Retribution
Prologue ~ The Beginning
"The turnover rate here is high, for your sake Matthew and Sarah's, just do what they say, and don't question it. There are only foreigners here and Mr Oroku prefers it that way. You're here for the same reason that everyone else is - the pay check..." That was what Beth has said to him the last time they had spoken. He shook his head and wiped the tears away using the back of his hand. It was a damn shame. She had been a good friend. He sat at her desk and looked around. The office was in a state of shock. Word had it that she had been mudered... but the locals had different ideas. They said that she had been assassinated. Ho Masuki, his housekeeper said that ninjas were to blame, that the Foot Clan were to blame. He had almost laughed. Ninjas in modern Japan? He doubted it, but he looked around nervously all the same. Beth had uncovered something big, that much he knew. He had seen Beth and Nathan the day before in a heated disscussion. Maybe she had told him, he would have to wait though, a meeting wasn't planned until later on tonight.
Later on that night, three of Beth's closest friends gathered at Matthew's house, along with their three small children. They had arranged to meet at this ungodly hour, so as not to be seen together during daylight hours.
Angel, Daniel's mother looked around nervously, wiping tears from her cheek.
"She told me that something might happen... if I had known that she was going to be murdered I would never have aggreed to help her.... she warned me and I did nothing. God... I hope nothing happens to me..." her voice trailed as her sights drifted to her sleeping son. The others all thought the same thing. They were all single parents with little or no family...
"I knew that company was a front, what the hell are we suppose to do?" Jessica's mother inquired, looking to the two men.
"We'll have to keep to the original plan... " Ho Masuki, the housekeeper and minder of all four children, ran into the room in a panic, her arms waving franticly in the air. Her daughter Julie behind her.
"The Foot, they know! They're ninjas.... they're coming for you... all of you... " she ran over and gently woke all four sleeping children.
"Come now children, we must go... " Matthew interrupted her.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ho Masuki cast him a worried looked. She knew better.
"You don't understand... first you, then your children..." His eyes lowered to the floor. They were now in too deep.
"Tell Sarah I love her... here" he pressed something into her hand. "For when she's old enough" Ho Masuki and Julie crabbed the weeping children from their distraught parents and ran into the other room, locking it behind them. Ho Masuki moved the carpet aside and lifted the trapdoor. Both women pushed the four children into the hole and pulled it closed behind them. Julie looked at the youngsters. This wasn't going to happen if they didn't quiet down. There was a disturbance in the other room and they both looked up. There wasn't much time.
"Remember when we played hide-and-go-seek?" They all nodded at her. "We have to do that. Your parents will come looking for us... ready?" She crabbed two of their hands and her mother did the same."Remember be very quite and don't look back..." The ninjas were now in the room above, trying to open the trap door. Ho Masuki and Julie started to run, the children barely able to keep up.
The tunnel was dark and one of the kids started to whimper, when there was a light ahead.
"C'mon kids" Julie said "hide real good and remember, don't look back!"
The six of them reached the end where it came out into the woods behind the house. There were footsteps echoing in the tunnel now. Julie looked to her worried mother. The Foot were now pursuing them.
"Go, I'll take care of them... we must protect the children..." Julie nodded "Meet me at the warf...Go!" Julie turned and ran up the hill, were she saw the children hiding in the bushes.
"Julie" asked Joshua "Is daddy in trouble?" She urged the kids to move on down the trail. The sun was just starting to rise and it had already started to get light.
"What makes you say that..." she was cut off by an agonizing scream.
"Run kids!" She pushed Sarah foward. She was terrorified, as they all were, but the youngsters ran anyway. They all liked Julie and they trusted her.
