No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

"Haha, of course, no problem. But I'd like to go back to the parking lot first. My car is still there, and so are the friends I just met. They're probably getting impatient."

"No need. Your car will be driven back by someone. And your friends—I think you mean those kids—were the ones who notified us that you might have been mistaken for the owner of a touring circus and kidnapped. We also happened to receive intelligence that three fugitives were active in the area, so we took some time to stage this accident to stop the kidnappers' car. I'm so sorry it took so long to rescue you."

"No, no, it's okay."

"Really? That's good. You didn't forget anything, did you?"

"No, no, officer, let's go."

"Oh, that's strange. You didn't really want this merchandise, so you came to Japan in the first place. Why do you seem to care about it completely now?"

Amuro Tooru took out the pendant, which was still stained with blood, and used it to smear P&A red.

The two stared at each other, their sharp gazes deciding the outcome in that instant.

Chapter 154 The FBI's Rescue Plan

"Regarding James Black... I'm sorry, although Officer Kitahara informed us in advance that he might be a spy, at this stage we have not found any direct evidence in his luggage or files that could prove he is the murderer."

Really? No wonder Shuichi Akai didn't show up when James was taken away by the police. It seems that's the reason. James didn't even have a small handgun at that time. He was lucky to have met Amuro Tooru. If he had met any other police officer, he would probably have been waterboarded first.

It's a pity that we couldn't lure Shuichi Akai out this time, but they were able to bring him back to the police station so smoothly because of an unexpected situation. Once he returns to the FBI's safe house, there won't be another chance like this.

Moreover, this time there was a significant gain: James, a high-ranking FBI official, made a name for himself in front of the Japanese Public Security Bureau. His appearance, DNA, and fingerprints were all recorded by the Public Security Bureau. For a special agent, this is extremely dangerous, because it's like playing cards with your hand exposed.

However, Kitahara Masaki believes that the FBI headquarters in the United States will not let James go back so easily, because James came to Japan to deal with the Black Organization's branch in Japan, and it doesn't matter if his identity is discovered by the Japanese Public Security Bureau.

The most interesting thing right now is that Amuro Tooru is actually Bourbon, an undercover agent planted in the Black Organization by the Japanese Public Security Bureau. Although Amuro Tooru doesn't yet have evidence that James is an FBI agent, once he comes into Amuro Tooru's sights, it's only a matter of time before he is exposed.

As for Kitahara Masaki, he definitely wouldn't expose James's identity, because Yawenyi is just a pitiful undercover agent in the Metropolitan Police Department, and finding out the FBI investigators is Gin's job.

However, Kitahara Masaki wouldn't let this veteran FBI agent off so easily. After the bus robbery, Kitahara Masaki did use drones to track him, but Akai Shuichi's counter-surveillance capabilities were too outstanding, and his speed of movement was extremely fast, so Kitahara Masaki, who could only judge his whereabouts through the screen, couldn't keep up with his pace.

But this time is different. Kitahara Masaki will control a drone to continuously track him until it records James's residence. After all, he doesn't believe that the old man James can run as fast as a reporter as Akai Shuichi. Once he knows his address, Kitahara Masaki can use some methods to give the police an excuse to search that area. In short, he can't let these FBI agents have it easy. Even if he can't find any dirt on them now, he'll make sure they can't do anything.

After leaving the police station and retrieving his car, James went straight to the doctor and his team. He first thanked them for notifying the police to rescue him, and then invited them to a restaurant for dinner. His poised and confident demeanor didn't seem like someone who had just been suspected of being a spy, but Kitahara Masaki knew exactly why he was doing this.

Because of James's momentary lapse in attention and an accident, Kitahara Masaki had ample evidence and an excuse to get the Public Security Bureau involved in the matter. Therefore, he can no longer use any conventional means to contact Akai Shuichi. Presumably, he will contact the rest of the FBI through some channel. So what is it that James and Akai Shuichi both know?

That's right, it's those kids. James contacted them because of the terrorist attack a few days ago, and Shuichi Akai was supposed to pick him up after the circus performance. So those kids will become a bridge, a bridge for passing on FBI intelligence. On the surface, James invited the kids to dinner, but in reality, it was to have an emergency conversation with Shuichi Akai.

However, all of this is just Kitahara Masaki's speculation, without any substantial evidence. But if it were him, he would do the same. The more open it is, the lower the chance that the police will notice. The key is that it is logical for James to invite these kids and the doctor to have a meal. Moreover, due to habitual thinking, the police are likely to think that he will contact his companions after going to a safe place, rather than starting to cause trouble as soon as he leaves the police station.

Alright, let me see how good this veteran agent is.

While James and the kids were eating at a ramen shop, Kitahara Masaki disguised himself as a delinquent to check on the situation, since drones would have difficulty entering such a confined space.

After ordering two bowls of ramen and a plate of dumplings, the steam rising from the broth in the ramen bowls obscured Kitahara Masaki's gaze. He stared at James Black, wondering how this seemingly confident and shrewd FBI agent would make contact with Shuichi Akai.

Meanwhile, the police officer in charge of tracking him had one person guarding the front door while another came in and ordered a snack.

