The limo slowly came to a halt alerting Plissken to the situation. He stretched lazily as the door opened. More blue clad Japanese greeted him as he stood. They were in another bay. It could have been the same one as far as Plissken could tell. It looked exactly like the one they had left. The ruse was continuing they still didn't want him to know where he was. Little did they know back in the bar Plissken was already lost.

"Third floor." One of the men instructed pointing toward an open elevator door.

Plissken hated elevators. They were like traps that roved up and down a building. Snake would rather run the steps, no matter how many there were. He doubted he would be given that sort of choice. Resigning to his hosts he made for the elevator. No one interfered though they watched him closely.

Plissken was internally reluctant but pressed the up arrow anyway. They hadn't disarmed him. That left only two choices; they were either fools or actually looking to deal. Snake would bet on the latter if he had to make a choice. Relief came with those thoughts because Plissken was honestly in no mood for a gunfight. He'd come to Japan to get away from them for awhile.

A loud metallic ding sounded followed by the grating of old doors sliding open. The inside of the elevator was unlit. A heartbeat passed in which Plissken was far away on a roof top waiting to descend into hell. Snake took a step inside and the doors began to close taking with them the light. Darkness pressed in around Plissken as the elevator jolted into motion. The feeling was claustrophobic but Snake had seen the tactic before. It was meant to unnerve him and throw his guard. The Snake wouldn't let parlor tricks hit his confidence.

The ride was short ending in another jolt that forced Plissken to rediscover his balance. The doors opened to blinding light. Pain throbbed vigorously in his head, burning hot as he stepped into the light. His eye was still filled with white haze though he could make out enough. There was one figure across the room with their back toward him.

His eye blinked several more times before the scene cleared. He was in a traditionally decorated room filled with greens and dark wood. The figure was a woman wearing a green Kimono and pouring a drink. She had yet to acknowledge him but the change in her posture was enough to verify that she was aware of his presence.

"Would you like a drink Mr. Plissken?" Her voice was quiet with an unusual accent, not quite the Japanese accent to the English. There was something more to it that eluded Plissken.

"Call me Snake." Plissken announced in his usual low, gravelly and disinterested voice.

"Very well, Snake. Would you care for a glass of wine?" She turned exposing the plunge front of the kimono and the bottle of plum wine in her hand. Her features were striking. Her skin and hair were those of a Japanese woman but her eyes were emerald and her cheeks dusted in red flecks.

"No." Snake stated. He knew better than to drink in this kind of circumstance.

The woman turned away again, evidently to pour herself a glass. "The great Snake Plissken refuses a drink. I shall have to mark it on my calendar."

Her voice was a mock that Snake didn't care for. When she again faced him he hadn't moved from his place in front of the elevator door.

"Why am I here?" Snake was through with whatever game they were going to play. He wasn't interested in a duel of words or any other form of bandy. He wanted to go back to what he had come to Japan for.

"So, much for pleasantries." She smiled over the rim of her off green wine goblet before sipping.

"The Jade Tiger." He announced taking a gander at exactly who was in front of him. All the green and the curl of a tiger tail decorating her skin between the breasts were surely enough to go on.

"Smart too." She commented with so much flattery it instantly put Plissken on edge. Plissken was still staring at the tiger tail, committing the mark to memory just in case he ever had to recall it.

"Like what you see Snake?" She pushed the kimono open enough to expose the entire tiger prowling down between her breasts.

Snake wasn't interested in the exposed skin. It was the tattoo he was examining. Something about it brought back memories. The war flashed in his mind, moments of explosions and a brilliant flash outside his cockpit. It lit up another glider painted with that same tiger.

"The Green Tigers." Snake mumbled it to himself as if to confirm his suspicion.

The woman's expression changed to what one might call shock. "What?"

Snake came to from his memories unsure of where they were in the conversation.

"What did you say?"

Plissken was silent for a moment. He hadn't known he'd said anything out loud. He knew some about the Green Tigers. They had been stationed in Japan before The Ruse.

"The Green Tigers. That's their flight mark." Snake nodded in her direction and resumed his survey of the room. She seemed annoyed by his ignorance of her bare skin.

The woman nodded and it instantly set Plissken's mind to set the scenario. Father in the US military, mother in a whorehouse. It was the way things went in war.

"You flew the Black Light." She retorted. It was Plissken's turn to be suspicious of what the other knew.

"Why am I here?" Snake asked again denying her any affirmation or denial to the statement.

"I have something you've been looking for." The Jade Tiger smiled coyly and sipped her wine.

"What's that?" Plissken countered shifting his weight from the left to the right.

"The question isn't what I have but what you're willing to pay for it."

Snake's expression faded to disgust. "I'm not interested."

"Oh, but you are honey. You just don't know it yet."

Plissken gave her a dirty look. He wasn't in the mood for games or her coy tactics. He gave her a moment before turning his back on her and pressing the down arrow. He was done with this and ready to go back to his hotel.

"Berrigan!" She announced as the doors began to part.

Snake froze at that one word. Disgust welled up followed by a volcanic eruption of emotion, hate, pain and a killer instinct that would pale even that of a starving tiger. Rage pinned him to place. The only thing that moved was his lip curling into a silent snarl and the narrowing of his eye.

"Ah, I knew you were interested. So, Snake, what's the going rate on Berrigan's head these days?"

Snake turned and glared at her. "He's dead." It was a lie but Plissken had to determine if this was credible.

"Really?" The Tiger pressed a button on her speaker phone. "Will you put Berrigan on?"

There was silence and then a male voice. "Yes Madam?"

Plissken sucked in a breath so hard his lungs burned. That fire bubbled up into bile in the back of Plissken's throat.

"I've got an old friend of yours out here." The woman smiled at the silence. "I know you are familiar with Snake Plissken. Maybe you don't remember him."

She went on talking but Plissken missed it consumed with white hot fire so strong his eye didn't even hurt. No, this anger burned so hot it numbed his senses. He had been searching for Berrigan for years, over twenty and the whole time that hate had festered.

"How much is he worth to you Snake?" The Tiger had turned off the speaker and started across the room at him. Snake hardly noticed.

"What do you want?"

The Jade Tiger stopped a few feet away looking Plissken over. "I want you. I want to own you for two weeks and have you do what I want you to. For that I'll give you revenge."

Plissken didn't like the sound of this offer but in the back of his mind he could still hear Berrigan's voice. He could still hear him giving the orders for Leningrad and with it merged the sound of Sophia's screams. Those two sounds had filled his nightmares and plagued his life. "Why?"

"Simple. I got a job in Thailand. I need a bodyguard, a guide and what every woman wants from you."

The first part Snake understood all too well. It was a common commission for others to request from him but the last comment piqued his curiosity.

"What might that be?"

Plissken watched the Tiger's eyes sliding down. "Just where does that tattoo of yours go."

Snake let out a half laugh. "Is that all?"

The woman paused and contemplated his counter. She knew he was trying to alter her plans but if she knew as much as she appeared Plissken was certain she would realize any job would play by his rules. Snake waited patiently. He wanted Berrigan and on the terms he had offered he would play the game to get him. Otherwise, this Jade Tiger would find herself playing Plissken's style and no one ever liked that.