Instantly Seto came to attention. He set the kids down and whirled around, staring into the inky blackness outside. "Where?!" he demanded. "I don't see anyone!"
Mara peeked out cautiously. "They must've ran off!" she declared.
Seto dashed to the front door. "You kids stay in here with Velma and Anna," he ordered. "I'm going after whoever it was."
"Big brother!" Mokuba cried in horror, "You might get hurt!"
"I'll be alright, kid," Seto replied, ruffling his brother's hair affectionately. "But you two be careful in here. There's no telling where that creep might show up next. Since he got past the alarms outside, he might try coming in." With that, the teenager disappeared into the dark night outside.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Mara sniffled.
"Hey, my brother's the best!" Mokuba said confidently. Seto was his idol, and had been ever since the little boy could remember. But Mokuba knew that Seto wasn't invincible. The many terrible things the elder Kaiba had gone through in the past years attested to that, and the fact was, Mokuba was terrified that Seto would one day get into a predicament that he wouldn't be able to get out of.
****
Seto darted through the yard cautiously and paused behind one of the pine trees, listening. Faintly in the distance he could hear someone running through the snow and his eyes narrowed. Whoever was here had to be extremely desperate to be hanging around in this weather. There must be half a foot of powder on the ground by now!
As quietly as he could, Seto got down and moved stealthily through the snow, hiding behind the trees. He could hear that he was getting closer to the other person.
Suddenly a bullet tore through the air and went about an inch from Seto's head. The boy gasped, ducking down, and narrowly missed another shot fired at his heart. His eyes narrowed in anger and outrage and he fell forward into the snow, trying to avoid further shots. So whoever was out there knew he was there as well. And apparently they wanted to silence him for good. The mysterious caller hadn't been giving idle threats to Mokuba and Mara earlier that evening.
"I know you're here, Seto Kaiba," a strange voice growled. It sounded as if the person was using a device to disguise their voice. "And soon I'm gonna see the snow here stained red with your blood!"
"Not on your life," Seto growled in reply. "Who are you and why are you after me?!"
"You don't need to know who I am," the man told him, and Seto could hear the gun click. "But you're gettin' too close to the truth and I can't have that." He fired again, and Seto darted behind a nearby shrub. A bullet whistled past his ear, so close that he could feel it tousle his hair as it zipped by. Suddenly getting an idea, Seto cried out in apparent pain and collapsed motionless into the snow.
Silence reigned, then slowly the assassin crept closer and stared at Seto's body suspiciously. Then he kicked at the boy, and, not receiving a response of any kind, decided his work was finished. He turned around to flee before the cops arrived.
Seto sprang to life! Catching the hitman by complete surprise, he tackled him and brought him down into the snow.
"This must be your first assignment," Seto observed. "An experienced assassin wouldn't have fallen for such an old trick."
The man gulped, shaking in fear. His gun had gone flying out of his reach and now this teenage boy had the upper hand. But who was he? He had thought he was attacking the billionaire Seto Kaiba! Had he just tried to kill some kid instead?! "Please . . . please don't kill me!" he cried.
"Why not? You were going to kill me," Seto replied. He, of course, wouldn't have done such a thing, but he wanted to scare the hitman into revealing some information.
"I got a wife and kids back home," the man quavered. "It'd tear 'em up if anything happened to me!"
"Oh yeah?" Seto tightened his grip. "You know, I've got a little brother in there." He indicated the house. "I'm the only family he's got. I don't even want to think about what would happen to him if I was dead."
The man shuddered. "Oh, please, kid, I didn't wanna kill you. I thought you were Seto Kaiba!" he insisted.
Seto paused, blinking. "What are you talking about? I *am* Seto Kaiba!"
The man was horrified. "But . . . but . . . you're only a kid!"
Seto pulled the man to his feet. "What did you think I was?"
The man allowed himself to be pulled up, and he wrung his hands frantically. "I . . . I . . . thought you were older," he admitted. "I . . . I didn't realize how young you were until you tackled me, and then I figured I must've made a terrible mistake! I figured you couldn't be Seto Kaiba!"
"Oh, you made a mistake, alright," Seto agreed angrily. "Do you know how many years you can get for attempted murder?!"
