A/N

alright everyone here is the next Chapter, I do apologize for taking so long. But this particular chapter was difficult to write. I am starting on the epilogue on Monday. This chapter was edited by naruisawesome the nieces beta-reader ever. Than you all who reviewed and supported this story

The Case on Valentine's Day. Part 13.

When they arrive at Mai's location, Lin parks the van twenty feet away from the house, not wanting the kidnapper to spot them before they could save her. Naru opens the passenger side door and steps out of the van while Lin takes the key out of the ignition and puts the keys into his trouser pocket. He takes off his seatbelt and follows the young man out. After making sure all the doors and windows are locked, they make their way to the house. Naru receives a text message from Bou-san.

"We're here. What would you like us to do?"

"Stay hidden and keep your eyes open for the kidnapper."

"Roger that!" Bou-san texts back.

When Naru and Lin finally make it to the edge of the property, Lin looks left and right. Seeing no one there he walks to the first window and peeks inside. He sees Mai huddled in a corner so he taps on the window to get her attention. Mai lifts her head and runs quickly to the window with a smile on her face. Lin puts his finger to his lips telling her to be silent, making Mai close her mouth and nod. Naru walks up to Lin and hands him a little black bag. Lin opens it, and once he finds what he's looking for, he hands the bag back to Naru. He puts the safety goggles over his eyes and a pair of gloves on. Mai steps away from the window, recognizing the item in Lin's hand. The tall man begins to cut the edges of the glass. Carefully he pulls the glass away from the frame, after he finished cutting it. Before Mai could climb out of the window the door to the room suddenly opens with a bang.

"No!" Curtis Black shouts frantically. He launches himself towards Mai, but before he could reach her, Lin pulls her out of the window. Curtis pulls out his gun and begins to shoot at them. Naru and Lin do their best not to get hit. When Mai yelps in pain Lin stops running to check on her. Seeing that her shoulder is bleeding he takes out his handkerchief and puts it over her shoulder. Naru hands Lin the little black bag once more and he pulls out the first aid kit, wrapping Mai's shoulder in a gauze. Mai, Lin, and Naru start running again.

"What's going on?" Bou-san questions, watching the three run away.

"I don't know." John frowns.

"Let's go see." Ayako suggests.

"Maybe we should wait for the police..." Masako murmurs, her kimono sleeve covering up her face.

"What is wrong with you, Masako?" Bou-san shouts. "I am not waiting for the police to show up, I'm going to go help rescue Mai-chan." He retorted angrily. Bou-san turns around and runs in the general area of the house. Ayako swears loudly and goes after him. John says a quick prayer before running as well.

Masako's Pov

I shake my head at their stupidity. There is no way I would jump in front of a bullet for anyone. I turn away from the house and hope that the police would come quickly. But Mai-chan has risked her life to save mine when we were at the prime minister's mansion and I still haven't forgotten the promise I made that day.

~Flashback~

"Thank you, Mai. This really helped."

"No way! I thought I gave this to you in my dreams..."

I shrugged my shoulders. 'I promise to help you in any way I can, Mai.' Masako thought to herself.

~End of flashback~

I'm truly ashamed of myself. Now I understand why Bou-san yelled at me I turn around again and run back to the house. But when I get to the edge of the property Naru, Lin, Bou-san, Ayako, John, and Mai were running as if the fires of hell were after them.

"Masako, don't just stand there! Run!" Ayako grabs my hand and pulls me along.

"Everyone get into the van!" Naru shouts.

Lin unlocks the van and everyone jumps inside. He takes his keys out of his pocket and starts up the van.

Meanwhile, Curtis Black was cursing under his breath. Why you ask? Because his 9 millimeter pistol jammed three times and he's already out of bullets. And the team is already attempting to escape. When they hear sirens coming closer, he decides like any criminal to make his escape. He turns away from the SPR van and runs quickly to his own vehicle. Before he could drive away ten cop cars surrounds him. Detective Yukimura gets out of his vehicle and begins to speak.

"We have you surrounded. Step away from the vehicle and put your hands over your head where I can see them." Detective Yukimura walks over to Mr. Black's car. He takes a pair of handcuffs and puts them over Mr. Black's wrists. But before Detective Yukimura could walk him over to a patrol car Curtis Black takes out a gun.

"There's no way in hell I'm going back to prison!" Curtis Black says with conviction. Before the detective could stop him, he turns the gun on himself and pulls the trigger. The detective catches the body before he could hit the ground. He sighs and says a prayer for the dead man in his arms. Even if he was a criminal, the detective detested the loss of a life. 'After all if you would have gotten the help and support, lives wouldn't have been lost. I'm getting too old for this, maybe I should consider retirement.'

After declaring the area to be safe, the SPR members come out of the van. Lin escorts Mai over to one of the ambulances to have her shoulder checked. Naru walks over to the detective and gives him the details of what happened before his arrival. The detective thanks them, and Naru walks back to the group.

"Now that all of us are present, let's finish up this case."

Everyone nods their heads in agreement. They get into their cars and drive back to the restaurant. Once back at the there, Naru calls the wife and tells her what happened. She comes to the restaurant to say goodbye to her husband.

After her husband disappears, she turns to Naru and thanks him along, with everyone else, for solving her husband's murder. When the owner heard the news the restaurant wasn't haunted and a murder was solved, she was overjoyed and thanked them as well. The team gathers up their equipment and leaves the restaurant in good spirits.