Chapter 5

Conan peered out through the slits in the closet door. The handle rattled visibly. He waited silently to see what the person would do, and jumped as an abrupt, high-pitched sound briefly pierced the silence of the apartment. Silencers. Christ, they meant business. Beside him, Ai breathed heavily, her eyes wide as she peered out the closet and into the foyer of her apartment at the tall man dressed all in black that had entered. His eyes were covered with thick, dark sunglasses and he had a black hat pulled down low over his forehead. They watched as he moved his head about, taking in the appearance of the seemingly-empty apartment. The gun he had shot the lock off with was dangling from his left hand.

"Come on out, Shiho," he murmured, walking into the apartment. "I know you're here." Conan felt Ai take his hand and he squeezed it reassuringly. The plan would work. It had to. "The boss is highly disappointed in you," he continued, stepping around the room. He poked his gun behind the curtains lining the large single window/door leading out to the balcony. "If you come quietly, I won't kill you right away." He chuckled to himself and the young detective rolled his eyes. He hated criminals with a sense of humor, or lack thereof, in this case.

The man slipped into the kitchen area, just as Conan had anticipated. If he didn't hurry, he would discover the other's hiding place. Conan opened the closet door as quietly as he could and led Ai toward the center of the room, laying his skateboard on the ground. He shifted it as quietly as it could, and when he got it where he wanted it, he leaned down and adjusted the dial on his super sneakers (Conan thought briefly to thank Dr. Agasa for all these inventions when he saw him again…if he saw him again). He planted one foot on the floor and nodded at Ai, and she lay the soccer ball in front of him. Conan reared back and kicked it as hard as he could, then jumped onto the skateboard and pulled Ai on behind him as the glass door to the balcony shattered into tiny pieces.

"What the hell—?" the man cried from somewhere in the back of the kitchen and Conan quickly brought his foot up, turning the sneakers to their highest setting. Then he kicked off of the ground and they sped toward the newly-made exit. The man ran into the living room area as they zoomed past him and Ai smiled at him, giving him the middle finger as they blasted out of the apartment. Conan touched the concrete balcony with the toe of his shoe and they were projected into the air by the strength of his enhanced push-off. They cleared the balcony railing and the street down below, landing on the roof of the building across from it. Conan stopped and looked back. The man was on the balcony, just standing there wondering how in the hell two kids had cleared the railing and the gap on a skateboard. Then he shook his head and looked at the two on the opposite building and lifted his silenced pistol. He saw them. Conan faced forward and kicked off the ground with his super sneakers again, launching them across the roof and on to the one beside it. He hit the point of it, held out his arms for balance, and grinded his skateboard along the line of the angled roof, landing soundly on the next one (which was mercifully flat) and sped away. He smirked as he imagined the confused, blank face of the man in black. Then he returned his attention to roof-hopping. Ai clung to his waist as he reached up and vaulted them up onto a higher roof with one hand, wobbling as he adjusted to accommodate her extra and inexperienced weight. After another two roofs, they reached the gap which signified another street. Conan was in no mood to jump this one, and he didn't think Ai would hang on a second time, so he rode on the line of the rooftop on two wheels, the nose of his board pointing up as he made the sharp turn. His eyes measured the distance to the ground, and he tried to find some way to get at least five feet closer to the ground; at this height, if he tried to get down, the board would snap with their combined weight. Conan spotted the metal-covered telephone wire extending from the rooftop of the next building down to the fusebox on the pole near the bottom.

"Hang on to me!" he called back and hopped onto the slightly lower roof, then skipped the board up, letting the flat bottom strike the metal covering and skid down. He cringed at the sound his board was making but it was necessary. He jumped the couple of feet to the sidewalk, surprising a few people who had been walking along, and pushed off with his powered sneakers again, zooming down the street toward Agasa's house. With the best of luck, they could only guess where he was going, and assume he had hidden her in his own house and not in his friend's.

Back inside the apartment, hushed voices came from inside the bedroom.

