Dark games and red tears

The metal in his back was cold and hard, while his gaze was on the elevator's display that slowly counted upwards, until he finally arrived on the right floor and the metallic cage released him. Bell's steps echoed dully on the concrete floor of the press building before they fell silent when he'd found the right office.

The name on the door seemed to sneer at him cheeky.

Koriba Otuchi.

'Kuroba Toichi'

An anagram.

Shinichi swallowed and tried to get rid of the bitter taste in his mouth. He should have seen it much earlier… or at least after the fire. She was probably waiting for him to show up for some time now.

Shinichi didn't knock, but tried his luck and turned the doorknob. The office was open. Bell stepped inside, closed the door behind him, before he took a look around in the narrow room.

He'd found the right place.

The walls were full of photos and articles about the case, full of pictures of Bell, but also Heiji, his son, Ran…

"I was expecting you sooner… cool guy."

The icy voice in his back let him turn around. The journalist in the doorframe greeted him with her smile on his lips.

'Vermouth.'

XXX

With a heavy sigh she closed the last folder, watching the small dust particles dancing in the dim light.

Nothing.

Nothing she hadn't tried…

Nothing new..

Nothing… to bring Kudo Shinichi back to life.

'Nothing!' The FBI agent dropped into a chair with a groan. She'd spend the whole night and half a day searching for answers in Sherry's lab.

'No, not Sherry, but Miyano Shiho ,Haibara Ai.' The chemist sighed, turned her gaze back to the grey ceiling in Sherry's lab. She had been sure to find at least something to help her with her researches. Ai must have kept some sort of records - well she had, but there was nothing in it that could take her a step forward.

Was that it?

The agent couldn´t believe it, after what Shinichi had told her, there should be formulas of compositions and mixtures for the antidote Ai had developed.

But there was nothing.

Nothing but a few data about Shinichi's physical condition before and after taking the antidote, nothing she didn't know already.

"It can't be…" Tracy glided with the chair to the table, before her stomach stopped her. Her brown eyes scanned the room with a rueful look, she'd caused quite a bit of chaos while she hadn't found anything. The American cursed silently, letting her hand sink into her hands. She was frustrated, exhausted and tired and she kind of felt a little lonely in the cold and dark lab. She couldn't remember if it were hours or minutes ago that the Professor had visited her. Too long for her taste, the dark hole of failure she'd sunk into rose the desire of human company, someone to listen to her curses when she'd failed again.

This person used to be Shinichi.

'But he isn't here now. Hell, Tracy grow up, it's time to clean this mess.' Just when she was about to rise from her chair, the woman's eyes fell back to the small voice recorder and after a brief moment of hesitation she finally pressed play.

"You won't be mad, would you, Shiho?" The voice from yesterday spoke again, while the chemist put the folder she'd gone through back to its place.

'Miyano Elena… so that's where it all begun?' She could feel how her tense muscles slowly relaxed, until the happy and cheerfully motherly voice of Shiho's mother suddenly changed.

"I wish I could just tell you that I love you, and that I'm proud of you, my little Shiho." The American paused in her movements when Elena's voice changed. A heavy sigh rattled the small recorder, the voice of the English woman suddenly sounded heavy.

"But you're twenty now and this is the last tape I'll record… and if I won´t tell you now-" The ghost of Miyano Elena swallowed briefly, but the passion in her voice overshadowed her serious tone for a second.

"I don´t know if you can ever understand this, Shiho, but this research is my life and the reason why… I can´t be with you now. Even though this formulas are going to be the reason for my death, they also carry so much life within, so much potential, Shiho. It's all on this tape. Maybe one day you can use them, use them as a bomb for a beginning or an end, no matter what, it's a way out, a way to escape - even death." Goosebumps rose onTracy's arms when she suddenly noticed that she was gasping for breath,# after she'd been holding it for so long. The bitterness in Elena's voice however couldn't reach her any longer; she was waiting for something else - the information that had been promised.

"However, sometimes we have to die first in order to live, I know that now." Lonely laughter filled the room, echoed bitterly from the walls of the lab. The voice grew soft again, packed with emotion so that Tracy could nearly see the sad smile on the woman's lips.

"Please forgive me, Shiho, forgive me for imposing this on you, forgive me for leaving you…

I love you my little Shiho, with all my heart."

