Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (18 page)

   “Jake.” Yumi shouted through the chatter of the crowd as she stood by an alleyway, waving him over. Just as he was about to step out, he felt a tap on his back. Turning around, he saw Kirin standing behind him.

   “Let’s go.” He said moving forward alongside Jake. They both headed to the alleyway where Yumi stood with a map folded in her hand.

   “It’s here, I think.” She said somewhat unsure of her surrounding’s as her eyes continued to steal glances at the growing crowd in front of her.

     Kirin stepped forward. “How do you even know this place exists, this EMD Sector?”

     Yumi scratched the top of her head. “The thing is, I don’t know… My brother found out about it from some gossip in the Underground.”

   “The Underground?” Jake asked. “Don’t tell me your part of that rogue group?”

   “I’m not, but we’re trying to join them.”

   “Hahaha…” Kirin laughed. “Won’t our good friends from the Underground be happy to see you?”

     Yumi’s eyes widened. “What? You know them?”

   “Yeah,” Jake said. “You can say we had some run-ins.”

     Watching Jake’s disgruntled reaction to her words, Yumi’s expression tightened. “What? Is there something wrong with them?”

   “No.” Kirin smiled. “We just had some rather interesting interactions with them, but they seem to be swell people, don’t you think, Jake?”

   “Yeah, some very ‘upstanding’ people.”

   “Good…” Yumi nodded reluctantly at their words before turning around. “I don’t want my time here to be worthless. Let’s go.” She said heading down the dark alleyway with Kirin and Jake following closely. The deeper they walked away from the streets, the darker the alley became as light began to fold into the darkness creeping up around them.

   “This is kind of dark.” Jake said with his eyes searching ahead, only finding a dim blue electric light appearing out of the black space ahead of them.

   “There.” Yumi said noticing the blue light with an arrow on its head. “I found it.” She said giddy, running ahead with excitement. Kirin smiled and followed her excited footsteps while Jake ran up and played catch up after hesitating to follow.

     Running down the dark alley’s twists and turns, Jake could hear a thumping beat penetrating the cement walls beside him. As he continued forward, following the tail of Kirin’s coat, an electric sound full of melody and rhythm reverberated throughout the narrow alleyway. Moving closer to its hypnotizing dance beat, Jake saw grass pick up between his boots. Looking down, he could see the cement cracking as greenery poked out of its hardened surface. Looking beyond the cracked cement, he saw nothing but grass on the ground. Pressing the full weight of his body on the fully-grown lawn, he could feel its natural softness holding him up. Curious, Jake looked ahead to see the walls beside him parting as blue and green colors lit up the area in front of him along with the dancing bodies of young revelers as a penetrating and vibrant electronic dance sound blasted from a surround sound speaker system. Noticing Kirin and Yumi staring at the wild spectacle in front of him, Jake approached while catching a glimpse of a dome like roof blocking out the sun while casting a blue shade over the small forest like space. Looking at the dangling lights on the branches of trees, Jake rested his hand on Kirin’s shoulder.

   “What is this?” he shouted over the sound.

   “Heaven.” Yumi said with a wide grin on her face as she watched the stage at the head of the dancing crowds where the melodic wave and crash of the electric beat originated. There, onstage, was a small blond girl with turntables and an electronic synth board in front of her as she wore headphones the size of fist over her ears. Bobbing her head to the beat, she manipulated the sound from there. Yumi, mesmerized by her performance and the overpowering atmosphere of the setting, tucked in her cap in her back pocket as she wore a giddy look on her face before jumping into the dance floor, joining the mix of ecstatic people letting themselves go to the music.

