"Good," Carmen acknowledged. "I have a few interesting cartridges, but I didn't figure I'd need most of them. I think I have a couple smoke bombs, a shockwave, and--ooh, a flashbang! But that's it."
"That'll have to do," Kid said.
They hit the roof. Kid lowered a small camera and scanned the interior of the restaurant. He noted the various patrons--of which there were a couple dozen at this time of day--and then they headed down the stairs, switching back to civilian clothes at the same time.
"I have been waiting for you," a voice hissed as they came out of the roof access door. The voice belonged to a woman Michael didn't recognize. "You are here for the exchange, no?" She looked around. "That table, over there," she said, pointing to an empty table near the window.
Kaito and Michael sat down cautiously.
"You weren't so foolish as to bring police, I hope," she said, glaring at them.
"No," Kaito said shortly.
"Good," the woman continued quietly. "I will warn you that we have snipers positioned on some of the surrounding skyscrapers. I have but to give the signal to have them put a bullet through your head."
"Understood," Kaito said tightly.
"About the girl. I will propose a prisoner exchange."
"I'm sorry?" Kaito looked as though he hadn't heard her quite right.
"There's someone we're looking for. This person." She slid a photograph across the table to Kaito. "You find her and tell us. When she is in our custody, your girlfriend will be released."
"I'm telling you, she's not my girlfriend," Kaito retorted. He picked up the photograph and studied it, then passed it to Michael.
Michael's poker face clicked on as he recognized the all too familiar face of Miyano Shiho. Underneath the photograph was written, "SHERRY", in a peculiar scrawling slant.
--
Michael forced himself to keep quiet. He handed the photograph back.
"Where can we find her?" Kaito asked.
"That's your job to find out," their contact said calmly. She placed the photograph back into her purse.
"So are we to go based entirely off of this photograph, then?" Kaito asked, frowning. "That could take months to search Tokyo alone."
"We are fairly certain she is still in the Tokyo area," she said flatly. "She went by the name of Miyano Shiho. That's all I can tell you."
Kaito scowled. "It may take a while."
"I expected that," the woman returned, standing up. "I will warn you, however, that we only have provisions for her for two weeks. After that..." she shrugged. "Have a nice day." With that, the woman disappeared into the crowd.
"Have a nice day, she says," Kaito grumbled.
Michael found a miniature transmitter and snapped it in half. "Persistent little critters."
Conan and Heiji rushed in through the elevator doors. They quickly spotted Kaito and Michael and hurried over.
"Too late," Michael said melancholically. He tossed the scraps of the bug on the table.
Heiji and Conan sat down. "What do you mean?"
"She's being held elsewhere," Kaito said. "The contact said--" He hesitated.
Michael frowned. "We really don't have a choice," he said quietly to Kaito. Turning to Conan, he added, "This is probably not the best place to do this."
"Agreed," Kaito said quickly. "Follow me." He led the way to the roof access stairwell.
The wind whistled through the structural supports of the Tower as Kaito looked out over Tokyo. "It's like this..." he said slowly. He turned.
Conan and Heiji blinked. "Kaitou Kid!?"
"Yes." Kid frowned. "I have a proposition to make. I'd like to propose that we work together towards a common goal--that being the defeat of the Organization."
"Hence the reluctance to include Hakuba," Carmen added. "He has barely even heard of the Organization, let alone been threatened by them."
"So you are the only one we felt comfortable working with," Kid said to Conan. "I'm taking a huge risk here and I'm hoping you'll be kind enough to extend to me the same favor I have extended to you."
Conan nodded slowly. "I see where you're coming from," he said slowly. "But I can't condone your actions."
Carmen grinned. "That's because you don't know the motive."
"Motive?" Heiji asked, looking at Kid.
"What?" Kid protested. "You thought I put my life on the line for fun?"
"Well, yes," Heiji admitted.
Kaito looked as though he were about to retort, but paused. "Well, that's only part of it," he conceded. "The biggest thing, though, is that I'm hunting the men who killed my father."
"Kuroba Toichi," Conan said.
"The magician? I thought he died in a stage accident," said Heiji, puzzled.
"That's what they set it up to look like," Kaito explained.
"Apparently the Organization was looking for a gemstone known as Pandora," Carmen explained. "They tried to recruit Kuroba-san, but he turned them down. In revenge, they orchestrated his death at one of his performances."
"That's the other thing," Kid added. "Pandora. It's a mythological gemstone which is supposed to 'cry' tears which, when drunk, will grant immortality. They wanted my father to find it and steal it for them."
Conan raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Somehow I can't imagine the Organization going after a fairy tale."
"Yes, well," Carmen said, "it's more than a fairy tale. Way more."
Conan stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"The Philosopher's Stone is real," Kid said quietly.