Tracy stared at the recorder, listening to the white noise that followed Elena's words.

'What?!'

The American dropped what she'd had in hand, going back to the desk and took the recorder, pressing it to her ear. The buzz of the electronic device mixed itself with the white noise of the tape, but otherwise it remained silent.

Tracy cursed, taking the device back down again to stare at the small turning wheels that seemed sort of hypnotic to her.

'Come on…'

Indeed, her words seemed to bring the little thing back to live, because after a brief moment of silence a voice echoed form the tape again.

But it wasn't Elena Miyano's.

"Kudo-kun… I'm sorry."

The chemist listened anxiously before a scream made her blood run cold when she'd heard the name it carried within.

XXX

"I was expecting you sooner… cool guy." Vermouth's smile lingered on the young reporter's lips.

"You're a little late, my dear Shinichi and also completely without company?" Bell just ignored her tone.

"I simply followed your orders, why else would you leave clues that only I could read. But if you want to meet with the police and the FBI, I'll be happy to arrange that." He mocked searching for his mobile before Vermouth answered.

"There is no need for that,Shinichi, you're right this is a matter between the two of us." The reporter's grin broke, he stepped past Shinichi toward his desk and leaned against it, in a far too feminine fashion. The press office looked messy and way to small for two people, while there was nothing more in it than a desk, an old fashioned pneumatic post system and a few pinboards, which were way bigger than the hole that could hardly be called a window. A cynical smile appeared on the American's lips.

"Not quite the environment you're used to work in - right, Vermouth?" The young reporter just mirrored his smile.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. After this little story I'm sure I'll get promoted soon!" But the sweet grin slowly faded while Vermouth inspected her fingernails like she wasn't interested in him any longer.

"Even through the case is over, right? Yet, you're only showing up now." Bell's eyebrow was the only thing that moved at her critique, but his voice left no room for any doubt.

"It was clear that the press was involved, but I have to admit that I wondered about the fact, that you hired the doctor for your dirty work. The organization usually isn't too fine to do it by themselves." Vermouth just laughed, combed with the fingers through the short brown hair of her wig.

"Oh no my dear, this time you're wrong. The good doctor came to us, all by himself." Shinichi could feel how his stomach clenched and Vermouth seemed to enjoy his discomfort.

"How?"

Vermouth turned away from him, searching for her silver cigarette case in her pocket before she lit one, releasing her words along with the biting smoke.

"What do you think, Professor?"

Shinichi hesitated for a second, took the glasses from his nose and started to polish them in small circular movements while he answered her casually.

"I assume that you still have your spies within the police, so it wouldn't take long for you to noticed the murder of red haired people, especially here in Japan." Vermouth's eyes met his own, while Shinichi placed Bell's glasses on a small cupboard beside him, hiding his hands in his pockets while he waited for an answer.

"Nice try, but this time you're wrong." She took a deep breath, inhaling the smoke of her cigarette. The fog had dipped the office in a delicate grey, so that the scene seemed like one of an old black-and-white mystery.

"The boss wouldn't have cared for such minor information, and even through you've taught the organization to fear you, we don't share your personal nightmares."

Bell didn't flinch at her word, but Shinichi was glad that she couldn't see his hands that had clenched into fists at her statement. If she was disappointed by his lack of response she didn't show it, swiping the ash of her cigarette into an old coffee mug before she continued to speak.

"No, Matsudo came to us. One of his chosen victims happened to be a member of the organization. No one worth the trouble or important, but of course the Boss got notice of it and thought that the doctor's pattern of murder could be useful. Just like the one in Doyle's stories, the murders had been a nice distraction for you while we could work in the background."

Vermouth's smile grew when she remembered the seek of revenge in the pathologist's eyes.

"The doctor knew that he'd involved himself in a rather dangerous situation, but when we told him… let's say a somewhat altered version of Sherry's death, he agreed. If you're asking me, he knew how all this would end for him. So we prepared him a way out…" Shinichi swallowed, he didn't want to know what Matsudo must have been thinking about him, however the actress immediately steered his mind into a different direction.

"Why do you think this foolish CIA agent is sniffing around?" Shinichi hesitated for a brief moment, before his eyes grew large.

'Hondo?'

