Act 3 Scene 8 身代金要求 [Minoshirokinyoukyuu] 'Ransom Demand'
Officer Takagi probably wouldn't have believed it if she'd told him, but his face entering the dimly lit bar was one of the most beautiful things Ran had ever seen.
The paramedics joined Dr. Araide, bringing much needed supplies. The policemen took everyone's statements, but didn't mark off the crime-scene, and kept the cops in plainclothes, because the gangs that had inexplicably decided to make Beika their battleground all of a sudden might see it as a target.
Ran followed the officers out of Beika in the cold morning light, wrapped up tightly in Azusa's winter coat. They didn't go to the Beika police station. According to Officer Takagi, that place had become a warzone. They went all the way to the Ekoda police headquarters before stopping.
In the Ekoda police station, Hakuba had set up a call center to help with the coordination of the various agencies and Heiji. It was his job to deal with the European ones, being the most fluent in English. When he spotted her, he dropped what he was doing, calling out "Mouri!" He gave Ran an awkward, exhausted hug, his height making him stoop. "I'm really glad you're okay," he said into her ear. "I heard that Kuroba was shot, then your father's agency was blown up…" His hands were shaking.
Inspector Nakamori placed his hand on Hakuba's shoulder. "Now that you know she's alright, will you get some rest? You're no good to us half dead. Your father can continue while you rest."
Hakuba nodded, and let go of Ran. "Where's Conan?" he asked looking around.
"They kidnapped him."
His eyes went wide with panic.
"There were three of them," she continued. "I fought off two of them, but the last one grabbed Conan while I was fighting."
"Rest," Inspector Nakamori insisted. "You can't help Conan without your brain working at 100%." He gently took the teens by the shoulders, and led them to the break room, where cots had been set up.
"Before I go to sleep," Ran said, feeling the weight of the cellphones she'd grabbed in her pocket. "Can you get some cellphones repaired for me? They were damaged in the blast, and they have important contact information that we need for coordinating our forces." She handed him the three cellphones. Then she pulled out Bourbon's burner-cell. "This one was on one of the men I defeated. His codename is Bourbon. Get it to the FBI."
"Good work, Miss Mouri. Your father will be very proud of you," Inspector Nakamori said, receiving the small cell.
"Maybe," she answered and flopped down on her cot. She was asleep before she'd managed to pull the blankets over herself. Inspector Nakamori tucked her in gently, thinking of his own daughter.
When Ran woke up again, the three cellphones were in a little pile by her head, rubbing her eyes, she checked the time. It was midnight. She'd gotten twelve hours of sleep. Her body still ached from her battle in the night. She noted as she got up that the knife wound in her side had bloodied Azusa's shirt and the sheet. She poked her head out the door and called, "Excuse me, does anyone know first aid?"
One of the paramedics that was hanging around ran to her, expecting some sort of emergency.
"Don't worry, I just need some bandages changed," she said, pointed at her bloody side.
The paramedic gave a sigh of relief. She sat down on the cot, and took off her shirt. Hakuba was still out cold, but she held the borrowed and bloody shirt over her chest anyways. Azusa hadn't been the same size as Ran, so she hadn't been able to borrow a bra. She probably couldn't wear one anyways, with this knife-wound.
As the paramedic worked on her back and side, she turned on her new phone. It lit up with dozens of messages in her voicemail, and about a hundred emails.
There were a lot of worried messages from her mom, and from Kaito, who had been with her mom at the hospital, waiting for news. She called her mom first. Apparently she'd read the caller ID, because all she could hear was cheers for a few minutes. Finally they were quiet enough for Ran to talk with them.
"Honey are you okay? We were with Inspector Megure when we heard, and we'd heard nothing since then!"
She took a deep breath. "They blew up the detective agency. You can walk up the steps, but when you open the door, there isn't much floor left and the entire front of the building is gone. There's about four square feet left of my bedroom. Mom, can Dad and I stay with you?"
"Of course dear! As long as that old lecher stays on the couch, I'm sure things will be fine."
"There's more." She took another deep breath, to steady herself and not start crying. "Three agents went after us. I fought off the first two, but the last one grabbed Conan while I was fighting. They have him now."
She could almost hear their expressions changing and their mood dropping on the other end.
"I injured one of them bad enough that he's going to the hospital in police custody. The other got away, but he's not getting in any fights for a while. I was so mad that it's kinda a blur, but I believe I broke a few of his limbs."
"That's my girl," she heard her dad say in the background.
