Chapter 5: Exposed

Chapter characters: Akai Shuichi, James black, Kir, Vermouth, Jodie Starling, Chianti and Korn, Boss, André camel

Chapter genre: angst, drama.

With a neck too red from finger marks, two fingertips landed on Gin's wrist to feel his pulse.

"He's alive" the agent finally reassured.

"Good, take him to Haido hospital fast, I'll make a call to get a room ready for you" James ordered, signs of relief filling his wrinkled face.

"aren't you coming with us, sir?"

"No, but I'll be there soon"

The old man looked down at Shuichi who was still lying on the ground -his skin looked clammy and pale- He had to take care of him first "hey, it took us forever to catch him, don't make any mistake and lose him" James warned off one last time as the two agents carried Gin to the outside leaving him along with Camel next to Akai.

" Andre Kun, go with them"

"but!" Camel said, looking down at his friend.

"its okay I got this, they're going to need you"

Camel nodded before he joined his colleagues. James then kneeled down placing a hand on Shuichi's shoulder.

"can you walk?"

"I'm fine" Shuichi answered. With his breath steadied, he pushed himself into a sitting position as he went on "how did you know?"

"How did I know! Its strange right, I mean you lost the agents I sent to keep an eye on you" James chirped proudly " you're a very patient person Akai kun, but you were in a rush this time so I knew you were up to something, that's why before giving you the car I placed a tracking device in it and when I noticed it stopped in this abandoned area, I intervened"

Shu stood up replaying what just happened in his head. It felt like it happened so fast, he felt a part of his debt to Akemi being paid and a huge weight leaving his chest. But not all of it…

"Why the long face Shuichi kun? we've been trying to capture him for years now and you finally did"

"Is he alive?" he suddenly asked looking back at James, it was as if he's just entered the room.

"We found him alive, I'm not sure if he is now though. He was in a critical condition" James answered. Pulling out his phone, he dialed the number of Camel who told him that they're on their way to the hospital, and most importantly that Gin was still alive with a slightly improved condition.

Shuichi finally replaced his scowl with a relieved face, guess even after his promises to himself and his temporary transformation into some evil bloodthirsty strangler, deep inside he wasn't really willing to kill Gin.

"You did a great job Akai kun, but I'm not sure whether what you did is forgivable, you worked from behind our backs and almost killed our only Source to identify the boss of the organization"

"thanks, James…for stopping me from doing that"

James just nodded. He did forgive him, except that it was too early to showing him that.

"Subaru…" Shuichi abruptly said placing his hands on his face "where's the mask?"

"you ripped it. you don't remember much of what happened, don't you! C'mon, one time as Akai won't hurt"

The two men walked to the car parked outside as James made a brief call to Haido hospital before starting the engine. He was relieved that Shuichi wasn't injured and that the mind stroke that caused his brain to stop working for a couple of minutes didn't last long.

"What do you mean Gin was kidnapped?" Vermouth asked with a deep frown on her face.

"I told you someone showed up and shot me, all the way from the car" Chianti raised her arm exposing the tubes covering it, and the bandage around her wrist.

korn looked at her in disbelieve "that's impossible, Gin was supposed to be…"

"exactly, he was 300 yards away, yet he managed to shoot me right on my wrist with a handgun" she interrupted.

"silver bullet" the blonde muttered.

"there's no way it's the silver bullet, I killed him myself" Kir cleared calmly before she continued in a hope to change the subject "Anokata will be mad once he hears about this"

"Of course he will. We must find him right now!" Vermouth lashed out moving her gaze back to Chianti "tell us everything you remember about that someone"

"He was wearing a ski mask I couldn't really see his face…" she stayed silent for a while as curious eyes kept staring at her "Umm… he was tall and I guess his hair was light colored… err… that's all"

"That's it? So technically we have nothing" Vermouth was losing her cool temper as her tone rose "if you remember anything else then let me know"

She dashed off the hospital room heading to the parking lot. Vermouth got on her motorcycle but as she was about to put on the helmet, a car passed by that caused her blue eyes to open wide and her mouth to gape, it was Akai Shuichi sitting on the passenger seat.

'silver bullet, I knew it' she thought to herself as the wind hit her bare skin on the road, she saw him glancing back at her thus she flew away fast and for once they didn't go after her. Well, they have Gin now.

"Rena, she is in danger" Shuichi suddenly said. James who was keeping his eyes on the road didn't spot Vermouth, instead he just looked at Shu puzzled "just stop the car I'll explain later"

The old man obeyed without question.

Shuichi ran off to the reception "is there a woman hospitalized for a gunshot on her hand?" he asked the lady behind the desk, or maybe yelled at her with the excessive adrenaline rush he was experiencing. He thought that there's no way they could've found out that Gin was hurt and hospitalized in Haido hospital that fast, so it had to be Chianti.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that sir, it's…"

"No no, you don't understand, it's…"

"He is an FBI agent" Camel showed up from behind him exposing his FBI badge to the young lady who soon started scrolling through the computer in front of her.

