Chapter twelve
Private stalker
ooOO-OOoo


"Aaargh!" the Osakan teen let out frustrated. "There must be a way ta find Kudou without checkin' every single house in Chūō! We have two former members of this damn organization here and ya have no idea?"

Heiji hovered, totally unnerved, over a map of the Chūō district.

Ai and Akai had shared everything they knew, but apparently the organization changed their headquarters and laboratories frequently in order to cover their tracks. All places known by traitors like Sherry and Rye had been abandoned or destroyed immediately.

They had no lead.

They didn't even know if Shinichi was still alive, but they refused to give up on him.

Ran eventually fell asleep after a night with little rest and a day full of exhausting events. Agasa checked on her every now and then, to be there for her if needed.

Akai took out his cell phone. "I don't like to do this because it might bring even more complications, but I'll try to contact Kir. She is still in the Organization and might know something."

"Kir?" Heiji asked confused. He hadn't heard this codename before.

"She is an undercover-agent, but from the CIA," Akai explained. "She owes us one, because we brought her back into the Organization after her cover had almost been blown. The plan came mostly from Kudou-kun. It was the same one that sent me to the 'afterlife', so that I would be able to stay in Japan under a differente name and face."

Heiji tsk-ed, annoyed with his friends secretiveness. "Why is this ta first time I hear about this? That guy really keeps too much stuff ta himself."

Ai gave a short snort. "You know how he is, Hattori-kun. He protects people dear to him, if they like it or not. Congratulations - you fall into that category."

"Yeah - whatever," Heiji grumbled a bit embarrassed. "But is it really a good idea ta contact her? Won't we endanger her as well?"

"Of course," Akai nodded. "But I don't see how else we are supposed to find Kudou-kun in time. If she can't talk right now, she will call me back later."

'Hopefully not too late', hung unspoken between them.

Suddenly, a voice out of nowhere sounded through the room and startled everyone. "No need for these grave expressions." A puff of smoke revealed a white clad man leaning in a dark corner.

"What the...? K-Kaitou KID!?" Heiji stuttered, nearly tipping over with his chair as he jumped up. Akai and Jodie pointed their guns at him warily, recognizing the thief but unsure what to make of his entrance.

The phantom thief seemed completely unfazed by that, and performed an elegant deep bow. "At your service! I heard little Tantei-kun went missing and I'm here to lend you a hand."

Ai looked at him suspiciously. "What do you know about his disappearance and how did you find us here?"

"Ahh, little Neechan! Fancy meeting you again." KID tapped his hat and sent her his brightest smile, which was answered with an annoyed glance.

"To answer your question: I tried to elaborate a way for Tantei-kun to pay back his debts, so I happened to… observe him today."

"Ya mean ya stalked him," came the mumbled comment from Heiji, while the two FBI agents slowly relaxed as KID didn't seem to pose a threat to their little group.

KID looked at Heiji amused. "Protective, eh Tantei-han? Anyhow, finding you was no big deal. You know – I'm a magician!"

Heiji narrowed his eyes at the sight of the grinning thief. "Ya say magician, I still say stalker."

"Tantei-han! Please don't interrupt me all the time," KID chided, wagging his index finger. "To come back to business: Yes, I followed you since you've left the agency with Mouri-chan this morning. You really should work on your wariness," he said with a teasing smirk, making Heiji clench his teeth.

"And guess how surprised I was, when I learned that Tantei-kun is actually more of a Meitantei-san?"

Now Heiji looked like he was about to tackle KID.

KID raised his gloved hands in a defensive manner. "No reason to get so worked up about it. His secret is safe with me. I have no intention to harm my favorite critic. Quite the opposite. I can tell you where he is!"

"Ya know… Why didn't ya tell us sooner if ya were followin' us tha whole mornin', Aho!?" Heiji yelled, even angrier than before.

"Language, Tantei-han! I couldn't appear as Kaitou KID in the middle of a street, now could I?" KID answered dryly. "Also, you don't know my real identity, so would you have listened to me, a total stranger, if I'd just jumped in front of you and said 'Hey! I know where your little buddy is!'?" His questioning look was answered with a snort from Heiji.

KID just smirked. "Thought so. You would have seen me as a threat and Mouri-chan would have beaten me up with her scary karate kicks, thank you very much! My first intention was to inform Mouri-chan, so she could alert the police, but when I arrived, you were already on the way to the hospital, so I changed my plans after I heard what was really at stake."

Heiji calmed down a bit and grumbled, "May have a point there. So ya've followed Kudou and Bourbon before ya came ta tha agency?"

"That's correct. I saw his little accident on the tennis-court. There was this blond man, Bourbon, who'd tried to blow me up on that drat train. I'm sure Tantei-kun informed you about my modest part in this little ploy?" KID asked and Heiji nodded, gesturing at him to continue.

