Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (8 page)

     Weaving through the sparse pockets of traffic near open-air restaurants, opening theatres and night markets, the jeep neared its destination as the lights changed from the street glow to the colorful dazzle that the dance halls flash from their overhead signs.

     Looking at the heavy traffic on the main street, Karl shouted to the back seat. “I’m going to take a short cut.” He said as he turned into an alleyway to his right, cutting away from the hectic streets for a quiet passageway to their destination. After twisting and turning in a narrow drive space, Karl finally parked the jeep at the foot of an old run down fire escape’s stepladder. Turning off the engine, the street craft lowered until it neared the floor. Just as it was about to reach a gentle landing spot, the craft short circuited and dropped to the ground, throwing everyone around its insides with its rough descent.

   “It sometimes does that.” Karl smiled to everyone in the back.

     Lee shook his head. “You could’ve warned us, you know?”

   “I forgot.” Karl smiled. “Anyways, we’re here.” He said exiting, only slightly after Kirin jumped over the door onto the concrete ground with excitement. Jake and Lee followed, exiting the vehicle last.

   “I hope we don’t have to go up a ladder.” Lee complained while looking up, knowing the inevitable.

   “Sorry old friend.” Karl said pulling the foot of the ladder down to hit the concrete floor.

   “Ah,” Lee shook his head. “You know I hate heights, Karl.”

   “I do.” Karl smiled in delight of his tease.

   “Don’t worry about it.” Kirin said. “If you fall from that high, you’d only break a leg, maybe.”

   “That’s reassuring.” Lee said with an unconvinced expression on his face.

     Karl chuckled at his distress before he started ascending it’s not too long body towards the second floor. Kirin followed, then Jake, who strung along the reluctant Lee as he made his way up the ladder. Climbing onto the terrace one by one, Karl looked them over for a moment before turning around and unlocking a metal door behind him. Walking in, he waved everyone inside. “Welcome to the Magic Lady.” He said stepping in.

     Kirin pocketed his hands and hunched his shoulders, simmering down his excitement as he walked inside with supreme confidence in his steps.

     Jake looked on with intrigue at Kirin’s change in his mood. Interested in what he intended to do with this mood, he chased him inside, ignoring Lee who still climbed up the ladder.

   “Hey!” Lee called out. “Wait up.”

   “Hurry up then.” Jake said running inside. As he entered the dark hallway of the building, he immediately felt the thumping bass from a stereo system and the dry echo of a voice singing over its line of rhythm. Following the distant swagger of Karl and the confident steps of Kirin, they made it to the end of the hallway where the sound of music increased in nuance and feel. Approaching, mahogany double doors, the bass sounded funkier as the live horns from a sax and trumpet sounded through the doors with a woman’s voice soaring with a vibrant electric sound chasing her soulful chords. As Karl swung the doors open, the full force of the electric sound hit Jake as he began feeling his head nod to the catchy song. Walking inside the bright flickering blue and white lights of the balcony, Jake stood beside Karl and Kirin to see the energetic bodies dancing below around a circular stage where a band played with wild abandonment to the cheers of the crowd.

   “Whoa!” Jake said surprised by their energy.

   “Haha…” Karl laughed. “I bet you never saw a dance floor this live.”

   “No.” Jake shook his head. “And this place, I mean, I know things have been getting better in this city, but this place looks expensive. When did the Downtown Sector get so rich?”

    “The hunting of the Grey Forest is booming for real, so much wealth is being found in the mines there too, so much minerals, old electronics, artifacts, and rare beasts that the old city of Teigen is becoming a Greater city in this new world.”

   “Besides,” Kirin said throwing his coat onto the surprised shoulders of Karl, revealing his slender frame under a fitted long sleeve shirt with a few streaks of frills down its chest. “The never-ending mental apocalypse of man is just that, a mental thing. The world on the other hand, moves on and grows. Life thrives when everything ends.” Kirin grinned. “And how long do you expect the living to mourn the end of the world before they move on to the next one?” Kirin said with a bright smile.

