he’d negotiated with Zac to leave his pet birds behind him for a few hours. “They’re used to the usual crap that goes on,” Zac had told him. “But if anything different happens round my trailer, they’ll scream like blue murder.” And it looked like we were hearing that in action. * Greg’s shocked and angry expression as he approached my trailer would have been very amusing if it hadn’t been for a couple of things that disturbed me way more than any joke. One was the whiteness of Sheri’s face as he dragged her along beside him. I couldn’t see if she’d been seriously hurt, though she was walking by herself OK. He’d tied her arms behind her and gagged her, and he kept her close to him by way of a belt round her waist. From a distance, the bindings looked simplistic but effective. She wore one of her brilliantly bright, skimpy shirts and cropped jeans; her shoes were badly scuffed, as if she’d tried to run away but fallen in the attempt. Her eyes darted from me to Heero, then back again. She was scared and bewildered, and trying very hard to be brave. I was the one she looked to. She was only nineteen. The other thing that disturbed me was that there was no sign of Quatre Winner. I didn’t step right out of the doorway, but I knew Greg could see me quite clearly. He halted about ten feet away. His looks were as young and fresh and keen as ever – but now his eyes were wide and wild and his whole demeanour had changed. He was wearing a heavy jacket, with bulging pockets that hinted at trouble. Sheri wriggled a bit and he jerked at her belt, angrily – I thought I saw the glint of a knife at his own waist. When he settled her and returned his attention to me, he had a gun in his free hand. It rested almost casually at her side. I could feel Heero moving at my shoulder, but I stared only at Greg. “So where’s Quatre, Greg?” He ignored my question. “What the hell’s that noise? If you’re up to something, Maxwell –“ “Chill,” I said, as calmly as I could. “It’s only some birds. What, you wanted me to clear every last shred of nature off the site? Be reasonable.” Heero came and stood beside me so that Greg could see both of us framed in the doorway. I lifted my voice a little, so that it carried well enough for us all to hear. The birds were quietening down by now, the intruder having passed Zac’s trailer and moved on out of their sight and hearing. “Greg, where’s Quatre?” He glared at me, still not answering. “I know you have a gun, Duo. Heero does too, of course. Throw them out here to me.” I hesitated. He wrenched at Sheri’s binding and she gave a soft cry. I reached to the back of my jeans and pulled my gun out of my waistband. I threw it over to where he stood. After a brief, tense moment, Heero did the same. Greg nudged them with his foot and then kicked them over to the nearest trailer. They slithered in the dust and came to rest just under the steps. They wouldn’t be seen unless someone was looking. “Quatre?” I had a tight edge to my voice. “Don’t fuck with me, Greg.” He shrugged slightly. His eyes slid sideways to look at Sheri, then snapped back to me. “He’s safe.” “He’s not here,” said Heero, his voice low. “Why should we believe you?” I could feel the tension vibrating through his body. Greg stared back at Heero. “Heero Yuy. Another of Relena’s finest. Guess you’ll have to take my word for it, won’t you?” He tugged sharply at Sheri and she stumbled a little. “Just the two of us. Deal with it.” “So why are you here, Greg?” I pulled his attention back to me. “Can I assume it’s because you have a yearning need to tell us all about your campaign of horror and violence?” His pale eyes narrowed. “Cut the basic school psychology. But yes, there are things I want you to know – both of you. Things you need to know, why you deserve what’s happened to you – what’s going to happen to you. And there’ll be some pleasure in telling you how stupid you’ve been.” “You mean about the bombs? The booby traps? The poisons by post…” Heero sounded a little too sharp for my liking. I didn’t want Greg spooked – not just yet, anyway. “Cool it, Heero,” I said quickly. I felt his growl of frustration, but I didn’t turn to meet his look. “They didn’t work though, Greg, did they? The campaign has been fitful, to say the least. We’re still here – you can see that. That’s something I have a yearning need to tell you.” He scowled; I was provoking him, but carefully, I hoped. “You shouldn’t be here, Duo. The rifle should’ve taken you out – if I hadn’t been distracted by that fucking dog. And then the bomb under your trailer - I still can’t understand how it didn’t destroy the whole damned place.” “You have that fucking dog to thank for that as well,” I said, dryly. I stared at him, but at the same time I was measuring up the distance between us; the hold he had on Sheri; the stability of his grip on his gun. I suspected that Heero was doing the same. “How’d you get the dogs out of