Chapter 73: Plans Devolve
Tseng had barely made it off of the elevator on Friday morning when a very familiar voice greeted him in a very familiar manner.
“Where have you been?” Heidegger demanded, storming up to the injured Turk. The vein on the man’s forehead was already visibly throbbing, and Tseng briefly wondered how someone who bellowed as much as the executive tended to hadn’t yet stroked out. He mentally sighed and forced himself not to point out that he was actually walking into the office nearly an hour before the work day had even officially started. Instead, he plastered a less antagonistic expression on his face, and looked over at his superior.
“Is there something I can do for you, sir?” he asked, keeping his voice even and calm. Heidegger was clearly already in a bad mood – though that seemed to be a chronic state for him, anyway – and the best way to diffuse the executive’s temper was to keep his in check.
“I want a full report on the mission in Costa del Sol. I’m meeting with the Board at eight o’clock sharp, and I want to assure the President that the Zenshou threat is finally being dealt with, after so many months of your team’s incompetent fuck ups!”
Tseng had to physically bite his tongue, to the point that he tasted blood. How in Leviathan’s name did the son of a bitch already know about that? Veld, he supposed, had updated him at some point… probably in the hopes of preventing the man from hounding his protege further by minimally keeping him in the loop.
“Sir, the team has not even arrived in Costa del Sol and likely won’t until closer to the end of the day… There’s nothing yet to report.”
Heidegger scowled at him and had already taken a step towards him, finger poised to jab him in the chest as he berated him, when the elevator chimed and the doors behind Tseng opened again. He heard a faint snort of contempt.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than harass your subordinates?” a snide voice inquired.
“Sir, I was requesting an update on –” Heidegger began, only to be swiftly and apologetically cut off.
“Frankly, I don’t care. I have a very packed schedule today, and Tseng is presently supposed to be meeting with me. Your update can wait.” With that, Rufus strolled past both of them, impatiently snapping his fingers at the Turk in a demand that he follow. Tseng repressed the smirk that threatened to make its way across his lips and hurried to comply as quickly as his crutches would permit, following the vice president… who by then had already shown himself into the Turk lieutenant’s office.
Tseng closed the door behind him, shutting the now fuming executive out and chuckled softly.
“Strange. I don’t recall you requesting a meeting this morning, sir…” he said, somewhat teasingly.
“You should keep on top of your schedule better, Tseng,” Rufus replied, taking a seat, and smiling smugly up at him. “We’ve had this meeting planned for nearly thirty seconds, now… What did that useless lump of lard want, anyway?”
“A mission update. Veld is is overseeing an operation in Costa del Sol to identify the person or persons responsible for siccing the Zenshou on our weapons stores. But there’s nothing to actually report yet, as the team is still en route.”
“And the operation in Wutai?” the vice president queried.
“Successful. Remy was extracted without significant incident, and is presently in transit back to Midgar with Kai. The others remained in Rocket Town with Veld to assist with the new mission.”
“The Slum Rat isn’t back yet, then. I suppose it’s just as well…” Rufus commented, studying his nails for a moment, “I didn’t particularly want to go to Costa del Sol today, anyway…”
Tseng raised an eyebrow. “Sir?”
“That’s why I came down. Father wishes me to meet with one of our investors. Apparently, he feels I owe him an apology. In person, if you can believe it… You remember Silas Vasquez, don’t you? That obsequious little toad who conspired with my father to marry me off to his already-engaged daughter?”
The Turk lieutenant chuckled softly.
“Yes, sir. I remember him,” he confirmed, “Though that was several months ago. The President is only just now demanding you apologize?”
“Oh, not for that incident,” Rufus replied, waving his hand dismissively, “Silas was in town for the quarterly stakeholders meeting at the Silver Swan last week. I… may have relayed the story to the other investors at the meeting, along with some rather scathing commentary regarding what I thought of being stuck with him as a father-in-law. He didn’t find it quite as amusing as the rest of us, and stormed out before lunch was over.”
“Sir…” Tseng sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.
“I dislike the man. He’s not even really that important an investor… but he’s been friends with Father for years, and so, or course, he gets invited to all of the blasted meetings,” he paused for a moment, pondering something. “Ah… speaking of the investors, that reminds me. The new CEO of Van Haus Holdings requested that I give the Turks his personal regards. Forgive the delay… I’ve been rather busy of late.”