The other three children were the first up the hill. From there the house was clearly visible. They were panting.After pausing for a moment, they took a deep breath, then ran down the other side. Julie waited for Sarah, they had to go, they were visible here. All of a sudden there was a small explosion and the house erupted into flames. Ignoring Julie's earlier warning, Sarah turned around to look, her eyes wide in terror. A ninja leapt out of a window and ran into the nearby bush. After a moment a lone figure made it outside. He was covered in blood and swaying on his feet. Sarah cried out in horror as another ninja jumped out of the burning building and thrust a katana into his chest, then with one powerful strike, the figure was beheaded. Sarah's eyes rolled and she dropped to the ground. The figure was her father. Julie picked up the child and ran down the trail to where the other children were waiting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They did meet up with Ho Masuki that night. She was bloody and barely alive, but in time her wounds healed up. They boarded a ship and headed for Australia. It would be safe there. The Foot were not there and most of all Julie's father was there. The family were now on The Foot hit list. Ho Masuki, and her family belonged to another clan, one that opposed the Foot. The plans had already been made and would have come together perfectly if it had not been for Beth. She found out about the Foot and had tried to blackmail Saki and his family... along the way, eight innocents had been dragged into the mess, all four parents murdered.
A few years passed and the children flouished... all except Sarah. Since that dreadful night, she was very withdrawn and scared, even with years of training, she did not feel safe. Ho Masuki and her husband taught the five children everything they knew.
When Julie turned 22, her parents left for America, taking Jessica, Joshua and Daniel with them. Her aunt was ill and had asked them to go. Sarah stayed behind with Julie. She had just landed a well paying managerial job with T.G.R.I Sydney, and had promised her parents to continue with Sarah's training. They knew that there would be a time in her life when they could no longer protect her... besides, Julie was the only one that Sarah ever opened up too, and they couldn't risk taking her away. After the murder, Sarah did not speak for one year. All memories of her biological parents had been erased, her mind had pushed those horrible memories back, into her subconsciousness. Sarah was now eight, and needed all the help that she could get. She now refered to Ho Masuki and Ho Yin as her mother and father. Little did anyone realise, but the teary farewell was the last time that Sarah ever saw her adopted parents again. Four months later her father was diagnosed with advanced leukaemia and died two months later. Her mother was so distraught, that two weeks after that, she had a heart attack and died.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah sobbed into her pillow. Her mother and father were dead and she would never see them again. Julie walked into her room and sat down beside the little girl. Sarah was the little sister that she never had. She had promised her parents that she would look after her in their absence. She now intended to keep that promise. In her hand she clutched a letter. She reached over to Sarah and pulled her into her arms and cuddled her.
"Everything is going to be alright now, sweetie, don't worry" she looked at her tear stained face and pushed her hair away from her eyes. Sarah looked up to Julie, her eyes filled with saddness. Julie shook her head. For one so young, she had know much heartache .
"Mum never had the chance to send these... the adoption.. it's final. I'm now your big sister. Sam, Josh and Dan are now your sister and brothers ." Sarah's eyes widened. This was something that she has wished for so many times. Then for the first time in a long time she smiled.
"I'm happy this happened. I always wanted brothers and sisters..." There was a horrible crash from the street and the two raced to the window. There had been an accident between two trucks, both had lost part of their loads. Julie squinted her eyes as she looked to one of the trucks. It looked familar. She gasped as she read the sign on the side of the truck. She crabbed Sarah's hand and a jacket.
"There's been an accident with one of my work trucks, I want to make sure the driver's okay". Julie was the general manager in despatch and knew the small fleet of truck drivers well.
Julie lead Sarah down into the street. The second truck had been delivering animals to the pet shop in the next street. There were animals all over the road. She let out a sigh of relief when she realised that they were all still moving. Her vision blurred for a moment. She thought that she saw a few shattered T.G.R.I. canisters on the road. She looked again. She knew the stuff was toxic. She cried out in horror when Sarah got dangerously close to the green ooze. She yanked Sarah back.
"Please Ra, that green stuff, don't touch it, it's bad. Promise?" She nodded and went and sat on the footpath behind Julie.
"What happened Kevin?" She asked the driver, he was clutching his chest, gasping for air.
"My chest hurts..." Julie knew Kevin had a bad heart.
"Shit! It's a heart attack!" She quickly glanced at Sarah who was still in the same spot.
"Honey, stay there, I need to call an ambulance" Sarah nodded and stayed put. Julie crossed the street to the pay phone. Something caught Sarah's eye. There were four baby turtles moving in some of that green stuff. Sarah got up and walked to the tiny creatures and hestitated. The green stuff was bad! She couldn't let the baby turtles get hurt. She crabbed a stick from under a neary tree and gently moved the baby turtles from the ooze. She looked around. She didn't see Julie. She smiled as she scooped all four baby turtles into the jacket that she had been carrying. She quickly sat down. She didn't want to get into trouble.
