Vermouth looked at him calmly. "Is there a problem with that?"
"No," he said slowly. "Not at all."
Three burly guards appeared out of nowhere and pinned her arms to her sides. A fourth frisked her roughly, appropriating two handguns and an ammunition belt.
"What's going on?" she snapped, eyes flashing as she struggled against the grip of the guards.
Gin smiled, but it wasn't a cheerful smile. It was positively malevolent. "The game's up, Vermouth-san."
--
"/That person/ has betrayed us," Gin said, smashing his fist into the wooden table he was standing behind. It creaked in protest. "He has been working behind our backs to eliminate us from the picture once he had no use for us. And /she/ is his tool!" He pointed angrily at Vermouth, tied securely to a chair in the corner of the room.
"This is why I called you here," Gin said coldly, looking around the room at the Organization's upper echelon. "From now on, you will report directly to me. Take no orders from /that person/ or his subordinates. If you do, and I find out--" His eyes were like flint. "I will kill you myself."
"This is a coup, then," one of them observed.
"Yes," Gin said, glaring at him. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"No," the speaker said hastily. "I can't think of a better man for the job."
Gin let the comment slide. "Now--" he began, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.
A young man, one of the many hired guards in the building, poked his head in. "There's some folks at the door," he said, sounding worried. "They said to tell my boss that they brought Shiho."
Vermouth's eyes flickered for a moment, but she said nothing.
A cruel smile spread across Gin's face. "Bring them up," he said.
Kaito, Michael, and the woman called Miyano Shiho--in handcuffs-- were escorted roughly into the conference room. Michael's face gave away nothing as he looked around at all the people in the room.
"Sherry," Gin said slowly. "It's been a while."
"Not long enough," she snapped.
Gin cracked a smile. "Fiery to the end, hmm?" He whipped out his gun suddenly, aiming it at her head, and--
Michael twirled it nonchalantly on his finger. "We didn't bring her all this way to get her killed."
Gin scowled at him, then gestured at Vodka. He raised his pistol, only to have it bisected by a flying playing card.
"You can have your fun after we've left," Kaito snapped. "I don't particularly want to be witness to a bloody murder."
Gin frowned. "Very well. You!" he pointed at one of his guards. "Bring the hostage here. Now."
The guard hurried off and returned shortly, pushing Akako ahead of him.
"It's about time you showed up," Akako snorted at Kaito. "You certainly took your time about it."
"I couldn't help it," Kaito said cheerfully. "The FBI took forever to get ahold of."
/FBI?/ "Kill them," Gin snapped.
"I don't think so," said one of the guards in an Osakan accent. He peeled off his mask, revealing Hattori Heiji. Then, from somewhere--he only knew where--he whisked out a katana and took up a ready stance.
The other guard's mask came off too, revealing--to Gin's shock as he recognized him--Kudo Shinichi. He raised a 9-mm pistol.
Shiho's handcuffs slipped off and clattered to the floor, revealing her snub-nosed pocket pistol.
Akako disappeared somewhere, no one knew exactly where.
Kaito and Michael had already vanished, taking up strategic positions in the vicinity of the ceiling.
Almost simultaneously, the thunder of helicopter rotors filled the room as lights from below lit up the exterior of the building. The person closest to the window looked out, calling that the building was surrounded by cops.
"It's no use," Kudo said calmly. "We have you surrounded. If you drop your weapons and surrender now, you'll be much better off in the eyes of the law."
Several FBI agents burst into the room, brandishing P-90s, and ordered everyone to line up along the wall. Everyone hurried to obey, dropping their weapons as they went.
In the confusion, Michael noted that Gin had managed to disappear. Vermouth also had somehow slipped her bonds and was nowhere to be seen.
Then he realized that Shiho was gone too.
In a flash he and Kaito were out the door. "They'll have gone to the roof," Michael said, racing down the hallway. Kaito nodded and increased his speed.
"Stop," a voice ordered, with the sound of a pistol cocking for emphasis.
Kaito froze, turning slowly. The big man whose gun Kaito had bisected was pointing another one at him.
"Die!" he spat. Then he crumpled into a heap on the floor.
Michael was braced halfway up the doorway behind him, slipping the pistol he'd just knocked out Vodka with back into his jacket. "Not today," he said, hopping lightly over the sleeping form.
Kaito grinned and they headed back to the roof.