The Final Murder: Part 11

/Oh jeez. Oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez.../

That was the only thing going through my head as I stared at Wufei's angered face. It became obvious he didn't recognize me, and I was truly afraid that he would shoot first and ask questions later. As much as I wanted to say something, or scream to Duo to DO something, I didn't open my mouth. I didn't know about anyone else, but I've had extensive experience with trigger-happy people, and what I've learned has been that they will use any excuse, no matter how minute, as justification to blow someone's brains out. If they bother with an excuse at all.

"Hey, whoa! Wufei, don't! Don't shoot!" Duo yelled, shaking off the things that fell on him. It looked like either the ceiling or a piece of the wall collapsed on him. "That's Quatre!"

"What?!" Faster than my eyes could see, Wufei quickly tucked the gun back into his gray trenchcoat. His eyes were wide open and he seemed to be shaken-up. "Damn! You're not hurt, are you? I saw you grab Duo and pull him in here and I thought-"

"It's alright!" I said, holding out my hand so that he could help me to my feet. "If it makes you feel any better, we were about to pump you full of holes." He chuckled softly, and I felt him relax. Then I snapped out of my haze, realizing that the gunfire will have attracted attention, no matter how good the inhabitants were at ignoring things. "We can't stay here. Our cover will be blown." As one, the three of us turned and ran out of what used to be a house to the Oldsmobile. Wufei shoved Duo from behind the wheel to the passenger seat, jumped in, and took off at a speed that had Duo and I kissing our respective windows.

Once I was settled in the back seat, I shut myself down. My mind was an absolute whirlwind. Wufei's presence here was an absolute disaster. If he was here, then it wouldn't be shocking to find Heero and Trowa close behind, if not already here.

"...and once we get there," I heard Wufei saying, "the seven of us will need to talk." He gave me a significant look. "And all secrets will be revealed." He turned and faced ahead.

I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly. If I had any doubt about Heero and Trowa before, I didn't now. But I wasn't ready! I knew what I wanted to tell Trowa, I just didn't know how I intended to tell him. It didn't help that Heero would be there, possibly glaring me to death, and while I could typically count on Wufei to back me up, this time around I didn't feel he would be on my side. But the fact that we were going to have two more people to our group was something I didn't particularly like. Besides Sally and us, I didn't think there was anyone else Wufei trusted. Now that I truly thought about it, there weren't many I trusted either. Who could possibly know about this besides us?

"Quatre my man, this night is going to suck like nothing else."

"My feelings exactly Duo," I said, feeling our control slipping from us. "My feelings exactly."

Wufei didn't respond.

***

Once again I had fallen asleep in the car due to the bumpiness of the road. I sat straight up though when I realized that we were driving on paved, even ground, with streetlights and traffic signs guiding our way. I was also surprised to see other vehicles--two Mercedes Benz and one Lexus--driving alongside us. Their occupants sneered at our decrepit Oldsmobile, making it obvious to me that we were no longer in the ghetto part of L2, but where the rich lived. I believe Duo once referred to this part of town as ‘Moneytown.'

As I stretched, I was glad to see that Duo was asleep against the door. Feeling eyes on me, I glanced up and saw Wufei watching me in the rearview mirror. It didn't look like he was too happy with me. But before I could make a nasty comment (one Duo would be proud of) he went back to concentrating on the road. With nothing else to do, I watched the scenery as it flew by (quite fast I might add) and hoped that we would get to wherever we were going in one piece. "Where are we going anyway?"

"To a house."

Okaaay. "Where?"

"In one of Moneytown's neighborhoods."

I exhaled, nice and slow. Strangling him still wouldn't get me my answers. "Which house?"

He didn't answer. He made a left turn, a right, and then another, and drove through several neighborhoods before pulling into the driveway of a fairly good-sized mansion. If I didn't know any better, I would've said he picked this house at random. But that theory was quickly squashed as he put the car in park, turned off the engine and glared at me through the rearview mirror.

"This house," he said coldly, then he let himself out of the car.

Wufei's slamming of the door woke Duo up, who looked around with startled eyes, trying to make out familiar landmarks and finding none. "Where-"

"Moneytown," I answered. "But if you want an exact location, you'll have to ask that tree over there."

"Wu's being an ass, I'm assuming." He pulled himself out of the car and stretched, popping the bones in his back.