“New CEO? Has Shay’s brother finally been placed in charge of the family business?” Tseng asked, somewhat surprised by the news, and Rufus nodded in confirmation.
“Yes… his father decided to retire earlier this year, and Esteban has officially taken the reins of the company.”
Tseng hadn’t had any contact with the late Turk’s family since the funeral… not that that was unusual. Most Turks with family outside of the Company did their best not to intermingle the two. Even Veld had a long-standing agreement with his wife not to discuss his job at home if it wasn’t necessary, though Esme was perfectly warm and inviting to any Turk who happened to turn up on her doorstep. It was just… easier… that way. So many things they were forced to do as a matter of their job were difficult, if not impossible, to explain to outsiders. Thus the saying that “no one knows a Turk like another Turk”.
That didn’t stop him from wondering, sometimes, how the families of his lost comrades were doing after their death. He did occasionally see Cissnei’s former guardian – the only other family the young woman could really claim – around the building, but she always seemed a bit intimidated by him, so Tseng had never approached her. Others, though, he had no connection to save their mutual loss. Some of Luca’s family lived in Midgar, for instance… but Tseng doubted a phone call from him would have been welcome, as many had been openly hostile towards the Turks at his funeral.
But the Von Haus family was very affluent and widely known by the general public. Not to the same level as the Shinras, but news of their comings and goings certainly tended to get around. Tseng was a little surprised he hadn’t heard anything about Shay’s brother’s new position.
“He seems quite pleased with the promotion,” Rufus continued, oblivious to the senior Turk’s silent musings, “Since taking over, he’s already brokered a deal to purchase a rather large stake in the Mythril Mines. He has a proposal to work with Shinra Company in developing sonic drilling technology to improve output. I have to admit, I’m giving the idea serious consideration. It’s not really our usual sort of project, but it could be quite lucrative for all involved.”
“And I’m sure having the opportunity to order Scarlet to work on one of your pet projects has no influence at all on the decision,” Tseng chuckled softly.
“Of course not,” Rufus replied with a smirk. “In any event… when the Slum Rat does decide to finally come into the office for once, let him know that we’ll be leaving for Costa del Sol at the earliest opportunity. Much as I dislike the thought of swallowing my pride, Father was more annoyed than usual… and I’m just not in the mood to argue about it with him right now. I get quite enough of that lately regarding our public relations issues.”
“Yes, sir… I’ll inform him of the request as soon as he returns.”
Rufus nodded, but made no particular indication that he was ready to leave just yet.
“Was… there something else, sir?” Tseng ventured.
“I’m curious…” Rufus said, in an offhanded tone, “Just how close is that obnoxious little pervert to being ready to truly take on the role you’re so ardently training him for?”
The Turk lieutenant cocked an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?” he responded, but Rufus merely shook his head.
“No particular reason. It just seems that he’s been far more… involved… of late.”
Tseng chuckled softly. “He’s more involved with team leadership because that’s how new leaders learn, sir,” he said, “Reno still has a long way to go before he’s running the team… even as only second in command. He won’t be ready for the job for quite some time yet.”
“Good. Because I’m not quite ready to have both of my primary security options constantly tied up in management on a regular basis.”
“You could consider requesting one of the others from time to time,” Tseng pointed out, and the vice president sneered in distaste.
“None of the others have yet demonstrated to me that they’re qualified,” he insisted, and got to his feet. “Should one of them ever manage such an accomplishment, then I’ll consider it.”
“And just how would they go about demonstrating that, sir?” the Wutaiian Turk queried. Rufus just flashed him a slight smirk.
“The Slum Rat isn’t afraid to tell me to go to hell when it’s warranted, and neither are you,” he replied, heading for the door, “I expect no less of anyone else before they begin to earn my trust.”
Remy winced as she tried, and failed, to sit up. The skin across her back felt tight and sticky, and as she slowly rolled herself over, the gauze bandages that were wrapped around her torso pulled loose from the now-dried blood that had oozed from the deep welts overnight. She bit back a curse, and forced herself more or less upright. The bed on the opposite side of the room was surprisingly empty.
