"Of course." Conan comforted the cautious old man. "I just said there was no electricity in the house, then immediately asked you to turn on the lights. If Vodka and his accomplices were nearby, they would definitely react to that. But what actually happened?"
Conan answered his own question. "They didn't ask about the lights at all—in other words, at least within sight of the villa, no one from The Organization is lying in wait."
As he spoke, Conan brightened again and looked at the disk in his hand. "Once we get in the car, we'll use the laptop to see what this software actually is. If it's something dangerous, we'll hand it over to the police immediately, then ask them to stake out the underground station and catch whoever comes to make the exchange."
"Wonderful!" Having swallowed that reassuring promise, Professor Agasa finally relaxed. "I'll go warm up the car."
With that, he walked to the door.
Then he abruptly froze.
—Through the glass in the door, he saw that a car had arrived at some point and parked in the open space in front of the villa.
At that moment, two men in black stood beside the car, apparently about to cross the blizzard and head over.
The pitch-black night and heavy snow had reduced visibility nearby to almost nothing. Even so, in the reflected glow of the headlights on the snow, Professor Agasa could still make them out—they were two men in black!
One was tall and burly, while the other was not short either, though he seemed to have a beer belly.
Professor Agasa's mind buzzed. At this time, in this place, dressed in black and coming to the middle of nowhere... who else could it be but The Organization?
And that one-fat-one-tall combination... it was