the way in the first place?” A fleeting smile chased over his face; an important assessment of his mood. “I had a good look around the park when we brought Yuy here that first time. The damned dogs were the only things keeping an eye on me, so I borrowed one of those scarves the big guy wears – I could see he was the owner of most of the dogs. I hid it under the trailer and retrieved it when we left with Relena. I reckoned it’d come in handy if I came back to the site. Which I did, of course.” He moistened his lips, seemingly eager to tell us how clever he was. “It seemed ridiculously easy to plant a bomb under a trailer, especially in a dump like this – so I came back a day later, early in the morning, to set it up. The scarf was really useful then, you see – it lulled the stupid animals, especially that huge brute, Dylan. It was like they recognised my smell and half-trusted me. Then I got them to come over to my van, fed them some meat full of sedatives and dragged them in when they started to collapse.” “No-one saw you?” He unconsciously lifted his chin – he was damned proud of his resourcefulness. “No, of course not. I parked the van in with everyone else’s, over on the outskirts of the park. But I admit I didn’t have much time so I only got to take them to the warehouse across the way – if I could’ve had longer, I might have taken them to the docks and lost them in the river once and for all.” I shivered slightly – I think Sheri whimpered under her gag. “Then I came back to arm the bomb, but it had all taken longer than I thought, and by the time I was ready to get the hell out of here, you turned up and got in the way. So I thought there was no harm in taking you out a little ahead of schedule.” He looked at my shoulder, pointedly. I shrugged, making a huge effort to make it look as limber as the other one. “You missed me.” He caught my eye and smirked. “Not completely.” I couldn’t answer; couldn’t deny it. “You made yourself out to be a clumsy novice on the shooting range,” came Heero’s voice behind me. He sounded calm – I think he’d tuned in to my own tone. “Which are you? Unskilled – or unlucky?” Greg’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t want you thinking I was any kind of a shooter; it served my purposes to be thought of as a dumb newbie.” And maybe you really were crap, anyway, I thought, but that was barely enough to console me today. “But what the fuck do you care?” he continued, belligerently. “At this range, I won’t miss either of you.” The gun jumped in his fist. “That’s fine,” I said quickly. “We get the picture, OK?” He glanced back at me, his eyes wary, but with a flicker of self-satisfaction. “You’d still never have caught me,” he snapped. “You were down, and your partner was apparently weeping over you, and there was no-one else around. I couldn’t think where the hell everyone had gone – but it meant I could make a clean getaway. I hid the rifle quickly and started back to the van. Then that dog came bounding back!” He looked both angry and amazed. “Can you believe it? While I’d been dumping the damned animals in the warehouse, the morons from this park had been right on my heels, searching for them. For their pets – I mean, how stupid is that?” I reserved judgement – anyway, I assumed his question was rhetorical. “Then the mad beast bit my ass and I was hauled into your trailer by its owner - damned guy looked as much like a mad beast as the dog. It took me hours to get away from you again. But I did.” He smiled then, and I was shocked to see the contrast between this slice of malice and his pleasant grin of previous times. “Like I said, it’s served my purposes to be seen as the loyal little sidekick, all the time I’ve been at the Department. A bit of a kid, no spunk, no threat. I sat and whimpered in that pathetic trailer of yours and neither of you had any idea who you were holding. When Cissy told you she had an email from Quatre requesting me back at base, you never thought twice about letting me go.” “You’d set that mail up in advance,” said Heero, almost softly. Greg just smiled again. There was a brief silence. I could see tears in Sheri’s eyes and no relaxation of Greg’s hold. Heero and I could have rushed him, and maybe if we caught him unawares, he wouldn’t have hit anyone with that gun. Or maybe not. A drop of water tapped on my shoulder and dribbled down my arm. It had run down from the roof and pooled on the top lip of the doorway, before falling on to me. “It’s starting to rain,” I said. Greg looked briefly irritated. “Come inside,” I said. “We’re unarmed. Bring Sheri in, and we can talk about everything there.” “For God’s sake, Duo – “ Heero began angrily, but I ignored him, just holding Greg’s gaze. “We can stand here, Heero, and get drenched,” I said, quite sharply. “Or we can go inside. What’s it matter? While he has Sheri, he has the call.” Greg narrowed his eyes, weighing up my