“Kai?” she called out, frowning. Where would she have disappeared to so early in the morning? The helicopter, she supposed. Half the reason Remy had been so quick to suggest that they stay the night in the resort town was that she suspected that Kai would try to talk Tseng into sending her back to assist the field team, if they arrived home soon enough. Getting back in the air at the break of dawn would ensure that there was ample time for a return trip.
The other half of the reason had been that she had hoped sleeping on the matter would allow her friend to view things with fresh eyes in the morning. Kai was not an unreasonable person… just impulsive at times. If she had some time to look at the situation logically rather than emotionally, Remy was confident that sense would prevail.
Before she could think much further on the matter, however, the door to their room at the inn swung inward, and Kai, stepped inside, carrying a brown paper bag in one hand. She paused upon seeing the other woman awake, and sighed, closing the door behind her.
“You’re not going to believe it,” Kai said, shaking her head as she set the bag on the little table in the corner of their room. Remy raised a somewhat suspicious eyebrow.
“Believe what?” she asked.
“I went out to prep the copter and get us some breakfast… and we’re grounded. Some idiot rammed a forklift into the tail rotor last night. The dock personnel are still trying to sort out how it happened.”
Remy raised a suspicious eyebrow and frowned. “Some idiot” just happened to smash into a vital component of an aircraft no one should have been anywhere near last night, preventing them from leaving? She may have been on a fairly high dose of pain medication at the moment, be she had a hard time buying that the incident was as “accidental” as Kai claimed.
“How long before it can be fixed?” she asked, and Kai shrugged.
“It’s going to be awhile. The mechanical team at the port doesn’t have a replacement in storage, so it’s being sent from Junon on the afternoon ferry, since we’ve already missed the morning one. Then they have to install and test. We may be here another night… depending on when they can get to it. They’re a little backed up right now.” She opened up the bag and pulled out two wrapped items, holding one out to the injured Turk. “Breakfast burrito?”
Remy grudgingly accepted the food, and held her tongue. There was no doubt in her mind that them being stuck here, quite possibly until tomorrow, was not the result of bad luck. Nor did she know how Kai planned to explain it to Veld when he and the others arrived later today, because there was no way in the Nine Hells he was going to believe a story that flimsy, either.
Rude glanced back over his shoulder, and chuckled quietly. The morning had gone far more quickly than he’d expected it to. They’d made good time through the mountains, and, by lunchtime, had found themselves in the little mining village of Corel. They’d taken a break, and then, just before one in the afternoon, Rude had gotten the opportunity to see his friend’s deeply ingrained dislike of chocobos firsthand.
Reno was not what one might call a good rider. Or a halfway decent rider. Or even a passingly competent rider. Hell, Rude was a little shocked his friend wasn’t lying in a ravine with his chocobo warking at him laughingly from the top of a cliff. Reno did so many things well… it was always disconcerting, watching him struggle with this. He tugged slightly on the reins of his own mount and dropped back a little, allowing the redhead to come up beside him.
“Not one word,” Reno said through gritted teeth as he clung to the bird’s neck. Rude snorted softly, but didn’t comment. The younger Turk sighed. “How much farther is it?”
“Couple hours, probably,” Rude replied, and Reno didn’t even attempt to suppress his groan of dismay.
“Have I ever mentioned that I hate these Ifrit-forsaken things?” he muttered.
“Reno… your hatred for chocobos is known far and wide at this point,” the bald Turk snickered, grinning at the thoroughly annoyed redhead.
“Shut up…”
“You know, if you weren’t practically choking the poor thing to death, it might be nicer to you…” Rude pointed out, only to receive a glare from his friend.
“Yeah, well, if it hadn’t tried to toss me over the side half a mile back, maybe I wouldn’t be holdin’ onto its neck like my fuckin’ life depended on it. If I go, I’m takin’ this asshole with me.”
Rude heard a quiet giggle from just ahead of them and turned his gaze forward again to find that Petra had stopped and was waiting for the pair to catch up.
“Um… sir…?” she began, as they drew even with her.
“I fucking hate chocobos,” Reno deadpanned, by way of explanation.
“He was traumatized as a child,” Rude teasingly added.
“Ya know what? Fuck you, Rude… You wouldn’t like ’em either if you got attacked by one as a kid!” the redhead scowled. “These fuckers have it out for me. Every last one of ’em.”
