Chapter 18
It was the day of the mission; we were sat in the van waiting.
"Faye and I will concentrate on getting the blue prints." Riki said.
"We'll take care of the guards and the Silver dogs." Kenshi said.
"And the donut patrol." Takuto said.
"Takkun, be nice." Boss said. "Ow! That hurt Takkun!"
Takuto just hit him. Why?
"Enough of this nonsense! Let's go." Riki said.
We all got out of the van.
"Tch. Too many people here." Riki said.
"Looks like nothin' but security guards and cops to me." Kenshi said.
"We're going in, do it Takuto." Riki said.
Takuto threw a canister of tear gas towards the guards.
"What the hell?" a cop shouted.
"Now. Go!" Riki shouted.
We all snuck onto the yacht and headed for a staircase. The auction was being held on the fifth floor so the target must be in that room somewhere.
"Over here everyone!" Hiro shouted.
He was wearing a guard uniform and was stood by a door.
"Hurry up. I put all the guards outside the hall to sleep." He said.
Men then appeared from behind Hiro, they were all wearing silver bodysuits. One grabbed Hiro from behind and put him into a full nelson.
"You're the silver dogs." Kenshi said.
"That's right. Now, hand over the girl." One ordered.
"No way! I'd never give up Faye to a bunch of fashion victims like you." Hiro snapped.
"Eat this doggies!" Takuto shouted and started squirting something on them.
"What's this liquid stuff?" one asked.
"It's all sticky.."
"Hey! Takkun, don't squirt it on me!" Hiro said.
More people in silver bodysuits started to appear, one after the other.
"Riki go on! Leave these guys to us." Kenshi said.
"Got it, come in Faye." Riki said and grabbed my hand.
"Ok."
We ran all the way down the stairs, Riki was pulling me along.
"Here, this where the auction will be held." He said as we came to a large room.
There were large stairs that led to different levels of the yacht. We started to go up the stairs,
"I wouldn't go any further if I were you."
We turned and saw Sean stood behind us.
"Keep going Faye." Riki said and continued to pull me up the stairs.
I then heard a loud beeping before the stairs exploded and crumbled to the floor below, taking Riki with it.
"Riki!" I shouted and tried to grab his hand as he fell but I missed and he disappeared out of sight.
"Oh no! Riki! Riki can you hear me?" I shouted.
"It's nice to see you again." Sean said before he wrapped his arm around my neck roughly.
"Get off me!" I shouted and tried to struggle free but he was too strong.
I then felt something cold be placed against my temple.
"I would rather not blow off your pretty little head, but I will if you force me." He said whispering in my ear.
I froze, too scared to move.
"Good girl, now move." He said and pushed me forwards.
He brought me to a large room filled with paintings and other items.
"I never get tired seeing stolen good." He said and laughed.
"If you didn't have a gun, I'd kick your ass."
"Hmm. I bet you'd give it your best shot." He said with a laugh.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a small grey box. Could gramps' blueprints really be in there?
"Open it." He ordered and pushed the box into my hands.
There was a dial on the side of the box, that must be where my finger went.
"Open it." He said again.
I looked up at him and glared at him.
"No."
"I don't need you alive to open the box." He said and cocked his gun.
This was it, I was going to die!
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the door to the hall opened and Tatsuro stood in the entrance.
"Tatsuro!"
He stared at me in complete shock.
"Don't move Faye." He shouted.
"Wha-"
Tatsuro pulled out his gun and ran towards us as he fired, bullets shoot past either side of me. Before I could react, Tatsuro pulled me onto his chest and fired again.
"Ugh…" Sean groaned in pain.
Tatsuro quickly kicked his gun away that had fallen to the ground by his feet. Over Tatsuro's shoulder, I could see Sean slumped on the ground holding his thigh.
"Are you alright Faye?" Tatsuro asked.
"Yes, thank you." I said.
Tatsuro then looked at Sean.
"It's nice to finally meet you Sean Kim, or should I call you Silver Dog? We've been looking for you for a long time."
"Damn it! I was so close." Sean shouted before he pulled something out of his pocket.
It looked like a remote control.
"I just triggered the timer for a bomb on this boat." He said.
"What? No!" I said.
"My boss won't let me live if I don't bring back that box open. So if I'm going to die, I'm taking you all with me."
"Are you crazy? Where is the bomb?" I asked.
"It's too late." He said before he started to lose conscious in a pool of his own blood.
"Hey. Sean. Wake up! Wake up!" I shouted and shook him violently but he wouldn't wake up.
