TRIGGER: CH 13

Chapter 13

(Operation – Final Day, 1700 hrs)

 

The sunset marks the start of the last day for their mission. Prior preparation are all done, what remains is to apprehend their suspect, now more or less confirmed convict. Until his arrival, the rest of the team along with a few people borrowed from the main division are stationed in the building across the road.

Looking around the room he visually re-checks everything. The cameras are up and running, wirelessly connected to their control room set in the bar downstairs. Currently, Rian is stationed there monitoring the flow of events. The team on standby will take actions according to her directions.

Suppose she's not the only one watching, eh? Side eyeing the cameras the thought flashed across his mind. Well, as long as he doesn't do anything to disrupt the mission, Ryuga can care less about that matter.

A telltale buzz precede the message coming from his comm device.

"Heads up, he's coming." Rian's voice is sharp and crisp.

He already knows what to anticipate thanks to the info provided by Dr Kujou, he only need to pull it off in the most convincing way.

Rolling his muscles to relieves the stress accumulated over time he readies himself. Shortly after the notification he can hear footsteps coming from outside. It gradually gets louder until it stops right in front of his door.

He'd already reached the door by the time the bell rang. He purposely waits for a few seconds before opening it.

 

"Hey." The man greets, relaxed as always.

"Hey. You're on time as expected."

"Well, it's not nice to make people wait, right?"

 

 

 

---

 

 

The travel back home doesn't take long despite being quite a distance away from the city. Thankfully the traffic is light. He hasn't gone home in a long, long time. He couldn't even remember when was the last time he stepped into the compound. Nowadays he hardly even left his office, preferring to take a break within the place itself. It's much more convenient that way especially when work is getting more pressing.

That home is both a blessing and a curse onto him. It used to be the only home he knows, but now only painful memories came with it. The mansion would've fallen into ruin had it be up to him.

No use hanging onto a lost time.

Moving into the driveway; the familiar sight brought discomfort to him, like a bad aftertaste stuck at the back of his throat.

Go in, grab the thing, out. No need to linger around any longer than necessary.

It was then something caught the corner of his eyes. Reflexively he turns to the side - a different car is parked there. Whose? He didn't remember ever seeing it here before.

Suspicion bubbling up at the peculiar sight. But to be let into the compound, the owner must've been someone familiar to him.

 

 

"Welcome home."

Things are really hard to expect these days. Of all people, of all places, he just has to come across her here.

 

So that car outside was hers.

"..Amily." He addresses the lady calmly sitting in large sofa in the middle of the hall area, casually flipping through random magazines lying around the place.  "What brings you here?"

She continued, still maintaining her usual smooth tone. How long has it been since then? Outwardly, she doesn't change a bit. Still in her usual long black dress with her long black hair. Still the same her.

"I don't need a reason to drop by. Just maybe I missed this place a little. I heard you haven't been home for quite a long time?" She asked the question without turning away from her current activity.

"Unlike you, I don't have a reason to hang around here. Plus, work is taking most of my time lately. It's easier that way."

"Still a workaholic I see. Fusa worries you might overwork yourself again."

Might as well take that seriously. Wouldn't want her to put him under again. Amily redirects her attention onto him.

"Though you do look a bit lively."

He raised an eyebrow at that.

"You can't fool me. You've found him haven't you?"

Ah. Didn't think it'd be obvious. Then again, she's right. He can't hide anything from her. "..Aah."

"Good for you. Maybe he can beat some sense into you."

Maybe. "You look rather bright yourself. Found someone?"

Her smile widened at that. "Perhaps. We've met a few times, shared a few secrets, but nothing too far yet. She makes a great companion."

"Don't go breaking her heart after."

"I can say the same to you."

The conversation falls and he makes his move to leave. A call from Amily made him pause in his steps.

"Jinga, they have began to take serious actions. Things will start to get more dangerous from now on so, be safe."

'-please-'  Unspoken, but he can hear it as clearly as one. The rare serious look in her eyes is enough to convince him.

"-Will do."

 

 

 

---

 

(Operation - Final day, 1630 hrs)

 

 

At last, the final round closes in. All members involved including one squad from the Main Division are currently present. Each man to their own station, silently awaiting the next command. The air in the building is as tense as it can get, like a taut violin string. One wrong move and it'll break. They've never been on that of a good term with the Main Division. For this once, they decides to put their differences aside and come together under one common cause.

