Chapter 8
It was the night of the mission; we were sat inside the van. As usual, the foxes sent a threat but I was surprised by the lack of guards around.
"What's the museum like inside, leader?" Hiro asked.
"Hmm.." Riki said.
He was peering into the yard through a pair of binoculars.
"Looks like they really hate cops. They're saying that there's only 3 guards today." He said.
"Huh? You can hear them from this far away Riki?" I asked.
"Riki's an expert lip reader." Kenshi said.
"Really? That's so cool!"
"I can't read word for word but I can usually get the gist of what they're saying." He said.
"It's so cool!" I said.
"Pfft. You're overreacting, it's not a big deal." He said.
"It is a big deal, it's like you're a spy or something!"
"I can do it to." Takuto said.
"Huh?"
"The computer can read lip movements and if it can extract the data, it can output sound." He said.
"Why are you sulking, Takkun?" Hiro asked.
"Hahah, he's jealous because she complimented Riki." Kenshi laughed.
"Am not!" Takuto snapped and glared at Kenshi.
Why would he be jealous? Oh well, I didn't really care. I just wanted to get this mission over and done with.
"Accessing security camera servers. IP acquired, proceed at any time." He said into his microphone.
"It's time, let's go." Riki said.
"I'll get into position." Hiro said.
"See ya Takuto. The rest is up to you." Kenshi said.
"Don't screw up." Takuto said.
They all left the van.
Takuto was sat at his computer, typing incredibly fast. My eyes couldn't keep up with his fingers.
"Are you going to oversee everything from here?" I asked.
"I don't go out in the field. I leave the dangerous stuff to them and sit back and enjoy." He said.
He opened a bar and started eating a snack. How could he be so relaxed?
"What? You want some?" he asked.
"No." I said.
"Even if you did, I won't give you any." He said.
"I didn't ask for any." I said.
He then started to choke. I hit him on the back but he continued.
"W-water… go…gonna….die.."
"But we don't have any water." I said.
"Vending… machine.."
"Ok, I'll go and look for one." I said.
He then grabbed my arm and handed me a map.
"Follow the pink line." He said.
"Ok." I nodded and jumped out of the van.
How annoying. He shouldn't be eating snacks during a mission anyway.
Two minutes later, I had a bottle of water and was running back to the van. This road was completely deserted. Takuto must have known that before he sent me out.
A dark figure then came out of the bushes next to me.
"Excuse me but… Faye?!" Tatsuro gasped.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Oh hey." I said and put on my best smile.
He must be here because of the threat.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
"I'm just taking a walk." I said.
"Our house is miles from here." He said.
"Yeah but I felt like going on a long walk. I even got water." I said and held up the bottle.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I'm working a case, the black foxes sent a threat to the museum. You should get away from here. Right now!"
"Ok, see you at home." I said and run away.
He seemed to have bought it. I jumped back into the van and gave Takuto his water.
"You're too late." He said and snatched the water and the map from me.
"Well excuse me. Next time I'll just let you die." I snapped back.
I closed the door and looked back at the computer screen, the guys had broken into the museum.
"It's completely deserted in here." Kenshi said through his transceiver.
"I thought that too. All the guards seemed to have disappeared." Hiro said.
"They might be hiding so they can all come out at once." Riki said.
"No, the passive sensors aren't reacting. There's literally no one there." Takuto said.
But how could that be? We just saw guards a few minutes ago, plus I just saw Tatsuro so the police knew something was happening.
Takuto then started typing on his laptop.
"Breached first line of security." He said.
"Roger." Kenshi said.
"2nd door breached." Takuto said.
He was really good!
"Takuto if the security is being breached, why aren't the alarms going off?" I asked.
"Your brain finally starting to work, huh? I've been wondering that the whole time." He said.
"No matter how good you are at hacking, the alarms would react from outside access." I said.
Otherwise what would the point in having security at all?
"Don't you think this is weird?" Riki asked.
"This is too easy." Hiro said.
