Secrets and Lies: Chapter 13

Attired in white and breathing hard Kaito landed on top of a tree gracefully and silently without injuring himself. He deactivated the hang glider and climbed down and stopped at the bottom to catch his breath. It had been an action packed hour. It was worse than the time he had gone on a date with Aoko at Tropical Land and had to do a heist in forty minutes and return before she suspected anything.

He had called Jii and ordered him to meet him outside Beika Hotel which was just the right height for him to take off from. He had also asked for his spare hang glider that he kept at Jii's house in case of an emergency which this certainly counted as. After he had grabbed his hang glider and taken off he had had to fight against the wind to find the traffic jam that Kudo had said the Black Organisation van would be caught up in. He had eventually managed to track down the van after flying over a few times. He had found it just in time to see it turn off to the right and into a lay-by. He had double checked the registration with his binoculars just in case he was mistaken.

He hadn't been seen by any of the cars yet as all the drivers were concentrating on the road rather than looking up at the sky. Even if people did look up he had hoped that they would mistake him for a very large white bird. He had known that if any Black Organisation members looked up they would not jump to that conclusion so he was being as careful as he could.

In the lay-by there had been another van of the same model waiting, but that one had been white and empty. He had watched as the two people in the front got out the first van, walked round and opened the back doors. Both had been wearing black and hats, but he had observed that one was a woman with dark hair. The other he hadn't been so sure about. The person had long light coloured hair, but their figure had been more masculine. Kaito had known that he had definitely found the right vehicle due to the ominous feeling that they two people gave off and by their dark attire.

Two men had jumped out the back and had dragged out the detective and Ran Mori. He hadn't been sure what he should do when Ran had nearly escaped. Kudo had told him to watch and follow rather than interfere. When the two prisoners had been transferred into the other van another women with long blonde hair had got out the first van and slowly walked over whilst smoking a cigarette. She had looked up once and Kaito was afraid that she had spotted him, but she had looked down again smirking. One of the men had shouted at her and she picked up the pace and got in the back. The van had the driven off. Kaito had realised that he had seen a skilful 2 minute vehicle swap which had been done so they couldn't be traced by their vehicle. It had been lucky that he was there.

He had followed the van from the air until it reached the warehouse. Now he was unsure what to do. If they shot the prisoners, would he be blamed for not doing anything to save them? If he went rushing in now they would be shot anyway along with him and no one would know what had happened or where he was. If he let Ran die would Kudo be angry at him? Calm down, he told himself. He was getting too worked up and worried. He should probably just collect information and tell Kudo where he was for the moment rather than plan a rescue.

Kaito was sure that the women with long blonde hair that he had seen smoking was Vermouth, the women that had fed Aoko APTX 4869. Conan had described her and shown him a picture of her as Chris Vineyard, the famous actress which was apparently quite close to her real face. That left the question of who the other four were. The other woman must be the CIA mole Kir. Kudo had also told him about a pair that always went round together and were called Gin and Vodka. Apparently Gin was tall and had long silvery blonde hair and Vodka was shorter and always wore sunglasses even in the dark. So the other man must be someone that Kudo didn't know about.

He pulled out his mobile phone from his pocket and called Kudo to tell him what was going on and to ask what he should do.

"So Nemuri no Kogoro, what do you know about the Organisation? Who have you told?" Gin questioned lighting up a cigarette.

He was sitting in a chair opposite his prisoner. The daughter was lying unconscious on the floor with her handcuffs still on and was being watched by a nervous and armed Kir. Vermouth was behind Gin and Vodka was standing by the entrance and the other Black Organisation member was patrolling outside.

Kogoro blinked and spoke slowly. "Organisation?"

"Don't play dumb. It won't help you or your daughter."

Kogoro really didn't have a clue what was going on. The people that had kidnapped him and Ran were obviously well prepared, armed and willing to kill. The killing of Ran's friend proved that. He didn't have any idea who they were though. He hadn't run up any serious gambling debts recently so that ruled out the possibility of them being violent bailiffs. According to them he was supposed to know who they were, but he didn't know a thing. And what was Rena Mizunashi doing there?

He would have to convince them that he was telling the truth so they would realise that they had made a mistake and would hopefully let him and Ran go. He looked at his captor in the eye with an unwavering gaze. "I have never heard of "The Organisation" before this. You must have mistaken me for someone else. Please let my daughter and I go."

Gin dismissed his denial instantly. Of course the detective wouldn't confess without being coerced. He stamped out his cigarette with his heel. Maybe a different question would work.

"How's Sherry?"