"A royal one," I answered back, my anger increasing when I saw a human outline in the window that suspiciously looked like Heero. I huffed. "Duo, I'm not in the mood to deal with him."

"Christ, is that Odin?" Duo asked in surprise as we started up the walkway to the front door.

"Looks like it," I said, and then saw a taller outline walk past Heero that could only have been Trowa. Ohhhh boy. Wufei really opened a can of worms this time. "Trowa's here too."

"Damnit! We are grown-ass men. We don't need babysitters. I'd tell Wu to go hump a sword if he didn't know where I lived...who the hell are they?" he asked as two blurs moved past Heero before he followed them. "I don't think either of them were Wufei. The hair wasn't right."

Not bothering to answer him, I hurried towards the mansion, Duo right beside me. Who could that have been? We both rushed through the front door to find ourselves in a...ballroom? Seemed like it'd just been remodeled. There wasn't any furniture in the room, and it smelled of recently applied paint from the direction of the curved staircase. The only other object in the room was the crystal chandelier that hung about thirty feet up.

"Why the hell did they choose this place?" Duo whispered, mostly to himself.

"I couldn't tell you," I whispered back, appalled. That wallpaper was absolutely tasteless. For the love of...whoever thought that nude women and satyrs together was a good idea deserved to be shot. It looked about as appeasing as seeing a rabbit trying to mate with roadkill.

"Dear god," Duo said, squinting at the wall. "What the hell is that?"

"Something horrible. That's all I know."

"That shit just made my headache worse...you know Quatre, we could make a run for it."

I sighed. I wanted to do that too but... "If we did that, we'll have to take out Hrncir tonight, and keep an eye out for Wufei, Odin and Trowa, plus whoever those other two are."

"We're going to have to keep an eye out for them whether we do it tonight or wait."

Excellent point. "True, but let's assess what they know first. They have a lot more information than what we think, I'm sure. But no matter what, we leave at five hundred hours, okay?"

"Alright."

Duo and I suddenly stilled, sensing movement towards the back. Before the thought of calling an interior decorator became an emergency, we made our way past the ballroom and down a few short steps that lead into the mansion's parlor. There, we found our ‘missing' companions. The blurs turned out to be Hilde and Dorothy.

The parlor was interesting to see, as far as hideous rooms went. It was furnished to look late eighteenth century French (more like seventeenth if you asked me) with the furniture and rugs a combination of different shades of beige and slate blue. But the walls were the worst shade of dusty beige I had ever seen. I guess the whole atmosphere was soothing, if you were blind. The mixing of all the different shades and patterns was too busy.

In the middle of the room sat a glass table that had sandwiches, tea and cookies. The room's furniture circled that table. To my right sat Wufei in a dark brown leather armchair. I was shocked to see that underneath the gray trenchcoat he was wearing his Preventers uniform. He must've been at work when he left for here.

Straight ahead of me on the couch (the pattern might have been stylized angels) sat the girls, Hilde and Dorothy. They were dressed as if they lived in Moneytown; Hilde in a smart, charcoal gray skirtsuit with black heels and Dorothy in a peach pantsuit with white stilettos. Between their feet Heero sat on the floor surrounded by the Jati-Matic, his other guns and bullets. He had that awful green tank on and his usual jeans, with a matching frown. Trowa was in the matching armchair across from Wufei, dressed in his usual turtleneck and jeans. Next to his chair was a cushioned, fancy footrest big enough for a large dog.

The anxiety level was going up in the room, and I guessed that it was coming from Duo and myself. He was agitated, more so than the situation should have caused, and that in turn made my anxiety go up. I couldn't figure what it was that made him feel so strung out, but I didn't like it one bit.

"What're you guys doing here?" Duo asked, bringing my thoughts back to the situation at hand.

"Sit down," Wufei demanded.

"I'm not a god damn child Chang," Duo challenged and continued to stand, purposely being difficult. I, on the other hand, sat down on the footrest (with my back conveniently to Trowa), picked up a sandwich with some tea, and began to eat. I was starving! It was obvious they knew something was going on if they were able to follow us here. But until I knew exactly how much they knew, I wasn't going to give anything away.

"Duo-" Heero began, the edge in his voice enough to let us know he was NOT in the mood...

"You should have a seat," Dorothy interrupted, voice neutral except with a pinch of superiority. "You must've had a long day."

