"Augh!" Heiji gasped as his eyes fluttered open. The instant he regained consciousness he was reminded of his reason for being unconscious in the first place by the unbearable soreness in his abdomen. He thrust his hands to his stomach, gripping himself tightly in an effort to somehow alleviate the pain. His agony was thrown to the wayside, however, when words of concern came pouring into his ears in a hushed, gentle tone
"Heiji? Heiji are you awake? Heiji!" Kazuha had fallen asleep sitting up in front of the couch while waiting for Heiji to awaken. She was, of course, jarred out of her slumber by a loud, masculine scream in her ear
"K-Kazuha? What happened, where are we?"
"We're at the Detective Agency. Ran-chan insisted we stay here at least for tonight" Heiji looked around the room, still in a daze. He opened his mouth to ask what had happened to him but stopped himself after answering his own question. 'That's right, the big guy knocked me out'. As he remembered the incident another burning question entered his mind
"Kazuha what happened to Kudo!" he solicited, leaping up to face her only to be halted by the pain in his gut
"Heiji don't move around too much that guy hit you really hard" Kazuha suggested with soft eyes, placing her hands on his soar midsection to sooth his pain as best she could. Heiji blushed momentarily at the contact before refocusing his thoughts
"Kazuha, what happened to Kudo?" he asked in a calmer voice
"He…we never even saw him. Right after you were knocked unconscious that creepy guy that talked to us in our cell before told him that if he wanted the rest of us to live he would have to surrender to them" Kazuha bit her lip as she retold the story. Heiji had nothing to say and simply remained silent. Once Kazuha regained her composure she continued "Everyone else is fine and Mouri-san already called the police and told them where to go. A bomb squad had to come here remove a C4 charge that was placed under our car" Heiji processed all of the information before responding
"So the police are there?" Kazuha nodded with hazy eyes
"Hai, but when they arrived the barn was already on fire and the ranch was empty" Heiji grimaced at the information
"Kudo told me about that; those guys employ a scorched earth theory. They'll burn down anything that can be used as evidence" Kazuha nodded
"We learned about that in history class. The Soviet Army used that against the Nazi invaders in World War Two." Heiji nodded back in agreement. They were both quiet for a few seconds after that comment until Kazuha spoke up again in a tone that housed still active fears about the situation they'd narrowly escaped "So…that was them, the people that made Kudo-kun…ya' know….small" Heiji's eyes widened and he literally jumped off of the couch and to his feet
"What are you talking who said something stupid like that" he yelled nervously. When he realized how insinuating his outburst was he started laughing conspicuously and scratching the back of his head
"Heiji its okay, we all know about it now" Heiji's demeanor changed into a deathly serious one as he lowered his hands and locked eyes with Kazuha
"Who told you?"
"Agasa did. When the police arrived they found him passed out in the driver seat of his Beetle. They found out he was suffering from a high fever and rushed him to the hospital. Mouri-san and Ran-chan went to see him while Eri-san stayed here with us" Heiji's eyes moved away from her and darted toward the ground as his hand grasped his chin contemplatively. He mulled over the new development for a couple of seconds before looking up at Kazuha again, this time with a more puzzled air
"Kazuha, how long have I been out?" Kazuha hesitated, finding it difficult to speak with Heiji intense stare boring holes in her eyes
"I um…four hours…."
As Ran sat outside Agasa's hospital room she felt a twinge of guilt because her thoughts were hardly on Agasa at all.
