"What the-" Vermouth almost yelled aloud as a second figure came into her line of vision. She focused hard on the intruder that had so hastily burst through the hotel room door. After a few seconds of careful observation she identified precisely who it was: Kudo Yuusaku, her target's husband. She recognized him relatively quickly due to her extensive history with Yukiko. She curved her eyebrows angrily "What the hell is he doing here?" Her question was soon answered when he motioned for his wife to come over to him at the door.

The feeling of relief that had washed over him at the sight of his still intact wife was quickly brushed away when she turned around and looked at him. As their eyes locked a tear shot down Yukiko's face and Yuusaku was frozen in his place. He waved an arm at her, trying to get her to come over to him, but she simply looked away somberly and placed her focus back on the window in front of her. Perturbed by her countenance he rushed over to her side and knelt beside her

"What is it? Why are you here? What's going on?" His questions were mashed together and uncouthly blurted out, a vast contrast to his usual demeanor. She opened her mouth to answer when the phone beside her began to ring. She exhaled deeply and picked it up

"Yes" She said with little energy, obviously drained from the whole debacle

"What the hell is he doing there? Tell him to get out before I kill you both!" Her voice was brash and unhinged. She seemed to be losing her patience quickly. Yukiko waited a moment before answering

"And what if I said 'no'?" Her mouth curved into a subtle grin

"Do you want me to kill you!" What little patience she had seemed to have had vanished with that deriding question. Once again Yukiko let silence overtake the line momentarily before finally hanging up the phone.

Yussaku was terrified by his wife's attitude. She seemed exhausted, almost sickly. She could hardly lift her arm to answer the phone and every phrase she spat out seemed to ware her out. Her breathing was strangely calm, almost like she was already asleep or even comatose. As he analyzed his wife the thought returned to the back of his mind once again 'Those men, they might still be coming. If they are they'll check this room first because of the light'. At that point it became very clear what he had to do, and in a flash he rose from the floor and went to the light switch. Yukiko raised a hand to object but before she could it was already pitch black. Yuusaku raced back to his wife and grabbed her by the wrist. She yelped at the firmness of his hold but said nothing. He cracked the door open and checked each side of the hallway for signs of life. When he found no movement he carefully walked out of the room, leading his wife out in the process. He darted his eyes back and forth again, as if he was crossing a freeway in rush hour and pulled his wife down the hall. They continued down the hall until he found what he was looking for: the stairwell. Luckily for him this hotel had a stairwell on each side of the building for fire safety purposes. He felt the burning of hope in his chest as the steel door that would lead to their escape came closer and closer. Another twenty seconds and they were there. As his touched the cold handle on the door he felt a large force against the back of his neck and then everything went black

As Gin and Vodka exited the elevator they displayed no evidence of worry or urgency. They started to walk forward when the heard the subtle creak of a door as it opened. Gin curled the sides of his mouth into a menacing grin. Vodka took a step forward but was brusquely stopped by Gin's hand on his chest. Vodka knew what this meant and took a step backward, allowing his partner plenty of room. Gin took a few large strides forward, clinging to the wall as not to be seen. He focused his eyes and was pleased to see, a mere thirty feet in front of him, a man and a woman hand in hand walking hurriedly toward what he could only assume was another stairwell. He picked up his feet and sped to an almost jog in order to catch up to them. As he gained ground on them he could see a large steel door coming into view. Once he was about five feet away he leveled out his pace and stalked behind them. When they finally reached the door the man in front of him paused for a moment. The time was as good as any Gin thought, so he pulled his pistol from the front of his trench coat and swung it at the back of his target's neck. The woman jumped at the sight and turned around feverishly to address the attacker only to be smothered by a moist rag. She fell to the ground after a moment or two of struggling, leaving Gin alone to observe the two unconscious bodies.

"Gin…." a voice said from behind him. He turned around calmly, having already recognized the speaker

"What took you so long?" he asked coldly

"Sorry-" Vodka started, breathing somewhat heavily "When you get like that its hard to keep up with you." He took one last breath and composed himself "What do we do now?" he asked, genuinely curious about what the next phase of their operation was

"We do what that person ordered us to do. We take this woman back to that room force Vermouth to finish her. It's a test of her loyalty" Vodka confirmed his comprehension with a nod

"What about him?" Gin looked down at the motionless body at his feet

"We weren't given any specific orders about him. We'll put him in the room as well. When the room blows, he'll go with it" Vodka seemed startled by the explanation

"B-Blows? We're wasting the room?" Gin glanced over at him and grinned devilishly

"That's right. Can't leave evidence. Now come on, we need to move them" Vodka nodded and lifted the actress over his shoulder. Gin bent down in front of Yuusaku, facing away from him. He grabbed each of his wrists and pulled them over his shoulders to his chest and rose to his feet.

