Chapter Five

Gin was highly irritated by Vodka's annoucement, though he had expected it. "And he called you to brag?" he growled. "Or maybe he thought the news would actually scare us?" Ushio was quite vain, and Gin had the feeling that the balding man believed himself to be a force to be reckoned with. Gin did not agree. He could easily and quickly kill Ushio, if it was not that he was supposed to stay alive.

"I think it was both," Vodka admitted, and sighed. "He said that you were going to have to pay for lying to him about the kid, and that he was gonna find out what you wanted with her in the first place . . . before killing you." He was certain that Gin could easily overpower the madman, if given a fair chance---but he doubted that Gin would be granted such a chance. People such as Ushio were never fair.

"Heh. He'll have to be prepared for a long wait, then," Gin answered. He did not say why, but the answer was two reasons. First, because he would never give Ushio anything that he wanted if it could possibly be helped. And secondly, he did not even know himself what he wanted with Ayumi. "Does he know where we are?" he asked now.

"He didn't seem to," Vodka admitted, "but he said he'd find us. Before I could really say anything, he hung up on me." Now he hesitated, which Gin quickly took note of.

"What else was said?" the blonde demanded, leaning on the steering wheel.

Vodka knew that it was pointless to try to keep it from him. "He said that before he kills you, he also wants to get you in trouble with the boss for 'not treating him with the courtesy he requires,'" he reported, and looked at his comrade worriedly. "Bro, he's nuts! I think he really could cause trouble for us if we keep the kid around. . . ."

Gin grunted. "It's obvious he's insane," he retorted. "Anyone could see that, including our superior. I thought long ago that it was time to unload Ushio as an informant. There's others who could tell us the same information, without indulging in such base practices as he does."

"Yeah . . . but would the boss agree?" Vodka asked nervously.

"I guess we'll find out. I'm not bending to Ushio's wishes." With that he reached down and picked up Ayumi, handing her to the bewildered Vodka. "You take her," he ordered as he revved the engine and began to back out of their current hiding place. He was not going to take the chance that Ushio did not know where they were. It was time to leave. Now if he could only figure out where they should go. . . .

Vodka simply gazed at the innocent child in confusion for a long moment, trying to determine exactly what he was supposed to do with her. At last he laid her on his lap and watched as she snuggled. The fact that she could be so at ease around two assassins amazed him. She had surely heard Ushio's remark that Gin had killed people, but either it had not fully registered in her young mind or else it did not matter to her because he had protected her.

He looked over at Gin again, seeing the blonde lighting a cigarette but keeping the window partially open so that the smoke would not stay in the car. He again hesitated before speaking. "Bro . . . do you care about the kid?" he asked then, knowing that he was taking a risk by doing so. "I mean . . . I know you don't want Ushio to get her, but is that just because you're defying him and you don't want him to get something he wants, or do you really want to keep her safe because . . . well, because you like her or something?"

Gin did not answer for a long time. Instead he glared ahead at the road, and Vodka wondered if he had even been heard. But then the blonde finally spoke. "Do you think I'm even capable of caring, or liking someone?" he retorted.

Vodka shrugged helplessly. "I know you said she reminded you of someone else," he said slowly, "but that doesn't necessarily mean that you really care. . . . You could just figure you've got some obligation to her . . . or maybe you don't even really see her when you look at her. . . . Maybe you see that someone else, instead. . . ."

Gin grunted. "Did anyone ever tell you that you should be a psychologist?" he muttered, steering onto the highway.

Vodka sighed and looked down, not certain whether that comment should be taken positively or negatively. "No, not really," he replied then, feeling somewhat embarrassed and realizing that he would probably not get an answer. Then again, he thought after a moment of reflection, maybe Gin could not answer him because he did not know the answer himself.

As Conan and Ai ran out the door to begin the search for Ayumi, they were met by a concerned neighbor who wondered what was wrong. When they explained, she immediately became alarmed, and looked as though she felt that she had done something incredibly dreadful.

"Oh!" she gasped sadly when they mentioned Ayumi's disappearance and the need to quickly find her. "Are you sure? I . . . I had thought he was a repairman, as he'd said! But he's really a heartless kidnapper? Oh! This is horrible. . . ." And she tightly gripped the railing of her porch until her knuckles turned white.

