Lin has just enough time to regroup with Ayako and Takigawa, and then he is taken. The team now has to scramble to find a way to save him before the system swallows him whole.

Do forgive me for any butchery of the Japanese legal system from here on out. My research is mostly comprised of google and The Rookie with Nathan Fillion.

.o0o.

When Water and Fire returned to Lin, he along with the other three were already at the office. Naru had elected to keep their business closed for the rest of the day, as he had told Masako. Since they were about to navigate through an international coverup minefield, it was a good call, and Lin seconded it. But the fact that Ayako and Takigawa were already gone meant that the SPR had missed their first chance to stop them. Naru tried to call them again, but they didn't pick up. Lin tried to remember what service was like near the woods. They were close to residential areas and a hospital, but it was possible that cellular service was subject to all sorts of interference near that area.

It became clear to anyone with half a brain that one of the team would have to go and get them. As Mai was the one who was possessed (and also under age), she could not go. Neither could Masako, who was the eyes on the spirit. It made sense for Naru to both stay and go. Naru had the context as to what was happening, and he could explain better than any of the others, except for maybe Lin. Mai had made the argument for Naru to go and Lin to stay, as Lin was their only way of communicating with the spirit inside of her. But then Naru not-so-kindly reminded them all that he only had a learner's permit. It was either Lin go alone, or Lin would take Naru.

Lin ended up going alone. Naru had been indecisive, clearly torn between two worries—Mai and Lin. Lin told Naru to stay, for Lin's own peace of mind, and that was that.

Seeing the woods again was not a pleasant experience. Even though he now knew the gist of what had happened here, it did nothing to rationalize his impending fear. In fact, it made it worse. And knowing that his nationality tied him to the victims compounded his fear. It took all his focus and concentration to not veer off the too-familiar highway.

He turned down the side road, taking exactly the same route as yesterday. The first thing he could focus on was a tow truck driving ahead of him. It pulled over in front of two cars, one of them a police car with flashing lights. The car in front of it was Takigawa's. He recognized the dark red paint and the dent on the back bumper. Further proof was that Takigawa himself and Ayako were standing between the cars and the forest, with one police officer facing them. Thankfully, the officer's back was turned to the road, so Lin was able to pass by without being noticed. He hoped. He would have to circle around. Neither Takigawa nor Ayako appeared to be getting arrested. And even if they were, what was Lin going to do? Jump in and get arrested too?

When he circled back around, pulling off the highway for a second time, Lin saw that everyone had left. Takigawa and Ayako hadn't waited. Lin couldn't fight the panic gnawing at his stomach. His mind was flooding with what ifs. He took a deep breath. As he had explained to Mai two days ago, getting wrapped up in what ifs was anything but useful. He'd have to drive back to the office and hope that somehow the two of them—

A horn blared behind him, nearly driving him off the road. He was almost sure his heart stopped for a split second. He managed to regain control of the car and pull over. He put a hand to his pounding heart and squeezed the wheel for dear life. He repeated shut up to his panicking brain again and again, doing his best to not listen to the part of him screaming that he was about to die.

Something tapped on his window. He snapped his head over. Ayako was peering in at him, a concerned expression on her face. Did he really look that bad? He glanced at himself in the rear-view mirror. There was nothing besides pale skin and a tense frame. Good. He didn't look completely out of it.

With a push of a button, he unlocked his car. He pushed on the door, and then he recalled what happened the last time he was this close to the woods. Bracing himself, he got out. A familiar pulse of terror hit him in the back. This time, he was prepared. He didn't completely black out—he just somehow ended up on his knees with Takigawa right next to him, an arm wrapped under his shoulders.

"I'm fine," Lin said quickly. It was so quiet and shaky that not even he believed it. But he had to respond somehow, just to show that he was responsive. Monk said something that he only partially heard, and he stood up. He had a message for them. And they apparently had a message for him in return. The last thing he wanted to hear was that the cruel old officer was now officially hunting him down, but he was certainly glad he was told before he found out the hard way. He grabbed a few personal items, spare keys, ID cards, etc. and abandoned his car by the woods.

Once safely with his friends and moving, he told them everything that had happened concerning Mai and the spirit inside her, ignoring the way his heart raced as the woods leered down on him through the window. Calling Ayako and Takigawa flabbergasted was an understatement. Lin could feel the horror radiating off them like smoke from an overheating car.

"H-human experimentation?" Ayako stuttered. She seemed twice as disturbed as Monk. Then again, she was a doctor.

"We have no proof outside of what the spirit reported," said Lin.

"So that means we have nothing."