'What the hell am I going to do now!' Vermouth thought angrily to herself 'They just walked right out from under me. Damn that bastard Yuusaku, how did he know the scope I had would take a few seconds to readjust to the darkness?' Vermouth had been lying on the floor next to the bed since the moment her target fled. The hopelessness of the situation had actually weighed her down to the point where she had no will or ability to move. She just laid there and stared blankly at the darkness above her. 'What happens now? Should I just leave and cover my tracks? Live in hiding? If I go back to them after such a failure I'll be killed for sure…' she was jarred from her pessimistic trance when the resounding buzz of her phone flooded the room. She flew up off the ground and seized her phone from the nightstand. Before looking at the caller I.D she opened it and pushed it to her ear

"Yes?" she asked coolly, trying to maintain what little composure she still possessed.

"Vermouth" her codename came back through the line with a cruel air to it. The voice was unmistakable and it sent a shiver down her spine

"What is it Gin?" She asked rudely, somehow retaining her unruly demeanor despite the situation

"I have your orders." He responded officially. Vermouth remained silent and waited for him to finish his statement. As she waited anxiously she noticed a light shine in the distance, hardly visible to the untrained eye. She felt her heart jump as she rushed over to the rifle that was still resting on the bed and checked her scope. The room she had been monitoring was illuminated again but now there were four people in it. Two were unconscious and leaning against the wall. The other two were standing upright and staring directly at her, one of which was holding a phone to his ear "Your orders are to finish off Kudo Yukiko. You have five minutes" His tone was straight and unwavering. She made no audible response initially as she continued to stare at the black clad man with the phone. He grinned and closed the phone, shoving it back into his pocket. He turned away from her and exited the room, followed closely by his confidant.

Once the door had closed behind him, Gin pulled the phone back out from his pocket and flipped it open. He dialed a number and held the phone to his ear

"Yeah?" Chianti answered apathetically

"Everything is ready. If she doesn't fire in five minutes…" he trailed off and allowed assumption to speak for itself

"Right." She responded and hung up the phone. Gin looked over to his partner and motioned for him to reveal the object in his chest pocket. He hesitated for a second before he pulled it out and handed to Gin. It was a small black box with two switches on the front of it and a green and a red light on the top. The red light was currently illuminated as Gin ran his finger over the switches, smirking at his own intentions.

As Sonoko, Ran and Kazuha exited the store they had been in Sonoko was beaming and jumping with four bags hanging off each of her arms. Ran had one smaller bag in her hand and Kazuha was empty handed. They were walking down the street when Sonoko pointed to another store causing Ran and Kazuha to heave a unified sigh.

"What, are you two already done shopping? We haven't even been at it for twenty minutes!" Sonoko screamed candidly, disappointed by their lack of enthusiasm

"Well I was never much for shopping" Ran said plainly

"Yeah and I don't really need anything right now" Kazuha added to further their argument. Sonoko looked back at them confusedly

"Well if you don't want to shop what should we do?" She asked, genuinely unaware of any other use of time. The three girls stood silently, trying to produce a formidable idea

"Well…."Ran said shyly "I was supposed to go and clean Shinichi's house today…." Her two friends gave her a curious look

"Are you serious? Ran that's ridiculous why would you clean his house?" Kazuha asked, dumbfounded by the idea of helping her 'boyfriend' for no particular reason

"Relax Kazuha-chan she's been doing this since that guy left. Every few weeks she decides its time to clean his house again, as if he's ever in it" Sonoko said rolling her eyes

"Sonoko!" Ran yelled angrily

"Sorry I know its your husband's house and all but do you really need to clean it for him?" Sonoko teased

"I just don't want it to get dusty. It's a beautiful house and I hate to see it dirty. Besides, he's coming back on Monday so…" Sonoko and Kazuha giggled furiously, pressing their hands to their faces to hide it

"So you want to surprise him with a clean house for his arrival!" Kazuha chanted

"No!"

"Don't lie Ran I can see it all over your face. Don't worry, we'll help you clean your boyfriend's house" Sonoko teased once again, goading a fiery blush out of Ran. Ran didn't object however, and instead just accepted the enlisted help of her friends

"So how long do you expect this to go on?" Heiji asked, still unnerved by the sight of his friend suffering to such an extent. Haibara glanced over at him. They hadn't spoken since they left Conan's room, so the atmosphere had been slightly tense

"I can't say. It could be anywhere from four hours to three days. It all depends on his body" she answered him expressing little concern

"Is there anything we can do as far as they're concerned while he's like that?" Heiji had never been one to wait around for things to happen. He had always considered himself a man of action, so the waiting had been killing him even if it had only been an hour or two.