     Kirin bumped Jake forward while wearing a smile on his face. “Keep an eye on her for me.” He said to the bewildered Jake as he skulked away behind the large trees and forestry that made the center of this dome like dance hall in the middle of the Electronic Sub-Sector. As he moved his way along the edges of the dancing crowd, Kirin kept an eye on Jake as Yumi pulled him over and began to dance with him, instantly captivating him with the smooth way she would sway her hips. Watching him as he laughed while she pulled him into her rhythm of dance, Kirin chuckled distantly before looking ahead where he saw a corner of the stage leading to the storage area in the back. There, he saw two large men talking casually, as if they were there to guard against from anyone walking in and stealing equipment. As one of them looked in Kirin’s direction, he quickly hid behind the large back of a tree. As the large man shook off his suspicions and returned to his conversation, Kirin skulked from tree to tree until he was a stone’s throw away from the back entrance and could listen into the guard’s conversation.

   “Man, this is messed up.” The shorter guard lamented. “They really screwed us over, putting us out there in harm’s way while they hide. This is not worth the trouble Gregg.” The shorter man said to the larger. “We should have gone with the rest of them westward. Why did they leave us here? Don’t our lives matter too?”

   “You need to shut up.” Gregg said. “You should be grateful you even get paid for this junkyard duty. How many people you think would die for this job, let alone be a part of the ‘Calling’.”

   “Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s just the storm they riled up might come back to bite us with this summit and all. I ain’t too interested in the Calling if I’m dead before it even happens. And shouldn’t you be even more angry about this, you almost—”

     Just before he finished his sentence, Gregg raised his hand, halting him as he looked again in Kirin’s direction with a heightened alertness.

   “Someone’s there.” Gregg said looking at the shorter bouncer, nodding silently to him as they both pulled out their side arm handguns.

   “Who goes there?!” Gregg shouted over the music towards Kirin, to which Kirin emerged from behind the tree with his hands up.

   “You got me…” he said plainly stepping forward. “I mean you no harm.”

   “We’ll be the judge of that.” The shorter bouncer tightened his grip on his weapon. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

   “I’m just a raver…” Kirin smiled stepping into the light hanging above them, revealing his face. As soon as he did, Gregg loosened his stance a bit.

   “Detective?” Gregg said lowering his weapon. “What’re you doing here?”

   “Do I know you?” Kirin said raising an eyebrow as he looked over the large body and round face of Gregg.

   “The other day, in the jeep with the boss.”

   “What?”

   “Shoot outs on the dance floor, you blowing up half a building, getaway in the streets of the Night Sector…”

   “Hmm…” Kirin said searching his memory for a face similar to the man in front of him. “Sorry, but I’ve been in a lot of chases, seen too many fires and a few more shootouts than I’m usually accustomed to recently. I just can’t…”

     Greg smiled half annoyed and impressed by his active lifestyle. He then snapped his fingers and found the low tenor of his voice. “It’s not over yet.” he sang in a smooth baritone voice. “It’s only just begun… You and I…”

   “You and I…” Kirin sang along with a grin on his face as he looked at Gregg with some familiarity.

   “It’s never over…” They sang in unison. “Until it ends… It’s only just begun… you and I… What we hold true is breaking… Can’t ever find the feeling again… Can’t hide this burning for you anymore…”

     A feminine voice soon blended in with theirs. “Oh, I need you in my life… Can’t get you out of my life.” A young blonde woman emerged from the side stage, laughing to herself as she wiped the sweat off her brow with a towel. “It’s not over yet…” they sang together. “It’s only just begun… Between me and you, life will always go on…”

   “Hahaha…” the blonde girl laughed again as she looked at Greg. “What’s got you singing the song of Ganymede all of a sudden Gregg?”

   “Oh, nothing Kara, just… Just catching up with an acquaintance.”

     Kara turned and looked at Kirin standing there with a grin on his face. “Who is he?”

   “Yeah,” the shorter guard said lowering his pistol. “Who is your singing partner, here?”

   “A friend of the Underground.” Gregg said to the abrupt silence from Kara and the shorter bouncer while they looked Kirin over.

   “Don’t look too hard now.” Kirin smiled as his eyes wandered over to the other side of the stage where he saw Yumi slinking down the side of the crowd while Jake laughed by her side while she cleverly guided him towards the side stage.

