Sitting in government offices, while clerks answered his questions, and gave him access to computer files, was boring enough for Duo. It must have been torture for someone else to watch him do it for hours.He could almost imagine their groan, when he finished up his day, by filling out forms to gain access to more records the next day.
It hadn't been a complete exercise in subterfuge, though. Duo actually had been able to track several ships, their registered flight plans, and their cargos, to suspicious pirate incidences in the past. Some ships, it seemed, were more likely to get raided, even with similar cargos to other ships that were allowed to pass unmolested. Seeing who owned those bad luck ships, gave Duo a twitch of doubt, worthy of the streets of L2, before he discarded it, knowing certain persons far too well to doubt intentions now.
He wouldn't be misled by surface facts, Duo decided, certain that Wu Fei had accepted surface facts, on purpose, investigated them, and found nothing of consequence. If there were any real facts to solve the mystery, it would be deep and well hidden from even an expert.
Duo took advantage of a coffee maker, and the leftovers from some worker's birthday party, in the records break room. He scored a large piece of cake, and two cups of coffee, before anyone began wondering at his presence. He left before security could be called and took the short walk to a nearby park.
Night cycle wasn't completely dark, on a satellite. The 'stars' overhead were work lights, transport rails, city lights on the stations opposite curve, and the sparkling net of lights that let ships know where the airlock was located. Silence was impossible, as well. Vents constantly churned the air for recycling, and that mingled with the sounds of traffic, nightlife, and air transports. Trying to sleep, outside of an insulated home, in a park, was a test of a person's ability to mentally shut everything out.
Duo would have preferred an abandoned building, or even a spot under a fire escape in an ally, but those things didn't exist on L3. Pristine, clean lines, on every building, and every space occupied and well maintained, it wasn't a place where someone, living on the streets, could find shelter, easily, from prying eyes.
A public restroom, in the park, was going to have to do. At night, they couldn't come in and pretend casual usage. A person was there for one reason, either to loiter and find shelter, illegally, or stop said person from loitering illegally. Duo hoped that it would take long enough for his watchers to confer with higher ups, for him to get his business done, before they moved in to harass him.
Duo pressed at his stomach, made an expression of being in pain and queasy, dramatically, and then went into the restroom. Tossing his ID card onto a toilet back, Duo locked the stall, crawled under the door, and then hurried to the nearest back window. It was slatted with metal, but hadn't been made to keep anyone in or out. Duo had it pried open, enough to let his slim body through, in mere moments.
The shadows and plant life in the park was enough to hide Duo as he ran for his destination. Once out of the park, it was a game of find the camera, and avoid the local authorities, until he reached his destination. Duo knew that someone would be guarding the place, just in the eventuality that he would make it that far, and wasn't disappointed.
The construction site was bare bones. A framework of metal, a foundation, and permits fluttering in the breeze of air scrubbers, waiting for government approval. It should have been full of material, awaiting that approval and ready for construction. Duo didn't have to go into the deeper shadows, behind the bored guards, to know that there wasn't.
Returning to the park bathroom, Duo wasn't surprised to find the official blinking lights of personal patrol vehicles and officers just beginning to fan out and try and find where he had gone.
"Sorry to bother you officers," Duo said as he came out of the shadows, "but I think I dropped my pass card in the restroom. Did you happen to see it?"
The officer of the group barreled down on Duo, clearly angry, as he accused,"You are in violation, Detective Maxwell! I will report this to my superiors. It's very possible that you will face deportation."
Duo managed to look upset. He rubbed at the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I deserve that, but the damned thing dropped out of my shirt pocket when I leaned forward to take a piss. I'm kind of shy and use the stall, you know? I didn't go anywhere except to find a park bench to sleep on. I realized the card was gone when I layed down and checked foe it."
"Sleeping on park benches is also a violation," the man pointed out.
Duo looked truly embarrassed now. "My precinct is damned poor. They couldn't afford to put me up in a hotel. Look, this is a shoestring investigation and I'm just doing it because my boss ordered me to. it's all turning into one big embarrassment for me, though. Isn't there anyway that I can take a walk out of this, back to where I'm supposed to be, with my card in my pocket?"
The man's angry look had turned sympathetic. Duo had gambled that the man was ignorant of his superiors motives for tracking his movements. The man could understand Duo's having to follow unpleasant orders and not getting the backup that he needed. He could also understand wanting to avoid professional embarrassment. His tone changed, even though he was still effecting an official reprimand mode.
"Don't let it happen again, detective," the man warned. "You're being watched closely, so I'd make sure to follow all the rules, if I were you."