"Tatsuro, what are we going to do now?" I asked.
I turned to face him, he was suddenly very pale and then he fell to his knees. Blood started to trickle from his thigh.
"Tatsuro, were you shot?"
I ran to his side and caught him before he collapsed to the ground.
"I'll be fine, he didn't hit anywhere vital.. probably."
"Probably?!"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything…"
"Don't talk, you'll be fine. Come on, get up. We have to run." I said and tried to pull him to his feet.
"No I can't, I can't move." He then grabbed my hand "Listen to me Faye, I want you to get out of here."
"No, what about you?"
"The other guys are going to come in here at any minute, you need to get out of here before then." He said.
"I said no. I won't leave you behind." I said firmly.
I needed to think, if I left him here to find the bomb he could bleed to death so first thing first was I sort out his wound and then go and find the bomb.
"Ok Listen Tatsuro here's what- Tatsuro? Tatsuro? Wake up. Wake up!"
He was now conscious, he was looking so pale and the bleeding didn't look like it was stopping anytime soon.
"Faye! Are you ok?" Riki said through my ear piece.
"Oh my god Riki! You're ok!"
"What's going on with Sean?"
"Tatsuro shot him, he's unconscious. But Tatsuro got shot too."
"Togoshi got shot?"
"You guys needs to get out of here, this ship is going to explode." I said.
"What?!"
"The silver dogs planted a bomb and now it's counting down. They're going to kill everyone."
"Damn it. Faye, I want you to listen to me carefully. Since Sean destroyed the stairs, we can't get to you right away. And even if I could, I can't carry two people. What do you want to do?"
"Me?"
"Yes you! What do you want me to do?"
"Save Tatsuro." I said.
I then heard a loud bleep followed by Boss's voice.
"Faye, I'm sending Kenshi to Togoshi. He'll be able to give him first aid. But I don't know if he'll make it in time. Like Riki said, it'll take time to get to your floor."
"That's fine, just save Tatsuro. I'll go and look for the bomb." I said.
"But, you might not be able to find it. And if you do, you might not be able to disarm it." Boss said.
"You don't know that. I have to try. I will find it and I will disarm it." I said.
"If you're that determined, do as you please. This may not help you but I want you to listen carefully. Riki said Sean used a remote to set off the first bomb, which means the bomb isn't that far away. Because he'd still have to be in range of the signal for it to work. So search the floor you're on now, it must be there somewhere."
"Got it."
"If you find it, contact me immediately, understand?"
"Yes."
I ran through every room on the fifth floor. The casino, the storeroom, the bathrooms but I couldn't find it.
Ok ok, just calm down and think. The silver dogs want to kill people, so they'll pick a place that will have as many victims as possible.
I thought carefully and ran to the kitchen, the bomb was hidden inside the oven. There was only 5 minutes left.
Oh god!
"Boss I found it. It's the restaurant's kitchen." I said.
"Because there's a gas stove in there. If it blows up, there will be a lot of victims."
BEEP
"What does it look like?" Takuto said.
"A digital clock with five wires. There's only five minutes left on the timer." I said.
"Tell me about the wires."
"There are several." I said and explained them all.
"The blue and black are dummy wires. It's not the yellow wire either." He said.
"So that leaves…"
"The red and green. If you cut one of those, the clock will stop." He said.
"But which one?"
"I don't know. But if you're wrong, it'll blow and game over." He said.
BEEP
"It's your decision Faye." Riki said.
Oh god, how did I end up in this horrible situation?
I found a pair of scissors in a nearby drawer and stood in front of the bomb.
"Red or green? Red or green?"
I took a deep breath and cut the green wire with a snap. I held my breath and waited but nothing happened. The clock stopped with only 45 seconds left.
I sighed and collapsed onto the floor.
"Faye, are you ok?" Kenshi asked and he came running into the kitchen.
"Kenshi?" I said and sat up.
"Did you disarm it?"
I nodded.
"All right! Let's get outta here." He said and pulled me to my feet.
"Is Tatsuro ok?" I asked.
"I gave him and Sean first aid, the police helicopter is on it's way." He said.
I nodded.
Kenshi opened the kitchen window and fastened a rope to it.
"Wait, what are you going to make me do now?!"
"We don't have time to argue." He said.
I tried to run away but pulled me into his arms as he rappelled us down onto the deck below.
We somehow managed to get back to the van,
"Sorry we took so long." Kenshi said.
