Four points of the same star.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Detective Conan.
-...- transceiver talk
A.N: Corrections made
FOUR POINTS OF THES SAME STAR Chapter 24: Dealing with the Organisation (A)
Four figures were running in the woods as fast as possible.
There wasn't a path to follow so they just ran among the trees, hoping that no one was following them. They stopped only five minutes later when they found a group of trees and bushes that created a kind of thick wall. They hid there behind the trunks for a while, catching their breath.
"Rei.." Ryu said as he took a few deep breaths, "Use... your... glasses."
The girl nodded and put on her X-ray glasses: she looked around for a few minutes and then took them off.
"No one.. in the range of 20 meters." she said. Then, looking at the others, "What are we going to do?"
"Good question..." Shinichi said, sliding to the ground with his back still on the tree trunk, "We are in a great mess."
"I think that 'mess' is an understatement." Shiho remarked, as she sat on the ground, too, "They were waiting for us: they knew that we would have come here."
"The car.." Ryu said, "Yesterday, Vodka was waiting for us: he knew that we would have done something."
"Then, he probably recognised me." Rei stated, "But he let me go just to catch the four of us instead of just one."
"It was a trap and we fell in it completely." Shinichi said, "It's already a miracle if we didn't blow up before. And all thanks to you, Ryu."
"You know something?" the blonde boy remarked, "That explosion was only a demonstration: I realised it only now. If that man wanted to kill us, he could have fired at our car: one shot to the fuel tank or the engine and we were history without even understanding what had happened. I don't even know if he wanted to kill us."
"Well, he fired at you, Ryu." Shiho said, "If Shinichi hadn't noticed him in front of us, you would have been shot."
"That's the point.. it's all so.. unclear." Ryu pressed on, "Why drag us here just to kill us? If they knew that we four are together and that we are in Beika, they could have caught us there. Why put up such a play with Vodka waiting in the car?"
"You've got a point." Rei remarked, "But there's also another fact: they had foreseen all our actions. They knew that we would have put a device on the car and that we would have followed them."
"They probably know us better than we thought." Shinichi said.
They stayed in silence for a while digesting what they had just discovered.
"So, what are we going to do now?" the detective asked, "We can't stay here forever."
"There was only one man there." Ryu said, "If there had been someone else, we would have been shot. This is reassuring from a point of view but also dreadful from another."
"There could be other men hidden in this forest. It was the most obvious of things that we would have sheltered here if we escaped." Rei remarked, following his reasoning, "God knows how many men could here though.."
"What's so good of only one man being near the house? Shiho asked.
"He could follow us." Ryu explained, "If he leaves his position, we still have the chance to get to the car and leave. Well, unless.."
He didn't finish his sentence because an explosion shattered the silence. Ryu cursed under his breath.
"Unless, he decides to blow up our car as well." Shinichi said, "Plan B?"
"Let me think of it. I was confiding on Plan A."
Rei suddenly hushed them with her hand. As they looked at her, she put her finger on her lips, asking for silence and then pointed to her left. They heard the sound of distant approaching footsteps. The four crouched behind the bushes as much as they could.
"We must get away." Ryu whispered, hardly moving his lips.
"Why?" Rei whispered back, "We could stun them. Both you and I have the revolvers with hypodermic bullets."
"We can't: our guns don't have silencers. I have already revealed our presence, firing before; if we do it now, we'll reveal our position.." Ryu frowned. "I'm sure that all the members have silencers applied to their guns. We are the only ones without them: if we shoot, they will know it's us. It's the only way they have to find us in this maze of trees."
"And we don't know how many are coming." Shiho added softly.
"So, how do we get away?" Shinichi asked, keeping his voice low.
They turned around to see if there was a way to follow so that they could escape but there wasn't one. There were no paths but only a thick forest of tall trees and clumps of bushes. The footsteps were getting closer too. Ryu, Rei, Shinichi and Shiho looked at each other: they had to take a decision. And they had to take it quickly.
They began to talk in low voices.
"Well, the only way to get out of this situation is to distract them." Rei said.
"A decoy?" Shinichi asked and she nodded.
"That could be an idea but... it's risky, especially for the decoy." Ryu remarked, "I think we should split in two groups."
"This would force the ones that follow us to split too." Shiho stated, "But wouldn't that be risky as well?"
"We don't know if they want us alive or dead." Shinichi said, thoughtfully, "Shiho might be right."
"We can't go and ask them, can we?" Ryu retorted, "And consider that we are an easy target if we go around all together. We can be seen easily. If we split in groups of two, we have more chances to hide. This thick forest can give us a bit of advantage."
"We just have to hope that there aren't many of them around." Rei remarked, "In couples and without guns, we are definitely outnumbered and disarmed."
They hushed suddenly as they heard the footsteps get closer. They didn't speak till they were sure they were far from them.
"Let's trust our skills and our luck.." Ryu muttered. Then, looking up, he spoke in a firmer tone. "So, our main objective is to get out of the woods and try to reach a road. Once out, we have to contact the police: it's the only thing we can do... If only we had called Matt to tell him what were doing.."
"He would have fled here with all the FBI men right away." Rei completed with a small smile, "Well, it's not time for regrets."
"Which way should we go?" Shiho asked. Shinichi drew out the map he had hastily stuffed in his pocket, and opened it.
"There are two ways to get to the road." he said, scanning it, "This way, at the east... ehm.. that leads to the road we have come from and then... there's this one. It's a small road, at the west, and.. ehm.. it seems to lead to.. the Bay of Tokyo. Anyway, it's quite a walk for both."
"That's the thing that worries me least." Ryu commented, "We'll keep in contact with the transceivers: Rei, Shinichi and I with the glasses; Shiho, you'll use the earring phone. Another thing, use the guns only if it's really necessary. Any questions?"
No one said anything.
"All right.." he said and then, turning to Shinichi and Shiho, "Which way will you two go?"
"East." he replied, turning to Shiho who nodded in agreement.
"That leaves west to us." Ryu remarked, turning to Rei.
"Ok." she said.
It was all decided but they didn't move. What they were going to do was dangerous and they all had a strange feeling: they looked at each other for a moment.
"We'll make it." Shinichi said with his usual determined tone, "As always."
"Sure." Rei remarked, "We'll see each other later."
"All in one piece." Ryu added.
"And unharmed." Shiho said.
They didn't believe completely their words but nevertheless they gave them a bit more of courage.
"We'll go first." Rei said. She turned to Shinichi and Shiho. "Good luck and be careful."
"Very careful." Ryu remarked, "Don't get involved in a frontal encounter unless it's necessary."
"Same for you." Shiho stated.
"Take care." Shinichi said.
Ryu and Rei gave them a small smile. The girl put on her X-ray glasses.
"No one in sight." she said.
"Let's go." Ryu remarked, "You two, leave a few minutes after us."
They slowly got up and cautiously walked to the other side of the thick tree wall they had been sheltered. Before disappearing from sight, they turned to their friends one last time and gave them a reassuring nod.
Five minutes later, Shinichi and Shiho got up from their hideout and headed to the opposite direction.
The had a plan and needed to execute it... without executing themselves.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What?"
"It just happened."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
Matt was looking at Chris with confusion.
"Wait a minute... " he said slowly, "You are saying that the first point.. the device that was applied by Ryu and the others, has disappeared from the screen?"
"Yes." the girl replied impatiently.
"How? I mean.. Is it possible?"
"Don't ask me. I haven't got the slightest idea of how it happened. They must have found the device and destroyed it."
"That's not good news..." Matt remarked darkly, "By the way, what about the others?"
"After the first point disappeared, the other four moved quickly towards south-east and..."
"And?"
"They disappeared from the screen. We have to get closer to the first device's location, otherwise I can't identify their direction."
"Let's hurry then."
Matt sped away, followed by the other cars. Chris, on the other hand never took her eyes of the laptop's screen. Ten minutes later, she spoke to Matt again.
"They're visible again." she said, "But.. there's something..."
"What?" Matt asked, trying to look at her and the street at the same time. "What's wrong?"
"They've been moving fast for a while but now... They're still."
"Still? You don't think, they're..?"
"No! They hardly move as though they were hiding... I think."
"Hiding?" Matt asked. He then, took his walkie-talkie.
-Detective Takagi, Detective Satou. Agent Xanders, speaking.- Matt said, in Japanese.
-Agent Xanders ? . - Takagi replied, -Something wrong?-
-Did you bring the map with you?-
-No, I got it.-
-Hattori?-
-Yeah, what's going on?-
Matt quickly explained the story of the disappearing device and the strange attitude of Ryu, Shinichi, Rei and Shiho.