"Listen to me Hattori-kun, these people aren't just a bunch of murderers. Their crimes aren't like others where you can simply use your deductive reasoning to bring them to justice. They have been able to beat every international law enforcement agency for years." Heiji winced at the realization of their power

"You said you know where their hideouts are didn't you?" Haibara shook her head

"I said I know where they were when I was a member. It's been months since I left, they probably have an entirely new network of hideouts." Heiji puts his hands behind his head and sighed

"So what do we have to go on?" he asked, having had most of his zeal deflated

"Virtually nothing. That's part of what makes this so difficult" she stated definitively and turned away from him, walking toward the laboratory

"So what are we supposed to do?" he asked helplessly. She stopped on the stairs and turned to him

"We wait for Kudo-kun. Then, we formulate a plan. That's all we can do for now" she turned away and disappeared from his sight. He remained there after she left, contemplating her words. 'How am I supposed to just wait here and do nothing until that Aho wakes up?' he grunted to himself angrily and walked back into Conan's room where he was sleeping sounding

"Hurry up, Kudo" he whispered to the child detective

As Yuusaku blinked his eyes open he felt a horrendous pain on the back of his neck. He recollected the preceding events and remembered being struck from behind. 'Those men' he thought to himself 'I'm a fool. I should have known they would follow us. How was I so blind' his self-critical thoughts were interrupted when he realized there was a head leaning on his shoulder. He looked over and saw it was Yukiko, and she was still unconscious. He gently shook her body to wake her, but to no avail. He grasped both of her shoulders firmly and shook her body furiously, this time rendering a response. She jumped at the force that was moving her body but calmed when she realized it was her husband. She blinked a few times to confirm her consciousness and then met Yuusaku's eyes again

"Where are we? What happened?" she asked innocently

"We were ambushed. And it seems we're back in that same room you were in when I found you." They both scanned the room and verified the suspicion

"What do we do?" she asked

"First, I need to know why you were here. It seems the situation is more dangerous than I realized" Yukiko darted her eyes away from him, ashamed for being secretive before

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything before. The truth is, Sharon called me yesterday and asked if I would have dinner with her" Yuusaku drew back for a moment, shocked by the name

"You mean Sharon Vineyard?" Yukiko nodded shakily "But she's…"

"Dead? I thought so too. I thought the person might be a crazed fan and I wanted to confront them. But when I got there it was really her, in the flesh. She told me how her death was faked and how she kept her identity secret for her safety" Yuusaku listened carefully and processed the information as he recieved it

"What does that have to do with….this?" he asked, locking his eyes with her more intently

"Well after dinner she said she wanted me to meet her here tonight. When I got here the room was like this and I got call from her that said she had a sniper rifle and that she would shoot me if I didn't do everything she said" She started to tear up, having reached the horrifying present, and Yuusaku pulled her into an embrace

"It's okay honey we'll get out of here. When was the last time she contacted you?" Yukiko sniffled and looked down to think

"I think it was just a few minutes before you came" Yuusaku became entranced in thought as he attempted to formulate a plan based on the existing variables. Yukiko continued to lean on his torso, trying to contract any possible feeling of safety she could. Yuusaku's train of thought was broken when he noticed something disturbing

"Yukiko your wrists and ankles are tied!" he exclaimed, shocked by the discovery

"I didn't notice until just now either when i tried to hold you. But yours aren't" she said almost happily. He looked down at his own free wrists and scrutinized them carefully

"I've seen this." He said ominously

"What do you mean?" her tone was becoming increasingly uneasy as time went on

"Some criminals will tie up one victim and leave the other untied in order to allow the other to leave. It usually means that they only want to kill their target and that they are willing to spare collateral damage" his voice was grave as he said this with his eyes on his knees.

"So that means…" she trailed off, unwilling to utter the answer herself

"It means you're their target, and they want me leave you"

Meanwhile, in a hotel rooms hundreds of yards away, Vermouth had a shaking finger on the trigger of her rifle. Her vision was obscured by the sudden onset of tears as she stared down her scope at the middle aged woman she had once called her friend.

"I'm so sorry" she mumbled to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger with a gasp. A resounding blast could be heard throughout the area as the shell exited the barrel of her gun, traveled through the pane of glass in front of her, sped through the space between the two buildings and penetrated the adjacent pane of glass. Before either Kudo could turn to address the noise the bullet had already hit its target. But the conditions were wrong. Her eyes were so hazy and her hands were shaking; to make a perfect shot from so far away with all those contributing factors would be impossible...

A reader requested that i split the sub plot cut offs with lines to make reading less confusing, so there you are. I'm not usually one for ridiculous cliffhangers but this time, i couldn't resist. Think about it like this, i'm being true to Gosho's stpry design because you KNOW he would have used a cliffhanger like that just to piss everyone off. Don't be too mad though, I try to post every day so i won't leave you hanging for too long. Thanks for reading have a pleasant tomorrow