Rude snorted again in amusement, and smirked at Petra. “A miniature chocobo nipped him on the arm when he was seven, and now he has this whole complex about them.”
“It’s not a complex…” the younger Turk shot back, “They legit go out of their way to torture me every time I get near one.”
Rude grinned back in response. “Because you tell them that you hate them,” he laughed, “They’re not stupid, Reno. They understand what you’re saying… if not the actual words then, at the very least, the tone.”
“Ugggh… Can we not get into this again?” Reno said, rolling his eyes, “Chocobos hate me, the feeling’s mutual, end of story.”
Rude chuckled, but obligingly spurred his mount onward in an effort to catch up to Veld, who, by then, had gained quite a bit of distance on them.
The first time he’d witnessed Reno trying to ride a chocobo had been a little like happening upon a train wreck in progress. He hadn’t been able to look away, even though it had definitely been painful to watch. It had been almost two year ago now, and the pair of them, along with Kai, had been dispatched to Kalm to handle a protest they’d learned was going to be happening at the Kalm reactor… and Kai being Kai, the senior Turk had suggested the chocobos.
It had started out innocently enough… with Reno complaining every chance he got about their method of transport, and Kai teasing him for it… but by the time they’d reached their destination, Rude was genuinely surprised Reno had still been in one piece.
Well… more or less one piece. About three quarters of the way there, the very large, rust-colored bird Kai had put him on had taken the opportunity to hurl him bodily from its back. The redhead had ended up with a fractured wrist, following the rough landing. It wasn’t a serious injury, by any means – just a hairline fracture that had needed splinting and a dose of painkillers – but it had certainly put him in a foul mood for the remainder of their assignment. Particularly after they’d been forced to visit a local clinic as their first stop of the day to have it seen to.
The return trip hadn’t really gone much better, to be honest.
The younger Turk had improved slightly since then, but Rude had a feeling he was never going to be good at this.
After a few minutes, Reno and Petra had largely caught up to the Turk leader as well. As the reached the trail’s crest, he called for a halt. Rude gazed down from the vantage point, and could easily make out the sight of Costa del Sol in the distance.
“Oh, thank Ifrit…” Reno breathed, looking downward at the lowlands at the bottom of the trail, “Flat ground…” He straightened slightly and urged his chocobo, somewhat awkwardly, over towards Veld. “So… what’s the plan? I’m assumin’ we’re not just gonna ride into town like we own the place ‘n set up shop at the villa when we know the Zenshou might be hangin’ around already…”
“No. We’ll head down to the foothills and spilt up. Approach from different directions, try not to draw attention, and reconvene at the villa. We’ll turn the chocobos loose before we reach town.”
“Yes, sir,” the redhead replied.
Kai had been watching for something. Oh, she’d been doing her best to be subtle about it… peeking through the window when she thought Remy had fallen asleep, or “stepping out” for a moment or two ostensibly to check on the status of their repairs… but Remy knew clandestine surveillance when she saw it. And she was pretty sure she’d figured out exactly what her teammate was watching for.
While the diminutive Turk had been out on one of her trips to the port, Remy had painfully hauled herself from the bed and stolen a glance out the window. Their room didn’t have much of a view. It faced away from the ocean, as well as the palm-strewn interior of the resort town. It didn’t even have an especially pleasing view of the the main thoroughfare for people-watching. What it did have good view of, however, was the Shinra family villa.
And, if past experience was anything to go by, the Shinra villa would be where Veld would opt to run tonight’s operation. She was waiting for the rest of the team.
It hadn’t escaped Remy’s notice, either, that Kai hadn’t updated Veld to let him know that they were presently stranded… at least not in the injured Turk’s presence. She supposed she could have done so when she’d disappeared from their room every once in awhile… but Remy suspected that wasn’t the case. Kai was hoping to catch the Turk leader by surprise, and be allowed to join the mission… since she was here anyway.
To that end, Remy herself was more than mildly upset. She was hurt and in pain, and all she really wanted right now was to go home… and Kai’s zeal for selfish vengeance was preventing that. But more than that, she was worried. Kai wasn’t thinking clearly… and Veld was going to be even more angry with her than Remy was when he found out. So much so that she was desperately wishing she had her PHS right now so that she could let him know what he was walking into.
