Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (7 page)

   “Hmm…” Kirin digested the information.

     Lee stepped forward along with a still uneasy Jake. “The Underground, huh?” Lee said somewhat surprised.

   “That’s right.” Karl said. “Decades ago, the smugglers in this city had made not only trade possible, but also communication between cities more fluid after the Shift. In part, a lot of the recent tourism from other cities opened up because of their once secretive travel routes that bypassed all bandits, thieves, hunters, and beast infested areas of the Outskirts.”

     Lee shook his head, still somewhat confused as to what happened to them just now. “But that was many decades ago. They’re nothing but a gang of thieves now with nothing to show for it.”

   “Well,” Karl said unconvinced. “They used to stand for something, they used to represent our freedom, but now… They just don’t matter beyond the dance floor.”

   “Ha…” Jake said breaking his confusion and silence. “Isn’t that the way it’s so supposed to be with DJ’s?”

   “Maybe so.” Karl nodded.

   “How interesting,” Kirin said rubbing the bottom of his chin with his fingers. “An electronic cult of smugglers, what a fascinating collection of words.” he then turned to Jake. “They’re not inherently valuable—however, the circumstance made it so. The opportunity was there for anyone to fill the gaps left after the Disasters and Shift, they just so happen to fulfill an important one.” Kirin smiled as he slapped his hands together once. “This will be fun, but first some house cleaning.” He said walking over to the Union Representative as he sat himself on a chair with the help of his crew. There, Kirin stood still in front of him with an eager look in his eyes as the Representative ignored him for the most part, only occasionally glancing at the impatient smile of Kirin, albeit reluctantly.

     Karl gave Kirin an uneasy stare before looking over to Jake and Lee. “What is wrong with this kid?”

   “Yeah,” Lee said. “Is he always like this?”

     Jake shook his head. “I don’t know, to be honest, I don’t really even know him.”

   “Well,” Lee said shaking his head. “Whoever he is, he really got me out of a tight space.”

   “Hey,” Davos said slamming his open palm against the table as he stared at Kirin. “Is what you said true?” he asked. “Are you a detective?”

   “Yes.” Kirin replied making a quick turnaround towards him, breaking his staring match with the Union Representative. “But I’m interested in why YOU are so interested in trusting a stranger with this task? Don’t you find it a bit odd that I was here during the robbery and worked it into my favor?”

   “Of course I am.” Davos said with a disgusted expression. “I have every bit of my suspicion pointing towards collusion between our thieves and you lot right here. If it wasn’t for the Union Rep. here, I would have strung you by the toes and poked my way through your flesh for the truth.”

   “Oh, rather graphic, are you?” Kirin chuckled. “And a terrible folly on your part if you did. Any gambler knows when the cards are dealt, adaptability is all-important. Isn’t that right Mr. Union Representative?” Kirin said walking towards the man as he sat down with one of his crewmembers tending to his wounds. “This place is no sanctioned den, right?” Kirin asked the Representative. “Otherwise, the guard at the door wouldn’t be necessary, nor would the codes and passwords to enter, after all, most gambling dens in the developing cities like Teigen don’t use them, only the dank back alley den’s in the Outskirts and Lower cities are like that.”

   “Shut up!” the Union Rep. shouted as he clenched the edge of the table beside him. “What does a little punk like you know about Union business?”

   “Oh, quite a lot. I know that most Union money in the dens are shipped out like clockwork, never is there a surplus of cash on hand, and most importantly, Union dens don’t allow unknown rookies in, only the confirmed wealthy and unnatural pros, not anyone in this den of unwashed losers. This growing pile of evidence leads me to one conclusion—do you know what that is Mr. Union Representative?”

   “S-Shut your mouth!” The Union Rep. said with a sense of desperation that alarmed the Den owner and his crew.

     Davos looked at the Rep. with uncertainty. “What is this kid on about Union Representative?”

   “Nothing. He knows nothing about anything. Get him out of here! We can handle this ourselves.”