She wasn't exactly ordering him to sit, but that was as polite as she would ever get. He didn't take the hint though. "I'm a big boy now. I can wipe my ass and everything."

"What's this about?" I asked, bringing everyone's attention to me. I kept shifting my gaze between the girls, Heero and Wufei to show that I wasn't intimidated nor impressed. But deep down inside, I was ready to start a riot. I then heard the quiet hiss of a lighter being used, and Duo's contented sigh. "You want to know something. What?"

"Tell us about Hrncir," Wufei demanded.

Before I had the chance to drop my tea in shock, something even worse happened. Hilde, my smart, beautiful, snooping secretary began telling them everything she could possibly know about Hrncir. She knew of his connections, his companies, where he lived and his role on L2 concerning the charity. I felt both betrayed and relieved.

As she talked I only half listened, nodding every once in a while when she asked me if she was correct. So far all she had were factual things. The rest of my attention was divided into eating my sandwich (my second), tracking Duo as he paced up and down the room, despite his cigarette, and fighting the urge to jump out of my skin because of Trowa's unwavering stare. I swear, I felt his eyes on my back as if they had shot out of his sockets and were poking me. Sometimes, I wish he would just shout at me and get it over with.

After a while, when Hilde began telling them what she thought was going on between us and Hrncir--which she had right--I felt the onset of a headache. I pulled the rubberband out and started to massage my temples and the back of my neck. My arms and legs were trembling slightly from being overworked and stressed. My contacts were becoming dry and sticking to my eyes, but I didn't have any solution to put them in. We've must've been sitting here for almost an hour. Ugh, I was so tired. All I wanted right now was to be left alone....

"Quatre?"

"What?" I answered. I didn't even know who called my name.

It was Hilde. "I asked if I was right about Zuern. You haven't seen him in some time, right?"

I covered my eyes with my hand. The headache was spreading. "Yes, that's right."

She was concerned. I could feel it. "Maybe we should finish this tomorrow-"

"No," Heero interrupted. "I want to know this now."

"Oh, don't start that shit!" Duo shouted, exasperated. After pacing for so long, I would've thought he wouldn't have the energy to have a fit. I should've known better.

"What shit, Duo!" Wufei jumped up, nudging the glass table in his haste and standing nearly nose to nose with him. "You two think we're stupid, or naive? Your behaviors these past few weeks have been very odd, and the attacks on Quatre were too coincidental. Despite how good you are Duo, we can tell when you're covering up for something, and Quatre's a god damn open book!" he screamed, almost jumping up and down in his anger. "What if something were to happen to US because Hrncir wanted to hurt you, huh?! Think of us damnit, think of Kitty-"

"Don't," Trowa interrupted. His firm voice sliced through the air, quietly echoing. "Don't go there Wufei. They think of him above all else."

The room went silent as we waited to see what Wufei would say or do next. I half expected him to challenge Trowa, or for Heero to snap at both of them. But all Wufei did was take a deep, calming breath, and continued in a voice that was subdued, but still full of emotion.

"Tell us what's going on. Everything," he said, sitting down.

"We can't do that," I said, opening my mouth for the second time tonight that didn't involve sticking food in it. "Hilde, Dorothy and especially you Wufei. Your positions at your jobs would be in jeopardy if this ever got out-"

"You let me worry about that," he said tiredly, massaging his temples. Looked like I wasn't the only one with a headache.

"What, let you worry about the fact that we will be jeopardizing your job if you don't act accordingly once we tell you what shit we're up to?" Duo scoffed. "Not to mention you'll face charges because you're a Preventer! Think of Sally, Chang."

"Don't," Wufei growled, mimicking Trowa from moments ago. "Don't mention her to me."

"Besides, we have an idea of some of the things that's already occurred," Dorothy told Duo, before turning sad eyes to me. "Quatre, she was afraid you'd never trust her again, but Relena...we know about that day at The Oasis, Quatre. We know he tried to have Duo killed." The temperature in the room dropped to below freezing. Heero. I was sure she felt it too, but Dorothy continued. "Don't think she betrayed you, but she was really worried. Duo was hurt, and the look on your face-"

"Just tell us what's happening, okay?" Hilde cut in, lightly touching my knee. She was using her sweet-and-innocent face, with her eyes all big and watery, to get the story out of me. Worst yet, it was working. "We want to help you. Let us help you. Please."