Lin sighed and nodded. It was true. Despite the fact that ghosts and spirits were real, it was still a long ways away for their branch of science to be accepted in the court of law. Takigawa's car took another turn. They were one turn away from the highway.

"According to the spirit, all of the victims were Chinese."

It was Takigawa's turn to grip the wheel as hard as he could. "But that means… Japan hid… if this got out… You!" Lin jumped. "That's why the woods have been targeting you! And those cops must be in on it too."

"Takigawa, I would appreciate it if you refrained from yelling until the woods are out of sight."

At that, Ayako turned around as best she could in her seat. Her gaze was gentle and full of concern. She opened her mouth.

"I'm fine," Lin said, cutting off her inevitable inquiry into his wellbeing.

"Bullshit," she snapped, making him flinch. "I know what a panic attack looks like. How long have you been like this?"

"Like what?"

"Fighting your own body for control? Feeling like every time you turn your back, something will try to kill you? This amount of stress isn't good for you."

Lin couldn't help but glare. "I'm aware. What do you expect me to do about it?"

"Why did you come to get us? Why couldn't…" Takigawa trailed off. Perhaps he realized that only Lin had a license among the three actual SPR employees. The car turned the final corner, finally rejoining the highway. Lin let out a breath, the woods finally disappearing into the distance.

Meanwhile, the wheels in Takigawa's head were still turning. "So if this really is some kind of international cover up that we've stumbled into… are you saying we're all stopping the investigation? Even though we are technically contract workers?" He gestured between himself and Ayako.

Lin nodded. "That's correct."

"And the spirit in Mai?"

"John will perform an exorcism later this afternoon."

Ayako sent a worried glance toward Takigawa. "At the very least, there's something you should know about the spiritual status of the woods."

"Oh! The hatch!" Takigawa exclaimed.

Lin tensed. He didn't know if he wanted to know this, for his own safety and the safety of the rest of the team. But if Takigawa and Ayako had information and help, they wouldn't be very good friends if they turned away. Besides, wasn't Lin's job to protect Naru? That arguably included vetting any information before it even reached the boy's ears. He gave a tense nod. Ayako picked up on the tenseness; Takigawa picked up on the nod.

"So we went down to the middle of the woods—Ayako kept finding that all the tree spirits were dead and trapped inside the actual trees—and in the middle of the woods, we found a hatch going into the ground. It was buried in a large clearing, and the handle had been taken off, meaning we couldn't open it."

Thank god for small miracles. "It's best that you didn't," Lin said.

Takigawa nodded, seeing the logic. "Well, considering what you've found out, I'm sure that's true. And about the trees, Ayako can explain better."

"The trees all around the circle were stuffed full of comatose spirits. They'd been discarded."

"Not exorcised?" Lin asked.

"No. Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

Lin shook his head. If spirits were unwanted, they were exorcised, not stuffed in the nearest bin still in the mortal plane. His two remaining shiki shuddered, disturbed at the idea as they visualized it. He checked in with them.

"None of this makes sense to you, does it?" he asked.

Fire merely shrugged.

Water was the one who answered. "Back home, it was uncommon, but you could find spirits imprisoned in trees. The remnants of punishment for immortals. It's not as common nowadays. There aren't as many trees to serve as prisons." Water sent Lin a telepathic image of a fairy trapped in a tree, only to be freed by a wizard and then indebted to him. Lin instantly recognized the concept from Shakespeare's The Tempest. He was somehow not surprised that at least a few of the historic bard's ideas were taken from otherworldly practices. After all, ghosts have existed as long as the living have.

Ayako opened her phone and handed it to Lin, showing him the photos they took. Unsettling nature of their collective discoveries aside, Lin noticed a detail that neither of them spoke about.

"The dirt is too light to be naturally occurring."

"It was like holding sand," Takigawa said.

"It looks like ash."

It was fortunate Takigawa's mouth was empty. Had he been drinking anything, he would have spat it all over the windshield.

Ayako's response was more measured. "I figured as much."

"And you let me touch it!?"

Lin did not react to Takigawa's outburst, to his relief. The woods were far enough away that he could endure the yelling without freaking out. Talking about the woods was unpleasant, but this lower level of anxiety he could handle.

"You were on a roll!" Ayako returned.

"In ashes!" retorted the monk.

Lin continued to scroll through the photos. "You identified the way back," he observed. "You realize this could be potentially incriminating?"

"We made sure neither of us were in the photos," said Takigawa. Like that was going to help them. "So what's the boss going to do about all this?"

