Grr! This thing keeps deleting my elipses and making me go through and add them again. Be gone, foul creature! I have not been able to type lately and my eyes are killing me from lack of sleep, so if there are mistakes, there are mistakes.
Man, Goemon needs a "Dr." in front of his name. "Dr. Goemon, Medicine Woman"
Chapter Fourteen
"So," Lupin said as he stood across from Goemon, who was now going through the photos. He poured out some pain pills into his hand and downed them with water.
Goemon stared expressionless at him. "Didn't you just take some of those an hour ago?"
Lupin shrugged. "It's not your body that's in pain," he said in annoyance. "When the phone signal was lost, was it lost suddenly?"
"It cut in and out a few times and then was gone. Why?"
"Okay, so we know the signal in that area is weak so it could be a lost signal. Or that her phone suddenly died. Or she was taken somewhere where the signal would be blocked."
"There are a couple of large buildings here," Goemon said, not really knowing what Lupin was talking about.
Lupin walked around to the back of Goemon and glanced over his shoulder. His eyes scanned the photos that were remaining, Goemon flipping slowly through each one. "Wait, wait, go back."
Goemon did as he was told and stared at the picture of the old dilapidated factory. "That would stop a signal?"
"No, but that would," Lupin said as he pointed to the gray cement building in the background.
"The old power plant," Goemon said. "But that's outside of the radius," he said, referring to the area that Lupin and Zenigata figured Melon was as they took into account the cell towers and where they could reach.
"It is, but..." Lupin grabbed his phone and called Zenigata. "It's worth a try."
"Yeah," Zenigata said as he answered his phone. He glanced over as Haijura stared at him and then started to walk away from the man.
"It's the old power plant," Lupin said.
"But we would have gotten a signal there."
"Look, maybe they found her phone and shut it off or smashed it or something. It's the only location in that area that would fit. Just go there, okay? Find them."
"Yeah, I'm leaving now." Zenigata pocketed his phone and ran out of the station.
Haijura stood and watched him, wondering what was going on.
...
Jigen was tied to a metal chair in the middle of a small room. Two men stood in front of him, both having fun taking turns punching his face.
They and their boss knew long ago that Jigen wouldn't talk, so they figured they'd have fun slowly beating him to death.
They were almost at that point, the loss of blood and shock to Jigen's body causing his heart to beat just a little slower, his breaths almost gasps as his body sought the oxygen it wasn't able to get.
"That's enough for now," one of the men said after the other man had punched Jigen hard in the ribs. "Besides, when his time comes, the boss wants to be the one to finish him off."
The other man laughed before he spit on Jigen.
"Let's go have some fun with the girl," the man laughed evilly.
The other man mimicked his laughter as they left the room Jigen was in and went to the room next door to it, wanting the two to be close so Jigen could here Melon's pain.
Jigen could only sit there, his head down as the blood from his nose, mouth and cuts on his face dripped into his lap. He was no longer able to block out the cries of pain from the inspector.
He wished he could stop it, but he knew he couldn't. Even if he lied to the men the both of them would just be killed once they found out the lead led them nowhere.
By staying silent it gave the both of them just that much more time should anybody find them, if anybody was even looking for them.
At that point he felt that anyone who cared had already marked them for dead and that the urgency was no longer there.
And so he stayed silent, enduring the pain that was brought upon him.
The screams from next door suddenly stopped, the place falling into silence. Jigen glanced up at the wall, then flinched as a single gunshot echoed the halls.
The two mens laughter was faint as they seemed to enjoy whatever it was they had done.
Jigen bowed his head, his body tensing with anger. It was only then did he reach his breaking point, tears falling from his eyes as he sobbed.
The two men smirked as they entered the room and stared at him.
"Aw, look, the baby is crying," one mocked.
"What's the matter," one asked as he knelt down in front of Jigen. "Did we kill your girlfriend?" He looked back at the other man, the two laughing.
A yell in the distance made them stop laughing.
"The cops?" one asked to the other.
"Who knows. Whoever it is, let's go kill them."
The other nodded happily and they both ran from the room.
"Inspector," Zenigata yelled as he made his way through the darkened rooms of the abandoned plant. "Jigen!"
He ducked down as a bullet struck the wall above him. Glancing around quickly, he found a place to use for cover and ran for it, ducking down behind a low dividing wall.
The bullets trailed him as he ran, a few flying over him while some struck the floor to his right.
"Where'd you go?" one of the men laughed.
"Nowhere to run," the other laughed.
Zenigata stayed quiet as he listened, hearing the two men walking around. He glanced over at an old book left behind and grabbed it. Moving to a kneel, he tossed the book over the wall and towards the hallway he had just come down.
The book fluttered through the air and landed with a dulled thud, the two men turning towards the noise and firing.
Zenigata raised up and took aim, hitting one of the men and aiming at the other when he was hit in the shoulder. He grunted in pain and ducked back down as the bullets continued to hit the wall.