     Looking at him in his oddly stylish and flamboyant shirt took Jake by surprise, throwing his mind for a loop as he watched Kirin adjust the cuffs of his shirt.

     As the song ended, the band moved to a another energetic tune, a melody that grabbed the ear of Kirin and had him swinging his hips before grabbing the hand of Jake and pulling him down the stairs he stood by towards the dance floor.

   “Rin, what are you doing?” Jake said petrified as Kirin, with his ever-changing faces, dragged him along with a delightful expression on his face.

     Turning to him, Kirin wore an excited smile. “To dance, of course.” And so he did, hitting the dance floor, bouncing to the music, moving his shoulders and hips in rhythm with the energetic song and voice spiraling from outside center stage into the crowded space they had entered. Jake, looking at all the gyrating bodies beside him, found himself lost in the atmosphere, except for the guiding hand of Kirin who tried to rub off his dance to the stone standing and petrified gaze of Jake.

     Kirin, letting go of his hand, danced within the crowd, leaving Jake standing there idly by to watch as he electrified the dance floor with his vibrant and graceful moves. As he danced, he attracted an audience of women and men to watch in adoration of the stylish tapping of his feet and seductive swing of his lean body. Jake felt incredibly uncomfortable watching and catching glances from Kirin as he danced.

     Kirin eventually moved in dance towards Jake and wrapped his arms around the back of his neck, pulling his face near his, taking the breath out of him with the sudden closeness between them.

   “I found him.” Kirin whispered in his ear.

   “What?” Jake said confused.

   “Mr. Green Thief.” He said with a grin on his face as he pulled away and looked Jake in the eyes.

   “Uh…” Jake said still unsure. “What? Where?”

   “Up there.” He replied looking upwards behind Jake. Jake attempted to turn and look, but as he did, Kirin rebuffed him.

   “No! Don’t look back.” He said turning Jake’s head with the soft touch of his hands. Jake, surprised by the gentle textures of Jake skin, felt confused and uncomfortable with a mixture of other emotions he rather not feel right now.

   “He’s looking this way.” Kirin said with the tips of his fingers still on the chin of Jake. “I don’t want him to know we know.”

   “Alright.” Jake said struggling to gather his thoughts. “Then what?”

     Kirin lowered his hand and wrapped it around Jake’s. “Follow me.” He said turning away and pulling Jake along with him as he made his way through the wild dancing of the crowd towards a staircase at the other side of the room. As they made their way past the center stage, the singer with a wild pompadour hairstyle sang wildly:

   “It’s alright… I wanna be your rock and roll…” She sang to the backdrop of a fiery guitar solo behind her. “It’s alright… it’s alright… you’re my rock and roll.”
She sang holding her microphone to the crowd, who chanted her words in kind while jumping up and down with the buzz of the song in their head. Ducking past the flailing hands and legs of the dancers surrounding the stage, Kirin and Jake made it to the staircase and slowly moved upward. As they did, Jake finally gathered his thoughts and quickly pulled his hand away from Kirin’s soft touch. Kirin looked at him in surprise.

   “I can walk just fine myself.” Jake said to Kirin.

   “Then hurry up.” He replied unaffected, continuing his march forward. Jake took a deep breath in and exhaled all the stress and unease building up within him before chasing after Kirin, shrinking the large gap between them. Catching up with him, Jake noticed they were heading to a balcony surrounded by glass walls. It enclosed a space filled with leather sofas where a group of men sat down leisurely in the company of what seemed to be friends. All of them dressed in black suit jackets and pants with neon under shirts of all colors. They laughed and joked with each other while watching the concert down below with great delight.

   “There he is.” Kirin smiled, pointing towards the couch where a youthful man with wild brown hair sat beside a beautiful woman dressed in a black sweater and jeans. She spoke to the young man ardently over the dance music as she adjusted her glasses, looking back and forth from her clipboard to the young man.

   “Him?” Jake asked. “How do you know?”

     Kirin turned to Jake, revealing a cocky smirk on his baby face, a face that seemed all too feminine under the dim lighting of the club.