The man's eyes went wide. "My family and I . . . we . . . we didn't have any money," he tried to explain. "We were bein' kicked out of our house 'cause we couldn't keep up the payments. I . . . I kinda dabble in bein' a career criminal to . . . to get some extra money, you know? Bank jobs, jewelry heists, that kinda stuff."
Seto wasn't impressed. "So then you got desperate and decided to become an assassin," he said in disgust. "You're the scum of the earth!"
"I'd . . . I'd never hurt a kid," the man insistently stammered.
"Oh, but killing someone older is okay?" Seto couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"N-no . . . that's not what I said!" the man protested.
Seto shook his head. "You revolt me!" he declared, dragging the hitman with him. "Come on. You're going to tell your story to the police."
"The police?!" the man cried. "No! No, my family can't find out about this! They . . . they don't know about my little sidejobs, and I sure as heck could never tell them somethin' like this!"
Seto's eyes narrowed. "You should've thought of that before you decided to become an assassin. You've gotta be even crazier than I thought if you think I'd let you off the hook for this." He paused. "But first, there's something I want you to tell me here and now. Who hired you?"
The man shook his head. "I . . . I don't know," he said.
"Tell me!" Seto growled, certain that the man was lying.
"Honest to Pete, I don't know," the man said again, more firmly this time. "We did business through one of his henchmen."
Seto raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And what did this henchman look like?"
The man paused, thinking. "He . . . he was all muscular and tough," he remembered, "and he . . . he walked with a limp."
Seto's eyes narrowed. That was the same man who had thrown him against the broken balcony! "How did you come into contact with him?" he demanded.
"I . . . I just walked into this dumpy cafe where lots of my kind hang out and mentioned that I was lookin' for work," the man told him shakily, "and then this guy came over and said 'I've got a job for you. Meet me here after the place closes.' When I met him, he told me his boss wanted me to off Seto Kaiba before he got too nosy."
"And that's it?" Seto didn't look convinced. "He just said that and you agreed to do it?"
The man paused. "Well . . . I was kinda hesitant at first, 'cause you know, I ain't a murderer or anything like that, but when he told me how much his boss'd pay . . ."
". . . You accepted," Seto finished, shaking his head. "You're sick."
"You've gotta understand, Mr. Kaiba, sir," the man pleaded. "I didn't know what to do. . . ."
Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "You said earlier how horrible your wife and kids would feel if anything happened to you. You never stopped to consider how they'd feel if they ever found out that you're a criminal and a would-be murderer, did you?!" He regarded the man coldly. "Things are never so bad that you have to stoop to murdering people to get money. That is outrageous and wicked. You're not even a civilized person."
The man looked ashamed for the first time since Seto had caught him. "You're right, Mr. Kaiba," he admitted, looking defeated.
"Now . . . are you going to come with me peacefully?" Seto held on to the man's arm fiercely.
"I . . . I don't know," the man replied slowly. "I . . ."
Before he could finish, a vicious knife tore through the air and stuck into a tree not half a foot away. Seto's eyes narrowed. "Apparently someone has discovered that you didn't do your job and they think you're letting the cat out of the bag. You'd better come with me if you want to stay alive."
The man gulped, obviously subdued. "Alright, Mr. Kaiba," he agreed at last, "I'll come with you. But please, sir, do we havta tell my wife?"
Seto looked hard at him. "Yes," he said firmly.
The man gasped suddenly and doubled over, falling against Seto and knocking him off-balance. "Huh? What the . . ." The boy was startled.
"Heart attack," the man choked out.
Seto was about to ask if this was some kind of a joke, but when the man collapsed on the pavement and lay clutching at his chest, Seto knew it wasn't. Quickly he pulled out his cell phone and called 911, then knelt next to the hitman. "The ambulance will be here shortly," he told him.
The man nodded shakily, his eyes glassy.
At that moment, the door flew open and Mokuba stood there, his eyes wide. "Seto!" he cried. "Seto, are you okay?? You've been gone so long . . . and we . . . we heard those gunshots. . . ." A tear fell from his eye.
Seto looked up. "Hey, it's alright, kid," he said comfortingly. "I'm fine." He paused. "But it's not safe for you to be out here, Mokuba. Go on back inside and I'll come in shortly. This man needs medical attention and I'm staying with him until the ambulance comes." He didn't want to say more than that.
Mokuba watched his brother, who was tending to a strange man on the ground, and nodded shakily. "Okay, Seto," he agreed hesitantly, disappearing back inside.
