When the news reached the Metropolitan Police Investigation Department's headquarters, everyone was stunned, and their hearts sank.
It could be said that the criminal's clever scheme completely fooled the officer in charge, leaving him spinning in circles.
However, amidst this bad news, the only glimmer of hope was the phone call from Conan.
In the darkness, Conan had run quite a distance and finally found a place with a signal using his earring-shaped phone. He immediately made an emergency call and, with the help of road signs along the way, determined the location of the abandoned shack.
It could be said that the rescue was imminent.
Upon receiving this information, Senichi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Conan and Heiji had not disappointed him; even though they were kidnapped, they still managed to take proactive measures for their own rescue.
Especially in the current situation, if the criminals succeeded in escaping, the hostages would be of no use, and they might be killed to cover the criminals' tracks.
Now that they had received information from Conan, they could send a rescue team, which was fortunate in this unfortunate situation.
After getting Conan's information and learning about the bomb outside the door, the police dispatched a bomb disposal team and fully armed themselves to go for the rescue.
Of course, because Conan had informed them about the small window, the team also brought a cutter to first rescue the hostages through the window before dealing with the bomb.
The search for the criminals was ongoing, but so far, there had been no fruitful results.
The current situation was highly unfavorable for them, and if they continued to delay, the criminals might escape with a large sum of money, making it nearly impossible to recover.
As the officer in charge seethed with rage and everyone pinned their hopes on the carpet-style search for the unidentified criminal vehicle...
Learning that the hostages were safe, Senichi calmed his impatience and continued to gather information.
At this moment, knowing that Conan had escaped, he immediately contacted him.
"No time for small talk. Have you found anything? Anything unusual?" After quickly summarizing the current situation, Senichi asked Conan.
"There is something strange," Conan recalled the aggressive behavior of the yellow haired man(Komo) who returned earlier and said, "I don't know what happened, but that guy with blond hair came back looking furious, saying that he almost couldn't make it back."
"Hmm?" Senichi's expression changed upon hearing this, and he asked, "Did Hattori do something? Why would he suddenly make the other person so angry?"
"I don't think so," Conan pondered for a moment. "We were together in the same room all the time, and if Hattori had done something, he would have told me."
"In that case, Hattori must have done something earlier that upset the other person."
Senichi narrowed his eyes, thinking about the figure that suddenly appeared at the warehouse door and made a speculative guess. "You left the information written by Hattori on the bus, right?"
"You mean the criminal knows about the information Hattori left on the bus?"
Although Conan didn't have as much information as Senichi, he quickly caught on.
"If that's the case, it would explain why that blond guy looked so aggressive and said he 'almost couldn't make it back.'"
Conan rubbed his chin in thought. "But if that's the situation, it means the criminal received the information in advance and wanted to retrieve it before the police."
"But how did the criminal know about the police's information?"
"On this matter, I already have some clues." As Senichi continued his call, he walked towards the forensics department. "I'm going to verify this."
"Thank you, and don't let those guys get away!"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of the rest." Senichi smiled, hung up the phone, and pushed open the door to the forensics department.
"You're here, I was just about to call you!" Toshiro said when he saw Senichi. "The ballistic comparison results you asked for are out. The bullets used in the recent attacks on Police officer cases match the trajectory of the bullets fired by the criminal you encountered!"
"As expected," Senichi's eyes flashed with determination. He then asked, "Where are the evidence materials from the recent attacks on criminal cases?"
"You mean those? They're on the third shelf in the evidence storage room, with labels on the outside. You should be able to find them."
As Senichi rushed into the storage room, Toshiro quickly stopped Officer Takagi, who was nearby and eager to help. He handed over the enlarged photo they found in the car earlier and said, "Here, take a look. This is an enlarged version of the photo we found in the car."
"Oh, I see." Officer Takagi took the photo and entered the evidence storage room.
But when he found Senichi inside, he saw him fiddling with a walkie-talkie. "Don't just stand there, help me find some tools. I need to dismantle this thing."
"Dismantle it? But it's evidence!" Officer Takagi was surprised.
"I need to verify something. Help me find the tools. I'll put it back later," Senichi waved his hand.
After a series of actions, the walkie-talkie was disassembled, and upon seeing the internal components, Senichi nodded knowingly. "Just as I thought."
"What are you talking about, Senichi-san?" Officer Takagi asked with a puzzled expression as he observed Senichi's look of realization.
"The criminal has been listening to our radio communications!"
"What? That's impossible! Our walkie-talkies are specially made..."
As he spoke, Officer Takagi suddenly realized and looked incredulously at the scattered pieces of the walkie-talkie. "You mean..."
"Yes, it seems that the recent attack on the officer was also carried out by the same culprit."
Senichi nodded. "The chip of the radio on the patrol officer who was shot was taken by the criminal, and that's probably the motive for their attack."
With this revelation, all the puzzles fell into place.
Why the yellow haired suddenly appeared at the warehouse door was probably because they heard the police's movements through the walkie-talkie and learned about the information about them hidden on the bus.
So they sent the yellow haired to retrieve the information before the police could find it.
