Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (15 page)

   “Even better.” The girl smiled. “I need you to advise me on the best place to hide from the City Guard.”

   “Well, that’s tough to say.” Jake said taken off guard by her question, but more so by the sense of urgency in her words. “Hey, is there anything wrong?”

   “Of course there’s something wrong you idiot,” the girl shouted out at Jake. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here paying fools for hiding, and that’s what I’m asking you, to hide me.”

   “Whoa, whoa… We don’t want your troubles little girl, we’re a detective agency, not a gang hideout.”

   “In plain sight.” Kirin said stepping forward with an interested eye on her. “But for your situation, I would say…” he said looking up and down the room before stepping beside a desk and patting its wooden surface. “Under here would be the perfect place.”

   “Are you sure?” the girl said looking at Kirin awkwardly.

   “Haha…” he laughed. “I’m as sure as the stomping boots of the heavily armed City Guard approaching this fine establishment of ours. Hide here and gain your money’s worth, cheeky girl.”

     The girl cringed at his words, annoyed by their delivery, but humbled by the fact he offered help. Scurrying under the desk, the girl crouched down and folded into the small crawl space behind the chair. Once there, Kirin shoved the wooden chair to the backend of the small space the girl was hiding in, hitting her with its strong wooden frame.

   “Ow!” the girl yelped. “Watch where you’re putting that thing!”

   “Quiet now, quiet now, young girl.” Kirin smiled as he stepped forward. “Let the big boys play.”

     Standing beside a confused Jake, Kirin turned to him. “Loosen up a bit, we’re about to deal with the sophisticated brutes of the City Guard. I need you on your toes and to be ready for anything.”

   “Are you serious? That’s the last people we want to deal with.” Jake said finally taking notice of the loud stomping feet outside their door. “This is not the Underground, Courtesan House, or the fake Gambling union, we’re dealing with real authority here, and authority doesn’t like to be tested, something you do too much of.”

   “Relax, there are many ways to crack open a nut.”

   “No,” Jake shook his head in doubt. “Not really, if you’re gonna eat a nut, you’re gonna crack it.”

   “Hah…” Kirin said exhaling loudly. “Who said I’m going to eat it?”

     Just as Kirin finished his words, the door smashed open and broke from its hinges as booted guards rushed in with arms raised and voices shouting out their names. “City Guard! City Guard! Do not move or you will be fired on!

   “Whoa!” Jake said raising his hands a bit tense and aggravated. “You didn’t have to break the door.” He looked on with disgust as they trampled over it.

   “Don’t mind them.” A voice said slinking in as the six guards that entered the room scoured it, looking around the room for something they were obviously in need of. “The search will be brief.” The voice continued.

     Kirin, keeping his eyes on the door, noticed an unarmed guard dressed in the grey fatigues similar to the City Guard, except for a blue strip that crossed the chest of every one of them. And this man standing at the door was dressed even more so different than the rest of the guards with a few badges decorated on his chest plate. He was obviously the person in charge, something Kirin was delighted to recognize on sight.

   “Excuse me Sir,” Kirin said stepping forward. “But might I ask what this sudden intrusion into me and my friend’s property is about?”

   “Friends?” the leading guard said raising an eyebrow that reached the bottom of the flat dull grey uniform cap he wore. He then raised a small flyer he held in his hand. “Ah, yes… You’re the… What’s it called again? Detectives?”

   “Yes.” Jake said hesitantly glancing as the guards raided their back room and searched carefully around the desk behind them. Seeing them near the area Kirin hid the little girl, Jake found himself grinding his teeth in nervous anticipation of the worst.

   “Yes, and,” Kirin said taking over for the nervous Jake. “And we find missing things, not hide them.”

   “Is that so?” The lead guard stepped forward. “Well, I’m looking for something, or more like someone of interest to me and my patrol.”

   “Your patrol?”

   “Ah, yes, I’m sorry, I haven’t introduce myself, I am Hershel, Captain of the City Patrol.”

