An Unexpected Route

We found ourselves in a long hallway with the room that we had been held prisoner in located in the middle. I looked down both ways, and turned to Kaito. "By any chance did you do any exploring when you got out of there?"

Kaito looked over at me, from the look on his face he didn't know which way to go either. "No, all my time was taken in getting that lock open."

"Hmmm..." I sighed and tried to think out solutions. "Those guys said that they'd check on us in a couple hours, so I figure we at least have an hour before they start looking for us. However, we don't know where we are or how big this place is, don't know how many other of them may be here, or even if we're in Osaka anymore. And I don't want to split up, in case they catch one of us." I shrugged. "Maybe if we peek around each corner, we might decide on what to do then. If you see something that could enable us to escape, let me know, since you're better at this sort of thing then I am." I smiled slightly.

Kaito thought about it, then apparently decided it was the best idea, for he simply nodded. We started walking towards the right end of the hallway, carefully since someone could come around the corner at any time. I glanced back occasionally, the adrenalin was rushing throughout my body, and I was to the point where any little noise was making me jump. Kaito seemed calm, but he'd probley been in this situation many times. I stole a glance at him, and there were tight lines around his eyes, he knew we were up against an opponent different then what he was used to. At least the police would catch him and attempt to hold him, the badder guys wouldn't give him that chance.

For what seemed to me an eternity, we got to the end of the hallway, and peered around the corner. Our luck was still holding, for it was unoccupied and only went one way leading to a pad-locked door. Closer inspection revealed that the sound of machinery could be heard on the other side of the door. I looked at Kaito and shook my head, barely whispering, "Not that way, there could be people in there..." He nodded, not replying, and we turned back towards the other end of the hallway.

We returned the way we came, passing by our prison to see what lay beyond the other end of the hall. As we drew near the other side, I found myself getting even more jumpy, I had the feeling our luck was going to run out, we were going to get captured again, maybe even they would have guns this time instead of just taking the trouble of recapturing us. I must have been concentrating on this so much I didn't hear Kaito trying to get my attention until he tugged on my shirt, which was not a good thing to do in the state I was in. I jumped, and nearly cried out, if it hadn't been for him putting his hand over my mouth. Barely whispering, he leaned close to me, "Quiet, I think I heard someone in the next hallway. But I see a few doors, maybe we can hide out in one and find out why they captured us or the way out." Since that was what I was about to suggest, I nodded. He removed his hand and we moved over to one of the doors.

I carefully looked down the hallway, but no one was there, I was beginning to think that the people in this place might have been in that one room with the machinery, when I heard something that made my heart sink. Voices were coming out of the closed doorway Kaito had been about to open, his hand was on the handle, and he jerked it back as if shocked. We looked at each other, not saying a word, then I pointed to the next one, and he tested it. At first glance, it seemed to be unoccupied, so we hurried in and closed the door. I went cold as I heard a very familiar voice behind us, "Hey, Martini, you find out the results about--" A grunt stopped the flow of words, and I turned around to find that Kaito had moved quickly, knocking out the man before he even knew we were there. But what surprised me was that it was the man with the gruff voice that had been standing over us in the prison.

I stared at Kaito with an incredulous expression, I couldn't decide whether it was the fact that we had found one of our captors, or the fact that Kaito had taken him out, or our good luck so far. After trying to open my mouth to say something intelligible, I just shook my head and explored the room. I did manage to find a bit of food, basically a bag of American potato chips, but to me who hadn't eaten all day, it was heaven. I had eaten some and was turning around to find Kaito, he hadn't made any noise while I was rummaging around. I heard the voice again at the same time a hand clamped down on my shoulder. "Hey kid, what do you think you are doing? How did you get out of that room??" I dropped the bag of chips as I saw the guy standing up again and no sign of Kaito. I jumped away and dropped into a defensive stance, wishing I had some sort of weapon, even my bokken would have helped. I backed up a step as he took one towards me, hand reaching into his jacket. Where was the Kaito Kid?? Had that guy taken him out when I wasn't looking?