Conan frowned. "Yomada-san, are you saying that a man approached you and claimed to be a repairman for the Yoshidas?" he asked in concern.

The older woman nodded. "Yes, that's right," she replied. "I was gardening, and when I saw him looking confused, I asked if I could help. That's when he told me that he was the television repairman that the Yoshidas had sent for, and I directed him across the street!" She could not be consoled. "Oh, if anything happens to that sweet little girl because of me, I'll never forgive myself!" she wailed.

"You can help us, Yomada-san," Conan answered, "and Ayumi. What did this man look like?"

She gazed up into the sky as she tried to remember. "He was young," she said slowly. "Broadly built, and he had short blonde hair that almost looked white. He had on coveralls and a baseball cap, and glasses."

Ai wrote this down while Conan continued to speak with her. "Do you remember any distinctive characteristics he might have had?" he wanted to know. "A tattoo, a birthmark, or a limp of some kind?" He had gone into his full detective mode, but Mrs. Yomada was too worried over the state of things to pay much heed to the oddness of a six-year-old boy trying to solve a serious case. She knew that Conan was one of Ayumi's friends, and naturally he would want to collect whatever information he could to help her.

"He did have a tattoo," she mused now, "on the back of his right hand. I remember because he came over to the porch and put his hand on the railing while we talked. It was that symbol of a snake eating its own tail. Now what do they call that again?" she wondered with a frown.

"The Ouroborus," Ai supplied quietly, her eyes narrowing.

"Oh yes!" Mrs. Yomada nodded, and looked with concern to Conan. "Will that help at all?" she asked

Conan nodded. "It definitely will, Yomada-san," he answered. The next step would be to go through his father's books and files to search for any record of such a person. Surely the tattoo would help to narrow down the search. "There's just one more thing," he said now. "Did he give his name?" Of course, anything given would probably be an alias, but he could check up on that as well. His father had quite an extensive list of criminals' aliases, and who had used them.

Again she tried to think. "It almost seems like he did," she replied, and then her eyes brightened as it came to her. "Oh yes! He said he was Mr. Thomas Minekura," she reported.

Conan and Ai thanked her and quickly departed.

"We need to find out if my dad has any records about this guy," Conan said grimly to Ai after they passed the information on to the police. "He almost sounds familiar somehow, so I must have read about him in the files!"

"Maybe." Ai looked at him in concern as they ran down the street. "But Kudo . . . he sounded familiar to me, too."

Conan stopped running and turned to gaze at her in amazement. "He does?" he gasped. "Where would you know him from?" Then an alarming thought came to him. "You don't think he works for the Black Organization, do you?" he exclaimed.

Ai shook her head. "I can't be sure," she admitted, "but I don't think he does." Her eyes narrowed. "I don't understand where I would remember him from, though."

Conan grabbed her hand and pulled her down the street. "Well, let's hurry and get to my old home so that we can find some answers!" he exclaimed. "Meanwhile, I'll call Dr. Agasa and have him do a computer search." Ai did not protest, but she wondered if they were getting way in over their heads.

Genta and Mitsuhiko had been looking all over town for Ayumi. They had been to the Mouri Detective Agency, the business district, and to Ayumi's house---where they had learned of the break-in. Now, with renewed determination, they were continuing the search and trying to think of any other places that she might possibly have visited---provided that the criminal had not gotten hold of her.

"This is hopeless!" Genta cried in frustration after what seemed like ages. He placed his hands on his head in despair. It seemed that they would never find her!

"We can't stop looking!" Mitsuhiko declared. "Every problem has a solution, and we're going to find this one." Then he frowned suspiciously. "Does it seem to you that the car behind us has been following us for a while?" He glanced back at the Chevrolet as it moved along slowly and conspicuously, finally parking at the curb directly behind them.

Genta looked back as well. "Hey, actually I have been seeing it for the last few blocks," he agreed. "What should we do?"