"room 203, the fourth floor"

Within a minute, the two agents were there. Shuichi opened the door of the 203rd room to the sight of Korn pointing his gun on kir who had her hands up in the air. As expected, Vermouth was fast to inform.

All six eyes moved towards him while he held the pistol in his left hand.

"make one move, and you're dead" he said, aiming at Korn's head.

A little black bottle was pulled out of Chianti's pocket, which she was keeping for in case the assassination went wrong. It was the newest invention of the organization which might've been inspired by Kaito kid. She opened it spreading fog all over the room along with a bad rather unbearable smell.

A chest burn caused everyone to start coughing. the fog rolled low over Shuichi's head, he looked around hardly distinguishing anything with the light barely managing to penetrate the haze. He moved slowly to where he last saw Rena with his arms pointed forward until a dark smudge was finally visible.

It turned out to be her, Shu grabbed her wrist and led her out to the corridors before he headed back to the room where was Camel standing alone. Most of the fog was vanished along with the two snipers. They must've fled away from the porch.

Saving Rena... mission accomplished, that's all that mattered right now.

Soon as they came back to the corridors, Rena walked to Shuichi and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

"They found out about me, I thought I'm gonna die, you, you saved my life" she muttered with her hands trembling on his back.

"it's my job" Shu softly said. he encircled her by one arm rubbing his hand gently over her back for one, two seconds before letting go. On the other hand, Rena kept her arms around him.

"Thank you" she said after a while as she pulled away to look into his eyes.

Shu just nodded and smiled in return. They turned to the right and started walking as he explained to her that she should stick with the FBI to provide her with protection now that she's been exposed -which applies to him too since he's been exposed. Little did he know, Jodie was hiding inside an empty room on the left looking at the two agents walking together right after a long hug that sent a weird seizure of pain to every muscle in her body.

A hand placed money inside a vending machine and pressed a button. A coffee can came out, that same hand reached to grab it only to be held back by yet another hand.

"Shu that's enough, you need to get some sleep" Jodie said. he really lacked sleep a lot and it was reflected in his eyes. he felt tiredness in his chest and muscles, even his thoughts were dragging by in slow motion.

" … Jodie!" he looked at her. Jodie wasn't called for the mission earlier since it was unexpected and triggered only by the cautiousness of James. Thus this was the first time he got to see her in two weeks, and now that she finally got to see him she found him cuddling in another girl, sure it made her mad but she was in no position to talk about it.

"André called me and told me everything, I came here as soon as I could," she said, drawing a smile on her lips" you did it, Shu"

"He hasn't woken up yet, if he dies then everything will be pointless"

"I'm sure he will wake up" she gently added looking at him, he looked very tired she wished she can give him some of the hours she had slept "Shu go to sleep please, I'll take care of everything for you unless you don't trust me"

He smiled at her little trick.

"they know Gin is here, remember what happened with Misonachi Rena's incident? we don't want that to happen again so we need to move fast before they even plan something, now I have something planned in my mind I'll let James know of, if it goes well, then I'll get some sleep"

" okay"

Shu took one step as Jodie stood still in her place.

"aren't you coming with me?" he looked at her over his shoulder.

"No, I'm going to see him"

"you sure you can do that?"

"I might be the one who can get him to wake up"

"I don't think that's a good idea… just be careful Jodie, okay!"

A car stopped on a pier deck right next to Vermouth's motorcycle. She took off her helmet as the tinted window of the back seat opened slowly exposing the face of the man inside.

"Anything yet?" he briefly asked.

"korn couldn't kill kir, Akai Shuichi saved her, so just as I expected he was the one who kidnapped Gin"

"You mentioned meeting him in Haido hospital, that means Gin was hospitalised there, they've probably shot him" the man took a breath through his cigarette before he went on " find out where he is, save him if possible, if not, just blow up his room, or the floor where its located or the entire hospital, just whatever it takes Vermouth, I'm sure you can tell"

"I surely do" she smiled as the window closed showing her reflection before the black car burned rubber.

Vermouth put on her helmet and drove in the opposite direction.

"Get up you coward, I know you're awake" said Jodie, taking a seat on a chair next to Gin's bed "GET UP"

Gin opened his eyes slowly, they still looked as freaky and lifeless as they always do " boo·hoo, you got me" he said, putting on the usual grin on his face.

"You're a dead man Gin"

"Go ahead and strangle me like your boyfriend did" Jodie took in a deep breath, Shuichi was not her boyfriend, but there's no point in explaining this to Gin "I see you delivered my message to your little friend, see these burses on my face" he tried pulling his hand up to show her but it was blocked by the cuffs tying him to the bed.