"Thank you, officer," Duo replied with real relief. He was truly tired and didn't want to spend his evening in paperwork, reprimands, and deportation proceedings."I will be more careful. It's just shuttle lag that's having me make stupid decisions."
"You won't get to use that excuse again," the man told him firmly and handed Duo his card.
As Duo left the park and headed back into the city, he could almost feel sorry for the man. He was certain to get a reprimand if one of his men decided to relate the circumstances of how they had allowed Duo Maxwell to walk free after being offered a clear cut reasons to deport him.
Duo found an access bay into a station waste processing hub, and slid between pipes and a pump. The loud thrum and whoosh, and the heat of it's processing, made for an unpleasant sleeping place, but Duo was out of options.
_________________________________
Materials had not been reaching L3. The permits had not been approved, but, digging through records the next day, Duo could see where they were on the brink of it. A business that wanted to stay in business didn't waste money waiting around or guessing about that sort of thing. Someone knew the process, knew their status, and yet had done nothing to ready the site for that expected approval. If even protestors knew that it was going through, and were demonstrating against it's eventuality, then Duo knew that he wasn't making a wrong conclusion. The site was a diversion.
It was also a costly diversion. Someone had the cash to make a bogus bid to build on L3. Duo had to discover exactly who had those kinds of finances, starting with his toy maker. Follow the thefts. Follow the material. Follow the ships. They were all heading somewhere other than their stated flight plans and Duo knew that finding out that destination had stumped Chang Wu Fei and the Preventers.
A sigh alerted Duo to his watcher. The man was trying to look inconspicuous, but he couldn't pretend to look interested in bins of record strips, forever. He was, Duo decided from the sound, behind a rack, to his left.
"You, know," Duo said to the air, as he popped in another record strip, "I'm not here to make trouble for anyone. All of my records, if you take the trouble to look, are for off station.I've already determined that L3 is not involved in this case. If you want, you can have a seat, get some coffee, or have a snooze. I don't intend to move for a few hours yet."
There was an embarrassed sound, but then another sigh, "Orders, sir," a shy voice told him.
Duo sighed as well. "I know what that's all about, sorry."
There was silence and then his watcher decided to move his position as quietly as he could manage. It probably made him feel better, Duo concluded. He didn't tell the man that he knew exactly where he had moved to.
Duo's cell rang. He grunted, pulled it out of his coat pocket, and stared at it in amazement, until he noted the number.
"That's an expensive call, Quatre," he told the man.
"Just my usual, daily, check in to my interests on L3," Quatre told him, his small picture on Duo's cell, smiling not so innocently.
"We are monitored," Duo warned.
"Of course," Quatre replied, "but the only ones who have to worry about that, are the ones doing something wrong. Since we are not doing anything wrong, then-"
"Time is money, especially on this call," Duo interrupted. "What's up?"
"I heard about your ship being pirated," Quatre replied. "We've been having a great deal of trouble with certain shipments not reaching their destinations."
"Shipments paid for by certain people?" Duo wondered.
"Yes," Quatre replied. "It gives my shipping division a black eye and that costs me far more than a phone call to L3."
"Understood," Duo said as he loaded another strip."So, do you want me to tell you that my investigation is including these pirates, now?"
"I was hoping," Quatre replied.
"Is that why you let me hitch a ride on a transport full of Tarmalane Patterson's building materials?" Duo wanted to know. "Why didn't you just say that you had that kind of suspicion when we talked last?"
"Unbiased investigating is the best kind," Quatre replied. "Now that you do see the connection, maybe you can make my shipping runs safe again, find out what Heero's up to, and decide whether Tarmalane Patterson is breaking any laws."
"Pirating, even your own materials, is against the law," Duo pointed out. "A commercial shipping vessel was attacked and damage done."
"By ships that my investigators can't identify by residue left on the ships or eye witnesses," Quatre told him in frustration. "Those investigations aren't cheap, either."
Duo frowned. "Is this all about money, Qat?"
"You know it's not," Quatre retorted.
"Yeah," Duo agreed with a smile. "So, what is it, then?"
"I feel insulted, maybe. or outdone," Quatre admitted. "I'm not sure which."
"Quatre Winner not cornering the market on charitable works, kind of sting?" Duo snickered.
"He could have asked me," Quatre complained.
"If that's what it is," Duo said. "The jury isn't in on that, yet."
"Maybe it is," Quatre replied.
"You know something?" Duo demanded.
"There seems to be a lot of activity around the resource satellite M8 cluster," Quatre told him.
"That place is a dump," Duo remembered. "After I did a case for Preventers, there, I had myself deloused."
"I'm sure, that you remember why it's so poor?" Qautre prompted.