suggestion. He looked from my determined face to Heero’s scowl. Then he gestured with the gun for us to go in ahead of him, tugged at Sheri’s belt, and the two of them stumbled forward to follow. * We all crammed into my room, but it’s not like we were gathering for any kind of tea party. Greg waved the two of us over towards the kitchen alcove, and he nudged Sheri down on to the couch. He stood beside her, watching us on the other side of the narrow room. There was nothing but the card table between us. I’d cleared it of cups and plates and anything else, but the radio still perched on top of it. There was no sound in the trailer except for our laboured breathing. I leant carefully back against the wall, trying to look a little more relaxed than I actually was. Heero stayed in the alcove, looking back at Greg. He seemed to be staring pretty closely at our visitor. I couldn’t see his face except in profile, but I hoped he wasn’t going to try anything rash. “So we’ve established you’re a good actor,” I said, steadily. “What performance do you have for us all now?” Greg brushed some drops of rain off his jacket. Then he looked up and stared at us both. I couldn’t see what he was looking at – or for. But Heero drew in a sharp breath at my side. What did he see? “Greg,” I started, my voice sounding calm and reasonable. “Let Sheri go at least. She’s got nothing to do with all this, has she? How can she? No, let her go and we can sort it out between us. I understand how you’re feeling –“ “Shut the fuck up!” His head shook sharply with the words, and I paused. I bit my lip. “OK, that was patronising. I’ll apologise if you think it’ll make any difference. I just don’t see why she has to be dragged into it.” “That’s the way it always is, though, isn’t it?” He sounded angrier now, and I was a little alarmed. “People who’ve done nothing to anyone get dragged into your mess, and you’re the last to see anything wrong in it!” I carefully blanked my expression. “Greg, tell me what it is I’ve done to you. What we’ve all done. It’s obviously important to you, and I want to understand. Maybe I want to learn where I’ve gone wrong…” He didn’t really seem to be listening. Sheri huddled up on the couch, keeping as far away from him as possible, but she was still well within firing range. He leant slightly forward to give extra emphasis, and he seemed temporarily to lose control of his breathing – the words started to spill out of him in erratic, passionate bursts. “It’s all fucking wrong - it’s not just important to me - there’s all kinds of people! But what do you care? They’re not part of your special little clique; they’re all – nothing! Invisible… ignored… The fucking Department, its stupid, seedy little agenda and its self-important missions - your decisions – your orders – your actions… Who do you all think you are? What makes you think you’re any better -? You just fuck up lives, don’t you? You railroad through people and their places in life - hell, they’re just trying to get by and make some money, or keep themselves off the street. But no, you have slimy public figures to keep sterilised - tuck them in their sordid little beds, and just ignore the fucking mess they’ve left behind them … Of course, that’s how your orders see it; you have to dump anything that disturbs you, wipe out anyone who tries to fight back –“ “Kes,” said Heero, suddenly. “The boy, Kes. You’re his brother.” Huh? That was the name of the boy who knifed Heero. The air seemed to freeze in the room. My flesh ran cold. Greg’s head snapped quickly towards him and I didn’t mistake the flash of grudging surprise in his eyes. “So you’re the smart one, Yuy. How did you guess?” “Your eyes,” said Heero, slowly. He looked like he was trying to bite the words back into his mouth – as if they might run away with him. His body was very still and I knew that was a measure of his tension. “Suddenly there’s something in them I recognise. Your resentment about the Department – and its missions. Your talk of us wiping out those who fight back.” I was wondering whether to pitch in. I was still a little in shock – but of course Heero would know the look of the boy who tried to kill him. How was it for him to look again into those eyes? Greg almost spat out his words. “And that’s what you did with him, isn’t it? He was young and scared and yet you fell on him like you were avenging gods, and you locked him up for life with a load of lunatics and abusive psychos.” “He tried to kill me, Greg.” Heero’s voice was very flat. “He was defending himself!” he almost shouted back. “I taught him to use a knife in case he was ever scared and threatened. Why’d you attack him?” “It wasn’t like that –“ Heero was struggling, I could see, with the memories, with the need to handle Greg carefully. I broke in. “Kes isn’t in some lunatic ward, Greg. He’s getting help where he is.” “Fuck that!” “How would you know?” I said, quietly