o-oOo-o

Shinichi was thrown back and forth whenever the transporter slowed down or sped up, as he lay on the floor and couldn't brace himself with his hands cuffed behind his back. They had blindfolded him with a dark piece of cloth he couldn't see anything through, and gagged him by stuffing some fabric into his mouth and sealing it with a generous amount of tape. He had lost any sense of orientation by now, he just knew that they were on the road for approximately an hour. Time enough to make it to the outer districts of Tokyo.

They had shouted at each other at the beginning and he had just been able to get half of it, because his ears had been ringing again after the harsh throw into the car.

But he was pretty sure that they were one man short and he hadn't heard Sugihara even once. Had he been captured? What did that mean for him? A missing leader could be both, better or worse. The group had Sugihara as the boss and the brain of their robberies. Muto had a mean gleam in his eyes and Shinichi was sure that he had a sadistic streak to him. Ichikawa seemed to be a mere henchman, a bit of a brute. He had yet to learn about the driver. What kind of character was he?

The street below them suddenly got rough and bumpy and after a few more minutes they came to a stop.

The slide-door was opened, and someone grabbed onto his legs, dragging him to the edge of the car's floor, before letting go and pulling him up by his collar. The transporter drove away behind him and for a moment he wondered if they would just leave him here – wherever that was before he received a strong shove on his back.

He felt gravel beneath his shoes, while he was being pushed forward. He heard two sets of steps aside from his own and shortly after another was hurrying to catch up with them. The driver? Maybe he had parked the car somewhere inconspicuous. Without being able to see anything, he staggered a few times before they came to a stop.

"Climb in," Ichikawa ordered, and Shinichi lifted his foot, unsure how high the obstacle in front of him was. Seemingly it was enough, because another hard push sent him forward and he landed on his left shoulder, wincing at the impact. Two men followed, and he heard the clapping of doors.

'Another transporter? So, we switched cars to avoid it being spotted as the getaway car.'

"An' what now?" came Muto's gruffy voice from his right side. "A' we going to abandon Sugihara just like that? Without him we-"

"Of course not," a deep, rather pleasant voice answered. Nameless criminal number four. "I'm sure they will be eager to exchange him for this one here, don't you think?"

He sounded calm, calculated.

Muto laughed spitefully, and patted Shinichi's head, who flinched away from the touch. "Yeah, o'course they would want their doggie back."

"Stop playing with him," nameless criminal number four scolded.

"Kitamura, y're really no fun at all, y'know that?" Muto complained.

Kitamura didn't deem this to be worth an answer and ignored him. "We soon will be at our hideout. Then we will contact the police. We don't have the detective's phone any longer, but we couldn't risk having it tracked. The official number of the department will do."

Shinichi's mind raced. At least they wouldn't shoot him anytime soon. He still had the chance to get out of this. One was always the most vulnerable while traveling or changing locations. His best option to flee would be when they arrived at the hideout and before they locked him up somewhere.

He just had to get rid of the blindfold or he wouldn't be able to run. Shouldn't be too difficult. He would try to open the handcuffs with his hidden lock-pick right now, but he didn't know how his captors were positioned to him and how much they could see.

Why he carried a lock-pick? Well, one wasn't friends with a professional stage magician and former thief for nothing. With how often he ended up in precarious situations, Kuroba had insisted that he had at least something with him all the time. A lock-pick was easy to hide and didn't get in the way in his everyday life. This one was hidden in the back-seam of his pants' waistline. A good place to reach when your hands were cuffed behind you – unless a pillar was in the way, like in the bank.

Once free, he would just have to hold out until the cavalry arrived. He wondered if Ran already knew what had happened. Then they at least wouldn't have any trouble finding him.

o-oOo-o

"You what?"

Megure's eyes were as wide as Satou's and Takagi's, his eyebrows disappearing under the brim of his hat.

"We chipped him," came the unfazed answer from the young woman with the short light-brown hair. She sat in a chair facing the Inspector, next to her Kudou Ran, who looked rather nervous, especially in contrast to the cool demeanor of the other female.