-Coming to the point..- he said, -That area is coasted by woods, right?-
-Yes.- Heiji replied, -You think Kudo and the others are hiding there?-
-Probably.-
-We're nearly there.- Satou remarked, -We'll find out soon.-
-Ok. Hear you later.- Matt said and turned off the transceiver.
"How much to that place?" he asked Chris.
"Another ten kilometres." she replied and turned her laptop off. A slight smile appeared on her face as she saw the look on the boy's face.
"What the hell are you..?" he started to ask loudly but she cut through her sentence.
"The battery." she said shortly.
"Oh.." he replied and a small blush crept on his cheeks. Chris smirked slightly.
The line of cars sped on.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryu and Rei were walking slowly among the trees, careful not to make a sound, stepping on a twig or else.
There was an odd silence around them. They didn't hear anything: it was all absolutely quiet. Rei could swear she heard her heart beating as she walked.
"They have chosen a nice place, huh?" Ryu whispered, understanding how she felt.
"It's so.. eerie in here." she replied softly. She put away her X-ray sunglasses. Ryu noticed a strange glint in her eyes, hidden slightly by the cap: it was fear but also concern. He slowly reached for her hand. Rei looked up at him when she felt his hand squeeze hers.
"We'll make it." he whispered reassuringly, "And Shinichi and Shiho will be fine too."
"I hope so." she answered in a low voice.
They went on walking, hiding in the shadows, still hand in the hand as though that physical contact could give them a bit of comfort. After a while, they hadn't heard or seen anyone and they didn't know whether it was a good sign or a bad one. They knew enough about the Organisation to know that they could never let there guard down.
And thanks God they didn't...
Five minutes later, they were walking near a large chestnut tree and Rei was a few steps in front of Ryu. Suddenly, he pulled her behind and stepped back too.
"What the...?" Rei said.
"Look there." he whispered. The girl followed his stare and looked at the ground. Hidden under dead leaves and earth, was a rope tied as a loop. How Ryu had noticed it was beyond her reckoning but she realised that if he hadn't pulled her back, she would have put her foot in it.
"A trap." she said softly and Ryu nodded. Then, he walked to a bush nearby and checked it and a few seconds later, a small grim smile appeared on his face and he gestured her to approach him. Rei joined him and looked at the bush and her eyes widened slightly.
A crossbow, balanced on two thick sticks, that were planted to the ground and worked as a stand, was hidden there and the rope was tied to it's trigger. She gulped realising how that deadly mechanism worked: one puts his foot in the loop, moves it or shakes it to get rid of the rope and the arrow hits him. No way to escape from such a short distance: not even with excellent reflexes.
"If it wasn't for you, I could have died.." she stated.
"No. This mechanism was not meant to kill." Ryu replied darkly, "See how the crossbow's positioned on the sticks? It's angle? The arrow would have hit only the lower part of the body: waist or legs... depends on the person's height."
"So, it seems that they want us alive.." Rei remarked, "Unless, this was just a way to capture one of us and finish us in a second moment. If you are hit by an arrow, with the blood loss and pain, you can't go very far, could you?"
"We have to inform the others." Ryu said and clicked the right side of his glasses.
-Shinichi.- he called, -Shinichi, do you hear me?-
-Ryu? What's wrong?- the reply came a few seconds later.
-Listen carefully. There are traps hidden around: we just found one.-
-WHAT? You're not hurt, are you?-
-No, we're fine. Have you met anyone?-
-Not a living soul.-
-All right. Be careful.-
-You too. Bye.-
Ryu turned to Rei.
"Let's go on." he said and she nodded. They walked side by side, feeling as though everything around them had eyes and was watching them.
Everything could be a menace.
-
Shinichi turned to Shiho, who had heard every word of his talk with Ryu.
"What do you think?" he asked, putting his glasses away.
"It's strange." she commented, "If not unnatural.."
"Yes, why set up traps?" he wondered, "Have they ever done something like this before?"
"Not that I know or remember." Shiho frowned. "That means that they have been planning this for a long time: they have set up this trap for us in all the details."
"Let's go." Shinichi said, "The quicker we leave this place, the better it will be."
Shiho nodded and followed him through the midst of trees.
Her heart began to pound harder and harder as the seconds passed. The dreading feeling of fear and paranoia that had been taunting since her childhood, was slowly overwhelming her. She had nearly forgotten what it meant to feel like that: in the past months, new feelings had filled her life. Friendship, brotherly and family affection, love.. All feelings she had rarely felt before and that had slowly healed the wounds of her heart. The last ten months had been better than her entire life in the Organisation. The same Organisation she had hoped to have escaped. It was a naive thought. She had always known that they would have never left her alone.
Like the times she got up in the middle of the night, when she was Ai, sweating and breathing heavily after another nightmare where Gin threatened to kill her and the ones close to her.
Gin... the man with the cruel smile and icy stare that had taunted her for.. how long? Years... Many uncomfortable, mirthless, fearful years spent in the Organisation.
As a result of that, once having betrayed them, Shiho had spent months living in fear. The simplest things could scare her. The creak of a door, the revving engine of a passing car, tires screeching to a stop, footsteps behind her lone figure.. All these things apparently unoffensive, lead her to think of the worst: gunshots, screams, darkness, Gin and Vodka killing or willing to kill someone. She knew them better than anyone else: she knew how they killed and she knew that guilt or pity were words of which they didn't know the meaning. They liked killing: watching the established victim's terrified face as the gun was drawn out and loaded, hearing the victim's pleas and it's last struggling breath as the bullet hit a vital organ and blood soaked it's clothes.
Guilt and pity were only emotions and were practically useless for black hearted murderers like them. All the high members are like that. She had heard enough of Vermouth to know that she was just like Gin or maybe even worse. And then, there was Shuichi. He had not been like that at the beginning... at least that was what she thought, but afterwards... Shiho wanted to forget them... even though she knew it was a vain effort. The Organisation would haunt her for the rest of her life.
And now she was so close to them...
"Shiho? Hey, Shiho!"
The blonde girl snapped out of her thoughts and looked up. Shinichi was standing in front of her and was clearly concerned. He took her by the shoulders and shook her lightly.
"Shiho!" he said again, "What's wrong? Why did you stop?"
"What?" she asked feebly. Then, she understood what he meant: lost in the midst of her thoughts, she had stopped walking. Shinichi bent down to look at her straight in the eyes, hidden by her cap.
"Are you all right?" he asked softly. It was the third time that he asked her that question since he noticed that she wasn't by his side and hoped that he would have received an answer. Shiho stared at him with an emotionless expression but her eyes couldn't hide her inner feelings. Shinichi could see fear flash in her light blue orbs: the same fear he had seen when they tried to track Pisco at the memorial of the famous film-maker and she confessed him her current nightmare where Gin would force her to see him murder the ones close to her: Agase, the three Detective Boys and him. One by one, they fell only because they knew her.
"Maybe it would have been better, if I died in that gas chamber.." Ai had murmured that day and he had slipped his glasses on her face to give her a bit of confidence.
What could he do now to comfort her in someway?
"Shiho?" he said again and this time, the girl looked up.
"It was nothing." she replied, as her bangs hid her eyes, "Really.. don't worry."
'Typical answer.' Shinichi thought, "Typical of you..'
"Let's.. let's go on." Shiho said, moving forward, feeling uncomfortable under his piercing gaze, "We can't waste ti..."
She didn't finish her sentence as Shinichi grabbed her hand, stopping her. Before she could realise what was going on, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her, giving her a warm, comforting hug. Shiho blushed furiously as her cap fell to the ground.
"Sh.. Shinichi." she stammered, "What are you..?"
"I won't let anything happen to you." he whispered softly in her ear, taking her aback and making her blush more. Shiho looked up at him and noticed a few thin red lines on his face as well along with a small smile. He had understood how she felt.. just like that time during the memorial, like the day of the bus-jack.
"Really?" she asked tentatively.
"I made you a promise, remember? I swear that I'll keep it."
Shiho smiled slightly. He was like that: optimist, determined and maybe even naive but somehow, he always gave her a shred of confidence and hope.
"Thanks, Shinichi." she whispered and buried her face into his chest, enjoying his warmth. They stayed in that position for while and when they finally parted, Shinichi and Shiho looked at each other.
"Shall we go?" he asked.
"Yes." she replied, picking her cap and putting it on.
They walked together, side by side, both acknowledging the danger they might be going against but feeling calmer than before... as though feeling more confident..
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five cars were driving slowly on an old dirty road.