~Flashback~
"Mouri-kun, Ran-kun, what are you doing here?" Agasa asked, pleasantly surprised by the audience he had next to his bed
"We heard they found you passed out, we wanted to see if you were okay"
"Arigato, I feel a little better with you here" All three of them shared a smile. This warm atmosphere did not last too long however
"I need to ask you, why were you there at that abandoned barn in the first place?" Kogoro's face became a little more serious. Agasa opened his mouth to answer until a wave of terror washed over him and changed his countenance completely
"Ai-kun! Where's Ai-kun!" He asked frantically
"Hakase?" Ran looked confused as he bellowed out for the young girl. Agasa stared up at Ran who returned his gaze with a curious expression
"Agasa-san" Kogoro started ominously "you were alone when the police found you" Agasa's eyed widened in horror at the prospects of the statement
"Ai-kun…" he mumbled to himself somberly. Agasa appeared to become lost in his own thoughts until Ran readdressed him
"Hakase, you should know…" Ran pressed her eyes shut as a single tear ran down the right side of her face "Shinichi is missing. He never came back after we went into that place" Ran clenched her fist tightly in front of her chest while Kogoro wrapped an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. Agasa felt the sting of remorse as he imagined two of the important people in his life being hurt or worse… 'wait' Agasa thought with a sudden flash of clarity 'Shinichi and Ai-kun were both taken…by the same people…'
"Ran-kun!" Agasa exclaimed in an eccentric tone. Ran was caught off guard by the excitement in his voice and was almost infuriated by it
"What is it?" she asked with uncertainty
"I may know who has taken Ai-kun and Shinichi" Ran eyes widened with hope
"Tell us everything" Kogoro chimed in as the topic suddenly peaked his interest
"First, I have to tell you both something that may be difficult for you to hear…"
~End Flashback~
'Shinichi…' Ran thought somberly 'all this time…all this time you were so close to me. You were always near me, always….lying to me.' Her pessimistic thought pattern was cut off temporarily by a buzzing in her pocket. She lifted the phone from her pocket and checked the call I.D to see it was Kazuha
"Kazuha-chan?"
"Ran-chan! Heiji is awake, I told him everything. He said he needs to speak to Agasa urgently, is he awake?" Ran stood and walked to Agasa's hospital room door and peeked in through the small clear window that was around her eye level
"Hai, he is awake and speaking with Otosan. Should I give him the phone?"
"Hold on" Ran giggled as Kazuha screamed Heiji name, apparently startling him. He retorted with an ear shattering 'Aho' which drew a response from Eri who, due to lack of sleep, was slightly irritable. Ran couldn't help but laugh openly as her mother roared a command of silence at the two teenagers who promptly ceased their bickering
"Uh neechan'…c-could I speak to Agasa?" Heiji requested nervously, still seemingly shaken by Eri's unhinged outburst
"Hai hold on a sec" Ran strode into the room and handed Agasa the cell phone with a smile
"Ran-kun who is it?"
"It's Hattori-kun, he said he needed to speak with you urgently" Agasa's countenance took on a degree of seriousness as he accepted the mobile phone
"Hattori-kun…mhm…right…of course! You should be able to get into my house through the back door, go now and hurry!" Agasa clapped the phone shut and handed it back to Ran who was standing by with a inquisitive stare
"What happened?" Kogoro asked directly
"Hattori-kun is going to my house to get the tracking receiver I have for my specialized glasses. In the past Ai-kun has taken the glasses with her into various situations solely for that purpose. If she has the glasses, we can track their location" Kogoro nodded while Ran was on the verge of bursting at the seams. This was the most hopeful she had been since the moment she came to and realized Shinichi wasn't with her
"Kazuha I have to go I'll be back soon" Heiji stated curtly as he jogged toward the door. His progress was impeded however by an iron grip on his forearm. Heiji whipped his head around to find Kazuha almost in tears with a desperate look in her eye
"Heiji…" she stared, trying to maintain her composure but gradually failing "don't…don't leave me alone. You can't leave me…" her words were like daggers in his chest and he knew he wouldn't be able to say no. He slowly retracted his arm toward his body, drawing her closer to him in the process. Once she was close enough he took his free arm and wrapped it firmly around her torso
"Aho, you worry too much" he whispered with a gentle smile, one much more subdued than his usual arrogant grin.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Eri asked with an eyebrow raised and a confident smirk. Heiji and Kazuha both turned to face her as she rose from behind Kogoro's desk "Were you planning on running there?" Heiji smacked himself on the forehead forcefully
