Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (9 page)

     Jake and Lee looked at the slight grin on Karl’s face after Kirin’s words filled the room without disagreement from anyone inside.

   “Is that true Karl?” Jake asked him.

   “Sorry guys.” Karl said with some regret on his face. “Wrong time and place for the both of us.”

   “Dammit Karl!” Lee shouted. “You could have broken me in on the deal—we’re old friends, aren’t we? And you know I’m always looking for work.”

   “Yeah, but a robbery takes expertise, something you don’t have. And well, we’re old friends—nowadays, I’m more in line now with my new ones.” He said walking to the embrace of the similarly dressed members of the Underground, giving them handshakes.

   “You traitor.” Lee grimaced.

   “Hey,” Lace said. “No need for such strong words, we’re all friends here.”

   “How so?” Jake asked, agitated at what Karl did, but understanding of how he changed so much since they were kids. The world tends to do that, Jake thought.

     DJ Lace laughed at his question. “The fact that I’m still here should say that, your detective friend understands this, right?”

     Jake looked over to Kirin who took a seat across from Lace. Watching him as he tapped the tips of his fingers together with his trademark smirk wearing on his face, Jake wondered what he was cooking up in his mind now.

   “Why?” Kirin said. “For business, I think.”

   “Exactly.” Lace leaned in as he broke his relaxed recline on the sofa. “You seem like a skillful…” He raised an eyebrow as he looked over the deceptively small and slender frame of Kirin. “Man, correct?”

     Kirin chuckled under his breath. “And in what way would you be interested in my skills?”

   “The Underground is always looking for talent, especially young talent. Everyone here has a skill, from carpentry, engineering, musicianship, to soulful singers. We cherish all skills of the youth on this beautiful island, and you, you’re a talent I rarely get to see.”

   “Detective work is nothing special.” Kirin said now tapping his fingers on the table in front of him. “With enough work,” he began to laugh. “Hahaha, who am I kidding? It’s difficult, but that’s why I like doing it. I love to see into the parts well hidden. And you seem like a private person, Mr. Lace.”

   “Hahaha… I like that, your confidence.” Lace laughed, he then looked over to the beautiful woman wearing glasses beside him. “What do you think, Kathy?”

     Kathy looked Kirin once over, tilting her glasses over to get a closer look. As she stared at his complete disregard for her existence, she turned to Lace, leaning into him to whisper into his ears.

     Kirin could not hear what she said, but it affected the cool expression on his face. He then turned away from her and focused his attention on Kirin.

   “Let me ask you a question?” Lace said rubbing his hands together with a serious look on his face. “So, how did you get Karl to bring you here exactly?”

   “What?” Kirin said raising an eyebrow, surprised by what seemed to be a dull question to him. “Oh, I just used phrasing.”

   “Phrasing?”

   “Yeah, or more like framing my question in comparison of what I think you might do with what he thinks you might do. More or less understanding the relationship between you two and playing off that.”

   “What I might do?” Lace said looking with concern. “You barely even know me or Karl.”

   “Oh please, I know all about you Mr. DJ and Karl.” Kirin said looking at Karl. “Who you are is written on the way you dress, walk, talk, act, and the expressions on your face.”

   “You never saw my face.”

   “Oh yes, I did. In fact, I suspected your robbery before it even started when I saw you standing by the craps table in the den with the rest of the lost souls there. You and your self-important presence stuck out like a sore thumb amongst that lot. With that small hint, I was able to time your robbery well enough to get out our humble degenerate gambler friend here out of debt before even knowing he was in debt.”

   “Hey,” Lee complained. “I’m not a degenerate, I’m a hobbyist, there’s a difference.”

     Lace shook off Lee’s complaints. “And why would you prepare all that? I mean, why think about going the extra mile for things that might not happen, like saving your friend?”

   “Safety measures.” Kirin continued with a disinterested look on his face. “It was a safe bet he would be in trouble in that crooked den. It’s always good to have layers of back-up plans and extra places to go for leverage for any situation you enter.”

