Here we go again.
Kouzumi - government bashing style!
Chapter 1: An Unwelcome Welcome
The newspapers were all talking about it.
As if to try to keep Izumi from seeing the much-hated publicity, every staff member tucked their copies away and shredded them if it was necessary to throw the papers out. The alarm went out fifteen minutes in advance that she had arrived at the building. Everyone surreptitiously watched the blond woman walk to her cubicle without killing anyone, and they breathed a sigh of relief. Her hate of the media was just that infamous.
No one realized that she already knew.
Izumi scoffed slightly. Well, fine. She'd feed their little delusion for a little while longer.
The room with all of the offices was surprisingly large for how cramped it felt. Whoever designed the space obviously put too many dividers in there, because when Izumi stretched out to her full five feet eight inches, her head and toe would hit the walls. Except for a tiny desk, a laptop, and a single square foot of corkboard, no one ever thought to squeeze more decorations in. At one point there had been a petition to paint the drab gray walls, but the superiors shot it down faster than a speeding bullet. So, they were stuck with the most boring cubicles in the world, not that the repetitiveness really bothered Izumi.
Why would it? She was gone half the time anyway.
Carefully ensconced away at her little desk, the woman pulled out a thick suitcase of wires and files. She didn't have much equipment, but what little she had was quite heavy. And underneath it all was a thick batch of paperwork.
Ah, yes, the highlight of a government worker's day. Paperwork, wherefore dost thou come?
Izumi tapped her pen impatiently as she scanned the documents. Most of them were absolutely redundant – the same information coming and going to different sources – while the rest were just as absolutely useless. What did she care if they had a shortage of post-it notes? Takuya was probably just making a sculpture again.
She did have to wonder, though, why the technology specialist was getting this kind of grunt work. Did they seriously think that she had all the time in the world when there were no cases pending for her?
Well, they were probably right. Or they would have been right if they would just stop sending her these massive piles of forms.
By lunchtime, she was only halfway done.
Two minutes after Izumi started her break, she was called out again to her supervisor's office. She glowered. Was ten minutes of delicious nothingness just too much to ask?
Apparently so. Junpei Shibayama was still growling at someone over the phone when she came in. Izumi felt a spark of gratitude for him. No one else seemed to care that she had just been on a case for two solid weeks and needed a break from it all.
He hung up and stared at her forlornly. Izumi smiled to show that she didn't expect him to be successful anyway.
"How are you, Orimoto?"
"I'm fine, sir."
That didn't seem to be the right response, because he dragged his hand through his hair. "Fine enough for another case?"
"If I have to. Sir."
He groaned. "And you'll have to. Report to Ophan's office."
"Yes sir." She walked out of the door, but not before saying, "And, your tie, sir."
Shibayama stared down and turned a bright red. "Oh. Thanks."
Izumi smiled and walked away. Ophan had her office far from the rest of the workers, but that didn't stop any of them from visiting her on their off hours. She was a sweet woman, almost like a mother figure. Consequently, she was able to guilt everyone into doing all sorts of things, just like a real mother.
Izumi knocked on the door and waited until a soft voice said, "Door's open."
The blond woman at the desk tapped her perfectly manicured nails on the arm of her chair. Izumi smiled at her and Ophan smiled back, a little wearily. That was the first red flag – no matter what, Ophan tried to be eternally optimistic and supportive, but today she seemed to lose her customary cheerfulness.
"Yes, ma'am?" Izumi urged questioningly.
"Hello, Izumi. I suppose you've read the papers." Right down to business. Another red flag.
"Yes," she scowled. "Where did they get all that classified information?"
Ophan rubbed her temples and sighed. "I'm not sure. We may have a snitch on our hands."
"Again? Didn't we encrypt all of the databases last time?"
"Most of them," Ophan said quietly. "But some of the lower branches have less security than we do, and they refused our help, remember?"
"Right. And now they're the primary victims?"
"Correct."
"That's not good. I suppose that I'm here to help them with their firewall, then?"
A wan smile graced the older woman's lips. "No."
Izumi blinked slowly. "No?"
"You, my dear, are going to do some dirty work."
She swallowed hard. "What kind?"
"What else?" Ophan got up and opened the blinds. The sky was dim and overcast. "We're going to set a bait and watch the fireworks."
"Wonderful. When's the fourth of July going to be?"
Ophan returned to her desk and laid her index finger on a thick manila envelope. "It's in your invitation."
"No RSVP?"
"Your attendance is already expected," Ophan said, a little dryly and a little sadly. "Be careful. You're not trained for this kind of work. But the order came from up above. There's nothing I can do about it."
It was a revealing confession, and Izumi held her breath. She had never been expressly told to worry about personal safety before. Whatever was going to happen, it was bound to be serious. "Where do I have to go?"
"The plane ticket is in the packet. Be careful."
Only after leaving the office did Izumi realize that Ophan hadn't answered the question at all.
--
And a good thing that she didn't.
Izumi would have never agreed to come if she had known her fact, she was still in a state of suspended disbelief. "Why are you sending me to Las Vegas? And why to him?"
Shibayama grimaced openly and said, "I really am sorry about this, Orimoto."
"But why?"
He opened and closed his mouth. "I think you'll understand once you get to our contact, alright?"
She stared at him and protested weakly, "But sir…"
"It's already decided."
"Yes, sir."