-Whose house is that?- Matt asked, looking at the building a hundred meters or so, away from him.
-It's not on the map.- Heiji remarked.
-What?-
-It's an old mansion inhabited for decades.- Satou explained, -I thought it had been demolished..-
-Well, I might be paranoid but.. I don't like it. Everyone keep your eyes open.-
Matt put the walkie-talkie away. He had ordered the other five cars to go and block the road that connected the bay of Tokyo to the valley and also the main road they had just followed. As soon as Osaka's police forces had arrived, more men would have been sent to help them. Till then, they had to go on with what they had: Matt, Chris, Satou, Takagi, Heiji, Ran, Kazuha, Agents Tyler and Adrians and twelve men between FBI and local police. Plus, Kaitou Kid who flew above them. They had just arrived to the spot where the first device had been.
"Chris, why don't you check the radar?" Matt said, "We must know where the others are."
The girl nodded and turned on the laptop as the boy drove the car towards the mansion: they were the first of the line of cars. As the house was in sight, Matt's eyes widened.
"Oh, holy.." he said in a tone that made Chris look up. Her eyes widened in shock too.
A car.. or at least what had to be one, was in front them.
There were glass pieces scattered all around along with metallic fragments and there were lines of smoke puffing out from the car's carbonized remains. Matt had registered these details at a first look. He was willing to stop but a shout startled him while he was slowing down.
-MATT! LOOK OUT!-
The boy had only the time to recognise the voice before the front glass shattered to pieces. Chris screamed and he abruptly turned the car but he didn't seem to control it well. Chris' window shattered to pieces a few seconds later and the car did a 360 degree turn as Matt was furiously trying to keep it steady on the uneven ground. He pushed the brakes but it was useless: they were heading at full speed against a tree. In an attempt to save themselves since Matt's efforts on the steering wheel seemed vain, Chris pulled the handbrake. The car skidded to a halt and the tires screeched but it kept moving for the force of inertia and the car's speed: Matt and Chris didn't fly out only because they had their belts on. Anyway, the car came to a stop a few inches away from a tree.
For a whole minute, Matt sat there as though frozen. He was slowly taking in what had just happened and his heart was beating at a speed he didn't think was possible. Suddenly, he turned to his right in alarm as he remembered that a bullet had shattered the window by Chris' side.
The girl was holding the closed laptop tight at her chest, her eyes closed and glass pieces on her clothes, but she wasn't moving. Matt felt his heartbeats' speed increasing once again as he saw that a bullet had hit the laptop at the back. If it had passed through..
"Chris?" he said, shaking her slightly, "Come on.. answer me... please."
She slowly opened her eyes and turned to him. Matt smiled in relief as she did so.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"Yes." she replied slowly. Her face was very pale. "What exactly happened?"
"An ambush." he remarked, "A shooter was waiting here." Matt ran his fingers through his hair, "It was a narrow escape..."
"Yes." Chris said, reaching for the door, "Let's get out. The others will be worried."
"Ok." he replied and they got out of the car.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaito was flying on his hang-glider, occasionally looking down at the short line of cars and listening to the conversations through transceivers but most of all, he looked around, seeing if there was anything strange to notify to Matt.
He felt nervous, very nervous.
The Organisation had chosen an isolated area to set up their trap: there wasn't a house for miles. The only building was the old inhabited mansion that was further on. Kaito thought that it would have been the perfect place to set a horror or ghost movie. It was creepy..
The young magician was thinking of this when he noticed that the road finished in a wide open space right in front of the house. His eyes widened when he saw the rest. The charred remains of a car... no, two cars were there, right under him. Matt must have noticed them too because his car, the first of the line, was slowing down next to one of smoking masses. Kaito steered his hang-glider to get down when he noticed a sudden movement from a tree below him.
A man clad in black was hiding among the leaves of a tree parallel to Matt's position: he was crouched on a branch and was loading a rifle. To Kaito's horror, he pointed the weapon straight at Matt's car. Without wasting time, he reached for the walkie-talkie, keeping in balance with one hand.
-MATT! LOOK OUT!- he hollered and then steered the hang-glider down towards the man. As he was diving at top speed, Kaito saw the man aim at Matt's car's; without wasting time, he took his special gun and shot a card down to him. The man started, not expecting an interference, but managed to shoot twice even though rather randomly. The man looked up and an expression of shock appeared on his face as he saw the hang-glider charging towards him. It took him a few moments to put his thoughts together and aim the rifle but Kaito was faster: he shot two cards towards the man, disarming him. The rifle fell to the ground and the man stepped back, loosing his balance and fell off the branch. Kaito pulled the rope on his suit and the hang-glider folded slightly behind his back and he went after the man. A few meters from the ground, he managed to grab him and slowed down their fall, opening the hang-glider wide open again. As soon as he reached the ground, Kaito drew out a rope and tied the struggling man enabling him to move or escape. The boy's attention then went to Matt.
He saw the car go berserk, turning in circles and close to crash into a tree but, much to his relief, it stopped a few inches from it. A couple of minutes later, Matt and Christine got out, both pale and clearly still shocked but alive and unharmed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Detective Satou, Takagi, Heiji, Ran, Kazuha and all the agents rushed out of their cars to check if Agents Xanders and Evans were fine.
They crowded them as soon as they got out of the car.
"Are you all right?" Takagi asked, "You're not injured, are you?"
The others made similar questions too but Matt didn't even listen to them. He looked around.
"Where's Kid?" he asked.
"Here."
Everyone turned around and saw the magician behind them, leading a struggling man in front of him. Matt approached him and stared at the man and then at the boy at his left.
"Was it him..?" he asked. Kid nodded and handed him the rifle.
"I've already disabled his transceiver." he remarked.
"Well, let's see this..." Matt said, taking the weapon to check it out, "Assault rifle with precision rifle scope and silencer, bullets calibre 8. A deadly weapon.."
He glanced at the man of the Organisation and aimed the rifle at him. All the people around him, besides Kaito and Chris, looked at Matt with shock.
"Where are they?" Matt asked in a very cool voice.
The man merely sneered at him, even though he struggled to free himself from the ropes that bound his wrists.
"I don't think you've understood your situation.." Matt remarked, still pointing the weapon at him, "You are not in the condition to refuse to answer. Where are they?"
"I don't know what the hell you.." the cocky reply died in his mouth when he saw Matt load the gun. A fearful expression appeared on his face for a few seconds.
Heiji was going to stop Matt but Chris held out her hand, blocking him.
"He knows what he's doing." she whispered, "Let him do."
Heiji nodded and the others looked at the young FBI agent with trepidation.
"This is not a question but an order: tell me where are they." Matt's tone was icy.
"You won't dare to fire." the man said, "No FBI man would.." He stopped when he heard a familiar muffled sound and he felt something graze his right cheek. The man turned white as he saw a thin line of smoke coming out of the rifle's cane.
"Where are they?" Matt asked again, "Next time you won't be so lucky.."
"The... they entered the woods." he stammered, "I don't know anything else."
"Who are you?"
"Cognac." Matt smirked.
"So, Cognac, how many are here?"
The man turned silent. Matt was loosing his patience: he loaded the gun again.
"How many other members are here?" he asked harshly.
"Twenty agents and a group of high agents."
"Give me their names and explain what's going on here."
The man began to speak slowly, eyeing the rifle pointed at him.
The trap was going to be revealed..
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"There's a problem."
Ryu turned around.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"The glasses' battery is low." Rei said, holding her sunglasses, "I can't use them any more otherwise, the transceiver will be enabled too."
"All right." he remarked, "You only have that transceiver: if it doesn't work, you can't keep in contact with us."
She nodded and put the glasses away. They walked in silence for a while until Rei realised that there was a hidden message in Ryu's previous statement.
"Ryu?"
"Huh?" he said, turning to her.
"Do you think we'll have to split?"
"What?"
"Your sentence before.."
Ryu looked at her: she had understood. He sighed.
"I'm worried, Rei." he said, "I don't understand what the Organisation wants. That man could have killed us but he didn't: he shot at the front mirror and not at the engine. It seemed that they want us alive but then, we find the traps. This seems to mean that they want us dead but the traps are set in a way that will only hurt. Then, add the fact that there are men roaming around and fully armed. I'm only getting confused. What do they want? Kill us or spare us for some unknown reason?"
"You're right." she agreed, "But.. why should we split?"
"I'm not saying that we should but... I don't know!" he replied in exasperation but he slowly calmed down. He turned to Rei who looked at him. "If something happens, Rei, you..."
The girl's gaze left his face for a second but it was enough.