"Do you have any recommendations? This is my first time in Japan."

"Oh, then I recommend these ramen soup bases, as well as these special snacks. If you'd like to try some Japanese sweets, there's a sweets shop next door run by an elderly couple. They've been in business for over thirty years, and everyone who lives here has tried their signature sweets."

"Oh! That really sounds like something out of Japan! I'll definitely buy it!"

"Haha, have a nice trip!"

Listening to the conversation between James and the ramen shop owner, the content was quite ordinary. It couldn't possibly be that the confectionery shop was the problem. After all, even Kitahara Masaki knew about that shop. Just like the mochi shop in Tamago Market, it had been open for who knows how many years. So it certainly couldn't have anything to do with the FBI.

Moreover, apart from having a conversation with the ramen shop owner, James had been talking to the three children the whole time, while Conan and Haibara watched with beady eyes the old man who could still laugh so happily after just being kidnapped.

Not a single stranger interacted with James until he finished his meal. Could it be that his boss had entered a dormant state, waiting for Shuichi Akai to wake him up?

Kitahara Masaki was never one to get stuck on details. If his assumptions were wrong, he would simply change his perspective—was the emergency contact who had been in contact with James not Akai Shuichi, but the only person he had interacted with at the ramen shop?

Kitahara Masaki, who had looked at the menu over and over again, could already recite the names of several ramen and side dishes recommended by the ramen chef, but the first syllables of each syllable couldn't form a complete sentence...

Suddenly remembering something, Kitahara Masaki left immediately after finishing his food and released his drone to fly to a confectionery shop not far away. The confectionery shop was still open, and the elderly couple's son and daughter-in-law were in charge of serving customers. They also saw James buy a serving of Mitarashi Dango and Warabimochi.

On one side of the entrance, a drone captured the sign that Kitahara Masaki wanted to see. Combined with the first syllable of the dessert on the sign, it spelled out the sentence: "Contact information has been changed to Plan B."

The ramen shop chef was indeed an FBI agent. He even used the names of the daily specials at the confectionery shop to create a code to inform James.

At this point, their signature sweets were almost sold out, and the shopkeepers took back the signboard listing them. If Kitahara Masaki hadn't immediately deployed his drone, he and the police officers tracking them would never have seen what the signature sweets were again.

Wow, impressive! No wonder it's the FBI.

Chapter 155 The Attack of the Boy Detectives

James then returned to his residence, officially completing his remedial measures for the unexpected situation. Even if the police tracked him to his home, it wouldn't be of much use, as the FBI had already established another way to contact him.

Seeing Kitahara Maki through the drone, he realized that the matter had come to an end.

Kitahara Masaki, who had cracked the FBI code, was sleeping soundly. When he woke up in the morning and was about to lie in bed for another half hour, a phone call came in. When he saw the caller ID and the contact name was 'The real person is a hat', he knew that another case had come up.

"Hey, Inspector Megure, what's up now?"

"Ahem, Brother Kitahara, it's like this—the five children have been involved in another kidnapping case."

"Why aren't they in school yet? Wasn't yesterday Sunday?"

"Yes, so today is Saturday, and it's still the same day that the kids have a day off."

Upon hearing Inspector Megure's words, Kitahara Masaki remained silent for a moment, afraid that Inspector Megure might suddenly say that it was already 2077.

When I arrived at the police station, I saw those kids sitting at their desks drinking herbal tea, taking turns torturing Takagi, saying things like, "Kitahara-nii already has a girlfriend, why doesn't Officer Takagi have one?", "Your rank is even lower than Officer Sato's, and you still want to pursue her?", and "What would you do if Officer Sato fell in love with someone else?".

Unlike Takagi, Kitahara Masaki wasn't a pushover who would never fight back or retaliate. He flicked the foreheads of the three chattering brats.

"So? How did you get involved in this case this time?"

"What do you mean by being involved? That sounds terrible! We were the ones who discovered this crime!"

After hearing Genta's words, Haibara laughed:

"Does 'noticing' mean tackling the secretary when the ransom was being handed over?"

"What! You tackled someone while they were paying the ransom?"

"No, the three of them thought it was suspicious that the secretary was carrying a bag of money. At that time, the secretary went to the park, laid out some of the ransom on the ground, and then took it back. That's why the three of them misunderstood. At that time, the criminal was probably checking whether the extortion target was willing to pay the ransom. The criminal was probably using binoculars from a building in the distance to see if there were any police officers near the secretary."

Conan quickly came out to explain and clarified the situation to Kitahara Masaki.

"Have you all forgotten everything I told you so quickly?"

"Sorry, at that time I thought that secretary had taken someone else's money because his behavior was very suspicious!"

"When apologizing, you shouldn't make excuses, understand?"

"I understand, I'm sorry."

After disciplining the three show-off brats, Kitahara Masaki and Inspector Megure changed into plumbers' uniforms and drove a van with a plumbing company logo to the victim's home.

The secretary responsible for delivering the ransom opened the door for the police. He was startled to see a group of burly plumbers. Only after seeing the police's handbook did he realize that the group of children he had encountered that morning must have called the police.

