Eternal Flame

Chapter 14


The doorbell rang and Kent answered it. He took a step backwards at the entourage that graced the doorstep. \"Good evening sirs.\"

\"Hey there Kent. Good ta see yer again buddy!\" Duo gave the elderly butler a wide grin.

\"It\'s a pleasure to see you again Mr. Maxwell, and you too Mr. Yuy.\" Kent stepped to the side and motioned for the group to enter.

Duo pranced ie cle closely followed by Heero, Shane, Fayah and Paul. Kent closed the door behind them and took their coats.

\"Mr. Winner and Mr. Barton are in the library, Masters Benny and Toby are in the games room. I can show the younger ones to the games room first if you wish.\"

\"Thanks Kent. Mr. Maxwell and I will show ourselves to the library and save you the trouble,\" Heero smiled at the butler.

\"As you wish sir.\" Kent turned to the youngsters. \"Please, follow me.\"

\"See yer soon guys.\" Duo winked to the troop as they followed the butler through the foyer.

Heero took his lover\'s hand and led him in the opposite direction to the library. He paused outside the door and knocked lightly before opening it and stepping into the warm room.

\"Heero, Duo.\" Quatre raised himself from the deep armchair he was sitting in and crossed the distance to embrace his friends.

\"Hey Q-man, how\'s it hangin?\" Duo chuckled as he hugged his blonde friend.

\"It\'s hanging just fine.\" Trowa replied in his partners stead, causing Quatre to blush a deep crimson.

Heero exchanged handshakes with the former pilots before sitting next to Duo on the couch. \"How is the business going Quatre?\"

\"Fine thanks Heero. We have just signed up a new contract for work on the outfitting of the new colony in the L5 sector.\"

\"Great!\" Duo commented. \"I bet that will go a long way ta improvin the coffers.\" He winked at the blonde.

Quatre shook his head. \"I don\'t deny that it will make the company a lot of money but more importantly it will give the opportunity for many of the neighboring L5 colonies inhabitants to enjoy employment.\"

\"That\'s good. I wonder how Wufei will react to the news?\" Heero stated as he took the drink Trowa offered him.

\"I assume he will be pleased.\" Trowa returned, \"He doesn\'t know yet as the deal was only signed yesterday and Wufei isn\'t here.\" Trowa offered Duo a drink which was taken with a smile.

\"So when yer gonna put some of this employment strategy ta work in the L2 cluster Quat?\" Duo spoke the words and gave his friend a teasing look.

Quatre knew Duo was only baiting him, Winner Enterprises already had several ventures in place in the L2 cluster and slowly but surely the economy of the poorest of the colonies was beginning to flow. \"Funny you should mention that Duo, WEI has just put a proposal to the L2 governing body for work to be undertaken in the improvement of the air filtration and climatic control systems.\"

\"Yer have?\"

\"Yes, although we don\'t know how successful it will be. Once the governing body has read through the proposal it will need to go before the United Earth Sphere Alliance and then to the people for their reaction before it can progress any further.\"

Duo looked thoughtful for a moment and then his eyes brightened. \"I can tell yer now Quat that yer won\'t have any problem with the peoples vote of confidence. Anything that will give \'em better air and climate along with the chance ta pull themselves out of the poverty cycle will be more that welcomed.\"

\"I didn\'t think it would be the people that would need convincing.\" Quatre smiled in return. The conversation was interrupted at that point when Kent knocked on the door.

\"Mr. Howard has arrived sir.\"

\"Thank you Kent, please show him in.\"

Howard entered the room to be engulfed in a bear hug. \"Hi there Duo,\" he chuckled as he returned the hug.

\"Good ta see yer Howie, glad yer could make it.\" Duo stepped back and allowed the rest of the group to greet the man who had been the closest thing to a father he\'s had during the wars.

With the greetings over the group sat down and made idle chatter while awaiting the dinner announcement. Soon enough Kent was back to advise them that dinner was served. They stood and followed Quatre to the main dining room where the group of youngsters were already waiting.

Taking their seats Kent served the soup and then topped up the glasses of wine before disappearing and leaving the group alone.

\"When do you head back Howard?\" Trowa asked as he spooned the rich soup to his mouth.

\"Day after tomorrow. But I have no idea how long I will be out there for this time.\"

\"Why is that Howard?\" Quatre asked as he gave Toby a glare.