Megure had always found Haibara Ai to be a bit... distant, but her older version, Miyano Shiho, brought his awkwardness to a whole new level. How could she say something like this with a straight face, let alone do something like this? Come to think of it - was it even legal?

He looked over to Ran, not entirely sure it wasn't a joke, but her fidgeting behavior was confirmation enough. They had chipped Kudou Shinichi.

Huh...

Ran wrung her hands in her lap. "Well, Megure-keibu - you know how often he ends up in trouble, and I was always so worried about him and then Fukui Kamiko happened and I just..." she helplessly hunched her shoulders.

Oh yes, Megure remembered this incident very clearly. For fact it was hard to forget the picture of Kudou unconscious on the floor and at the mercy of a crazed fan girl. The boy had escaped death by a hair's breadth - again.

"So, we thought about different options to prevent something like that to happen again, but-"

Ran was cut off by Shiho. "We concluded that everything removable, like his usual trackers, phone, clothes, were too easy to get rid of. An implant was a better choice since it would go unnoticed except in an x-ray or a similar medical scan. And even then, you have to know what you are looking for. It is very small, and you can neither see or feel it under the skin. It also is absolutely maintenance-free and will last his whole life."

She seemed rather pleased with her explanation, as she leaned back in her chair.

"So," Takagi tried to comprehend. "You can scan Kudou-kun, like a cat or dog and know where he belongs?"

That earned him an 'are you an idiot'-look from Shiho.

"Of course not. It is just a tracker and to protect his privacy, Ran-san and I are the only ones who are in possession of a receiver for the signal.

That had been something Shinichi had been very adamant about. Just the thought that for example his mother would be able to follow his every step and haul him off for a surprise-shopping-spree had sent shivers down his spine.

Shiho pulled her laptop out of the black leather bag she had brought along and put it on the table. She flipped it open and called up a program she had developed with Agasa Hakase's help. After a few moments a map showed on the screen, and a small dot blinked in the middle of it, changing position every five seconds.

"They are still moving," she said while turning the laptop around for the officers to see. "I would say not more than one hour from here - west bound."

Megure eyed the map - and blinked in surprise after a few seconds. "I think they stopped. Just on the outskirts of Tokyo."

Satou turned the laptop in her direction, ignoring Megure's short protest. "It's a closed industrial area. Not many people go there anymore, but there are plenty of old machine halls and such. For sure a good spot if you don't like a lively neighborhood."

"Alright," Megure concluded. "Let's get everything ready. We don't want Kudou-kun with them any longer than necessary."

When Satou and Takagi got up to take care of their departure, Ran declared, "I'm coming with you."

Megure studied her determined face and sighed. She wouldn't go down without a fight, but damned should he be if he allowed her to run into trouble just like that. He stealed himself. "No! You will stay put! Even if I have to lock you up in a holding-cell. It's bad enough that we have to go and rescue Kudou-kun, but I will not allow another civilian to get dragged into this. Do you understand?"

"But, Inspector, I-"

"Do. You. Understand?" he snapped at her. Normally he would never talk to her like this, but he wouldn't be able to look Mouri-kun in the eyes again if his daughter were hurt under his watch.

Ran's hands clenched into fists at her sides, her whole body was tense, and she fought a silent battle of will against Megure - neither breaking eye-contact.

She never stood a chance. Megure had stared down criminals for years. A worried woman was no match for him. Muss less a woman he cared for, and whose safety he considered his special duty.

Ran visibly deflated the moment she yielded and accepted that she would stay behind.

Shiho took her now limp hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You will have plenty of time to fuss over your troublesome husband when he gets back."

Ran smiled at her weakly, knowing that this display of open comfort still felt odd for the young scientist. She usually felt much safer with her sarcasm and preferred to hide her caring nature behind an impassive attitude.

But Ran knew better.

She had become quite adapt at reading her true feelings and intentions, so she was aware of the other's worry for one injury-prone detective.

