Chapter 8: The Mad Dog
As soon as Usagi and Rock were ushered into the room with Hunter, his people left them alone. The room they were in had a spectacular view of the city below.
"Damn good thing we moved out of that warehouse when we did," Hunter droned as he sat himself down and put his feet up on the table. He held a portfolio in one hand, though he hadn't opened it. "According to my people, Balalaika had her soldiers do a sweep of the place an hour ago."
"Where are we?" Rock asked. He and Usagi stood by the door, close to one another. Both of them were far too afraid and uncertain to go anywhere near Hunter. But he would not harm them. As treacherous and unpredictable as he was, he seemed genuine when he told them they were safe from his wrath.
"This whole building once belonged to another criminal organisation," the man in black began, looking out the window at the streets below. "They cleared out of here a few days ago. The death of their leader left them a bit lost. Now, most of them have left the country. The rest are either getting drunk at the local bar or trying their best to appeal to the better nature of Chang and Balalaika. That's not gonna happen."
"The Formation lived here?" Rock deduced.
"Right you are, kiddo," Hunter answered. It felt wrong that the man who killed Ulysses was now lounging around in the crime lord's former home. It was like one final defilement of the Formation and everything they stood for. "Shit, Rock. Lighten up. Take a seat, have a drink." The Japanese man was hesitant, but he took a seat across from Hunter then. It seemed like the man had a lot more to say. He was building up to something, Rock just didn't know what. One of the Dead Men entered the room then and bowed.
"Boss, we made the call," he informed his leader, standing up straight again. "She'll be here within the next few days."
"Of course she will," Hunter said mournfully. "It ain't like her to pass up an opportunity to cause some chaos. Thank you, Hendrickson." The man nodded obediently before leaving the room. "I hoped to avoid this. But I don't have many more options, do I? Rahul's fucking gone, Max is dead, Andromeda is AWOL…" He was speaking more to himself than anyone else, but Rock was curious what he was talking about. It certainly did not sound pleasant.
"Who are you talking about?" That caught the man's attention. He cleared his throat before producing a cigar from inside his jacket and lighting it.
"Things have changed," he said. "I had everything prepared for this war. Black Bear was set to take out Ulysses. Well, we all know how that went. Andromeda was for the others, but I haven't heard shit from her since. She's reliable. I trust her. If she hasn't completed her job yet, it's because she's dead or one of your friends has taken her hostage. Whatever the situation, I've been forced into a position I really don't want to be in."
He sat forward in his seat and looked at Rock intently. There was anger in his eyes, and untapped potential for aggression. There was more going on than Rock knew. "Svetlana the Mad Dog. Russian. Very dangerous. She's done a few jobs for me in the past. See, since I started the Dead Men I've had an inner circle that I turn to for specific things. There was a time when it consisted of Rahul, Kepler, Augustus Kells…and Svetlana. They're all otherwise occupied now, though, right?" He smirked wickedly. Clearly, he knew about Kells. That was worrying. "They all had their specialities. Rahul was communication, Kepler was combat, Kells was arms procurement. And Svetlana was sheer, untapped, raw carnage. I did my best to keep her on a leash all these years, but when she gets the smell of blood, she's like a rabid dog. And I've been forced to call her in."
"Who is she?" Rock asked. "How can you be so sure she'll do what Bear and Andromeda failed to?"
"Oh, she'll get the job done, have no fear," Hunter assured him. "I've known her for years. She was in the Russian military for a while. Wasn't long after that she made it into the Spetsnaz. But she's a vicious bitch. She killed one of her own people, just clawed his fucking throat out right there in the barracks. Spent the next three years in a high security prison, the three after that at the mercy of the KGB. They tortured the shit out of her for no goddamn reason. She's been through a hell of a lot, let me tell you. And now she works for me. She's going to make your friends wish they never fucked with me. And if I'm honest, I might not be able to get her back on the leash when I'm done. So the city will be at her mercy."
"That's nuts!" Rock exploded. "Even you can't be so heartless as to unleash her on the city. You can fight your war and do as you please against the ruling factions, but to leave this woman here after you're done…it's plain evil!"
"Well, it ain't like I'm going to be hanging around," Hunter reminded the Japanese man. "She's not my fucking problem once Balalaika and Chang are dead. Only reason I called her in was because your people backed me into a corner. Svetlana isn't loyal to a flag or a country. She's a freelance psychopath, under the command of the highest bidder. But even the highest bidder doesn't fucking want her. Only reason she answers to me is because I busted her out of that KGB bunker they had her in. She trades blood for money and gets off on it as she tears your heart out of your chest." He flashed that toothy smile once more. "She's our best friend when she arrives."
This was incredibly worrying. They assumed that all of Hunter's resources had been spent, that all he had left was the group of miscellaneous Dead Men he brought with him. But to learn there was indeed another individual, one who sounded unimaginably dangerous, was a terrifying thought. Hunter threw the portfolio down on the table, then. "Open it," he instructed Rock. "I've been in contact with a few of my associates in the last few hours. From what I've heard, you'll be interested to see what's in there."