Unfortunately, said PHS had been taken by the Zenshou who’d captured her, along with everything else she’d had on her at the time. Remy was utterly useless to anyone at the moment. She couldn’t even move without aggravating her injuries, and Kai was her only connection to anyone outside of this room. With no small amount of trepidation, she suddenly realized that she was… once again… a prisoner.
Tseng frowned at the clock and tried calling Kai’s phone again. It rang through to her voicemail, just had it had done on the previous six attempts. The helicopter was hours overdue by now, and the Turk lieutenant was becoming concerned. The last message he’d received from Kai had stated that, due the the late hour of their arrival, they’d be spending the night in Costa del Sol… with plans to continue on at daybreak. If they’d left when they’d intended to, they ought to have been in Midgar well before the lunch hour.
It was now going on two in the afternoon. There had been no updates.
And he had a pretty good idea why that might be. He knew Kai well. And he knew the single-minded drive she could have for a task. He also knew just how deeply affected she’d been by recent events. He… probably should have seen something like this coming.
With a resigned sigh, he switched contacts, and dialed Veld’s phone instead. It took several rings before the call was picked up.
“Yes?” his mentor answered.
“Apologies for the interruption, sir… but I thought you should know. Kai and Remy never arrived, and Kai isn’t answering her phone. The last I heard from them, they’d stopped to rest in Costa del Sol for the night.”
“You’ve heard nothing?” he replied.
“No, sir. Not a word. And… Reno warned me that Kai was, shall we say, not exactly pleased with being sent home when she learned of tonight’s operation.”
Veld was silent for a moment. “You think she’s still here.”
It wasn’t a question… merely a statement of fact.
“I… suspect that may be the case, sir.”
“Goddammit!” the Turk leader swore under his breath, “Just what I need… Reno!”
Tseng heard the distinct sound of a chocobo warking angrily some distance away from his mentor’s phone and a moment later, his protege’s voice could be heard faintly as well, though he couldn’t quite make out the words.
“Change of plans,” said Veld. “Kai and Remy may still be in Costa del Sol. The rest of us will proceed as planned. You find them. Bring them to the villa.”
“Yes, sir,” Tseng heard the redhead respond.
He did not envy his friend when Veld got ahold of her.
Reno was… pissed. No, he was way beyond pissed. He’d given Kai an order, and she’d deliberately disobeyed it. A month ago, it probably wouldn’t have bothered him nearly as much… but a month ago, he’d still considered himself the low man on the totem pole. Aside from the rookies… well, and Sykes… he technically had the least amount of seniority of anyone, and at the time, he hadn’t had the first clue that Tseng intended to promote him.
Now, though… things were different.
He did know, now… and Kai did, too. And she’d still brushed him off like he was still a Shiva-be-damned rookie. The redhead was a little surprised to find out just how much that rankled. Until his mentor had blindsided him with the whole successor thing, he’d never really considered himself to have any kind of real authority unless he was leading a mission. And, he supposed, he technically still didn’t – beyond what Veld had granted him in telling him to pick the team – but the casual dismissal irritated him.
And, if he was being totally honest… it stung a little, too. If nothing else, it reinforced his own insecurities about being in command. If it had been Tseng giving that order, or if Veld had done so personally, Kai wouldn’t have dared ignore it. But, because it was him…
Well… he was forever stuck as her “baby Turkling”.
As Reno neared the shore, he dismounted and released the chocobo’s reigns.
“Great. We’re here… Now fuck off,” he muttered, turning the animal loose. It warked with what he could only describe as an indignant tone and pointedly snapped at him before trotting off, back toward the mountains. The redhead rolled his eyes, “Yeah, fuck you, too, ya mutant feather duster…”
He didn’t care what Rude thought. Those damn birds were nothing but a pain in the ass. He strolled, unhurried, along the beach. All four of them had switched to more casual attire than their uniforms before setting out from Rocket Town. At the moment, any one of them would be easily overlooked as just another tourist enjoying what the resort town had to offer… so long as they didn’t draw attention to themselves.
As he neared the port, he frowned, catching sight of a familiar helicopter, with its Shinra Company logo shining in the afternoon sunlight. Even from a distance he could see that the tail rotor was thoroughly trashed.