Toby smiled back sheepishly and stopped trying to get the pieces of bread to do cannonballs into his soup.

\"Did you managed to find out any more Howard?\" Heero said as he looked up from his bowl.

Quatre paused and looked from one friend to the other. \"Is there something I\'m missing here?\"

Howard gave a sigh. \"I guess I should fill you in.\" Howard proceeded to explain to Trowa and Quatre about the lack of space salvage and his concerns, giving a slightly briefer outline than what he had discussed with Heero and Duo but providing the necessary facts.

Quatre scratched his head. \"It does seem strange.\" His brow furrowed for a moment before his voice raised causing Duo to nearly choke on his soup that he was concentrating on enjoying to the full.. \"TOBY!!\"

\"Umm.... sorry.\" Toby blushed and put the bowl down.

\"How many times do you have to be told that you have a spoon to use to eat your soup with? You do not pick up the bowl and drink from it!\" Quatre was nearly as red as Toby but his was more from annoyance than embarrassment.

Duo couldn\'t help the snicker which scored him a dig to the ribs from Heero\'s elbow. Shane gave Toby a disapproving look while Benny did his best to look anywhere but at his *brother*. Paul rolled his eyes and Fayah opted to stay silent even though her mouth twitched suspiciously.

Heero took up the conversation, sparing both Toby and Quatre any further distress. \"Did you manage to speak with any of the other contacts that we were unable to get in touch with the other day Howard?\"

\"I have and they are non the wiser than I am.\"

\"Well I managed ta contact a few of my old salvage buddies,\" Duo said as he wipis mis mouth with his napkin. Contrary to belief even though Duo had spent a large part of his life on the streets he did possess manners and knew how to use them.

\"Oh?\"

\"Yeah. They was sayin that there seems ta be a bit of a shortage on larger MS parts and the like. Seems a coupla big companies have bought up a lot of the scrap that was around but I dunno why yet.\" Duo pushed his bowl away and sat back.

\"Hmmm....\" Howard rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

\"I contacted Hilde.\"

The room went silent and all eyes slowly drifted to Duo who sat quietly playing with the end of his braid. Heero reached his hand under the table and found Duo\'s, entwining them together he urged his lover to draw on his strength.

It hadn\'t been easy. Duo had been very tempted to let Heero make the call for him but then he set his jaw and stubbornly insisted he had to do it himself. While the wound had healed the scar was still raw, but unless he spok the the girl he would never be able to let the ghosts rest. He\'d steeled himself and contacted her when Heero had been busy with Shane and Paul, practicing some self defense moves.

~ Flashback ~

Duo tried to control the trembling of his hand as he cradled the receiver and pushed the buttons. He deliberately left the visual off, hearing Hilde\'s voice would be hard enough to contend with and he really didn\'t need to see her face as well nor let her see how much the call was costing him emotionally. The sound of ringing graced his ears and he took a deep breath, drawing his emotional shields around to protect him.

\"Hilde\'s scrap and salvage yard.\"

\"Hello Hilde.\"

The line was quiet and for a moment Duo thought the woman had hung up on him then a shocked quiet voice came down the line. \"Duo?\"

\"Look I won\'t beat around the bush and cause us anything unpleasant Hilde, I\'ll get right ta the point. I\'m makin some inquiries about scrap, specifically large stuff in the form of MS suits and parts. Do you have any there in stock or know of any other company that might?\" Duo\'s face was deathly pale and he barely managed to keep the tremor from his voice but he had to do this.

Hilde recovered from her shock and spoke briskly, obviously wanting to keep the call to a painful minimum as well. \"I don\'t carry the large stuff any more Duo, too many problems with it. As far as I know there isn\'t a lot around but why? - I couldn\'t tell you. Do you mind if I ask why the inquiry?\"

Duo thought for a moment. \"I can\'t tell you that Hilde, but thank you fer the information,\" he replied stiffly.

\"Wait a moment Duo. This may not be relevant but I\'ll mention it anyway. I know there hasn\'t been a lot of salvage around recently like I said, I tend to deal in the smaller stuff, you know, circuitry boards, consoles and the like. I had a large order not too long ago for circuit boards and inside fitting equipment, pretty much bought up most of what I had in that line but it wasn\'t the cheap stuff, they wanted ificific items with certain capacities and layouts. I don\'t know if that will be any help to you or not?\"

Duo paused, his mind shifting. The information was handy alright, but for what he didn\'t know. \"Thank you Hilde, I dunno if that will be of any use or not but I will keep it in mind.\" Duo was sweating now. He needed to disconnect the call and find his lover for some reassurance.

