Secrets and Lies: Chapter 17

The staff at the Haido City Hotel weren't quite sure what to think about the Midori family. That afternoon the dark haired parents, their brown haired teenage son who was wearing a blue suit and their twin girls had arrived looking very rushed and they all kept looking around them suspiciously at the women kept patting her handbag for some reason. They had booked the largest and most expensive suite in the hotel and had paid up front with a large amount of cash that the husband had produced from his pocket. The husband had also seemed a little strained in his manner and he had been holding his arm for most of the time.

They had also paid the staff extra to deny that they were staying there if they were asked about a large family that had checked into the hotel that day.

What had cemented the impression of the Midori family was that a few hours after they had arrived and settled in a teenage boy dressed in a white suit with a blue shirt underneath that was a little worse for wear had come running into the reception asking if he could see a family with 2 little girls that had checked in a few hours ago. With the orders fresh in their mind the staff at the front desk had denied that there was such a family staying in the hotel. The mysterious boy wouldn't take no for an answer and then a younger boy with black hair and glasses had pulled him by the arm up the stairs.

"Kuroba, I told you to wait for me to ring them for their room number," Conan reprimanded Kaito as they walked up a flight of stairs. "It's Room 2408 and it's on the top floor. I think we'll take the lift instead of walking. It's a long way to go by stairs."

"Sorry," Kaito apologised brushing his suit and trying to pick particles of dirt off. "I can't wait to see Aoko, that's all."

"Don't worry. I can't wait to see Haibara either." Conan caught Kaito's glance and realised what it had sounded like. "She has got an antidote prepared."

The FBI had cleared out the warehouse an hour ago and Kaito had only just got back into Tokyo. The surviving members of the Black Organisation Kir, Vodka and Chardonnay had been arrested and taken to the police station. It would have looked suspicious if Kir hadn't been arrested and Vermouth and Gin's bodies had been taken to the mortuary. Conan hoped that it wouldn't disappear on the way like Snake's had, but he knew it probably would never arrive as it probably held too many secrets. He had formulated a new plan for drawing out the Black Organisation and needed to run it past everyone.

Heiji Hattori had rung to say that Kazuha had come out of surgery and seemed to be fine, but he didn't want to leave her bedside in case she woke up. He had promised to be there if there was a big showdown and was disappointed to hear that he had missed out on some action. However he was glad that Gin had died; he had started off the entire mess by administering Kudo with the APTX 4869 in the first place. If it wasn't for him Kudo would still be a big headed teenage detective and Kazuha would be unharmed, but would be ignorant of his true feelings for her. Maybe Gin had done some good.

Aoko flung her arms around Kaito's neck without needing to stretch as soon as he set foot in the hotel suit. He was so tired that it took him a few seconds longer than it should have to notice that she hadn't needed to stand on tiptoes and that she was back to her normal teenage size.

He held her out at arm's length to make sure that he wasn't being driven insane by fatigue and worry. He blinked a few times and then pulled her into a tight hug and buried his face in her damp hair. He had missed her. She looked up at him.

"Welcome back Kaito," she greeted kissing him lightly on the lips. Kaito groaned and deepened the kiss.

Conan who had entered the suite behind Kaito coughed loudly to point out that they were being a little loud, but he couldn't really blame Kaito for grabbing small moments with the person that he loved whilst they were both still alive. Kaito and Aoko had been through a lot in the past few days and both harboured a concern that the other wasn't going to live. Considering what had happened to Kazuha they had a point.

He walked past the kissing couple and over to Haibara who was perched on a single bed in the corner reading a science magazine. His eyes surveyed the bedroom of the suite. The door to the adjoining room was open and he could see his mother's back and could hear Hakuba's voice.

"So the antidote works then?"

Ai looked up without smiling. "It seems to have been stable for the past few hours and I hope it really is the permanent one," she answered seriously, looking over at Aoko. "I copied as much data as I could before we ran onto a memory stick so if it doesn't work I don't have to start from scratch. However I'm hoping that this is the one."

"Uh, was that your only pill?" Conan enquired casually, or he hoped he sounded casual.

Ai wasn't fooled. "I have 2 others. I suggest you consult everyone else before you take it though."

Kaito and Aoko drew apart as they caught their breath.

"Nice pyjamas," Kaito quipped enjoying the sight of Aoko in hotel issue pyjamas that were several sizes too big for her and damp hair.

