Bloody Rose

Premonitions

Chapter Forty-Five:

Premonitions

Shinichi paced the sidewalk outside of the University Administrative office. He had come to talk to the headmaster in order to confirm proper usage of the auditorium tonight for their planned meet with Vermouth. He had also invited his friend and trusted protector of sorts, FBI agent Jodie Sterling to meet with him. If this truly was a plan to take down the Black Organization once and for all, Jodie's knowledge and resources would be irreplaceable. And, should this all turn out to be a trap for him and his friends, he wanted her at his back, watching with plenty of firearms at her disposal.

"You are going to burn a hole in the ground with all that pacing", stated Kaito, amusement could be noticeably seen in his eyes, but he also noted the silent tapping of his fingers against his knee. The thief was clearly just as nervous about the meeting as Shinichi himself was.

Sighing, he took a seat beside his friend and closed his eyes, enjoying the sun beating down on him. After last night, he didn't mind silence like this. He and Kaito had gone over several more tests to help him control his abilities and he didn't mind admitting he was exhausted.

"Shinichi-kun?" asked a voice.

He looked up to see the lady herself standing there, dressed in her usual black suit and sunglasses. Very FBI looking, he thought to himself as he greeted her warmly, shaking her hand with a smile.

"Jodie-san, good to see you", he stated.

She glanced suspiciously at Kaito who was watching the reunion with a blank look. Obviously they both had no idea who each other were.

"Jodie-san, this is Kaito, a friend of mine. Kaito, this is Jodie Sterling, a member of the FBI."

"Pleasure", she said with a nod to him.

Kaito just smiled back. Shinichi noticed he was staring at the agent rather intensely.

"Something wrong?" he whispered.

Kaito met the agent's eyes for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nothing", he stated as he stood up and stretched.

"Kuroba! Kudo!" yelled the voice of Heiji Hattori who came running up the path. Hakuba walking slowly behind him merely sighed as he sped up a bit.

"Thanks for picking him up Hakuba-kun", Shinichi said with a sympathetic grin, he knew how annoying Hattori could be sometimes. The guy could literally talk someone to death, of this Shinichi was certain.

"Well let's go see the headmaster. I wanted to meet him when all of you were here."

The four boys and the one FBI agent entered the office, but Kaito turned back before the door closed and looked around outside.

Someone was watching.

DCDCDCDCDCDCDCDCDC

Kaito hung back by the door as Shinichi and Hakuba shook hands with the University's headmaster. The man was rather pudgy around the middle with balding hair and thick framed round glasses sitting over a large nose. If the thief wasn't so busy concentrating on the faint aura he could feel near them, he would have laughed out loud at the man's appearance.

"Something wrong?" whispered Jodie Sterling who was watching the boy with interest.

Since the moment she met the teenager, he acted like he knew more than he let on about things. Even now, he looked to be listening to something.