Before Mitsuhiko could answer, the door opened and a tall man with whitish-blonde hair stepped out onto the sidewalk. "Hello, boys," he said in a friendly enough tone, though his eyes were hard and cold. "I'm wondering if you can help me with something."

Instantly both were on their guards. "What do you want, sir?" Mitsuhiko asked.

The man came closer to them, and they could see that he was holding out a picture. "I was wondering if you've seen this girl? She's missing, and I've joined in the search to find her." As he arrived next to them, they stared in disbelief. He was holding a picture of Ayumi!

"Hey!" Genta cried. "Where did you get that picture? It looks just like the one that got taken from the Yoshidas' house." He frowned suspiciously.

"That's right!" Mitsuhiko added. "Are you the one who took it?"

The blonde's smile tightened. "Well, I see I'm not dealing with amateurs," he remarked. With his free hand, he drew a gun and pointed it at them. "I know you boys are friends of hers. Get in the car, now."

Genta swallowed. "What do we do now?" he asked in a low tone.

Mitsuhiko looked at him helplessly. "We have to try to get away!" he replied, knowing if they got in the car they might never escape.

"Oh, you'll never have the chance." Another man emerged from the passenger side of the vehicle, and though the boys looked around desperately for a way out, they were quickly surrounded and overpowered. Before they quite knew what was happening, they were gagged and bound in the back of the car---and on their way into a figurative lions' den.

The snippets of conversation that they caught from the front were not encouraging.

"Why did we grab these brats?" the second man growled in annoyance.

The first loudly sighed, as if annoyed by the question. "Because they realized that I must have been the one who broke into the Yoshidas' home," he replied. "Couldn't have them going back and telling the cops that. Ushio was suspicious from the first that Gin had lied to him, and when he saw that girl leaving her school a couple of days later, he confirmed it. He liked the kid, and wanted her, so he did some research, some stalking, and then had me break into the house to get her. She wasn't there, so I snatched the picture so I'd know her right off if I saw her. He mentioned those friends of hers, too."

There was a brief silence. "Don't you ever feel awful, working for a creep like that? You know what he does to kids like these."

"Kids are just brats anyway. I don't care what happens to them, as long as I get my monthly salary."

Genta and Mitsuhiko exchanged alarmed looks. They did not know where they were going, but it was obvious that these people were heartless. If they did not find a way to escape, there was no telling what would happen. But they did still have their detective badges, so they had to hope that Conan would be able to track them if they could not get away.

With Dr. Agasa's help, Conan and Ai managed to narrow the list of possible suspects to two---one whose name actually was Thomas, and another known only as the Cobra. There were not clear pictures for either of them, and both had the Ouroboros symbol as a tattoo.

"The Thomas one seems more likely," Ai remarked, looking up from the computer. "Cobra hasn't been seen in these parts for several years, but Thomas lives in a nearby subdivision."

"Let's check both of their criminal records," Conan directed.

Thomas seemed to have very few crimes to his name---and nothing serious. But on the Cobra's record, Ai was alarmed to see that the police believed that he worked for a man named Yusuke Ushio, but had never been able to prove it. Her eyes narrowed and she gripped the mouse tightly.

Conan looked over at her in concern. "What is it, Haibara?" he demanded.

Ai raised her gaze to meet his, and it was very serious and grim. "I remember this Ushio," she said darkly, pointing at his name on the screen. "He's an informant for the Black Organization. And Kudo, he's a very dangerous man---a pedophile." She stood up, angry with herself. "I don't know why I didn't make the connection before. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's the one responsible for these recent murders and kidnappings. He could have been the man Ayumi saw!"

Conan immediately became alarmed as well. "So then our suspect may be the Cobra after all," he deduced, clenching a fist. "We shouldn't rule out Thomas yet, but this Ushio angle is something we should look into right now. If he's after Ayumi, she's in serious danger!" Then he thought of something else. "Haibara, what kind of relationships does he have with the Black Organization agents?"

Ai collected the material she had printed. "I only ever saw him interact with Gin, really," she admitted. "Gin hated him. He told me once that if it was up to him, he would have killed Ushio years ago. Then he mentioned that he'd killed someone like Ushio, once, but he didn't tell me any of the details."