\"You\'re welcome Duo, I hope you have some luck with what it is you\'re working on.\" The woman\'s voice paused for a moment. \"Duo?\"

\"Yes Hilde?\"

\"About what happened...\"

\"Don\'t! Hilde don\'t even start on that. I\'ve gotten over it and made myself a life now, don\'t drag up the past and remind me of the horrors I suffered.\" The bitterness seeped into his voice without him knowing it, he gripped the receiver in a death lock, knuckles turning white as the past threatened to overwhelm him.

\"I know you don\'t want to hear this Duo but for what it\'s worth, I\'m sorry.\"

Duo couldn\'t bring himself to reply, locked into the torment of his past. Vaguely he was aware of someone taking the receiver from his numb fingers and disconnecting the call. That same person gently turned him around and drew him into a warm and comforting embrace, stroking his hair and rubbing his back while he stared sightless ahead. Gradually the pain in his heart decreased and he was able to focus again. He turned his head to see Heero\'s concerned blue watching him carefully.

\"Are you okay Duo?\"

\"Hai, Heero. I\'ll be all right, just something I had ta do.\"

\"Baka! I told you I would call Hilde.\" Heero continued to rub his partner\'s back. While he was annoyed at Duo for putting himself through this unnecessary torment he couldn\'t help but admire the strength of character his slender lover possessed.

\"I know Heero.\"

Gently Heero pulled his lover to his feet and then carried him upstairs. He lay him on their bed and softly massaged away the tension that had built, when Duo finally relaxed and was able to spereelreely again he discovered all that Duo had learnt from his talk with Hilde.

~ End Flashback ~

Duo squeezed Heero\'s hand in appreciation and drew on the strength that Heero had offered. He looked up at the stunned faces around him. \"It wasn\'t easy but I did call her and found out some interesting facts. She doesn\'t deal in the larger scrap anymore but sticks with the smaller stuff. She said the same as the other guys I called, there ain\'t much about in the bigger stuff. She did say she had a large order not long back fer some circuit boards and other control stuff and the order was pretty specific in what it wanted.\" Duo lowered his eyes as he finished speaking and let the group decide what they would from the information he had given them.

\"I don\'t know what this all adds up to but it seems pretty suspicious to me,\" Heero said as he eyed the group.

The conversation was halted for a moment as Kent returned and removed the empty soup bowls and replaced them with the main course. For a while everyone was intent on eating the food before it went cold, preferring to think things through in their minds before speaking further.

Watching Benny mopping up the remnants of his gravy with a piece of bread Shane added his own thoughts to the mix. \"Why would anyone want ta buy up old MS suit parts and the stuff that Duo was sayin from that woman\'s yard?\"

\"I wish I knew Shane.\" Howard said as he cleaned his sunglasses. \"Someone sure has a large pile of the stuff somewhere but what are they gonna use it for?\"

Heero leaned back. \"Based on the information that Duo has given me along with what Howard has found out the items seem to have been purchased by at least five different groups. At this stage I haven\'t been able to make a connection between them but with the Preventer network at my disposal I may be able to discover more.\"

\"Hmmm... I wonder...\"

All eyes turned to Trowa expectantly.

Trowa stared ahead, ordering his thoughts for a moment and then spoke in a clear tone. \"We have had some of the chips purchased specifically for the climatic control job on L2 go missing recently.\"

\"Oh?\" Heero\'s eyes narrowed.

\"I first became aware of it about three weeks or so ago.\"

\"But those chips were found Trowa,\" the little blonde interjected.

\"That\'s what we were led to believe.\" Trowa\'s face darkened. \"I did some more checking and found that about 20 of the chips have disappeared. I checked the invoices, recycling and other places they were supposedly disposed to, while the paperwork is all there, the chips are not.\"

Quatre\'s eyes also narrowed. \"And then the one guy who was working with the chips and who is on the paperwork didn\'t turn up for work for almost a week. Then we got a call from a Sergeant Collins telling us the guy in question has turned up dead.\"

Duo let go a sigh, blowing his bangs out of his face as he did so. \"Yanno, this is getting weirder and weirder by the minute. I reckon we should talk ta Une tomorrow Heero, this thing smells foul to me and I think Preventer should be aware of it and see if there\'s anythin we can do ta find out what\'s going on.\"

\"I agree Duo.\" Heero didn\'t like this one bit, with Trowa and Quatre\'s little addition things just didn\'t sit right. He would need all the available resources at Preventer at his disposal if he were to try and find out more and the only way to do that was to tell Une of their findings and concerns.