"Faye, I'm so glad you're safe!" Hiro beamed.
"You have the worst luck ever… but I'm glad you're ok." Takuto said and flicked me on the forehead.
"Ow!"
"Why do you enjoy making me worry like that?!" he snapped.
"It wasn't intentional." I said.
"That's everyone, let's go!" Riki ordered.
"Ok." Boss said and floored the accelerator.
I could hear the faint sound of a helicopter approaching the ship.
"Police reinforcements." Riki said.
"Will Tatsuro be ok?" I asked.
"Probably. If he would've been shot a few centimeters to the left, he would have bled out." Kenshi said.
I nodded, that was a relief. I then remembered something and turned to Riki.
"Are you ok? You fell quite far."
"Huh? Are you an idiot? It would take a lot more than that to hurt someone like me." Riki said.
"Haha. Most people would be seriously injured." Kenshi laughed.
I smiled, Riki was arrogant as always.
"I'm just so glad you're ok." I said and wrapped my arms around him.
"Idiot, when are you going to realise who we are?" He asked.
"Probably never, especially since Kenshi made me jump from somewhere high. Again." I said as I let go of Riki.
"Haha! At least you weren't all shaky like last time. You must be getting used to it." Kenshi laughed and ruffled my hair.
"Anyway, what happened to the blueprints?" Riki asked.
"The blueprints? Ohhh!"
"Don't tell me you don't have it with you?!" Kenshi said.
"Are you serious?" Hiro said. "You were in the auction hall, weren't you?"
"Well yeah but I was also shot at and then I had a bomb to worry about." I said.
"Kenny? Did you go to the hall?" Hiro asked.
"I thought Faye had it. I didn't check for sure, but.."
"You've gotta be kidding me, our first mission failure." Takuto said.
"It's all leaders fault, he didn't stay with Faye." Hiro said.
"There was nothing I could do. That damn Sean blew up the stairs."
"I'm really sorry." I said.
"Everyone calm down. We still have a chance to get it. Let's just try harder next time, ok?" Boss said.
After that, I got a text from Ranko telling me that Tatsuro was in hospital. For some reason, she thought that I was on a training course for the museum as her text read; please come visit when you get back.
Ten days have passed since the mission; I was at the Le Renda Noir with Boss.
"Are you sure I don't have to hide at Hiro's house anymore?" I asked Boss.
"Yep, I've taken care of everything and I got your old job back." Boss said.
I smiled "Brilliant, I can't wait. So all we have to do now is find Gramp's painting by using the code of the others." I said.
"That's right. Takuto has been working on the code for the past few days, he should have cracked by now." Boss said.
The door opened and Tatsuro walked in.
"Hey, you're out of hospital." I said.
"Yep."
"Are you feeling ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, the wounds almost healed."
"Good. Look, I'm sorry that I couldn't visit you and I'm sorry that I lied to you." I said.
"You mean about the Black Foxes?"
"Yeah."
"We hid things from each other. You hid stuff about the Black Foxes and I didn't tell you about the case. I even used you to get evidence without your permission. A detective and a thief… we couldn't help it." He said and smiled gently at me.
"I know but still."
"Anyway, here."
He took something out of pocket.
"It's the box." I said.
"This is what you wanted, right?"
"Yeah but… are you sure it's ok?" I asked and took the box from him.
"Ok or not, it belonged to Gramps right? So I'm just returning it to it's rightful owner." He said.
There was a dial on the side of the box. I gently pressed my finger onto the dial and the box opened with a snap. Inside was a folded piece of paper. I opened it up and on the paper were blueprints, just as we suspected.
"What is it?" Tatsuro said.
"It doesn't matter. Boss, burn them." I said and handed Boss the piece of paper.
"Roger." He said and went into the kitchen.
Oh gramps, you never thought that one of your inventions would end up like this. All he wanted to do was help people, not hurt people.
"You really loved Gramps huh?" Tatsuro said and then sighed. "So… it's all for the best this way."
He then stood up.
"Take care Faye."
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"I'm probably going to be returning to America soon. They contacted me last week, it's good timing. So… take care of yourself Faye."
He gently messed up my hair before he left the bar.
He was leaving? Just like that?
"Is this ok with you Faye?" Boss asked.
"It's his choice…"
"If you don't go after him now, he's really going to leave."
I looked at Boss and then dashed out of the door.
"Tatsuro, wait!" I shouted out and ran after him.
"Faye…"
"Don't go please. Why are you going back to America anyway?"
