Chapter 5 Leverage
It felt a lot like being trapped under the ice. Running on what little mental wattage he could scrounge, that was the best analogy Kudo Shinichi could come up with. He had never actually had that particular pleasure before, however he reasoned the experience couldn't be too much different than having your waking mind forcibly rattled right out of your skull.
From the cold depths of unconsciousness, everything seemed so incredibly distant. While the abyssal pressures dragged on what little movement he could muster. Even the slightest headway in wrestling back motor control from the ether of bedlam proved to be a monumental task. Direction and time were purely academic in such a state. His eyes saw only dim flashes of red and blue. His ears registered only static. And everything else felt only numb.
All together, it was a rather unpleasant experience.
Eventually a tiny, tinny sliver of sound managed to pierce the white noise. Eroded, staccato waves in the acoustic storm but distinctly there. He furrowed his brow and focused, desperately trying to filter the audible gain to ensure it wasn't a figment of void or some sonic version of pareidolia.
It was a voice, faint and indecipherable.
"Kudo. Kudo? Kudo! Wake up!"
Dazedly, he managed to pry open his eyelids. At first he saw nothing, however a series of heavy grunts and hard blinking regained enough contrast to adjust for the poor lighting.
It was a bizarre sight which greeted him. A table holding a feast was arrayed before him. Bread, wine, vegetables, sauce and a fileted fish of some sort serving as its centerpiece.
This was juxtaposed starkly by the choice in venue, being situated in the middle of a derelict concrete vault some three stories high and as long as a soccer field in depth. Sickly yellow moonlight saturated the salt air through broken glass windows mounted high above as a cacophony of seagulls' cries and foghorn's sound cut through the night. Along one of the peeling-painted walls ran rusted catwalks of decaying iron bars while banks of modern computer servers and fiber optic cable framed the bottom wall opposite. The place had the charming aura of an industrial graveyard.
"What on earth…?" He muttered.
Silver joy echoed from his right. "Kudo kun! Thank God, you're alive!"
He turned sharply to see Shiho seated next to him. She looked worse for wear. Her hair was matted and stained with blood from a cut on her forehead, while her makeup, previously unnoticeable at the gala, now flew wild across her face.
"What's going on?" He grimaced.
"I don't know. Can you move?" She brought up her hands from her lap to show the addition of steel cuffs.
He tried to lurch his body forward but was restrained by heavy duty zip ties and paracord lashed across his chest.
A metallic switch snapped and the ominous buzz of electricity grew beyond the gloom. Then the blinding bright lights of judgment opened up on the pair, forcing them to jerk against their fetters as specially placed floodlights seared their retinas with over two million candle power.
Deprived of sight, they had only the sound of slow, methodical footsteps reverberating off the wet concrete to fill their fears.
Kudo forced himself to look but found only a shadow approaching.
"Welcome back to the waking world. Truly delighted you could join us. You must forgive the mess. So seldom do I entertain guests here." The silhouette spoke with the synthesized quality of a voice modulator. It pulled back a chair and sat down at the end of the table. "Can I offer you something to drink?"
"It's poisoned," Shiho hissed.
Our hands are tied, Kudo thought.
Their jailer picked up a bottle in disbelief. "My dear, this is a 94 pinot noir. One does not taint such a vintage as this." He could tell by the spite in her face that the offer would not be accepted. "Suit yourself." He shrugged, pouring out a glass for himself.
"Who are you?" She demanded.
"You don't remember?" The figure seemed to reel back in mock theatrics. "Ugh, you wound me!"
Kudo interjected menacingly. "You can't blame her. It's difficult to see the faces of those who hide in the dark."
The brigand clicked his head sharply at the interruption. "While people like you are blinded by the light, we shadows can see everything. Still, introductions are warranted, I suppose. I'm an
old friend of Miss Miyano. I knew her back when she went by the name Sherry. You may call me Moonshine."
Shiho felt her heart falling like the Hindenburg. "They-they told me you were dead." She stammered.
"Ha ha! Aren't we all!?" Laughed her old handler. "Three ghosts of the past, having a grand old time. No, no. Reports of my demise are quite exaggerated as you can plainly see. Standard procedure, I'm afraid. You understand. I'm sure the story of your survival is far more interesting."
"What do you want?"
"Just some answers for now. Let's start off easy. What's the relationship here? You don't have friends, Sherry. He help you escape?"