Done visually sweeping the area Aguri turns towards the one in charge of the whole operation, their control tower. She appears different from usual - serious, focused. A gun locked onto a target. Still, he can feel a slight disturbance in the undercurrent. Just as he is about to voice it out, Rian turns around to face him.

"Looks like everyone's ready-"

"Yeah, just now the rooftop team finished assembling their equipment." Came a voice from his left. The customary grin never left Takeru's face, though one should never judge from the cover.

"Good. Both of you come with me. There's something I need to discuss with you."

The sense of foreboding is getting stronger. They moved into the mission control room set inside the bar. Tapping on the keyboard, the computer's screen comes to life.

"Before we begin, there's something that I need you two to see." She pulls up a folder. Strange, he has never seen that one before.

 

This is-

"This may seem suspicious to you, but rest assured, it came from a trustworthy source."

"Oi, it's says here that it was written by Dr Kujou? When did you get this thing?"

"Or rather how?" He paused in contemplation, "Was it Ryuga?"

"..Yes. It was quite surprising at first. But this clears up all mysteries about this case."

"A new drug - a combination of paralytic agent and sedative. Won't he be in trouble if he got hit?" This is beyond mere trouble. He's potentially in danger, regardless of his level of tolerance.

"I've prepared an antidote to be safe. I know, I'm worried too. But you have to keep this strictly between ourselves."

"Why?"

"You know that during autopsies they takes samples of the blood for toxicology testing, right?"

"Well, yeah, I was there y'know. But didn't he said that the blood came back clean-" Takeru suddenly lights up as the realisation hits. "Don't tell me-?!"

"The lab result was false." Rian's terse nod answers. "And the doctor even goes as far as contacting a private laboratory to get this result. He's certainly more than we would've thought."

"Not just that, look at this." She scrolled the pages down to the last. There in the final few lines written:

[The central lab has been infiltrated by them; it can no longer be trusted. And there's a possibility that there may be a mole among you as well.]

"..What..the hell's this suppose to mean?"

Rian shakes her head in frustration, "I don't know, yet. It seems like we might be facing something bigger than a simple serial killer on the run."

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

Today must be a rather good day for him for things to be going so smooth. Still, there's what we call as calm before the storm - he know he shouldn't be too carefree. He can't afford to be caught off guard again like last time. He should stay vigilant but he can't deny the desire to takes things slowly, to savour the moment. Regardless of how others thought of it, to him it borders on a form of art. And one does not rush into art. Much less a scientific experiment.

Everything had been prepared beforehand, the ground works carefully set up. However, he admits that he was a little hasty in building his spider web this time, anxious. Even now he's putting effort into calming his own nerves. What with the current prey being a little odd, that sure adds to his growing restlessness.  

Something is going on in the backgrounds. So says one of the voices of his mind. Not safe.

Neither was the previous ones. His art is a dangerous one, came with a hefty price. One he doesn't mind paying. He's used to living in the shadows. So much more comfortable. Here no one questions your motives, your conduct. Here, normal law that binds common people does not apply.

Pulling on the gloves, he gives everything once over. Looks good. Satisfied with his preparation he glanced towards his current project.

Quiet, sleeping. Though, not of his own accord of course. The drug is an experimental combination of sedatives and muscle paralytic agent. Depending on the dosage, it is both useful and lethal - the dose makes the poison, basic knowledge. So far it appears to be working well.

Eyes closed, breathing somewhat shallow; expected side effect of the drug. At least it allows for normal ventilation as opposed to the widely known and used ones. It won't be of much use in this field had it needed mechanical ventilation as well (however useful it may be for say, assassination. Apparently that was not what they wanted to use it for).

Fully turning his attention to the man sleeping in the bed, he sat down on the chair set beside it. Even in sleep the man never fails to exude this strange aura - attraction about him. Something about him feels unreal. He bet someone could tell him that the man is a fallen angel and he'd probably believe it. Ridiculous, but intriguing all the same. Maybe he should have dug around for a bit.

Nah. No need to mull around. No strings attached.

This may be the last one in a long while. The big bosses are fussing over the previous experiment. Okay, he admits he screwed up a little. Just a little. Certainly no need for them to hound on his ass like that.

Taking in a deep breath he stand up from the chair.

"Shall we start now?"