Murder Broods

Murder Broods

Chapter 10: Not With Impunity II

Heavy droplets of rain fell as a shroud from the night sky, drenching the concrete and asphalt down below. Shinichi gazed out the window, his mind thumbing through his memory; he drew out of his reverie only as Haibara questioned Jodie, the FBI agent filling the mini-scientist in on Hakami and Toni, and recent events.

“I don’t get it, if Hakami’s or rather Saya’s mother was an undercover FBI investigating the Syndicate, why didn’t your people hide Saya from the Syndicate? As the child of one of your own…” Haibara’s words trailed off as she watched Jodie close her eyes and exhale, the FBI agent then glancing out the window. The rain beat against the window glass a solemn tune, steady and monotonous.

Shinichi drew in a breath and turned to Jodie, berating himself for not wondering about that fact before. His eyebrows shot up when Jodie glanced at James as though in silent conversation; the older man returned her look with a nod, stepping forward as he exhaled -- he pinched the bridge of his nose before responding.

“Remanding Saya into protective custody would’ve blown Toni’s cover. Saya was born a year after Toni infiltrated the Syndicate, the result of an unplanned pregnancy Toni refused to abort.”

Shinichi gaped, then averted his gaze to the window before drawing in a deeper breath; shaking his head in disbelief and confusion he turned back to James, noting Haibara’s similar, if slightly colder, reaction to the new information.

“It’s against your policies to put a pregnant agent into such a dangerous position or to keep an agent in such a dangerous position after becoming pregnant, isn’t it?”

“It usually is, but Toni was known for her stubborn determination -- she refused to leave her assignment, and opted to become what might be called a sleeper agent.”

“An agent whose purpose is to simply bide time until given orders, and not do anything as a spy until ‘awoken’ by those orders. The term is often used in fiction, but Toni opted to play the part of a real sleeper agent.” Jodie elaborated on James words, her arms crossed over her chest as she sank into her thoughts -- she hadn’t know Toni personally, but had heard the stories about her among the other FBI agents.

Toni’s skills often contradicted her personality, which was generally positive and upbeat; but the moment it was called for Toni’s skills at unharmed combat were top notched -- coupled with her knowledge of pressure points and the spine it was a deadly combination.

“Toni’s pregnancy actually helped convince the Syndicate that she wasn’t a double agent. Since it is against policy to keep a pregnant agent in such a situation.” James continued, his eyes carefully watching Shinichi and Haibara’s reactions; he paused when Andre Camel stepped through the door. “Camel, any word on Troy’s whereabouts?”

Camel shook his head and closed the door, the expression on his face keeping James from continuing his explanation of Toni.

“There’s something about Troy I found out after informing the CIA of his recent actions. First, they didn’t send him and he didn’t investigate the bombings in the States from a year ago. Second, he was forced to resign from the CIA pending an investigation.”

“He was under investigation? That’s news. Was it about his work as an operative?”

“No.” Camel’s narrowed eyes closed after he glanced around at each of them, surprised at Shinichi’s appearance but he decided not to question it. “It was his personal life -- family life -- that was investigated.”

“Family investigation?” Jodie’s arms loosened, her eyes widening.

“And whatever it was for, it was squashed quickly -- the investigation ended after a week when he opted to resign.”

“But…the most likely reason for an investigation of that sort is….”

“Troy was accused of child sexual abuse and child pornography.”

0

“Hello Troy.” Gin smirked as Troy jerked back, the CIA agent’s angry eyes widening with fear, and Gin noted with relish, with pain. The silver-blond haired man bared his teeth in his smirk, Beretta aimed directly at his prey as Troy stumbled backward a step.

“Gin.” Troy forced himself to stand upright, his hand clenching his wounded side, as he stared coldly at the younger man. His insides quaked, the rain glossed street empty of traffic with the overhead light changing from yellow to red.

“To think I’d find you like this….” Gin bit down on his lip, drawing blood, his cold expression showing through the strands of hair falling over his face. He waited, lightning flashing overhead illuminated their surroundings -- Troy moved first, dodging behind the sedan, grabbing the firearm strapped around his ankle.

Crouched down, Troy breathed; expecting that without the silencer on his Beretta that Gin would hesitate, he quickly stood, aimed, and squeezed down on the trigger -- the thunder cracking above him drowned out two shots. Troy fell against his sedan, the gun shot out of his hand by Gin, the silver-blond man stepping closer with each heartbeat of Troy’s.

‘He fired without the silencer?!’ Troy held his bleeding hand, his widened eyes searching over Gin’s face, unable to read the approaching man’s expression. ‘That isn’t like him even at his angriest.’

0

Camel paused a few seconds as his sentence sunk into the ears of each person present, he took out a folded document from his coat pocket. “It never made it on record and was hushed up, but the agent I got in touch with knew about it and was readily willing to tell me. There was also an investigation involving a different matter stemming from ten years ago.”

“Ten years ago? That’s when Toni, the FBI agent he married, was killed -- after his double agent status was discovered by the Syndicate. But what could prompt….”

“Troy was suspected of deliberately blowing his cover to prevent Toni from defecting to the Syndicate.”