Unfortunately, the criminals, who had been monitoring the walkie-talkies, did not anticipate Sato Miwako's driving skills, which allowed them to arrive at the warehouse faster.
They had initially thought that the police had not yet discovered their location, which led to the confrontation with Senichi and the others. They panicked and shot their way out.
This also explained why the yellow haired abandoned the car and fled just before being surrounded, and why he was so angry after returning.
Following the line of thought after getting the answers, although these concealed actions were difficult to detect under normal circumstances, they were naturally able to sense that something was amiss while monitoring the police's radio communications.
As for why Ueno chose such a notorious target, perhaps it was to divert attention or maybe because they thought he needed to be eliminated. This was something only he knew.
Regardless, as Senichi unraveled a great mystery, this also exposed the cunning tactics of the criminals.
After looking at the photo handed over by Officer Takagi, which they found in the car and had been enlarged by Toshiro, it turned into the winning move that could instantly turn the tide!
...
"Hahaha!!"
"Hahahahaha!!"
Inside an ordinary white car, the driver with yellow hair was slamming the steering wheel, and the man sitting in the passenger seat, nicknamed "Rabbit," was laughing wildly.
"It's unbelievable, it's just amazing!!"
The man called "Rabbit" had lost his calmness from earlier and was now filled with excitement. "I can't believe it went so smoothly!! Those cops are so dumb!"
"It's 20 billion yen!"
The yellow haired was excited. "And all thanks to using that driver as bait, it was such a brilliant plan! You're amazing, Seiji!"
"If you want to thank someone, thank Ueno." Sitting in the back seat, Heiwa Seiji spoke calmly. "He's the one who got hold of the police's radio. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to do this so easily."
"Yeah, I have to thank Ueno-san for this. If it weren't for him, using diversion tactics might have worked once, but it would have been tough to handle once they realized it. To truly get rid of those annoying cops, we needed this thing."
The yellow haired agreed, then asked nervously, "Hey, Rabbit, are you sure the route you chose is okay? Are you certain there are no checkpoints ahead?"
"Don't worry, those cops are way too lax. They completely missed this road," said "Rabbit," operating the notebook with a sense of pride.
"Turn around!"
As Rabbit continued to laugh proudly, Heiwa Seiji sitting in the back suddenly spoke in a cold tone.
"What?!"
Hearing Seiji's words, Yellow Hair showed no reaction with his hands on the steering wheel. The next moment, Seiji grabbed Yellow Hair's arm and shouted, "Stop talking nonsense and turn back now!!"
"What are you doing? I'm driving, it's dangerous to do this suddenly!" Yellow Hair turned his head to look at Heiji, who he thought had gone crazy.
However, as Yellow Hair looked ahead and saw the scene on the retina of his eyes, his arrogant and triumphant expression instantly turned into panic, and he couldn't sit still.
"Szzz..."
The white van screeched to a halt, spinning 180 degrees, intending to return the way they came.
"So, they fell into the trap." Officer Megure watched the van make a quick turn and shouted into the walkie-talkie, "The prey is in position, move in!"
With Officer Megure's furious shout, police cars with flashing sirens swarmed in from all directions, blocking the way back. Detectives holding riot shields rushed out of the vehicles, surrounding the white van.
"What do we do now... What do we do!!" Rabbit, with a pale face, looked at the surrounding police officers in a panic.
"How the hell should I know!!" Yellow Hair slammed his fist on the steering wheel and yelled irritably.
"Why is it different from what you promised!!" Rabbit accused Seiji, who was sitting in the back seat. "You said we wouldn't get caught for sure, that's why we agreed to help you!!"
"Damn it! It's not easy to get such a big sum of money!! I absolutely can't get caught!" Yellow Hair became even more agitated as the police sirens wailed around them.
"It seems there are smart people among the detectives too; they turned the walkie-talkie against us." Heiji observed the scene before him calmly, showing no sign of panic or agitation. "The listening device was turned around."
Heiji's analysis was spot on.
After finding out that the criminals took the wireless radio chip from the patrol officer who was attacked, Senichi knew they had been monitoring the police's movements.
Also, encountering one of the criminals at the abandoned warehouse made sense now.
As for the distant view of the fishing boat in the enlarged photo, showing the silhouette of the Mihana Bridge, Senichi speculated that after robbing the money, they would use a fishing boat at the nearby pier to escape unnoticed.
Combining these clues with the information about the criminals monitoring the wireless radio, Senichi set a trap in reverse for them.
When arranging the checkpoints, he intentionally left out one road leading to the nearby pier of the Mihana Bridge.
It wasn't a foolproof plan, but it was the only card Senichi could play, combining all the clues.
It was a gamble!
But the current situation forced them to gamble. After hearing Senichi's analysis, Officer Megure and the higher-ups in the police department finally made this decision.
Fortunately, they won the gamble!
The criminals, who were constantly monitoring the police's movements, didn't suspect anything when they heard the information on the walkie-talkie. With excitement, they rushed headfirst into the trap Senichi had prepared for them.
And now, the scene unfolded before their eyes.
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