"I don't have a choice. The only reason I came here was to arrest the black foxes and I can't. Not when the woman I love is one of them. She's a sore loser, a cry baby…. And a terrible liar. But she's so kind… she even saved nearly 100 people from a bomb. There's no way I could arrest someone like her."
He then pulled me into a tight embrace.
"You're heart is with the Black Foxes and as long as I stay in Japan, it will be my job to catch them and I can't. I can't do it, not if you're one of them. So promise me, you'll never get caught by anyone… not even me."
Tatsuro…
He was holding me so tightly, almost as if he was too scared to let me go.
I'm so sorry Tatsuro, I'm sorry for not being able to return your feelings and I'm sorry for being a Black Fox. We were always going to be enemies, there was no way around it.
"Faye… please… promise me…"
"Ok, I promise."
We stayed like this for what seemed like forever till he let me go.
"Goodbye Faye." He said and walked off.
"Bye…." I said faintly so only I could hear.
I turned around and returned to the bar, only to find all of the guys there.
"Are you ok Faye?" Riki asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said and sat down next to him.
"You look like your about to cry." Hiro said.
"Do you love him?" Boss asked.
"Tatsuro? No. It's just… I'm his friend and I've done nothing but hurt him and now I've driven him away from Japan. I'm a horrible person."
"No you're not." Takuto said sharply.
"Takkun's right, all you've done is get your gramps' work back. And you saved a lot of people from being blown up." Kenshi said.
"It's just how it is. You're a thief, he's a detective. You were never going to be on the same side." Riki said.
"I guess you're right. But at least we got the blue prints. Did you burn them Boss?" I asked.
"Yep!"
"So, you didn't screw up the mission after all?" Takuto asked.
"Doesn't look like." I said and smiled smugly at them.
"Did Togoshi give them to you?" Riki asked.
I nodded.
"Anyway, let's celebrate to a successful mission. Oh and Takkun, give Faye your present." Boss said.
"Present?"
"Here." Takuto handed me a piece of paper with what looked like map coordinates.
"What is it?" I asked.
"The location of the final painting." He said.
"Really? Whoa." I said.
So this was it, my final mission.
"Boss…" I began.
"Is this about what's going to happen next once we get the final painting?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Well, we won't need your fingerprints anymore. So you can take your time to decide what you want to do."
"I think you should just come and live in my house forever!" Hiro said.
"Why do you have such crappy taste in women?" Takuto said.
"Says you who's actually secretly in love with Faye." Hiro said.
Takuto then punched him on the shoulder.
"Ow! What are you doing, idiot?"
"You just gave me goose bumps. Gross!" Takuto said.
"Stop fighting you two." Kenshi said.
"Here everyone, drink up!" Boss said and put a tray full of beer in front of us all.
The next day, Riki accompanied me to the address that Takuto had given us. It was an old cottage, deep in the mountains.
"It doesn't look like anyone lives here." Riki said.
"I wonder where Gramps would have hidden the painting?" I said.
We were stood inside the dusty cottage looking around.
"Look, there's a staircase going down to the basement." He said.
The stairs led to a big door with a biometric lock on it. Could the painting Lady of the camellias really be inside?
I gently pressed my finger onto the lock and the door slowly opened.
"It's the portrait of the Lady of the camellias." Riki said.
In the painting, a woman held out her right hand with a smile in a colourful flower garden. Sparkling on her ring finger was..
"That's the ring Gramps gave me."
"They used that ring as their engagement ring." He said.
The woman looked almost identical to me.
'Cherry Blossom', 'Lily of the Valley', 'Flowering Dogwod', 'Lady of Camllias'. Those four paintings tell the story of Gramps and Granny's love.
"There's something written on the back." Riki said. "It says; I'm so blessed to have met you here after ten years. I pledge my eternal love to you."
"So this is where they promised to meet?" I said.
So after ten years of enduring hard times, they reunited here.
"Faye, let's go out to the garden." Riki said.
I followed him back up the stairs, he carried the painting for me.
"It's the same garden in the painting." He said. "My destiny is in your hands'. That's what the camellia means."
I couldn't believe it; we had found all of Gramps' paintings! I was so happy.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Riki asked.
"About what?"
"Are you going to go back to your normal life, or stay with us? You're one of us you know. It'll be hard to go back to a normal life." He said.
I turned and smiled at him "Let's make a deal, I'll stay if you promise not to make me jump off high things."
He laughed "Can't promise that and besides, I thought you were getting use to jumping off high things?"