L06-3 Production

"I always dreamed of fishing on a cruiser, but I never thought I'd be using one for this," said Takahashi. He looked out at sea with his arms crossed. When he turned around, however, he was brought back to reality. The main cabin of the luxury yacht, which would normally be occupied by a lavish sofa set, was filled with laboratory equipment from Takahashi's lab.

"A change in thinking. If we can't completely contain the virus, then we need only go to a place where no damage would be done if the virus did escape quarantine. When the production of the antidote is finished, the cruiser is yours, Professor Takahashi."

"Idiot. This thing is bigger than my house! I can't even afford to maintain it!"

"Spoken like a true Osakan," L said, apparently as a compliment.

L climbed up the stairs to the wheelhouse. "Mr. Suruga, how are you doing navigating the boat?"

Suruga took off his sunglasses and shrugged. He had left the repairs on the truck to an underground shop in Nagoya and arrived in Osaka a step ahead of L and Maki. "I've finally regained the feel for it. But Ryuzaki, will we really be able to contain the spread of the virus out at sea?"

"We can't be 100 percent certain, but the powerful summer ultraviolet rays will destroy most of the virus that might get carried out to sea by the wind."

"Couldn't the marine life get infected and in turn infect humans?"

"Hemorrhagic fever viruses are airborne and settle in respiratory tissue. Fish don't have lungs."

"Then, could a whale or dolphin get infected?"

"If so, you can present them at the next research conference as the first marine mammals to be infected with a hemorrhagic fever virus."

After listening quietly to this exchange, Takahashi threw a couple of hazmat suits at them. "Quit your comedy routine and change into these suits so you can make yourselves useful. Ryuzaki will be my assistant and Suruga will navigate the cruiser. And try not to rock the boat when we're handling syringes."

"Aye aye!" Putting on his sunglasses again, Suruga surveyed the open water. About a kilometer off was another vessel. With four anchor chains descending from the bow, it was neither a fishing boat nor pleasure boat, and was obviously watching over the cruiser. "So they've come all the way out here. L must have put the fear of God into the president. Blue Ship ought to be closer to tracking us by now, but we can rest easy knowing the FBI is here. But who would have thought the FBI would be the ones to protect us.. .That's a fine irony."