"Because cell phones communicate with radio waves," Aisha explained patiently. "I can read texts because they get converted into binary by the phone's computer. The call doesn't. And even those I have to access through the service provider; I can't directly talk to the phone."

Detective Murai frowned and turned to Misaki. "I'm not sure I like this. What's the use of even having her along? She might not be telling the full truth about her power."

Misaki straightened in her chair at the long conference table. Murai was tall and lanky, and a few years older than her; she didn't like feeling like she was being looked down on. Both Murai and Tou had voiced their complaints about Aisha's inclusion more than once; Misaki was getting tired of having to exert her authority. "It's in her best interest to cooperate with us," she said, striving for the endless patience that the contractor was displaying and knowing that she was failing. "Aisha can monitor the account for texts or other activity; all your equipment can do is tap any calls that he happens to make. And I want her on site in case we get a chance to move on the warehouse." That was unlikely, Misaki knew, but she could hope.

She'd set up an unofficial headquarters in the hotel's smaller conference room. It was closer to the rendezvous site than police headquarters, and she wanted to keep Aisha's presence as out-of-sight as possible. While Misaki, Murai, and Tou hashed out the operation plan, Kouno and Aisha continued to try and track down leads on the handler's identity through the phone logs.

The details of the operation had turned out to be more complicated than she would have thought. She had three goals for tonight: first, to identify and arrest Tou's handler. That could likely give them the key piece of evidence that they needed to confirm the location of the subservers and move on the warehouse. Second, she wanted Abo. The fact that he was here in Sapporo spoke to his particular utility for the Syndicate, much like Hei's role had been. He obviously wasn't simply just a contractor of convenience; whoever was still pulling the strings was relying on him quite heavily, and Misaki was afraid of what other damage he might do.

Third, and most importantly, she had keep her - and by extension Murai's - team safe.

"I was partnered once with a contractor who could read radio waves," Aisha commented offhandedly as she returned to staring at her computer screen at the other end of the table. "Between the two of us we could read anything on anyone's phone; it was a perfect setup."

"Why'd you stop working with him then?" Kouno asked.

"He exploded."

Kouno ran a hand down his face. "Why did I have to ask?" he muttered.

Murai had gone a little green in the face as well. "Director, are you -"

"Aisha stays in the van with you and me and the technician," Misaki said firmly. "She's part of this investigation, and she's part of my team."

The detective nodded reluctantly. "Alright, Director. It's your call."

Damn right it is, Misaki thought as they returned to the map of the neighborhood where Tou would be meeting with her handler.

For once, the rendezvous wasn't set in some secluded or industrial part of town, but rather in a popular bar off the busy Soseigawa Dori. Normally that would have worried Misaki - too high a possibility for collateral damage if something went wrong, and it would be challenging to pick up any phone calls that might be made with so much surrounding interference. Tonight, however, it should work in their favor: Abo would have a tricky time navigating a crowded space while invisible, and Kouno and Murai's two men would blend in easily.

"If you have to run," Misaki told Tou, "try and head north on Soseigawa Dori." It was a divided avenue; between the two sets of lanes were long ramps leading up from and down into an underground bypass. A narrow strip of park was sunken between the two ramps, separated from them by tall concrete walls. The entrance ramp was directly across the southbound lanes from the bar. "If you can get down to the tunnel entrance, we can trap anyone who might follow."

Murai nodded. "We'll be in the van, parked in front of the construction site on the other side of the divide. I'll station units here, here, and here. And access door thirteen -" he pointed to the schematic of the tunnel that was lying next to the map "- will be open."

"But we may lose your radio signal once you go underground," Misaki added. "So be careful. Don't hesitate to run if you have to, but bear in mind that we need to keep communication open for as long as possible. Ideally, no one will need to leave the bar."