"I talked with the bad guy's boss after that. He wants me to become some sort of assassin for them. The jokes on him though, because neither of the guys I took on died like he said they would, and we're taking the whole organization apart. You should see the calls coming in. They've collected agents from all over the world. Their boss is trying to hold Conan hostage so I'll work for him, but he's not going to have an organization to work for much longer. We'll find Conan before they can hurt him."
That was a little more optimistic than she felt, but she hoped it made them feel better.
"Oh, and I discovered that I can dodge bullets."
"For real?" Kaito yelled. "You've gotta teach me that trick! It'd have come in handy last night!"
"You're not going to make a habit out of being around flying bullets, are you?" her dad asked, a nervous edge in his voice.
"That wasn't the plan."
"How'd you do it? HowdyoudoitImustknow!" Kaito chattered in the background.
She paused, thinking back. "I saw him drawing his gun. He aimed it, and I moved with his finger as he pulled the trigger, and it only grazed my arm. Then I broke his arm."
"That's so cool Iwannatry-"
"Nope," snapped his mom.
"But Ma-"
"No." There was a certain finality to her voice that only a parent can achieve. He didn't try to bring up the topic of dodging bullets again.
Ran giggled, then remembered she was laughing about narrowly escaping death and capture by a brutal crime syndicate, and that Conan was still out there.
"Everyone, I'm glad you're okay. I need to get back to helping out, and I've got a lot more phone calls to make. Take care! Especially you Kaito! Listen to your mom!"
There was a chorus of good-byes, and she ended the call. She continued flipping through her messages.
Sonoko had sent a link to a restaurant she wanted to go to on a date. Sonoko had no idea what had happened the past 48 hours, did she? She could really use some girlfriend time. Ran dialed her. As she retold the story to Sonoko, she didn't feel the need to hold back her tears or how tired and scared she was. Sonoko let it all come and go, her gentle jokes and sympathy came through the phone like a long, warm hug. Finally her girlfriend swore to get to the police station and give her an actual hug, no matter how long it took her, seeing as the bus system wasn't running yet.
Finally feeling calm and happy again, she went back to checking her messages.
There was an anonymous one, from an email that was a random series of numbers and letters. The subject read, "Conan". Hoping it was from the defector, she opened it.
It wasn't. It was a series of pictures of Conan curled up like a cat, fast asleep on a hospital bed. The last one was of him strapped down to it, eyes half open and head lolling. His fists were clenched, and his jaw was lax, hanging open. His bangs were glued to his forehead with sweat. Was he drugged? The contrast had been raised so the bruises that weren't very visible in the first pictures were clearly visible in the last. The worst was a ring-shaped one on his temple. Ran remembered watching that one form from the concussion he got in the explosion. Then there was an address, and the words, "COME ALONE".
In the station, she could hear reports about them taking down agent after agent. There was no way she'd come alone. If fact, it was stupid to go at all. Her injuries limited her movements too much, and she was still too exhausted to put up much of a meaningful fight. She could let the police sweep them up, and find out Conan's location from them. If that didn't work, she'd find Conan by making sure the organization was ripped to shreds and there was no ground left for them to stand on.
"Hakuba!" she yelled. He jerked awake, his eyes blurry and a bit of drool on the side of his cheek. "The kidnappers delivered their ransom note." She held out her cellphone for Hakuba to see the message.
"Stop moving," the paramedic plead.
"Sorry." She stiffened her pose. "Hakuba, I can't run around at the moment, can you get this to someone so they can pick up whoever is there to pick me up?"
"Yessem'!" He grabbed her phone and ran off to find someone free, or free-ish, to go to the address listed and bring them down.
The paramedic finished, and she pulled on her bloody shirt.
She went off to find the phone bank and ran into Sonoko, who had had her family driver break a few speed limits getting her there. She was asking, or rather commanding them to tell her where Ran was. Her face was red from the cold air and worry. Ran sped over and swept her up in a hug, ignoring the staring faces around her. She really needed this intimacy, this connection with another human being right now. She could feel Sonoko's breath catch, her heart hammering in her chest, her soft hips pressed against her own, tired, aching ones. She smelled fresh, like the perfumes in cleaning products, and her straight brown hair tickled Ran's cheek. She buried her face in Sonoko's neck and shoulder, and stayed there a while.
When the hug finally broke off, Sonoko looked into Ran's eyes and said softly, "How can I help?"
Ran's breath caught in her throat. "You already are," she choked out.
Ran and Sonoko shared a cheep and greasy meal from a vender down the street, the best the police could do for them in the situation. It was made more tasty by cuddling in the break room while eating. Cheers erupted from the squad room. Curious, they put aside their meal to see what the commotion was about.
"Hey, what's going on? Who'd they catch?" she called, grinning.