Conan nodded slowly, somewhat surprised at this information. He knew that Ai had had some sort of relationship with Gin that she had never discussed with him, and he had respected her privacy on the matter, though he still wondered. And he was not certain why it amazed him so much that Gin would despise someone such as Ushio. Perhaps because Conan had assumed that Gin was completely cold-hearted and that he did not care what sort of wickedness went on around him.

At that moment Dr. Agasa came back into the room with several more files. "I found some more possibilities," he announced, and then noticed Conan's and Ai's grim expressions. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Did you learn something?"

Quickly they informed them of what they had learned and realized, and he became deeply alarmed. "Do the police know about this?" he said in concern, knowing that this was a very dangerous matter---even more so if their suspicions were true about Ushio's involvement..

"We gave them Yomada-san's description of the repairman, and they would probably match it with the Cobra, eventually," Ai said slowly. "But we should make sure that they know right now. We need to have every available person looking for Ayumi. If that man gets hold of her, I don't even want to think about what will happen to her." She wondered why she had to find herself silently musing over if Gin would still feel the same way about Ushio now. He had changed so much over the years that she knew it was possible that Ushio's actions did not even bother him now.

Conan nodded. "I'll call them right now," he said, and was about to do this when Dr. Agasa realized something else.

"Where are Genta and Mitsuhiko?" he asked. "Do they know what happened to Ayumi?"

Ai frowned. "I haven't seen them since school was out," she mused slowly.

Conan frowned too. "That's bad. I wonder where they are." Deciding that he should find out, he tried to track them via their badges, hoping that they were currently in possession of the devices. After his attempt, he blinked in confusion. "They seem to be moving down a highway," he exclaimed, watching them on the radar screen in his glasses.

"They're in a car?" Ai thought that sounded strange. "We should try to find them. They might be in trouble, too."

"We can call the police on the way!" Conan declared, running for the door. "Come on, Dr. Agasa!" He could hear the others running behind him as he reached the outside and the yellow Volkswagen Beetle. He only hoped that they would not be too late to rescue the others. But that could not happen. He would make sure that all of them were safe and out of the clutches of the horrid Yusuke Ushio.

He had not been in Japan for over ten years, but when he returned, things did not seem greatly different. There were more buildings, more traffic, and more technology, but the overall feel of the land had not changed. The people were still largely the same, and so was the Organization, which had been operating in secret all over the world for he did not know how many years. He did not care, either. All that he cared about was the here and now, and what he was there to accomplish.

Akemi was saddened to learn of his return. She knew what it meant, and she had seen so many good young men changed into heartless assassins due to the Organization's wicked training methods. She did not want to see that happen to him. She thought of him as a brother.

She went to see him the first night he was back. She was only two years younger than him, and during the time when he had lived in Japan as a child, she had been with him often. It was strange, she thought, that when he went to America he had looked after her sister. Or maybe not so strange. Perhaps the higher-ups had wanted them raised together, for some reason. She wondered what that reason would be, and decided that it could not have been a good one.

When he had opened the door of his quarters, she was amazed to see how much he had physically changed. No longer the scrawny, mischievous child who had gotten her into more than a few sticky situations, he was tall and handsome, his green eyes bespeaking the bitterness he held toward much of life. His shaggy blonde bangs obscured those piercing eyes for the most part, but she could still see them gleaming through, like sharp and deadly emeralds. She stood gazing at him for a long moment before she moved forward and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him close to her. "I wish you weren't back," she whispered, and he knew what she meant.

He let her embrace him for a moment before he took hold of her arms and moved them away, stepping back to study her. He placed a finger under her chin and lifted it so that she was looking into those dark, endless eyes. "I'm here to do what's expected of me," he answered quietly, and from the tone of his voice she knew that he hated it as much as she did.

She brushed the bangs away from his eyes. "Oh, when have you ever done what was expected of you," she murmured, a wry smile gracing her lips. She was only partially teasing, remembering how he had used to defy the rules and regulations all the time. He had been quite a troublemaker as a boy.