Kogoro blinked again, puzzled. Sherry? What was this man talking about now? First something about an organisation and now alcohol. At least that was a question he could answer.

"I prefer drinking beer and whisky to Sherry."

Gin ignored his answer again. He nodded to Vodka who stepped forward and punched the prisoner in the gut. Kogoro groaned and slumped forward in the chair.

"Don't pretend to be ignorant. Some of your cases have involved us. You can't deny that you know about us. For example you tracked down a computer programmer called Suguru Itakura and stole that programme that he was working on for us and tried to trap one of our agents into leaving his fingerprints and taking it with him so you could track us. It's undeniable. You had the necessary information. At the crime scene where he was killed by an unrelated person a disk containing his diary was copied and never appeared again. You took it and found out about what he was doing," Gin said. He was tired of denials and wanted to cut to the chase and get it over with as soon as possible. "Speak now and we'll spare your daughter. Clam up and she'll die a painful death."

Kogoro was frustrated. He really didn't know a thing. He knew that he didn't remember many of his cases so the man could be telling the truth about him solving cases that involved his organisation. At most crime scenes he always felt a sharp pricking in his neck and the next thing he knew he was being congratulated on another brilliant deduction. However he did remember a part of the case in question, but he didn't remember solving the murder case.

"I only remember tracking Itakura down. I don't remember much after finding his body."

"So you're saying that you are called Nemuri no Kogoro because you actually sleep and solve this case in your sleep?" Gin asked sceptically whilst lighting another cigarette. Was the man actually dumb enough to think that he would believe something like that? He needed to test him. "If X is equal to 25 and Y² makes X how many values can Y have?"

"Uh, 5² makes 25?"

Gin put out his cigarette and sat up straight. "Am I left handed or right handed?"

"I don't know."

"What is a Pascal?"

"Isn't it a magazine about television?

" Gin knew that he had asked enough questions. He knew how to separate a lucky idiot from a smart detective. Even a ten year old should be able to work out that -5² makes 25 as well as the obvious 5². A good detective must also be observant and a good observer would have noted what hand he used the most. He raised his voice so that everyone in the warehouse could hear. "He doesn't know a thing."

Kogoro's shoulders sagged in relief. Now that this man knew he was telling the truth he and Ran might be able to get out with their lives intact.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this man couldn't deduct his way out of a paper bag. Someone else is solving these cases for him as well as using his name." Gin switched his attention back to Kogoro. "Do you feel anything just before you go to sleep? Like a prick for instance?"

"Yes, normally there is a sharp pain in my neck."

"As I thought. Is there a person that is with you every time you do a Nemuri no Kogoro?"

"Come to think of it, my daughter is and that pesky freeloader Conan is always pestering me at crime scenes."

Gin smiled in satisfaction, he had got what he wanted. It had been a good interrogation. "Wake the girl up," he ordered, standing up. He whirled around suddenly. He hated having to work with Vermouth; she never really did anything besides make sarcastic comments and annoy him. However during this operation she had been oddly quiet and distracted. It could have been the fear that they had all being feeling, that the end of Black Organisation was coming, but he didn't think that she would show it if she felt that fear. No, it was something else. She hadn't made a single snarky comment yet and she seemed nervous. He remembered that she had also been like that too when Chianti had been just about to shoot Kogoro Mori. There was definitely a connection between them that he wasn't aware of. He decided to test his theory.

"Vermouth, you haven't done anything yet. You can kill the detective. We've got all the information that we need from him anyway," he suggested, observing her reaction closely. "It's our orders from that person. Remember? You could kill him slowly like that girl I shot and left dying in the fire. It's more fun that way." Gin took his gun out its holster and held it out to her in his hand. She blanched away slightly and there was a strange look in her eyes.

"Shouldn't we verify that what he is saying is true before we do anything hasty?" Vermouth replied as calmly as she could whilst lighting a cigarette with a barely discernable shaking hand. "You can't get anything out of him once he is on the other side."

Gin shrugged, acting unconcernedly. "Why bother? We have got two names out of him and he had never heard of us before. We can interrogate his daughter next. She seems a more likely suspect than her father anyway. She could have used his name easily and she is almost the same age as Sherry."

"I think we should ask him for information about his daughter and this Conan person. Besides we can use him for leverage when we are questioning his daughter," Vermouth said walking over and sitting in his chair. She crossed her legs and took a long drag from her cigarette. She had to act natural so Gin wouldn't suspect anything. If she didn't he would kill her.

I would like to finish this before I go back to school as I won't be able to work on it because I will be preparing for a lot of exams. So I am writing it faster. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. You keep me going!