The plane was set to leave later that afternoon. Izumi was partially grateful for the hasty departure. It meant she had less time to stew and bite her nails. And anyways, the paperwork would have to be given to other people now. Izumi wasn't exactly upset about that.
But Las Vegas? Why did she have to go there? She was a tech specialist. She could probably do the work from home, if need be. What was so special about that place? Or was it that there was something else to be found there?
Nervously, she balanced the black bag on her knees. She was going to get her answers soon anyway. Why not take a nap?
Unfortunately, her nerves protested and protested. Instead of getting some well-deserved rest, Izumi ended up opening the elliptical window and watching the clouds. While it was hard to enjoy flying when she had no idea what was waiting for her at the end of the trip, Izumi could still appreciate the blueness of the sky and the faint wispy white clouds that hung just below the plane. Beautiful.
It calmed her down enough to take a nap, but she didn't, because the flight attendant came by with food and drinks. Izumi contented herself with a little box of apple juice, feeling like a kid again.
The rest of the flight was spent in silence, reading through the entire file so that she wouldn't have to do it later.
Whether it actually sank in remained to be seen.
The airport was, as always, a crowded place. People were swarming everywhere, trying to get to wherever they were going. Izumi walked out as soon as she could. Something that she had learned from many years of traveling was that the luggage claim took up quite a bit of time, so as long as she managed to avoid checking in suitcases, she would avoid the rush.
Mostly.
There was a line of cabs waiting outside and Izumi went to the first one that she saw.
It was a pale yellow color, and the triangular sign at the top was a bland advertisement for such and such company. She walked straight up to it and driver looked at her through the window.
A chill went down her spine. The figure sitting in the front was fairly tall, with an angular face structure. His body was all sharp edges, perfectly balanced on the edge of the window. Good looking, yes. Very. The irresponsible part of her whimpered delightedly, but the rest of her screeched to a halt. This man absolutely glowed with something dangerous.
She opened her mouth and was surreptitiously silenced by the sight of a gun in his hands. It was placed right at the windowsill so that only she could see it. "Get in," he mouthed.
Izumi nodded slowly. At point blank range like this, it was obvious who had the advantage here. All thoughts of her job vanished in the wake of a threat to her life. No matter how much Izumi cared about her country's successes or failures, she couldn't be bothered to die for it meaninglessly. She got into the car slowly, holding the bag tightly against her stomach.
They pulled out of park and smoothly glided along the road.
Izumi slid her hands into the bag.
The man in the front suddenly reached back and pointed the gun at her face again. "Wouldn't do that if I were you, girly."
Her eyes narrowed. "Oh? You're going to kill me after going through all the trouble of getting me in the car?"
The sharp bark of laughter surprised her. "Guts, you got them. Brains, not so much."
Izumi gritted her teeth, tightly. Let him think whatever he wanted. In the meantime, her right hand went into the bag and fingered her cell phone.
They were underground for now, so even if she tried to call 911 it would be difficult to find reception. But Izumi wasn't planning on doing something like that anyway. It would take too much time to mess with the middleman. Instead, she pushed several of the buttons, changing the phone's signal until it matched perfectly with the radio frequency of a police car.
If worst came to worst, this would let her get into contact with law enforcement. Until then, Izumi was going to take advantage of the situation and learn everything she could about what was going on.
The driver suddenly made a sharp turn and went into a tunnel. Izumi hissed, curling around her bag so that nothing inside would be damaged. Inwardly, she cursed. If the car stayed underground like this, she wouldn't be able to get a message to anyone even with the aid of her modified cell phone. Briefly Izumi wondered if she had misread her kidnapper. Maybe he was going to kill her. She discarded the idea almost right away. If he had been planning something like that, why not find a less risky place to do it?
And besides…she had seen his eyes. A sociopath, maybe, but not a killer.
"Step out," she heard him say. Izumi started to cling to the bag, and he actually smirked. It was dark, her cell phone emitted a soft light and she paled. So he had noticed it after all.
Izumi did her best imitation of a meek, helpless girl. "Ye-yes, sir."
"You should stop," he said suddenly, voice no longer rough and guttural. She looked up with confusion, realizing that he wasn't that much taller than her. Not that it was a surprise; Izumi had a good height for a girl. That made her grimace slightly in annoyance. It was so much easier for small, diminutive people to fake fear.
"S-stop what, sir?"
Something clicked in the darkness and the barrel of the gun pointed directly at her forehead. "You know, for someone in the business, you're not very good at lying."
Her eyes went wide. In the business? Did that mean…? "So it's you."
The gun still didn't move. "Of course."
It was dark, and she couldn't tell what he was doing, but the same went for him. Quickly, Izumi grabbed her watch and broke the top off. A short blade sprung up and she held the edge right where his neck was.
There was a tense, surprised silence. Then, speaking slowly so that the blade wouldn't cut in, he said, "I hear your name is Orimoto." There might have been a hint of grudging respect in his voice.
"Depends on who's asking," she replied, warily. A gun versus a knife; she still had the disadvantage. But it wasn't as bad as before.
"I'm Kouji Minamoto. KM works fine."
"You already know about me." At the same time, they dropped their weapons. "Pleased to be working with you."
"Likewise. Welcome to Sin City."
And that was that. The ride to the listed address was incredibly normal compared to the first half of the journey. Izumi leaned her head against the car window, wondering why she always ended up with the psychos. And then, mulling over strange men with blue eyes and black hair, she fell asleep.