"Illegal mining, bootleg, military grade, machine parts," Duo remembered. "Sixteen counts."
"Punishment was a ten year shipping embargo," Quatre told him with a grimace.
"Just food and medical supplies," Duo recalled. "Enough to seem humanitarian while trying to crack down enough to close the cluster permanently."
"A cause is born," Quatre said.
"You may be right," Duo mused. "It does seem something that Heero Yuy might get himself into."
A cause worthy enough to make Chang Wu Fei turn a blind eye, Duo didn't add, and maybe himself.
"I'll be off station tomorrow," Duo told Quatre. "You call me, then, and I'll give you a heads up."
"You spend my money very freely," Quatre chuckled.
"It's a little cheaper off station," Duo snickered back. "Which is why I'll wait to eat until then, too."
"Duo, if you need some assistance?" Quatre began worriedly.
"It's okay," Duo assured him and hoped his growling stomach wasn't picked up by the cell.
"Let me know, if you do need help," Quatre told him.
"I will, and thanks," Duo replied and pocketed his cell.
Duo worked a little longer and then was surprised when a sandwich and a soda were put by his elbow. He looked up to see a young agent, holding his own meal, and looking sheepish. "Didn't seem right," the young man said, "to have lunch when you didn't have anything. Whatever the boss says, you're law enforcement too. You should get better treatment."
"Thanks," Duo replied with a grin and then ate, thankfully, as the young man took up his 'hiding' place again.
_____________________________________________________
"Reason for visit?" The man behind the desk was looking at Duo as if he'd lost his mind. Duo doubted that customs and immigration, in the resource satellite M8 cluster, had too many calls to do their job. The office was very small and the man looking over his ID and passport, was dressed as if he had just been fixing something greasy and mechanical.
"Investigation," Duo told him truthfully.
The man had heavy brows and his blue eyes seemed to be peeking out from under cover as he grunted and asked, "A little more info, if you please."
"I'm looking for Heero Yuy," duo replied, "I need to ask him some questions. I was led to believe that he might be here."
"Born citizen?" The man asked as he punched a thick finger on a computer keyboard.
"No," Duo replied.
The man punched keys and then shrugged. "No Heero Yuy. Guess you had a wasted trip."
"I guess so," Duo agreed, but asked, "Can I have a few days pass, anyway? I could use a couple of drinks and some stronger gravity. Those cargo ships treat their passengers just like they treat their cargo. I'm tired of strict regulation and my guts floating."
"Have you been here before? An embargo is in force. That's why you had to take a skiff from your ship to the embargo convoy, before docking here," the man told him, again looking at Duo as if he doubted his sanity. "We make everything on station. No frills. Even the people who live here, don't want to be here. those that had enough credits, left a long time ago."
"I know, I've been here before," Duo admitted.
"I remember," The man growled. "You did us a favor by culling out those gangs, but it didn't help our chances of getting the embargo lifted. Other people besides me will remember that, I warn you, and they may want some payback."
"Warning taken," Duo replied, "but it doesn't change my mind."
"Your potential funeral," the man said as he punched a few more keys and then slid Duo a pass card. "No restrictions. Misery will get your out of here, soon enough. Try not to get our embargo extended while you're here. Of course, you aren't Preventers any longer, are you? Just some little tin police detective."
"I'm proud of what I do," Duo told him as he took the card, not feeling any anger at the man's attempt to insult him.
"Don't see how, but everyone has their thing," the man grunted and waved towards an air lock. "Paper work done. You're in. Hope you had your shots."
Duo chuckled as he cycled through the air lock, meant to keep out undesirables and contaminants alike, and then choked a little when he exited into the station air.
Bad air scrubbers, Duo thought with a chill, as he smelled a faint reek in the air. The sound of the air purifiers was audible, as well, a mechanical chugging sound that told Duo nothing had been changed since the place had been staffed by miners. It was not built for the civilian population that was trying to eek out a living there.
It was worse than Duo remembered. Dank described it perfectly, everything rusted, riveted back together a thousand times, with odds and end parts, and barely running. Housing was overflowing with tenants, despite outbuildings piled on top of each other with a dangerous lack of rhyme or reason. The rail system was dead. People were living in the abandoned cars. These were the people too poor to leave. These were the people the government hadn't given thought to when they had tried to shut the place down with their embargo.
It was a cause, pure and simple. A cause that had fired up the honor of Chang Wu Fei and brought Heero Yuy out of hiding. A cause that had made a toy maker turn pirate. People needed to be saved. Gross Injustice was being committed. There was no question who's side to be on.
Duo sighed, a dangerous glint in his eyes, as he said fiercely, "Wish you were still with me, Deathscythe, old buddy. I could use you right now."