The paramedics arrived within five minutes and loaded the man onto a stretcher. He was still conscious and he looked at Seto. "The . . . the girl," he managed to say.
Seto stared at him. "What girl?!" he demanded.
"The . . . the one . . . in the . . . toy store. She . . . she's . . . in danger." The man's eyes closed and he fell unconscious.
Seto felt confused. Did he mean Tea . . . or Maureen? And how did he know about the toy store?? He obviously hadn't told everything he knew.
The man's family would need to be told what had happened, but Seto also realized that he didn't know the man's name. Quickly he spoke to one of the other paramedics, explaining the situation, then turned and went back inside.
Instantly he was bombarded again with hugs from Mokuba and Mara. "What happened out there, big brother??" Mokuba cried.
Seto paused. He didn't want to scare the kids, but he wasn't sure how to gloss over what had happened. "It's nothing you two need to worry about," he said finally, tousling both kids' hair.
He could see that Mokuba especially wasn't convinced. "Someone tried to hurt you, didn't they, big brother?" he sobbed.
There was no fooling his little brother, Seto thought ruefully. "Hey, they couldn't get the better of me," he said comfortingly. "But it must be almost three in the morning! You kids had better get to bed." He tried to sound stern.
"Aren't you gonna go to bed, too, Mr. Kaiba?" Mara asked.
Seto sighed. "I will, kid, but first I have to clear up some things." With that he disappeared into his computer room to try to unravel the mismatched clues.
****
Early the next morning, Yugi and the others met Tea at Toys, Etc. before the store opened and Joey told them what he had learned from Bobby and Annie.
"No way!" Tristan cried in disbelief. "The police were at Thorton's place?!"
"That's right," Joey nodded, happy to have some useful information to offer. "They must've thought he'd been up to somethin' crooked, and what's to say he wasn't?"
"I don't know," Tea sighed. "Are you sure he'd be smart enough?" She hated saying such a thing, but the fact was, Mr. Thorton was extremely high-strung and absent-minded and one could hardly think that he would have the brains to pull off a criminal act.
Joey shrugged. "Hey, he could just be pullin' an act," he suggested.
"It's possible," Yugi agreed. "We need to find out what the police were questioning him about."
Joey grinned triumphantly. "And I know just how we can! Remember my old friend on the police force?"
"Of course!" Bakura exclaimed excitedly. Then he paused, blinking worriedly. "But will she be allowed to tell us that information?"
"Hey, no prob," Joey said airily. "She and I go way back! She knows what a big help we've been on these recent mysteries. I'm sure she'd be only too happy to tell us everything!"
"I hope you're right, Joey," Tea sighed, cleaning off a shelf.
"Hey, Tea, where's Maureen?" Yugi asked suddenly, realizing that the dark-haired girl wasn't there.
Tea paused, blinking. "Oh . . . she said something to Mr. Thorton about wanting a day off," she replied.
"Eh, doesn't that strike you as kinda odd?" Joey said, scratching his head. "Why would she just pick up and decide she wants a day off?"
"Hey, you've gotta remember, things have been pretty stressful around here lately," Tristan said with a shrug.
"Yes, but Maureen's a hard worker," Joey pointed out. "She don't seem like the type to just up and skip out."
"You know, you're right, Joey," Yugi agreed, "but maybe she was just exhausted from all the excitement and needed a break."
Joey ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. . . . You're probably right, Yug."
"Well, anyway, we'll also need to talk with Mr. Thorton himself and Mr. Byrnes," Yugi reminded them. "It's going to be quite a full day!"
"You've got that right, Yug," Joey sighed. "Man, I was hopin' to relax!"
At that moment the phone rang. Tea stared at it. "We're not open yet," she observed. "It's too early for customers to call." Deciding it might be important, she lifted the receiver. "Hello, Toys, Etcetera," she greeted.
"Tea?"
She'd recognize that emotionless voice anywhere. "Kaiba!" Tea exclaimed in disbelief. "What's going on??"
"Tea, you're in danger," Seto told her grimly.
"Huh? What do you mean, Kaiba?" Tea demanded.
"I don't have time to explain," Seto replied.
"Kaiba, where are you??" Tea exclaimed.
"Never mind that," Seto said in his usual, cold tone. "But you need to be on your guard. You . . ."
