Chapter 17

As Ken was searching, Ryu and Jinpei arrived, in full Birdstyle.

"Boy, I sure am glad to get out of those fishnet stockings!!" Jinpei sighed with relief.

"And we brought yours too, Ken!" Ryu said, pulling Ken's civilian clothes out of a bag he was carrying and tossing them to the Eagle.

"But where are Joe and Jun?" the Owl asked, confused.

"It looks like they were here." Jinpei remarked, surveying the broken bodies at their feet.

"I thought I saw them go in here." Ken confirmed. "But there's no sign of them now. I think there might be a secret door in the wall."

The Eagle shrugged, turning away from the wall for a minute.

"Did you guys have any luck identifying the dead chef?" he asked as he quickly pulled on the clothes and transmuted.

"That's the funny thing." Ryu shrugged. "The guy's name was Teera Mi Sous. Just like the guy in Jun's mystery."

"What?" Ken sputtered. "That can't be right!"

"That's his real name." Jinpei nodded. "Hakase confirmed it with a DNA check. He's in the ISO database as a minor Galactor operative."

"Well, if that's true..." Something occurred to Ken. "Where did Jun get those murder mystery details, anyhow?"

"I think I know." Jinpei replied. "Last week she got a big package from a place called Kactor Enterprises. I'll bet that's it!"

"Pfffft... that's a fake name if ever I heard one." Ryu chuckled. "It's obviously a mix of Katse and Galactor. You'd think the authors of this IF could come up with something better."

"Be that as it may, if Galactor is behind the murder mystery that Jun had planned, the one that had characters that seemed made for us..."

"Do you think Galactor knows who we are?" Jinpei asked nervously.

"For the moment, we have to assume that they do." Ken replied grimly. "Now, let's see if we can't open this door."

"What about the microchip?" Ryu reminded Ken. "Or whatever it was that guy pulled out of the dead chef's arm?"

"You and Jinpei look for it while I try to find the entrance." Ken ordered. He turned back to the wall.

In mystery novels, what was always the way to open a secret passage?