“Neither of you was followed?” Une, always the paranoid type. “It seems rather odd the hit was planned for the exact moment you two go to question him.”

“Ahh,” Duo threw his hands up, having answered this question already. “For at least the third time, neither of us was followed.”

Heero and Duo, along with Wufei, Trowa, and Sally, were sitting around a long table in one of the executive conference rooms, with Une seated at the head of the table. The woman was extremely unhappy, to say the least.

“At least if you were followed, I could blame it on a mole and not just your incompetence,” Une spoke evenly. “One year we’ve been hunting for Zechs, and the one lead we come across, you two don’t think to bring the man into a secure location for questioning?”

Duo put his hands down, a boyish look on his face as if scolded by a favorite teacher. Despite the woman's indelicate way of phrasing things, she was right, Heero thought to himself. They should have brought Rajko in for questioning.

“I guess when you put it like that…” Duo let his thoughts trail off.

“Either way, Rajko is dead,” Wufei spoke up for the first time since he had entered the room. “We also don’t know if it had anything to do with this case. The man had been a Preventers informant for over three years. There’s likely a long list of people that want him out of the way.”

“Be that as it may, he died while speaking with two Preventers agents about a highly classified case. All signs point towards his death having something to do with Zech’s disappearance and the murder of Julian Benton.”

All eyes were on Une as she finished making her point. The older woman sat down in the leather chair, satisfied with the scolding she had given the two pilots.

The name Julian Benton left Heero with a feeling of disgust. It had been almost a year since Zechs Marquise publicly executed the man. Though, if it were up to Heero, the execution would have been performed by the Sanc Kingdom.

Julin was the son of Luther Benton, an MP in charge of the Defense Committee for the Sanc Kingdom. At age 26, the young man had already proven himself to be quite the troublemaker, creating numerous scandals that had plagued the political family. However, he’d always been protected.

A new scandal had come to light over a year ago when it was found that members of the Defense Committee and the Sanc Kingdom military were profiting from arms smuggling through the country.

At the time, the preventers had sent an agent in to investigate. The agent, Codename Fire, managed to get to the heart of the matter and uncover a vast arms and drug trafficking network throughout the European continent.

The young Julian Benton was at the center of the Sanc Kingomd’s side of the network. Through his connection with a general in the Sanc Kingdom military, Lieutenant General Barnabes Stinton, chief advisor to the Defense Committee, Julian was able to organize a smuggling route using the Sanc Royal Air Force.

Lucrezia Noin, or Fire, managed to find all of this and report back to Une. However, before any moves could be made, Noin’s body was found washed up on the New Port City Beach. She had been severely tortured before finally being beaten to death.

The smuggling network dried up in the Sanc Kingdom, likely moving routes through surrounding countries. Julian went underground, and the cover-up began.

While Heero had not been privy to one hundred percent of what had happened, he gathered that some of the higher-ups in the government told Une in no uncertain terms to cease the investigation.

So, despite the loss of a friend and fellow Preventer, Une had given the order to close the files and seal them.

This didn’t please Zechs, who had grown increasingly unstable in the weeks after the death of his wife and partner.

So, a month after her death, Zechs managed to track down Julian Benton at a club in New Port City. The video that Heero had seen showed Zechs calmly walking onto the crowded dance floor before forcing the younger man to his knees and executing him.

Since that day, Zechs had become one of the most wanted men in the Sanc Kingdom. Une and the rest of the higher-ups had quickly gone into damage control. Noin’s death was kept covered up, and the execution was blamed on Zechs Marquise, brother of the foreign minister, going rogue.

“Did you hear me, Heero?” Noin was looking in his direction. “You are to head to the coroners after this briefing and see what you can dig up about or assassin, is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he stated, refocusing his attention on the meeting at hand.

“Good,” replied Une. “Now, onto other matters. You four will be on guard duty tomorrow. There is a fundraiser for the foreign minister's reelection campaign at the presidential mansion. All of you are expected to attend.”

“A bit short notice, don’t you think, Une?” Sally spoke up for the first time. “I’ve still got tons of paperwork to wrap up.”

“It couldn’t be helped,” Une stated. “Unfortunately, due to various evolving threats, which all of you have been briefed about, we wanted to wait until the last minute to set dates for upcoming events dealing with the president and foreign minister.”