'Oh, this is it', I watched him carefully, remembering what my father had taught me about situations like this, but knowing that if he had a gun I had no chance, when my adversary did the unexpected : he winked at me and started to laugh. I blinked, before it hit me, and I just stared at the character Kaito had now become. "Now what's with that?" I pointed, trying not to show the uneasiness I was feeling, and picked up the bag to toss it at him. He caught it, and shrugged, "Think of it this way, I can find out what is going on, and also we may have a easy way out of here." He produced a piece of rope, and a second before understanding dawned on me, he had thrown himself at me, and was busy tying up my hands.

I tried jerking my tied hands away from him, but he had one end held firmly. "Now, Hattori, if you have a better way of getting us out of here, I'm all ears," Kaito said determinedly. "But this seems like the best option for now. Here's what we're going to do..."

So that's why I found myself being prodded along, by one of our captors who was actually Kaito in disguise, trying to make myself look as miserable as I could, and not anxious like I really was. I was certainly getting a bad idea about this. Kaito couldn't know more about this place then I did, so how were we going to get out of this alive? He pushed me along the corridor that we had seen before we entered the room, glaring at the two other members that we met along the way, who didn't give us more then a second glance as they saluted him. Apparently, the man Kaito was impersonating was of high standing, much like the 'Vodka' that Kudo knew about. I was just hoping we didn't meet the 'Gin' person as well, for he would probley see right through the act.

We took some twists and turns, and made a few wrong turns, but there was no one to notice that 'one' of their own had been making mistakes. Eventually and to our great dismay, we came to a doorway that had the same sound of machinery as the other closed door. I cursed silently as I realized that we had unknowingly gone in a circle. This time, we could hear more voices coming from behind the door as well. "Are you sure about this?" I asked him, knowing the huge risk we were going to take in order to escape. He didn't answer at first, then shook his head. "No, but that room looks like the only way out." I let him bind my hands behind my back, along with the assurance that he would release me at the slightest hint of trouble. However, I was hoping it wouldn't come to that. With anxiety written clear on my face, I nodded as I braced myself and he pulled the door open.

As Kaito opened the door and roughly pushed me out (to make it look believable, I hope, for it really hurt), I saw four men dressed in black down some stairs and a red-haired woman in a white research coat. Seeing her made me remember about the scientist whom Kudo had told me he met several months ago and had turned out to be a former member of the Organization. I've never had the chance to meet her myself, and I didn't know much about her otherwise, other then that she had created the toxin that had changed him. My thoughts were interrupted by another rough shove from Kaito, and I shot him a glare as we continued to walk along towards a door on the other side.

A voice from behind stopped me cold, I recognized it as the other guy that had been standing over me. "Daqueri, what are you doing with him?" He didn't have the weird black thing this time, but I didn't want to see him at all. I kept my face looking down, and trusted to Kaito to get us out of this. I heard Kaito as he mimicked 'Daqueri', "Well, Martini, until the results are in, I thought I'd take him outside to the truck. I left that weird guy with the cape locked up in the room, I just wish you'd let me kill him though." Martini raised an eyebrow, but he turned around without talking back. I looked back at Kaito, and he slightly shrugged his shoulders. When Martini disappeared down the other hallway, Kaito untied the rope around my wrists and we walked quickly to the doorway.

We were almost out, I could see the exit with blessed daylight shining through the small window. Our luck ran out when shouting broke out, most importantly the words "The prisoners are escaping!" made us run and push our way out the door. Almost immediately shots rang out, whistling as they screamed by. I hid on the opposite side of the doorway, Kaito on the other. I did not want to get shot again, it was heck recuperating from the last time. "Hattori, they're using poisoned darts too!" I heard Kaito shout, and he pushed me away from several of the darts that were now sticking in the door. "Run!"

I was following his instructions to the letter when I saw someone wearing a cloak with their arm across their face. I stopped for a second, staring at the apparition that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, when I realized I had made a bad mistake. That was about the same time that I felt something bite into my neck, and an almost dizzy feeling swept over me. I blinked stupidly a few times as the world went gray for the second time in two days, and, amid an explosion that rocked the building, the last thing I heard as I toppled over was Kaito yelling my name.

to be continuedE#060;br>