Part Nineteen : Finding Out
Mirialdo walked back into the house, satisfied with how things had
gone. They had found out that one of Howard's people had foolishly
given into the blandishment's of one of his rivals in the area, that
had just been attacked. Not that it did him any good. When he and
Howard had shown up, they had turned him over to Mirialdo without a
problem. That he had the boss's wife in a chokehold was something that
tipped the scales in their favor, for that meeting. The look on the
little traitor's face when he realized that he had just been used was
priceless. It was worth Howard's muttered order of 'kill him quickly.'
Howard had politely thanked the man and then offered a compromise about the region, less damages for what had happened, on both sides. He had realized on the trip out there that the raid had been more of a feint then anything serious, the damage was too little. And he had enough to keep him occupied for now. They could always get rid of them later. Mirialdo thought he was being soft, but he realized that they didn't have the luxury of dicking around out here. Howard didn't trust Duo even drugged to the gills, he wanted to get back to him as soon as possible. Mirialdo smiled mirthlessly. He didn't trust the little kurva at all. He was too good at surviving anything that Mirialdo did to him. But they still had been delayed a couple of days while Howard negotiated with his new business partner. The man was content to be a subordinate partner in the arrangement, Mirialdo suspected that he was gathering an ally, to protect his interests in the future.
Mirialdo was uneasy about the fact that Treize hadn't met him at the door, like he usually did. But he could be on one of his walks, he wasn't expecting him home this early. But if Treize wasn't around, the cook should tell him where he was, but she wasn't around either. Miri left his bag in the hallway, someone would take care of them for him, and went into the library. Treize might be there. He was disturbed that room was empty, except for the envelope that was sitting on his chair. He eyed it like it was a snake or a bomb, before opening it. He subconsciously knew that this had something to do with the fact that he couldn't seem to find anyone. He opened it with a swift cut of the knife that he always carried with him and sat down to read it.
Dearest Miri,
I am writing this, because I don't want to live with you any more. I have no idea what is going on between you and Howard. And I don't care, Howard has been a good friend to us, shady business man or not. I also don't understand what past you seem to have with Kid. I don't care really, I understand that we aren't always together and I don't own you. But I can't take it any more. Not the abuse that I can't understand why you are doing to me. If there was something that I did in my past that causes you to act the way that you do, I'm sorry. If it isn't me, you could have told me what is wrong, I would have tried to understand.
But now, it's too late. I'm getting Kid out of here and leaving you. I have no idea where I'm going or how I'm getting there. Or afterwards, what I can do to support myself. You did do your work well, I am completely dependent on you for everything. However, no matter how much love or need there is in our relationship, this is the time that one of us has to end it, before something happens that could damage either of us beyond repair.
Once I get the answers that I am looking for I might return to you. Answers that you weren't willing to give me, but I think I might be able to get out of Kid. I can't say if I will return, because I don't know if I want to. Please don't blame Kid for this. I know that you hate him, but I just couldn't leave him behind, knowing what you might do to him in your anger. He doesn't deserve what you did with him.. Don't blame Howard either, he might be able to help you through this. He is a friend.
But please just remember this: I was very happy to just be there for you, no matter what. But you did step over the line of common decency in bed once too often, with your treatment of Kid and myself that night .Even if I have no idea why you did that. I love you and I always will. I owe you a debt that can not be repaid for your care of me, but you have reached the limit of my understanding about what is wrong with us, that you have this need to control and abuse me and so I am leaving you. This has been the hardest thing that I had to do, ever since I did decide to give you the control over me that you needed. But it wasn't enough so I am leaving you now.
Treize.
Mirialdo stared at the letter, stunned that Treize would leave him. He had been so submissive, so willing to be controlled. But somehow that little kuja, had gotten to Treize and convinced Treize to leave him. It was his worst nightmare come true. And it was all that kurva's fault. Treize wouldn't have thought of this on his own, Maxwell must have forced him to write this note before they left. He was still staring at the letter numbly when Howard walked into the room, stopping just inside the door.
"Duo's gone. Someone unhooked him from the drip and left with him, cleaning me out of all the money that I left." he announced. "The help's all gone, not that I blame them, I don't know what you might do to them for letting Treize sneak off like he did and they do have some instincts of self preservation."
"He left me." Mirialdo said numbly, turning around clearing everything off the desk in front of him in an angry swipe. As he watched everything clatter on the floor, he repeated numbly, "Treize left me."