"Dammit that's right we rode the train to get here"
"Well it looks like I'll have to drive. Where are we going?" Kazuha shared in Eri's curiosity as she had been so worked with his leaving in general it had never occurred to her to inquire where it was he was going
"We're going to Agasa's"
It had been a long four hours for Yuusaku. He been torn about whether or not to call in his various law enforcement connections. After much meditation he concluded that this was not a time for pride and he called everyone he knew, from FBI to CIA to Interpol and even a few informants who were what some people considered spies. Every one of these conversations began the same way
"I'm not calling for assistance, only information" Despite their uncertainty, these men and women would trust Yuusaku at his word and oblige him with any data they had. His fax machine had been running almost non-stop. He had accumulated upwards of a hundred pages of files. These files were a stunning array of government documents, covert operation records and even some case files from international investigation, particularly those that involved Japan. While all of this information was helpful, his most valuable resource ended up being an old friend who had led a number of undercover operations in Japan that aimed to target and infiltrate the syndicate referred to as the Black Organization: James Black
~Flashback~
"James, it's been a while" Yuusaku greeted jovially
"Indeed it has. What can I do for you today?"
"It's about the organization you are currently tracking in Japan"
"I see. Well as you know it would be outside of protocol for me to-"
"James they killed Yukiko. I need your help" James was stunned by the news and sympathized deeply with his old friend
"Okay Yuusaku, what is it you need to know"
"Everything, I need to know where they are stationed, how well they are funded, if they have any weaknesses…" James was silent for a moment as he organized his answers
"Well as of now we only know of two bases. The reality is they probably have dozens of bases for operation all across the globe. The two we are away of are in Tokyo and Panay"
"Tokyo?"
"Yes. It seems they had been using an abandoned farm to house some of their monitoring operations"
"James what do you mean 'had'?"
"Approximately four hours ago the base in question was set on fire and abandoned. This is not uncommon with them; they are experts in the art of eliminating trace evidence"
"I see. So then this base in Panay, do have coordinates for it?" James was quiet on the other line for a moderate expanse of time
"Yuusaku, as your friend, I can't consent to you doing something as drastic as a one man invasion of such a high powered crime organization. From what our research says, the base in Panay is one of their largest due to the lack of government pressure in the Philippines."
"James any decision I make will be rational and well thought out, you know that." James heaved a sigh of defeat
"I'll…send you the exact location. But I'm warning you sincerely, this is too big for one man. We've been shadowing these people for years and they are a power beyond belief."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well they have managed to fund and maintain themselves for longer than I've been an agent in the FBI, not to mention the fact they plan, commit and cover up violent crimes on a daily basis that manage to go unsolved"
"No wonder it's taken Shinichi so long to take action against them…"
"The Organization moves like a fox, Yuusaku. They attack and leave gallons of blood in their wake, and yet, there's never a sign of them or their involvement. Please Yuusaku, consider what it is you're up against"
"I will, thank you for your concern, and thank you for your help"
"Listen, if I heard any word about you moving in on that base I will have agents standing by to assist you. I won't have you barging in their alone" Yuusaku grinned at the telephone
"Arigato, James-san"
~End Flashback~
Ever since that call Yuusaku had been hard at work, trying to submerse himself in as much material involving the crime syndicate as possible. Despite his most prominent logical objections his mid was already made up
'It has to be tonight'
My sincerest apologies, I was 23 minutes late in posting this so technically my streak is broken. No biggie though. In my defense a friend of mine just got a one month trial subscription to netflix so i watched a few movies today and lost track of time. Hey has anyone seen Frozen? that movie was pretty messed up. Well anyway hope you enjoy and keep reading and/or reviewing, i appreciate solid criticism so don't be afraid to point out my mistakes. And for the record, so off the names may be incorrect simply because I don't how certain characters refer to one another, like Kazuha and Eri or Kogoro and Agasa.