"He was tracking down our member, before he became Matsudo's victim." Vermouth's laughter was swallowed by the rush of his own blood in his ears. So that's the reason why Eisuke was in Japan.

"Matsudo did a good job, and our little letters did the trick when he told us right after the third murder that the professor from America was a fake. To be honest, I thought you would be a little more careful after all this years."

Shinichi just swallowed and ignored her sarcastic tone while his eyes never left Vermouth's.

"Our plan worked out rather nice, since we were finally able to lure you out of your hiding." Shinichi turned his gaze away from her, burying his hands even deeper into his pockets.

'That's true… unfortunately.'

Yet, there were some things the detective still didn't understand.

"I guess the purpose of the arson was to make William Bell disappear, am I right?"

"Not only that, we already knew that William Bell wasn't real after we've met your students and visited your apartment. I guess you can imagine that Gin had lots of fun getting these information." She could hear Shinichi's jaw crack beneath the tension, but continued anyway.

"However, the boss had become cautions." Vermouth shrugged in annoyance, looking out of the grey little window.

"The FBI and yourself have done some damage these past years, so the boss didn't want to risk unnecessary attention."

'These years have been difficult for the organization, yet we've become even more dangerous. I wonder if you'll still be able to strike us down… silver bullet. But maybe I'm wrong… maybe you still got an ace up on your sleeve.' The blonde shook her head and turned her attention back to the American, who waited for her to continue.

"It was all about to get to know who was behind William Bell's mask. After all, it could have been a trap of the FBI as well. I would have been easy to take your place, since everyone would have been able to use the puppet you've created." She grinned and took a step forward, standing now directly in front of Shinichi.

"That's why Gin gave you this nice little souvenir. It was the last proof the boss demanded before we could make our move." She smirked, tracking Shinichi's new scar with her finger, before she turned away from him, suddenly grown silent.

'Yet I've hoped that it wouldn't come this far.'

"I made such an effort to gain your attention, it was my job to observe Matsudo and to lure you into this trap." She still couldn't look at him, but the fact that she seemed to avoid his eyes let the icy feeling in his stomach spread.

"I used this name, just for you, to be honest I'm a little disappointed that you didn't recognize it sooner. On the other hand… your connection with your parents was never that good." Vermouth swallowed and shook her head in disappointment.

"But,… if you had come earlier, I might would have been able to intervene… now I've got no other choice, but to tell you that her time is running out."

"What?!"

XXX

Hot.

The heat seemed unbearable.

She could feel how single beads of sweat rolled down her temple, unable to cool down on their way. Even the cold pavement beneath her cheek no longer brought relief.

'I'm burning…'

Ran swallowed, trying to fix her glassy gaze on the grey street, forced herself to stay conscious.

"RAN!"

She heard screams, felt that someone turned her on her back, while she herself wasn't able to move. Her bones and muscles seemed to be made of wax, no longer following her will, but melting beneath the heat.

Ran swallowed, she recognized the desperate voice.

'Kazuha.' It could just be the young mother, now holding her head on her lap and the colorful blob beside her had to be Haiku. She must have scared the little boy, that was sure.

But the voice of the Osakan didn't stay alone for long, a wide mixture of all sorts of tones met hear ear. Ran closed her eyes and tried to focus through the veil of heat and pain in order to remember what happened and who could be around her.

The Kudo's, of course, they had been just in front of their house.

Maybe…

But Ran waited in vain for his voice…

'Shinichi.'

The young woman swallowed, tried to focus, to ignore the pain, just like she'd learned in her karate training, Breath the pain away, ignore it - but nothing helped.

The pain stayed… and he didn't come.

Her eyes darted back and forth, but she still couldn't see more than rough outlines and blurred figures. Yusaku's deep voice betrayed him but who-

Ran stopped, even if her head felt like it was wrapped in cotton she still recognized the voice.

'The woman from the phone?'

The stranger placed a hand on Ran's forehead, a cool, soothing hand, before Tracy's fingers searched for a pulse at her neck. She could hear the American calling her name, asking her something, but her words were drowned out by her own pounding heartbeat.

Ran moaned, felt how her heart started to beat faster and faster, roaring in her chest like a wild animal, wanting to break free.

Until one heartbeat stopped everything else.