"I don't really have an answer for you," said Lin. Now that they knew, and now that Lin had the police on his trail for some ungodly reason, it was naïve to hope that they could lay low and let this blow over. But what exactly else was there for them to do? They weren't some big-shot investigators. They were a pack of ghost hunters that the government would have absolutely no qualms with getting rid of. Lin shook his head. "Some stones can't be unturned. I think the most we can do is minimize the damage."

Ayako began to tally on her fingers. "You, you, me, Mai, and Naru. Is that everyone who knows?"

"Miss Hara knows too," said Lin.

"Right. What about John?"

Lin shook his head. "The current plan is to keep him out of the loop as best we can."

"That might backfire though," said Takigawa. "Think about it. If this really does become some high-octane Mission Impossible deal, then it's possible that they'll pick up everyone who ever associated with us as contractors. That implicates not just John, but Yasu, Madoka, and your families, because you guys run the place. Naru's parents, yours. I suppose this is the only time Mai can count herself lucky that she has no family. And if we don't tell them, they'll have no idea what's going on. Though then again, it might be better for them to literally not know anything. Depends on what villains we're dealing with."

Lin would have been lying if he said that his heart didn't jolt a little at hearing the possibilities of his and Naru's families coming into the line of fire. What could possibly be done to keep them safe?

"Hang on," Ayako said, waving her hands. "We're going way off the rails here. We don't know if any of that is true. Lin, is it possible you just have outstanding parking tickets?"

To this, Lin raised an eyebrow. The only times he incurred traffic tickets was when he was saving Naru's rear end, and he always made sure to pay them. Well, he made sure Naru shared in on the fine, as they were almost always partially his fault. His face must have said it, as Ayako deflated. True to form, she perked up not seconds later.

"My point still stands. We take this one step at a time. We have ideas of what to do should things get nasty, but we don't get carried away." This must have been Ayako's doctor side coming through, and that made sense. As a doctor, the entire mantra had to be, hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Lin caught a glimpse of the clock. It was just past noon, and they were near the office building. The thought of regrouping did little to soothe his worries. If the three actual legal adults in the car didn't have any ideas, what would the addition of two teenagers and an ageless doll of a woman do for them? And it wasn't like a priest would magically fix their situation—only the part that had to do with interloping ghosts.

"Uh, guys?" said Monk, pulling Lin out of his thoughts.

They were about to arrive at the office, except there were three police cars double parked outside, their lights on. Fear suddenly grabbed hold of Lin's heart and squeezed. There didn't appear to be a way to pass them unnoticed. He didn't realize the police were still inside their cars until the doors suddenly opened, revealing at least six cops. To Lin's minor relief, none of them appeared to be Fusei. An officer spoke into a megaphone.

"You in the red car. Pull over, now."

Takigawa jiggled the wheel, almost ready to run for it.

"Don't," Ayako hissed.

"But—"

A firm hand on his shoulder put an end to his thoughts of dissent. Car chases with criminals was one thing. Car chases with the police was another entirely, and it would only land them in more trouble.

Takigawa pulled over.

"Step out slowly. All of you."

The three of them did as told. Keeping their hands visible, they stepped out. A police officer broke the line and walked toward Lin. Realizing what was about to happen, Lin sent an order to Water.

"Stay with the group. Use your best judgment. Stay abreast of their statuses. Keep in contact."

Water detached from Lin's left bicep and made a beeline for the office. Predictably, none of the officers saw it, as it was a spirit, after all. Then again, with all the craziness happening lately, Lin wouldn't have been surprised if one of the police turned out to be a secret medium.

The officer grabbed his wrists and pulled them behind his back. "Koujo Lin, you are under arrest on suspicions of espionage."

None of the three spiritualists could hold back their surprised shouts. "Espionage?" echoed Lin. The officer didn't respond. He just went on to inform him of his rights to remain silent, hire a lawyer, or have a court-appointed one under certain conditions. Though Lin already knew that if espionage was the charge, as a foreigner, he was well and truly screwed.

"Have you all lost your minds?" Ayako blurted. "Lin isn't a spy! He's a ghost hunter! We all are!"

"Ma'am, keep out of this, unless you want to join him. That goes for you too." The officer supposedly directed that at Takigawa. Lin's back was already turned, so he couldn't tell.

He heard the front door to the complex open. "Lin!" That was Naru.

Lin turned around to the chagrin of the officer guiding him. He ignored the officer barking commands at him and shouted, "Stay back! It'll do no good if you get in trouble!"

"What's the meaning of this!?" Naru shouted to the cops closer to him. Lin didn't hear the response, but Naru's outraged, "That's ridiculous!" told Lin all he needed to know. Lin craned his neck, making eye contact with Naru. Naru's face was etched with worry. He had likely come to the same conclusion as Lin—that considering the cow pie they had inadvertently stepped in, it would take a miracle and a half for Lin to see the light of another day.