Suddenly Tea heard a cry of pain and a dull crash. The line went dead.
Mara peeked out cautiously. "They must've ran off!" she declared.
Seto dashed to the front door. "You kids stay in here with Velma and Anna," he ordered. "I'm going after whoever it was."
"Big brother!" Mokuba cried in horror, "You might get hurt!"
"I'll be alright, kid," Seto replied, ruffling his brother's hair affectionately. "But you two be careful in here. There's no telling where that creep might show up next. Since he got past the alarms outside, he might try coming in." With that, the teenager disappeared into the dark night outside.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Mara sniffled.
"Hey, my brother's the best!" Mokuba said confidently. Seto was his idol, and had been ever since the little boy could remember. But Mokuba knew that Seto wasn't invincible. The many terrible things the elder Kaiba had gone through in the past years attested to that, and the fact was, Mokuba was terrified that Seto would one day get into a predicament that he wouldn't be able to get out of.
****
Seto darted through the yard cautiously and paused behind one of the pine trees, listening. Faintly in the distance he could hear someone running through the snow and his eyes narrowed. Whoever was here had to be extremely desperate to be hanging around in this weather. There must be half a foot of powder on the ground by now!
As quietly as he could, Seto got down and moved stealthily through the snow, hiding behind the trees. He could hear that he was getting closer to the other person.
Suddenly a bullet tore through the air and went about an inch from Seto's head. The boy gasped, ducking down, and narrowly missed another shot fired at his heart. His eyes narrowed in anger and outrage and he fell forward into the snow, trying to avoid further shots. So whoever was out there knew he was there as well. And apparently they wanted to silence him for good. The mysterious caller hadn't been giving idle threats to Mokuba and Mara earlier that evening.
"I know you're here, Seto Kaiba," a strange voice growled. It sounded as if the person was using a device to disguise their voice. "And soon I'm gonna see the snow here stained red with your blood!"
"Not on your life," Seto growled in reply. "Who are you and why are you after me?!"
"You don't need to know who I am," the man told him, and Seto could hear the gun click. "But you're gettin' too close to the truth and I can't have that." He fired again, and Seto darted behind a nearby shrub. A bullet whistled past his ear, so close that he could feel it tousle his hair as it zipped by. Suddenly getting an idea, Seto cried out in apparent pain and collapsed motionless into the snow.
Silence reigned, then slowly the assassin crept closer and stared at Seto's body suspiciously. Then he kicked at the boy, and, not receiving a response of any kind, decided his work was finished. He turned around to flee before the cops arrived.
Seto sprang to life! Catching the hitman by complete surprise, he tackled him and brought him down into the snow.
"This must be your first assignment," Seto observed. "An experienced assassin wouldn't have fallen for such an old trick."
The man gulped, shaking in fear. His gun had gone flying out of his reach and now this teenage boy had the upper hand. But who was he? He had thought he was attacking the billionaire Seto Kaiba! Had he just tried to kill some kid instead?! "Please . . . please don't kill me!" he cried.
"Why not? You were going to kill me," Seto replied. He, of course, wouldn't have done such a thing, but he wanted to scare the hitman into revealing some information.
"I got a wife and kids back home," the man quavered. "It'd tear 'em up if anything happened to me!"
"Oh yeah?" Seto tightened his grip. "You know, I've got a little brother in there." He indicated the house. "I'm the only family he's got. I don't even want to think about what would happen to him if I was dead."
The man shuddered. "Oh, please, kid, I didn't wanna kill you. I thought you were Seto Kaiba!" he insisted.
Seto paused, blinking. "What are you talking about? I *am* Seto Kaiba!"
The man was horrified. "But . . . but . . . you're only a kid!"
Seto pulled the man to his feet. "What did you think I was?"
The man allowed himself to be pulled up, and he wrung his hands frantically. "I . . . I . . . thought you were older," he admitted. "I . . . I didn't realize how young you were until you tackled me, and then I figured I must've made a terrible mistake! I figured you couldn't be Seto Kaiba!"
"Oh, you made a mistake, alright," Seto agreed angrily. "Do you know how many years you can get for attempted murder?!"
The man's eyes went wide. "My family and I . . . we . . . we didn't have any money," he tried to explain. "We were bein' kicked out of our house 'cause we couldn't keep up the payments. I . . . I kinda dabble in bein' a career criminal to . . . to get some extra money, you know? Bank jobs, jewelry heists, that kinda stuff."