She sighed to herself. It was too bad Sapporo didn't have a doll network like Tokyo's. There had been talk of expanding the network into other cities a year or so ago, but Kanami had been throwing her full weight as Chief of Astronomics against every mention of the idea ever since her revelation that Eunice and a couple of her other mediums were at some level regaining their sentience. While Misaki completely agreed with her in principle, she couldn't deny that the network was invaluable to protecting the city and its citizens. It would have been perfect for keeping an eye on the tunnel's interior.

"If I have to run," Tou said stiffly. "I'll be armed, too."

"You can't shoot what you can't see," Misaki reminded her. "And if I get the alert that Abo's star has activated, it may mean I'm calling off the mission. I expect you to comply with such an order."

The officer pursed her lips. "Of course."

Misaki studied her, not quite sure that she believed those words. In the past couple of hours, Tou had gone from defensive over her decision to work for the Syndicate to an almost vindictive drive to take them down. Misaki wished that Aisha hadn't made that comment about the car accident; she needed Tou to be thinking rationally, not vengefully.

Before she could say anything, though, Murai's phone rang.

"Yes?" he answered. "Hang on." He held the phone out to Tou. "Haga just met your son outside his cram school. He says he won't get in the car until he talks to you first."

Tou nodded sharply, pride in her eyes, and took the phone. "Renji. Yes, go with Officer Haga. He'll take you to the Sapporo Grand; I'm already here. That was very smart of you to ask to speak to me - I'll see you soon." She ended the call and handed the phone back to Murai. "He's such a good boy," she said.

"I'm sure he is," Misaki said offhandedly. She didn't anticipate that the Syndicate would go after the woman's son - that would only be useful if they needed leverage over her, and Misaki was pretty sure that in their view, either Tou didn't know enough to be a threat and would therefore be left alone, or was too much of a liability and therefore on their hit list. There would be no point in harming the boy. But she couldn't in good conscience deny Tou the comfort of knowing that her son was safe.

She was just glad that the kid would be staying at the hotel headquarters with a couple of officers, and she therefore wouldn't be involved in the babysitting.

"Any activity around the warehouses?" she asked Murai.

The detective shook his head. "Nothing reported. You're sure the contractor can't slip past using his power?"

"Of course he can - but there's been no activity from his star since he gave us the slip at the airport. Wherever he is, he's still visible."

"I guess that's good news."

"It is good news. Even better news would be if he doesn't use his power at all tonight." She stared down at the map, deep in thought, and her stomach gave a sudden, loud rumble. Everyone around the table except for Aisha politely ignored the sound.

"There's still some of that fried rice left if you're hungry, Acting Director," the contractor said. "It's not healthy to let your blood sugar drop, especially not right before a mission."

Misaki tried to brush off the comment. "Maybe later." Kouno had picked up the Chinese takeout for their dinner a couple of hours ago; Misaki had tried to eat, but all of the options had some sort of fried component that had turned her stomach and she'd been unable to finish. Now it was sitting on the table, stone cold and even less appetizing.

The contractor shrugged and muttered something to herself that sounded like irrational.

"Can someone put on another pot of coffee?" Misaki asked the room at large, ignoring Aisha. She'd been managing to get through her usual days without a caffeine fix, but a stakeout called for wide-awake alertness and tea just wouldn't cut it. A couple of cups wouldn't hurt.

"Hey Chief," Kouno spoke up after an awkward cough, during which one of Murai's subordinates started another pot brewing. "That name you asked me to check - Kuno Kiyoshi? You were right, this guy made a number of calls to a phone belonging to him. Goes back several years."

Misaki's blood froze in her veins. "Anything else?"

"Not on our guy. Aisha looked up Kuno, though - he used to be a detective at central HQ, but quit when his partner was killed by a contractor. No idea what he did after that, but on the night of the Tokyo Explosion, a car registered to him was caught in an explosion not far from the Gate. The driver and several heavily armed but unidentified people were killed. Sounds like something to do with the Syndicate, huh?"