He grunted and half-turned, walking back into the room and silently inviting her to stay if she wished. His long hair, trailing all the way down his back, swished behind him. "You haven't changed much," he remarked then, glancing back. He did not want to talk about why he was here. He had already thought about it on the entire flight from America. Right now he wanted to forget, even though he knew that would be impossible.

She laughed softly, gathering the ends of his hair in her hands. "You haven't, either," she remarked. "You're still defying the rules. Look at this hair!" She shook it gently and then let it go, moving to face him again. "How's Shiho?" she asked now. She had not seen her sister in person for so many years. They had exchanged letters, and they called each other as often as they could, and that was certainly better than nothing, but she still longed to be able to actually see her sister, to hold her, to talk to her, to watch her grow up. She could only hope that Shiho was being able to have a better existence than she would if she were here.

"She's alright," he answered. "As alright as she can be, I guess. She didn't want me to leave either."

"Well, of course she wouldn't. She knows you'll be gone for two years, at least." She frowned, watching him. "But she doesn't know what's going to happen to you, does she?" She had wanted so much for Shiho to be able to have a childhood for as long as possible, and to not know of the cruelties of the Organization that they were bound to work for, but she did not know if that was possible. She had probably seen and heard much from the agents who were stationed in America. She knew that his and Shiho's guardian had often met with other operatives at his house.

"I think she understands more than she lets on," he said truthfully. "But I'm not going to change."

She sighed. "You don't know what this place does to a person," she commented quietly. "But so many guys come here . . . good people, like you . . . and they change in ways you wouldn't believe. They end up not caring about humanity at all, and being more than willing to serve the Organization. I think most of them operate on auto-pilot now. They've lost their souls." She looked away, brushing aside the tears that had gathered. "I've seen it too much . . . and I can't bear to see it happen to you, too. You have a beautiful soul."

"I don't want to talk about it," was the flat reply.

"It has to be talked about!" she cried, her voice raising as she looked back to him. "They're going to be training you to murder people! They're going to squeeze every bit of mercy and human kindness out of you until you're nothing but what they want you to be---a killing machine!"

"Don't you think I haven't thought about that?" he snapped in reply. "Every day I've thought about that, since I was given my codename five years ago! I know what I'm being groomed to be. I know how they expect me to end up." He gripped her shoulders, looking into her eyes. "It's as I've been saying for years---people like us don't belong anywhere. We only exist to be players in the Organization's games. You know it's true. But that doesn't mean that we have to become everything they want us to be! You're still you, even after everything you've seen. And I'm still me."

She looked up at him, blinking away the second round of tears. "I've changed more than you probably realize," she said quietly. "Even if you don't want it to, even if you work against it, it changes you. And . . . I . . . I just feel so numb inside! All I can hope is that Shiho never has to come to this. . . ." She looked away. Even if they could get out of the Organization now, she knew that she would never be the same. She tried to put on a brave front for him and for Shiho, but that was not her true self. She was depressed, she was lonely, and she was afraid. Sometimes she just wanted it to all be over, but she knew that she had to keep living---if for no other reason, then because of Shiho. And that was the most important reason, to her.

"She's a brilliant student," he answered matter-of-factly. "When she graduates, they're going to want her."

She glowered at him. "Don't say that!" she snapped, even though she knew it was true. Sighing softly, she looked up at him again, and now her expression was filled with regret and sorrow. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to get angry with you. It's not your fault. . . . I just feel so helpless. . . ."

"I know. But you have to get used to it. We are helpless, against them." He looked down at her again with those eyes of dark emerald.

She looked away. "There has to be a way," she whispered. "And I'm going to find it!"

Gin took a draw on his cigarette and then hung his arm partway out the window as he steered the car off the highway. Had that truly been only eight years ago? As far as he was concerned, it was another lifetime. He had vowed, to himself and to others, that he would not be corrupted by the Organization. But it had been a futile battle. Being forced so often to kill people had caused the corruption to come upon him, just as Akemi had said.

He had tried different methods to distance himself from it. Thinking of the targets as traitors, which was something he already loathed, helped somewhat. And most of them were, indeed, traitors. But he had become desensitized, not actually thinking any more about what he was doing. He had to admit, he had come to relish it. He liked the thrill of the hunt, he liked the power of having the gun and of letting the traitors know that their actions would not be stood for, and he liked seeing the alarm and fear in their eyes as they realized that they had gotten in too deep. And yet he knew that in the end, he did not have as much power as he wished he did. He was still at the mercy of his superiors.