It was time to find out where the stolen materials were going, Duo thought, as he walked from a station platform, through a rail car that was obviously someone's living room, and out onto the opposite side where the main street dived along the satellite rim between leaning buildings.
A child in filthy overalls paused to glare at Duo suspiciously. Rationed water supply, Duo thought angrily, and wondered if the food was rationed as well.
"Hey," Duo called, "Can you tell me who runs this place, now?"
The child hooked a thumb at a building better off than the others. "Patrice," he announced.
"Thanks," Duo told him, but the child was already gone, probably to tell someone else that there was someone new on station.
"Patrice," Duo repeated. "Sounds familiar."
He could almost place the name, but, as Duo made his way into the building, the hand painted sign, just inside, jogged his memory.
Geron Patrice, Governor of Palisade. Duo remembered him as a discredited figure
in Relena Peacecraft's old government, just before a gun was shoved to his
head and a guard growled, "You're bold, coming back here after what
you did."
"I cleaned up illegal operations and took out thugs who were trying to take over," Duo replied calmly as the gun dug into his skin. "I'm not here to argue the law with you, though. I'm here to see the Governor."
The man leaned in close and his breath stunk as he demanded, "Why?"
"A courtesy," Duo replied.
"Courtesy?" The man echoed, mincing the word sarcastically. "Was it a courtesy when you had our embargo extended?"
"I didn't do that, the government did," Duo argued.
"Makes you all clean and pretty, then?" the other guard sneered. He was missing half of his upper teeth and his breath hissed between the gap.
Duo frowned. "I did my job," he insisted. "I arrested men who were attempting to take over and who were clearly breaking the law. I'm not going to apologize for that. The embargo may be wrong, but my actions weren't."
The second guard lifted a big hand and turned it into a rock hard fist. "Well," he said, "guess we have a difference of opinion."
"I registered my destination," Duo told the men calmly. "If I'm a no show or I have to report that I was attacked, it won't help reduce the length of the embargo."
The men glared at him for long moments and then the one with the gun lowered it and said angrily,"We are all paying for the actions of a few. As you're walking around our home, doing your business, try not to step on the bones of the men, women, and children who died, because you did your job."
The man motioned towards a staircase with his gun barrel and then he and his fellow guard took up their stations by the door, as if Duo didn't concern them any longer.
Duo kept himself alert, not trusting them, but he didn't meet anyone else as he topped the stairs and followed a worn carpet to a set of double doors. There were gauges in the metal, as if someone had tried to break in at one time, and there were suspicious stains on the floor that looked like old blood that had never cleaned up properly.
Duo knocked, making a loud, metallic sound.
"About time!" a male voice exclaimed.
Duo waited, but then opened the door when no one opened it for him.
"Governor Patrice?" Duo said tentatively as he entered a very large room that must have been expensive and grand in it's time. Now it looked like an uncaring bachelor had taken up residence, a bed along one wall, tumbled and unmade, trash littering the floor, here and there, and clothing stacked on a large desk for lack of a proper place to put them.
An elderly man, that looked as if he had once been in the military, with his crew cut and fierce glare, stepped forward. He was wearing casual overalls, as wrinkled and as worn as everything else there.
"I did come straight here," Duo told him. "Your men kept me waiting with questions."
Duo held out his hand. "Detective Duo Maxwell."
Patrice didn't shake Duo's hand and Duo lowered it, as Patrice, instead, went to sit in a creaking chair that was missing an arm. He growled, "You're lucky that they didn't string you up by your balls and use you for target practice, Maxwell. I may order them to, yet."
"I'm here on official business," Duo replied.
"That's not what you told customs and immigration," Patrice pointed out sourly. "You said something about wanting some gravity time and enjoying our hospitality."
"I didn't lie," Duo replied with a shrug. "I'll get both if I stay a few days, while I investigate."
"You were looking for Heero Yuy," Patrice reminded him. "You were told that he isn't on station. What else could you be investigating that's worth risking your life for? I'm sure you're well aware of how well the people here love you? I'm not going to guarantee your safety or risk my men trying to guard you."
"I don't expect you too," Duo replied, "but, as I said before, I am on official business. If something should happen to me, there will be an inquiry."
"Fuck you!" Patrice exploded, fists slamming down on his desk and sending clothing sliding off onto the floor. "Haven't you done enough damage, here? Do you want our embargo extended yet again?"
"No, I don't want that," Duo sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I intend to be very careful of my skin, Governor. I don't want any incidences. I do need to ask questions, though, and look through records. I do intend to do that."
"And you expect me to give you permission?" Patrice wondered acidly.