She hadn't tried to locate Huang after the Syndicate's plan failed - he was a former cop after all. Either he'd be on the run just like Hei, or he would go to his old friends in the police for protection on his own; and she would've heard about it if he had. The news of his death shouldn't have been surprising, yet it was. She wondered if Hei knew, and hoped that he didn't.

"He was BK-201's handler," she told Kouno, trying to sound disinterested. "It sounds like he'd turned on the Syndicate as well - or at least, they turned on him. Hourai told me that steps had been taken to eliminate Hei's whole team."

This man, their mystery handler, was almost definitely the one who'd taken the photos, then. Misaki's stomach twisted, and she was glad that she hadn't tried to eat more of the fried food.

They continued to rehash the details of the operation, although at this point, with only an hour to go until they had to be set up, it was too late to make any major changes to the plan. Aisha eventually shut her laptop with a snap, declaring that she needed a break if she was going to be of any use later on. Pulling a rolled magazine out of her back pocket, she settled into her chair, knees propped against the table, and flipped through the pages. Tou cast her an offended glance, but didn't comment.

Misaki, for her part, sat staring at the map and schematics, trying to keep her mind focused on the job at hand and not on what she would do if they were lucky enough to catch the man who had potentially incriminating evidence on her and her…situation. She downed two more cups of coffee, more because it was keeping her from getting too hungry than because she needed the caffeine.

Although she did need the caffeine.

"What's so interesting about those magazines, anyway?" Kouno commented with a long yawn before taking a swallow from his own coffee cup. "It's housekeeping for housewives. You're not a housewife."

The contractor shrugged but didn't look up. "I'm looking at pictures of adultery."

Kouno spit his coffee out and the entire room turned to stare at Aisha. "Um, what?" Kouno asked.

Aisha flipped over the magazine to show a colorful photo full of various garden wind chimes. "Furin," she said in her heavily-accented Japanese.

"Uh…I think you mean fuurin."

"That's what I said."

"No, you definitely said -"

They continued to bicker. It was no different than Kouno and Saitou's usual constant stream of disagreements on a stakeout; Aisha was fitting right in, Misaki thought ruefully.

Worse, it reminded her suddenly and starkly of Hei. He was fluent enough in Japanese that she frequently forgot that it wasn't his native language, but small things occasionally tripped him up - especially when he was tired.

She remembered one night in particular. He'd arrived at her place just after she'd gone to bed; a little after midnight. Dropping his coat and knives on the floor next to the bed, he'd collapsed onto the mattress fully dressed.

Misaki rolled over sleepily to see his face pressed into the pillow. "There's still some leftover Korean food in the fridge if you're hungry," she said.

"Not hungry." He sounded utterly exhausted, as if even speech was too much effort.

"Long day?" she murmured, reaching over to stroke the back of his neck. His muscles were tensed and knotted beneath her hand. If she concentrated on that, she didn't have to think about what he had been doing to tire himself out so much or what kind of report would be waiting on her desk in the morning.

"Mm," was his only response.

Misaki smiled softly to herself, and sat up so that she could dig both of her thumbs between his shoulder blades. Hei made a little sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a groan that set a warm flame in her heart. He was a quiet dinner companion, a quiet conversationalist, and even a quiet lover; she loved being able draw out any kind of sound from him. She gently kneaded the muscles through the thin fabric of his shirt at the base of his neck, her hair falling in a curtain over her shoulder to brush his cheek.

"Lower," he murmured into the pillow.

She slid her hands down an inch or two; the muscles of his back were even tighter than his neck had been. "How's this?"

He groaned again. "Mm, kimchi."

Misaki paused in confusion. "What?"

"Kimchi," Hei repeated muzzily. "Don't stop."

"Kimchi? Are you hungry?"

He turned his head to look back at her in confusion. "What?"

"Why are you talking about Korean cabbage?"