"We're kind of low on adult size clothes here," Aoko smiled at him. "Have you heard about anything else that happened at 2-22 Beika? Agasa-Hakase stayed behind to guard Okiya so the FBI could take him into custody."

"Really? We haven't heard anything from the FBI since we split to get here."

Aoko frowned and then she brightened as she remembered the gadgets that Hakase had made for her. ""Agasa-Hakase made me something so that we can keep track of each other," she walked over to her bedside table and unwrapped the newspaper that wrapped it. She held up a silver locket on a chain. "This one is for me."

She threw a slim metal disc at him that was about the size of his watch face.

"What's this?"

"Since he didn't have time to say much I don't know, but I assume it's to go on the back of your watch. My locket can track your watch and vice versa. There's also a small communicator in both of them and they're both on the same frequency so we can communicate with each other," Aoko explained clasping the necklace around her neck. "I think he has made something similar for Kudo-kun."

Kaito took off his watch and pressed to the disc onto the back. It stuck to the back immediately. As he was putting his watch back on his stomach rumbled. He looked at Aoko apologetically.

"Sorry. I haven't eaten anything since the rice crackers this afternoon and I have burnt a lot of calories."

"None of us have eaten yet. I think we're forbidden from calling room service so I'll go ask the adults about what we're going to do for food."

An hour later the 3 Kudos, Kaito, Aoko, Hakuba and Ai were gathered around a table of convenience store bentos and rice balls in their hotel suite. Conan was just ending a phone call with Jodie Starling.

"Don't worry. I'm formulating a plan at the moment. Bye." He snapped his phone shut and picked up his chopsticks.

"Gin and Vermouth's corpses disappeared en route to the mortuary," he informed everyone through a mouthful of rice. "There is definitely a Black Organisation member of informer in the 1st Division. Luckily Kir and the others are staying with the FBI for now.

"Who in the Police were informed about the incident at the warehouse and the dead bodies?" Yusaku asked.

"Megure-Keibu's team; Sato, Takagi, Shiratori and Chiba. The Black Organisation is closer to me than I thought. Of course any of them could have let it slip to another Police Officer and we could have been followed from the warehouse, but they were instructed to keep it quiet and I don't think that the Black Organisation knew anything was amiss until a little later. "

"I don't think that Megure is Black Organisation. He is an old friend. Then again most peoples' allegiances can be turned by the right stimulus," Yusaku interjected.

"True, but I told Jodie Starling only to inform a few people in the Police so I could narrow down the suspects. It worked."

"You're that devious?" Hakuba raised his eyebrows. "I can't say much. I'm the son of a member of the Black Organisation after all."

"Only slightly. As for ideas for the identity of Anokata, I'm stumped. Vermouth told me that the current one was new and the old one was dead. She also said that I knew the person. It could be anyone."

"I think we're going to be asking Rena Mizunashi a lot of questions, but since not even Gin knew about the change she isn't likely to know much."

"How's Ran-chan and Mouri-san?" Yukiko enquired. "You said the FBI kept them for questioning and that Ran-chan knows the truth now."

"Jodie said they were asleep and she also knows who I am. It's all coming out now," Conan said wryly.

"It is," Yusaku agreed. "We need to hit the Black Organisation now when they're still reeling from the sudden loss of some of their best agents. I have an idea, but it needs some work. I wanted to discuss it with everyone to get their feedback."

"Who's going to be bait?" Ai asked shrewdly, beginning to get a bad feeling. "It's not me is it?"

"It's Hakuba-kun."

Anokata knew that he had been manipulated. After an hour of no contact from the warehouse he knew there was something going on. Then a short while after a call from the FBI agent Jodie Starling who was known to the Organisation had called the 1st Division to inform them that Kogoro Mori and Ran Mori had been attacked by a known criminal gang and she and some other agents had rescued them from a warehouse on the outskirts of Tokyo, but there had been a few casualties and the bodies of 2 members of the gang were on the way to mortuary.

He had immediately ordered the bodies to be intercepted and disposed of. He was glad one of them was Vermouth and wasn't too saddened by the death of Gin; the man was too sadistic for his own good.

Anokata had only found out later that only a few people had been informed about the attack and he knew he had been tricked into forcing his hand. He had to get to the root of the problem know before the FBI did anything else. He considered the main root of the problem to be Conan Edogawa, Saguru Hakuba, Kaito Kuroba, Kaito Kid and Aoko Nakamori after he had heard about the failed attack on 2-22 Beika and he inferred that Okiya who had proved to be the be a useful agent had also been taken by the FBI.