The remaining man stood in anger and continued firing until his bullets were gone, nothing but a click sounding with every pull of the trigger.
Zenigata stood and aimed his gun at him. "Where are they?" he demanded to know.
"Haha, fuck you," the man answered as he pulled out a small device and pressed it.
Zenigata turned as a high pitched beep sounded behind him, a red light flashing next to a timer that was now turned on, the numbers counting down from five minutes. Next to the timer was a large block of explosives.
The man laughed and ran off.
"Shit!" Zenigata ran from the room, passing several other explosive devices as he got farther into the plant.
He ran from room to room, yelling out the names of those he was looking for, seeing his time running out whenever he passed by another timer.
He was beginning to wonder if this wasn't all just a trap when he heard a yelling coming from above him.
"Jigen," he yelled as he ran up the stairs to the second floor.
Another yell told him he was getting close.
He rushed to the area, following the yells until he got to the room they were coming from, standing in shock at the man sitting before him, a man who seemed to be covered in his own blood.
"Jigen," he yelled as he rushed towards him. "What the hell'd they do to you?" he asked as he untied him from the chair.
"No," Jigen wheezed. "Get... other room... she was... killed." He shook his head slowly as it was bowed.
Zenigata stared at him in shock and nodded, leaving and checking the room Jigen had motioned to. He threw the door open and stood in shock, Melon laying motionless on the floor. "No..." he muttered, walking slowly towards her as she laid in a pool of blood. "Inspector Melon," he said loudly as he knelt next to her. He saw she was still breathing, just barely, and picked her up. Carrying her out of the room he ran down the hall, passing the room Jigen was in. "I"ll be back for you, Jigen," he yelled as he ran by.
Zenigata ran by a timer as it was down to two minutes and he wondered if he even had time to get back. Never one to give up that easily, he knew he had to do it if it got him killed or not, as it was his duty to do so.
He stepped outside of the plant and ran to his car, setting Melon down by it and calling for an ambulance, letting them know that the plant was ready to explode any minute.
Not having the time or patience to keep talking to the operator he hung up on her and ran back into the plant, up to the second floor just as the timers hit thirty seconds.
He ran to the room Jigen was in and grabbed him, carrying him out into the hall and looking around. He ran down the opposite end of the hall and veered towards the outside of the building, glancing over as a timer he passed began counting down from ten seconds.
He caught sight of the sun shining through where a window used to be and ran towards it, grabbing Jigen tightly as he dove out the opening and started to fall to the ground.
As he fell the plant exploded, the blast shoving he and Jigen forward. Zenigata lost his grip on Jigen, both of them falling hard to the ground. As they laid there unconscious the sirens ringing out in the distance got louder.
...
Lupin and Goemon could only stare at the news coverage of the explosion. The reporter then mentioned that three people were found and taken to the hospital.
"Do you think they were inside when it exploded?" Goemon wondered as he glanced at Lupin.
With nothing else mentioned on the three victims Lupin could only shrug. "I hope not. Let's find out where they are so we can see them."
Goemon nodded and the two quickly left the apartment.
...
Fujiko snuck into the dorm room, wandering the small space and looking around. She spotted a desk on the far wall by the window and walked to it, opening and searching the drawers.
Noises outside the door made her pause and look back behind her, the noise continuing on down the hall and fading off.
Dumping the contents from the drawers on the floor and not finding anything, she moved on, eying the book shelf in the corner.
"Too many books," she said, eying the items in annoyance. Sighing, she began to grab each book and flip through them, holding them by their spine and shaking them roughly, hoping for something to fall out.
Nothing did, though.
The two most obvious places having no results Fujiko stood in the room and looked around. Her eyes stopped on something that seemed off, a large poster on the wall that was pinned close to the ceiling.
With enough wall space below it, it made no sense for someone to hang it so high.
She grabbed a chair and placed it under the poster, stepping up on the chair and taking the two top pins out of the poster and letting it fall.
A smile came to her face when an old heater grate was exposed. Removing the screws she removed the cover and felt inside, a look of disgust coming to her face as the vent was filled with dirt and dust.
She reached back farther, her fingers touching something small and hard. With one last lunge she reached farther in and grabbed the item, seeing that it was a small flash drive.
She looked down at the item in her hand and smiled. Her smile didn't last, though, as the door to the room opened and Ayame stood there staring at her.
"Hey," Ayame yelled out in shock. She looked around in panic and looked towards one of the campus police officers. "Officer! There's someone in my-" She grunted as she was shoved back, Fujiko running past her and down the hall.
"Stop," the officer yelled as he gave chase.
Fujiko pushed her way past students as she ran down the stairs to the first floor. Shoving the front doors of the building open she ran outside to the parking lot, jumping on her motorcycle and starting it. She glanced back as the officer, joined by another, left the building and ran towards her. She waved to them and revved the engine before speeding off.