Well...crap. "Okay," I conceded at last. I was too drained to care anymore. I wanted to get this off my chest, and here was my chance to do that. "Okay." I looked at Duo. "I--"

"I'll tell them," he finished.

Well, that certainly surprised me. "What?"

"I'll tell them," he repeated, snuffing out his finished cigarette on his boot. "You need to rest Quatre. I could tell you didn't get any sleep last night. You looked like the walking dead this morning." He gave me a small smile. "Go take a nap. I'll tell them."

/What you want them to know/, I finished mentally. Alright. He had a plan. Hey, I may be the strategist of the group, but that didn't mean the other pilots' had something up their sleeves from time to time. "Okay." I stood up, and swayed slightly on my feet before Trowa jumped up and grabbed my shoulders to steady me. Turning my head, I met his eyes. I watched for a second while he studied my face, searching for his husband under the brown eyes and black hair. Automatically, my hands reached up and gripped his hands on my shoulders. It felt so good to touch him, even though it was something small like this. "I'm alright now," I said, A LOT huskier than how my voice normally sounded. Gee, thanks libido.

Trowa nodded sharply and slowly released me. Leaving the parlor I backtracked my steps. Once in the ballroom (the wallpaper more hideous than before) I was able to conclude that the rooms, unfortunately, were on the second floor. Once up the staircase I went into the first room on the left. Bingo! A bedroom. The blinds to the window were open to allow moonlight to illuminate the room, so I was able to close the door and still see. I tossed the jacket to the floor, removed the guns, ammo, grenades and the Bowie and placed them on a night table by the bed. Having enough, I took the contacts out and tossed them into a wastebasket by the door. Then I flopped on the bed and was fast asleep before I finished bouncing.

***

It took more time than I expected. I guess I was asleep for about forty-five minutes when Trowa came into the room. I rolled on my back, lying almost spread-eagle on the bed. I was preparing myself for a fight, a real one, not those disagreements like we usually have. Instead, I watched in shock as Trowa yanked off his turtleneck and threw it on the floor. He got on the bed and nearly tore his undershirt in his haste, throwing it against the wall before climbing on top of me. He held my face in his hands and looked deeply into my eyes. My blue eyes. He smiled, pleased that I took the contacts out. "Quatre," he breathed, before he kissed me like his life depended on it.

My arms wrapped themselves around his neck without any encouragement from me, and I fell right into the kiss. It was long, hot and violent. Our teeth bumped against each other, almost cracking the enamel, we bit each other a little too hard, and he almost choked me shoving his tongue too far down my throat. My breathing was harsh, and he was on the verge of tearing me to pieces in his passion. I dug my fingernails into his shoulders, scratching him as hard as I could down his back. I did that again and again, feeling the welts rise higher every time I did it. He then attacked my neck, sucking and biting where I could feel the hickeys burning and the bite marks inflame.

Needing more, I forcibly pushed him to his knees and started to slide my pants off. He ripped my shirt in half to get it off of me, and almost did the same to his pants. Once they were off, he was on his knees again and ready to pounce on me, when I kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the floor. I leapt off the bed to the floor, dropped to my elbows and knees and began to kiss and bite his chest and stomach. He tangled his hands in my hair, pulling and tugging in sync with how I moved, and I watched with dangerous lust as his muscles rippled and tightened because of what I was doing to him. Aaah...I've always loved Trowa's body. His muscles, his strength. He was such a man's man.

Before I could give him the blowjob of his life (the mood I was in, it probably would've killed him) he flipped me on my back, knocking the wind out of me, then threw me halfway on the bed. He grabbed one of my arms and twisted it behind my back, using his forearm to effectively pin my arm to my back and my torso to the bed. He shoved his knees between mine, and forced my legs open as far as they could go. With a big wad of spit, I felt him shove his fingers inside me, prepping me as fast as possible.

"The hell with that!" I yelled, beyond caring that he was trying to be considerate. I wanted what I wanted NOW.

In one painful move, he thrust himself in me to the hilt. I raised myself higher to give him the hint to get started, and he did. He was pounding into me so hard I was screaming as if someone was trying to kill me. My free arm was flailing all over the bed to grip something that I could hold on to. Instead, Trowa grabbed my hand with his free one, intertwining our fingers and letting me squeeze to my heart's content. He continued to bite at my neck, placing rough kisses along my temple, cheek and ear, and pressing his face into my hair, breathing in my scent. His grunts and curses in my ear were just as pleasing to me as my screams were to him, and quite some time later we finally came. After that, everything became a blur. I was just too exhausted to stay awake.