The heat in her bones was gone, the pain in her muscles ebbed away and her lungs stopped breathing. The pain in her chest swallowed all these things, because at that moment her heart felt like it was breaking into a thousand pieces.

A hoarse wheeze escaped her throat.

Unable to suppress another whimper she grabbed her at chest and felt her heart thundering against it.

It was still beating.

'What's going on?'

The pain of her heart echoed in her bones, she already knew that it would come back, that her torture would continue until her body could no longer endure it.

Ran swallowed, the burning sweat in her eyes got mixed with her tears. She was afraid of this pain, scared to endure it again, because she didn't know if she would last long enough for him to come.

'Shinichi please, please … help me.'

Tears appeared in her eyes, running down her cheeks like boiling water, leaving angry red stripes on her pale skin, almost as if she'd burned herself.

"Shinichi…"

XXX

"What?!"

His heart seemed to miss a beat, only to hammer against his ribs twice as fast as if to catch up what it had missed.

"What are you talking about?" Bell's voice sounded hoarse, even in his own ears, almost sore. Vermouth knew that she'd hit him, she seemed to enjoy this moment, didn't react to his restless expression but took another pull of her cigarette. She didn't answer his question, who seemed to struggle to deduce what she suddenly was talking about.

"The APTX, Shinichi, do you really think our boss would stop the research after such a discovery?" Her gaze cut through Bell's mask, it seemed like she was fixating the high schooler beneath it.

"Of course, the demise of our little Sherry wasn´t helpful for the research. I have to say that none other understood the little side effect better than herself. However, our scientists were able to produce a rather useful poison out of it."

She took a step towards Bell, so that Shinichi could smell the aftershave she'd replaced her perfume with in order to play the male journalist. Shinichi didn't move, he didn't see the pale Japanese man, but the blonde woman, who caringly set Bell's tie while she spoke.

"I'm sure you can imagine it, Shinichi. The feeling to burn from the inside out, the tension of muscles and nerves, while your bones feel like they are melting away." The member of the organization swallowed, her words had washed the smile from her lips.

"Last but not least the heart, that feels like someone is smashing it to pieces, over and over again." Her hand had wandered form his tie to his chest, resting there while Vermouth's eyes looked deep into his own.

"Torments like that can loosen some peoples tongue, even though only a few withstand this pain for long. Of course, we have an antidote for this one, you never know when you might need someone again. But if it's not given in time, the poison will finish its job."

Shinichi swallowed, he could feel how a lump formed in his throat as he spoke. Bell's voice however didn´t show this weakness, instead showed a dangerous undertone in his words, when his eyes narrowed. His took Vermouth by her wrist, stopped her movement on his chest when she'd started to draw small circles on his jacket.

"What are you talking about?" His voice was nothing more than an angry hiss. Vermouth's sweet smile hurried across the journalist's lip, but her grey eyes turned dark, showing a hint of regret in her features.

"You still don't want to understand, do you?"

Shinichi found no words to answer her.

His stomach clenched, it suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe any longer, while her eyes confirmed what he'd feared during her monologue.

"No…" His voice was a hoarse whisper.

Shinichi could feel how Bell's mask loosened from his skin when cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

The shock however, was quickly replaced by something else, Bell's fingers tensed around Vermouth's wrist, causing the blonde's fingers to twitch beneath his grip. His other hand shot to her shoulder, while Vermouth took a step back, before her back hit the wall fully. Fear and anger mixed themselves in his tone, even his chest moved frantically up und down while his voice was calm, making him look even more dangerous.

"You tell me what you've done to her right now, because otherwise I'll forget myself and my morals, Sharon!" The actress however moved Kiraba Otuchi's face to form a sneering grin.

"Are you threatening me?"

"I will if I have to! Now talk!"

His voice was interrupted by a sharp metal click, the sudden pressure in his stomach told him that Vermouth had pulled her gun, trying to turn the situation around.

"Not so rude Shinichi, that's not like you. Besides, we're in a press building, I'm sure you don't want any more fuss about "William Bell", am I right?" The detective just snorted, didn't loosen his grip on her whist, while the journalist's grin made space for a more serious expression.

"It's not the right time to lose your head now, after all, I'm here to make you an offer."

