Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 438, Section 432: The Weary Hondo Emi

In the president's office at the Tokyo City Hotel, Kiel frowned deeply. He had clearly encountered a thorny problem.

Robert Taylor has been out of contact all morning.

They had arranged to meet today at the Tokyo City Hotel to discuss the major clients Robert Taylor had brought to the hotel.

Kiel tried to contact him all morning but received no response.

According to the regulations for CIA field agents in island nations, Kiel was required to issue a warning to the branch.

The sudden loss of contact of an agent midway through a mission is hardly a trivial matter.

The best-case scenario is that Robert Taylor suddenly falls ill due to health reasons and is unable to answer the phone.

But that's unlikely.

Robert Taylor was a senior agent in the precinct, and even if he suddenly fell ill, he could use special methods to let his colleagues know his current condition.

As for oversleeping, that's even more impossible.

This is a high-level agent who puts his life on the line during missions, how could he make such a careless mistake?

He has plenty of time to sleep after the mission is over, but no special agent would sleep in during a mission.

Is that Robert Taylor?

Kiel is not afraid of anything happening to Robert Taylor.

In their line of work, no one can guarantee their safety forever. But even if something happened to Robert Taylor, shouldn't Gee at least know what happened to him?
Otherwise, as Robert Taylor's "close contact" during this period, Gee would have been destined to be investigated by the police.

Just as Kiel was feeling troubled, her past experience as a news anchor at Nichiri TV suddenly replayed in her mind.

The clips played back were naturally from when she was reporting on various murder cases, and at that moment, Kilford was deeply moved.

'Could Taylor be dead?'

Suddenly, he stopped answering phone calls, didn't reply to text messages, and even his emails were unread.

You know what, you really shouldn't believe it. Taylor is practically dead!
Just as Kiel was finding amusement in her misery, her subordinate suddenly knocked on the door urgently, and entered breathlessly.

"Lord Kir, there's a prosecutor named Reiko Kujo at the front desk who wants to see you!"

Kiel's subordinates at the international intermediary company's base were the original executive department members, and those executive department members whose backgrounds were questionable.

Unlike Ryoma Hayashi's Isshin-kai, Gin's executive officers are not as composed when facing "official organizations" as the Isshin-kai members.

Lin Longma never mentioned the organization within the Yixin Society, which was his way of downplaying the organization's influence on the Yixin Society.

Lin Longma kept telling the members of Yixin Society that they only had one part-time job that was harder to refuse than normal people.

Moreover, with Lin Longma backing them up, even members of the Yixin Society who need to work at the base are more likely to identify as employees of Yixin Consulting Company.

This identity made them feel that they weren't too far removed from the lives of ordinary people, at least they didn't have to live in constant fear of being suddenly sent by the organization to carry out some doomed mission.

Those who are confident are naturally not afraid of being investigated, but while Kiel's men may not be completely without confidence, they certainly lack confidence.

This isn't Gil's fault; the Executive Department members were already of poor quality. When Gin carried out the major purge of the Executive Department, Gil's men were terrified.

You can tell just by looking at how they all blindly follow Kiel's lead.

That's Kir, you know. Although he's Gin's subordinate in the Executive Department, he's always been ignored by Gin.

What kind of outrageous people would dare to burn Kiel's cold stove?

Now, everyone's practically saying they were Kiel's subordinate ten years ago—a ten-year-old fan showing up uninvited, huh?

These guys are usually too scared to even walk around, and they get nervous whenever they see a police officer. Let alone suddenly seeing a random Tokyo District Public Prosecutor.

Rumor has it that the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is a lackey of the American CIA. If he is Langley's lackey, what methods does he use?

Whether the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is a CIA operative or not, others may not know, but surely Kiel does?

The American authorities certainly have ways to influence the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. Not to mention the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, if their American father wanted them to, they could directly influence the Prime Minister's Official Residence.

But the CIA doesn't have that kind of power.

Langley is now all about selling drugs; a perfectly good intelligence agency has been turned into a pioneer of the black market.

When the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office came to her door, she had some doubts.

Since Reiko Kujo came to us, the seemingly available options were actually not available.