but very clearly. “You’ve never been to see him. He’s never had any visitors or family contact at all.” It was very sudden – the stricken look that snagged across Greg’s face. The gun shook in his hand and I saw the muscles in Heero’s arm tighten suddenly. “I can’t do that. I can’t go to see him, can I? They’d lock me up too, I daresay.” “Tell me, then,” I said. I straightened up from the wall but I didn’t move any nearer. He was very volatile. “Tell me about Kes. Tell me why you’ve cut him loose like you have.” * Greg had been silent for a few moments, his eyes flickering fiercely as if he debated with his own mind. “I’ll tell you what I want to, Maxwell,” he ground out. “I want you to know what you’ve done to me – to us.” “I’m listening,” I said. “Why were you afraid to visit your brother, though? Surely we didn’t even know you then – we didn’t see any connection between you and the club. You weren’t there during the raid.” He wasn’t soothed. “Your kind doesn’t need evidence, does it? You’d targeted that place and the whole fucking lot had to be cleansed. They were just kids -- they didn’t know what the fuck was going on.” He looked at me, full of pure anger. “I saw the pictures – I read the report! This great governmental Department, this band of some kind of secret fucking agents -- you charged in like an invading army! No, I wasn’t there, but then anyone who was on the payroll would have run the same risk of being hounded and persecuted and thrown in the same kind of shithole as my brother –“ “So you were on the payroll,” I stated, slowly. “Of that brothel.” There was a defensiveness now in his tone -- and maybe a little pride. Misplaced, you might say – but then he was drifting way beyond rational at the moment. “Yes, I was. I helped set the fucking place up, you know? In the early days, it was just a small club, a personal space, just for some special people I knew – who helped me leave home, helped me start up on my own. They deserved their entertainment; they were good to the youngsters. Those kinds of people know what it’s like to be a kid on the streets – they can offer a protection from it. They can give you an alternative. I was proud to take that.” I thanked God he was too engrossed in his own narrative to see the horrified disgust in my eyes. I’d met more than a few of those kinds of people in my life. He was babbling on, regardless. “That guy you arrested – the one who was the owner? He’d taken the club away from me, a year or so back, flooding it with kids who were too young to control, opening the membership far beyond what was safe and discreet. But I – I didn’t have the money any more to keep it going, and he did. I knew exactly how much money he had. I’d stayed on to do their books. That, and to keep watch over Kes. Anyway, that was until your raid on the place put me out of a job.” “Maybe you should have moved on,” I said. “Did you think of that Greg? Did you think of that alternative?” He ignored me. His mind was embedded in the past, remembering, the memories festering. “Just one morning away from the place – I was just away one morning -- I always visited at least once a day, but I just had to meet the bank that day – just away one morning and this gang calling itself the Department sweeps in like self-appointed garbage men –“ “Your brother was being used as a whore,” said Heero, his voice steady again. He was with me on this – on nudging the pathetic confessions out of Greg. But it must have cost him, revisiting the mission, hearing the shocking tale from the other point of view. I’d never wished more fiercely that I could touch him; comfort him; support him. “We came to help the kids,” he said. “Not hurt them.” Greg whirled on him, a sneer on his face. “What did you know about what help they needed? What help he needed? It was all under control for Kes and me, I can assure you! We’d get money again – we had a plan for the future. We’d just stick it out for a year or so more, then we’d go away somewhere else. He understood that; it wasn’t so bad there, and he was fine with it –“ “You pimped him,” said Heero, unrelenting. “He was one of those kids.” “No,” said Greg. ”That’s crap. I protected him. I brought him up. He relied on me. And now you’ve split us apart.” “There was no record of a brother on your file when you joined the Department,” I said. He laughed softly. “There never has been anything to connect us officially. We had separate fathers, and our mother didn’t bother registering him when he was born. We never had the same name - she was careless with stuff like that. When she died, we went out on our own and he didn’t need documents and numbers and registrations. He had me to sort everything out. It was the same at the club, and I knew I’d always look after him there. Besides, with all the kids that came and went there, it’s easy to lose identities, to take new ones, to twist records and confuse authorities. It