«» — ALOHA BOOM BOOM — «»

«» Chapter Seven «»

«» Gunchurch Mob «»

o0O¥O0o — 07 — o0O¥O0o

The man who isn't Okajima Rokuro looks up sharply from where he is surrounded by guns n ammo n mags, which he is translating. There's just been a loud explosive bang and now he can see smoke rising up from the far side of the barn that he's in. It's framed in the open doorway and is coming from some spot in town; a spot which is about where the Yellow Flag should be.

Idly he hopes that Revy isn't there or at least that she has nothing to do with any demolition. It'd be nice, for the once, to go into the bar and come out just with a drinks tab and not a repair bill. He puts it from his mind and minds his task; soon he is lost in a world of technical, tactical Japanese.

CRASH ! ! !

Gun parts go flying in every direction as Eda bursts into the ordnance barn and flings all of Rock's hard work to the four corners and the four winds. She plunges to her knees in front of him; grabs ahold of his head and forces his face up so he has to stare right at her; wide eyed and startled; sure that she's finally flipped; her words don't reassure.

« Rocky, Rocks, Rock. Rocky One. Rocky Two. Double. Duplicate. Doppelgänger. Do you know there's two of you? Late Breaking News Rock — Rocky Two, a lady-you, got off the boat this morning. She knows mafia like you know minerals. Got the town all stirred up. Dirt she's got on Rowan scared the shit out of him. »

Eda unfolds, back onto her feet, then leans on the doorpost and jerks a thumb towards the smoke pluming up from the heart of town.

« Not his brains though; man's got the survival skills of a roach he fed her line that the dumbfuck Ronny-the-Jaws was the best infobroker in town and sent her off to Ronny's' biz office. Rocky Two has to be as dumb as a fish; the moment she's out of the door Rowan is on the phone to Ronny; taking out a contract on one unlucky Japanee and that's all they wrote. »

« Not so. The lady isn't dead. »

Yolanda's level voice floats in from the doorway.

« Eda! I've told you before; not so much the drama. The Lord has little love for a show-boater and none at all for one with the wrong intel. Italian Ronny contracted Lagoon Company to dispose of the body, once he'd made it into a body. He never was much of a businessman though and voided the contract by dousing everyone in the street with a bullet shower. All that was left was for Lagoon's wild girl to snatch the lady and evacuate.

« Revy ? »

« Revy ! »

« The very same and I've already called her; she's on here way here to collect you Rock. Now that our walking Book of Wisdom has shouted out her trade in the marketplace nowhere in the world is going to be safe for her. It is the church's bounden duty to help the lost and wayward. The Lord will open wide his arms and hasten our new daughter into sanctuary. »

« So long as she can pay her way; isn't that right, Sister Yolanda? »

« What else, dear boy; we are a church not a charity. As the Book of Beasts says: we must be as sharp as serpents and as cunning as wolves — to beat out our competitors. »

« Fucking right; bet even the U.S of A would like a stake in this hot deal. »

Eda adds; hurling a pinned grenade dead at the States on a world-wall-map; as emphasis.

« If the Nihon Guru can dig as deep as it seems then all the gangs in town and across the globe will be after her: if not to make her speak up, then to make her clam up. I am so fortunate you've graced us with your company, dear boy; your presence gives me a unique opening. Who better to bring her to me than a fellow countryman.

« I'm sorry Sister Yolanda but you're wrong — I'm no countryman of hers. You must know I was in Japan on business recently. We were in Tokyo, where I'd lived my whole life; but it was no homecoming. »

Nigh on desperately, Rock grabs up a dense sheaf of the dense Nihon paperwork that he is working on and brandishes it in Yolanda's face.

« There was nothing left between us, no connection, no common language; no way for me to speak out of my darkness to those still in the light. I'd fooled myself; I'd believed my homeland was always there, if I chose to return. But, once I was there, I couldn't find "home" however much I looked. »

Rock seizes up a fistful of glistening brass shells from a crate and lets them trickle out from his hand and back into the box in a rattling chain of metal. For a long moment all three of them gaze on that trail of death; mesmerised — then Rock raises his head to gaze around the barn: at the munitions, at Eda, at Yolanda, then out of the door and over to Roanapur.

« Too much has come between me and them. I've already moved so far away that I can never find my way back. I stood at the door to my past life and didn't dare knock, because I'd been too deeply stained by this life. You can't expect me to make another victim. »

The past explodes inside of Rock's mind, as the excoriating words of Yukio return to haunt him, from the blood-soaked bowling-alley. Yet so, none but Revy will ever know all of the ghosts that haunt him. Rock flinches from the razor-wire of his past, yet so, the here and now will not let him escape it.

« Eloquent as ever my dear boy but have you considered the fallout? Your innocent lamb has her head full of deadly knowledge and the skill to cook up more; naive as she is that makes her a walking target. As the Book of Infidels says: "Yea though I walk through the Vale of Mafia bearing gold in great store, so surely will my head be parted from my shoulders." Whoever gets close to her is looking for a fresh career, as a smoking hole in the ground. That means your friends in Lagoon, Rock. »

« Yes; yes it does and they've no idea what they're dealing with. I'll bet I can name your lamb, Sister; she's Fujiyamako Kagami a researcher from Japan. She's been in touch with Benny for months, chasing down some dream she has and sounding off about following the trail to Roanapur. It really unnerved me that Tokyo came nosing round my grave. It's best that we never meet or who knows what kinda Nagasaki we'll set off.

« My dear boy you're far too astute to believe troubles will pass you by if you ignore them. That sweet girl is a living grenade and she will explode at your feet, if you don't defuse her. »

« Yeah; you're no dumbfuck! »

Eda calls out, a lit cigarette dangling from her fingers as she lolls on a pile of live ammo.

"Let my creditors come and I shall confound them all; from behind a ten foot wall" says the Book of Croesus. The Big Powers don't care to be stung by picking ants out of this nest. Why, even the Feds don't come hunting a copkiller like Revy. My dear boy you're secure in Roanapur. You can take whatever action you like. »

« I never meant to deal with her. She was never meant to be here. I made Benny chill her and scare her, with horror stories about Roanapur. I wanted her to stay in her kandiflos world. Should've known that'd never work. I'd forgotten what her type are like. You find her sort in every big Japanese corporation. They're always top of their field and that's because all they see is their own obsessions. »

« She sure as hell didn't see Rowan's set-up. She was lucky as fuck Revy was there to give Ronny lead dentures. »

Eda jibes; kicking at a missile for emphasis.

« Yeah she's so blinkered she doesn't get where she's headed or how she's going to be used. My team've no idea that she's about as safe to be around as a guided missile. Okay then Sister Yolanda; I'll save her from Roanapur for you and even mention your name to her. But if I can make her get the hell out of town I'll rather do that. However it falls out, don't forget the deal is just between us though; don't hold Lagoon responsible. »

« I wouldn't dream of it my dear. I had hoped for a better deal than the one you're offering but I suppose I must respect your national peculiarities. Now I hear your lift is coming, so time for business. Au revoir, dear boy. »