Chapter 21: It Begins

Sousuke tensed as he glanced around trying to assess the dangerous situation he had just landed into. How could he miss something like this? A complete setup! He had suspected something but never something so meticulously orchestrated. In Sousuke's eyes there was only one man responsible for the information leak like this...Leonard Testarossa.

“My colleagues are going to know something is wrong if I leave with you,” he said not moving.

“It will be too late before they even realize anything has happened,” she said nudging him with her gun. “Now move.” Grabbing the gun he had stashed in his waistband she urged him forward.

At the precise opportune moment, she pulled him into a gathering crowd of dancing people and covertly out the back door. A limousine was waiting outside and she shoved him towards it forcefully, her bodyguards materializing beside her. “Get in,” she said keeping her voice low.

He reached for the door handle but paused glancing over his shoulder briefly. If he was going to react, he would have to do it right now; his window of opportunity was closing fast. As quickly as he could and with speed unlike anything she had ever seen, he had her pinned against the car with her own gun to her head.

Her bodyguards began reaching for their weapons and Sousuke's instinct kicked in, “Nobody moves or she dies,” he hissed tightening his hold on the gun.

Serena sighed heavily rolling her eyes. “You really think my life is worth that much, Mr. Sagara,” she rasped out.

As one of the guards moved towards him he shoved the gun more forcefully against her head. “I’ll kill her!”

He kept his eyes on the three men watching for any movement as his pulse began quickening with an intensity. Serena suddenly began crying and sobbing pleading for her life. His flinch was just the window of opportunity the guards needed and the last thing Sousuke remembered was a hard blinding pain that shot through his head. He collapsed to the ground with a sound thud.

“Get him in the car,” Serena commanded straightening her skirt.

The limousine sped off into the night just as Kurz and Melissa came rushing out the back door. “Son of a bitch!” Kurz swore with an intense fury.

Melissa was already on her cell phone calling the de Danaan. “Urzu 2 here...they took him...we were setup...I’m not leaving him!...yes, ma’am...yes...roger.” She hung up and turned to Kurz with a grave expression.

“Well, we have to go after him!” Kurz yelled angrily.

.o.o.o.o.

Kaname woke suddenly in the night thrashing upward in bed. She was in the hotel, she thought as she glanced around the darkened room. Where was Sousuke? He was on a mission. No, something was wrong. Something went seriously wrong. Tears began welling in her eyes.

She flung the covers back and quickly dressed. The operative assigned to guard her while he was away was slumped over in his chair sound asleep outside the door as she crept past him quietly. She raced down the hall to the elevator only to be stopped by Kurz coming out grabbing her just before she whizzed past him.

“Whoa, Kaname,” he said.

“What happened? Where is he?” she asked anxiously fear in her eyes.

Melissa stepped out a forlorn expression in her eyes. “Kaname, we need to talk.”

“Dammit! Just tell me what happened!”

“They got him,” Kurz said regardless of the wary glance Melissa threw him. “We were setup.”

Kaname’s body suddenly went completely rigid with fear as she backed away disbelief in her eyes. This couldn’t be happening for real, she thought as she shook her head fitfully. Fighting the tears back, she took a deep breath. “No, no this can’t be real. I’m going to wake up any minute and he’ll be sitting in the chair like always watching out the window!”

“Kaname, we don’t—”

But Melissa couldn’t finish, Kaname ran off towards her room. “We better go after her,” Kurz said giving Melissa an empathetic look.

“Give her a few minutes,” Melissa replied sitting on a bench situated against the wall about to relax for the first time since they left the club. “She’s in shock. God only knows how torn up she is right now.”

“Yeah, she’s probably in her room crying her eyes out even as we speak, the poor kid,” Kurz said shaking his head knowing how horribly this must be tearing her up inside.

But they were both proven wrong when the door to her room came slamming open and she came stalking out carrying her backpack. When Melissa and Kurz simply stared at her she made an exasperated sound. “Well, come on! You’re SRT right? Special Response? This is a special circumstance, so lets go!”