"There's not one guard around." Kenshi said. "Anyway, I got the painting."
"I have a bad feeling, Kenshi retreat." Riki said.
Just then, there was a loud explosion.
"What the?!" Riki gasped. "Whoa!"
"What's wrong?" Takuto asked.
"I don't know! Something exploded!" Riki shouted.
"Run!" Kenshi shouted.
"What's going on?" Takuto asked.
"What happened? A bomb?" I asked.
It couldn't be the police, they wouldn't do that.
"C'mon! We gotta get out of here!" Takuto shouted.
"But shouldn't we wait for the others?" I asked.
"No, we have to ditch the car and run!"
He grabbed my arm and we got out of the car.
"C'mon, run!"
BANG
"Ooh!" I cried out.
A large gust of wind hit my back.
"Damn it!" Takuto shouted.
He pushed me to the ground and covered my body with his, shielding me from the blast. I looked over his shoulder and saw that the van was on fire!
"Hey, are you ok? Can you stand?" he asked.
I nodded and tried to stand but my legs felt like jelly and I fell back to the floor.
"Tch.." He sighed.
"Ooh!" I gasped as he scooped me up into his arms.
"Don't look down. Close your eyes and hang onto me." He said.
I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck as he ran.
We returned to the restaurant.
"Heard it got pretty crazy." Boss said.
"Is everyone back?" Takuto asked.
"Somehow." Riki said.
"That scared me!" Hiro said.
"What was that bomb?" Kenshi asked.
I could still feel my heart pound, I just couldn't find the energy to speak.
"Faye, are you ok?" Boss asked.
I gave a slight nod.
"Looks like she's in shock." Boss said.
"That's never happened to us before either." Hiro said.
"Not only did the exhibition hall get destroyed but so did our van." Kenshi said.
"Someone must have planted that bomb on our car." Riki said.
I couldn't stop thinking about it, if Takuo hadn't saved me I could be dead.
"Takuto.. Thank you for saving me." I said.
"It's fine. I just did what anyone would do in that situation. But you're so annoying, I should've just left you there and brought the computer instead."
I glared at him "That's horrible. You're saying the computers are more important than me?" I asked.
"What do you think?" He said with a smile.
He was teasing me, no matter what he said he saved me over the computers.
"Well, were we able to get the painting?" Boss asked. "So everything turned out fine in the end."
"You seem pretty relaxed, Boss." Riki said.
"Well, he's right. We checked it out at the scene and it's real." Kenshi said.
Riki took the cloth off the painting.
"Damn it!" Riki said.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
I looked at the painting, it was scorched.
"We went to all that work stealing it and it got burnt!" Hiro said unhappily.
"It's value will definitely plummet now." Boss said.
"What a waste." Takuto grumbled.
I starred at the 'Cheery Blossom' something didn't seem right.
"Who was behind that explosion anyway?" Riki asked.
"Hmm.. There's too much we don't know." Boss said.
"Guys, I think this painting is a fake." I said.
"What?!" Riki gasped.
Hiro then looked at the painting for a second "I think you're right Faye."
"Are you serious?" Riki asked.
"Are you sure?" Boss asked.
"Yeah. A technique has been used to make the painting seem older then it actually is. It's definitely fake." I said.
"I agree. But the one I saw the other day, was the real thing." Hiro said confused.
"Someone must have replaced it after receiving the threat." Takuto said.
"That sounds likely, most likely the owner or somebody else." Boss said.
"Could it be the same person who planted the bomb?" I asked.
"There's a possibility." Takuto said.
"They wanted to get rid of us with the bomb and if that didn't work, fool us with the counterfeit. Would the owner go to those lengths?" Kenshi asked.
Explosions.. Counterfeits... why would some do this just for Gramp's painting?
"Let's call it a night." Boss said.
Hiro sighed "This leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
"There's too much unexplained." Riki said.
I needed to go home, Tatsuro and Ranko were probably worried. I stood up when Kenshi stopped me.