   “I’ll show you.” Kirin said walking forward. Jake followed him as he entered through a glass door to the balcony. As they entered, two large men walked in front of them, pushing them back.

   “What are you doing here?!This room is occupied.” the large man to the right said.

   “I’m here to see your leader.”

     The large man looked at Kirin awkwardly before laughing. “Haha, there are no leaders here, only friends.”

   “Then let me speak to the one that convinces you of that lie.”

   “What?”

     Kirin sighed. “To the man sitting on the center couch, tell him I have an appointment with Mr. Green Thief.”

   “Hmm…” the large man thought about it for a moment before looking at his partner and nodding his head. His partner left, lumbering over to the center couch where he interrupted the beautiful woman’s conversation with the young man sitting there. Kirin looked on with a wild sense of anticipation in his eyes—it was as if he was searching for something while looking at the young man sitting in the couch. Jake, following Kirin’s lead, turned his attention to the young man just as he looked back to see their faces—looking at his slight nod of recognition change the waiting stare of Kirin into a cocky smile and Jake realized they had really found their man.

     The large man returned and waved them inside, but before they walked in, Karl and Lee emerged from behind them.

   “What are you guys doing?” Karl said out of breath from running.

   “Yeah, Jake.” Lee smiled. “You could have waited for me before hitting the dance floor, we’re wingmen out there. How am I supposed to charm these ladies on my own?”

     Jake smiled reluctantly. “Ah, sorry.”

     Kirin smiled. “It’s good that you made it here on time.” He said approaching Karl and grabbing his trench coat from the cuff of his arm. He quickly swung it over his body and slid inside of it. “Ah, home again.” Kirin said with a relaxed expression on his face as the coat fitted right in with his frame. He then looked back at everyone with poise. “Come on in, I found our thief.”

   “What? Already?” Lee said surprised.

   “I work fast.” Kirin smiled, walking inside. The others followed him. As they entered, they could hear the joyful cheers and rowdiness from the other people in the room die down, everyone turning around and focusing their attention and guard on Kirin and his friends as they made their way to the center sofa. Once there, the youthful man sitting down with a crooked smile on his face, eyed Kirin as he made his way to the front of the couch.

   “Have a seat Mr. Detective.” The youthful man said pointing to a sofa across from him. “I hope you enjoyed our club.”

   “Oh, I have.” Kirin smiled.

   “Yeah, and I saw you and…” the youthful man looked at Jake. “Your friend, dancing down there. You impress me, you’re not only a good detective, but you’re also a remarkable dancer. I would have never guessed.”

     Lee stepped forward. “So you’re him, right? You’re the thief from the gambling den, all of you are.”

   “Oh, please.” the youthful man said. “Thieves is much too crude of a word. We like to call ourselves the Underground.”

   “The Underground it is.” Kirin smiled, still standing up.

   “Right.” The youthful man nodded as he picked up a glass on the table in front of him filled with a red liquid. “My name is Lacey, or what my friends like to call me, DJ Lace.”

   “A DJ? I’ve never met one before.”

   “Well lucky you, you’ve just met the best one Detective.” He said taking a sip from his glass before resting it back down on the table. “Tell me,” he smiled his crooked smile. “How’d you figure I would be here?”

   “Didn’t have to.” Kirin sat down. “I just had to let you and your friends tell me where you were.”

   “What do you mean?” he said narrowing his eyes as he looked on with intrigue.

   “The quickness of your raid, the timed in and out execution, the pin point accuracy of your search for the money safes, not to mention having the codes to unlock them, everything you did during your robbery had all the tell-tale signs of an inside job.” Kirin said looking directly at the narrowed eyes of Lace. “And that man on the inside just so happens to be the calmest, most indiscernible man during the entire execution of that operation. He was also the man that could not help but direct us to your exact location along with all the information concerning your group—not to mention his eyes peering in your direction ever since we entered this place. I don’t know if you’re lazy or if Karl is an absolute fool, but I’d like to hear why you felt so confident in yourself that you were comfortable enough to have your own man lead us here?”