“Typical setup?” Wufei questioned.

“Yes,” replied Une. “Heero, you will be with the foreign minister. Wufei, you are with the president per usual. Duo, you and Sallay are to provide backup and general event security. Trowa, you will be working with the mansion's perimeter security to ensure the building is secured.”

“How many people are attending?” Heero asked. “Five preventers seems light for the presidential mansion.”

“Most of the building will be shut off, and the attendees have all been carefully vetted,” Une didn’t seem too happy about it either. “You five are all we can spare at the moment and should be more than sufficient for the event. Remember also that you will be working with the mansion's permanent security staff, giving you an extra line of defense.”

“You didn’t answer the question, Une,” Trowa spoke in his typical monotone voice.

Une glared at him but finally relented in answering the question. “There will be around twelve VIPs in attendance and their spouses for around twenty-five people.”

“Welp, that’ll be fun,” Duo laced his fingers behind his head. “Nothing like schmoozing with our betters. Let’s make a fun night of it. What do ya say, everyone?”

“Enough,” Une snapped. “Make sure you are all ready for the event tomorrow. Heero, get over to the coroners and see what you can dig up. You are all dismissed.”

Everyone in the room, except for Une, rose from their chairs and quietly began to shuffle out of the conference room.

“Heero,” Une said. “Stick around for a moment.”

The Preventer agent did as instructed, standing between the table and the door where he could see Duo was waiting outside for him.

“You do remember your primary role here at this agency, do you not?” Une asked accusingly.

“Ma’am,” Heero knew where this was going.

“While I have you working the Zech’s investigation due to my trust in your ability to keep secrets, your primary assignment is still the protection of the foreign minister and her husband. I’ve reports that you’ve been slacking in the area lately.”

“I’ve been putting in overtime on the investigation, ma’am,” he knew it was an excuse just as she did.

“Heero, far be it for me to speak of personal matters,” Une’s expression softened. “After all, I’ve been known to throw myself into my work to avoid unpleasant thoughts of Treize. But you and I both know why you’ve been avoiding Relena over the past few years. While that’s fine in your personal life, don’t let it affect your work. Her safety takes priority over this investigation, understood?”

“Understood, ma’am,” he replied.

“Good, you’re dismissed,” Une waved him off with a motion of her right hand.

*****
“Something you don’t want to tell me?” Duo was persistent in his questioning. Always had been. Since leaving the conference room, he’d been trying to figure out what Une and Heero talked about. “You can always talk with me, pal.”

“Let it go,” Heero said for at least the fourth time since they’d began the ten-minute walk towards the coroner's office in the medical wing of the headquarters building.

While the Preventers headquarters had initially been in Brussels, it was moved around five years ago after successful lobbying from Relina and other higher-ups here in the Sanc Kingdom.
The argument was that the Preventers was a global entity and therefore shouldn’t be tied in with the European Union, which was also headquartered in Brussels and shared offices. It was seen as a conflict of interest. After a vote from the members of the World Sphere Unified Nations, the resolution was passed, and the new headquarters was constructed.

These new offices had been where Heero had worked for years now. He even had a hand in the design, ensuring that proper security measures were implemented. If need be, the entire building and adjacent facilities could be locked down within minutes, and a swift defensive brought against any invading force.

Today though, all was quiet on the western front. A group of trainees jogged by around the building, saluting the Heero and Duo as they passed. Various preventers agents and other administrative support members loitered around. Off in the distance, Heero could see plans running touch and go exercise at the airstrip about a mile from the main Preventers compound.

“I just don’t understand why you can’t admit when you’re having problems,” Duo walked next to him, fingers interlocked behind his head in the man's usual trademark pose. “After all, we’re the closest thing we all have as friends.”

“Even friends have boundaries,” Heero threw a sideways glare at the braided man.

“Be that as it may, I think you need to let it out, buddy,” Duo sounded serious now. “I know how strained things are between you and Relnia. It can’t be easy carrying on year after year while the woman you love is married to another man.”

“Quiet,” Heero growled. The man had struck a nerve now. “We’ve been over this before. I’m fine.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Duo sighed. “One day, though, you’re going to blow a gasket. Just remind me not to be around when it happens.”

