Part One




"Wimp. Loser. Loser. MAJOR loser. Too mad.."Heero continued scanning the men in the room, while Quatre sighed,"Too sad. God, too happy. Hey get a load of this guy."
The brown haired boy pointed to a guy with pumpkin orange hair and forked eyebrows.
"Can you believe I used to go out with him? Total sleaze bag," the Japanese boy glared at the man, before looking at another one who was coming to sit down.
"Wait a minute, hold everything, hey Quatre, look at this guy!" Heero pointed to one with long white blonde hair and frost blue eyes,"What about him?"
Quatre looked at the man and then quickly looked away,"No, I don't think so Heero. He's just not...."
"Who, Youji?" Heero rolled his eyes.
"Maybe it sounds silly, but I think there's someone out there for me,"Quatre got a dreamy look in his eyes, and Heero shook his head.
"Where?"
"Somewhere, but definitely not here. Heero, why do we always have to go through this?"
"Because I like you, Quatre, and I hate to see you alone waiting for someone who's not gonna show up!"
"Ok, Heero,"Quatre smiled at his friend, before pulling out the box full of paper with his story on it,"Here it is. Read it and weep, I always do."
He sat it down infront of Heero and then grabbed his jacket.
"I'll call you ok?"
"No, come on! Stay and have another drink!" Heero pleaded, but Quatre shook his head.
"I can't," he gave a disgusted look at his current drink.
"Oh come on. I'm your publisher and I order you to,"Heero commanded, and Quatre gave him the puppy dog face. Heero sighed.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I dragged you out to this place, but I just wanted you to get out more. I know how hard you've been working, plus your sister and all. How has she been?"
"Oh Iria? She's been fine."
"Have they..found her wife's body yet?"
Quatre looked down,"Just the one...piece."
"How awful, having your wife murdered. How is she taking it?"
"As well as someone can take it," Quatre shrugged,"She's still in Columbia though. You know what's really creepy? I received a package today from Une. She must've sent it before...." he didn't finish, but didn't need to.
"So she's holding up well?" Heero asked, looking curious.
"Oh she's fine,"Quatre smiled,"Iria always...manages."

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CARTAGENA, COLUMBIA


Iria shut the windows and pulled down the blinds, slipping on her black hat and sunglasses. She pulled out a duffle bag and shoved pictures of her and Une in, plus one of her and Quatre. She then went into the garage and threw her stuff into a red convertible.
Iria turned the car on and drove it out, before jumping out and sliding the garage shut.
A boy who was playing with the other kids spotted her, and swung around one of the toys he had been given. It was a rope with balls on either end, and as Iria was getting into the car he swung it at her. It wrapped around her neck and the balls knocked her out.
The other kids pointed and gasped as the boy ran over and pushed Iria into the car, getting in himself and pressing down on the pedal. He drove down the street and into the main road, speeding by and cutting off cars. He went to a dock next to a bay and people grouped around him to get Iria.
Hilde watched as he pulled up and took another drag of her cigarette.
"Hey Dorothy," she yelled, turning to walk over the blonde,"the kid's here with the dame."
"Look at these Schnappers will ya Hilde?" Dorothy smirked as she dropped some raw meat into a small cage in the ground with crocodiles in it.
"We should have just rifled her room,"Hilde sighed, looking over at the bay.
"How many times do I have to tell you Hilde it's not in the country," Dorothy glared at the German, holding some raw meat in her hands.
"This is a bad idea Dorothy," Hilde growled, walking over the cage. Her leg suddenly slipped and fell into the cage. She stumbled up and looked at the crocodiles in disgust,"It's nothing but trouble. Look, we've stolen enough antique trinkets to keep us happy for the rest of our lives. Let's just forget this third world toilet."
Dorothy was hovering over the cage with meat in hand, smiling at the green reptiles,"One more big one Hilde, one more big one. Trust me!"
She dropped a piece of red meat in.
"Woah! Did you see that Hilde? That striped son of a bitch down there!"
"Dorothy, somebody's gonna get killed and you're fartin' around with prehistoric animals. Let's forget this one, I've got a real bad feeling,"Hilde pleaded, and Dorothy glared at her.
"Would you stop worrying, have I ever hurt you? We've got the same mind, would I hurt me? No! I will never hurt you! So stop complaining!" she smiled down at the reptiles,"Look at those Schnappers!"