“The fuck…?” he murmured, eyeing the aircraft. That sure as hell hadn’t happened while they were airborne. They’d have been lucky to land it in one piece with damage like that. No wonder Remy and Kai were still here. Maybe she hadn’t ignored orders after all…
Several possibilities went through his mind. Had there been an accident during refueling? Or had the Zenshou seen the copter and attacked? Or… had it been sabotaged?
He didn’t think the Zenshou would attack directly. Not unless someone had provoked them… though to be fair, he wouldn’t put it past Kai to do a little provoking, given the opportunity. True, they’d taken Remy prisoner… but that was because she and Rude had gotten caught spying on them. In all of their other run-ins to date, the Zenshou had never been the first to attack. Hell, they’d given Rufus the chance to just walk away from the attempted theft he’d stumbled upon, and only gone after him when he refused. Even their daring break-in at headquarters had been conducted with stealth in mind over confrontation. They certainly weren’t looking for a fight… but they’d shown they wouldn’t back down from one, either.
So… that left either an accident or an intentional act of sabotage. He hoped it wasn’t the latter… because he didn’t think the Zenshou would do anything that would result in the Turks hanging around town when they had a meeting scheduled. If someone had destroyed that rotor intentionally, it almost had to have been Kai. Which would also mean that she had, without a doubt, deliberately disobeyed an order.
But insubordination, if that’s what this was, was for Veld to deal with. Right now, Reno’s job was to find the two missing Turks.
Rude reached the villa first and calmly let himself inside. It had been awhile since he’d been there, but the tropical vacation home hadn’t changed much since the last time he’d visited. Unfortunately, he wasn’t here to enjoy the luxury. The first thing he did upon entering and re-securing the door was make his way up to to the roof. The building’s rooftop was the epitome of high-end living, complete with a fully stocked bar under the cover of a palm frond shelter, a sitting area with a hot tub, and its own private helipad.
But what Rude was interested in at the moment was the view.
The Shinra Villa looked down over almost the entirety of the town’s main thoroughfare… including providing him with a very good angle to scout out Bar del Sol near the town center, as well as keep tabs on who was coming and going near the villa itself. It didn’t take him long to spot Petra making her way up the street.
The town was bustling today… no shock, really. Costa del Sol didn’t seem to have an “off” season. The vacation destination was located at a virtually ideal latitude, that made it perfect to visit no matter the time of year. The only truly bad weather happened during typhoon season, and even that seemed to largely spare the resort area, generally making landfall much farther south. So far as anyone below knew, today was just another beautiful day in paradise.
Which, he supposed, made it ideal for more than just vacationing. Strangers hardly drew any notice at all, when most of the population was transient to begin with. No one would bat an eye if the odd Wutaiian showed up for a day or two and then vanished without a trace… or the odd Turk, for that matter. The locals were used to tourists coming and going.
Costa del Sol had been on his radar for awhile now as a possible Zenshou hotspot… but aside from a few anecdotal comments from the people he’d interviewed, he’d never found conclusive proof that either the thieves or their intermediary were using it as part of their operation… and with no solid lead, he was just flailing around in the dark. He was, in fact, a bit jealous that Petra and Liam had lucked into just the lead he’d been looking for for months now.
A second familiar figure caught his eye on the road leading to the villa, and Rude stepped back from the overlook, and made his way downstairs just as Petra was stepping inside.
“Wow…” she breathed, looking around at the place, and Rude grinned.
“Real low-key, isn’t it?” he chuckled, with a hint of sarcasm. The Shinra Villa wasn’t ostentatious or overdone, by any means… but it was more clear that the owners had money. Before she could answer, Veld, too, arrived, shutting the door firmly behind him.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” the Turk leader said, and Rude frowned in confusion.
“We’re still waiting on Reno, sir,” he pointed out, thinking that the senior Turk had simply assumed he was elsewhere in the villa… but Veld shook his head.
“Reno will be delayed. Tseng called with some… unexpected… news, and I sent him to deal with it. Hopefully he won’t be substantially delayed, but we shouldn’t put off our reconnaissance and other preparations, in the event he does get held up longer than I expect him to be.”
“What’s going on, sir?” Petra asked, furrowing her brow in concern.
“Possibly nothing. Possibly a very serious problem. Either way, I thought it best to check into it immediately. Apparently Kai and Remy are behind schedule arriving in Midgar and have been out of communication since landing at the Costa del Sol port last night.”
