Silence In Numbers: File One (11 page)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Katsumi sat on the edge of her bed, readying herself to get out of it. The doctors had told her she shouldn’t even be awake this much and she knew there was no way she should even be trying to stand considering her condition, but she felt as if she was going mad sitting in the bed all day. The stream of people coming into her room had been bad enough.

She hated looking weak. Despised it. The fact that people were coming in to see her while she was stuck in bed unable to do anything drove her crazy. If she had her way, not only would they not see her in such a state, they wouldn’t even know she’d ever been in said state. She wanted to be thought invincible and their worried looks shattered her illusions. It was obvious that Samuel was her oldest friend, the one who knew her best; she hadn’t seen him at all since before the crash and she was sure he wouldn’t say anything about this. The only person she ever wanted to see her like this was Ayane, and like hell was anyone else getting the kind of complete openness they had between them.

She slowly rested her weight on her foot, edging off the bed gingerly, wincing and hissing at the pain but forcing herself forward. Soon she was standing on both legs beside her bed waiting for the pain to subside, which it eventually did. She stepped away from the bed and moved towards the window, leaning against it with a sigh. The whole investigation was on pause while she was in here. She wanted to get back out there and do her job!

Katsumi looked out the window but she wasn’t seeing the view anymore; she was seeing dozens of possible explosions, hundreds or thousands of deaths. Whoever was behind these attacks wasn’t sitting in a room doing nothing, she was sure of that. They were probably planning their next attack. There was nothing Katsumi could do from in here. She looked back at her bed, glaring at it. She admired her sister’s strength for being able to stay in-hospital as much as she did. As far as Katsumi was concerned there was nothing worse than being stuck in bed all day.

As if taking her thoughts as a challenge her head suddenly pulsed with pain, sending her off balance and forcing her to catch the windowsill to remain standing. Katsumi cursed as pain began to flood through her body, her vision blurring as sound faded into the background, every sense feeling like it had to come down a tunnel before getting to her. “Not now… Can’t I just get a break now…?”

She stumbled towards the bed but she could only handle the sickness for a short period in the best of times; the added heavy injuries she was suffering combined to make it hit faster than usual and she only managed to get her hand on the bed before she fell against it, unable to pull herself up. Another curse escaped her lips as she slipped back, hand gripping and dragging the blankets down with her, knocking over a couple instruments on her way to the floor. She heard the door open, saw the blurry outlines of several doctors who rushed in to pick her up and was, at least for now, grateful she was already in the hospital at this time.

The pain stopped swelling and subsided as they attached some unseen things to her, sending her back into a mindless darkness she welcomed with open arms.

A nurse literally flew out of a room near the end of the hallway, landing in what had to be a painful manner on the hard floor. Those present were just happy the door had been open or he’d have gone through it. A hard smack came from the room next, followed by a doctor who stumbled backwards out of the room and fell at its entrance. A female hand slammed onto the doorframe, gripping it hard enough to dent the metal.

Katsumi stepped slowly into the hallway. She was bent over a bit and breathing deeply but she flexed her newly replaced left arm and used it to grab the other side of the doorframe, standing up straight and glaring down at the doctor through violet hair. “Thank you for treating me, doctor, but I’m ready to leave and I’m leaving.”

The man sat up, rubbing his jaw. “M-miss Samakura, you aren’t fully healed, especially after your episode this morning. You haven’t even been here for twenty-four hours and considering your condition we have to keep you here another…” He trailed off as the woman’s look changed subtly.

Katsumi tightened the last tie on her vest. She silently thanked M for leaving the black vest, pants and boots in her room; he most likely knew she’d be leaving as soon as she could walk, clothing or not. “Don’t make me switch from grateful to angry, doctor.” She tightened her fists, forcing her body to move without showing any of the pain or weakness she felt. No one else tried to stop her as she made her way down the hallway to the elevator. Once she was inside it and the doors were closed she leaned against one of the walls, watching the numbers change and returning to the straight-edge posture before the doors opened on the ground floor.

A few of the receptionists and security personnel eyed her but she ignored them and went right for the door. Finally outside she let out a sigh of relief, breathing in the fresh air thankfully. She turned and headed down the sidewalk towards the subway. She could call a car but she’d have to wait for their arrival, and at the moment she was really looking forward to getting back to headquarters and jumping back into work. As far as she was concerned, the wait had been long enough already.