never bothered us, but I guess it caused problems for you. When you took him away, was it easy to establish his identity? To trace any family for him?” “There was nothing,” I said. It had been a shit time for me, of course – but that hadn’t stopped me poring over the notes in the dark hours of the night, finding out everything I could about the raid, following every scrap of documentation I could find in case it looked different on the hundredth read-through. “Yeah. Nothing there,” he spat, contemptuously. “So great, the spies and soldiers of the Department. So great, you couldn’t track a few children. So clever, to bully those children and turn them out of their home.” Murderous children, I wanted to say. Abused children – children whose idea of ‘home’ was twisted way out of the normal. Instead, I held out my hand to him, palm upwards, as if to offer friendship. I took a step away from the wall. I saw Sheri’s eyes following my movements; her pupils were extremely large, and dilated with her fright. “But you joined us, then,” I said. “You joined the very Department that had closed down your enterprise. The Department you’re so disgusted by…”
There was that smile again – the creep of insanity, the curve of cruelty. It was a shocking contrast against the pale youthfulness of his face. “Yes, I did, didn’t I? And it was so fucking easy, too! Easy to smile and open my eyes wide and show gratitude for the chance to work with you all. But it was all for my own reasons. If I couldn’t be with Kes, I’d join the very organisation that had ripped us apart, to do the same in return. I planned it from the day of my induction – I just needed to find the right time. Just some minor sabotage and confusion to start it all off… then some deliberate attacks on the precious Project Team.” He was looking at us, but his eyes were a little glazed. “I’d make you all feel the same pain and misery; make you see how stupid you were, how arrogant. How easy it was to twist your lives and destroy it all, just as you did for me and Kes.” I drew a deep breath without seeming to. My eyes darted to Sheri, but my slight frown warned her to stay still. “And Quatre? You worked well with him, Greg. You may be a fine actor, but I think you had some reluctant admiration for us. I think you were proud to be associated with the Team yourself.” I made my tone conciliatory. “I always saw Quatre as your friend and mentor.” Greg looked at me a little warily, but his reply was fierce. “He’s the only one of you that deserves any credit at all! The only one who gives a thought for the victims – who cares for anyone beyond Departmental directives.” I’d been right; he had one hell of a crush on his boss. “I don’t hold him specifically responsible for Dove,” he snapped. “Not for the raid. I know who was there; I know the main Team members and I know those who took Kes away.” Heero turned slightly to me. “I don’t understand how Quatre could have been so misled by someone who worked so closely with him. Surely he’d have guessed…” I shook my head gently. “No. Greg genuinely admires Quatre – maybe cares for him. Isn’t that true, Greg?” I watched the young man flush slightly and his brow crease. “That’s what Quatre would have sensed when he worked with him – he’d have assessed the loyalty, not suspecting the underlying treachery.” “Quatre found me invaluable.” Greg showed pride again “And I found his protection and his knowledge also invaluable.” His smile was softer, but still chilling me. “Yes, maybe I did enjoy my time there. You all seem to consider each other a family of sorts… but that’s not important to me, is it, because I have my own already.” “You let us suspect him, though,” said Heero. “You let us think, however briefly, that he might have had involvement in the attacks. You encouraged us to think that.” “Heero,” I said, my tone warning. “I’m sure Greg didn’t…” “But he’s right,” smiled Greg, interrupting me. “Whatever I think about Quatre personally, he’s still one of you, isn’t he? One of the Project Team.” “Yes, he is,” Heero said. “Tell us where he is.” Greg just laughed. “I’ve been watching and following the whole bunch of you for months now. At last I know where every one of you is – and it’s information that you don’t have yourselves! It’s a good feeling, Heero Yuy.” His eyes darkened and he brought the gun round to point towards me. “And now I can deal with you both - properly.” * I was measuring the distance between us and the gun – thinking how I might distract Greg, how I might keep him from going for the others first. Heero’s words startled me a little. “Won’t you find that a bit of a problem, Greg? I mean, we all still seem to be around, despite your efforts. It looks like you’ve been less than successful so far. All those attempts… all that planning. And we’re still all alive.” “Heero…” I sounded shocked. Greg flushed again, but with anger this time. “Fuck off, Yuy. I can