Rude felt a chill run down his spine. “Could they have run into the Zenshou?”
“I don’t know. There are a number of possibilities… They may have simply had difficulties and rerouted to Junon, for all I know,” Veld replied, “That’s what Reno has gone to determine.”
Rude glanced over at Petra, sharing a look of concern with the younger rookie.
They hadn’t been difficult to find. In fact, Kai hadn’t gone out of her way to hide their location at all. It had been as simple as asking port maintenance where he could find the helicopter pilot. He’d pointed the Turk to one of the smaller hotels near the beach, and the receptionist at the front desk had given them the exact room number he needed, along with a spare key when he’d explained just who he was.
Reno was presently standing in front of said room, debating as to whether or not he should give Kai the benefit of the doubt and knock, or just walk right in. In the end, he decided that, even if this wasn’t some idiotic scheme she’d concocted to conveniently put herself in position for some more payback, he was still pissed at her for not answering her goddamned PHS when he’d tried to call her ten minutes ago.
He stuck the key in the lock, and pushed the door open.
Remy looked up at him, startled from a light doze… first in concern, and then in abject relief.
“Reno…” she breathed, pushing herself upright on the bed. The redhead hurried over to her.
“Hey,” he said, grinning, and noting that her hand had slid beneath the pillow the moment she’d realized she had unexpected company, “That a gun, or you just happy to see me?”
“Both,” the injured Turk answered, drawing the weapon from its hiding place, and setting it on the bedside table. “A girl just can’t be too careful these days.”
Reno snorted a quiet laugh.
“What the hell happened to the copter?” he asked, settling on the edge of the bed. “Backend looks like a behemoth chewed it. And where the fuck’s Kai?”
Remy scowled. “Kai claimed that one of the dock workers hit it with a forklift last night. I’m… not entirely convinced.”
“Tch… if a forklift did that kinda damage, the asshole must’ve rammed it about twenty times at full speed. I mean… I’m no expert, but I have a hard time buyin’ that a minor collision did that. Rotor’s straight up mangled.”
“I… was afraid that might be the case,” the senior Turk sighed, shaking her head. “I never should have suggested stopping for the night. But I thought if we flew straight through she’d talk Tseng into letting her turn right around and go back. She’s here for the Zenshou. I’m sure of it.”
“Where is she now?” Reno asked, sharing her concern.
“I don’t know. She brought breakfast… and then left again. Then she brought back lunch an hour ago… perhaps two hours ago? I’ve been dozing off quite a bit… the Leviathan-be-damned painkillers. I haven’t seen her since.”
Reno groaned and ran a hand through his hair. He’d hoped Kai would be here so he could chew her out and kick her ass over to the villa… but now it sounded like he was going to be paying hide and seek with the senior Turk. Finally, he stood up.
“You okay to move? Veld told me to bring you two back to the Shinra Villa…”
“It’s not far. I think I can manage with help,” Remy replied, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Reno smirked and dropped down to his knees.
“Hop on,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at her, “I’m givin’ free rides today.”
Remy snorted faintly in laughter and took him up on the offer, securing herself on his back. He lifted her, struggling slightly as he pushed himself upright again, and headed for the door. Remy pressed her cheek against the back of his neck, nuzzling him softly.
“Remind me… why did I break things off with you?” she asked, catching him be surprise.
“Because… you said you didn’t want to risk fallin’ in love with me?” he ventured, somewhat cautiously. The comment was a little out of nowhere… but then again, the woman was on some pretty strong medication.
“Hmm…” Remy hummed softly, and said nothing further.
Kai watched from her position at a nearby the rooftop bar and grill as Reno entered the hotel room she’d rented… and then exited again a few minutes later, carrying Remy piggyback. She watched him make his way quickly down an alley and up a side-street, avoiding the more public areas of the town, before finally slipping into the back door of the Shinra Villa… where she’d seen the other arrive a short while ago as well.
Good. She’d hated the thought of leaving Remy to fend for herself. In fact, she’d been trying to think of a way to lead them to her without giving herself away for the better part of an hour now. Reno had beaten her to it and seen to their teammate’s safety on his own.
Which left her free to do what she’d come here to do. All she had to do now… was wait for them to show themselves.
~end Chapter 73~