She saw a figure a dozen of meters behind Ryu: without saying anything, she grabbed his hand and they both hid behind some tree trunks.
"How many..?" Ryu asked, understanding right away.
"I saw one but..." she slipped her glasses on and clicked the small button that was on it's right side. Her visual was dark and a bright green grill appeared: she saw six glowing shadows moving in front of her.
"Six." she whispered slowly, putting the glasses away, "I don't know if they have seen us but..."
"They are surrounding us.." he finished, "They must have noticed me... but maybe not you."
"What do you mean?" she asked, "Ryu.. you're not.."
They froze as they heard approaching footsteps. Ryu crouched down and forced Rei to do the same.
"Rei, listen to me." he whispered, "I'll keep them busy, you go on."
"No." she replied firmly.
"This is not the moment to argue." he said through gritted teeth, "One of us has to reach the western road: we can't count only on Shinichi and Shiho. They could have encountered men of the Organisation like us. They could be in trouble, too. If none of us leaves this damn forest, we'll all die trying to do it."
Ryu's words hit deep and Rei couldn't retort.
"I'll try to distract them." he continued, "You go ahead."
"Ryu, there are six of them." Rei said, "How can you even think of facing them?"
"We'd be outnumbered if we both faced them, too. It's the only thing to do."
He looked at her and saw concern and fear in her eyes.
"I'll take care of myself." he remarked, "It's different form last time: I'm fully protected. Trust me."
A weak smile appeared on Rei's face.
"Who else can I trust if I don't trust you?" she asked, "What will you do?"
"I'll show myself for a few seconds till they see me." he stated, "I'll go back from where we've come. You rush away." Rei nodded. Ryu took a deep breath.
"Whatever you hear, go ahead. Don't look back." he said, slowly getting up. Rei stopped him, grabbing his hand. Ryu looked at her quizzically but she didn't say anything.
She just cupped his cheek and pressed her lips gently on his. She pulled away a few moments later.
"Promise me that you will be careful." she whispered.
"I will." he replied, "But you have to be careful too."
She nodded.
"Ready?" Ryu asked, lowering his cap on his eyes.
"Yes." Rei replied.
"See you later." he said and jumped out of their hideout.
Rei stayed still: she heard a few shouts, quick approaching steps, all heavy threads, probably men, and then muffled gun shots.
'God, let him be fine...' she thought desperately. When she was sure that Ryu and his followers were far from her, she stepped out of her hideout and ran the opposite direction.
She ran as fast as she could for ten good minutes. She then stopped and leaned on a tree, gasping for air. After a couple of deep breaths, she looked around: she was still going west, judging from the sun's position. She hoped that she would have reached the road as soon as possible.
'Off you go, Rei..' she thought and walked on.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Yes, sir."
Matt nodded as the men followed his orders. Two men were in charge of Cognac: they would have taken a car and would have joined the men that had made a checkpoint on the main road.
"Never leave that man alone." Matt had underlined as the men were about to leave, "We can't risk him to contact someone."
The car left a few minutes later. In the meanwhile, Detective Satou and Takagi had decided to hide the cars and a few men were parking the five cars a kilometer or so away from the mansion. Ten minutes later, the whole group of people was standing near Matt's car. Only Kaito was a bit on the background.
"What should we do now?" Takagi asked.
"Ryu and the others are in the forest." Matt remarked, "They managed to escape from the shooter and from the explosions, even though I still don't know how they did.. Look at that mess.."
Everyone eyed the charred remains of the cars.
"Kudo and the others came with a car.." Heiji stated in his detective-mode way, "Probably this one at the front.. but what about the other? Wait, unless.."
"That should have been the car to which they had applied the device." Matt said, "I'm not this great expert but if you look carefully, you can see that it was a Porche."
"Gin's car." Kaito muttered to himself.
"But we have a problem." Chris added, understanding what the others were saying through their motions, even though they spoke in Japanese, "I have been tracking them with the radar till a few kilometers from here and then I turned off the laptop to save battery. But now, a bullet has hit the laptop: I can't locate them anymore."
"This mean that we will have to check out the whole area." Satou remarked, looking around.
Less than ten minutes later, groups of four composed by FBI agents and policemen went into the forest: Matt and Heiji had given each group a determined area to check out with the map's aid. The young lawyer had only given one advice to the older and certainly more experienced men.
"Never leave your guard down." he said, "And keep your weapons at hand. That shooter was nothing compared to what the Organisation's members are capable of."
At the end, the only people left by the car were Matt, Chris, Kid, Heiji, Kazuha, Ran, Satou, Takagi, two FBI agents and two policemen.
"We'll be the largest group.." Matt stated. He turned to Kazuha and Ran. "Listen, this is your last chance to leave: if you want to go, I'll send you back with two men."
Ran shook her head while Kazuha shot the smallest of glances to Heiji.
"No, I'm coming." she said.
'Why are women always so stubborn?' Matt thought exasperatedly.
"All right." he said reluctantly, "We can go then."
The group went into the forest to check out the area assigned to them. Matt walked at the front with his hand fingering his automatic, while Kid was at the back.
Heiji had been rather silent, as though lost in his thoughts but then, he walked up to Matt.
"Xanders?"
"Hm?" Matt said, turning to him, "What, Hattori?"
"Don't you think you have gone a bit too far before?"
"You mean with that man?"
"Yes. You could have killed him if the shot had gone a few inches to the right."
Matt looked at him with an arched eyebrow.
"Do you really think I'm such a fool?" he asked.
"No." the Osaka teen replied, lowering his cap on his head, "It's just that you seem to be very... involved in this Organisation thing."
Matt didn't reply immediately.
"Say Hattori, have you read the report I've given you this morning?" he asked suddenly.
"Well, yes.. quite a bit." he replied, "Why?"
"That report is just a short summary of the Organisation's activities." Matt didn't bother at the stunned expressions that appeared on the faces of the people around him, "I have read the whole thing and, believe me, it's hard not to be involved. But my involvement is nothing compared to how Ryu, Rei, Shiho and Shinichi are."
A blank silence greeted his statement and he continued.
"The Organisation wills to kill all the people that have the misfortune to come across their plans and Ryu, Rei, Shiho and Shinichi are the first names of their lists. As a friend, I'm not going to stay aside and wait till their death. That man, Cognac, has only given us a few details. We have to find that four before they do: that's the only important thing at the moment. It's our prerogative."
Heiji nodded.
"If there only was a way to contact them.." he muttered.
"What?" Matt said, turning to him. The whole group stopped and stared at the American.
"I only said that things would be easier if we could contact them." Heiji repeated.
"What a fool.." Matt remarked, taking out his walkie-talkie, "I should have thought of it before.." Then, noticing the others' blank looks, he decided to give an explanation. "Professor has given each of them a particular device and I'm sure that they all have a transceiver. Now.. if I find the right wave-length."
"You should be able to contact them." Takagi finished.
"What would happen if someone else hears the call?" Satou retorted, "You're not sure of the wave-length."
"I'll call them with their code names." Matt replied and turned on the walkie-talkie.
-Ellery. Christie. Ford speaking.- he said, -Answer.-
But only silence greeted his words.
"Come on.." Matt urged, changing wave-length again.
-Conan. Ai. Answer: it's Ford speaking.-
Still nothing.
Matt went on with his attempts to contact his friends and didn't notice that Ran's head shot up when she heard 'Conan' and 'Ai'. She wasn't the only one to have noticed this though: Takagi and Satou's attention perked up too. Anyway, Ran wondered which of her four.. classmates, if she still could call them like that, had chosen Conan and Ai as code names and most of all, why that specific names.
An old suspicion surfaced back in her mind as she also remembered Agent Xanders words that morning.
'No.. it's impossible...' she thought.
Matt turned off the walkie-talkie and turned to face the others.
"Nothing." he said disgruntled, "I didn't get any reply. We'll have to find them ourselves."
They all nodded and walked on.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rei felt extremely sensible to her surroundings: every single sound seemed to be amplified. Summed to this, she felt nervous, scared and very concerned. Ryu was the first of her thoughts. She was walking without making a sound when a noise startled her.
It was a metallic click, followed by a muffled sound. It sounded like a trigger and a gun shot through silencer.
There was a cracking noise and Rei looked up. She jumped to her right as a big branch crashed down heavily: if she hadn't noticed, it would have knocked her out.
"Very good reflexes, Ikeda."
A cold female voice that spoke in English reached Rei from the back. She slowly turned around to see the speaker.
A woman dressed in black was standing in front of her: she had blonde hair and cold ice-blue eyes. Rei felt cold sweat on her face as she realised who the woman was.