Gin had a bandage on his nose which was broken along with a black eye and bruises all over his face "these are for Akemi… and those on my neck, are for you"

"Go to hell Gin, you're gonna pay back for everything you did"

The irritating smirk on his face turned into a laugh for some unapparent reason, a laugh that soon turned into loud coughs causing the two men guarding the room to enter.

Jodie sat still hoping that he won't mention the incident in front of her colleagues but he retrieved laughing after the coughing fit ended. That's it, it's the signal to leave, he was obviously going to say something.

She stood up and turned to the door only to stumble into Shu's chest who was standing right behind her.

"Its okay guys you can get some rest, I'll take it from here" Shuichi said.

The two men left the room closing the door behind them, leaving Jodie and Shuichi behind, Shu who pulled out the chair where Jodie was sitting and sat on it.

"what's so funny" he calmly added.

"The hope in your faces, as if catching me is a big deal. I'd rather die than give anything about them, and I'm sure you're smart enough to know it, Akai Shuichi" Gin answered, giving out two coughs and some short breaths in-between.

The two agents deep inside feared this fact, they both knew exactly that Gin though one of the few who knows the boss won't bail on him easily.

"It doesn't matter Gin as long as I get to kill you myself" Shuichi snapped before he looked at Jodie "or maybe she'll get the honor to"

Certainly, none of this was going to happen. The door opened and James followed by Camel got in, he gave a sharp look towards Gin –making sure that he really woke up as he heard from the agents- before looking at Shuichi.

"c'mon Akai kun, we have a technical meeting"

They all walked out leaving the two agents from earlier to guard the room.

"everything is prepared just like you asked. you are right they're probably not ready yet to face us now" James whispered once they reached the corridor.

The old man was actually very impressed with the plan Shuichi explained to him earlier. It's this kind of things that get Shuichi to be forgiven once he does something behind their backs.

All of the FBI agents except for the two left to keep an eye on Gin gathered in an empty hospital room.

Akai along with James stood next to the window explaining the plan to everyone.

Jodie stood next to the other agents. She looked at Shu thinking that the plan will be risky for him the most seeing that in order to be unexpected it was uncomplicated, simpler than any of the black organization members would expect. And it was backed off with the hope that these members recently knew about Gin being in the hospital, so whatever they will do now won't be a biggy compared to their usual plans.

What if something happens to him? The idea send a shiver down her spine so she just retrieved to the safe thinking zone looking away from the man she loves the most in this life over to the right.

Her blue eyes fixed on Rena who was standing next to the other agents paying attention to the plan. But then Shu stopped talking and James took the speech over to him, however, Rena didn't move her eyes from Shu. Jodie looked back at Akai who lit up a cigarette, and back at Rena who hadn't moved her gaze from him yet.

She suddenly felt protective as her pink lips pursed. It's not fair, Rena doesn't have the right to look at her Shu that long. If he is ever to get over Akemi's death, Jodie should be the one to be with and not that girl who kept on sending him stares Jodie just knew too well.

A sudden grip on her elbow interrupted her train of thoughts.

"Oh… Shu" she looked at him quickly changing her gaze from Rena.

"You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine"

He looked over at Rena who was now checking her phone and back at Jodie with wondering eyes.

"e-yeah I don't like her," Jodie said honestly "there's still a chance she could be one of them"

"Not really, don't worry about that. Now I want you to focus, you're going to be with me in my car" he said walking towards the door as she walked with him.

"Oh…"

"Weren't you listening when I explained ?" he suddenly slowed down. Well, she wasn't listening. She was too busy sending some invisible laser through her eyes to Rena.

"Yes, yes… just tell me again where will Gin be?"

"He is going to be with Brad, c'mon we should move fast"

"Okay"

"Look, Jodie, if you're not feeling…"

" I'm fine, I'm coming"

"Okay then, go bring Rena "

"Rena!" her brows went up as her blue eyes turned round.

"you really don't have to come if…"

"Shu, would you stop already! You've been treating me with kid gloves ever since the incident, I'm coming just… why Rena?"

"Because she needs protection!" he said. Brows slightly rose as he exposed his palms "our duty is to protect her from their hands I already explained that. We are going to be moving immediately so go"

Jodie walked in slow steps to Rena, who was standing still scrolling through her phone.

"Rena kun, we are moving now"

She raised her head, looking back at Jodie "Sure" she nodded.

The two women walked together down the corridor.

Rena could be called a potential threat, she sure was beautiful, and he risked his life for her more than once, does she mean that much to him? Or no, Shu would do this for anyone… Jodie closed her eyes in an attempt to drive those ideas away. it was not an appropriate time for that, she now has a mission that she should focus on.

Next chapter: Abduction

Someone will be kidnapped, how? Why? By who? Find out on the next chapter.