Justice at Delphi - The Fall of Sibyl

Chapter 32

Sometimes it seems that bad luck always flows like the sea to me. Hardly has one wave of bad luck subsided, when another washed into my life.

-Chun Wu Wang

What kind of rotten luck did she have? Mika thought bitterly to herself. Caught by the very man Division 1 was hunting. She'd recognized his face the moment he wrapped his arm around her in the crowd. There had been no time to cry out to the passersby. It wouldn't really have mattered if she had. Most people weren't capable of processing violence even when it happened right in front of them. Thanks to Sibyl's heavily sanitized environment, even if she had been screaming and flailing, no one would have come to her aid.

A dark laugh filled her chest, but stuck in her throat. She'd been so afraid Sibyl would be the death of her...but she didn't think it would happen this way.  At the hands of crazed murderer. After dragging her out of the taxi and shuffling her inside the apartment building, he'd brought her to a room at the sub-basement level. He'd been grumbling and muttering the whole way about love and betrayal. He had deposited her on a couch and left her, locking the door behind him. 

Though her body was effectively paralyzed by the drug, her eyes were not. She cast her gaze about the room, searching for any means of escape. There were none. However, what she did see painted a bleak picture of this man's state of mind. There was a pile of pill bottles stacked next to the sink. No doubt using the prescriptions to bypass the cymatic scanners. Apparently, Kamui wasn't the only person who had figured out that little trick. 

Directly across from her was a wall of photos. She squinted in the dimly lit room. There were at least a dozen photos of women posted on the wall. Some were candids, the women unaware of the camera. Others looked like they were taken in a studio. One of them was of Nana Shimizu. A cold pit opened up in her stomach. Nana Shimizu was the only victim they'd found to date. Were these other women victims too? If so, what had he done with them? Her heart pounded in her chest. She'd found her own photo pinned to the wall with the others. It was from the crime scene. He'd been there...watching them in the crowd. 

Had he been stalking her the way he'd been stalking Nana?

If he'd been following her, he would have seen her with Sibyl's man. Was that the betrayal he spoke of? 

Footsteps interrupted her thoughts. He was coming back. Mika's stomach churned acidly as the door swung open. His face was cast in shadows, backlit by the bare bulb in the hall behind him. He was panting as if he'd run a marathon. Though she couldn't see his face clearly, she could feel his eyes on her. Burning into her. "I didn't want to do this....I wanted us to be together forever..."

Something glinted in his hand. If Mika could scream, she would have. A strait razor caught the light from the hall, hungry for arterial blood.

***

Akane scanned the busy street warily as she slid from the car. These were the coordinates her mysterious caller had given her. Despite the street cam footage Kunizuka found that confirmed the abduction, Akane was still anxious. Who was this witness? And why had he contacted her directly?

"I still think this is a bad idea." Ginoza spoke from her side, his eyes trained on the faces of the passersby. 

"I know." She replied quietly. Akane felt the hair on her neck raise and a shiver run down her spine. Someone was watching her. Taking a deep breath, she moved through the crowd, knowing whoever was watching her would make contact soon enough. Her wrist unit rang. It was the same unknown number. Sighing, Akane answered. "We don't have time for cat and mouse."

"I had to make sure you weren't followed. Sibyl's got her eye on you, inspector."

Akane glanced at Ginoza and nodded slightly. He casually fiddled with his wrist unit. She'd had Hinakawa initiate a remote trace on incoming calls for this number before they'd arrived. In less than a minute, she'd have his exact location within a three foot radius. "I'm well aware."