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Quatre unlocked his door and walked in, but what he saw made him gasp. His whole house was in shambles. Papers were all over, valuables broken, contents that used to be in shelves knocked down, everything was a mess.
Someone must have been searching for something..for what he didn't know. He walked through the place silently, eyes darting back and forth to see if anyone was there. He walked into the kitchen, and everything was silent.
"MREOW!!!!"
Suddenly something hit his shoulder, and he jumped, yelling in horror.
"Romeo!" he cried, and stroked his scared cat,"You scared me to death!"
Quatre jumped again when the phone rang, and picked it up.
"H-Hello?" he asked in a timid voice.
"Quatre?" a voice came on the other line, and Quatre instantly recognized it.
"Hello Iria, look, I can't really talk right now--"
"Listen to me. Listen to me VERY carefully,"Iria looked at Dorothy who nodded to her,"I'm in...trouble."
"Iria please,"Quatre rolled his eyes.
"Quatre..."
Quatre blinked, she sounded so tense...
"Iria what's going on?"
"Did you receive a package with Une's writing on it?"
"Yeah..."
"Supposedly there's some kind of treasure map inside..."
Quatre pulled out a creased, old, worn map that was held in a plastic case.
"Yeah, it says 'El Corazon'."
"I need you to bring that map to me in Columbia,"Iria pleaded.
"Columbia?!" Quatre's eyes went wide,"My God Iria, why kind of trouble are you in?" "Quatre....please...when you get there go to Cartagena. Then go to the Hotel Cartagena and call this number,"Iria read off a piece of paper Hilde handed to her,"645-8240..."Quatre wrote it down on his hand with a nearby pen, still confused as to what was going on,"Are you writing this down Quatre? And don't tell ANYONE."
"Yes, I'm writing it. Iria," the blond looked around his wrecked apartment,"I can't go to Columbia."
"Quatre," Iria's eyes widened as Dorothy pulled out a knife and held it dangerously close to her,"They'll cut me. They'll hurt me..."
The line was then dead.
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"Columbia?!" Heero's voice rang out as Quatre lifted his suitcase, walking down his hallway,"Do you have any idea what it's like there? Yeah well I do! There are insects the size of trucks, and there are revolutionaries, and have you had your shots?"
"Shots?" Quatre paled.
"You see? You're totally unprepared!" Heero followed Quatre to his door,
Quatre walked over to the glass cabinet and pulled out one of the small drinks.
"You're going to need something stronger than that,"Heer snapped,"Why are you doing this anyway?"
"Iria...is in some trouble. She has a," Quatre tried to think of what to say,"little domestic problem."
"Domestic problem? Iria's last domestic problem was finding her wife cut into small pieces."
Quatre handed the brown haired boy a cat carrier.
"Here's Romeo, I want you to promise me you'll hold and feed him atleast once a day.''
"You cannot do this! You get car sick, sea sick, plane sick, you practically puke on the escalator in Bloomingdales for God's sake!" the Japanese boy yelled as they exited the building.
"Yeah, well," Quatre tried to defend himself,"A lot of people get sick in department stores."
"You're not up the this Quatre and you know it," Heero warned. Quatre looked down.
"I know, but she's my sister," he stopped a taxi and loaded his suitcase in.
"I'll feed him, but I'm NOT holding him," Heero said, and Quatre smiled. He hugged the Heero before getting into the taxi.
"Crazy," Heero murmured as the taxi drove away.
A sleek black car followed, a woman in all black driving it.
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