still kill the girl, you know. I can still kill you all.” Heero shrugged. He had taken one step away from the alcove, moving back into the room to stand beside me. “But you haven’t managed it so far.” “What the fuck are you trying to do?” Greg sounded a little amazed at Heero’s rash behaviour. Chances are we all agreed with that. “The whole Department’s in chaos; I think I’ve caused enough damage so far to impress even you. Chang’s lost a leg –“ Heero coughed gently, as if the whole thing was starting to bore him. “No, he hasn’t. He’ll keep it – he’ll walk again. He’s a very resilient man, you see.” Greg’s eyes narrowed, almost petulantly. He didn’t know whether to believe Heero or not. Relena was now playing things very close to her chest, and obviously the news from the hospital hadn’t filtered back to base yet. “You’re just saying that, Heero. I know how you’ve all fawned over Relena and her relentless climb to power. Not any more! Ms. Peacecraft has failure and disaster written all over her precious Department. If she survives, she’ll never be allowed on anything more than field work again. She’s disgraced – and what use has her loyalty for her people been to her? The silly, devoted Cissy – “ “She had nothing to do with Dove!” It burst out of me before I could stop myself. “Yes she did, as much as any of the Department’s personnel. She was Relena’s right hand, wouldn’t you say?” His mouth slid up into a smile again. “And what worse thing can you do to a leader than disable their right hand?” Disable… his vicious little bomb had killed Cissy, whether the strike was aimed at Relena or not. It had hurt Relena more than she could admit to us. I have to say that I’ve never felt I could kill a person in cold blood before – but I felt the first glimmer of a pure, white-hot hatred then. “And Trowa Barton…” Greg was continuing. It was like some hideous litany of his, his resume of damage and sadism. “The pathetic, would-be lover. The mysterious Trowa, closeted away with his gadgets and his secret handshakes, I daresay. Hanging around Quatre, thinking he’ll share his life and affection, thinking he’s a match for him, when he has no more than half the brains and nowhere approaching the charisma…” His face twisted with a jealousy he probably wasn’t even aware of himself. I wanted to protest – dammit, I wanted to rip his fucking head off for what he’d done and what he was saying about my friends and colleagues! Greg had no idea of Trowa’s strengths, and the wilfulness that the man restrained in order to fit into the needs of the Department. He had seen the attraction between Trowa and Quatre – but again, I suspected he had underestimated its depth and devotion. He accused us of arrogance – but who the hell was he to talk? “So will Trowa be the one to chase after his partner? After my elusive boss?” He caught the flash of shock on my face, and knew he’d guessed that right. “Maybe he’s on the way even now, trying to find out where he is. How he is. So let’s see what they actually do get to share, if he finds him – that’ll be nothing but useful for me.” My face felt drained of blood. Heero stepped forward again, hands held out at his side as if to show he wasn’t threatening Greg. Fuck, did I wish he was! From the clench of his fists it looked like he felt the same and was barely holding himself back. He spoke through gritted teeth. “All right, so Relena is devastated, but she’s still leading this Department. We still follow her, you can’t destroy that loyalty. You’re a fool if you think we’re so easily swayed. Wufei will recover; Trowa will find Quatre and release him and your whole vendetta will crumble around you, a catalogue of inefficiency and clumsiness that the whole Department will pick over in years to come as a study of how spectacularly you failed…” “No!” Greg cried. He raised the gun. Sheri shrank back on the couch. “Shit, Heero –“ I gasped. “I think that you’re jealous,” Heero persisted. He stood a little way in front of me now, and I could see the glint in his eyes. “You probably wanted to be on the Project Team yourself. You spent all your time pretending you were no kind of a field agent, just happy to be on the support side, just loyal and unassuming and amenable to others. But that would mean you’d never get a chance to move on up the organisation. You’d never be any more than an assistant.” “I don’t need the Department,” Greg snapped back. “I don’t need your praise or your contempt – it means nothing to me. I’m the one who’s wrecked your homes and your lives; I’m the one in charge; I’m the one with the gun. Right?” Right, I thought, my heart racing. “So who’s to be first?” he cried. He hadn’t slipped the safety yet, but surely it’d only be a matter of seconds before he did. “You, Duo? Or maybe Heero, the guy with all the talk tonight.” Heero fell silent. We both stood transfixed – but only for a second. Then I stepped in front of him. |