For example, right now, Kiel has no choice but to meet with Prosecutor Kujo to see why he came to the hotel.

"Arrange for me to meet with that supervising officer from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, and also gather information on that prosecutor for me."

Kiel's order made her subordinates a little worried: "Lord Kiel, meeting with the prosecutor is not a problem, I can arrange a meeting room for you."

However, obtaining information about that prosecutor requires the cooperation of the intelligence support department, or we may have to seek help from the Yixin Society.

But I really don't have any connections within the Isshin-kai. Perhaps you could put in a good word with Lord Bourbon?"

As Kiel had predicted, her subordinates performed as expected, not because she was a prophet, but because she had simply grown accustomed to their incompetence.

The batch that Gin gave to the Kiel faction consisted mostly of the old, weak, sick, and disabled, and there was also a lot of sand mixed in with rum.

Kiel's ability to quickly establish the hotel had little to do with his subordinates; it was purely due to the efforts of the CIA's island nation branch.

Subsequently, after the hotel situation stabilized, Kiel did indeed plan to gradually replace the current personnel in the organization with personnel from the branch office.

But for now, she has to put up with these useless subordinates.

'I'll endure it!' Kiel took a deep breath.

"Why do you think I would leave a perfectly good large-scale base and insist on starting my own business?"
Now that the outpost has used the Isshin-kai's intelligence, I ask you, are you planning to side with the Isshin-kai and fight Rum?

The conflict between Lin Longma and Rum is obvious to anyone with eyes to see. The reason they haven't clashed yet is partly because the boss is balancing things out.

On the other hand, there have been too many things to do lately; it can be described as a very eventful time.

These unexpected and chaotic events also took up a lot of energy from both sides.

But ultimately, the Isshin Association and the Intelligence Support Department will still have to clash eventually.

Currently, Rum seems to be in a strong position but doesn't have the advantage. However, considering Isshinkai's attitude and nature, Ryoma Hayashi's chances of winning are hard to say.

In short, taking sides at times like this, unless you receive some kind of promise, is no different from courting death.

However, Kiel wasn't strong enough to be courted by either of them. If he could really make the Tokyo City Hotel a success, then it might be possible. Unfortunately, Ryoma Hayashi betrayed Kiel right at the beginning of the hotel's establishment.

"So, shall we go find the guys from the intelligence support department?" Kiel's subordinate smacked his lips.
"Lord Kiel, it's not that I'm talking badly about people behind their backs. Ever since Curaçao stopped paying attention to Lord Bourbon's base, the intelligence support personnel have been gradually withdrawing."

Those who remain at the stronghold are the most marginalized of the marginalized, their status is even lower than ours.

"Expecting them to get intelligence is like hoping intelligence will fall from the sky."

It sounds like Kiel's men have outdone the marginalized players eliminated by Curaçao in terms of who's worse off.

Are you quite proud of that?

Kiel felt that his aversion to stupidity had kicked in, and at the same time, he somewhat understood why Gin always acted so irritably.

"Why don't you contact members of the intelligence support department if the intelligence officers at the outpost are useless?"

Many of you members have had shady dealings with the Intelligence Support Department, right? Are you going to let those relationships fizzle out now instead of using them?
You don't still have any illusions about the Intelligence Support Department, do you? Do you really think they'll save you from this predicament?

Kiel never expected his men to be so "naive." Naivety was just a facade; in reality, they were a bunch of scum who hesitated over important matters, were afraid to risk their lives, and were willing to sacrifice everything for petty gains.

The Executive Department's overall quality wasn't very high to begin with, so Kiel couldn't expect Gin to send her a group of elites.

"You think the purge in the Execution Department is over? This is just a pause. Gin is currently burning with rage and is about to unleash it on the Intelligence Support Department."

"If Gin really gets this opportunity, I'll tell you how many people died in the Execution Department recently, and the Intelligence Support Department will only lose more, not fewer."

"Go contact the people in the intelligence support department and tell them that if they don't want Gin, that madman, to launch a purge against the intelligence support department, then they should obediently hand over the intelligence I need."

I, Kiel, have the authority to require them to do so.

"At a time like this, they still dare to make enemies? Do they really think that none of the people in the intelligence department are afraid of death?"