He blinked. "Cabbage? I said it feels good, then you stopped…"

"You..." Misaki bit her lip in sudden understanding, struggling not to laugh. "Kimochii? That's not what you said - you said kimuchi."

"Yes?" he said, obviously not hearing the difference between the two words.

At the look of his sleepy confusion she couldn't hold back her laughter any longer. She thought she saw the corners of his mouth turn up slightly, though he was still clearly bemused, and she kissed his cheek before digging her thumbs into the knot of muscle again.

"Hm," he said.

"What?"

"I am a little hungry now."

Misaki pressed her face against his shoulder and laughed.

"Mom?" The door to the conference room banged open, startling Misaki out of her daydream. She looked up to see a gangly preteen boy with glasses rush into the room and make a beeline for Tou. Two uniformed officers trailed in after him.

Tou stood, her cool, professional demeanor melting away at the sight of her son. "Renji, honey, calm down; nothing's wrong."

The boy threw himself into her arms. "Why were there officers at my school - why can't I go home?"

"I need you to stay here while I help Director Kirihara with a case," Tou said, patting her son's hair soothingly. "You can work on your assignments for cram school while you wait for me."

Renji cast Misaki a mistrustful stare. "Is something going on?" he asked. "Is my mom in trouble?"

Misaki blinked in surprise; the boy was quick on the uptake. "No," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring voice. "Your mom's not in trouble. We'd just like you to wait here while she helps us out with a mission."

"You're that police officer from the news, aren't you? The one who says contractors are just like normal humans, even though they kill people - are there contractors in Sapporo?"

"Renji!" Tou chided, "That's enough asking questions. Get your books out and start on your homework."

The boy continued to regard Misaki balefully, but he did as his mother told him. He began to sit in the vacant seat next to Aisha, but Tou silently guided him to another spot across the table. The contractor never looked up from her magazine.

Detective Murai's phone buzzed, breaking the awkward silence that had followed Renji's questions. "The van is in position," he said, checking the screen. "Techs are setting up the equipment. Time to head out."

Misaki checked her watch. There were still two hours to go until the designated rendezvous, but early was better than on time in a stakeout.

"Who's on snack duty?" Kouno asked as he shut down his laptop and stuffed it into a backpack. "That's usually Saitou's job."