   “I agree,” Lace nodded. “But still, how did you know Karl would bring you here?”

   “Haa…” Kirin sighed, bored with the conversation. “I just asked him to bring me to a place you would go to celebrate victories, so obviously, he took me to the place where you wouldn’t celebrate, which I find hard to believe,” Kirin said looking over the hectic party space, his interest piqued all of a sudden. “But it seems this isn’t the way someone like you would celebrate success,” Kirin said looking back at Lace. “More like a failure, which was your robbery. With this in mind, I knew Karl would most likely bring me here in attempts to throw me off. But little did he know that the plan was not a success and that you had reverted to the backup plan.”

   “Hah!” Lace laughed a bit resigned. “And why would you think that? That our robbery was a failure?”

   “Because of me.” Kirin smiled. “And Kray, of course.”

   “Wow,” Lace said reclining in his seat. “This kid knows everything, huh?”

     Jake looked at Kirin in wonder. “Why? I don’t understand? What’s going on?”

   “You see,” Kirin said standing up. “Our friends here robbed the fake gambling den knowing full well it was not a part of the Union, otherwise they would be on a hit list, and that’s never a good thing. Also, that’s the reason why they didn’t kill Kray. With someone to blame for the dirt thrown on the Union name, the assassins sent out would only attack Kray and his crew. However, if he had killed Kray, the assassination orders from the Union may then transfer out to the thieves themselves i.e. the Underground. So our good friend Lace made sure the fake Union Representative lived for the purpose of keeping the Union assassins off their trail.”

   “So what’s the problem then?” Jake asked.

   “The problem is that our good friend Mr. Lace believed Kray would try to get his money back silently without alerting the Union. And while he searched for his lost money aimlessly, Mr. Lace here depended on the Gambling Union’s executioner to take him out. A good plan, right up until it failed, that is once our good DJ saw me and all my glory.” he said with a grin. “He knew there was a slight chance I would expose Kray’s deceit to his and Davos’ crew, putting him in a corner where he would be most dangerous and forced to try for one last desperate attempt to escape or to get his revenge. However, after my odd proposal, Mr. Lace knew his chances of finding him increased with my involvement, thusly increasing his probability to enact that revenge and to build a little savings for his escape at the same time. A most appealing proposition to a gambler, don’t you think?” he said looking at Lace, who chuckled under his breath while his crew stared in disbelief as if this was all new information to them.

   “Yeah,” Lace nodded. “Something like that, but not as longwinded.”

   “The thing is,” Kirin said tapping his chin. “Why didn’t you just kill me?”

   “Easy,” Kathy said staring directly into the interested eyes of Kirin. “We at the Underground value talent the most, and we would never harm a skilled person such as yourself.”

   “Ah,” Kirin said patting the back of his head as he blushed at her words. “I’m just a moderately gifted genius, nothing special.”

   “Genius is genius, isn’t that right, Lacey?” Kathy said staring warmly at Lace.

     Lace nodded his head reluctantly. “Yeah.”

   “Haah…” Jake sighed deep in thought.

   “What?” Kirin said pulling his attention from the conversation. “What’s wrong?”

   “Oh, nothing, it just kind of sucks though.”

   “What?” Kirin said with an abnormal amount of interest.

   “I mean, being executed without even knowing why?”

   “People die every day without knowing why, it’s nothing to be sad about.” Kirin said looking back at Lace.

     Lace, wearing a crooked smile on his face reclined in his seat again. “So you think you know me well.”

   “Well enough to know only someone in fear for their life would hide in plain sight in a bullet proof glass room.”

   “Bullet proof?” Lee said looking at the glass surrounding them in wonder. “For real?”

   “Haha…” Lace laughed hesitantly. “Now, don’t you think your overthinking this, you really think Kray would trust you?”

