A New Beginning:

Chapter 13

The agent known as Bourbon should have known better than to leave a window open and not to investigate suspicious noises which he would have heard if he had not had headphones and was not listening into audio feed from various planted bugs.

It had been a simple matter for Kaito to gain entry though the already open window, sneak up behind him and to know him unconscious with a jab from the stun gun. He handcuffed Bourbon's arms and legs to his bed upstairs and blindfolded him as an extra precaution.

Once he had darkened his skin tone and a put on the wig and Bourbon's clothes he sat down at Bourbon's computer and wiggled the mouse as the screen had gone blank in the time he had taken to secure him. When the screen came back on he saw that he had a whole list of choices for camera feed to watch as well as audio feed.

He scrolled down the list of camera feed and clicked #hospital just to see how many cameras there were and a selection of locations and camera angles popped up including one of Hakuba sitting alone outside the operating theatre. Kaito cursed out loud. The village really was under surveillance. He closed down the feed and checked the list to see if his house was an option. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was not.

As he was checking to see if there were any bugs inside the hospital the mobile phone lying on the desk rang and he realised that he couldn't impersonate Bourbon on the phone as he had never heard his voice, but he couldn't ignore the call either as the person on the other end would know that there was something going on so he pressed the green phone icon and held it to his ear after noting that the caller ID said "unknown".

"Oi, Bourbon, have they made any moves next? I'm getting bored here," a synthesised voice spoke as soon as he picked up the call.

The fact that the voice had been disguised gave Kaito hope. If synthesising your voice on the phone was the policy in The Organisation then he should be able to get away with impersonating Bourbon.

"No, they haven't made any moves yet," he answered, assuming that "they" was himself, Hakuba and Conan. He wondered if the person he was talking to was Gin or another agent.

"Well, I would have thought that getting Nakamori to kill herself would have gotten Kid to do something. After all he did say that he was going to kill me."

So the person he was taking to was Gin, Kaito thought and since he hasn't reacted to my voice it must come out synthesised on his end.

"They are all sitting outside the operating theatre. There hasn't been any movement yet."

"Hm, Strange, I thought that they would have a plan at least knowing the blonde brat," Gin surmised. "Call me when any of them leave the hospital."

Kaito decided to risk it and push for a little information.

"Where are you now?"

"Sitting in the car in the next town waiting for the sun to go down or until they start making a move. I'm getting bored out of my brain and Vermouth is up to something and I can't get hold of her," Gin complained before hanging up.

Kaito pondered the significance of the time of day that would cause The Organisation to make a move. He recognised the name Vermouth though. The name had come up a lot when he had been investigating The Organisation: apparently she was a favourite of the boss and could get away with doing a lot of things that the others wouldn't be able to. The head of The Organisation must be serious about getting rid of us if they brought in Vermouth in addition to the others, Kaito mused.

After checking the location of the cameras he decided to give Hakuba a call not caring that phones weren't allowed to be switched on in hospitals- he knew Hakuba would have his on.

The detective picked up after the first rings.

"Hakuba, did you know that this place is crawling with cameras? I can even see you right now."

"Last time I checked before you arrived there were none. They must have added them after they became aware that you two were here," Hakuba said thoughtfully.

"Gin called."

"Did he guess that you were not Bourbon?

"Both our voices were disguised, I knew it was him though from some of the things that he said," Kaito informed him. "I managed to gain a location for him. He's in the next town waiting for us to make a move or until this evening."

"Hmm… Did he say anything else?"

"He said he had lost track of Vermouth."

Hakuba groaned. "Damn, that woman is involved. She is good at sniffing out traps. But I still don't know much about her. She is a dark horse."

"Ask Sherry," Kaito suggested. "She's just about to walk around the corner. Oh, and what am I supposed to do now?"

"Search his house, copy the date from his computer and keep an eye on everything. I will call you later when Nakamori-san is out of surgery."

Hakuba ended the call and eyed the reddish blonde haired 7 year old in front of him and debated how he should go about his questioning. They had never really had a proper conversation before as they usually ended in snipes and insults and she had only arrived the day before. He decided to go for the direct approach.

"Vermouth."

The girl's pupils dilated and she flinched. "W-Where?" she stuttered spinning her head around to look behind her.

"Kuroba has informed me that she is involved and I wondered if you knew her," he said casually, intrigued by her reaction.

She shuddered and gulped nervously before replying.

"She's a master of disguise, she can get away with anything that she likes because she is Anokata's favourite and she was one of the first members to be recruited, for her age she looks surprisingly young, she's not well liked by a lot of people and Gin especially hates her," she reeled off quickly. "That's all I know. Please don't ask my anything else."

Hakuba narrowed his eyes and ignored her request. "Why are you so scared of her?"

Haibara started to shake so Hakuba sat her down next to him and pattered her head. He prayed that Kaito was not watching them now.

"She killed my parents and threatened to kill me if my productivity ever went down," she said eventually when she had stopped shaking. "She has hounded me a lot over the years and I developed the ability to sense her even when she is in disguise."

"It's all right. She isn't going to hurt you and I will not let her," Hakuba said softly and wiped her nose with his handkerchief, praying even harder that Kaito really was not watching. Then he turned back to his normal businesslike self. "Did you finish the antidote?"

Haibara sat up and handed the handkerchief back.

"Luckily the hospital laboratory had all the right chemicals, but I don't know if it will work; it might just be temporary," she said and handed him a small pill.

"It does not matter really. It was a long shot to start with as you don't have your original data." He pocketed the pill. "I will give it to Kudo later."

After making his last phone call Conan sighed and yawned. At times like this he wished that he could get in contact with his father who could been able to come up with the perfect strategy, unfortunately his parent were unaware of what had happened to him and were living in an unknown location in South America to get some peace.

He scratched his head as he walked back through the hospital to the operating theatre on his way he met Hakuba and Haibara standing in front of the vending machine.

"Ah, there you are Kudo," Hakuba said, turning around to face him. "Nakamori-san is out of surgery and is unconscious, but you can g in and sit with her."

"Which room is she in?"

Hakuba pointed to the open door opposite him. Conan entered and closed the door behind him. Silently he regarded the dark haired woman lying still in the bed with bandages around her wrists and her heartbeat registered on a machine next to her. Her hair was still soaked red from earlier and Conan leaned in to sniff it analytically.

"Corn syrup and food colouring" he muttered to himself, and then he spoke in a louder voice. "You can open your eyes now, Ran."

The woman in the bed opened her eyes slowly and looked at him.

"Hello Shinichi."