"I'll go," Misaki said abruptly. That way she could be guaranteed to get something that she could eat; and that recollection had left her with a lingering melancholy. She could use some time alone, even if it was only for a short time.

~~~~o~~~~

Her solitude, however, only lasted as far as the hotel lobby, where she ran into Kaede. He was checking out, having been called back to Tokyo on Intelligence business and insisted that she shouldn't walk alone to the store so late in the evening. Since it was on the way to the train station, Misaki couldn't gracefully decline.

"I don't see why you don't want to pick up real food," Kaede complained as they hurried across a busy intersection.

"This is real food. It's the best thing for a stakeout. And since you're not part of this stakeout, you're opinion doesn't really matter."

Truthfully, Misaki had been craving meat buns and bottled milk for hours now; she blamed Saitou. Ever since her subordinate had brought the cheap food to their watch on the American Embassy, that was the only thing that her stomach wanted during late-night police work.

Then again, maybe it was just the pregnancy talking. In which case it was Hei's fault.

"You should go easy on the convenience store food," Kaede said. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like you've put on a little weight in the last few weeks."

Misaki stopped dead in her tracks and gave him a cold look to mask her embarrassment. "Exactly how am I supposed to take that?" She'd finally caved and bought a larger pair of suit pants just a few days ago.

"I think the stress is starting to get to you, that's all. Come on, you've never been sensitive about this sort of thing before. I only say this because we've known each other so long; but you need to be more careful about your image."

"My image? What does that mean?"

"You're in the public eye now; you can't let them see how frazzled you are."

"My stress levels and food choices aren't your concern," she snapped. as she pushed open the door to the convenience store ahead of him. She'd been having to be extra careful with her makeup to mask her chronic fatigue, but on the whole she thought that she'd been handling it well. Apparently she was wrong. "Don't you have juice to buy?"

Kaede shook his head in defeat and wandered over to the refrigerated drinks section, while Misaki continued on to the prepackaged foods after stopping to grab a basket.

She tossed in half a dozen buns for herself, then started selecting a few other items at random for the rest of the team. Kouno would want some of those gummy fish; she had no idea what Aisha liked. Or Murai, for that matter.

If Kaede was noticing her weight gain, doubtless others would be soon; maybe already had. She scowled to herself. It wasn't like she was even showing yet! In just another month or two it would be all too obvious, and she still had no plan for how she would tell her team - or what she would tell them. And if they did manage to arrest Tou's handler, and he was indeed the man who had photographed her and Hei that night, she would be revealed as the biggest hypocrite the NPA had ever employed. Everything that she'd worked for would gone in an instant.

"Misaki? Is that you?"

The voice snapped her back to the present, and she glanced over at the woman who'd come up to stand beside her. The very, very pregnant woman, wearing a roomy house dress and slip on shoes. Misaki didn't know her at first, but after a long moment, recognition dawned.

"Yuri!" she said in surprise. "Um, how are you?" She really had no desire to make small talk with an old college friend - the ex-girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend, no less, but Yuri answered before she could politely excuse herself.

"Great," the other woman smiled and patted her stomach. "My husband's working late tonight, but I desperately needed some gelato!" She laughed; Misaki smiled half-heartedly. Was she ever going to get that…large? Intellectually she knew that she would; she just couldn't imagine it, at all.

"How about you?" Yuri continued. "You look…great." Her eyes had landed on Misaki's midsection; Misaki resisted the urge to belt her jacket in an attempt to hide her waist. "I would never have expected you and Kaede to get back together…"

"Oh, we're not together," Misaki said hurriedly; Yuri must have seen them come into the store. "We're here for work. And he's leaving tonight."

The other woman's eyes flicked down again, and Misaki abruptly realized the reason for her confusion. "Wait, you think Kaede - oh god, no!"

Yuri burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, your expression - you look so horrified! So when did you get married?"

"I'm not married, actually," she said, and Yuri had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to imply…" She coughed awkwardly. "Can I - can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Misaki said grudgingly; she had a feeling she knew what was coming.

Yumi placed a protective hand over her belly. "I've just been so worried, ever since the news about contractors came out - but I was already pregnant by then. If I'd known before…I don't know, it just doesn't seem like the kind of world to bring a new life into. Are you afraid, at all? In your situation?"

Yep, that was the question. Misaki shrugged. "I've known about contractors from the beginning. The world really isn't that different, for me."

"The news pamphlets say that people aren't born contractors - is that true?"

"As far we know, yes. I don't think you have anything to be worried about." After all, if contractors could be born, the risk was probably higher if a parent was one as well. Yuri's child, at least, wouldn't have that risk.

"What about your - um, I mean…sometimes I think my husband is more worried than I am."

"My boyfriend works overseas," Misaki said. "I haven't had a chance to talk to him about…things."

"Your imaginary boyfriend, you mean," Kaede commented from behind her.

Misaki felt her cheeks redden. "Yes, my imaginary boyfriend," she said, praying that that was all of the conversation he'd overheard.

"Hello, Yuri," Kaede addressed his former girlfriend. "You've been busy, I see."

Yuri arched an eyebrow. "I don't believe this conversation involves you in any way."

"I need to go pay for these," Misaki said as Kaede opened his mouth to retort. "I have work to do. Kaede, don't you have a train to catch? Yuri, it was good to see you."

Without waiting for an answer from either of them, Misaki turned on her heel and headed to the cash register. She didn't have the luxury of worrying about what would happen five months from now, or even five days from now. Focus on the job, she told herself. That's what matters right now; everything else is just a distraction.