Chris Vineyard.
"Vermouth.." she said.
"Oh, you know me?" the woman said sarcastically, "I am honoured."
Rei slowly reached for her gun but Vermouth was in alert.
"I wouldn't do that.." she stated, approaching her with a Colt 25 in her hand, "Put the gun on the ground. Don't overestimate your luck.."
Rei did as she was told, tossing her automatic away and glared at the woman. Vermouth smirked at her.
"Why so mad?" she asked mockingly, "You really thought that I would have really fallen in your childish trap? Martini has five men after him and, much to my regret, believe me, he won't come out of it in one piece. As for you.."
"You will finish me." Rei finished coolly.
Vermouth laughed at her remark.
"Finish you?" she repeated, "If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't be speaking now."
Rei met her gaze without a flinch but she had to admit that she was right.
Why shoot the branch above her rather than kill her immediately? Vermouth was behind her: she was an easy target. Ryu's words came to her mind.
'What do they want? Kill us or spare us for some unknown reason?'
'What do they want from us?' Rei thought.
"You know, Ikeda, you look quite well for one that has died suicide in a car nearly a year ago." Vermouth remarked, "FBI has some skilled and resolute members, I have to admit it. Good looking too if we speak of Martini."
Rei's eyes flashed for a second but the woman noticed it.
"Jealous?" she asked approaching her more.
"Disgusted." Rei replied, looking at her with utter distaste.
A flash of rage passed through Vermouth's eyes but she managed to keep her calm.
"If it was for me, I'd rather kill you and spare your dear... boyfriend I suppose, right?" she asked, "But the orders are orders and he wants you."
"He?" Rei asked without realising it.
"No questions. You give only answers." Vermouth said, "Tell me, Ikeda, where has the dear traitor gone? He wants her too."
Rei managed to keep a neutral expression but she felt a jolt when she realised that this unknown 'He' wanted her and Shiho. She didn't reply.
"No answer? Then, where's the Cool Guy?" Vermouth asked. 'Shinichi.' Rei thought.
"I don't know who you're talking of." she replied defiantly.
Vermouth was getting impatient: she was going to load her gun when a buzzing noise stopped her. Someone was calling her on the transceiver.
-Vermouth.- she said with the gun pointed at Rei.
-Have you found them?- a voice asked.
-Only one.-
-Bring her here.-
-Yes.-
She put the transceiver away. Rei decided to react now that she was slightly off guard.
'The gun is far from where I am...' she thought furiously, 'How can I get to it without...?'
Rei noticed a small hole on the ground, right behind Vermouth: if she tripped on it, she could gain a few seconds and maybe get to the gun. Yes, but how?
'I don't have other weapons.' Rei thought, fingering the things she had in her pocket, 'I only have the chargers in the other pocket and in this one, the glasses, the computer... and what's this?'
She felt something thin, steely and cold at the bottom of her pocket. Suddenly, she remembered...
FLASHBACK
Rei was walking back to the studio: Ryu was due to be back in a few minutes with the rented car and she had just taken all the things she thought would have been useful. She walked into the room and found Shinichi there, busy mumbling by himself.
"Shinichi? What are you doing?" she asked, approaching him.
The boy looked up.
"Oh, nothing. I want to take some more of these, but I don't know how to bring them." he said, showing her a handful of silvery needles.
"You can't take all of them." she remarked, "They are too many. What if you prick yourself accidentally just putting your hand in your pocket?"
"I'd knock myself out on my own." he replied, smirking, "Where can I put them, then?"
"Pin them to a side of your jacket." she suggested, "Not all, though."
Shinichi took a few needles and pinned at the back side of his jacket. He noticed that there were only two left and turned to Rei.
"Here." he said, "Take them: you might need them."
END FLASHBACK
'It's now or never.' Rei thought as Vermouth was going to look back at her. She reached for her mini-computer. 'Sorry, Professor..'
She took out the computer and threw it at Vermouth's gun. The woman didn't expect it and stepped back as the metallic object collided with her weapon, breaking into pieces.
A gasp escaped from her mouth as she put her foot in the hole, loosing her balance and twisting her ankle at the same time. The Colt flew a few feet away from her as she fell down.
In the meanwhile, Rei dashed to get her automatic. She had hardly bent down to reach it that a bullet whizzed past her, digging a hole right next to the gun. She hastily turned around and saw Vermouth on her knees but with her gun pointed at her.
"Damn it.." Rei cursed under her breath.
"Get up with your hands up." Vermouth ordered, "One move and you'll have problems walking."
Rei straightened up with her hand held high. The other woman got up, wincing in pain as she put too much pressure on her hurt leg. She slowly approached Rei, fire burning in her ice-like eyes.
"One harsh move and you will have a worse problem with your leg." she threatened, "Walk slowly in front of me. Make a sudden move and I fire."
Rei reluctantly turned around but, suddenly her chain slipped out of her neck. Vermouth noticed the silvery blur fall down and glanced at it for a second and Rei took advantage of the situation. She disarmed Vermouth with a sharp hand chop and slipped behind her. The blonde woman shot around despite her ankle and Rei ducked under her swinging kick. Without wasting time, the girl grabbed Vermouth from behind and, revealing the two hypodermic needles concealed between her index and middle finger, she pricked her on her left arm and on her neck. The woman went limp and as Rei left her she collapsed to the ground. The young girl stared at the fainted woman, breathing heavily as her heart was thumping in her chest.
"I owe you one, Shinichi." she whispered.
Rei didn't have anything to bind Vermouth so she only took her gun as well as her own. She then remembered the chain and looked for it. She saw the silvery object a few feet away from her and had hardly bent down to get it when someone hit her hard on the head from the back.
As she fell to the ground, she saw that Vermouth's unconscious figure was in front of her.
'Who...?' was the last thing she thought before blacking out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A bullet hit a boulder and another hit a trunk: bits of stone and wood splinters flew all around but there was no sight of the boy.
"Where is he?" a man roared, "He was there! I am sure!"
"Damn trees.." another one stated, "He can hide easily among them."
Five men with guns in their hands were roaming around the midst of trees, cursing the thick vegetation. They were all clad in black and looked utterly annoyed.
"Never let your guard down.." the first man said, "Martini is unpredictable: he can take advantage of your smallest mistake."
'How much consideration... I am really flattered.' Ryu thought, from his hiding: he was perched on the low branch of a tree, trying to keep out of sight.
He was in a tight spot.
He had managed to escape till now hiding among the trees and their trunks shielded him from the bullets but now they were near to a small open plain, fruit of a recent deforesting judging by the many stumps among the few tall trees. Ryu slowly turned around to see how large it was: twenty-thirty meters in width more or less. If he went there, he would be completely exposed but he couldn't go back either. Rei was going in that direction: he couldn't risk them to see her.
'Think, Ryu.' he thought to himself, 'There are five of them and they have guns. I have two guns but no silencers. I fire, they hear me and kill me.'
There was only one thing to do: set up an ambush to one of them and take his silencer. In this way, he could, at least, use his automatic: it would give him a chance to survive. He took a deep breath and looked down: four men were already at the open space, the last one was checking the bushes, gun in the hand, right under Ryu.
'Maybe.. I can get him..' he thought, 'The moment he shows me his back..'
Ryu waited patiently for a few minutes as the man checked every bush. He came to alert when the man turned around.
'Now!' he thought and jumped down from the branch. The man hardly had time to realise what was happening that Ryu covered his mouth with his hand from behind; then, he hit the man on the head with a sharp blow, knocking him unconscious, without giving him time to make a sound.
Ryu quickly took the man's gun and removed the silencer, applying it to his automatic.
'And now, I have to leave..' he thought. But he had been too optimistic..
Ryu heard a creak behind him and, instinctively, dodged to his left, turning around. A bullet grazed his right shoulder and he saw one of the four men, a few feet away from him with a sneering face.
"Martini." he snarled, "Thought you get us one by one, huh?"
"Why not?" Ryu asked quickly and fired, aiming at the man's gun. The Org's member tried to avoid the bullet but couldn't make it completely: with a yell of pain, he dropped the gun and looked at horror at his heavily bleeding hand.
'Great..' Ryu thought, 'They will all be here now!'
He rushed towards the man and practically threw himself against him, tackling him to the ground before jumping up and running away.
"HE'S HERE!" Ryu heard a shout behind him and cursed himself for not having knocked the man out, "GET HIM!"
'Where could the othe... WHAT THE HELL?' he thought wildly as he ducked.