   “Of course, he’s a gambler.” Kirin smirked. Just as he spoke his words, a loud bang rang from the center dance floor, ringing out until a large smack and slam hit the side of the glass room. Everyone ducked simultaneously as the crash against the glass wall shook their eardrums along with a howling scream rocketing from below, calling out the thieves in hiding.

   “Thieves! Thieves! I know you’re here! Show Yourselves!” A voice yelled over the cutting of sound from the live band as people broke from their dance and screamed off the dance floor.

     Kirin stood there, unaffected, only turning around to look through the damaged, but unbroken glass. “Looks like you have visitors Mr. Lace.” Kirin smiled.

     Lace jumped from his seat and hurried to the balcony’s edge to see Kray holding a shotgun towards the sky along with a crew of five armed men rushing through the scurrying crowds to make it to the ends of the dance floor where the stairs waited for them.

   “Time to make things happen.” Lace said looking over towards the two large guards by the door, nodding his head. As he did, the guards pulled out handguns from their waist and headed out of the glass room and towards the staircase. Lace turned to Kathy. “Time to make a great escape.”

   “You have one?” Kirin asked.

   “Of course, you want to come?”

   “Better than staying here.”

   “W-Wait…” Jake said. “We have nothing to do with this.”

   “We do.” Kirin said turning to Lee. “You think Kray will believe we have nothing to do with the robbery when we went straight to its culprit’s right after it?” he chuckled. “Of course not, especially when you’re an animal cornered with its fangs bare. Kray has nothing to lose, but the money to buy his freedom out of this city, which our friend has. He doesn’t need your reason now.”

     Shots began to fire from outside the balcony area. Looking over to the staircase, Kirin and everyone saw Lace’s bouncers shooting it out with Kray’s crew.

     Lace, picking up a bag and grabbing the hand of Kathy, headed out the door. “Time to let wild dog’s breath.” He smiled as he kicked the door open with the last three members of his crew along with Karl following them as they moved away from the staircase. Kirin Looked at Jake before giving chase. Jake and Lee reluctantly followed.

   “I don’t think this is a good idea.” Lee said following from behind as they chased Lace and his crew into a hallway. Kirin turned to Lee.

   “The Almond.” Kirin said.

   “Huh?” Lee looked on in confusion.

   “What did you do with it?”

   “What? That…”

   “Yeah, you owe me, right?” Kirin said turning the many corners Lace and his crew did. “Tell me, what did you do with it?”

   “W-What?”

   “Hey,” Jake said. “You think this is the time for that?”

   “If not now, then when?” Kirin said as they entered a small room with a kitchen. They approached a window where Lace and his crew were exiting onto a fire escape.

   “Ah…” Lee hesitated in speaking as he noticed the gunfire had been chasing them, the sound from its bursting chambers nearing them with every passing second.

   “Hey! We have to get out of here.” Jake said to Kirin as he blocked the window with his small frame.

   “No,” he refused. “Tell me now.”

   “Hey!” Lee said panicking. “This is not a game, let us go.”

   “Then tell me what you did with the almond.” He demanded, unmoved by the gravity of the situation.

   “Who cares?!” Lee said tensing up as he looked behind him at the door as the shootout drew closer to them.

   “I care, now tell me.” Kirin said with a steadfastness mirroring the same stubbornness he would show when investigating cases for murder.

   “C’mon,” Jake said turning to Lee, realizing Kirin would not break. “Just tell him something so we can go.”

   “Forget about him!” Lee said charging towards Kirin, as he did—Kirin planted the edge of his elbow onto the nose of Lee, smacking him backwards as he yelled out in pain.

   “Ow!!” Lee groaned. “What was that for?!”

   “I said tell me.” Kirin continued as the gunfire rang out even louder, coming along with the screams and shouts of its wielders. Lee, noticing the unchanging expression on Kirin’s determined face, gave in.

   “Alright, I’ll tell you.” He said nervously looking behind him as he held his bloody nose. “I sold them.”