That wasn’t far from the truth, though, Duo thought. The one thing that had remained consistent in his life, apart from the other pilots and his job at Preventers, was his wife, Hilde. He didn’t know how he’d be if she weren’t there for him. Knowing what he knew about Heero, he didn’t imagine the man was completely unfazed by the situation.

Duo sighed a little too loudly, earning a death glare from his mostly stoic friend. Oh well, Duo thought, they had arrived at their destination.

“After you, sunshine,” Duo flashed his pass before the security checkpoint allowing the door to open.

Heero stepped through the reinforced steel door frame into a sterile hallway. They had arrived through one of the side doors, closer to the coroner's office.
Both pilots proceeded quietly through the hallways, taking a few turns before finally arriving in front of a cold steel doorframe similar to the one they had entered through. Heero raised his hand and knocked.

“Can I help you,” a masculine voice came through the intercom next to the door.

“Preventers Agents Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell,” Heero stated. “We’re here to discuss the assassin from earlier in the day.”

A few seconds passed before the door slid open to reveal a typical examination room and cold storage facility. In the center of the room was the man in question, the assassin Heero shot earlier that day.

“My compliments,” the coroner spoke to Heero. “That shot you placed through the man's throat was clean. It makes my job easier.”

Heero walked through the door first, followed by Duo, who had a noticeable chill run through his body, likely more than just the temperature. The two walked over to the examination table where the doctor, a tall, dark-haired, respectable-looking man, was standing over the body.

Dr. Faber was his name. Heero had met him on a few occasions under similar circumstances like this one. The man was perceptive and quite good at his job, which was how he had become the country's coroner and forensics advisor at only 38.

“Anything stand out to you, Doc?” Duo came to a stop on the opposite side of the exam table. “Something to maybe identify who this stiff is?”

“Perhaps,” Dr. Faber put down a pair of tweezers he’d been using on the equipment tray to the right of the exam table. “Help me turn the body to its side.”

“Nah uh,” said Duo. “I may send them to the afterlife, but that’s where my job stops. I’m not touching that creepy-looking thing.”

Heero sighed audibly before reaching over the exam table and grabbing the side of the body. He turned the corpse onto its right side.

“Notice these tattoos?” Dr. Faber asked.

Heero looked over the body to see an intricate yet primitive-looking tattoo of two tigers seeming to face off against one another. There were various symbols all around the tigers with writing in an eastern language below.

“Sak Yant,” the doctor stated. “You’re observation of the man being eastern was spot on, Heero. Though this tattoo style is found throughout Southern Asia, this specific style is associated with the Sukhothai Kingdom.”

Southeast Asia, Heero thought to himself. If Rajko's information was correct, that seemed to tie into the idea that Zechs had ended up in the far east. Also, that Rajko’s assassination was connected.

“Other than that, not much,” Dr. Faber continued. “The man was an intravenous drug user. Though, I suspect that’s not uncommon with people in his profession. Judging by the scars over the man's body, he’s been doing this sort of business for a while.”

Heero gently laid the body down and observed what the doctor was talking about. The man before him looked to be in his mid-twenties. Despite being so young, keloid scars were covering his torso and arms. A few of them matched those on Heero’s body, bullet wounds.

“What did the toxicology report say?” Duo asked.

“It will be sometime tomorrow before we get the complete report,” Dr. Faber responded. “However, the quick test I was able to run here came up with methamphetamines. Likely what he was shooting up.”

“That makes sense,” Heero mumbled. They’d given it to pilots throughout the war. Extended operations required soldiers that didn’t need sleep. Little thought was given to the long-term consequences of getting them hooked on the horrible substance.

Heero noticed something on the man's arm as he inspected the track marks, a severely faded tattoo.

“What's this?” he asked the doctor.

“Not sure,” the doctor used a penlight to provide a better view. “I suspect it’s some kind of gang markings. However, I can’t say for sure either way.”

Heero pulled out his phone and snapped off a picture of the tattoo. It looked like the letter W in red ink, located just above the inside bend of the arm.

“Our facial recognition system found footage of him arriving via freighter from Moscow.” Dr. Faber said. “Came in disguised as an employee of a freight company and simply walked into the country. Other than that, the guy’s a ghost.”

“Thanks,” Heero pocketed his phone and headed out, Duo in tow. “Let us know if anything else comes up.”

The two walked out of the cold examination room and proceeded out the door they came through, heading for the parking garage on the opposite side of the compound.