"I have been alerted and decided it would be best to have an eye on the upcoming events. After Tantei-kun got the 'all clear' from the doctor, I had a look at the neighborhood. After all, there was another reason for me to be in this area," KID grinned.

Ai rolled her eyes, "We really don't want to know about your night-job, KID."

"Ok, ok, I wouldn't have told you anyway." A typical KID-smile flashed over his face, before it returned to a rather unusual, serious expression. "After I finished, I got back to the house Tantei-kun was in, just to see how Bourbon carried him to a white car and sped off with him. Fortunately, I'd brought my hang-glider, but I can tell you - it was not easy to chase a car in bright daylight and stay unseen. They stopped in an industrial area and a few moments later I came close enough to see Bourbon, who was pointing a gun at Tantei-kun," the thief said grimly.

Everyone gasped and Heiji growled, "Has Kudou been hurt? What did that bastard do ta him?"

"I don't think he shot him. I've seen no blood, but he was unconscious and bound with duct tape when Bourbon put him in the trunk."

"Damn it!" Heiji slammed his fist on the table, making the others jump. He could not bear to hear how vulnerable his friend had been. 'He is just a child right now. There had been nothin' he could have held against an aimed organization member.'

KID looked at him sympatheticly. "Bourbon drove on until they reached a company building in Chūō. He parked in an underground parking lot, where I couldn't follow him with my glider. I wanted to go in, but I needed a disguise for that and it took me a little while, so I couldn't see where Tantei-kun was brought to."

"You've been inside a headquarters of the Black Organization, sneaking around and they did not shoot you?" Ai asked astonished.

"Indeed. Be assured, you will need more than just a good disguise to enter the actually interesting parts in that building. I have never seen so many guards, even though they are not recognizable as guards right away, and the security system is nothing you can buy on the regular market."

"That is no surprise, considering who we are talking about. Which company is it?" Akai asked. He had listened quietly to the story up till now.

"It is called 'Kurosake Pharmaceutical'. They have really big labs, what was to be expected. Besides; they also run a huge IT branch in the same building."

Akai looked over to Jodie. "What do we know about this company? Anything special or unusual?"

"I will check up on it," she answered and pulled a laptop out of her bag.

KID moved a bit in the corner. The shadows there made sure that most parts of his face remained hidden. The monocle reflected the bit of light that reached under the brim of his hat.

"I've spent the rest of the night in the building and tried to find Tantei-kun, but as I said before, I had no access to the high-security areas. I couldn't find him, so I am sure that he must be in these. At the end of the night, I'd been able to outline a ground plan for the different floors and departments."

Just in the blink of an eye, KID produced some papers out of thin air and they spread out on the table, while the thief still leant against the wall. "Overall, the building has twenty-three floors. We can narrow it down to the floors ten to fifteen - where the labs are placed – and sixteen to twenty. There is the IT branch. The lower floors are just regular offices or used by the staff. The three on top seem to be the boss's office and private rooms. If Tantei-kun is held captive on these floors, we need to come up with a really good plan. When the security for the rest of the building is extraordinary then this is like breaking into Fort Knox."

Akai studied the plans, frowning. "There is still a large number of floors left to search. We can't go in there when we don't know where exactly he is and what awaits us on the higher floors."

KID smirked. "That's correct. And that's why I will go back and have a closer look on everything."

"You can't do that! They will kill you as soon as they notice you. Do you want to die?" Ai yelled.

Heiji looked at him thoughtfully. "Why are you willing to take such a high risk? 'Conan-kun' just attended some of your heists and you barely know Kudou."

The thief nodded. "I think it is fair enough when I tell you one of KID's secrets. I am chased as well. Not by the police task force, they are always fun to play with." He sounded mischievous, but just for a second. "I'm talking about someone deadly. They tried to shoot me out of the sky a few times, but fortunately their snipers a not the best and Lady Luck favors me. There seem to be some parallels to the organization that is after Tantei-kun. By helping you to find him and maybe even bring down your enemies, I hope to find a way to resolve my own little problem as well."

"Officially, I can't agree with that. After all, you are a civilian – thief or not." Akai gave KID an intense, serious look. "But as it is now, the FBI is not officially operating in Japan and I doubt you would follow my instruction to stay out of it anyway."

The thief chuckled a bit. "Touché – you know me well."

Heiji had listened long enough. "Okay, enough of the chit-chat! We have ta make a plan!"

KID grinned. "A really good plan!"


A/N: Kaitou KID appears! I know that there are different opinions about his actions in DC, but when he is good enough for Aoyama-sensei to attend in the Mystery-Train, who am I to kick him out of my story (and psst... I'm a fan-girl *gg*) Finally, I've gathered all my characters in the safe house, so you know what that means for the next chapter! ;D