The Case of the Mad Scientist

Chapter 16: Break In and Break Out

Blaze was back to her old self after the shower. She dressed while I lay on the bed, calming down after watching her spend so long struggling. It didn’t help much that she calmly walked out into the room, toweling her damp, gorgeous, naked body down, then proceeded to don a fresh pair of panties and a bra that might have supported her some but was almost as transparent as that cling wrap stuff you buy in the store. From her suitcase, she pulled the kind of clothing you’d wear on a commando raid: black pants, black pull-over turtleneck and even black running shoes. I expected her to add a black ski mask with only eyeholes, and maybe a pair of black leather gloves, but I was disappointed.

Hell, I was disappointed to see that fine body disappear under all that clothing!

Anyway, we went down for dinner as the sun was nearing the mountains to the west. Blaze vetoed my suggestion of the American hamburger place across the street and picked instead an Italian restaurant not far off and in the direction of Koriyama Pharmaceutics. Have you ever tried pizza made by a Japanese chef? Don’t. The sight of sushi pizza almost put me off my feed.

Summer rains are not at all uncommon in Japan, and it looked as if we were in for some that evening to judge from the clouds that covered up the last of the sunset. The breeze had turned a bit cool, also. Well, a little bad weather doesn’t faze a hardboiled Private Dick like me. We walked down the street, noticing that most of the office building seemed to be closing down for the evening. A few bars were just beginning to wake up, but most of the taller buildings showed very little light. Which was fine with me. When we went in, I would be perfectly happy to find no one around.

The first few drops began as we neared the Koriyama Pharmaceutics building. I led Blaze down an alley and around to the back. There was a delivery dock and some windows, but no one in sight. Good.

I was looking at a window wondering how best to breach it, when the door on the loading dock opened and out came a security type uniform. At first he did not see us, which was good because it gave me time to step over to where he was about to close the door behind him. Suddenly he realized someone was approaching and looked at me. His face was just beginning to register surprise when I slugged him. His head snapped back and he went down like a wet noodle.

I grabbed the door to keep it from closing, and then dragged him inside. When all three of us were through the door, I let it close. Our guard looked like he was out for the count, but to make sure I took the pair of handcuffs off his belt and locked his arms around a pipe. I was sure he had the key on him someplace, but with his arms pulled up like that, I didn’t think he could reach it.

Blaze was smiling to beat the band. “That was great!” she gushed. “One punch and he’s out!”

“Yeah, that’s the way it usually is,” I told her.

some kind of 9mm brand I didn’t recognize. I handed it to Blaze. “Know how to shoot this?” I

“Yes, I

use it if you have to,”

floor, we took out our flashlights and continued searching without turning on the room lights. On the third floor we hit pay dirt.

been here?” I

no sign of him,” she said as she quickly looked through the room. “I have not seen any DNA sequencing equipment. They

I asked. Blaze, I knew, was not

main types of sequencers.

floor and then went up to the next. Two rooms were labs, the

their computer

Japanese. And know a lot

nothing wrong with not being able to read Japanese; lots of my friends can’t.

and storerooms. The floor above held private offices, a couple of them rather large and fancy. But none of the machines

that one guard and I took care of him easily. But we had been in the building for half an hour when our luck ran out. We were coming down a stairway when we heard voices and the pounding

door. If they came upon us in the stairwell, it could be a nasty firefight. I assumed they were either police or more security guards. Perhaps the guard I slugged was supposed to check in periodically. Or maybe he woke up and sounded the alarm somehow. Either way, I didn’t want to wait

I wondered if they were smart enough to send men up both

They were.