Later on in the evening, once back in the unit, Sarah let the water run in the bathtub before she gently put all four turtles in. She dropped the jacket on the floor, making sure the ooze didn't touch her. With the bath back brush she gently washed the ooze off them. The door swung open and Julie walked in.
"What are you up too?" The smile disappeared from her face. "Are you crazy! I told you to stay away from that stuff" Sarah looked up at her, tears filling her eyes.
"I didn't touch it just like you said. I was careful... please can I keep them?" Julie crossed her arms. She was angry that Sarah had disobeyed her. She was now her responsibility. Her anger fizzed as she watched the little girl with the four baby animals. She was being careful and it brought her such joy... it was a blessing in disguise.
"Okay, let me clean this mess up. Please don't tell anyone about the green ooze. It's a secret. You can keep a secret can't you?" Sarah jumped up and down, a huge smile on her face. Julie had never seen the child this happy before. She knew then that she had made the right decision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour later when everything had been cleaned up, Julie put the four baby turtles on the floor. Sarah looked to her. "Are they boys or girls?"
"Umm, that's a good question" she got up and headed for the book case.
"There's an animal book here somewhere.... ah here it is" she crabbed it and returned to the floor. She found the page she was looking for. She took one of the baby turtles and turned it over.
"It's a girl!"
Five minutes later all four female turtles had names. Sarah smiled as she held her new friends. The sad events of the past few months had disappeared and Julie smiled. Sarah was going to be okay. Together they put the four babies in their temporary home. It was a cardboard box, with a bowl of water. In the morning, they were getting them a proper home.
Early the next morning, Julie awoke to a scream. She jumped out of bed and raced to Sarah's room. Sarah pointed to the box. She looked in. Leena, Maree, Donna and Rachael had doubled in size.
~ Chapter One ~ Coming Soon!
Prologue ~ The Beginning
"The turnover rate here is high, for your sake Matthew and Sarah's, just do what they say, and don't question it. There are only foreigners here and Mr Oroku prefers it that way. You're here for the same reason that everyone else is - the pay check..." That was what Beth has said to him the last time they had spoken. He shook his head and wiped the tears away using the back of his hand. It was a damn shame. She had been a good friend. He sat at her desk and looked around. The office was in a state of shock. Word had it that she had been mudered... but the locals had different ideas. They said that she had been assassinated. Ho Masuki, his housekeeper said that ninjas were to blame, that the Foot Clan were to blame. He had almost laughed. Ninjas in modern Japan? He doubted it, but he looked around nervously all the same. Beth had uncovered something big, that much he knew. He had seen Beth and Nathan the day before in a heated disscussion. Maybe she had told him, he would have to wait though, a meeting wasn't planned until later on tonight.
Later on that night, three of Beth's closest friends gathered at Matthew's house, along with their three small children. They had arranged to meet at this ungodly hour, so as not to be seen together during daylight hours.
Angel, Daniel's mother looked around nervously, wiping tears from her cheek.
"She told me that something might happen... if I had known that she was going to be murdered I would never have aggreed to help her.... she warned me and I did nothing. God... I hope nothing happens to me..." her voice trailed as her sights drifted to her sleeping son. The others all thought the same thing. They were all single parents with little or no family...
"I knew that company was a front, what the hell are we suppose to do?" Jessica's mother inquired, looking to the two men.
"We'll have to keep to the original plan... " Ho Masuki, the housekeeper and minder of all four children, ran into the room in a panic, her arms waving franticly in the air. Her daughter Julie behind her.
"The Foot, they know! They're ninjas.... they're coming for you... all of you... " she ran over and gently woke all four sleeping children.
"Come now children, we must go... " Matthew interrupted her.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ho Masuki cast him a worried looked. She knew better.
"You don't understand... first you, then your children..." His eyes lowered to the floor. They were now in too deep.