XXX

"Shinichi…"

Ran's hoarse whisper broke through the hustle around him, bringing everything to a halt. His name pierced their skin, only increased the worry about the young woman. Kazuha's scream had driven them outside, Ran's name had shot like adrenaline though his veins. Yusaku was the first one to find his voice again.

"Yukiko, an ambulance, quick!" His wife blinked the tears from her eyes and nodded.

"Of course." But before the former actress could have moved another voice made her stop. The words of the American were like a punch in the stomach. Tracy's hand still rested on Ran's forehead, trying to ease the pain as best as she could, while Ran's heart recovered from the last spasm. Tacy didn't dare to look up while she spoke.

"I fear that would not help much." Yusaku's eyes, focused on the FBI agent, he didn't like her tone at all and he wasn't the only one as it seemed.

"What?" Kazuha's voice trembled.

"What are you talking about! She needs a doctor!" Panic swung in the Osakan's voice, prompting Tracy to look up, but the regret and fear in the chemist's brown eyes weren't able to calm Kazuha down.

"True, but I fear that they wouldn't be able to help her." She wallowed, still felt Ran's fever beneath her fingertips.

'Even though I would love to be wrong this time.'

"Tracy?"

The bitterness in the tone of his fiancée worried Stue, while he looked from Tracy to the young woman on the ground.

'So, that's her…' He could see how Tracy bit her lips, destroying the carefully applied lipstick.

Not a good sign.

She sighed and looked up to him with worry in her eyes.

"It- it looks like the poison, Stue." The FBI agent swallowed, pressing his jaws together.

'Oh, no…' Professor Agasa was the first who dared to ask what the two of them were talking about.

"What? You mean-" Tracy stood up, it took her a moment to look the people around her in the eyes.

"I fear so. It's the Apotoxin, or at least a form of it, because if she would have taken the original poison…" She swallowed the last part of her sentence and continued to speak with a sad shake of her head.

"Unfortunately the symptoms are unmistakable." Yusaku took a deep breath, trying to ignore the lump in his throat in order to keep his mind working.

"I understand…" His voice was dry, betrayed his calm appearance, before he turned to Stuart.

"Could you bring her inside?" The agent looked up, then nodded.

"Of course." But just when Stuart was about to lift Ran from Kazuha's lap, the Osakan woman suddenly came back to life.

"WHAT? NO! Ran needs help, she needs an ambulance, please!" Stuart stopped, he didn't understand what the Japanese woman was saying, but her tone was telling him that she was panicking. Seeking for help he turned to Shinichi's father, while the girl's fever burned his arms. Yusaku made a step towards the young mother, putting a hand on der shoulder and forced her to look up.

"Kazuha… this is not some illness to be treated. She's been poisoned."

"Then they have to save her, they-" But the writer interrupted her again.

"It's the organizations poison, Kazuha-chan, the same Shinichi had been fed back then." Kazuha however, just stared at him, she didn't move but her eyes slowly grew large when she slowly understood. Before she was able to panic again, Tracy took a step towards her, his voice calm, professional and confident like that of a doctor, who promised help.

"I've studied this poison Miss, I promise to help her." Yusaku nodded, but didn't dare look at Tracy, instead forced a small smile on his lips.

"See…"

"But-"

"Kaa-san?"

Kazuha stopped, turned her tear-smeared face to her little son, whom she had almost forgotten in all the chaos. The green eyes of the child glittered with tears of his own, giving the bright eyes a feverish glow.

"What's wrong with Ran-neechan? Is she sick?" Kazuha's lips opened, trembling before Ran was lifted from her lap so that she could cross the small distance between herself and her son to throw her arms around the little boy.

"Yeah, Haiku-chan." She swallowed, her eyes went over his tiny shoulder back to Tracy.

"But don't worry, she's going to be fine." Tracy swallowed, she could feel how the gaze of Ran's friend pierced her skin, before Yusaku broke the tension in the air.

"Yukiko, would you please accompany Kazuha and Ran. Try to cool her down, maybe you'll be able to lower the fever."

"Y-Yes."

Tracy stayed behind, swallowed and watched restlessly how Stuart disappeared with Ran in his arms, followed by the two woman and the professor. It wasn't until they went through the door that Yusaku began to speak. Shinichi's father's voice was rough and held nothing from the calm he'd just feigned.

"Do you think you'll be able to help her?"

