Bound by Deception

15.1 Never Trust a Soldier

"You guys are alone here." Kazuki sauntered up to Aria and Sterling with his gun hanging from his belt and a Cheshire grin on his beautiful pink lips. His shirt was open, exposing the scars and piercings he had given himself as a teenager, and his wild eyes were as wild as usual, brimming with excitement. "I heard Madame talking about your mission. How's Operation James going so far?"

"Operation James?" Sterling repeated. "That's what we're calling it?"

"Apparently." Kazuki set his tray down and took a long slurp from his smoothie. "How'd you do, Aria? Did James crack on the first date?"

"Not really." Aria's tongue lazily played with her straw and she didn't recognize the taste of the orange soda that soaked her mouth. "He was a bit more confident than before, but he didn't seem off otherwise. He was the same - with the same amount of hatred for Grandville."

"You'd think after what the government did to him, he'd hate our country," Sterling added. "But he definitely has it against Grandville."

"I read the transcript," Kazuki said. "I have to admit, though, he sounded uneasy."

"He did." Aria nodded. "He wanted to tell me something, but I think he's going to tell me at our next meeting."

"He probably wanted to make sure that you were trustworthy," Kazuki explained. "After you buttered him up about Grandville, he seemed to believe that you were able to be trusted. I hope what he wants to tell you is related to any covert operations happening in Grandville."

"Yeah..." Aria set her cup down. "Are we really positive that he's the spy, though? I just...I can't wrap my head around that. He's my childhood friend. I keep seeing him as that spoiled, war-fearing boy that I used to play dolls with. I can't imagine him holding a gun against the back of my head, or any other Rouverian."

"You're doing the same thing, aren't you?" Kazuki asked softly. "You're his best friend, but your family comes first. Until he's proven guilty, he's on our list, Aria. We can't let him or anyone from Grandville hurt the ones we love."

"I know, but Edward?! Shy, accident-prone Edward?!" Aria pulled her hair. "It doesn't make sense, Kazuki. Yes, Edward looks like he's hiding something, but that can't possibly mean that he's a spy, can it? It could be a trivial thing."

Kazuki hesitated. "Aria, Edward has done some things that have put him on our watch list. We'd be risking lives if we ignored him."

"What has he done?" Aria's chest flared with anger; anger that she was tricking her best friend without any solid proof against him; anger that she had accepted the case so easily without reflecting on their close bond beforehand. "He's been imprisoned for ten years! It can be a mere coincidence that this spy has also been held for ten years!"

Kazuki pursed his lips. He glanced at Sterling; the taller man's face was impassive as he picked at his food. "Aria...I'm not supposed to tell you..."

"You're going to tell me!" Aria jumped up. Her veins burned with curiosity and fury. "You're going to show me what Madame showed you, Kazuki because I want to know everything before continuing this."

"Aria, calm down." Sterling rose and gripped her elbow. "Think. Do you know what happens when you go against Madame's orders? Kazuki and I do, and I'm telling you, it's not a pretty picture."

"I don't care, Sterling!" Aria was trapped in a hurricane of emotions that she was unable to untangle. How foolish she had been - accepting this job when it had her friend's life on the line. She was betraying her best friend, just like he was accused of betraying their country. Her heart was tearing apart and she had no idea how to piece it back together, much less why she was feeling so conflicted in the first place. Perhaps, she reasoned, it was because her job and personal life had never intertwined before. She worked hard to keep them on separate paths, but now that they were becoming one, Aria had no program detailing how to deal with this new change. Her breathing accelerated at an alarming rate and she gripped her blouse. Her body went cold - deadly cold - and she suddenly felt unable to breathe. Nothing was going past her windpipe and her brain began to darken.

"Aria! Aria!" Sterling was calling her, shaking her with concern. His frosty eyes searched for any recognition in her dark gaze. "Aria, calm down."

"Maybe I shouldn't show this to you..." Kazuki queasily muttered.

"No!" Aria broke from Sterling's hold and marched up to Kazuki, thrusting her face into his. "You will show us, now!"

Kazuki hesitated, then sighed in defeat, bending his head. "Alright. Follow me. But you can't breathe a word of this to Madame or anyone."

"Whatever." Aria was still puffing, her warm eyes dark with the shadow of her hair. "Go."

Again, Kazuki stalled, waiting a moment as if some divine miracle would come to save him from the shitshow that was about to happen, but when nothing came, he turned and began walking out of the syndicate cafeteria. Sterling and Aria followed, the former holding the latter up against his side as they walked.

"In, and out. In, and out." Kazuki heard Sterling whispering. They would stop once in a while and let Aria lean against the walls in the hallway, allowing her body to regain its original strength. Her gaze was still unfocused but burning with determination, and after a minute of rest, they continued, walking down the dorms and past Margot's office. They slipped through the lab with Kazuki's badge and into the test area, which was an empty white room full of various plants and weapons. Behind that was a single door, with so many locks that Aria had never bothered to count them all. The keypad beside the door made a chirping noise when Kazuki's badge touched the sensor. The door hissed open, releasing a fissure of smoke and giving them enough time to get inside before their cover evaporated.

The room was filled to the top with computers. Most of them were cameras that gave access to every area in the headquarters, but the main four were those that only top-notch techs like Margot and Yasmine were allowed to use. Kazuki had just gotten access to them, and he feared his badge being revoked should Margot find out. Luckily, there were no cameras in the computer room.

"Here." Kazuki slipped into the chair and began to type the many different passwords that the syndicate kept to unlock the computer. "We have access to the body cameras that are placed on the soldiers. For some reason, they didn't change Edward James's clothes until much later into his captivity, and if they knew about the camera, I doubt they'd have kept the recording up long enough for us to see."

"What does that mean?" Aria frowned. "Even if they destroyed the body camera, wouldn't you still get the recording?"

"Normally yes, but these were new cameras back then," Kazuki explained. "Yasmine had designed them to erase all of its memory once the suit was taken off. It's gotten better now, where we can still track most of the data, but it was a prototype back then."

"But they did take his clothes off and give him new ones," Sterling said. "Presumably prison gear. How did you get the information then?"

Kazuki smiled. "Since the technology was new, there would be a whole crew in here saving the data every five minutes. That's why I still have some early images from Edward James's body camera. Here." He pressed the play button on the first video that popped up on the screen, leaning back to allow Aria and Sterling to see. 

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So...we see more of Kazuki! What's he going to show Aria and Sterling? What will they find out in this video? 

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