Two bullets whizzed over his head: he looked up and saw the man he had injured and the other three men, revolvers in the hands, getting to him through a labyrinth of trees. Ryu took aim and fired: two men were disarmed and their guns flew away but nevertheless, they charged towards him. The other man fired and Ryu, trying to dodge the shot, tripped on a large tree root, loosing balance and falling to the ground.
His automatic flew a few feet away from him. Ryu was going to get up but he stopped as he saw the four men, standing in front of him, smiling evilly. Only one of them had a gun and it was pointed at him; the other men stood around him, enabling him to escape anywhere.
"Martini, your run is over." he said, loading the gun, "You have given us even too many problems for one of your age."
Ryu just glared defiantly at them: it was the only form of resistance he could manage now. He could only do that waiting for his death.. no. He had to fight.
The man's evil smile widened as his finger touched the trigger. Ryu, suddenly, leaped to the front, rolling on the ground. The men weren't caught off guard though: they turned around, blocking him as he got to his feet. The man with gun was right in front of him and was going to pull the trigger, when...
"RYU, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
It took Ryu less than a second to recognise the voice: he immediately dodged to his right. He saw the Org's man drop the gun as a bullet pierced him arm. However the danger was not over..
Ryu ducked as he saw a silvery blur aimed at his head: it was an axe and it got stuck on a tree trunk. Ryu hardly had time to think 'Where the hell does this come from?' that the axeman charged at him. The boy stepped away and found himself back to back with his.. saviour.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as the three men circled them.
"What about talking later, huh?" Matt remarked, "After having settled things up with these gentlemen."
"Ok. One.."
"Two.."
"THREE!"
Matt and Ryu jumped forward simultaneously.
Ryu faced the axeman: he landed him with a reverse roundhouse kick to the face, making him pass out immediately. He turned to his left and saw the man he had injured. He had a long knife in his good hand and launched himself on him: Ryu dodged the the first blow that grazed his head, cutting a few strands of hair, knocking his cap down. He punched him hard in the stomach, making the man keel over and knocked him down with a sharp blow at the head.
Matt was facing the last man: he had a dagger but Matt easily disarmed him. He ducked under a swinging kick and got into attacking position, fists levelled in front of him. The man received a left jab on the face and was knocked out with an uppercut.
Ryu approached his friend, stepping over the two men he had faced.
"Good punch.." he remarked.
"Yeah, not bad." the boy agreed, "Are they all here?"
"No, there's one, down there. He should be unconscious."
"Better check out."
Matt turned around and, only then, Ryu noticed the crowd of people that were there. The young lawyer started giving orders: he sent two men to get the first Org's member Ryu had knocked out and then asked the other agents to handcuff the other four men, after having disarmed them and taken away their transceivers.
Detective Satou, Takagi, Heiji, Ran, Kazuha and Kid stared at the two boys: it was hard to think that they was only seventeen and eighteen after having seen how they had just fought. The two police officers quickly came back to senses and helped the other men bind the five criminals. Ryu must have felt their gazes because he looked at them, recognising a few and nodding at them. He raised an eyebrow, noticing Ran and Kazuha and turned to Matt.
"What are they doing here?" he asked sharply.
"If you're referring to those two girls, I tried to stop them but couldn't do it." he replied, "I've set two agents as their guard and before you say it. I know: it's not a game."
Ryu looked at him doubtfully but quickly turned away. He looked around and picked up his automatic and then put in his pocket. He picked up his cap and shoved it carelessly in his other pocket.
The Organisation's five men were handcuffed and immobilised while their weapons were thrown in a corner. There were five revolvers, an axe, a dagger and two long knives.
"Quite an arsenal." Satou commented, seeing them, "And they were only five.."
Ran shuddered without realising it: she half regretted to have been so stubborn and to have come along despite her father's retorts. She glanced at Kazama: he was sweaty, slightly covered with dust and earth and a thin line of blood running down his forehead. She couldn't believe that he was the same boy that she knew at school.
"Why are you here?" Ryu asked, approaching Matt.
"It's a long story." he replied, "If you want details, ask Chris." He pointed to the girl behind him. "Anyway, the Organisation has started it's last operation: it's going to move it's Headquarter. There are nearly five hundred men from FBI to Tokyo and Osaka forces that are here to stop them."
"Wow." Ryu said simply.
"But later about this, we are here because we knew you were falling in a trap." Matt followed on.
"How..?"Ryu started to ask but the other cut through his question.
"Later." Matt said, "We saw the blown up car and caught the shooter. He exposed us the whole plan to get you four."
Ryu nodded and Christine stepped in the conversation.
"Ryu, where are Rei and the other two?" she asked.
"Well, we..." Ryu started but he stopped abruptly when he heard a noise that made him freeze on the spot.
A gun shot.
The sound reverberated through the whole forest. All the police officers drew out their guns but Ryu whipped around, turning pale. Matt noticed it.
"What?" he asked.
"Shinichi and Shiho..." Ryu replied, "It's them.."
"WHAT?" Heiji exclaimed, hearing him.
"How can you be sure?" Matt asked sharply.
"We don't have silencers." Ryu said slowly, "Only we four... we decided not to use the guns so no one could locate us. And they went that way.." Without other explanations, he clicked his glasses' radar on and looked around.
"They went east... but they're out of my range.." he muttered. Then, turning to Matt, "We have to go and help them."
The dark haired boy nodded and looked at the four men next to the unconscious criminals.
"You four, stay here and keep an eyes on them." he said quickly and the men nodded, "Never be off guard." He then looked at Ryu. "We can go."
But the blonde boy looked sideways at the group of people behind them. Matt understood right away and so did the ones in question.
"We're coming too." Heiji said firmly. Ran and Kazuha nodded in agreement.
"We'll take care of their security." Takagi remarked, pointing at himself and Satou.
"Don't worry." the woman said.
Matt and Ryu looked at each and nodded slowly. The young engineer looked at Kaito.
"Kid, you will go east air way." he said, "Tell us what's going on and we'll see what to do."
The magician nodded: he had been quite in the background for the whole time. Kaito knew enough of Heiji to be careful: even though, he was working with FBI now, once the mission was over, he'd be a wanted criminal again. He couldn't give the Great Western Detective any clues to find out his identity.
As Kaito took off, Matt turned to the others.
"Let's go.. and don't make a sound." he said, "Ryu, show the way."
Ryu nodded and, checking on his glasses, he walked on, followed by the others.
Ran felt anxious. 'Shinichi..' she thought.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shinichi felt as though he was a prey that was dreading to escape from hundreds of hunters.
He had never felt so nervous as he walked in that silent and eerie forest. Shiho must have been thinking on the same lines, judging by her often shudders. He came to the conclusion that her 'sixth sense' was completely useless now: the forest was probably full of members of the Organisation. The evil presence had to be definitely overwhelming for her. Shiho shivered again and Shinichi reached for her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She looked at him and he smiled. She slightly smiled back too.
They walked on for another while.
"Shinichi?" Shiho said suddenly. The boy turned, looking at her curiously. "I have never talked about.. Shuichi Akai with you, have I?"
Shinichi stared at her. It was the first time Shiho spoke so directly.
"No." he replied, "Never. I only know a few things of him on my own.. I saw him around during many cases but never paid attention to him until Ran told me that she had met him while we had been in New York together. She said that he was a FBI agent and I thought it was unbelievable. And then you mentioned your... relationship with him. But..."
"I think I owe you an explanation." Shiho remarked, "Well.."
"No, wait." Shinichi stopped her, coming to a halt, "You don't have to. Really, Shiho."
She looked at him, lifting her cap slightly.
"I think we should keep on walking." she stated. He nodded and as soon as they were doing so, Shiho resumed to speak, "Since the first weeks after our meeting, I found out that talking with you relatively calmed me down. You always have an attitude that enfolds the ones next to you with reassurance. And I really think that starting a conversation now would be useful because I really have to calm down."
One had to carefully read among her lines to get the true meaning of her words.
Shiho was scared.
Frightened, terrified.. Call it as you like: it's always fear. And she was asking Shinichi to help her from breaking down completely. Shinichi nodded, understanding what she meant and not knowing how to reply. He decided to start, too.
"When did you meet him?" he asked tentatively.
"Shortly after I finished my studies in America." she replied, "I was sent to work in the Organisation's lab in order to develop the APTX and he came there every now and then."
"Why? I thought he was a high member, not a scientist."
"He is a high member and maybe, even more important than Gin in the hierarchy. He was an FBI officer but betrayed the government joining the Organisation and worked as a double crosser, selling out secret information."
"And no one found out?"