   “Can you?” Kirin smiled deviously to the shaken expression of the Union Representative. “I mean, how can you do anything when you’re not even a Union Rep—”

   “Nooo!” The Union Rep. shouted slamming his fist against the table. “I told you to shut up, brat!”

     Kirin grinned before he began pacing around the room, speaking his mind to the alarmed audience of Davos and his crew. “I believe that you are not a Union Rep. at all.” He said frankly. “You’re more like an opportunistic immigrant from the Lower cities trying to con his way up the ladder of success. Quite admirable if I must say so myself. Mind telling us your name? No need for titles anymore.” Kirin said standing in front of the pained face of the Representative as he gritted his teeth at his words. He looked over at the shocked faces of his crew and Davos as they looked on at disbelief at this child’s piercing words, but nonetheless held onto every letter he spoke.

   “The name’s Kray.” The Union Representative said lowering his head, feeling the pressure of the room overwhelming him.

   “Are you serious?” Davos said in shock. “You can’t be serious, are you telling me we’ve been working with a fake this whole time?” as he spoke out those words, a disquieting look arose on all the faces of the gambling crew inside. It was as if all the broken promises that Kray’s lies had built, shattered in an instant, along with a river of dreams that only children could imagine.

   “You liar!” Davos shouted as he lunged for Kray, but as he did, supporters of the fake Union Rep. jumped forward to protect him.

   “What are you doing?!” Davos said as they pushed back the force of his anger.

   “Sorry.” Kray said. “I won’t be able to keep my promises about introducing you to the Union, but I did keep you guys alive during hard times, didn’t I?” He said proudly. “Didn’t I give you a place to work under a banner worth fighting for?”

   “Shut up!” Davos shouted as his own men pulled him away. “You gave us nothing of the sort. We did this all on our own, you just sat by and collected all the money, and for what? Your promises?! Well, it turns out those are as worthless as the locks on your safes!”

   “H-Hey,” one of the confused crewmembers said. “Doesn’t the real Gambling Union have a zero tolerance policy for fakes using their name?”

   “Exactly.” Davos scoffed as his raged boiled over. “Especially those that taint their name with successful robbery. We’d be lucky to survive the end of the night once they hear about this. And it’s all this cockroaches fault!” Davos said attempting to lunge forward again at the bleeding Kray.

     Kirin, watching their internal dispute grinned for a moment. “If the house always wins, tear it down.” He said pleased, however, the pleasure was fleeting for Kirin, as his smile quickly waned along with his interest. He then turned around and headed for the door. Exiting the room, Jake watched alongside Lee the playful psychological mastery Kirin held over the room vanish with him as he exited in great haste. Jake, Lee, and Karl reluctantly pulled themselves away from the argument brewing inside the office and headed out the door as well, all of them holding an unsettling feeling in the pit of their stomach at what just happened in there. Passing by the empty chairs, Jake wondered how the thieves pulled off their robbery. How exactly did they get everyone to quietly exit without a sound? Kirin must have been right, they must be professionals, Jake thought.

     Exiting out the front door, they found themselves in the middle of the sparsely crowded sidewalks and streets of the evening stalking hours. Some mopeds zipped by alongside horse drawn carriages under the brightly lit streets of the opulent city of Teigen.

     Lee rubbed his knuckles over his eyes for a moment. “I can never get used to the new evening lights. Where are my dim paths and creepy alleys?”

   “All gone with reconstruction.” Jake said.

   “Yeah,” Karl nodded his head. “What a little zoo money can do for a town still amazes me.”

   Jake laughed. “And haunts the rest of us with not enough coin to see the damn thing… You know,” he said looking at the absentminded stare of Lee. “You’re taking all this well.”

   “Am I? I’m just confused right now and a little disappointed.”

   “Why?” Jake said intrigued. “You’re out of debt.”

   “Yeah I know, but I really believed he could win that game.”

   “You’re an idiot.” Jake smiled. “And me too.” he said glancing at Kirin standing tall by the sidewalk, looking enormous in stature even with his short height.

   “Hey Karl,” Kirin said standing on the sidewalk idly. “You have a jeep?”

   “Why ask me?” he laughed hesitantly.