His dark blue eyes weighed heavily on her, cause goosebumps to appear on her neck. She struggled to breathe and her tongue felt sticky and heavy in her mouth, so she found it difficult to speak.

"I- I don´t know. I have to try to change the formula and…" She shook her head, turning her gaze away to the door where her fiancée had disappeared with Ran in his arms.

"I- I honestly don't know."

XXX

The soft movement with that Vermouth tried to shake him from his thoughts betrayed the woman behind the male mask of the journalist. She had trouble seeing him like that, the panic ins his eyes and mind that twisted his face while she took a deep pull from her cigarette.

"Did you really believe that you could protect them, Shinichi?" The sentence gained his attention, but the eyes of the detective still seemed distant.

'Did you learn nothing from Sherry?' Vermouth shook her head and looked at the cigarette in her hand, before she released the dark grey smoke from her lungs.

"You should know better. It wasn't hard to find a sore spot, after we found you."

At least her speech finally ripped William Bell from his haze, the blue eyes behind the mask flashed dangerously. She pursed her lips and observed how the dark grey tip of her cigarette slowly sailed to the pale linoleum floor.

"It's so easy to mix something in someone's coffee. Two nice girls, chatting with each other, too busy to notice the old woman passing by, before she accidentally drops her wallet. Of course the two young women bend down to help her, so while the three of them are crawling on the floor another man walks by to spike the girl's coffee with some drops of a certain poison, without her noticing anything at all." His gaze was fixed on thin air, but his eyebrows were drawn together and the color of his lips revealed how pale the detective behind the mask had become.

"You can imagine that Gin enjoyed his part in this Job." He bit his lips, he could no longer see the disgusting smile on her lips, but forced himself to stay calm, not to lose his mind. After all, it was the first time Vermouth had ever dared to hurt Ran, her words however didn't allow him to believe in a simple bluff.

"She is suffering the same torment that you voluntarily endured every time Sherry gave you the antidote." He didn't even twitch, so she kept talking.

"Without much success as we know. Your girlfriend however has the chance to a true antidote and believe me Shinichi, she needs it. I'm sure your parents will confirm that to you." Shinichi swallowed, bringing his mind back on track, now he got the information he needed. He took a deep breath, the stench of her cigarette bit his lungs before he finally spoke.

"How can I be sure that the antidote is going to work? How can I be sure that it's not a trick?" Vermouth made a step towards him, but this time she kept her distance. The grey smoke of her cigarette slid from her lips, just like her words.

"I guess you've no choice, but to trust me, Shinichi." The detective swallowed, he'd feared this answer and it took him some time to find the courage to ask again.

"What do you want in order to give it to her?"

The smile on her lips faded.

"A decision, Shinichi. You have to face the same decision like Sherry back then."

'What?'

But Vermouth didn't respond to the horror of the detective, as she made the same demand like she had ten years ago."

"You have the choice, your life or hers."

XXX

The ringing of his mobile broke the frantic silence between them. The eyes went to Yusaku, who tried to ignore them, before he looked at the display and decided that it would be better to leave the room, before accepting the call.

"Shinichi."

Yusaku could hear him swallow, that his son didn't mind his stressed voice told him more than his silence.

He knew.

"How's Ran?"

Bell's voice on the other end of the line didn't waver, but the author couldn't share the calm behavior of his son.

"Not good. Your mother is trying to lower the fever and Tracy-"

"Stop, stop! That's- that's all I need to know." Yusaku heard him sigh, his own pounding heartbeat mixed itself with the sound of the phone to a restless sonata.

It seemed that Shinichi contained himself, but it was his calm voice that filled Yusaku's stomach with stones.

"Father listen, outside is a black car, waiting for you. A Mercedes. Inside is Hondo Hidemi, you may know her as Mitzunashi Rena. She'll give you an antidote for Ran." Yusaku could hear him swallowed and felt the lump in his throat grow.

"Shinichi…"

"Father, please… I'll stay on the phone until then."

The author was about to argue when Ran's hoarse whimper went to his ears through the closed door. He heard his son gasping for air at this sound, so he simply followed Shinichi's instructions. Yusaku stepped out of the house and walked to the street, with his phone still firmly pressed to his ear, but his son was dead silent at the other end of the line.