   “Idiot.” Kirin said under his breath.

   “So,” Kara said walking up to Kirin. “You know the higher ups of the Underground locally here then, right?”

   “Higher ups?” Kirin said looking over to Gregg. “Is Lacey a higher up, I mean, he seems up there, but not that high.”

   “Yes and no.” Gregg smiled. “He’s a tricky one, it’s hard to tell sometimes, but he was the smartest one here.”

   “Was?” Kirin said raising an eyebrow. “Where is he now?”

   “Hahahaha…” Gregg let out a great big laugh from the center of his belly. “C’mon, what did you expect when you stirred up half the city with your wild chase and shootouts across the town. With the small mess you caused, the Underground did what it does best, it went underground.”

   “We really didn’t do anything that bad…” Kirin smiled.

   “Yeah, right.” Gregg shook his head in disbelief. “Didn’t you guys crash the Black Market trade at the beach? Heard you even murdered a big time merchant there.”

    “What?” Kara said in shock as she backed away from him. “Do you guys have a death wish? No wonder I couldn’t find anyone from the Underground here when I came. You guys just kicked up a hornet’s nest and don’t even know it.”

     Kirin’s eyes narrowed as he thought over Kara’s words, suddenly figuring out something he had previously overlooked. Just as he began thinking over his approach to this entire matter, a loud scream let out from the back stage, grabbing the attention of Kara, Kirin, Gregg, and the short bouncer.

   “I’ve been had.” Kirin said bursting forward, running through Gregg and Kara as he slipped through the curtains into the backstage lights. Running past the black boxes of equipment, Kirin entered an open office door leading down to a dressing room with broken light that flickered in and out. Stepping into its dimly lit space, Kirin smelled a familiar liquid filling the air. Taking a quick gasp of breath, he carefully walked in further to see what he had smelled, a running red liquid seeping out of the bashed skull of a young woman. Kirin, quickly pulling his eyes away from the body, searched the room through its flickering lights for any other warm body. As he did, he heard a hushed voice speak to him.

   “They hurt her.” A voice whispered from the corner of the room. Kirin turned to see a large bodied man in tattered clothes, huddled in the corner, rocking back and forth as his voice shuddered under the weight of his tears.

   “Who are you?” Kirin said stepping forward to the large bodied man. “Who did this?”

     The man rocking back and forth slowly raised his head and exposed his bloodied hands. “Big brother Reese was supposed to be here, he was supposed to help us, now both of them are gone. What am I gonna do without Big sis and Reese?” The large man cried. “What am I gonna do?”

     Kirin tilted his head in wonder of his words before finding his own, or more like a name, appropriate for this situation. “Yumi…” Kirin whispered to the delight of the lost face of the man weeping before him.

   “Do you know big sis?” the large man said with worried eyes.

As he stared at Kirin, looking for answers, what he was looking for had arrived, hand in hand with Jake, storming through the other side entrance of the dressing room.

   “Milk!” Yumi shouted the name as she ran towards the large bodied man. Hurrying over to him, she wrapped her arms around his slouching shoulders.

   “Big sis, big sis.” He muttered under his breath as he rocked within her arms. Holding him, Yumi glanced at the dead body on the floor.

   “What’s going on here?” Jake said looking at the girl’s body on the floor.

   “Yeah,” Gregg said entering the dressing room from the same entrance as Kirin did. “What the heck is going on in here?”

     Kara quickly moved close to the body lying on the ground. “Is she still alive?” she said looking at Kirin.

   “You got good instincts.” Kirin smiled.

   “So she is?”

   “No, but the fact that you looked at me for an answer tells me you know who’s best capable in finding you one. Good instincts.”

     Kara shook her head at the overconfidence of Kirin, but as she did, she could not help but look at the still face of the girl lying in front of her lifelessly.

   “Do you know her?” Kirin asked.

   “Yeah, well, no.” Kara said standing back up and backing away. “I just saw her dancing in the crowd a moment ago.”