Hack Into My Heart

Code 21: In

Half an hour.

We had only half an hour to save Yusuke before he froze completely. Each minute was passing with an incredible speed, giving me never-ending anxiety. While waiting for Ozawa-san, I checked the CCTVs around the prison and saw Mio really visited Ryo every week. Keiji never appeared with Mio, so I guessed he had no personal relations with the lovers.

Ring... Ring...

I rushed to the door and welcomed Ozawa-san. Not even waiting until the living room, he handed me a burner phone.

"Look what I found in Tezuka's belongings," he said proudly.

With hope, I checked the contact list and saw there were only four numbers under the names; 0, 1, 2, 3.

"Which one shall we try?" Ozawa-san sat beside me, "Watanabe should be 1, don't you think?"

I rubbed my chin as I was thinking about the possibilities. We had only one chance to impress Watanabe, so we had to call him at the first try. 1 sounded logical as number 1 was indeed a good connotation, but would a mad robber use it? Wasn't it too easy?

Think.... think... faster!

Wait a second!

Dog... rooster... cockroach...

I checked his username again and indeed it was with a capital 'O', it was COckroach. As all those animals had 'o' in them, they were probably also written with capitals. It must have been his signature!

O for 0 (zero)... point 0.... the beginning of everything...

I pressed '0' and waited for the answer with my heart in my mouth.

"It can't be Ryo-kun, right?" I heard a man saying. From his voice, I guessed he was in his fifties.

So, he must have been Watanabe!

"I am someone better, you don't need Ryo to hack KZK, you only need me," I said with a fake confidence, praying to any celestial beings for luck.

The voice chuckled loudly, "I liked your confidence young man, who are you? A cop?"

"Those idiots can't even see what is in front of their nose, it is an insult for me to be called a cop," I said with an offended tone and Ozawa-san gave me a thumbs up.

"Interesting," he said, "what do you want?"

"A share from the profit, obviously."

Another chuckle, "how did you get that phone, though?"

"I stole it from that idiot Ryo when he was arrested," I lied without a stutter, even surprising myself, "I was after that cop, but found a jewel instead."

"Maybe it is better if we meet in person."

Yes!

"I want 20% of the profit and that cop to be alive for a confrontation, so?"

"O---kay, be at the entrance of Shinjuku station in fifteen minutes."

The call ended and I jumped onto my feet.

"You can't do this, Tahara-san," Ozawa-san grabbed my arm, "I will call the captain and we will take over from here."

"NO WAY!" I yelled at him, "I did all the preparation, only I can pull this trick."

"It is too dangerous."

"I don't care, Yusuke is all I have, so I'd rather die with him," I said firmly and he gave in.

"I will follow the car once you are in, then will save you two, alive," he negotiated and I nodded.

With Koi and the burner phone in my pocket, I hopped into Ozawa-san's car and he dropped me off at one station before Shinjuku station, just in case. When I arrived at the entrance of Shinjuku station, I got a call from '3' and then a tall man with a black suit came and directed me into a black van. Once in, he searched my clothes and took my phone, then he tied my hands and eyes with thick black clothes. Damn!

Me, the guy in the suit and the driver sat in silence as the van kept making sudden turns now and then to be sure that there was no one tailing us. I hoped Ozawa-san was good at tailing as I had no idea which direction we were going.

After driving for the whole eternity, the van stopped and the same man took me into a building and after the door was closed, he untied my trembling cold hands. I took the blind off and after adjusting the light, I saw we were inside a huge warehouse. There were two tables full of computer equipment and there was a freezer behind the tables. Thinking Yusuke was inside of it, I felt nauseous.

"Welcome to the party," Watanabe's voice snapped me out of my horrible thoughts and I ripped my eyes off the freezer to look at the trio.

Watanabe, Mio and Keiji were standing between the door and me as if they were guarding the door from me. Watanabe was a small man in his fifties, he was wearing a three-piece gray suit which contrasted with his long half-white braided hair and the playful aura around him. Mio was short and thin like many girls her age while Keiji was undeniably tall and nerdy-looking. He didn't even look me in the eye whereas Mio was boring holes to my skull with her fuming eyes.

"Watanabe-san, Mio and Keiji, nice to meet you all," I said with a smile, showing off my knowledge.

"You are gooood," Watanabe gave me an exaggerated thumbs up, "who are you boy?"

"An ex-hacking criminal, thanks to that cop in, enough?"

"Well well..."