part0029

The four of us stand in a loose circle around the coffee table, each holding a near-empty bottle of beer. After briefly explaining who Ichiro and Ruby were to Collins, he had asked for a drink, saying the flight was long and he needed something to keep him awake.

“Damn… this is good beer, buddy,” says Collins, taking a grateful swig.

“Asahi,” I reply, smiling. “It’s the only thing worth drinking here.”

Ruby sighs. “Okay, so who are you, exactly? You know us, but… why send you?”

Collins looks at me. “Does she know about… y’know… Belarus?”

I nod. “She does.”

He turns to her, his grin lighting up his face. “Listen, sweetheart, I’m the best GlobaTech has, okay? You should be lucky to have me here.”

“Oh, no…” I mutter. I hang my head and begin massaging the bridge of my nose between my finger and thumb.

Ruby puts her beer down hard on the table and takes a step toward him.

“No, you listen, dipshit. I don’t trust people I don’t know.” She points to me, then to Ichiro. “I trust these two without question. But just because you were Adrian’s chauffeur for an hour a couple of years ago, doesn’t mean you get a free pass with me. Are we clear?”

Collins holds his hands up playfully but takes a very serious step back. “Hey, whoa… okay, darlin’. Okay.”

“And another thing… call me ‘sweetheart’ or ‘darling’ one more time, I’ll kick you in your balls so hard, they’ll come flying out of your ears. Comprende ?”

He stares at me, wide-eyed and confused.

I shrug back at him. “Hey, don’t look at me. I know better.”

He smirks, takes a patient swig of his beer, and smiles back at Ruby as if every word she just said fell on deaf ears.

“Don’t suppose ya got a sister or a cousin or something called Julie Fisher, do ya?” he asks.

She frowns. In fact, it’s more like a grimace. As if a bad smell has caught her nose.

“What?” she demands. “No. Why?”

Collins shrugs casually. “No reason. Ya just remind me of someone I know. The two of ya would probably get on great, thinkin’ about it.” He pauses to finish his beer, then places the empty bottle down on a coaster. “Foreplay aside, lady, I’m part of an elite unit in GlobaTech that answers directly and only to the man in charge. There are three of us. Josh Winters brought us together. Moses Buchanan inherited us. We’re the people they call when it’s a difficult or delicate situation that they would rather keep quiet, ya know?”

Ruby relaxes a little. She takes a small step back, seemingly appeased by Collins’s eventual sincerity.

He approaches me and places a hand on my shoulder. “None of us have had the chance to say this, Adrian, but we’re all real sorry about Josh. He meant a lot to all of us, but to no one more than you. He was a helluva guy. We all fought for him without question.”

I nod. “Appreciate it. Thanks, Ray.”

He steps away and takes a long moment to look me up and down. His eyes narrow. He scratches absently at the stubble along his jawline. “No offense, but… ah… ya look like shit, buddy.”

I smile. “I know. Thanks.”

“We… ah… we all saw… ya know… what happened to ya.”

“I think a lot of people did.”

“Aye. You’re one tough bastard. I’ll give ya that.”

“Doesn’t feel like it right now, if I’m being honest.”

“I can imagine. When Moses said ya needed a hand, the three of us started arguing over who would make the trip. We all wanted to have ya back.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Even Jericho?”

Collins laughs. “Aye, even the big fella. Truth be told, I don’t ever think he’ll be fully sold on ya, but he respected the hell outta Josh after everything he did for him. He would back you up just to honor his memory, if nothing else.”

Memories of Colombia flood back into my mind. The one and only time I met Jericho Stone. The man was—and probably still is—a monster. Built like a tank and twice as stubborn. Damn good soldier, though. I saved his life back then. I’m not sure he’ll ever forgive me for it.

“So, how did you manage to get the short straw?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Well, Jules and Jerry are both damn-near impossible to argue with, but when I explained me and you go way back, Moses chose me. Said it might go more smoothly with a friendly face.”

“Your teammates not that friendly?” asks Ruby.

Collins shrugs. “They are once ya get to know them. But they’re not as forthcoming with strangers as I am. Ya see, love, I’m a people person.”

Ruby lets her head roll back and sighs heavily at the ceiling.

“I swear to God…” she mutters.

Collins laughs and looks back at me. “Okay, buddy, I’m here. What do ya need?”

Ichiro thrusts a new beer in front of him. “Long story. You might need this.”