"Sir, why won't you let us in to take a look at the water pipes in your villa? It's not that I think too highly of myself, but I am indeed quite good at fixing water pipes."

Kitahara Masaki smiled and took off half of his hat, letting the secretary see him as the famous police officer who often appeared on television.

After meeting Kitahara Masaki, the secretary finally allowed the police into the villa. The person kidnapped was Yan Qiufu, the grandson of the villa's owner, Yan Jiansan.

"I'm sorry, officers, but I intend to comply with the kidnapper's demands. I hope you can all respect my rights. All I want is for my grandson to come back. Whether the police catch the kidnapper or not is none of my concern. I must protect my grandson. After my son and daughter-in-law died in a car accident, he's the only family I have left..."

Upon entering the house, before Kitahara Masaki could even speak, the kidnapped family members tearfully refused the police's help. However, this was within Kitahara Masaki's expectations; after all, if the children hadn't seen Yan Jiansan's secretary take part of the ransom to the park, the police might not even know a kidnapping had occurred.

"Ahem, I understand how you feel. Losing loved ones in the past is indeed painful."

Kitahara Masaki did not press the old man to say anything more, but instead asked his secretary what had happened.

“Here’s what happened. Yesterday at noon, we received this letter. It said that he had kidnapped the young master and threatened us not to call the police. In the evening, another package was sent. It contained drawings that the young master had made after he was kidnapped. This morning, we received a third letter. It instructed us to bring some of the ransom to Mihana Park and put the cash on the ground for him to see.”

"And at that time, you were mistaken for a thief by some passing children and pinned to the ground, right?"

"Yes, and the kidnappers also included the method of payment for the ransom in the third letter—that we should transfer one billion yuan to a foreign bank account."

"I see." Kitahara Masaki nodded, indicating that he understood—the kidnapper first abducted Yan Jiansan's grandson, and then sent three letters to pressure the old man Yan Jiansan to make a decision quickly, giving him no chance to breathe at all.

"However... a billion? This kidnapper is really asking for the moon."

The Japanese Tsubame Group is a long-established conglomerate that used to own many factories, but due to the bursting of the bubble economy, its current assets have shrunk considerably. Nowadays, major Japanese conglomerates, like the Suzuki Group, diversify their businesses and no longer put all their eggs in one basket.

Although a starved camel is still bigger than a horse, asking the Yan family to come up with 1 billion yuan in such a short time...

"Yes, but in order to save the young master, the master plans to sell the company's shares."

Upon hearing this, Kitahara Masaki immediately became alert. Wasn't this tactic just a way to make Yan Jiansan lose control of the company?

Looking at the elderly man sitting on the sofa outside the room, weeping with his face covered, I realized he was probably incapable of making rational judgments because of his grandson's kidnapping. So, I decided to ask my secretary for help.

"Secretary, may I take a look at the painting the kidnappers sent?"

To rescue the child, they must find where he is being held, because the kidnappers want the ransom transferred through a bank, and the police cannot arrest the kidnappers when the ransom is paid. In fact, if the police have not found the kidnapped child before Mr. Yan pays the ransom, he may be in danger.

According to the laws of Detective Conan, a case cannot be without any clues. Therefore, the place where Kitahara Maki could find clues was naturally in the painting sent by the kidnappers.

Chapter 156 The Junior Detective League: Provocation Skills Maxed Out

Because Yan Jiansan did not welcome the police, Kitahara Masaki and the others could only photograph the painting and then take it back to the station to look at it.

Then a dozen or so police officers gathered around, looking at a crayon drawing by a five-year-old child. Because the crayon nibs were generally quite large, the images in the drawing often mixed different colors, and the child expressed everything he saw in an exaggerated way. Even the meticulous policewoman couldn't 'decipher' it at all.

"Well, no matter how you look at it, it's just that the hostage drew a Kamen Rider from TV, and the kidnapper is wearing a clown mask. There's absolutely no information about the location."

Inspector Megure watched it several times and could only come to this conclusion in the end. He felt that it was more reliable to investigate the location where the kidnappers sent the letter.

"No, Inspector Megure, you missed something. Take a closer look at the bottom left corner of the drawing."

"The bottom left corner of the drawing? Hmm—what is that? I can't understand it at all. Is it some kind of machine? Or is it something the child imagined?"

In fact, Kitahara Masaki had already photographed all of the child's paintings when he was at the Yan family's villa. He quickly discovered that there was a certain pattern, because there was a peculiar mark in the lower left corner of each painting. He learned from the secretary by phone that it was like Yan Qiufu's signature. Every time he finished a painting, the child would draw the most eye-catching or unique thing in his eyes. Although it was only drawn in a small corner, the meaning was self-evident.

“This unique thing could only be seen in a place of imprisonment. I just asked the secretary, and he seemed to have seen the same mark in another painting!”

"Really! That's great! Where did he see it?"

"It was something Yan Qiufu saw at the kindergarten he attended, which means that Yan Qiufu saw the same thing when he was drawing at the kindergarten."

"That means the place where he's being held shouldn't be far from the kindergarten!"

"That's right, so we'll need the help of those kids next."