DANGER ZONE | Kenzou Tenma

Chapter 9: Reunion in an old factory

Unintentionally, I kept staring at the young boy. He stopped walking and turned his head to me, astonished. "Oh, it's you, Miss!" I hurried over to him and the other man, panting. "So you are alright." "How do you know her, Dieter?", the short man asked him, but Dieter ignored him. "Did they take you to a basement, too?" "No", I answered quietly, eyes slightly widened. "Did they do something to you? I was worried they might hurt you." "Oh, don't worry about him. He's a little brat, anyway", the man said, grinning with his rabbit teeth. I frowned at him. "How can you say that? He was kidnapped! He could have been killed! Don't you know how dangerous Frankfurt is?" "It's his fault, if he runs away just like that. And speaking of danger - if you are so wary of this city, you shouldn't work as a prostitute here. Especially not with that tight sparkly dress of yours." 

Shut up.

"Let my work be my business", I replied calmly, adjusting my ponytail. Then, I looked up again, only to meet eyes with the girl I've met this morning. "Nina!" She placed an extinguisher next to the wall, breathing heavily. "Thank you for saving us, young Lady", Dieter told her. Nina smiled at him, then looked at me again. "So we meet again. The fires have started already, as you can see. But that was only the appetizer! The main dish is yet to come..." "So the real thing hasn't even happened yet, huh?", the man with the rabbit teeth mumbled. "Doesn't surprise me. I wouldn't start a fire here." He was about to leave. "Anyway, I need to deal with something more important at the moment-" "Wait!" Nina grabbed his arm. "What do you mean by that? Where would you start a fire if you were to burn down this district?" "Who cares what happens to this district, anyway? But if you ask me..." He made a pause. "Every night, the wind's direction changes, so it should come from the river soon. There's a factory with old chemicals. If this factory is burned down, this district is done for."

Nina and I stared at each other, barely believing what we just heard. "We have no time to waste! Let's go!", I said, and Nina and I left for the old factory.

We hurried through the district, panting. My feet hurt from running in heels, but I was able to ignore it because of the tense situation we were in. We made it to the factory, which seemed to be empty - there was no one outside.

"It's quiet here, but that doesn't mean no one's inside. We need to be careful." "Yes", Nina agreed. "I'll make sure to-" She heard footsteps behind us and quickly turned around, pointing her gun. "Eh- young boy! Why did you follow us down here?" He simply looked at us without saying anything. Nina continued, pointing towards the entrance. "Anyway, I'll go inside." "Alright. Then I'll secure this way for you. Be careful." "Thank you, Detective." With these words, she turned around and went to the entrance - Dieter followed her, but I wasn't able to hold him off.

As I was waiting for Nina and Dieter, I was able to calm down a bit. Calm down from all these things happening around me - things I had thrown myself into, to be honest, but for a good reason. The trip to Frankfurt had been worth it, simply because I had run into Nina - under such strange circumstances, that is. She seemed like a kind person to me, but she was determined to do whatever she had to do. I wondered what Johan looked like... did he look like his sister, or completely different? It was hard to imagine him at all since I had never seen him before.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps from the corner behind me. Quickly, I drew my gun and pointed it, but I was caught by surprise. It was the short guy from before, carrying a rug - and behind him, Doctor Tenma. He had longer hair than before, and he looked... worn out. He looked much older than before, to be honest.

I lowered my gun. "I don't mean any harm." I pointed at the entrance to the factory. "The boy you're looking for is inside the building with the girl from before. Be careful, though. They haven't left the factory for a while, so chances are that someone else is in there as well." "Alright", the doctor said, "thank you. We'll head inside, then." As the two men passed me by, I noticed him stare at me, then frowning. The short man chuckled as they walked past me. "Hurry up, Doctor. Don't stare too much. Or have you already fallen for that pretty woman?" "No... She just... seems familiar." Our eyes met once again, before they disappeared in the factory.

Luckily, we were able to put out the fire just in time, thanks to Dieter, who threw Heckel's rug onto the gasoline. That was much to Heckel's dismay - he was pretty upset after the incident. But the most important thing was that we protected the Turkish District from a catastrophe - the danger was gone.

Before the police arrived, I heard Nina talk to the prostitute from before. 

"It's alright", the woman said to her, "I'll deal with the police. You should hurry and leave, Nina."

Her voice was unusually deep, but I wasn't sure where I had heard it before - or if I did, that is. Quickly, I left the factory with Heckel and Dieter to head to the motorboat Nina had told me about. When we were already on the river, I turned to Dieter. "Isn't Nina gonna come with us, Dieter?" He shook his head. "No, I think she said she wanted to stay with the detective." "Detective?", Heckel and I asked simultaneously. He nodded. "Yeah, the woman in the blue dress. Nina called her Detective." For a moment, I didn't understand a word he said. But then, it slowly dawned on me. "Could it be...?"

Is that really the detective from Düsseldorf?