"Hey wait Faye, I'll walk you home." He said.
"No It's ok." I said.
"No It's could be dangerous and Tatsuro's apartment is on my way home." He said.
I nodded and we left the bar together. We walked home in silence, we finally stopped outside Tatsuro's house.
"Thanks Kenshi." I said.
He ruffled my hair and smiled "Don't look so glum, we'll get your Gramp's painting back, no matter what!"
I smiled "I know we will."
"Good, get a good night sleep." He said.
We hugged goodbye and I let myself in. I closed the front door and Tatsuro was waiting in the living room.
"You're finally home. Welcome back Faye." He said with a relieved smile.
"Hey, you're back from your case so soon? Did you catch the black foxes?" I asked.
"No, they set off a bomb and escaped. I'm glad you're home safe, you were late so I was worried that you got caught up in the explosion."
"I didn't even realise there was an explosion. Was anyone injured?" I asked.
"No, thankfully. I'm… just so glad you're ok. So glad…" he said and his hand fell into his hands.
He looked so tired. His stomach then growled loudly.
"Oh.."
"Are you hungry?" I asked.
"Yeah, I came right over as soon as I got off work. Hey, will you stay up with me? I don't want to eat alone." He said.
"Sure." I said.
"Great, ok. Gimme your hand." He said.
"Why?" I asked.
I held out my hand, he grabbed onto it and pulled himself up.
"You sound like an old man." I said.
"Who cares? I'm weak from hunger. Let's go." He said.
We left the apartment together and ended up in our favourite play park eating takeaway food.
"Ahhhh. This is just a normal burger but it's sooooo good." He said.
"Has it really been that long since you've eaten?" I asked.
"About… a day."
"Seriously? That can't be healthy. It must be rough being a detective." I said.
"Nah. It's the perfect job for me. And I get to go home tonight, there are still some guys working the scene." He said.
"The black foxes case?" I asked.
"Yep. I really wish we could have caught them tonight." He said.
He crumpled up his paper napkin in his fist.
"Do you really think the Black Foxes are so bad?" I asked.
"What?"
"Well I mean.. don't they say the Black Foxes only steal for the greater good?" I said.
"Even if it is for the greater good, a crime is a crime." He said firmly.
"But.."
"Are you trying to sympathize with criminals Faye?" he asked.
"No I just…"
He was right, they were criminals but they were also good men.
"I'm sorry, that was harsh. But no matter what you think, and no matter what society says about them… to the police the black foxes are criminals. I won't budge on that because I'm a detective." He said.
"I know, you're just doing your job." I said.
The guys were right, Tatsuro was our enemy and that was just how things had to be.
"Hahah. I'm sorry. I asked you to come with me and we're talking about this." He said.
"It's ok."
"Why don't we talk about something more fun? Whoa!"
"What is it?" I asked.
"Crap. I accidentally ate the tomato."
"You still don't like tomatoes. Tatsuro!" I said.
"So what? You don't have any room to talk. What about you and celery?"
"Who cares about celery?" I said.
"Haha. That's not good. Celery has lots of fibre. You should eat more celery since you usually eat nothing but meat." He said.
"That's not true." I said.
"Ok, so if you had a choice between a pork cutlet and a bowl of simmered veggies, which one would you chose?" he asked.
"Pork cutlet." I said.
"See?" he said and laughed.
"Oh shut up. Who on earth would choose veggies over pork cutlets?" I said.
"But… that's one of the things I like about you." He said.
I looked at him, he was being weird again.
"You've got some dressing here." He said and wiped the bottom of my lip with his thumb.
"Thanks…." I said and looked away.
"Hahah. That never changes about you Faye." He said.
"I don't know."
"It doesn't. When you were little you always had ketchup or mayonnaise on your mouth. And seaweed. Not just on your mouth but all stuck in your teeth.."
"Ugh! Shut up." I said and playfully punched him on the shoulder.
It felt like we were friends again, just like when we kids.