She squeezed back. 'Thank you.'

"They are moving again," Satou exclaimed.

"Okay - everybody to the cars. Miyano-san, mind if we borrow your laptop for a while?" Megure asked while Sato and Takagi were already out of the room.

"By no means - take it and bring back that stupid detective geek."

Megure secured the laptop under one arm, nodded earnestly to the two women and was out of the door as well.

o-oOo-o

After another hour on the road, they slowed down considerably when the tires began to roll over a much rougher underground than before. Every now and then the transporter bounced and shook. So, an underground with many potholes – maybe a field track or forest path.

After what Shinichi guessed had been about fifteen minutes, they stopped.

'Now or never. When they drag me out of the car again, I have to get away.'

He heard the shuffling of Muto and Ichikawa, who readied themselves to leave the car. The door slid open and Shinichi felt them grab his legs again to pull him out. This time he lowered his head down to the floor and let it drag over the rough carpet, chafing some skin on his left cheek in the process, but if he could get rid of the blindfold like this it was more than worth it.

Just before he was out of the door, he succeeded, and the blindfold came off. Rapidly he blinked some tears away, adjusting to the sudden bright light that hurt his eyes. This was more than risky. If they still had their guns close at hand, he wouldn't make it, but they'd had to use both their hands to get him out of the car, so chances were they had tucked the guns away.

"Hey!" Muto shouted when he saw that Shinichi had removed the fabric over his eyes. "Whatta' y' doing, punk?" He grabbed the lapels of Shinichi's suit jacket and pulled him up. Shinichi took advantage of the momentum and head-butted the man as hard as he dared without knocking himself out. It wasn't doing his concussion any good, but with his hands bound, he was very limited in his actions. Muto hadn't anticipated Shinichi's move and fell back cursing and held his busted nose.

Next Shinichi turned to Ichikawa, who was standing to his other side and managed to avoid a punch to his face at the last second. Ichikawa was of much heavier built than Muto and Shinichi was more than lucky that the man was thrown off-balance by his missed hit, so that Shinichi could sent him to the floor with a well-aimed kick in the back of his knees.

It would buy him only a few seconds at best and he had to run now, before the robbers got their bearings.

A quick glance through the car's front seat window showed him that Kitamura was already moving to open his door, weapon in hand and Shinichi turned in the other direction and broke into a sprint.

Now for the first time he became aware of his surroundings.

He was indeed in a forest. The transporter stood on a small clearing in front of a hut. If he could make it to the trees, his chances would rise somewhat. He dashed forward. It was difficult to breathe with the tape over his mouth while running, the air he sucked in through his nose barely enough to get by.

A shot rang out and he veered to the right, then to the left. Running in a straight line would just earn him a bullet in his back, so he continued to change directions. Just before he reached the first trees, a shot grazed his left ankle, making him stumble.

The bumpy forest floor did nothing for his balance that was already precarious, because he couldn't use his hands and arms to stabilize himself.

What he hadn't been able to see from a distance was, that on the side he was running to the terrain was sloping steeply directly behind the trees and with his next unsteady step, instead of solid ground there was just loose soil beneath his feet, crumbling away.

With a yelp, stifled by the gag, he went over the edge and tumbled down through bushes and twigs without any means to protect himself. Once or twice he hit a lager branch before his descent was suddenly stopped by a stump. The impact stole the bit of air he had left from his lungs and he choked, rendered unable to move. Dark splotches danced before his eyes and took over his vision as he lay amidst the dry foliage.

o-oOo-o

Up on the hill, Kitamura looked down where the detective had fallen, but already hadn't seen him anymore when he got there. The fall must have been harsh and deep.

He snorted. It was unlikely that the young man would be able to get back up on his own, if he had survived this at all. Too bad – now they would have to check if they still had a living hostage or if they had lost their leverage.

TBC

A/N:
Hi there! So, just one more chapter to go and then this story will be wrapped up.
I hope you liked it so far and thanks a lot for the comments/follows/favs! It keeps me going!