“Kaname, we don’t even know where he is,” Kurz strained out.

“Yeah, well I know who does,” she seethed walking past them to wait for the elevator.

And he’s going to talk or I’m just going to have to use some of Sousuke’s interrogational methods, she thought stepping into the elevator.

.o.o.o.o.

When Sousuke finally opened his eyes he found himself staring up at a steel gray ceiling, a piercing pain splintering his skull, his vision blurry and distorted. He winced reaching up feeling the crusted dried blood that caked his hair. He was in some kind of holding cell, he gauged looking around the room. Titanium reinforced door...no windows...smooth walls; they had definitely prepared for his arrival. So, why didn’t they just kill him the instant they got their hands on him? Why the confinement?

Several minutes passed and the door opened and a man in a white lab coat casually walked in a stone expression on his face. He was tall possibly Russian with a thin dark moustache covering his upper lip. The man stood there his face pale and ragged as he typed into a hand-held device.

“I find it hard to believe that a juvenile boy like yourself is the one who has been giving us all this trouble,” the man stated not looking up.

Sousuke sat up letting his legs dangle over the side of the bed and rubbed his aching head. “And you are?” he asked his voice raspy.

“We have a few questions we'd like you to answer, Mr. Sagara," the man said his voice cold and unfeeling. "And I'm afraid I've been assigned to extract them from you."

Sousuke eyed him suspiciously standing up. “So, it’s to be torture?”

“I'm afraid so, Mr. Sagara,” the man said but his voice held no inkling of remorse; in fact he sounded entertained by the idea of torturing Sousuke.

Sousuke willingly crossed the threshold only to be joined by two large guards toting rifles just outside the door. They nudged him down the hallway and glanced around looking for anything that he could use as a weapon against them but found nothing. No sense in resisting, I am unfamiliar with my surroundings, he thought as he was ushered down more hallways and finally into a brightly lit room. I need to think this through before I act.

He had been specially trained to withstand high amounts of physical torture but as he glanced around the surgical room he felt this was not going to be anything like he had ever endured in his life. Across the room was a metal table standing upright equipped with restraints and he never took his eyes off it as they ushered him towards it. There were several table arranged beside the table with white cloths covering trays of what he could only guess were the instruments of his torturer.

When Sousuke hesitated, one of the guards jabbed him in the stomach with the butt of his gun and he coughed viciously as pain spread through his middle. “Move,” the man seethed

Concentration, meditation, inner peace, he repeated over and over in his mind. They can only break my body, they cannot break my mind. He kept his eyes open as they slammed him against the cold steel table and forcefully strapped his arms and legs down. He was not scared for himself but he feared for Kaname. She would not be protected and no one but him was capable of doing just that.

“So, Mr. Sagara,” the man in the white coat said from behind him. “Are we ready for our interrogation?”

Sousuke kept his eyes forward repeating the words he had been taught, keeping his breathing shallow and uniform. It was not the first time he had been tortured but he knew this may be his last. No words fell from his lips as the foreign man came around to face him, eyes like a demon bearing deeply into his own.

“If you cooperate this can be a painless procedure,” he said pulling a knife from his pocket and unsheathing it. “I normally would have had you prepped for this ahead of time but the higher ups are in a rush, so my work must be in haste.” He spoke as if this was just another day at the office and Sousuke ignored his words.

Sousuke fixed his gaze firmly on the wall in front of him. A small speck of dust, anything he could focus on, but the walls were clean and smooth. He didn’t flinch once as the doctor sliced open the front of his shirt from top to bottom. Then he was washed lightly all over to with a solution Sousuke could only imagine was some kind of antibacterial; a common method for professionals who wished to inflict their torture over a long period of time. A woman suddenly appeared beside him handing the doctor the tools he requested and Sousuke kept himself completely still.

