A New Begining

Chapter 15

In the end Conan completely forgot that he had been planning to call Jodie as he was lumbered by the presence of a very demanding Osakan on his way back to the hospital who would not stop asking questions.

"For the last time Hattori," Conan sighed as they got closer to the hospital. "I'm not going to tell you anything. Go back to Japan and take your girlfriend with you. It's for your safety and hers."

"Oi, she's not my girlfriend and I'm not leavin' until you tell me what's goin' on here Kudo. I wouldn't be doin' my job a detective if I leave now."

On hearing this Conan relented. "All right. I'll get someone to tell you as I am a little busy at the moment."

Giving the persistent detective to the sarcastic and aggravating Sherry seemed to Conan to be the perfect solution and revenge for all the questions from Heiji.

Heiji fell silent. "Okay."

With amusement Conan watched Haibara's mental assessment and sizing up of Heiji Hattori: evidently she wasn't impressed as she sniffed and returned to reading a fashion magazine.

"Where's Hakuba gone?" Conan asked looking around.

Haibara looked up puzzledly. "A few minutes ago he was here then he had a phone call and went outside looking for you."

"But I didn't call him… Shit, it's a trap," Conan deduced hurriedly and ran down the corridor with Heiji chasing after him.

The feeling that someone was watching him passed through Hakuba as he walked through the car park looking for Conan. He spun round to see behind him and found that there was no one there. He shook of the feeling and continued on.

"Where are you? You said you wanted to talk to me," he called out.

"Hakuba!"

He heard a shout and turned round to see the person he was looking for and a strange man rushing towards him.

"Rooftop to your left," Conan shouted. "Sniper."

Hakuba looked up just in time to see a black clad sniper fire at him. He ducked and the bullet flew over his head. Quickly he drew his Beretta from his shoulder holster and fired 3 shots in the sniper's direction and threw himself behind a nearby car.

"Stay back Kudo!" he yelled, realising that Conan and the unknown man would be targeted if they got any closer.

He poked his head cautiously around the cat to verify the sniper's whereabouts. He glimpsed the sniper pick up his gun and run out of view. He stepped out from behind the car.

"Why did they leave?" he asked, noting that Conan was using the telescopic lens on his glasses to survey the area where the sniper had been.

Conan clicked the button on the side of his glasses and the lens cleared.

"One of your bullets hit him in the arm so he retreated."

"Him?"

"Yes," Conan said. "I managed to get a good look, it was Korn."

"If ya shot him in the arm then he shouldn't be able ta use a gun," the strange dark skinned man inserted himself into the conversation abruptly.

Hakuba eyed him up. "Kudo, who is this person?"

"I'll explain later," Conan said as he pulled out his mobile phone from his pocket. "If he's injured then there s a high chance he will go to Bourbon so I need to warn Kaito."

Kaito was in the delicate process of searching the bathroom for any hidden compartments when his phone rang in his pocket. He checked the caller ID before answering praying for good news about Aoko.

"Kudo, has Aoko woken up yet?"

"No... Anyway Hakuba just shot a sniper named Korn and he might be on his way to you now. Please incapacitate him," Conan instructed. "Be careful."

The doorbell pealed as he spoke, highlighting the urgency of the situation.

"Uh- I think that's him now."

"Do you think you can pull of a Bourbon impersonation?"

"Yes, I know his voice now- he woke up earlier and yelled abuse at me. Bye."

Hastily Kaito ended the call and sprinted down the stairs to open the door.

On the doorstep a man with grey hair, dark sunglasses and a frown was waiting with blood dripping from a wound on his arm. Kaito didn't recognise him at all and realised that he had never known enough to bring down The Organisation on his own.

"Oh, it's you," Kaito greeted, praying that his voice and character were correct.

"The blonde detective brat shot me in the arm. Can you stop the bleeding so I can go finish him off?" Korn demanded, already pushing his way in.

Kaito recalled glimpsing a first aid kit in the bathroom cabinet and he knew how to treat shot wounds as had clear memories of the times when he had had to dig out the bullets himself.

"Yes," he replied, closing the door and leading the sniper towards the sofa. "Give me a second to fetch the necessary implements."

Korn grunted and sat up straight on the sofa and elevated his arm to reduce the flow of blood whilst he was waiting, not caring that he was dripping blood over the sofa and onto the carpet.

In the bathroom Kaito retrieved the first aid kit and made a fast decision. He would treat the sniper, then knock him out- he didn't want the man to be dripping blood everywhere whilst he was unconscious and Hakuba had given the impression that he wanted him alive. Besides, after seeing Aoko's unconscious body the bloody bathroom he didn't feel like watching blood seep slowly out of anyone even if they were a member of The Organisation.

Kaito examined and scrutinised Korn's injured arm with an experienced eye. One of his least favourite things about being shot, aside from the excruciating pain, was having to dig out the bullet if it was still trapped in the flesh. Luckily in this case there was an entrance and exit wound proving that the bullet had passed straight through the arm and had not ricocheted off any bone. He put the long tweezers down and picked up some gauze instead.

"This may hurt a little," he warned and applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding.

To his credit the sniper didn't wince or groan but swore quietly under his breath, "Damn woman, it was a bad idea in the first place."

"What happened?" Kaito asked sharply as he began to wind a bandage around the fresh gauze he had just applied.

"We were waiting for the order from Gin as he is leading this time, when Vermouth called to say that there had been a change of plan. She told me to kill the blonde, gave me directions to the location and lured him out somehow, but he spotted me and shot me. It was obvious that it was never going to work as they are all on edge and paranoid. Then again Vermouth has been strange recently," Korn explained as Kaito finished wrapping the bandage and tucked the end in.

"Really?"

His ears pricked up and he made up his mind to wait a little while to let the man gossip before using the stun gun. He might say something useful.

"She had been interested in this assignment for a while, but it wasn't really for an agent like her until Sherry defected and it was given to Gin due to his history with Sherry and she insisted on tagging along, but she hasn't really done anything until 15 minutes ago which isn't like her."

"What do you think is the reason?" Kaito asked as he began to pack up the first aid kit.

"She is either bored or lost heart," Korn concluded. "Why are you asking so many questions? I thought she visited you yesterday."

Now the sniper was beginning to grow a seed of suspicion and Kaito knew he wouldn't be able to get anything else out of him.

Skilfully, he dropped the stun gun that had been concealed up his sleeve into his hand and neutralised the agent before he could say anything else. Korn slumped in his seat and his arm dropped into the pool of blood on the sofa.

Kaito breathed a sigh of relief then realised he was going to have to clean up all the blood and have to find another place to secure a member of The Organisation so he couldn't escape.

Sorry for the late update- I had an accident with a knife which rendered me unable to type temporarily.