While the adults all discussed the unusual events so Paul kept his silence. He was still mulling over the problem of Leith and his missing father. He had spoken to Shane about the latest information and Shane thought it would be best to let Heero and Duo know but before they had gotten the chance to discuss it they had needed to get ready to come out. Paul didn\'t think that now was the best time to broach the subject given that the adults were locked in something that seemed to be more sinister. For the first time Paul found himself longing for Wufei and Sally, not that he didn\'t trust Heero or Duo or any of the guys for that matter, it was just that they were caught up in their own problems at the moment. Paul tried to push it from his mind. He would try to bring up the subject later when they returned home.

~ * ~

Bob Martins\' eyes raised as Grant swept into the room. He shivered at the look on the man\'s scarred features. By-passing those people working at the consoles he strode to the man that was supposed to be supervising. \"What the fuck is the meaning of this!?\"

The supervisor visibly paled as Grant held up something for him to read. \"I... I .. I don\'t know sir.\"

\"You are supposed to be supervising. If you were doing your job properly then this would not have happened.\" Grant hissed the words out.

\"I... I... I\'m sorry sir... It won\'t happen again.\"

\"Too fucking right it won\'t happen again.\" Grant turned away from the trembling man and reached into his jacket. Suddenly he spun back around, the blade glinted in the artificial light before dulling with the red liquid that coated it. Grant pulled the knife across the throat, red life force gushing freely from the wound as the man gurgled his last and collapsed to the floor. Digging the body with the toe of his boot Grant motioned to two of the guards stationed at the door. \"Get him out of here and clean up the mess.\"

\"Yes sir!\" The two charged across the room not daring to disobey.

Grant moved through the consoles to where Bob sat. Keeping his eyes down Bob tried to concentrate on the keyboard, he could feel the anger rolling off the man as he stopped beside him. The tip of the blade came to rest under Bob\'s chin and his head was forced upwards to meet with the cold brown eyes of the man he had come tte. te.

\"Thought you could get by me heytinstins?\" Grant waved the paper under Bob\'s nose.

Bob could barely make out the words on the paper and then a cold chill ran through him. It was a copy of the message he had sent out earlier. \"How?\" he whispered.

\"I told you not to try anything didn\'t I? You should have known that I would pick this up.\"

Bob forced himself to stay calm and relaxed while inside he was a turmoil, cold sweat trickled down his back and all he could think of was that he hadn\'t had the chance to tell Leith that he really did love his son in his own way.

\"Looks like you need a little more convincing that what I threatened to do.... I will carry out.\"

Bob\'s blood ran cold. \"No. Don\'t hurt my son, this is nothing to do with him, if you need to blame somebody then blame me, take it out on me for I was the one that sent the message.\"

A backhander sent him reeling. \"Too late for that now!\" the harsh voice barked. \"Don\'t worry, I\'m not going to have him killed... well not yet. A little lesson is in order I think.\" With an evil laugh Grant turned away from Bob.

\"Please, I beg you, don\'t hurt my son!\"

\"You should have thought about that before you sent this message.\" Grant paused for a moment. \"I tell you what, just so that you know I\'m not joking I\'ll get one of my agents to capture the results of your little attempt and show you what happens when my orders are disobeyed.\" Without further word Grant left the console area.

Bob slumped against the key board. \"Oh my god Leith. What have I done?\"

~ * ~

Leith sat in the silent lounge room, the police had contacted him earlier to let him know they would be impounding his fathers car to search it for evidence. At this stage they were no further ahead in their investigation but still had quite a few leads to follow up and if Leith could think of anything else that might help them to please call. They would continue to remain in touch and keep Leith advised on their progress.

In other words they haven\'t got a clue wher is is either Leith had thought ruefully. He had tried to watch some television but his mind wouldn\'t focus. Damn the fact that Paul had had to go out tonight, he really needed to feel his boyfriend\'s arms around him, have that gentle touch and soothing voice hold him and tell him that everything was going to work out just fine.