The atmosphere immediately chilled, and they all turned to look at her. Inspector Nakamori broke the silence by stepping forward. "Miss Suzuki, will you come with me? There's something I need to speak with you in private about."
The other officers' eyes followed her, holding their breath. Ran tried to follow too, but Inspector Nakamori told her to return to Hakuba.
He led her to an interrogation room, and sat her down. "I don't understand; what's going on?" she asked.
"The boss of the organization has been caught," he said watching her carefully.
"So? That's a good thing, right?" she said, leaning forward. "Why is everyone acting strange?"
Better tell her, to observe her reaction. "It's your grandfather, and possibly your grandmother too."
She gaped at him. "You're joking right?"
"I'm afraid not. They were captured by the CIA a few hours ago."
She shook her head, crossing her arms. "No way. They're cranky and old, but other than that, harmless."
The inspector sighed. "They may be old and cranky, but they aren't harmless. Word from the FBI is that they were caught in a conference with two known members of the organization. They have it on recording, and they talked about you."
She bit her lip. "What did they have to say?" Glancing up at him, she added, "I'm sure you wouldn't try to pull a prank like this on me, but I need proof."
"I'll get it." He got up and left the room.
From the camera, the policemen watched her pace in the room, occasionally stopping to say to herself, "This can't be true… they wouldn't do that to me, would they?"
After twenty minutes, the inspector returned, bearing a laptop. He set it down on the table, and Sonoko sat down quickly before it. There was a sound-clip loaded up. The inspector clicked the [Play] button.
A deep voice filled the small room.
"If you keep her off the hit list they'll get suspicious. You need to keep yourselves anonymous."
"You don't have enough reverence for the bonds of family, Gin." It was unmistakably her grandmother's reedy voice. Sonoko stifled a cry and jumped out of her chair. "You almost blew Sonoko up on the Bell Tree Express Train. Thank goodness Vermouth and Bourbon had the good sense to isolate Sherry in the luggage compartment and blow up that one alone. It's important to insure the existence of the following generations. If we don't, our noble venture will fail."
Then the hoarse voice of Sonoko's grandfather, commanding. "Scientists were the first to go missing. The leak is probably there. Find it. And, while you're at it, assign someone to dispose of Ran Mouri. Bourbon's plan to bring her in has most definitely failed at this point, judging by your injuries."
"Yes sir. With your permission, ma'am…" The recording ended.
Sonoko was shaking. "Grampa just…" She back away from the computer as though it was a rabid dog. "…put out a hit…" Her back hit the wall, and she slid to the ground. "…on my girlfriend." She pulled her knees up and rested her head on them. Her shoulders shuddered with her sobs.
The inspector closed the lid of the laptop. This girl hadn't been involved, at least not knowingly. He picked up the laptop, and stepped out. "Miss Mouri? You can come in now."
Ran ripped past him the moment the words left his lips. She stood before her best friend, confidant, and lover and said in a hoarse voice. "Sonoko."
She looked up. Her eyes were swollen, and tears wove a bed of salt trails down her cheeks.
"I don't blame you." She slid down the wall to her side. Reaching out, she softly touched her lover's trembling back.
Her hair and skin still reeked of smoke and sweat, but Sonoko didn't care. She fell into that stench, into the arms she loved. "Can I change my name to Mouri? I don't want to be a Suzuki anymore."
"It's be my pleasure to share my name with you," Ran whispered, her breath stirring the hair on the top of Sonoko's head.
At least they knew why the grandparents had been so insistent about Sonoko's future plans. Had her parents known? Ran brushed aside those thoughts, to focus on comforting her girlfriend. She'd helped Ran, now it was time for Ran to help her.
Author's Note
Okay, one of my stupidest crack theories involves knowledge of Japanese demonstrative adjectives and how the boss is referred as while being deliberately vague.
A demonstrative adjective describes where in relation to the speaker and listener an object is in space or time. In English, we have 4 of them:
this/these, here (close to the speaker)
that/those, there (far from the speaker)
Japanese doesn't mark plurals (usually), and has 3, the roots of which are:
"ko-"closer to speaker
"so-" closer to the listener
"a-" far from both speaker and listener
These combine with suffixes:
"-no" for adjectives
"-re" for nouns
"-ko" for place-nouns ("ako" is rare though, people prefer to combine it with "so-" to make "asoko.")
The pronoun "ano kata" is used to refer to the boss, and it means "that person."
You could read "Sonoko" as "sono ko" - "this child."
Yeah, it's stupid. But it's still fun, and I get to teach people Japanese demonstrative adjectives in the process.
また来週！ (See you next week!)
dreamingfifi