“If you tell us what we want to know and you do not have to endure any of this, Mr. Sagara,” the woman said softly as she cut away the rest of his shirt. “You are so young, so much life ahead of you.”

He didn’t look at her, didn’t even hear her, for the words of his training echoed in his mind. The body is only a vessel, an instrument that allows us to live on this earth. Do not fear death, embrace the inevitable. But what if he wasn't ready to leave this life? What if he needed to stay alive for Kaname? Could he abandon all his training and betray Mithril? The organization that once took him away from Kaname, the only person in this world who made him feel like he was home? The woman he loved.

.o.o.o.o.

Kaname, Kurz and Melissa boarded the Tuatha de Danaan hours later off the shores of New York and Kaname strode purposefully down the corridors with one only intent in mind: find Leonard and strangle the truth from his pompous traitorous mouth. He was the only one who could have been giving out information, she thought as more anger rose in her chest. If anything happened to Sousuke she would personally tear him apart. “Find Tessa, find Leonard,” she whispered as she headed for Tessa’s office.

She didn’t even knock and just burst in ignoring Commander Kalinin who stood before Tessa’s desk. “Where is he?” she seethed slamming her palms down on Tessa’s desk.

“I’m glad you made it back to the de Danaan safely, Miss Chidori,” Tessa cooed calmly. “Mr. Kalinin, would you excuse us please?”

“Certainly, Madam Captain,” he said excusing himself and shutting the door behind him.

Kaname didn't waste any time. “I don’t care if he is your brother, that bastard knows where they took Sousuke!” Kaname shouted facing Tessa with as much determination as a lioness about to attack her enemy. She wasn't about to let Tessa brush this one under the rug simply because Leonard had charmed his way back into her life so conveniently.

Tessa leaned forward in her chair facing Kaname her eyes flashing with their own determination and rebuke. “We are doing everything we can to find him. This is a serious matter being handled with the utmost importance.”

“This is your fault! You sent him out there! You knew he was taking a chance! And you did nothing!” Kaname screamed fury in her eyes. “You’re supposed to be his captain! You’re supposed to be looking out for his well being!”

Tessa narrowed her eyes in disgust. “I am looking out for his well being, Miss Chidori!”

"If anything happens to him, I will personally hold you responsible," Kaname replied the anger in her voice rising with each syllable.

Tessa jumped from her chair and it slammed against the wall behind her. "You're not the only one who cares for him! And I know you have won him, he made that extremely clear when he pushed me away after I kissed him!" Tessa's eyes widened as she clamped her hand over her own mouth. She hadn’t meant to say it but now that she had, a small part of her enjoyed the shocked expression on Kaname's face.

Kaname froze in her stance. Tessa had kissed him? And he hadn’t told her about it? Fighting the tears, she turned and ran from Tessa’s office feelings of betrayal now mixing with the dreaded sense of losing the only man she loved. She was going to tear out Leonard’s heart with her bare hands!

He could die! Tessa stood there the realization of that fact hitting her like a ton of bricks. She knew it every time he went out in the field. But this time the odds were a lot higher than they have ever been. He had been targeted for extermination and they were doing everything they could possibly do to find him. Her guilt was overwhelming and she took a few steps back falling backwards into her chair again. She started crying holding her face as her emotions burst through her like a freight train.

Kaname came to screeching halt when she heard Leonard’s voice coming from one of the rooms down the hall. Fiery rage burst fourth in her and she grabbed the doorknob flinging it open. “Where the hell is he!? Tell me where they took him?!”

Leonard turned around flipping his cell phone closed, a look of disinterest on his face. His plan was falling into place quite nicely, he thought as he sat down in the chair beside him. He had to choose his next words very wisely for her reaction meant everything to him. He wanted to see the devastation in her eyes when she knew her beloved Sergeant's chances were slim.

He eyed her calmly and shook his head in mock sympathy. “I am afraid it's too late for our Sergeant Sagara…"

To Be Continued...