Kiel practically chewed up the food and fed it to his subordinate, who, with a knowing look on his face, decided to give it a try.

To be honest, Kiel was a little envious of Bourbon at that moment.

No matter how much trouble Yixin Hui had caused Bourbon, at least the people Yixin Hui provided Bourbon with were all normal people.

In an organization, even normal people are a scarce resource; the organization is just too complex!

After his subordinates left, before Reiko Kujo arrived, Kir sent an email to his contact.

The message stated that she hadn't been able to contact Robert Taylor, whom she was supposed to meet, for almost the entire morning, and hoped that her contact person could help her find out Taylor's current situation.

After sending the email, Kiel composed herself. Actually, there wasn't much to compose, because she genuinely had no idea why this prosecutor named Kujo Reiko had come to her.

Prosecutors are not police officers, although they seem to have more authority. In terms of competence, prosecutors and police officers are probably equally capable.

Eldest brother, not to mention second brother, none of them are any better off.

One has no reputation, the other has no fame. They're practically brothers in misfortune.

By the way, especially the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, some people even say they are CIA lackeys.
They said that. Who in the entire island nation isn't America's lackey?
Why single out their names?

Isn't this just bullying honest people?!
"Hello, Prosecutor Kujo, I am Rena Mizunashi, the manager of Tokyo City Hotel."

After her subordinates led Kujo Reiko into the reception room, Mizunashi Rena, dressed in a business suit, stood up and extended her hand to Kujo Reiko.

To be honest, Reiko Kujo was somewhat dazed when she saw Rena Mizunashi.

As the most famous news anchor on Nikko TV, Reiko Kujo watched many of Rena Mizunashi's programs on television.

However, not long ago, several programs hosted by Rena Mizunashi on Nichibumi TV suddenly changed hosts.

The official explanation was that Rena Mizunashi had resigned for personal reasons, but unexpectedly, she met the former star host of Nichiri TV here.

No, is that right?

Reiko Kujo had considered many possibilities, but the sudden appearance of a once-popular TV host was still quite impactful.

As an elite prosecutor in the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, Reiko Kujo quickly composed herself.

"Hello, Ms. Mizunashi, I am Reiko Kujo, a prosecutor from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. I am here today to ask you some questions."

We hope you can cooperate.

“Of course, I will definitely cooperate.” Rena Mizunashi said to Reiko Kujo with the same smile she had during the TV interview, and then led Reiko Kujo to sit on the sofa in the reception room.

"Anything you want to ask, please feel free to ask. I'll answer to the best of my knowledge."

Although both Rena Mizunashi and Ryoma Hayashi greeted Reiko Kujo with smiles, Reiko Kujo somehow felt that there was a hint of malice hidden in Rena Mizunashi's smile.

It lacked Lin Longma's sincerity.

This is probably what they mean by "first impressions matter".

Without hesitation, Reiko Kujo asked Rena Mizunashi, "Do you know Robert Taylor?"

"Who?" Rena Mizunashi blinked, looking somewhat flustered.

For an undercover intelligence agent like her, such behavior was enough to be considered a loss of composure.

Robert Taylor
What did this woman do that prompted a prosecutor to come to her door asking if she knew her?
Just now, Rena Mizunashi emailed her contact, asking them to help find Taylor.

Then I heard his name from the prosecutor, Reiko Kujo.

Is this right?

Being approached by the prosecutor doesn't seem like a good thing at all.

In a split second, Rena Mizunashi made a decision. She couldn't say she didn't know Robert Taylor.

Since Reiko Kujo has come to us, it means she knows something. Denying it outright will only make Reiko Kujo pay more attention to us, thus causing trouble for the hotel's operations.

Rena Mizunashi was hoping to use this base to improve her status within the organization.

Unlike Taylor, who was obsessed with promotion, Rena Mizunashi didn't care about her position. All she wanted was to uproot the organization and avenge her father.

Although Rena Mizunashi's father chose suicide to protect her, it was ultimately because of the organization.

"You mean Robert Taylor? Is he an independent photographer from America?"

If it's him, I know him; he's a partner of our hotel.

Rena Mizunashi said without changing her expression.

(End of this chapter)