"Tell Sarah I love her... here" he pressed something into her hand. "For when she's old enough" Ho Masuki and Julie crabbed the weeping children from their distraught parents and ran into the other room, locking it behind them. Ho Masuki moved the carpet aside and lifted the trapdoor. Both women pushed the four children into the hole and pulled it closed behind them. Julie looked at the youngsters. This wasn't going to happen if they didn't quiet down. There was a disturbance in the other room and they both looked up. There wasn't much time.
"Remember when we played hide-and-go-seek?" They all nodded at her. "We have to do that. Your parents will come looking for us... ready?" She crabbed two of their hands and her mother did the same."Remember be very quite and don't look back..." The ninjas were now in the room above, trying to open the trap door. Ho Masuki and Julie started to run, the children barely able to keep up.
The tunnel was dark and one of the kids started to whimper, when there was a light ahead.
"C'mon kids" Julie said "hide real good and remember, don't look back!"
The six of them reached the end where it came out into the woods behind the house. There were footsteps echoing in the tunnel now. Julie looked to her worried mother. The Foot were now pursuing them.
"Go, I'll take care of them... we must protect the children..." Julie nodded "Meet me at the warf...Go!" Julie turned and ran up the hill, were she saw the children hiding in the bushes.
"Julie" asked Joshua "Is daddy in trouble?" She urged the kids to move on down the trail. The sun was just starting to rise and it had already started to get light.
"What makes you say that..." she was cut off by an agonizing scream.
"Run kids!" She pushed Sarah foward. She was terrorified, as they all were, but the youngsters ran anyway. They all liked Julie and they trusted her.
The other three children were the first up the hill. From there the house was clearly visible. They were panting.After pausing for a moment, they took a deep breath, then ran down the other side. Julie waited for Sarah, they had to go, they were visible here. All of a sudden there was a small explosion and the house erupted into flames. Ignoring Julie's earlier warning, Sarah turned around to look, her eyes wide in terror. A ninja leapt out of a window and ran into the nearby bush. After a moment a lone figure made it outside. He was covered in blood and swaying on his feet. Sarah cried out in horror as another ninja jumped out of the burning building and thrust a katana into his chest, then with one powerful strike, the figure was beheaded. Sarah's eyes rolled and she dropped to the ground. The figure was her father. Julie picked up the child and ran down the trail to where the other children were waiting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They did meet up with Ho Masuki that night. She was bloody and barely alive, but in time her wounds healed up. They boarded a ship and headed for Australia. It would be safe there. The Foot were not there and most of all Julie's father was there. The family were now on The Foot hit list. Ho Masuki, and her family belonged to another clan, one that opposed the Foot. The plans had already been made and would have come together perfectly if it had not been for Beth. She found out about the Foot and had tried to blackmail Saki and his family... along the way, eight innocents had been dragged into the mess, all four parents murdered.
A few years passed and the children flouished... all except Sarah. Since that dreadful night, she was very withdrawn and scared, even with years of training, she did not feel safe. Ho Masuki and her husband taught the five children everything they knew.
When Julie turned 22, her parents left for America, taking Jessica, Joshua and Daniel with them. Her aunt was ill and had asked them to go. Sarah stayed behind with Julie. She had just landed a well paying managerial job with T.G.R.I Sydney, and had promised her parents to continue with Sarah's training. They knew that there would be a time in her life when they could no longer protect her... besides, Julie was the only one that Sarah ever opened up too, and they couldn't risk taking her away. After the murder, Sarah did not speak for one year. All memories of her biological parents had been erased, her mind had pushed those horrible memories back, into her subconsciousness. Sarah was now eight, and needed all the help that she could get. She now refered to Ho Masuki and Ho Yin as her mother and father. Little did anyone realise, but the teary farewell was the last time that Sarah ever saw her adopted parents again. Four months later her father was diagnosed with advanced leukaemia and died two months later. Her mother was so distraught, that two weeks after that, she had a heart attack and died.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah sobbed into her pillow. Her mother and father were dead and she would never see them again. Julie walked into her room and sat down beside the little girl. Sarah was the little sister that she never had. She had promised her parents that she would look after her in their absence. She now intended to keep that promise. In her hand she clutched a letter. She reached over to Sarah and pulled her into her arms and cuddled her.