She straightened up in proud fashion and said in a remarkably calm voice. "I don't know this man. He has nothing to do with this."
Moonshine reclined back casually in his chair and drummed his fingers on the table as one does when deciding on what next to do. Then he flicked his hand in a casual gesture. "Of course. Stupid of me, really. We can't have our stalwart heroes give up so easily. What fun is that?" He pushed back his seat and got up. Slowly he circled behind Shiho, dangling a length of wire cable before her eyes.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"With a conversation like this, formalities must be adhered to." Moonshine moved behind the detective, resting his hands on his shoulders.
Kudo glared with intensity at Shiho, strong enough to will the hideous fear from her mind. "Look at me. Everything will be alright. Just stay calm."
Moonshine wrapped the garot around his victim's neck. "Next question: how long can your average adult male survive without oxygen?" He heaved back as hard as he could on the wire, resulting in a sickening crunch as Kudo's windpipe was thrust against his spine.
Shiho jumped in her chair. "Let him go! I don't know him! We only met a few hours ago at the gala!"
"Oh! So close. The answer we are looking for is 300 seconds. I have your passports. This," he wrenched the head back for a better view, "is Kudo Shinichi. Don't you remember flying in together? You were in charge of the investigation into this guy's alleged death, Sherry! You marked him as confirmed. Was it so he could help you escape later on?"
Panic began to seep into her voice as she realized she was cornered. "No, it's not like that! I only suspected he survived! I escaped on my own! I found him days afterwards! He never knew I existed before that!"
"How did you escape then, huh?"
She bit her lip, as the sound of the labored gurgling grew louder. How many seconds had already passed? "I slipped out the vent in the gas chamber! Now let him go!"
"I don't mean to be rude here but I cannot stress enough that time is a bit of a factor. Your friend is turning blue."
"I'm not lying!"
"I read the report, Sherry. That vent was less than 40cm square. You expect me to believe that?"
Her eyes darted back and forth for an answer which wasn't there. "I took 30mg of APTX 4869, alright? I tried to kill myself but it didnt work. Instead I was physically shrunk to an adolescent size. Small enough to fit in the vent. I know it's crazy but it's the truth! That's how I was able to fly under the radar for so long. You have to believe me!"
"You don't look like a kid to me."
"I-I was able to cobble together a temporary antidote from memory. The effects don't last long. Let off!"
He pondered that for an exaggerated moment. "You tell anyone about this?"
"No one! It's just him and me! I swear!"
"Why are you two here?"
Shiho hesitated, trying urgently to remember if anyone else would be in the cross hairs.
Moonshine applied more force, lifting his victim bodily off the ground. "Tick tock."
The sounds which thundered in her ear were too terrible to ignore. In agonized horror, she watched as Kudo strained for breath. His eyes were bulging and dull. His face was purple. She knew it would be only seconds before he was gone.
Kudo, gone? How would that even work? He was part of her life. Her mind failed to process, to conceptualize such a thing.
She had been shattered when Akemi died. Ripped apart on an atomic level. She couldn't bear that twice.
The logical solution was to starve the fire of fuel and detach herself from anything that might prove meaningful. So why couldn't she feel that way deep down where it mattered? Why did he have to make things so damn difficult?
She shook her head back into the moment. "My sister stole a hard drive and gave it to Dr Wei. I only just found out and Dr. Wei never knew what she had. I'd hoped my research would be on it so I could develop a permanent antidote. For the love of God! You're killing him!"
The detective stopped struggling. His body went slack. Moonshine held the throttle tight for another half a heartbeat before dropping him in disdain.
Kudo's body crumpled to the ground, the chair fracturing under the lifeless weight.
Shiho furiously fought against the ropes which held her, demanding to be freed so she could help.
Without a care in the world, Moonshine sauntered up to her and flicked open a switchblade from his pocket. In a single quick twist of the wrist, he sliced the cord that held her to the chair.
Immediately she fell forwards and checked for a pulse. "No, no, no!" She managed to roll him flat onto his back. From there she found the sternum and began chest compressions. Thirty brought no change. She tilted his head back and pinched his nose.
Her mouth descended over his. As their lips touched, she felt how freezing he was. How could someone filled with so much hot air be so cold? He couldn't die like this. Not after they had been through so much.
She forced fresh oxygen into the man and prayed.