In fact there was a Mercedes only a few meters down the road, it was possible that the car had been there before, but they hadn't even noticed. The writer took a deep breath and felt how his lungs stretched his shirt, before he exhaled again and approached the car. The pale spring sun got reflected by the darkened windows, leaving Yusaku's own image almost translucent in the glass. Just when he'd decided to knock on the window, it rolled down to reveal the silhouette of Hidemi. In fact he knew the CIA agent from television, but the former reporter looked almost ill and that wasn´t just the lack of a professional makeup.

Her face was pale and the shadows beneath her eyes told of several sleepless nights, yet the smile she forced on her lips was real, even if it was a sad one.

"Here." She swallowed, presenting a small black box.

"That should help."

"How can I know if that's true?" Yusaku's voice echoed on the gray pavement, his son hadn't told him, but he knew who she was. A member of the organization, but also a CIA agent, hiding between them.

Kir.

The agent just sighed, putting the black box on the narrow window frame.

"I guess you have to trust me." Kir smiled, but it seemed tired beneath her eyes. The author didn't care that she tried to play nice.

"And why should I-"

"Just do it."

The cold tone of Bell's voice made him look up. For a brief moment he'd forgotten that Shinichi was still on the phone. Hidemi had heard the professor's voice as well and turned her gaze back down. Shinichi ignored the tension and the questions that probably lingered on his father's tongue, he swallowed hard, before he revealed what both of them already knew.

"It's the only chance we've got."

Yusaku remained silent as he took the small box in his hand. Hidemi looked up, opened her mouth to speak, but turned her gaze away until she found her voice again.

"I'm sorry."

She turned the key of her car and started the engine and Yusaku could only watch how she disappeared down the street. The author knew what kind of pact he'd just sealed and dread crawled along his skin.

His son however could no longer endure the silence.

"Father? What's going on? What are you waiting for?"

"Shinichi…" But the detective did not allow the stern voice of his father to steer the conversation into another direction.

"Hurry up already…"

But the tremble in Bell's voice didn't spur him on, he was still standing on the lonely street, frozen to the spot. The lump in the writer's throat made it almost impossible to speak, his words barely more than a whisper.

"Don't… don't do that, Shinichi."

He could her him taking a deep breath, sarcasm lurking in his words.

"I'm afraid it's far too late for that."

"Shinichi-" But he interrupted his father's last desperate attempt to talk some sense into him. Yusaku felt how nausea settled in his stomach, while Shinichi spoke.

"I'm sorry father, for everything." Shinichi swallowed, his words were hurried and trembled with sadness.

"I- tell her…." But he stopped himself with a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry."

XXX

The detective stared at his now silent phone in trance, before his finger pressed the small "send" bottom.

He'd made his decision.

Just like she had back then.

Shinichi swallowed, Vermouth's story still echoed painfully in his ears.

"You have to face the same decision like Sherry back then."

'What?'

But Vermouth didn´t respond to the horror of the detective, as she made the same demand like she had ten years ago.

"You have the choice, your life or hers."

The blood in Shinichi's veins slowly turned to ice when she spoke.

"Tell me Shinichi, wasn't it a little too easy to withhold the information that the organization knew about Sherry, from your little friend?" Vermouth frowned, turned her eyes away from him, she could no longer endure the surprise and horror on his face. His voice however, forced the blonde behind the mask to look up again.

"What do you mean?"

The former actress sighed, kept the silence between them, a part of her enjoyed to reveal how she'd outwitted his brilliant mind.

"Sherry and I, we had a deal."

Shinichi felt how goosebumps went over his neck and beneath his masks, his tongue felt too heavy to talk, while he tried to comprehend what she meant.

'Haibara…'

Vermouth took advantage of his silence and continued.

"After the organization found out what happened to our little traitor, it was only a matter of time to find her. So I preferred to speed up the process by giving our dear Bourbon some subtle hints." Her tone became sharp, but her gaze didn´t meet his.

"Of course, I knew that you would try to protect her, probably doing something stupid, so that we might end up empty-handed." She sighed, shaking her head.

"I couldn't let that happen, my dear Shinichi."

'I simply couldn't.'

The blonde took a deep breath, erasing this thought from his head before she spoke again.