"Well, Rei wasn't in FBI at the time he joined them." Shiho smiled slightly, "And the Organisation had many skilled people: they practically inserted and cancelled him from FBI's database whenever they needed to. In this way, Akai could fool FBI for a while and later join the Organisation full time."
"I see."
"That should explain why I was so skeptical of Jodie Santemillion at the beginning."
Shinichi winced, remembering the young blonde woman that was once English teacher at Teitan High. He had attended her funeral services more than six months ago.
"You think he killed her?" he asked.
"Probably." she replied, "Remember, Jodie-san said that she was working only with one colleague. And you saw Akai many times during cases: it must have been him."
Shinichi felt hatred boil in his veins.
Jodie Santemillion was the only one that had given him a concrete hope of tackling the Organisation before Ryu and Rei. At the beginning, he didn't trust her: he remembered her continuous references to him as 'Cool Kid', when he was Conan and 'Cool Guy'.
Just like Vermouth did and this made him suspect that they were the same person: especially for that sentence, she often said: "A secret makes a woman, woman."
At the end, when she was going to leave, he came to know that she was an FBI agent and that she had a grudge with Vermouth and he had trusted her. She said she would have showed up but she never did.
At least, not alive. The American police found her body in her apartment. She had been shot and after a while, the case had been closed for lack of evidences.
Shiho knew her too. She had offered to put her in a witness protection program but she had refused, knowing that it would have been useless with the Organisation. She had also saved her from Vermouth disguised as Doctor Araide.
"Akai must have tricked Jodie-san, saying that he could help her. The Organisation must have known who she was since Vermouth had killed her father and must have kept an eye on her."
"Like Ryu and Rei's case." Shinichi remarked.
"Yes. Once you come across the Organisation, you have very feeble chances to get away. All the ones that have tried have died and Ryu, Rei, you and I are an exception."
"How do you know all of this? Did he tell you?"
Shiho glanced at him and her eyes clouded.
"No." she said, "At the beginning, I thought he was a bit like.. me. He said that he worked at the Organisation as an operative but mostly as a messenger: he said that he was there only because he had to and didn't want to get involved in their business. Well, this was what Akemi told me: even she didn't know the truth about him."
Shinichi abruptly turned to her when she mentioned her sister.
"She knew him?" he asked.
"Yes, she knew him months before I did. They were.. close.. you know what I mean."
Shinichi's eyes widened slightly.
"Wait.. I thought you and him.. not your sister.."
Shiho looked at the stammering Shinichi with mild amusement.
He had misunderstood from the beginning and this explained his distant attitude. He had always bombarded her with questions regarding Gin, Vodka or any other member but never asked anything of Shuichi. She had wondered why and now she knew.
"My relationship with Shuichi was only.. friendly, if such a feeling can exist in the Organisation. No love affairs." Shinichi scratched his head in embarrassment but was inwardly glad of this revelation. "I never asked 'Neechan how she met Akai but I noticed that she trusted him and told me to trust him as well." Shiho went on, "Unfortunately, she was wrong: he..."
Shinichi hushed her with a sudden wave of his hand. Shiho looked at him and he gestured to follow him. They quickly hid behind a few trees.
"What?" she asked.
"I've heard something." he replied softly, "Someone's coming here... I think."
"From which direction?"
"I'm not sure. I just heard a distant noise: it sounded like a snapped twig but I couldn't tell well."
They both stayed in silence as every cell of their bodies were in alert.
Suddenly, Shinichi leaned down to Shiho.
"Your earring phone is charged?" he whispered in her ear.
Shiho looked at him in confusion but nodded anyway. He straightened up, put his hand in his pockets and drew out his glasses. As he put them on, Shiho felt as though she was facing Conan again. Shinichi must have felt her stare because he glanced at her.
"I'm going to use the zooming device in my right lens." he explained, "The point is that it takes a lot of power and I hope the batteries will last till we're out of here."
"Go ahead." she said and he nodded. He clicked the ride side of his glasses and his right visual turned dark green: he noticed a small figure away from them.
"There's someone.." he whispered and clicked the right side of his glasses again. The visual became larger and clearer.
"It's man.. but I don't know who.. he is." he said, turning his glasses off and putting them away, "He's going the other side: we could make it.."
"Let's go then." Shiho stated.
Shinichi nodded and they both cautiously walked away. After five minutes, they looked back slightly confused.
"Don't you think it's...?" Shinichi started slowly.
"Strange?" Shiho completed, "Why should one man be walking alone? This trap has been planned in all its details and I really don't think that they would have done such a mistake."
"Yeah, they know that we're in four: if a man walked around on his own, we could tackle him down... wait a minute.. unless.."
They looked at each other and whipped around, back to back, fearing that what they had thought would be happening.
As a matter of fact, it was.
Shiho heard a light noise: it was like a string plucked. She instantly turned to her left and saw a silvery blur flying towards them. Shinichi had seen it too.
"Get away!" he shouted, jumping to his right while Shiho stepped to her left. A small metal arrow got stuck in the ground right between them.
"GO!" Shinichi yelled and they both dashed towards the path on their right. He turned back only for a few seconds after he was sure that Shiho was in front him and stepped aside just in time as another arrow was shot to him. It grazed his arm, ripping the sleeve of his jacket. Without waiting more, Shinichi ran behind Shiho. When he caught up with her, he noticed that she had his same scared yet confused expression and he presumed that they were thinking the same too.
"Why were they shooting arrows rather than killing them with their guns?"
Ten minutes later, they came to a stop and hid behind a large rock, regaining control of their breath.
"I don't.. understand." Shiho remarked once her breath was close to normal, "They could have killed us: why didn't they do it?"
"Maybe it was only a warning." Shinichi stated, "Remember Scotch? He used a crossbow arrow to warn us and they're probably doing the same."
"How many do you think they are?" she asked, "I think surely more than one.."
"Probably.." he replied and carefully looked around, "We have to get away: they might be following us."
Shinichi slowly stepped out of their hiding but he didn't notice the figures hidden in the shadows at his right. Shiho hardly had time to get out as well that Shinichi received a sharp blow at the head, sending his cap flying away, and crashed to the ground. The chemist's expression changed from shock, as she looked down at Shinichi, to utter coldness, as she faced his attacker.
Shuichi Akai.
The man smiled mockingly at her.
Before she could do anything, someone immobilized her from behind. She struggled to free herself but it was useless. She turned to see who it was: it was another man in black but it wasn't Gin, Vermouth or Vodka much to Shiho's surprise. The man had brown hair and black eyes: emotionless, void black eyes. Shuichi loaded the gun in his hand while the other man held Shiho's hands tight behind her back..
Shinichi slowly sat up, feeling a throbbing pain at the left side of his head. He could feel his warm blood oozing down from the cut caused by the sudden blow but he didn't even bother to this. He looked up and saw Shiho struggling to free herself from the grip of man clad in black while glaring with her coldest expression at Shuichi Akai who was in front of him with a gun in his hand.
'Damn...' he thought as he tried to get up but the man, pointed the gun to him.
"Don't move." he ordered harshly and Shinichi did as he was told.
Shuichi looked at them with a dangerous smile.
"Look who we have here." he said, "Sherry and the detective."
Shinichi could swear that the man was actually enjoying himself judging by the hint in his tone. Shiho just stared at him with a void expression but her mind was racing: how could they fall in their trap so easily? It was logical... now.
"Since when do you send newbies on first line to scare the victims?" she asked sarcastically with a smirk, "While you hide waiting for them to approach?"
Shinichi wondered how on Earth Shiho could be so cool in such a situation. Two members of the Organisation, two known (at least in Akai's case) as murderers, were there in front of them: one with a loaded gun while the other was immobilising her and she mocked them?
"If it was for me, you wouldn't be breathing now." Shuichi replied harshly, "But.. the orders are orders."
Both Shinichi and Shiho thought the same thing.
'Orders?'
"Anyway.." the so-called FBI man continued, smiling evilly, "I won't be totally displeased today. Only one has to live, after all..."
Shinichi practically jumped to his feet, despite the dizziness due to the constant blood loss. He wouldn't let her get harmed. In any way and by anyone.
Akai smirked.
"So, Kudo, are you spontaneously offering yourself?" he asked, "No need at all, you know? Since you are the chosen one."
Shiho's eyes widened slightly as she heard this.
'They want me.. alive?' she thought in bewilderment, 'And Shinichi... no..'
Akai turned around and noticed the glint of emotion that flashed in the chemist's eyes. He failed to suppress a smirk.
"Worried for the detective, Sherry?" he asked, approaching her. He took off her cap and tossed it away. "Don't tell me that you care for him? Never thought I'd have lived enough to see you, Sherry, the ice-like woman, show interest on someone that wasn't Akemi."