"Do you think it's safe?" Ayumi whimpered.

"I haven't heard anyone moving around for a while," Mitsuhiko assured.

"The guy with the gun is probably gone now," Genta opened the door a crack. He peeked out. "And Conan must have taken Ai and escaped."

"I wonder why he had to take her instead of leaving her with us," the small black-haired child pondered aloud.

"Maybe he just wanted us to be in groups instead of alone," the little girl suggested.

"Or maybe he just left us here to die," the larger boy grunted, crossing his arms.

"Genta!"

"Well, it's true! How come he only took Ai with him?"

"Maybe…he wants us to help him!" Mitsuhiko suddenly said. "Maybe he thinks we can do something about the guy in black!"

"Yeah, but," Genta spoke up again, "he had a gun! What are we supposed to do? We're just kids; no one would believe us if we went to the police."

"He just wanted us out of this," Ayumi stopped their argument. They blinked at her. She crossed the small bedroom and hoisted herself onto the edge of the bed, putting her chin in her hands and leaning her elbows against her knees. "He wants to keep us safe. I think he took Ai with him because she has something to do with the men in black too…"

"Come to think of it, the guy was looking for someone named 'Shiho'. That's a girl's name," Mitsuhiko mentioned.

"Looking for Ai? But why?" Genta made a face.

"I don't know," Ayumi said softly. Oh, Conan... Please, be careful. And protect Ai.

"Here you are, Shinichi," Agasa handed him the repaired glasses. Conan took them and put them on, finding the switch for Ran's earring locator and flipping it on. The image on the right lens flickered to life and showed a small red dot on the upper left quadrant of a circular grid. The distance indicators signified she was still in city limits—near the river.

"Thanks, doc," he sighed in relief.

"I had to take out your tracker lens—it needs a full repair, and I knew you didn't want to wait that long, so the left lens is just a normal lens. But, I was able to restore the receiver, and so you can still use the earring radio."

"Is the skateboard okay?" he asked.

"I'm going to have to fix it up," Dr. Agasa frowned. "But it should be okay if you want to use it to get there."

Conan looked up at the setting sun and frowned. It was almost dusk; it wouldn't be much good in a little, but it could probably get him at least halfway there.

"Ai, I was going to ask for your help," he turned to the girl he had rescued. She looked up from her clasped hands, and stared at him blankly.

"Hmm?" she blinked.

"I need to know the inner workings of the organization: names, ranks, jobs, layout of the building—"

"But you don't even know if they're in the same headquarters anymore," Dr. Agasa moved to his worktable behind him.

"Was it by the river?" Conan glanced at his tracker.

Ai nodded: "I had a room that faced the river and the town."

"It's on the other side of the river," he nodded, confirming this with another glance at his tracker. "I need all that information, Ai."

"I have a better idea," Agasa came back around, handing them duplicates of the Detective Boy's badges. "This way, Ai can track you as you move through the building, and you can give Conan directions," he looked from the boy to the girl. They turned their eyes to each other and nodded, pinning the new badges onto their clothing. "Also." They looked up at the scientists' voice. "You should take all the gadgets I've made for you. I don't know what you're going to expect in there. And I have no idea how you're going to save Ran."

"Shinichi," Ai spoke up. "While you're there, you have to make a stop in my room. All of my research notes are in a file cabinet under the desk by my window."

"Including the research on the drug that made us shrink!" Conan caught on. But…what do I do first? Free Ran, or get the information? If I help Ran escape, someone will notice! I can't have her wandering the halls with me. I need to get her out! But once I leave, there's no guarantee I can get in a second time to get the notes. Dammit!

He opened his mouth to say something.

"Kudo! I'm coming with you."

He blinked. Heiji Hattori walked into the living room, adjusting the baseball cap on his head.

"We'll get Ran and bring this organization down with one sweep. What do you say?" he winked. Smiling gratefully, Conan stood and grabbed his skateboard off Agasa's table.

"I say we go back to my house so I can get some things," he walked to the door. "And then, we take them down for good."