Howard smiled a little, then hid it. He had no idea what Mirialdo's reaction would be to that. "I thought that this might happen some day, with Duo. So don't worry. I placed a tracker in the collar that I put on him, and if he contacts anyone that we know on Earth to get off planet, they'll tell me. As for the authorities, I can break into their computer system. I just have to spread the word that we're looking for them and let the rest of it take care of itself. Treize won't leave him, he just traded one protector for another really." Treize finally had enough? That he couldn't play you sick games anymore, because it was getting to much for him to handle, that he was willing to be the submissive lover that you needed, but it was escalating beyond what he could stomach. Duo might not have triggered his memory, but something happened.
"And if that protector touches him…" Mirialdo threatened.
"Not to worry, Duo won't take advantage of him, so that's out. I just think he's just glad that he's alive, odd as it seems." Howard ignored Mirialdo's darkening expression as he continued his train of thought. "Duo was always a nice kid."
"Which means what?" he growled.
"It means that Treize will probably come back to you, because Duo won't pressure him to stay with him." That's unless he finds someone new, but from what I can put together, you and Duo were the only two people that he was ever serious about.
"If you're fucking wrong, I will gut you," Mirialdo promised Howard, in a growl. Nobody took what was his now, that had happened too often in his life before this. The Federation had taken his life and his family, the Academy had taken his identity from him, he was sick of it. Maxwell, that scum wasn't taking his Treize and ruining him, like he had ruined Epyon and his sister. Not after all the work he had done to mold his lover into what he wanted.
"It might take time," Howard said serenely, undisturbed by the threat. "Just remember that Duo was good, as much as you never wanted to give him credit for. And I never got around to having him tell me how he managed to stay hidden all that long."
"That's easy." Mirialdo snarled. "That kurva most likely is living with my sister, since the hotel room was under her name. But I didn't see her with him, just Yuy and Chang. Or that she was at least paying for the hotel, she was hot for Yuy, she might do that. But Maxwell went to save her on the Libra, so they might be together. Not that he seemed interested in her that way."
"That's news to me." Howard said easily, not angry that he hadn't been told of this before. It was as much his fault as Mirialdo's for not telling him. He had acted like a Duo was a new toy and he didn't really bother ask where he had come from. And he didn't let him down long enough for him to explain where he had been. He had just made assumptions because of the way that he looked, he was in trouble, so why did he look so bad? "I thought that you just got lucky with your sources."
"No." Mirialdo replied, tossing his hair around. "I was in London on the Adderson job with you. I was having lunch and I ran it to him at the restaurant. I thought that he was going to lose his lunch when I smiled at him. I didn't realize how much I broke the little bastard until that moment." Mirialdo smiled fondly at that memory. "It was just leg work for one of your people to check out the hotels. I didn't think of hostels because Maxwell wouldn't do the group thing any more, not the way that I left him looking. It took a while, because it wasn't under any of their names, but hers. After that, while I was debating what to do, thinking about a break-in if the security wasn't what it should be, Maxwell came wandering out of the hotel about two in the morning. We ambushed him and dragged him off to you. The rest you know."
Howard thought for a moment. "We might want to figure out where she's living now. I haven't been following her career. I don't think that you did either?"
At Mirialdo's growled "No!" Howard continued his sentence, "Then we stake her out. Maybe get someone to trace Winner's movements too. Yuy and Chang were living with him. But the problem with that is the Winner Empire is so spread out, on Earth and the Colonies, that he might slip though that way. Also, Duo might not have run to him, but I don't know. He was injured and Treize isn't much help. But I can't guess which way he might jump. I have to get back to London to get things set up to track them. I didn't think that I would need it this early. But I hope that we'll have our two wanderers back in the fold within a couple of days."
"And then what?" Mirialdo asked.
"Then Duo spends a few more weeks stoned out of his mind, before I get the answer out of him that I'm looking for. But I think that I better keep him a little more tied down no matter what, because I can't trust him not to run again." And take Treize with him because he doesn't trust you not to hurt him, he loves him and will protect him, even if he can't have him.
"And if we can't find them?"
"Then," Howard forced himself to shrug casually, "we wait, he has to come home sometime. It might take a couple of months to a year, but he will show up, then we nab them. We just to have patience, because he was living somewhere or with someone, he's not going to leave for long, because deep down inside, Duo wants a family more then anything. And he will return them when he thinks that he can keep them safe. We just make noise early if we can't find him and then pretend to give up the search." If you can wait that long without killing someone.
"We'll do it your way for now," Mirialdo growled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Howard's analysis.
"And for now, we might as well abandon this place, who knows what Duo might have called down on us. Just grab what you can and we stay away from this place until we have them back for a while, maybe not even then." Howard said. "I'll help you pack, but I don't want anything left that might tie us to this place."
End Part 19
Christine
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