   “Patrol? I thought you were called the guard.”

   “No… Unlike the City Guard that protects the interest of the Nobles in the High-End Sector, I protect the interest of the people of this city, namely its profitable interest.”

   “Well, there’s no profitable interest here.” Kirin said turning his back on Captain Hershel as he walked over to his desk by the guards and took a seat in the chair behind it. “But since you’re here,” he continued. “Would you mind making a deal with a startup company looking to profit in this big city?”

     Hershel looked on with doubt, letting his eyes search around the room as his guards continued their search, toppling bookshelves and throwing cabinets to their sides as they looked for secret passages.

   “You see,” Kirin continued undaunted by their aggressive search. “In the business of a detective, we feed off the loss or lack of perception of others, or more specifically, mysteries they are unable or unwilling to solve themselves. You seem like the sort of organized group that receives so much calls or recommendations to such cases that you haven’t got the time to fulfill them all.”

   “What are you suggesting?” Captain Hershel asked, still wearing a disinterested look on his face.

   “A simple partnership between us and your… and who you represent. We deal with the useless cases that get thrown at your door, free of charge and you let us conduct our business here without hassle.”

   “Hmm…” Captain Hershel said looking at Kirin with a curious eye as he sat down behind the desk in an authoritative manner. His eyes soon wandered toward the oak finish he rested his hands on. Stepping forward, he approached the desk, letting some laughter out of his mouth as he reached for his side arm weapon, unbuckling it from its strap and pulling it out, then slowly tapping its rose-colored nose on the hardened surface of the desk.

   “Do you know what this is?” the Captain said laying the gun flat on the desk.

     Kirin, letting his eyes gloss over the intricate build of the handgun, noticed that it was a single chamber weapon without a clip. That’s odd, Kirin thought. For its size, you would think it would have an average clip of at least thirteen bullets, not just one reloadable chamber, which this gun had. Only a few specialized weapons were designed in that way.

     Looking up at the Captain, Kirin answered. “It’s a dart gun. It’s something I would expect a zoo keeper to have.”

   “And aren’t we all just animals?” the Captain smiled wickedly. “But let me tell you something special about this gun. It’s a weapon assigned to every Captain and his unit. It’s not made for the use of putting to sleep criminals—rather, it’s given to each unit for execution orders.”

   “Execution orders?”

   “Yes… Whenever a criminal of an outstanding nature or of an obvious crime such as illegal entry into the city is noticed, they’re blacklisted by the Ministry. An order is then given for the execution of the perpetrator on sight. This here,” he said picking up the dart gun and raising it in the air. “This is the weapon of execution. A pure poison that shutdowns all the functions of the human body. Not my preferred method to kill, but the Noble’s and their compassion politics can sometimes be unnerving, don’t you think? But oh, I do love the power they give us.”

      Kirin simply smiled through his explanation. “Interesting to know.”

   “It is, isn’t?” He said placing the dart gun back in his holster. “You’re a rather perceptive young man, but I am no fool.” The Captain looked Kirin dead in the eye with a cold expression on his face. “You see, in this place, you have to pay your way in gold in order to set up a business in this town. Registration at the local magistrate is just the beginning, now you have to deal with local influences.”

   “The Unions…” Kirin said plainly.

   “Exactly.”

   “Excuse me,” Jake said lowering his head a bit. “We mean no disrespect to the Unions.” he said apologetically.

   “Well,” Hershel said dusting off his hands. “The fact that you started this little agency of yours without their consent is a direct sign of disrespect. Do yourself a favor and close this place down by the end of the day or your door won’t be the only thing laying broken on the ground today.” Captain Hershel turned to his men. “Enough!” he clapped his hands. “Return to patrol men.”

     With those words, the armed guards abruptly ended their search and marched out the door, leaving Captain Hershel to exit last, but before he left, Kirin called out to him.