"Everything is going to be alright now, sweetie, don't worry" she looked at her tear stained face and pushed her hair away from her eyes. Sarah looked up to Julie, her eyes filled with saddness. Julie shook her head. For one so young, she had know much heartache .
"Mum never had the chance to send these... the adoption.. it's final. I'm now your big sister. Sam, Josh and Dan are now your sister and brothers ." Sarah's eyes widened. This was something that she has wished for so many times. Then for the first time in a long time she smiled.
"I'm happy this happened. I always wanted brothers and sisters..." There was a horrible crash from the street and the two raced to the window. There had been an accident between two trucks, both had lost part of their loads. Julie squinted her eyes as she looked to one of the trucks. It looked familar. She gasped as she read the sign on the side of the truck. She crabbed Sarah's hand and a jacket.
"There's been an accident with one of my work trucks, I want to make sure the driver's okay". Julie was the general manager in despatch and knew the small fleet of truck drivers well.
Julie lead Sarah down into the street. The second truck had been delivering animals to the pet shop in the next street. There were animals all over the road. She let out a sigh of relief when she realised that they were all still moving. Her vision blurred for a moment. She thought that she saw a few shattered T.G.R.I. canisters on the road. She looked again. She knew the stuff was toxic. She cried out in horror when Sarah got dangerously close to the green ooze. She yanked Sarah back.
"Please Ra, that green stuff, don't touch it, it's bad. Promise?" She nodded and went and sat on the footpath behind Julie.
"What happened Kevin?" She asked the driver, he was clutching his chest, gasping for air.
"My chest hurts..." Julie knew Kevin had a bad heart.
"Shit! It's a heart attack!" She quickly glanced at Sarah who was still in the same spot.
"Honey, stay there, I need to call an ambulance" Sarah nodded and stayed put. Julie crossed the street to the pay phone. Something caught Sarah's eye. There were four baby turtles moving in some of that green stuff. Sarah got up and walked to the tiny creatures and hestitated. The green stuff was bad! She couldn't let the baby turtles get hurt. She crabbed a stick from under a neary tree and gently moved the baby turtles from the ooze. She looked around. She didn't see Julie. She smiled as she scooped all four baby turtles into the jacket that she had been carrying. She quickly sat down. She didn't want to get into trouble.
Later on in the evening, once back in the unit, Sarah let the water run in the bathtub before she gently put all four turtles in. She dropped the jacket on the floor, making sure the ooze didn't touch her. With the bath back brush she gently washed the ooze off them. The door swung open and Julie walked in.
"What are you up too?" The smile disappeared from her face. "Are you crazy! I told you to stay away from that stuff" Sarah looked up at her, tears filling her eyes.
"I didn't touch it just like you said. I was careful... please can I keep them?" Julie crossed her arms. She was angry that Sarah had disobeyed her. She was now her responsibility. Her anger fizzed as she watched the little girl with the four baby animals. She was being careful and it brought her such joy... it was a blessing in disguise.
"Okay, let me clean this mess up. Please don't tell anyone about the green ooze. It's a secret. You can keep a secret can't you?" Sarah jumped up and down, a huge smile on her face. Julie had never seen the child this happy before. She knew then that she had made the right decision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour later when everything had been cleaned up, Julie put the four baby turtles on the floor. Sarah looked to her. "Are they boys or girls?"
"Umm, that's a good question" she got up and headed for the book case.
"There's an animal book here somewhere.... ah here it is" she crabbed it and returned to the floor. She found the page she was looking for. She took one of the baby turtles and turned it over.
"It's a girl!"
Five minutes later all four female turtles had names. Sarah smiled as she held her new friends. The sad events of the past few months had disappeared and Julie smiled. Sarah was going to be okay. Together they put the four babies in their temporary home. It was a cardboard box, with a bowl of water. In the morning, they were getting them a proper home.
Early the next morning, Julie awoke to a scream. She jumped out of bed and raced to Sarah's room. Sarah pointed to the box. She looked in. Leena, Maree, Donna and Rachael had doubled in size.
~ Chapter One ~ Coming Soon!