   “Because you dress like you don’t walk, and you walk like you don’t ride anything. So you must be driving something.”

     Karl smiled at his words before pulling out a pair of keys from his pocket. “Behind you.” He said pointing to a low riding vehicle without a roof or tires below standing it up. It just had a base that laid flat on the ground where Kirin was oddly already standing by as if he knew it belong to Karl.

      Karl cracked a smile. “How convenient for you to be standing by it already.”

   “Educated guess.” Kirin shrugged his shoulders as he turned around and looked intrigued at the jeeps odd build. “Don’t tell me this is what I think it is, is it?”

    “It’s exactly that.” Karl smiled confidently. “It’s a street hovercraft, freshly tuned from the junkyards.”

     Lee’s eyes widened at the sight of the vehicle. “Whoa, a real Street Craft right in front of me.” Lee shook his head as he rushed over to the car and touched its old rugged surface. “You can’t be for real about this. This thing is rarer than gold out here, I mean, you barely see any of these out here in the Common Sectors, and if you do, they’re owned by some High-End Sector jerk. How did you get this?”

   “Yeah,” Jake nodded with concern. “This thing is hard to find.”

   “With the right contacts and friends, you can get anything in this world.”

     Kirin smiled. “Especially if you steal it.” He said opening the passenger side door of the Street Craft.

   “Huh?” Karl said as he approached. “Did I leave the door unlocked?”

   “No, I just opened it up myself. You have weak locks Karl, you should get them changed lest you want your car stolen.” He said slipping into the passenger side of the jeep and slamming the door shut. “C’mon, let’s go.” He called everyone over.

     Karl narrowed his eyes in suspicion before walking over to the driver’s side. As he did, Jake and Lee followed in rhythm as if hypnotized by the pace Kirin set with his words and energetic style. Even Karl found himself sitting in the driver’s seat, compelled to chauffeur him for the moment.

   “So,” Karl said bewildered by the way he was catering to this strange boy. “Where do you want to go?”

   “I want to go where you would go.”

   “Where I would go?” Karl asked, confused for a moment. “I’m not following you.”

   “I mean,” Kirin said adjusting the recline on his seat until it squished into Lee sitting in the back seat. “You know this place better than anyone.”

   “Why would you say that?”

   “Because you dress the part, you look like a man who enjoys a night on the town and his fill of conversation with many different people in the world. Tell me, where would you go to enjoy a night of relaxation after a successful day of work or non-work? Whatever you do…”

   “Well,” he said lifting his head in thought. “After my days of successful non-work,” he chuckled as he looked back at Kirin sitting upright in his recline chair. “I would go to the ‘Magic Lady’ hall in the Downtown Sector.”

   “Hmm…” Kirin said standing up from his seat and pointing out towards the streets. “Then off we go, Haha…” He laughed before sitting back down in his seat.

   “Hey,” Jake said tapping Karl on the shoulder as he watched the strange behavior of Kirin. “You don’t have to listen to him, you know? You can leave us here.”

   “No.” Karl replied. “It’s fine, I’m interested in what he’ll do next.”

   “You might not be if the night ends with you in a brothel with a naked man chasing you with a butcher knife.”

   “What?”

   “Don’t ask.” Jake said as he patted him on the back. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

     Jake sat back down in his seat as Karl turned the electric hum of the engine on with a turn of his key. As the street craft switched on, the jeep lifted from its flat underside smoothly into the air, floating inches above the ground, wowing everyone inside the jeep.

     Jake shook his head in wonder. “Is this thing for real?”

     Karl smiled, amused. “It’s as real as it gets.” He said switching the gear into drive, accelerating from his parking spot and floating into traffic and its tired bound vehicles, moving at a relaxed pace above ground, but speedy enough to blur the lights of the brightly lit streets heading into the Downtown Sector. As they drove, a certain level of stunned silence over the afternoon events at the gambling den still hung over them. Even as they pursued possibly a dangerous lead for a promise worth nothing now all on the whim of the frivolous detective Kirin, they all still felt an odd silent sense of fascination to see if Kirin could keep his word.