His eyes finally sparked back to life. He rolled over, hacking and wheezing and coughing violently; taking in bitter air by the lungfull. Slowly his chest calmed to a normal pattern and he was able to drag himself up to a seated position. "Thanks" He croaked. "I owe you one."
She smiled back at him with an unsettling mix of relief, fear and abashment.
Moonshine returned to his seat and rolled his eyes. "Pathetic."
Shiho spat back at him "You sick bastard!"
Rubbing his neck, Kudo too leered up at the silhouette. "You took her testimony much more stoically than I would have expected. Most people would find the idea hard to believe."
"Oh, you were paying attention?" Moonshine started cutting up his fish filet. "Truth be told, I figured as much. But I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't make sure. You see, I never really bothered deactivating the Spyware I had on your email, Sherry. You can imagine my surprise when out of the blue, I get an alert that you've been invited to a party at the old alma mater. To say nothing of when it was marked as opened and read. First thing I did was go over everything in your file, including all your research into apo-whatever. There I found out one of your lab mice met a similar fate. Curious thing, that. You managed to stumble upon a genuine, bona-fide fountain of youth. One in a hundred chance at it in any event. Or rather, two in a hundred. Congrats." He washed down some of his dinner with a savored swig of red wine. "Ah, that's the good stuff. From there things fell into place. Your name, Mr. Kudo, on the other ticket was the final piece in the puzzle. There were some remarkable coincidences surrounding your untimely demise. And in my experience, there's no such thing as a coincidence."
"Who else knows?"
"Just us in this room. And of course whoever you told. I gotta a pretty good idea of when Sherry wants to be less than honest with me and I'm not convinced on that point. That's half the reason you're still alive right now. But we can save that discussion for later."
Kudo raised an eyebrow. "Half the reason?"
The figure sighed. "Well, I actually have some good news and some bad news in that regard. This is a little embarrassing but we can't have that hard drive floating around out in the open. I take pride in my work. Don't get me wrong, you two are a catch but you two and a lost hard drive would be an even bigger feather in my cap. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons I can't go and look for it myself. That's where you come in, Mr. Kudo. I'm letting you go. You're going to find me that hard drive and promptly put it right here in my hand."
"I'll need help. Not only have I come to rely on Miyano's judgment, she's the only one who knew Dr. Wei. That insight will be key if you want the drive."
"No. She stays here with me."
It was worth a shot. "What assurances do I have that she'll be safe?" Continued the detective.
"None whatsoever. Though if it's any consultation, I logically stand to profit more if I turn her over alive. What happens to her after that is none of my business. Now for the bad news." He produced three mobile phones, two pair of black framed glasses and a wristwatch, placing each delicately on the table. "You've got some fascinating little gadgets. I've taken the liberty of disabling the GPS on your phones and uh … spectacles. But this." He inspected the watch lovingly, flipping up the lid with a push of a button. "This is something else. Took me ages to figure out how it works. Very clever, though if you'll permit a little professional
criticism, reloading is a pain. Why only one shot? You got room for a magazine here. And personally I prefer my sedatives in the tetrodotoxin variety. But that's just me."
Moonshine took aim and squeezed the trigger. The spring leapt forward and released the micro bolt downrange. Its trajectory terminated an inch into kudo's hairline.
He shook his head. Nothing happened. "That wasn't tetrodotoxin, was it?"
"That was, in fact, a chemical concoction whose name I'm not going to pretend to be able to pronounce. I like to simply call it liquid lobotomy. You have 24 hours to find my hard drive, Mr. Kudo. Do so and you'll get the antiserum."
"And if I don't?"
"You'll go clinically insane. A prisoner inside your own mind." He leaned back in his chair, picking at his teeth with the knife. "That's what I keep trying to explain to my colleagues. Kill someone outright and all you get for your troubles are investigations and inquiries and commissions. It's a mess. But another crazy person? Nobody cares. Plus even if you try running off to the police, by the time they take your statement, you'll be off your rocker. Unable to master a wooden spoon, much less give evidence. Nice, clean, simple. Oh, there is one catch though. After Sherry decided to grow a conscience, the R department has dropped in quality. Her successors are frankly not up to par. The pain does get quite excruciating as I understand."
So there it was. A was a deal with the devil. A wager that won nothing and cost everything with odds so stacked against him not even Faust would take it. Kudo Shinichi didn't hesitate for a second. "We're wasting time."