“Jesus Christ!” replies Collins, jumping almost out of his skin. “When did ya go to the fridge? I didn’t hear ya move!”

I smile to myself and take a sip of my own drink.

Ichiro winks at him. “Be like water.”

Collins turns to me. “Who’s this guy again?”

“He’s a friend,” I reply. “A friend who prefers to remain a mystery to people who work for GlobaTech. No offense.”

He shakes his head. “No problem. No one would believe I met a goddamn geriatric ghost ninja anyway…”

Ichiro and Ruby share a laugh as we all take a seat.

“I’ll bullet-point it for you, Ray,” I begin. “Tetsuo Kazawa runs one of the largest and most powerful Yakuza families in Tokyo. He was the brawn behind my much-publicized ass-kicking. He’s currently relaxing in the penthouse suite of a skyscraper he owns in the city. He’s surrounded in all directions by loyal, well-trained, well-armed Yakuza street soldiers, and he’s pissed at me. I, in turn, intend to put a bullet right between his fucking eyes.”

Collins lets out a low whistle. “Jesus, Adrian, ya don’t half pick ’em. I get why ya want him dead, but even you have to understand ya can’t win a fight this one-sided, surely? Ya don’t have a tank now, sunshine!”

“He has a girl with him, Miley. She’s the brains. A little over five years ago, I saved her from a gangster named Jimmy Manhattan. She was kidnapped as leverage because her mother, an assassin, had been hired to kill me and didn’t really want to. She’s pissed at me because she blames me for her mother’s death.”

“Okay. And did ya kill her mom?”

I shrug. “I didn’t pull the trigger, but I’d never deny my part in it. It was kill or be killed, just like it is now. That’s the world we live in.”

“Young Miley has spent her formative years training to kill me and has used the small fortune her mother left her to make alliances with the Yakuza. She’s the one who did the torturing in the home movie you saw. She won’t stop… ever… until I’m dead. Kazawa does what she wants; ergo, neither will he.”

“So, your thinking is that ya have to take the fight to them because they’ll hunt ya down if ya don’t.”

I shrug again. “Pretty much.”

“And ya main problem is getting to the bastard?”

“Okay.” Collins takes a long drink of his beer and gets to his feet, dangling the bottle between his fingers as he paces idly back and forth in front of us. Finally, he stops and looks at me. “Ya know the boss won’t let me break any laws, don’t ya? Like, I can’t just start shooting at people because you tell me to. I’ve gotta be all respectable and whatnot nowadays.”

I nod. “I know. And of course, you can’t break the law by taking part in an assault on Japanese citizens without just cause.”

“Ah… yeah, right.”

I look over at Ruby. “Show him.”

Ruby leans forward on the sofa and spins the laptop around on the coffee table, so the screen is facing him.

I point to it. “There’s your just cause.”

Collins crouches by the table and starts reading.

In the absence of a clear way forward, Ruby and I spent the day looking for alternative ways to hurt Kazawa. We can’t get to him to shoot him, so we looked at his family’s enterprises, legitimate and otherwise. It turns out one of the many corrupt pies Kazawa has his fingers in is firearms trafficking—selling and using stolen weapons. More specifically, stolen GlobaTech weapons.

“Sonofabitch…” says Collins as he finishes reading.

“Well?” inquires Ruby. “Good enough for you?”

He nods. “I’ll be able to convince Jules and Buchanan there’s enough evidence here to go official. But still…” He looks at me. “I can’t go in guns-a-blazing, like I assume you want to.”

“No one’s asking you to, Ray. But if someone happens to start shooting at you…”

He shrugs. “Then the dumb bastards are fair game.”

“Exactly.” I look at everyone in turn. “Assaulting Kazawa’s building is plan B. It’s stupid and next-to-impossible, but if all else fails, we kick his front door down and spit bullets at whatever moves. Whoever dies first, loses.”

“That’s a real shitty plan B, buddy,” observes Collins.

I nod. “Correct. Which is why I’m hoping plan A works.”

“What’s plan A?” asks Ruby, confused.

The truth is, I didn’t get all that much sleep today. Ruby played a small part in that, for which I’m eternally grateful, but mostly it was because my mind was running nowhere fast, trying to think of a way to end all this. I fell asleep with half a plan. I woke up with a full one. Like most things, I’ll need a little luck, but it’s a sound strategy. I think.

I smile at her before looking over at Ichiro. “What do the other families think of Kazawa?”