Akai had touched a nerve.
Shinichi saw Shiho's stare grow in intensity with startling speed: it had reached a degree of coldness had he had rarely, if not never, seen before.
"Don't ever dare to mention her again." she hissed.
Another person would have felt a chill run down his spine hearing such a tone but Shuichi merely snickered.
"Angry, are you?" he stated, "You never let your true emotions show before, Sherry. You used to say that emotions are signs of weakness. My, my, have you changed." He turned to look at the detective. "Or did he change you? Gin won't be happy, Sherry: he has always had particular regards towards you."
"Sure, proclaiming himself my lover and future murderer at the same time." Shiho remarked in an icy tone. She tried to move but the other man tightened the grip on her wrists. Shiho winced, making the man smirk.
Shinichi felt anger surge through him and moved towards the girl but was stopped by Akai that pointed his revolver at him.
"Don't move, detective." he said, "Otherwise.." He fingered the trigger in an allusive way and Shinichi stopped on the spot. Akai shot him a mocking smile. "By the way, before accomplishing the orders.. There are a few things that I want to know."
The other man stared at him.
"We have to get away quickly." he remarked harshly, "We don't have time to chat."
Shuichi shot a look that could have killed: he seemed to dare the man to retort his decision once again.
"We have time, Port." he stated coolly. Port merely nodded. Shuichi looked at Shiho.
"Let's start with you, Sherry." he said, "How did you escape from the Organisation's gas chamber?"
Shiho met his gaze coolly and didn't give an answer. Shuichi shook his head and his green eyes glinted with mild amusement.
"This never changes..." he muttered and then turned to Shinichi. "All right, detective, what about you? How did you survive after having taken Sherry's poison?"
Shinichi didn't reply but glared at him with defiance. Shuichi was slowly starting to loose his patience and the two teenagers noticed it. Shinichi and Shiho looked at each other for a few seconds and a wordless communication took place.
They had to think of something. They had to think quickly.
-
Shinichi thought of their situation. They were two against two but Shiho was blocked and Akai had a gun pointed at him.
'Not the best of situations...' the detective thought bitterly, 'But we have to get away.. or Shiho will be captured and I'll die...'
He glanced at the reddish-blonde girl who was staring at Akai without emotions as he asked her his previous question again.
'She's... she's behaving the same way..' he thought, 'Like when we met the first time.. As Sherry..' He imagined what would happen to her if she was brought back to the Organisation and a wave of anger and fear washed through him. 'I can't.. I can't let that happen to her... I promised.. But what can I do?'
His right hand brushed against his side and he felt something hard touch him. Not daring to move his hand suddenly, Shinichi looked down very carefully and slowly. His heart gave a jolt at what he saw.
The aimer of the stun-gun wristwatch was open.
It must have flipped open when he fell down after Akai's blow.
This gave him a shred of hope.
If he took care of Akai, Shiho had to tackle Port. He looked at him and saw that his gun was still in the holster.
'Maybe we can do it.. we could make it..'
The point was telling this to Shiho now..
-
Shiho was facing Shuichi with her usual cool mask, avoiding to answer and gaining time. Her mind was furiously working out a possible way to escape.. if it was possible.
'At least Shinichi..' she thought, 'He has to get away or.. Shuichi will kill him.'
She considered her position: her hands were blocked by Port but he wasn't holding a gun; unlike Shuichi that had his revolver constantly aimed at Shinichi.
'If I try to fight Port, Shuichi will...' she thought and a chill rushed through her spine at the thought of what he would have done to the young detective.
A sudden buzzing noise made her look up.
Shuichi reached inside his jacket pocket and drew out a walkie-talkie. He looked at Port.
"Be careful with her." he warned and, stepped a few steps back from they were with his gun constantly aimed at Shinichi. He shot the detective a look that seemed to say -Do something and you're dead and then he spoke in a very soft voice on the transceiver, so that no one could hear the conversation.
Shiho was still thinking when she felt a stare. She looked up and her eyes met Shinichi's ones: he was staring at her with insistence.
'What does he have in his mind?' she thought, keeping a neutral expression so that Shuichi couldn't notice the silent communication between them.
Once he was sure that she was paying attention, Shinichi's gaze quickly averted to his right, to Akai and then back to her. She followed his actions with her eyes and understood what he meant to do when she saw the stun-gun. Open.
'He is mad..' she thought and something in her face must have showed what she was thinking because Shinichi bit back a smirk and gave her the smallest of nods.
'We don't have other choice.' he thought, 'Come on, Shiho..'
Shuichi was still talking on the walkie-talkie: they had to do it now.
Shiho looked at Shinichi and nodded slightly.
The detective got ready: he had to be extremely quick.
Shiho took a deep breath: she felt Port's grip slightly looser than before. She had to catch him off guard. She looked at Shinichi again and they counted in their minds.
'Three... two... one... go.'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Bring her here.-
Cobalt blue orbs slowly opened but instantly shut back close as they were confronted by a source of light.
'Where...?'
It was the girl's first thought as she blinked a few times, adjusting her eyes. She didn't remember well. How did she get here but, most of all, where was she?
She looked around: it was a room.
A dusty room. Nobody must have lived in here for years, judging by the cobwebs and the dirt. The only light came from the grim and shattered glass panels of the window on her left side.
She tried to shake off the last traces of dizziness from her head but a sharp jolt of pain, coming from the back of her head, made her stop. She then felt something cold trickle down the back of her neck. She tried to reach for the back of her head but.. she couldn't.
Only then she realised that she was chained to a wall.
Rei felt a chill run down her spine as the past events quickly came back to her mind.
She had fought Vermouth and had vanquished her but then someone else had caught her from behind, making her pass out. And now she was God knows where, bound to a wall.
She turned to her sides and took in her situation.
She looked like Christ on the cross: legs tied together tightly with a rope and arms set wide open with handcuffs around her wrists, latched to some pipes.
She couldn't move. She was completely immobilized.
'Oh Lord..' she thought desperately. Her thoughts went to Ryu, Shiho and Shinichi: she hoped that they were in a better situation than hers.
She noticed a small crumpled pile next to her: it was her jacket. Whoever brought her here had checked out her pockets and taken away her weapons and devices.
Rei tried to peer out of the window, wanting to figure out where she was when she a
sudden noise shattered the silence and made her heart stop for a few seconds.
A gun shot.
'It was a.. automatic.' she thought, 'It's one of us. Oh no...'
"Well, it seems that one of your friends has finally decided to use a gun."
Rei's head shot around in alert: she hadn't dreamed to hear a voice, then. She was not alone. She squinted and looked at the corner of the room where the window's light couldn't reach.
Hidden in the shadows was a figure clad in a black suit that was sitting on a chair. She hadn't noticed the other person before because he blended perfectly with the darkness around him. It was a man with a deep yet cold voice.
The man got up and walked towards her, giving Rei a full sight of him.
He was tall and thin; he had black hair and a short mustache, both crossed by grey streaks. He had to be fifty years old more or less but he didn't show it. Rei had the vague feeling that she had seen him before but she didn't remember where.
However, the most stunning and scaring of his features were his eyes.
The man walked past her without even bothering to look at her. He stopped a few steps away from the window and looked outside.
"The other will be here soon." he muttered to himself and then approached Rei, standing in front of her. The girl felt a chill run down her spine as he looked at her.
The man had grey eyes: cold, emotionless, hawk-like grey eyes. She felt the impulse to get away from his stare but her efforts were vain since she was blocked.
The man just stared at her.
"Sherry should be here in a while." he remarked, "However, in the meantime, I would like to talk with you, Reila Ikeda."
Rei started. She remembered who he was. But she never thought that she would have met him.
'Why is he here?' she thought.
The man seemed to read her mind.
"Are you wondering why I am here?" he asked, "But maybe, you don't know who I am."
Rei smirked mirthlessly.
"Of course I know you." she replied coolly, "Who doesn't know you, Chief General Koji Koizumi?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And another chapter is done! I had to split it in two parts because I'm very busy and you all would have had to wait a very long time.
I apologize profusely for my last updates that were full of mistakes. My old computer has nearly died so my parents have (finally) bought me a laptop at December for my twentieth birthday. The laptop is great.. too bad it doesn't have Windows Office. I've been using Word Pad since September but it doesn't have the spelling checker.
How did you read all my last chapters with all that mistakes?
I downloaded the program from and it really helped me. So, I'll reload all my last updates and I hope that everything will be better.
Bye!
P.S REVIEW!