She descended the stairs with a care she resented having to take. Still, it was better than slipping and ending up on the ground in the middle of a crowd of people. As she reached the bottom step her vision went black, flashing green for a split instant before everything was back. She looked around in confusion but no one else seemed to have noticed anything, meaning it was a problem with her. She waited in dread for some new phase of her sickness to strike but nothing ever came. Her eyes narrowed a bit in suspicion as she examined the subway terminal, fingers reaching back to touch the gun stuck in her belt. It almost felt like something was off about the area, but not enough to draw the gun and panic everyone around. Not yet, anyway.

She always followed her gut instincts, but this time they were so vague she didn’t even know how to follow them. The only hint she really had was “be wary”. As far as she knew, it could mean anything was about to happen, from a woman dropping her purse nearby to a demon exploding out through the ground. She pushed away the feeling as unhelpful paranoia; after all, seeking out danger at all times would only lead to seeing danger where there was none. She resolved to watch everything around her but still continued forward, waiting for the next train and boarding it once it arrived.

Katsumi took a seat as far away from the majority of passengers as possible, in the back of the last car. It was a crowded time of day with people leaving work and catching a ride home, so even this car had a good number of passengers, from obvious businessmen to shoppers to the homeless. Katsumi watched the dirty men in rags and the ones in fine suits equally; stereotyping led to assumptions that led to deadly mistakes. She was probably just being paranoid… The stress of the past few days, of trying… and failing… to catch a serial terrorist was getting to her, that much she knew.

She lifted a hand to rub her eyes, suddenly tired as her mind began to work against her. The vibrations of the car as it moved quickly along the tunnel’s tracks lulled her into deeper thoughts she wanted no part of. Failure weighed heavily on her and, what was worse, she was no closer to finding and stopping the culprit than she’d been before. She didn’t want to admit it, but she didn’t know where to go from here.

In the background, several people in the car talked quietly to each other. A business man spoke firmly on his phone about some deal he should have left at work but couldn’t let go of. A homeless-looking man slipped away from the handle he was holding, moving down the car seeking handouts from all the passengers.

The first two didn’t bother her, but the homeless man eventually reached Katsumi, moving to hold his hand out in front of her for a handout when he tripped and fell towards her. There was a glint and a flash of movement as Katsumi shot out of her seat, one hand swiping down as the other slammed palm-first into the man’s chest, sending him flying back the other direction. He slammed into one of the poles in the center of the car, bouncing off of it with a cry and hitting the floor. Everyone’s attention shot to the short altercation with a collective gasp.

A knife hit the ground between Katsumi and the man and he scrambled to recover it, lunging at her again. In the few seconds she had, she noticed several things very wrong with what had at first appeared to be a normal beggar: for one, his eyes were wide as if in shock, though he showed no other signs of shock. Two, his veins were visible through his skin, bulging as if every muscle in his body was flexing or as if he was on some crazy drug. And three, his entire body was subtly shaking.

Katsumi dodged the knife a second time, reaching back to pull the pistol from her belt. She ducked a third swipe, slamming her elbow into the man’s side and sliding past him, turning gracefully to take aim at his head as her finger slipped onto the trigger.

The answer’s in the heart!

Katsumi’s breath caught as the words and voice from her dream shot through her mind with astounding clarity. As the beggar turned back to face her with the knife she moved her aim lower, unsure why but following her instincts as she always did. The sound of the shot filled the small subway car as the bullet exploded from her gun and ripped through the beggar’s chest. He jerked back and fell with a spray of blood as the other passengers in the cart erupted in screams. Katsumi was still eyeing the body, though, and an instant later she slid one foot back and turned
to face the passengers, raising her voice. “Everyone get out of the car, run to the front of the train! NOW!”

The absolute authority in her voice made even these total strangers in the car jump out of their seats and rush through the door, yelling and pulling other confused passengers with them. Katsumi wasted no time as she fired again, shooting out a window. She bent down and grabbed part of the dead beggar’s clothing, lifting him up and hurling his body through the window in one smooth move.

Three seconds later an explosion rocked the train and tore off the back half of the subway car. The sound of rending metal, erupting flame and shattering cement deafened Katsumi for the second time in as many days. A blast of hot wind washed over her and she felt herself fly into the air as the subway shrieked, the back car flying off the rails and pulling the rest of the train with it in a domino effect.

Katsumi dropped her gun as she flew through the air, twisting mid-fall and catching the last metal pole in the center of the car. She looked down and saw the rails rushing quickly beneath her. Around her were the shorn edges of the train car, sparks flying as the metal grinded against the tunnel’s walls. Katsumi hit the floor as momentum left her, pulling herself quickly into what remained of the car. She looked back and saw the flames dying down further back in the tunnel as the subway train slowly screeched to a stop. She jumped up to check on the passengers and immediately fell again, gasping as pain shot through her. She wasn’t nearly healed from the injuries she’d received less than twenty-four hours earlier, and this kind of thing was the last thing her body needed.