"The documents…"
"Yeah," Hunter confirmed, shooting a sly glance at Usagi, who stood meekly beside Rock's chair. "The documents. You've been hearing a lot about them. I thought about giving you a look, but it would have been pointless. Until I got off the phone a while ago, that is. The guy I spoke to mentioned you. He's an old friend. So go ahead. Take a peek."
Rock was becoming increasingly intrigued by these documents. They had always been an object of curiosity for him, but Hunter's words implied they had some deeper connection to Rock, or perhaps Lagoon Company. He cautiously took the portfolio in his hands and opened it, anticipating what was to come. There were about four or five different files, but the first one was what caught Rock's eye. There was a picture at the top, followed by blocks of text. The man in the picture had grey hair and was clean shaven. He was familiar to Rock, for all the wrong reasons.
"Kageyama…"
"That's right," Hunter said gleefully. It was Rock's old boss, a high ranking member of Asahi Industries. What was worse, the text below the picture contained information on the company's under-the-table dealings, some of which involved nuclear weaponry, just like the disc Rock possessed when he first encountered Lagoon Company. There were other transactions listed, too, implying Asahi were involved in even more shady dealings than what Rock knew.
"I don't believe this," Rock breathed. "He's…one of yours?!"
"Hah! No, not a chance," Hunter chuckled. "That slimy bastard wouldn't ever be one of my Dead Men. But he is an associate of mine. That file you're holding details my knowledge about his company's dealings. That's in thanks largely to a now deceased colleague of mine, who used to work at Asahi. I used this information against Kageyama. In the early days, when I was only starting out, it was an easy way to acquire weapons and equipment. I agreed to keep quiet about Kageyama's dodgy operations and he agreed to supply my people. I keep that file so he stays submissive."
"That's why you wanted the documents back so badly."
"Yes," Hunter answered. "Without them, Kageyama could just cut all ties with me and throw me to the wolves. I wasn't going to let that happen. Got off the phone with him not long ago. Your name seemed to interest him." This was almost too much to take. Rock knew his old boss was involved with some very questionable activities, but he never once considered that other parties knew this and used that knowledge to blackmail the company. No wonder Hunter rose so quickly to become one of the most powerful crime lords in the world. He was receiving a constant supply of state-of-the-art weapons and vehicles. Rock was about to leave the portfolio down when the second file caught his eye. There was a picture accompanying it, too. A picture of two children. "Now, I didn't say you could go looking through the rest, did I?"
"Why do you have this file?" Rock asked, tossing the Asahi Industries file aside and holding up the second one.
"You telling me you know those kids?" He knew them, alright. They had caused a lot of grief in the city when they arrived. Hansel and Gretel were disturbed individuals, the products of years of depravity and darkness. And Hunter apparently had some connection to them. "That ain't particularly any of your business, kid." The text was enough to tell him that Hunter's interest was not sinister. No, it was refreshingly good-natured. He had people searching for the twins.
After they began their first bout of rampage killings, the Dead Men apparently caught onto them. "I wasn't into that, Rock," Hunter assured him. "But I knew what they were. I knew the depths they'd been subjected to. Like what happened to our Usagi, right? Only ten times fucking worse. I wanted to help them, to give them a home if I could. But I lost track of them. Last I heard, they met their end."
"So, what, you wanted to help them out in some attempt to make yourself feel good?!" Rock snapped. "You wanted to do your good deed to convince yourself you aren't all that bad?!" Hunter narrowed his eyes and frowned. This was still a sensitive subject for Rock, even after all this time. He was disgusted by what he had seen with the twins and the idea that Hunter felt the same way was almost unacceptable to him, due in no small part to the fact that he viewed Hunter as a despicable man.
"I wanted to tear those people apart," Hunter claimed, his voice deathly quiet. "I wanted to take those kids and give them a fucking life, something that they actually deserved. And I wanted to watch as all the paedophiles and rapists burned alive at my command." Rock wasn't sure how to react to that. The next two files were of no interest to him, detailing Hunter's dealings with other gangs and crime lords in Asia. But the last file again stopped him in his tracks. There were two small photos attached to it, two people he had come to know fairly well. A girl, young and innocent, in a schoolgirl's outfit. And a man, tall, tough and dangerous, a personality as sharp as the katana he held.
"And this?" Rock asked, his voice shaky as he laid the file down on the table and tapped on it. "You knew them…or at the very least, you wanted to."
"I met with members of the Washimine Clan once," Hunter explained. "That girl was someone they wanted to protect. They were small and weak in a world of violence. I offered to rise them up, to stamp out their enemies in Tokyo and put them at the top of the food chain. In return, they'd give me the man. Ginji. He would have made a nice addition to my crew." Hunter fell silent then as he looked out the window. He grew sullen as he remembered these people, these endeavours he hoped to see to the end. But he never got the chance. These people were wiped off the face of the Earth all too soon. At least that was something Rock and Hunter agreed on. "But they met their end in that city. They died. And…well, that's just how things are, I guess."