"However, there was a way to avoid this chaos…"

She'd visited her immediately after she'd thrown out the bait for Bourbon, she knew it wouldn't take him long to get the needed proof. Of course her little detective would get to know about it and throw himself into danger in order to protect the traitor.

Just to save a life.

This time however, she had not given him the chance to do so.

She made sure of it.

They both had…

"I don't have to tell you how happy Sherry was to see me when I went to her even before Bourbon had come to act. However, it hadn't taken her long to agree to my deal…"

'Actually she didn't hesitate at all, similar to you today cool guy, yet I can't tell if it's truly brave or simply stupid to sacrifice your own life so lightly.' Her gaze wandered to the detective by her side, she could see how the skin on his wrists turned white beneath the pressure.

"She pretended to be deaf and ignored all your clumsy attempts to distract her, while I gave her the information she needed." Her voice grew bitter and a slight regret was hiding in Vermouth's words.

"It wasn't hard to know what you've planned, according to the small window of time our little "invitation" offered. Shiho just had to wait until you thought your plan was working before she called the police and made her way to the address I've given her."

"What?" he questioned with hoarse voice.

"But of course, Shinichi. After all it was part of the deal to get you out of there alive."

'Sadly I can´t keep that promise any longer…' Vermouth's gaze wandered back to the detective, digging deep beneath the layer of silicone. He still seemed unable to move, her words, the fear for Ran, anger and disbelieve had mixed themselves to a dark color that clouded his eyes.

'Believe me, Shinichi…' She swallowed, could longer stand the detective's eyes, knowing what was ahead of him.

'A traitor is a traitor, even through her intentions were different this time.' She Remembered Sherry's face well, the eyes of the primary schooler were filled with the same uncertainty as his own today, since she couldn´t be sure that the other side would stick to their deal, but she'd made it anyway, as it was her only hope to save him.

"Sherry had made her decision and paid the price for it. Therefore it was just fair to keep my part of the deal as well."

Shinichi swallowed.

That's why…

That's why she told Gin who he was, so that Ai could intervene. That's why she'd locked him in this room, giving him the opportunity to escape.

But-

'Why?'

"What's been the point of this deal for you Vermouth?" Bell's voice was clear and stronger than he himself had thought it to be, but Sharon however just conjured the grin back on the reporter's lips with a wink.

"That, my dear Shinichi, remains my secret…"

'… after all a secret makes a woman woman.'

"Besides, in the end it was her decision, not mine."

Shinichi's eyes were empty, not only because he knew very well what was waiting for him, but also because he still struggled to comprehend the truth.

Ai had known…

She'd even planned everything, arranged the trap just in order to save him.

'Haibara…'

Vermouth's voice, ripped him from the mist in his mind.

"I knew you would agree to this deal, just like she did back then." He could see her swallow, trying to look through the mask of the journalist, but Vermouth's acting talent quickly returned to her.

"Now it's time to pay the price."

Shinichi didn't contradict.

He obeyed when she asked him to hand her his mobile as well as his notebook and all his little "toys".

"In a place like this it would be better if they don't see us together, so I'll go ahead and wait for you in the underground garage. I guess I don't have to tell you what's going to happen if you don't show up, my dear?" The deceptive smile was back on her lips, but Shinichi only shot her a sour look.

"No you don't."

His bitter tone made her look up, she hesitated for a second before she walked past him towards the door, their eyes met briefly.

"Don't blame yourself… to be honest, you never had a chance. The organization is too big, we're everywhere Shinichi, we cannot be stopped… by no one."

Shinichi's eyes grew large as she spoke, her words were like a punch in the guts. Vermouth however didn't notice the emotion in his features, she had already opened the door and didn't turn around before she spoke again.

"It's over… you lost, cool guy."

With these words she left him alone.

Shinichi took a deep breath and closed his eyes, suppressing a shiver before he looked through the room one last time.

A desperate smile crept on the detective's features, while it suddenly felt difficult to breathe.

The game wasn't over yet…

Let's get the party started!

After 33 chapter's we're finally where I wanted Shinichi to be... one of Ai's secrets is lifted and there is more to come. But will Shinichi really surrender just like that? We'll see. Thank's for all your reviews! I do love every one of them... I hope there will be more of your kind words on this chapter too ^^

A big thanks to Tobina as well, who corrected the chapter again- go check out her amazing new story!

Till next month!

~ Shelling