Bah! He had been reminiscing again! That child actually looked like Akemi, when she had been Ayumi's age. But Gin saw some of both sisters in her personality and determination. Nevermind, though. He did not want to think any more about it at the moment.

He glanced over at Vodka and the girl, and it was his turn to be somewhat amused when he saw how uncomfortable Vodka looked. At least Gin had looked after kids before, even though it was years ago. But Vodka never had. He was at a complete loss now, and he was shy around most women anyway. Gin wondered if that extended to the child. He thought he could sense that it did, somewhat.

Ayumi stirred now, finally starting to awaken. She looked around, blinking as she tried to fully come back to the present. She had been having a nice dream, where she had been happily playing without any need to worry that Ushio would come and hurt her and her friends. But now, she was remembering that the danger was still very real. "Vodka-san," she mumbled sleepily, realizing that she was no longer on Gin's lap. Slowly she sat up, looking over at the blonde.

"Gin-sama, can I ask you something?" she said now in her sweet voice.

He grunted, concentrating on the road. "What is it?" he asked, placing the cigarette back in his mouth.

She bit her lip. "That awful man said you've killed people," she remarked softly, and Vodka looked at her in shock. "Is that true?"

"What if it is?" Gin retorted, not seeming surprised.

She sighed softly. "Well . . . it isn't right to kill," she objected, leaning slightly against Vodka. He wondered how Gin planned to handle this.

"I have my reasons," Gin answered shortly. Apparently he planned to do very little.

Vodka could no longer resist the urge to say something. "If you know that about him, why do you trust him and call him 'Gin-sama'?" he wanted to know.

Ayumi did not take much time to think about it. "Because I don't think he's a bad person," she smiled then, "and I don't think you are, either, Vodka-san. You do bad things, but you're still both good inside."

Gin threw the cigarette butt out the window. "That's a nice fantasy for you," he remarked. "Too bad it doesn't have some truth to it."

Ayumi pouted and looked up at Vodka. "You don't think he's a bad person, do you, Vodka-san?" she asked innocently.

Vodka stared at her, at a loss for words. He stammered hopelessly, but was saved from trying to reply further when Gin snapped on the radio and a news bulletin was coming through. However, the bulletin only made things all the more uncomfortable for them.

"Police are continuing the search for seven-year-old Ayumi Yoshida, who disappeared from her home earlier today. She is described as having black hair, blue eyes, and was wearing pink overalls with a white T-shirt when she was last seen. If you have any information on her whereabouts, please contact the police at . . ."

Gin snapped off the radio, cursing. Ayumi looked at the radio and then up at him. "Do they think that something happened to me?" she wondered.

"They probably think you were kidnapped!" he growled. "They might even be stopping any suspicious-looking cars." And this certainly complicated matters. He had not been certain what to do with her before, and he was even less certain now. He did not want to do something that would end up jeopardizing himself and Vodka. If they were not careful, they could end up arrested---and for something they had not even done.

"But I'd tell them you were trying to help me!" Ayumi protested, and began to worry again. Her friends were probably all looking for her, thinking that some horrible thing had happened. She wanted to go home to them, but she did not want to get Gin and Vodka into trouble.

Vodka looked at Gin anxiously. "What are we going to do, bro?" he asked hesitantly.

Gin grumbled, turning a corner. "Who knows," he muttered. Then something caught his eye up ahead. It was the convertible! He narrowed his eyes. The driver had apparently not seen them, at least yet, and the street they were on now were dark and ill-lighted. Gin smirked faintly, and Vodka could see that familiar gleam in his eye. The blonde wanted to know what was going on, and he was determined to find out. He would be careful, since they had the girl with them. But they might be able to quell at least one problem if this went right.

Silently he began to follow the convertible. "Keep the girl down," he ordered.

Ayumi frowned at him. "My name is Ayumi," she declared, and ducked down on her own.

Gin did not reply.