Seto wasn't impressed. "So then you got desperate and decided to become an assassin," he said in disgust. "You're the scum of the earth!"
"I'd . . . I'd never hurt a kid," the man insistently stammered.
"Oh, but killing someone older is okay?" Seto couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"N-no . . . that's not what I said!" the man protested.
Seto shook his head. "You revolt me!" he declared, dragging the hitman with him. "Come on. You're going to tell your story to the police."
"The police?!" the man cried. "No! No, my family can't find out about this! They . . . they don't know about my little sidejobs, and I sure as heck could never tell them somethin' like this!"
Seto's eyes narrowed. "You should've thought of that before you decided to become an assassin. You've gotta be even crazier than I thought if you think I'd let you off the hook for this." He paused. "But first, there's something I want you to tell me here and now. Who hired you?"
The man shook his head. "I . . . I don't know," he said.
"Tell me!" Seto growled, certain that the man was lying.
"Honest to Pete, I don't know," the man said again, more firmly this time. "We did business through one of his henchmen."
Seto raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And what did this henchman look like?"
The man paused, thinking. "He . . . he was all muscular and tough," he remembered, "and he . . . he walked with a limp."
Seto's eyes narrowed. That was the same man who had thrown him against the broken balcony! "How did you come into contact with him?" he demanded.
"I . . . I just walked into this dumpy cafe where lots of my kind hang out and mentioned that I was lookin' for work," the man told him shakily, "and then this guy came over and said 'I've got a job for you. Meet me here after the place closes.' When I met him, he told me his boss wanted me to off Seto Kaiba before he got too nosy."
"And that's it?" Seto didn't look convinced. "He just said that and you agreed to do it?"
The man paused. "Well . . . I was kinda hesitant at first, 'cause you know, I ain't a murderer or anything like that, but when he told me how much his boss'd pay . . ."
". . . You accepted," Seto finished, shaking his head. "You're sick."
"You've gotta understand, Mr. Kaiba, sir," the man pleaded. "I didn't know what to do. . . ."
Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "You said earlier how horrible your wife and kids would feel if anything happened to you. You never stopped to consider how they'd feel if they ever found out that you're a criminal and a would-be murderer, did you?!" He regarded the man coldly. "Things are never so bad that you have to stoop to murdering people to get money. That is outrageous and wicked. You're not even a civilized person."
The man looked ashamed for the first time since Seto had caught him. "You're right, Mr. Kaiba," he admitted, looking defeated.
"Now . . . are you going to come with me peacefully?" Seto held on to the man's arm fiercely.
"I . . . I don't know," the man replied slowly. "I . . ."
Before he could finish, a vicious knife tore through the air and stuck into a tree not half a foot away. Seto's eyes narrowed. "Apparently someone has discovered that you didn't do your job and they think you're letting the cat out of the bag. You'd better come with me if you want to stay alive."
The man gulped, obviously subdued. "Alright, Mr. Kaiba," he agreed at last, "I'll come with you. But please, sir, do we havta tell my wife?"
Seto looked hard at him. "Yes," he said firmly.
The man gasped suddenly and doubled over, falling against Seto and knocking him off-balance. "Huh? What the . . ." The boy was startled.
"Heart attack," the man choked out.
Seto was about to ask if this was some kind of a joke, but when the man collapsed on the pavement and lay clutching at his chest, Seto knew it wasn't. Quickly he pulled out his cell phone and called 911, then knelt next to the hitman. "The ambulance will be here shortly," he told him.
The man nodded shakily, his eyes glassy.
At that moment, the door flew open and Mokuba stood there, his eyes wide. "Seto!" he cried. "Seto, are you okay?? You've been gone so long . . . and we . . . we heard those gunshots. . . ." A tear fell from his eye.
Seto looked up. "Hey, it's alright, kid," he said comfortingly. "I'm fine." He paused. "But it's not safe for you to be out here, Mokuba. Go on back inside and I'll come in shortly. This man needs medical attention and I'm staying with him until the ambulance comes." He didn't want to say more than that.
Mokuba watched his brother, who was tending to a strange man on the ground, and nodded shakily. "Okay, Seto," he agreed hesitantly, disappearing back inside.
