Tantei-kun

Six

"This kid is worth a lot, I promise."

"You sure you did a lot of background check on this brat?"

"Of course, nii-san."

Yamada Kousuke nodded. He handed his brother, Kazue, a roll of ductape, jerking his head to the tied up kid on the middle of the room. The boy was unconscious but they both knew he was going to wake up anytime soon.

"He's related to the Kudos," Kazue said, firmly placing the start of the tape on the child's mouth. "You know them? The actress and the famous writer? Their son is a high school detective, Kudo Shinichi."

Kousuke grinned. "We hit a gold pot, didn't we?"

"Yeah. That's not all, he's under the care of Mouri Kogoro, the Sleeping Kogoro. I know he gets paid from solving cases."

"You really did your job," Kousuke praised. "Take off his glasses so he won't see."

Kazue did so, violently jerking the glasses. He glared at the seven-year old, remembering how rough his childhood was. Kousuke was the only family he had growing up, and to make sure that they live, they had to commit crimes. Kazue's first violation was when he was 10 and Kousuke, 14. The boy, Edogawa or something like that, probably didn't even know the meaning of poverty.

"You already called them?" Kazue's tone made it seem like he was accusing his brother of something. "Made sure they would come at the abandoned warehouse?"

"I already did everything. Now we only need to wait. We have an hour before the time."

"Nii-san, what if they contact the police?" There was a flicker of doubt on his face before it returned to it's determined expression.

"They won't. I know the Sleeping Kogoro is usually with police but we won't mind getting our hands dirtied if they bring the police." Kousuke fiddled with his gun, looking at the walls of their basement.

The basement was located in an old 'haunted' house that was abandoned long ago. Fortunately, it was near the warehouse where they would do the exchange for money and the kid. The whole plan took four months to build and to start, they were sure it wasn't going to fail.

"We're finally going to leave this horrible life, nii-san. I can't wait-"

All at once, the secured door of the basement was smashed and light came flooding in. There were a couple of dozen policemen accompanied by the FBI agents stationed in Japan. Following behind them was a kid, holding up a gun, steadily aiming it at Kousuke's head. Mouri Kogoro was beside the young girl, his aim at the younger brother.

"Well, it seems that we found Cool Kid," a woman's voice said in English. "So, you two are the kidnappers, too bad you chose the wrong target." She turned to Japanese, her tone sprinkled with annoyance.

"Oh? Is this tantei-kun?"

All of them craned their necks, looking at the new figure that appeared beside the kidnapped kid. The figure was recognized as none other than Kaito Kid, the legendary thief. In his normal suit, he examined 'tantei-kun' checking for vital signs.

"He's alive, Kaito Kid," the girl said, her hands not shaking. "Pretty sure that he's awake."

Kaito Kid nodded. "Well, then, I'll go take him outside."

"Hey! That's ours!" Kazue shouted to Kaito Kid. He turned to the police and FBI. "Why aren't you catching him?! He's Kaito Kid!"

"Unfortunately, he seems to be on our side, Yamada Kousuke, Yamada Kazue." This time it was the kid that spoke, the tape on his mouth removed. "Go take these two now."

As the police escorted them outside, Kousuke muttered, "We chose the wrong kid." Beside him, "We did choose wrong, nii-san."