With nothing to occupy his mind and distract him from the thoughts of his father he took his coffee cup out to the kitchen and washed the dishes. Drying them and putting them away he tidied up the kitchen. Idly he wandered from room to room searching for something to do but unable to focus. Finally he wandered by his fathers office and paused at the doorway. Without another thought he stepped inside and walked over to the desk.

Leith sat and fired up his dad\'s computer. While the safety check ran through and the various programs began to load he gazed around. His eyes alighted on a framed picture on the book shelf. He moved towards it and gently lifted it. Tears sprang to his eyes as he perused the faded photo. In it stood his father and his mother, judging by the background and the dated clothes he would hazard a guess that it had been taken not long after they had been married. His fingers traced over the glass. He didn\'t remember a lot about his mother, time having dimmed his memory and he certainly didn\'t remember ever seeing this picture before.

He replaced it carefully on the shelf and picked up another one. This one showed his mother cradling a bundle in her arms, that had to be him as a baby. His eyes continued to water. Oh how he wished he could have told her how much he missed her and loved her. The way things were going it looked like he was going to be alone yet again. Replacing that photo his fingers strayed to one more.

This time the tears sprang free and ran down his cheeks. The photo had been taken about a year ago, his father had taken some time off and the pair of them had gone away on a fishing holiday. They stood together, Leith holding up a big fish he\'d caught, his fathers arm slung across his shoulder. It was the last time Leith could really say they had spent any quality time together.

How he wished his father was with him now.

Wiping away the tears he replaced the photo and turned back to the computer. He saw the little envelope pop up and flash indicating there was mail in the in box. Leith sat down and brought up the e mail program. He had used his fathers computer on several occasions and had his own e mail address but he hadn\'t checked it for a few days. He mentally slapped himself. Why hadn\'t he thought of this before? His father might have left him an e mail message telling him where he was and what was going on.

Eagerly Leith typed in his password and waited for the program to admit him. He clicked on the in box and moments later the screen changed. Quickly he scanned down the list of mail, some spam, a couple from friends.... and there....

Leith held his breath. Could it be? He moved the mouse cursor to the mail and clicked on it. The computer hummed into life and the screen changed.

The message appeared on the screen but before Leith had a chance to read any of it his hand that covered the mouse began to tingle as the electric current raced up his arm, there was a blinding flash, the hard drive beto sto smoke and then there was a roar of noise as the computer exploded.

Mercifully the darkness came quickly for Leith.

~ * ~

Paul sat with the rest of the gang in the games room, the adults had adjourned to the library again for coffee and to continue their discussion from earlier. He tried to focus on the screen and play the game he was currently involved in but his mind kept wandering.

\"Yer not even tryin Paul!\" Benny huffed as his character managed to \'KO\' Paul\'s.

\"I\'m sorry Benny, I guess I\'m not with it.\"

\"Yer missin that boyfriend of yer\'s aint\'cha?\" Toby said, all knowing.

\"That\'s enough of the teasing Toby. Paul has a lot on his mind at the moment,\" Fayah interrupted and gave the boy a stern look.

\"How come?\" Benny asked as he reset the game and passed his controller to Toby.

Paul handed his controller to Shane and reclined back into the couch. \"Leith\'s dad is missin Benny.\"

\"Oh. Hav tol told Duo? I bet\'cha Duo would knows where ta find \'im.\"

Paul couldn\'t help but smile. The faith the two little ones had in Duo\'s capabilities was well known, after all it had been Duo in a way that had helped them to escape the cycle of poverty and prostitution on L2. In their eyes there wasn\'t anything the long haired man couldn\'t do.

\"Both Duo and Heero know he\'s missin but there ain\'t a whole lot they can do \'bout it at the moment.\"

Shane placed a hand on his friend\'s arm. \"We will tell them what Leith said earlier Paul, just as soon as we gets the chance ta.\"

\"I know. Thanks Shane.\"

The game was interrupted as the door was suddenly flung open and Heero entered, a grim expression on his face.

The five looked up, startled at the abrupt entry.

\"Paul, I\'m afraid there\'s been some bad news.\" Heero began. Duo appeared behind his lover and pushed through into the room, approaching the couch in a few strides.

\"What?\" Paul paled, he thought of Wufei and Sally. Had there been an accident? Were they both okay? Duo\'s hand descended to his shoulder.

\"We just got a call from Mercy General Hospital. It\'s Leith...\"

Paul gave a strangled sob as his blood turned to ice and his insides hit the floor. \"Leith?\"

~ oOo ~