He strokes his long, thin beard with patient and deliberate movements, taking deep breaths as he ponders my question.

“No one like him,” he says, finally. “No one respect him. They all think he… douche… bag.”

I smile to myself. His attempts at American slang never cease to amuse me. “And has word travelled that he was bankrolling my humiliation and all-round torture?”

Ichiro nods. “That was not well-received, Shinigami . He dishonors all Yakuza with such things.”

Collins raises his hands. “I’m sorry… Shini-what now?”

“It means ‘Grim Reaper’ in Japanese,” answers Ruby.

He nods. “Ah, okay. Nice.”

“What are you thinking?” asks Ichiro.

I take a sip of beer. “I’m thinking we ask for some help.”

“From who?” asks Ruby, pointing at Collins. “We have G.I. Jamesons over here… who else is there to ask?”

Collins furrows his brow with mock offense. “Hey!”

Ichiro locks eyes with me. His gaze narrows. His head begins shaking with the smallest of movements.

“You cannot be serious…” he mutters.

“Oh, I am,” I reply, smiling.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” demands Ruby.

I turn to her. “If the other Yakuza families hate Kazawa as much as us, maybe they’ll lend a hand. Even up the odds a little. The enemy of my enemy… and all that.”

Now Ruby’s eyes narrow. I recognize the look of disapproval and doubt on her face from a thousand times before.

“There’s only one family powerful enough to start a war with Kazawa,” says Ichiro.

I nod. “The Oji-gumi.”

Collins shakes his head. “Okay, can ya please stop making up words?”

Ruby puts her beer down impatiently. “Adrian, didn’t you…”

I nod again. “Yup.”

Collins sighs. “Oh, come on! Stop speaking in bloody riddles here, would ya?”

I look at him. “About a week ago, I killed a guy named Santo and three of his bodyguards. He was a lieutenant of Akuma Oji, the head of the Oji-gumi Family.”

He nods. “Let me get this straight. The only people who can help also happen to want you dead? Jesus…”

“Not necessarily…”

“It is unlikely they know it was you who carried out hit on Santo,” says Ichiro. “But still… this is dangerous game you playing.”

I shrug. “Maybe. But it’s our only shot. If I can convince the Oji-gumi to start a war with Kazawa, it’ll flush him and Miley out. Their soldiers can kill each other. We’ll watch from the sidelines. I’ll take out Kazawa and Miley when the time is right. Everyone wins.”

“Adrian, when is it ever that simple?” asks Ruby.

“It’ll be fine,” I say to her. “Trust me.”

“Famous last words,” she mutters.

I walk over to the kitchen area and retrieve four more beers from the fridge. I line them up on the counter, pop the top of each one, and look up at the others.

“This is what we’re gonna do,” I begin. “First thing tomorrow, Ichiro and I are going to have a sit-down with Akuma Oji. Ruby, I want you and Ray to run recon on Kazawa’s tower block. We need to know how many people he has with him and how many civilians might potentially be in the crossfire.”

“Are we expecting some collateral damage here?” asks Collins solemnly.

I shake my head. “I don’t want any, obviously, but we can’t rule out the possibility this piece of shit will use innocent people as a human shield. The building he owns is used by many businesses. Not all of them are Yakuza. Not all of them are illegal. If we’re going to bring the fight to his front door, we need to know how many people we’ll be putting in danger, so we can work around them.”

Collins approaches the counter first, followed by Ruby, then Ichiro. They line up in front of me, each taking an ice-cold bottle in their hand.

“This is some large-scale crazy,” says Collins. “Kinda wish I’d let Jericho come now…”

“If this goes how I want it to, we’ll all be nothing more than spectators in a Yakuza turf war. Your strategy and firepower are a welcome asset, Ray. Plus, you lend legitimacy to any involvement on our part that might get noticed.”

Silence falls. We all raise our bottles, tilting the necks so they meet in the middle. A quiet salute to the insanity agreed upon.

“I must go,” announces Ichiro. “If we are to do this, I must make arrangements for meeting tomorrow, Adrian-san.”

I nod. “Thanks, Ichi. I appreciate it. Watch your back out there, okay?”

He walks backward away from the counter, his arms held out slightly to the sides, a big, crazy smile on his face.

“Please! I was Shinigami long before you were.” He laughs his trademark laugh, then turns and walks over to the elevator. The doors open. He steps inside and turns to face us. “Be outside tomorrow. Eight a.m.”