“Ah….” Shinichi inhaled sharply with widened eyes, he turned away and stared unseeing at the floor as these new facts filled in the missing pieces in his deduction. “If those accusations are true…then….then….” He swallowed, his gut twisting as the thoughts continued silently in his head. He bit down on his lip, his fist clenched before speaking those thoughts. “That’s Hakami’s motive. If the child sexual abuse is true, the victim was probably his own stepdaughter: Toni’s daughter Saya. Which James here has identified as Hakami.”

“Kudo….that….”

“Are you saying that…Troy is….” Jodie approached Shinichi, pausing when he turned and nodded.

“Troy is probably Hakami’s true target…or is at least among them. That’s why Troy’s name was in those codes, and why she worked with him on his vendetta with the explosives.”

“But…wouldn’t it have occurred to Troy that Saya….”

“That’s probably why she bombed Gin’s Porsche…to convince Troy she’s after the Syndicate…James said earlier that is was Gin who killed Toni.” Shinichi’s lips curved into the smile he got whenever he deduced something that had been difficult -- it quickly faltered when the question bubbling in the back of his thoughts surfaced; Saya’s physical appearance at the hotel clicking something in his brain.

“What is it? Did you figure out something else?” The three FBI agents approached, with Jodie stopping the nearest to Shinichi, her words faded into the silence.

“…you said that Toni got pregnant while infiltrating the Syndicate….” Shinichi watched Jodie nod from the corner of his eye. “Then who was it…who was the father?” The teen detective felt his heart race as Jodie blinked, her expression betraying her ignorance while behind her James gasped and looked down.

The old man sighed, his eyes glazed in silent thought before he spoke.

“Toni never said who, only that he was a member of the Syndicate. And her sleeper agent role prevented us from actively seeking that information.”

‘A Syndicate member?’ Haibara paled, her heart racing in her chest; the name Kudo had mentioned earlier as she’d stepped into the room echoing in her ears: Kurosawa, Saya Kurosawa. The family name Gin had used once of twice when not undercover, whether it was his true name or not, she didn’t know. But….

“Damn, this case just keeps getting more and more complex.” Shinichi smirked, gazing upward, his previously shadowed eyes illuminated by the overhead light; his lips revealed a tinge of bitter disbelief -- a grin that wasn’t happy or excited, just a marker of him not knowing what to feel.

“You’ve come to the same thing I suspected all those years ago, haven’t you Kudo?” James words brought Shinichi’s gaze to him, though the detective remained silent. “I saw Saya a year or so before Toni’s death -- quite by accident -- and she looked nothing like Toni, but must have been the spitting image of her father.”

“Spitting image? Her father….” Jodie’s eyes widened as she realized what Shinichi and James meant; she shook her head even as the proof of Saya’s hair, eyes, and face burned beneath her eyelids. “You…you can’t mean that Gin….but he was the one sent to kill Toni after…kill both her and Saya….”

“With the Syndicate, after Toni’s double agent status was discovered, it’d have been their priority to root out other traitors.” Haibara said as she crossed her arms over her chest, and stared at the far wall to avoid seeing the other’s stares. “It’s unsurprising that Gin would be the one sent to kill them -- to prove his loyalty to the Syndicate.”

“To kill his own daughter….” Jodie shook her head once more, eyes shadowed for a second while the thought twisted her stomach. The flash of lightning through the window illuminated another thought that caught her breath. “What…what would happen if Gin found out? Not that Saya survived…but that Troy…allegedly molested, or even raped, Saya?”

Thunder exploded through the silence.

0

“Gin.” Troy felt his pulse quicken, heart beating almost painfully with each footstep the younger man took; the adrenaline rushed through Troy’s limbs and he jumped to his feet, brandishing a knife when only two feet separated him and Gin. He aimed for Gin’s left wrist, his thoughts on disabling Gin’s gun-hand; the knife swished through the damp air, their close proximity and Troy’s movements preventing Gin’s use of the Beretta.

Gin brought his left arm to his side, and stopped Troy’s knife swipe with his right hand; blood oozed from the resulting gash as he kneed Troy in the gut. As Troy fell against the sedan, leaving the knife in Gin’s palm, Gin aimed the Beretta against the older man’s temple.

Troy stared with widened eyes at Gin’s expression, noticing the scratch bleeding on Gin’s cheek from his fired shot -- the redness blended out with the rain. Troy shivered as the touch of metal against his temple, and gulped at the uncharacteristic degree of cold fury etched on Gin’s features.

“Gin.”

“Fortunato.”
Troy’s eyes widened more, his gasp caught in his throat while he watched Gin pocket the knife in his right-hand pocket; the CIA agent blanched as his adversary removed a videotape from his pocket, showing the front clearing to Troy. The words ‘Not With Impunity’ carved clearly in Saya’s handwriting.

Troy swallowed and backed against the sedan -- it was that tape Gin held in his hand.

“Did you think I’d never find out?”

“….” Troy’s face lost the rest of its color, and he pressed his back against the sedan, as though he could pass through the metal frame and flee. “I….”

Gin’s glare killed the words in his throat, the sharp prod of the Beretta a dim throb as he gulp. His inside clenched, the angry eyes of the man above him silently vowing ‘I will kill you.’

A/N: End chapter. Please review.