***

I woke up when my internal clock told me that it would soon be five. In a few seconds of pretending--to--still--be--sleeping, I was able to determine that I was in bed, under the covers. Trowa was lying next to me, but I wasn't wrapped up in his arms like I would be normally. Okay. So he was still mad at me. Well, he's going to be really mad in about five minutes.

The bathroom was in this room, so unfortunately I couldn't get dressed because I was going to pee across the hall, and he'd notice me getting out of bed no matter how slow and quietly I moved. He also had a longer leg span, so I wouldn't be able to outrun him for long, plus he could do some sort of fancy flip and be right on top of me anyway. This was going to be tough. Not to mention that thanks to the wild, intense, crazy, fanatical animal sex, I wouldn't be up to my usual speed anyway. I sighed. My options were not looking good.

Suddenly I felt the bed shift, and realized with no small amount of excitement that he was going to the bathroom. Yes! I remained as still as my excitement would allow, and waited until he had closed the door behind him before I shot out of the bed. I scurried into my pants as fast as humanly possible, and yanked on my jacket while I toed on my boots. Then I snatched a pillowcase off one of the pillows and quickly shoved my small arsenal off the night table into it. Slinging the pillowcase over my shoulder I bolted to the door, pressed the button on the knob to lock it, and closed it. With all of the strength I had I yanked down as hard as I could and broke the knob halfway off. From there I limped as fast as I could down the stairs. I was as sore as if I had flown Sandrock for the first time. The shoelaces to the boots weren't tied and I couldn't spare the time to tie them, but I had to move! There wouldn't be any way he wouldn't have heard that door catch, and it would only take him a couple of seconds to unlock it and break the knob on his side of the door. He won't be too happy with me.

"QUATRE!"

Nope, not happy at all.

I had just made it to the bottom of the stairs when I heard Trowa barreling down after me. I moved as fast as I could to the front door, and the whole scenario felt like I was on a train track with the train steadily bearing down on me. I had just turned the lock on the knob and pulled it closed when Trowa caught up to me. I yanked down on the knob, but this time it wasn't as effective since I was still exhausted and he had unlocked the door, saving him time. Just as I started to run again, I felt his hand fist into the jacket. Tossing the pillowcase in front of me, I was able to slip out of the jacket, catch the pillowcase and continue running. Then a bright red Chevy Corvette pulled into view and the door flew open. Without even looking, I jumped into my obvious rescue vehicle and slammed the door closed as we took off into the night, the sight of a naked, angry, sexy Trowa standing in the middle of the yard with my jacket in his hand, becoming a smaller and smaller speck.

"Damn, I thought he was sexy before, but now I know he's a god!"

I turned wide eyes at the driver. "Dorothy?!" I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Yes," she answered absently, still trying to get another glimpse at Trowa.

"What are you doing?!"

She glanced at me, giving me a look as if I asked if I could eat her underwear. "I'm driving. What does it look like I'm doing?" She started get a final glimpse at Trowa, before turning sharply back to me. "Well well well," she said slyly, pointedly looking me up and down. "No wonder Trowa is so possessive of you. You've got quite a bod! Hell, if I were him, I would keep you locked up in a room with silk pillows to be my harem."

I didn't bother with a snide remark. I sat back in my seat, buckled myself in and held the pillowcase to my chest. I didn't know where Duo was, but Dorothy and I were speeding off to who--knew--where to do who--knew--what. I felt so lost just then. Too many people were getting involved in something that should remain between Duo, myself, and Hrncir. Too many things were going wrong. The plan was falling apart.

"Trust me Quatre," Dorothy said, gently brushing the hair out of my face. "Trust me, okay? I won't let you down." She gently patted my knee. "You've been under too much fear and pressure for too long. Let us take some of the burden." She made a sharp right into another neighborhood before pulling into the driveway of a mansion that had a large jacked-up truck, which hid us from view. Turning off the car, she reached into the backseat and pulled out an afghan. She took the filled pillowcase and placed it in the back, then draped the afghan over me. I felt more exhausted than I did before as its warmth surrounded me.

She turned back to the street, watching the road for Trowa and the others. "Sleep Quatre. I'll handle this."

I closed my eyes, and for the second time tonight, everything became a blur.

(tbc)