Unfortunately for her body, Katsumi didn’t care. She growled angrily and slammed a fist into the floor, pushing herself up onto her feet once more and stumbling to the door between cars, forcing it open and looking at the people inside. “Is everyone okay? Who’s hurt?”

The people in front of her looked shaken, but apart from a few bruises and a small cut here and there, there didn’t seem to be any injuries. Katsumi allowed herself a moment of relief and pulled out her badge, a sight that visibly relaxed the passengers. She moved through to the next car to check on the passengers in there, but they were even better than those in the previous car. She continued all the way through to the front car, informing the conductor and answering the few questions he had mind enough to ask. He called in for help as Katsumi headed back through the train until she reached the back car again, where she dropped down onto the rails.

Katsumi could scarcely believe it as she walked down the dark tunnel. Not only were there no casualties but the only real injury was one mildly broken arm, and that wouldn’t even be labeled “serious” by any report. Her actions had apparently saved everyone on the train. She should’ve been ecstatic.

And yet, as she walked towards the smoking wreckage down the tunnel, all she could think was that saving them wouldn’t even be necessary if she had been able to catch this criminal in the first place.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Samuel Lawrence whistled as he looked at the rubble in the collapsed portion of the tunnel.  “Twice in two days; you sure know how to attract ‘em, boss.”

Katsumi Samakura stood behind him with her arms folded, watching him inspect the edge of the collapse. She was waiting for him to determine the structural integrity of the remaining tunnel so they could get to work clearing the debris and get to what she hoped would be something left of a body somewhere in the middle of it. “You’re going to attract the back of my hand if you don’t shut up and get to work.”

Law shrugged, focusing on the mess in front of him. The Captain obviously wasn’t in the mood for jokes so he wasn’t going to push it. Kurasano came up behind them, tucking his phone into his suit jacket’s pocket and running a hand over his crimson hair. “Crew’s ready as soon as we get the clearance from you, Law.” He glanced at Katsumi. “Hey, boss… Should you even be outta the hospital yet?” Law cringed without even having to look. Sano took a step back at the dangerous look Katsumi directed at him, giving a sheepish shrug. “Just sayin’…”

Katsumi kept the glare on him as she spoke slowly. “I am,
Lieutenant
,” Sano and Law both winced at the venom in her tone, “perfectly capable of walking, and I don’t need to be babysat any longer.”

“I wasn’t saying-“

“I need to get back to my job. Is that okay with you, or should I have asked permission?”

Sano held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Sorry I even brought it up.”

Katsumi gave a low sound he swore was a growl and turned back to watch Law impatiently. The large man finally stood up, nodding back to her. “Structure’s good, the blast mostly caused surface damage.”

Samakura immediately waved to the crew they had standing by. “Alright, get over here and get to work! I want this cleared quickly and efficiently!”

The team jumped to work, expertly removing slabs of concrete and iron. Several minutes in one of the workers shouted over to them and Katsumi headed in his direction with Sano and Law on her heels. The man moved out of their way and Katsumi stepped into his place to see his find. Sano looked over her shoulder and winced at the sight as she kneeled to inspect it. “Yeesh, there go my dinner plans… For the next three weeks…”

It was a bloody sight, to be sure. Katsumi recognized the top half of her attacker’s head, but everything below part of the jaw was gone, leaving half the jaw hanging loose along with some stuff Sano would rather not identify. The bottom half of the pelvis and legs lay nearby, along with some random pieces she couldn’t identify at first glance. Sano stuck his hands in his pockets and looked up at the ceiling. “So I’m guessing he had the bomb on him.”

“Not on,” Law corrected as he kneeled beside Katsumi once she made room for him, “in.”

“In,” Sano repeated. “Inside him. Well that’s even
better
,” he remarked with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Katsumi nodded. “His body seemed to be under a great deal of stress. His veins grew more visible over time, muscles and skin seemed to stretch, eyes bulged more.”

“Taking that into account, along with the appearance of these remains… See the small tears in the skin of the areas still intact?” Law shook his head. “Doesn’t look like a bomb was just implanted into him.”

Katsumi looked at her Demolitions expert. “What, then?”

“He
was
the bomb.”

Sano looked back down with a frown. “Biological?”

“Maybe.”

Katsumi shook her head. “So this criminal turns people into bombs.”

“That’s what it looks like to me. We’ll take these remains in and I’ll look into it a little more, but I’m almost sure.”