A rough hand grabbed the back of his neck, forcing him back around. A discrete blow to the gut was just insult to injury. He grit his teeth and did his best not to fold over the unexpected jolt. He ignored his co-workers' protests as he slipped into the back of the car. The door shut. He turned to face his friends one last time before the car took him away.

From above, Mai witnessed everything. She saw the police pull up to the building and wait. She wanted to go down and ask what they wanted, but Naru stopped her. It wasn't worth talking to the police unless there was no other choice. And then when Takigawa's car arrived, and only Takigawa's car arrived, Mai's concern compounded. Where was Lin's car? Her fears were assuaged only for a second, when she saw the third head in the back seat. And then it all went to Hell in a handbasket. Lin was arrested, despite protest from Ayako, Monk, and Naru, who went down to try and intervene. Mai saw the way the officer grabbed Lin and then covertly hit him. Mai saw red. How dare they?

The police car drove away. Lin was gone. Mai had never felt so powerless in her life. Masako was right next to her, rubbing circles into her back. She was in tears by the time the door slammed open again. Naru stormed in, on the phone and roaring in English. Mai only picked up a word here and there, not enough to remotely understand who he was talking to or what he was saying. Ayako and Monk came in next.

"What happened? Why was Lin taken?" Mai blurted.

"They said espionage," said Monk. Masako put a hand to her mouth, as was her customary surprised action.

"He's not a spy! That's insane!" Mai shouted.

"I'm pretty sure they know that. Word must've gotten out about our findings."

"How? We haven't told anyone! Have we?"

"Right, no one's said a thing. And all of our conversations have been private…" Monk trailed off, thinking.

"But what about…" Masako paused. "What about the call Lin made earlier?"

Mai flashed back. The call that Lin had made to his father in Chinese. The one that caused Weiguó inside of her to freak out. Was Masako really suggesting…

"You can't tap a cell phone," Takigawa said.

"Actually, you can. There's no such thing as a private phone call," said Ayako. "What did Lin say on the phone?"

Mai shook her head, trying not to let the floodgates open. "I don't know. He said he started to ask about the spirit inside me, and that's all I know!"

"He mentioned Lin Weiguó by name and his father reported his date of birth," said Masako. She had her hand elevated, like she was holding an invisible wine glass. "Lin's Water shiki is here." On cue, a faint blue light glowed in Masako's hand.

Mai frowned. "His shiki look like dragons. Why is she…?"

"It's exerting so much energy to keep their telepathic link open that its projected form has become simplified," said Masako.

When Mai's confusion didn't abate, Monk clarified. "Think of it like staying on the line instead of hanging up and calling back later. It's doing a lot of extra work."

Mai nodded, finally understanding. "But if all he said on the phone was about Weiguó… Did the name get flagged or something?"

"Hard to say," Ayako said. "It could well be a combination of factors that we just don't know about."

A sudden thunk drew the attention of the room. Naru was leaning over Lin's desk, cellphone in hand, slammed down into the wood. Then, in a completely un-Naru-like manor, Naru flung the phone off to the side. It crashed into the wall and sat still on the floor.

"Naru?" Monk said.

Naru looked up, surprised. Had he forgotten they were all there?

"That was my parents. Lin isn't an English citizen. The embassy can't help him. He's a foreigner accused of espionage. It'll be impossible to…" Naru put his hands to his face. Mai could hardly believe what she was seeing. Naru was on the verge of a breakdown. She took a tentative step toward him. When he didn't react, she made her way over to him and touched his arm. He let his hands down. He wasn't crying, but he looked close to it. His brow was furrowed and he was gritting his teeth hard enough to break a peppermint.

It suddenly occurred to Mai that, aside from Naru's parents, Lin was the last living remnant Naru had of his brother. The three of them had to be like family, with that kind of history. Mai realized then and there that Naru was terrified of losing another family member, to the same country no less.

"We'll get him back," Mai said. "We'll do everything we can, and we'll get him back."

Naru merely stared at her, like he couldn't comprehend the words she was saying. Considering what she knew about the Japanese justice system, it was probably the case that she was speaking nonsense. But Naru had to know that they wouldn't leave Lin to the wolves, not without a bloody fight.

"What about the Chinese embassy?" Masako inquired.

Naru didn't respond.

"An embassy isn't a magic get-out-of-jail free card," cautioned Ayako. "You do the crime, you do the time, regardless of where you are."

"Yeah, but Lin didn't do the crime," said Monk. "He's been targeted. Framed. Whatever!"

