Betrayal: Chapter 3

Rufus felt exposed walking from the helicopter to the building without Tseng at his back. It had been years since they had spent this long apart, yet the man was not here to meet him. He reached his rooms without incident but he was growing more and more annoyed. Tseng should be here with him. There was a knock at the door and when a quick glance at the monitor showed only Tseng, he chose not to wait for Elena or Rude to get it, relief flooding through him. He was here. He flung open the door, "Tseng, where..."

"...have you been?" Without changing expressions, a talent that had taken years to perfect, he fired. Rufus fell heavily against the door frame and he could hear Rude cursing. He took a moment to gently brush Rufus's soft hair back out of wide, shocked eyes, then he hurried down the hall. He ducked to the side just in time to keep Rufus from shooting him in the back. A gunshot would hardly keep him from fighting back. He knew this building better than anyone else. Nevertheless, he had to neutralize four guards before he could exit the building and dive into the car he had waiting on him.

He flicked out his cellphone. When his contact answered, he said simply, "Rufus has been shot. I'm blown; it is time we meet face to face. As I am sure you are aware, I still have very valuable information for you."

She was silent a moment, "Why this time, Tseng? I know you've been offered far more than I am paying you and you turned it down."

His voice hardened, "We are-- were lovers. he left me for Reno."

He could almost hear her smirk, "Ah, so the rumors about the red hairs found in his bed were true. But he's hardly the only redhead that has regular access to Rufus's rooms."

He could have smiled. If she'd heard that, his contact was someone within ShinRa. His voice smoothed out, "I am aware of that. I took care of the other this morning."

She gave a breathy chuckle, "So that was what the zolom was about. Isn't that rather over the top?"

He shrugged, "Perhaps. But I thought a snake for a snake fitting; I got the boy that job. Now, where do I meet you?"

She was silent a moment, "The fallen statue." That was also fitting. It had once been a thirty foot tall statue of Rufus's father and now it was rubble.

"I will be there in an hour. I have perhaps ten more minutes before this phone is traced; do not call it again. Goodbye." When the line disconnected, he threw it out of the window.

Tseng's phone had been traced within five minutes of Rufus being shot. The wound in his leg, while painful, was hardly fatal. Rude was reviewing security tapes to find what Tseng had been doing while Elena worked on discovering what he was doing now. Rude made a strangled sound and Rufus whipped his head to see what caused it. He saw someone-- no, Reno, laying on the tiles of a bathroom. "Rude, you will stay with me." He didn't need to see the younger Turk's eyes to know murder was in them. "I want him alive." His eyes narrowed as they fell where a rug should be, now ruined by the zolom attack, "He has some explaining to do."

He stood by the dead president's marble head, listening as footsteps crunched over gravel towards him. He turned, only slightly surprised to see Betice standing there. "Why are you doing this?"

The older women chuckled, "I want a return to the old days, of course. You remember what it was like to be in ShinRa when Rufus's father was in charge. We could do anything. Why wouldn't I want my old power back? If not for Rufus, we could own this world in a matter of years. By all reports, Rufus is in critical condition. I thank you for that, but I do not put it past the little bastard to survive, so I'm afraid I am going to have to move you to one of the safe houses I've set up."

"And if I choose to hide myself?"

She made a motion and a number of people came out of hiding, weapons trained on him. Half of them were ShinRa employees, the rest had the flying bird symbol of the Condor Group on their mismatched uniforms. "I'm afraid you don't really have a choice, Tseng."

That was when a dart hit her in the neck. They'd be needing her alive. He knew they would not take so much care with him, so he dropped to his belly and laced his fingers behind his head while gunfire broke out. Elena had arrived. Shortly, he felt cold metal press against him. Elena hissed in his ear, "Traitor," while she cuffed him.

Despite the cuffs, he was immaculately groomed when he was brought before Rufus at last. Rude took a step forward, hands extended, "You shot Reno!"

Rufus lifted a hand to stall the large man. "Where is Reno, Tseng?"

"He is in a locker on Level Three."

Rufus looked to Rude, "Have you ever known Tseng to miss his target, especially at close range?" He gave a thin smile, "And did you know he's shot me before? My father ordered it, but luckily said specifically for him to shoot me, not to kill me. Go find Reno." The large man jerked a nod, giving him a suspicious look as he passed him, but he seemed to be thinking clearly now. Excellent. He'd have nothing less from his Turks.

Rufus shook his head, "Why must it always be in the leg?" But then he asked more seriously, "Did we get them all?"

He replied immediately, "No. Without a doubt, no. Betice could not have arranged all this alone, not even with a number of flunkies. I suspect the head of our Junon facility, Laurence, but I cannot prove that he wasn't simply manipulated. She did a very good job of mixing legitimate transfers with her own people. I do, however, believe we have successfully forestalled any coup attempts for now and the Condor Group will be far less dangerous now that they no longer have such a highly placed source." He looked down at the cuffs. "May I have them removed now?"

Rufus shook his head, "You may not. I think I like them." Elena, standing at his shoulder, kept her face straight but blushed quite red. Rufus could almost smell embarrassment and turned, "Elena, you may go. Get on the after action reports from tonight." She nodded curtly and left as quickly as she could. The blond looked back to him, "There is one thing you need to explain. The zolom. You know it almost ate one of my employees?"

Tseng felt the tips of his ears heat, a very rare phenomenon indeed. He leaned over the president to suck on his lower lip. Sometimes that distracted him, but not this time. With a sigh, he explained, "I had expected the juvenile to hunt like the adult specimens. I had expected Sigan to see it right away and get himself out of danger. Luckily I had left out certain items, just in case. I apologize for the rug. Apparently the juveniles are stealth hunters."

Rufus smirked, "Apparently." Then he pulled him by his tie for another kiss.

Somewhere on Level Three, a locker clanged. "Guys? I'm still in here! Tseng, damn it, you promised me you wouldn't dart me again!"