"You don't have a choice," Duo reminded him. "If you deny me, I'll have to file that. The government will see it and wonder why you're denying me. They'll send their own investigators."
Patrice's face went red with anger. He said tightly, trying to control it, "Do your investigating, Detective Maxwell, since it seems that I don't have any choice. if you cause our embargo to get extended, though, I won't stop my fellow citizens from 'expressing' their displeasure about that on you. Do I make myself clear?"
"Very clear," Duo replied.
"Then get out, and get it over with," Patrice snarled.
After descending the steps again and passing between the guards, Duo didn't miss the comment from the one with the gun, "Dead meat walkin'."
__________________________
"What did you do wrong?" Duo wondered as he checked the records room.
The slim young man glared at him sourly and replied, "I okay'd your transport to dock. I thought you might be carrying something good, or at least good news. Sucks being that wrong."
Duo checked the latch on the window, the height to the ground, and then sat at a desk with an old computer.
The had an asian cast to his features, proud and severe, that reminded Duo of Wu Fei. He smiled and he knew that smile bothered the young man. "You can take up station downstairs," Duo told him as he brushed at the thick dust on the screen. "This is going to take awhile. Days probably. I wouldn't want you to die of boredom."
"I don't think it'll be boring," the man replied. "Especially when they break down the door and drag you out for public execution."
Duo frowned and shrugged. "They let me get this far."
"Because they were that amazed that you would show your face here again, alone," the man pointed out.
"I think they're smart enough to know what will happen if I get killed," Duo disagreed as he checked a connection and found it loose.
"Accidents happen." the man said.
"They do," Duo grunted as he finally managed to make the system boot."Got a name?"
"Jim," the man replied shortly.
"Jim. I'm Duo. If you could find me some lunch, I would appreciate it." He dug out a credit and tossed it to the man. "Whatever you can get with that. Nothing spicy. My stomach hates spicy."
"Why should I?" the man complained as he fiddled with the credit angrily. "I'm supposed to guard you, not be your 'go for'."
"Well," Duo replied as he tried to access records, "Since you have no intention of actually stopping anyone from hurting me, you can be useful in other ways."
"You're not my boss," the man growled.
"It'll make the guilt less, knowing that you at least gave me a last meal," Duo chuckled.
"I'll feel guilt? That's news," the man retorted.
The man motioned at the system. "You're wasting your time. Nobody's bothered with records for awhile, now, except shipping and immigration."
"That's fine," Duo replied
The man stood quietly for a long moment.
"Go ahead and say it, Jim," Duo urged. "Get it out of your system so I can get to work."
"Don't you feel anything at all?" Jim suddenly asked angrily. "Do you know how many people died because of the embargo? How many people live like rats? How many children suffer? You helped extend that embargo. Doesn't seeing all of this make you sorry at all? Where's your own guilty conscience?"
Duo's fingers froze on the key board and his eyes skewered the man. It made him swallow and take a step back, suddenly afraid. "Don't ever accuse me of not giving a shit. I gave up my childhood giving a shit, Jim. I'm not about to stop now. What's going on here is wrong."
"We told them," Jim said in a tone of voice that was full of disbelief that anyone could be so callous. "We explained that the families living here were too poor to immigrate. We sent them pictures, death reports, begged them to come see for themselves. We sold as much as we could to pay for ship passage for as many as we could manage. Some cared and tried to help, but there are just too many left, and some who don't want to leave. We've made a world here, on what started out as a junked mining operation. It's home and people get desperate and defensive when they get told to abandon it.
"I made an assumption, when I was here last," Duo admitted quietly. "Like everyone with me, I thought you were choosing to live this way, that you were criminals wanting to live on the edge of society and take it down. We stormed in, took out the 'bad guys' and then left without really looking at what we were leaving behind. I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" the man was skeptical. "Aren't you doing it again? Looking for a crime that will extend our embargo again?"
"No, I'm not," Duo assured him. "I'm looking for a cause. I'm not sure what I'll do, though, once I find it."
"Not reassuring," the man growled.
"I can't explain anymore than that," Duo replied apologetically.
The man looked down at his credit again. "You're going to trust any food these people give you to eat?"
"I was hoping that you would say it was for you," Duo chuckled.
The man fisted the credit and went away. Duo wasn't sure if he was going to get the food or not, but his mind was already on the task at hand. The man from immigration had proven to still be adhering to his training. Jim had confirmed that. if there was something to be found it would be in the man's meticulous records, hidden maybe, under aliases and cargo manifests, but there, somewhere where the man could find it if he had to.
"Let's see just how good you are, Heero Yuy," Duo muttered and began his search.
TBC