The paramedics arrived within five minutes and loaded the man onto a stretcher. He was still conscious and he looked at Seto. "The . . . the girl," he managed to say.
Seto stared at him. "What girl?!" he demanded.
"The . . . the one . . . in the . . . toy store. She . . . she's . . . in danger." The man's eyes closed and he fell unconscious.
Seto felt confused. Did he mean Tea . . . or Maureen? And how did he know about the toy store?? He obviously hadn't told everything he knew.
The man's family would need to be told what had happened, but Seto also realized that he didn't know the man's name. Quickly he spoke to one of the other paramedics, explaining the situation, then turned and went back inside.
Instantly he was bombarded again with hugs from Mokuba and Mara. "What happened out there, big brother??" Mokuba cried.
Seto paused. He didn't want to scare the kids, but he wasn't sure how to gloss over what had happened. "It's nothing you two need to worry about," he said finally, tousling both kids' hair.
He could see that Mokuba especially wasn't convinced. "Someone tried to hurt you, didn't they, big brother?" he sobbed.
There was no fooling his little brother, Seto thought ruefully. "Hey, they couldn't get the better of me," he said comfortingly. "But it must be almost three in the morning! You kids had better get to bed." He tried to sound stern.
"Aren't you gonna go to bed, too, Mr. Kaiba?" Mara asked.
Seto sighed. "I will, kid, but first I have to clear up some things." With that he disappeared into his computer room to try to unravel the mismatched clues.
****
Early the next morning, Yugi and the others met Tea at Toys, Etc. before the store opened and Joey told them what he had learned from Bobby and Annie.
"No way!" Tristan cried in disbelief. "The police were at Thorton's place?!"
"That's right," Joey nodded, happy to have some useful information to offer. "They must've thought he'd been up to somethin' crooked, and what's to say he wasn't?"
"I don't know," Tea sighed. "Are you sure he'd be smart enough?" She hated saying such a thing, but the fact was, Mr. Thorton was extremely high-strung and absent-minded and one could hardly think that he would have the brains to pull off a criminal act.
Joey shrugged. "Hey, he could just be pullin' an act," he suggested.
"It's possible," Yugi agreed. "We need to find out what the police were questioning him about."
Joey grinned triumphantly. "And I know just how we can! Remember my old friend on the police force?"
"Of course!" Bakura exclaimed excitedly. Then he paused, blinking worriedly. "But will she be allowed to tell us that information?"
"Hey, no prob," Joey said airily. "She and I go way back! She knows what a big help we've been on these recent mysteries. I'm sure she'd be only too happy to tell us everything!"
"I hope you're right, Joey," Tea sighed, cleaning off a shelf.
"Hey, Tea, where's Maureen?" Yugi asked suddenly, realizing that the dark-haired girl wasn't there.
Tea paused, blinking. "Oh . . . she said something to Mr. Thorton about wanting a day off," she replied.
"Eh, doesn't that strike you as kinda odd?" Joey said, scratching his head. "Why would she just pick up and decide she wants a day off?"
"Hey, you've gotta remember, things have been pretty stressful around here lately," Tristan said with a shrug.
"Yes, but Maureen's a hard worker," Joey pointed out. "She don't seem like the type to just up and skip out."
"You know, you're right, Joey," Yugi agreed, "but maybe she was just exhausted from all the excitement and needed a break."
Joey ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. . . . You're probably right, Yug."
"Well, anyway, we'll also need to talk with Mr. Thorton himself and Mr. Byrnes," Yugi reminded them. "It's going to be quite a full day!"
"You've got that right, Yug," Joey sighed. "Man, I was hopin' to relax!"
At that moment the phone rang. Tea stared at it. "We're not open yet," she observed. "It's too early for customers to call." Deciding it might be important, she lifted the receiver. "Hello, Toys, Etcetera," she greeted.
"Tea?"
She'd recognize that emotionless voice anywhere. "Kaiba!" Tea exclaimed in disbelief. "What's going on??"
"Tea, you're in danger," Seto told her grimly.
"Huh? What do you mean, Kaiba?" Tea demanded.
"I don't have time to explain," Seto replied.
"Kaiba, where are you??" Tea exclaimed.
"Never mind that," Seto said in his usual, cold tone. "But you need to be on your guard. You . . ."
Suddenly Tea heard a cry of pain and a dull crash. The line went dead.