Mai felt Naru take a deep breath. He stepped in front of her, joining the circle of teammates. "Considering what we've learned, it'll be smartest if we approach any plans with the understanding that they know everything we know, and they will act in their best interests. In this case, that would mean they'd want to keep everything to do with the woods quiet, especially from the Chinese government. Considering Japan's unstable history with China, it would only take a spark from a powder keg like this to incite an international outrage."

"So then we're going public?" Masako asked. Masako, who had the TV show. Who had a platform, and the ability to talk to spirits. Whose evidence would only be quickly dismissed by the general public, as opposed to instantaneously dismissed. Mai deflated as her thought process came around to that last point.

"But what if they try to silence her too?" Monk interjected.

"They would only prove they had something to hide," said Masako. Her fearlessness took Mai by surprise. She knew that Masako and Lin rarely interacted, so she had no idea the medium cared so much about him.

"If they're clever, they'll try to spin it as cancelling her for slander," Naru said. "We aren't in an Orwellian nightmare. Not yet. The government is capable of nuanced tactics, just like us."

Monk raised his hand. "How do we know that this really is the government talking?"

To this, everyone shot him a confused look.

"I mean, considering how much he's been targeted in the past few days, especially with that officer, who's to say this isn't just some really well-thought out stalking plan? I mean, Occam's razor, right?"

Ayako snapped her fingers. "That's right. We told Lin in the car, but we haven't told you what we found in the woods." She scrolled through her phone and held it out. Mai and Masako crowded around it, and Naru approached slowly from behind, still in a daze.

"Is that a hatch?" Masako asked.

"All the trees around the circle were crammed full of discarded sprits," said Ayako.

"Discarded? What do you mean?"

"That they weren't exorcised. Someone or something crammed them into the trees instead of exorcising them."

Masako recoiled in horror. Mai touched her shoulder. A vision of the rolling cylinder of tar flashed through her mind. Was that abomination the result of what had happened to the trees?

"We encountered the two cops who terrorized Lin," Monk reported. "They found us halfway through the woods, but we pretended to be making out instead. I think we got away with it."

Had their situation not been so dire, Mai would have chuckled at the thought of Monk kissing Ayako, and Ayako allowing it. But this time, she understood that it was survival of the fit-enough, and the two of them just barely avoided arrest themselves.

"And his eyes. Did you see his eyes?" Naru asked.

Monk nodded. "They were empty."

"Cold?" Mai asked.

"You could say that. But I thought they were more closed off than anything. Like I was looking at a steel door bolted shut rather than any malice."

Naru put a hand to his chin. "Didn't you say before Mai, that their eyes made you think that they wouldn't go out of their way to do harm, but they didn't care if they had to. That was what you said, am I correct?"

Mai thought back. She couldn't remember what she told Naru, or when they were even talking about that, but the description Naru gave her was spot on. Then again, she hadn't seen Fusei—only the cold eyes of dream-Ayako, Nakamura, and Saito. It was all too possible that Fusei was a different case altogether. She told him this, and he nodded.

"I don't think they're possessed, if that's what you're thinking," Monk said.

Ayako tightened her fists. "Don't give these people the excuse of possession."

"We should consider it from every possible angle," Masako said. "Maybe it's the case that they're half possessed, like Mai."

To this, Monk and Ayako's expressions turned from agitation to confusion. Masako tilted her head.

"Didn't Lin explain?"

"We were kind of on edge," Monk said. "We missed the half-possession thing."

And so, Masako explained. "There's been a spirit latched into Mai's consciousness for the past three days. It was a Chinese victim of…" Masako waved her hand, unsure of how to call the event they had inadvertently uncovered. "It was the source of all of her visions, but the spirit is so weak that it's not able to fully possess her. It can only use her as a lifeline while it sends telepathic messages when, essentially, her brain is in sleep."

"Shit!"

Everyone turned to Naru.

"The papers! Monk, your car. Take me back to my place. Now."

Monk looked like he was about to protest, but the frantic look on Naru's face was enough to keep him obedient. "Okay man, but tell us what's going on on the way?"

Naru walked toward the door and grabbed the handle. "The séance. Weiguó's writing—we left it—"

He pulled the door open to reveal Nakamura and Saito, staring into the frazzled room with their cold, cruel eyes.

Things are going to get worse for Lin before they get better. And in case you're wondering, yes, this whole story is an excuse to beat my favorite character with the whump stick.

If you feel so inclined, do leave a review. I'm pretty sure by now that the traffic stats for this site are broken and no one's gonna fix it. It delights me to know if people are having as much fun reading this as I am writing it.