   “Captain Hershel,” Kirin said standing up from his seat. “How about as an apology to you and the Union, we do you a favor and offer our services?” Kirin smiled. “Do a few errands for your patrol, let us prove ourselves and this businesses worth, that it won’t hinder the Union in any way, that it could be an actual asset to them.”

     Captain Hershel stopped and turned back to look at Kirin. “Fine then…” he said with a devious smile on his face. “Do me this favor and I’ll put a good word in for you with the Union.”

   “What is it?”

   “I want you to find me an illegal family—one girl and her two brothers. They breached the boarders a few weeks ago and were detained in the border jails for deportation.

   “But they escaped.” Kirin said rubbing his chin.

   “Yes.” The Captain nodded. “I’d send a group myself to capture them, but most of my men have the Union yearly summit to prepare for. It would be a kind gesture if you were to handle this minor deed for me. But I must warn you, if you’re not able to handle this small task, I will do more than shut this place down, do you understand me?”

   “Very much so, Captain Hershel. And thank you for the opportunity.”

   “Hmph…” Captain Hershel turned around. “Report to the Patrol headquarters once you’ve done your task.” He said walking out the door. He climbed into the passenger side of a jeep before it quickly sped off with two other jeeps closely following it.

     As they left, Lee and Jade poked their head into the old den with their eyes wide with interest.

   “What was that about?” Lee asked.

   “Yeah.” Jake nodded looking at Kirin for an explanation.

   “Intimidation, pure and simple.” Kirin said standing up from his seat and pulling out his chair, letting the girl slowly crawl out of the tight space. “Local intimidation,” he continued. “To be exact, from the local Unions. They keep a keen eye on all the new shops registered at the Local Magistrate Office. It just so happens here we have someone foolish enough to do that.”

   “What?” Jake shrugged his shoulders. “Every new business has to register with the Local Magistrate for tax purposes.”

   “And every local business has to give notice to the Union before opening so that they don’t tear down their shops and threaten their customers.”

   “What?” Are you serious?”

   “Yeah,” Kirin said looking behind his desk as the girl with the fitted cap stood up and looked around the room in hesitation. “And,” Kirin continued. “It’s that hand that really controls this city. The Union’s that is. From what I’ve seen so far, the Nobles in this city and their control seems removed and negligible to those of the Unions, locally at least. I mean, we barely even see the City Guard out unless you’re nearing the High-End Sector or the boarders of the Common Sector here.”

   “That goes for the City Patrol too.” Lee said kneeling down as he eyed the broken door. “We barely see them around unless it’s for something like this.”

   “Huh?” Jake turned to Lee. “You knew about this too, Lee?”

   “Everyone does that tries to open a shop.” Lee said. “Remember you gave me money to open my own, well, why do you think I went and gambled with that money instead of opening a shop?”

     Jake shook his head, unconvinced. “Because you’re a shifty guy. You thought you could double the money and keep half the winnings after you returned the loan to me.”

   “Yeah…” Lee said shrugging his shoulders in agreement. “And… And I couldn’t get approval from the Union’s to open up shop. They denied me when I asked for permission to open a mechanic shop because one of the Union heads owns the biggest repair shop in town. He didn’t want me cutting into his moneymaker so he got them to deny me in their meeting. And with no approval from the Union, I would barely make it a day with any place I bought being burned down with me in it.” He said looking over to Jade as she wandered inside the messy den. “And I can’t risk that sort of thing.”

   “I know, I know.” Jake said sighing heavily. “Why is everything so complicated?”

   “Because we humans are so complicated.” Kirin said looking from the corners of his eyes at the girl in the fitted cap slinking by Lee as she headed towards the door. “And where do you think you’re going, illegal girl?” Kirin said.

     As soon as those words left his mouth, the girl sprinted her way towards the exit.

   “Lee!” Kirin shouted out to him and with that call, Lee jumped from his crouching position and grabbed the girl by the legs, making her trip and fall into the ground as he held her.