Chapter ten
Questions
ooOO-OOoo

Amuro left the house when the sun rose. He was impressed with what Sherry had done with so limited resources. After copying all the data from the computer, he had sent everything via a save connection directly to the headquarters. The external hard drive in his bag was just a backup in case something went wrong with the transmission.

'Okay, just a short stop at the headquarters to drop off the hard drive and a quick check on our 'guest' before I can finally get some rest. I better use a new place to stay. It won't be long until they find out that their 'little kid' is missing. It wasn't satisfying being a waiter and an apprentice for this incapable 'detective' anyway.'

He stretched out, headed to his car… and stopped.

A man with light-brown hair leaned casually against his Mazda; hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket.

'He looks familiar. I'm sure I have seen him before… Oh, yes! He was the man leaning out of the pink Subaru when we were out to rescue Conan-kun from that crazy woman. I saw him for just a second, but I'm sure it's him. These squinted eyes are hard to forget. What is he doing here at this time of day?'

"Good morning," Okiya greeted, but there was nothing 'good' in his voice. "Mind telling me what you were doing in Hakase's house all night while he is absent?"

Their eyes met in silence.

Several early risers passed them, making their way down the street.

"Maybe we should discuss this somewhere more private, don't you think?" Okiya sent a smirk to Amuro and a bulge in his jacket convinced the BO-member to obey his instructions for the time being. His boss would not be pleased when he drew too much attention, and a gunfight in the middle of a street would definitely not go unnoticed.

They walked through the gate of the mansion next to Hakase's house. Amuro looked at the name plate

'Kudou, huh? Who is this guy and why does he have access to the detective's home?'

Standing in front of each other in the big entry hall, only two meters separated them as they assessed the opponent.

Okiya finally broke the silence and pointed his now exposed gun at Amuro. "I'm well aware of who you are, so don't try anything stupid. What is your mission?"

Amuro looked at him with a coolly grin. "When you know who I am you should also know that it is not healthy to stand in my way. My mission is none of your business."

"I'm afraid it is. So, you…"

The attack came not surprising, but it was fast! With a well-aimed high-kick, Amuro disarmed Okiya and tried to punch him in the face right after. He was not into material arts, but a trained former police officer and member of a criminal organization. He knew how to fight!

Okiya barely managed to dodge Amuro's fist, but his glasses clattered to the floor. Still moving away, he hit his rival in the stomach, sending him flying backwards.

The blond landed in a crouch and looked up - gasping for air - at the exposed face and into now wide open green eyes.

"You!" he brought out through gritted teeth with hatred in his voice."I knew you weren't dead! It was just too good to be true!"

All he got from Okiya– No! Akai Shuichi! – was another grin.

They circled each other, waiting for a gap in the opponents cover. Attack and defense equal on both sides, neither wanted to give in.

After several strikes and kicks both men sported bruises on their faces and bloodstains on their clothes.

They waited for the one chance to break through the defense to place a knock out.

There! Some blood ran into Amuro's eye and he had to blink it away. That was all the time Akai needed to roll over to the abandoned gun – aim – and to fire a bullet in Amuro's left thigh.

With a curse, Amuro lost his balance and slumped to the floor. Immediately, Akai was on top of him and pinned him down.

"Okay..." he panted "Now you will answer all of my questions. And I advise you to answer them quick and honest!"

ooOO-OOoo

'Edogawa Conan is Kudou Shinichi…'

The sentence sounded repeatedly in Jodies head, trying to get used to this new information.

The previous night had been full of questions, explanations and more questions. She'd lost track of how much coffee she'd drunk by now, but filled her cup again and glanced at the clock.

'7:45 a.m. I think no one of us slept more than one or two hours this night.'

She watched the little girl – no, that wasn't right – the teenager in a child's body, as Ai's cell phone went off. The strawberry blonde left the table and began to talk to the caller.

'It's unbelievable, but I have the proof right before my eyes. And it makes so much sense! I've always thought that something was strange about these kids, but really – who for heaven's sake would consider something like this?'

An hour ago, she had called James Black to inform him of their situation and to ask for some advice. He couldn't join them, because he was in America right now, but he'd promised to send her help.

He left her brooding over the facts again and again.

The FBI had no official permission to operate in Japan, so she couldn't just go to the place Conan was being held captive and… Hell, she didn't even know where she should go to!

Frustrated, she buried her face in her hands.

"Hattori-kun and Mouri-san will be here in about… twenty minutes if I'm taking his hot-blooded temper into account," the evenly, and always a little cold sounding voice of Ai reached Jodie's ears.

Agasa entered the room with a cell phone in his hand and sat down at the table.

"I've tried to reach Shinichi's parents but their phones are not available. Most likely, Yusaku-kun is hiding from his editors again. I will try it again later. They have to know what happened to their son. And Yusaku-kun has connections to Interpol that could be very helpful."

The 'ping' of the elevator brought all three to their feet.

Jodie shoved Agasa and Ai out of the way and pulled out her gun. Although she was pretty sure that this must be whoever James sent to her because the person knew the elevator code, she was not going to let her guard down. It was far too easy to hack an electronic system.

She took on a firm stance and pointed her gun at the elevator doors that slid open.

Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a silent 'No' as the person left the cabin.

Tears blurred her sight, and she blinked hard to clear her vision. Her hands trembled as she tried to tighten her suddenly trembling grip on the gun.

'This is impossible! I must be hallucinating from the lack of sleep. You are dead! You left me…' her voice was a toneless whisper "…Shu!"