Chapter 21: Those With Hope
Petrushka stared out wistfully at Tokyo's sprawling, sparkling skyline. The view was gorgeous, the night sky clear and the city across the bay beckoned seductively with its dazzling array of lights. There, over the water, Tokyo whispered promises of expensive brand name clothing, jewelry, accessories, and fine food and wine. Petra could smell and taste the nights full of romance culminating in sensual lovemaking on silk sheets in luxury hotel rooms against the backdrop of what she imagined the skyline of Heaven looked like. She, familiar only with whatever small country towns her targets chose to hide in, had only vaguely dreamed of such a place and here, now, it stood closer than ever with open arms.
She slammed a fresh magazine into her Taurus with a bitter violence. Her trance, her fantasies, shattered instantly. Though it broke her heart, she had not come to Tokyo to play. Petrushka turned her back on the city and wandered about the deck of the cargo vessel on which she and the other refugees (plus Robert and his pirates) sought to slip under the radar of the Satori. It was a strange repeat of that day only several weeks ago when the Fratelli touched down on Yokohama and ventured, deaf and blind, into the enemy's territory.
Fast-forward a few weeks and the situation was approximately the same, but the game had changed considerably. Any hope of dismantling the Satori from the shadows with cold precision and the assassinations of key figures was lost with the list of their competitors. Mere hours after the burning of The Graveyard, Robert had received confirmation from a contact that leaders of hit contracting organizations across Japan were being murdered. Literally overnight the Satori had emerged atop this pile of corpses to stand alone as the assassination syndicate of Japan. And while Enma's warning still rang fresh in their minds, the Fratelli had a job to do, aided or not by the Japanese underworld. Whether the upcoming mission went well or not, none of the pirates or refugees planned to stay in Japan long enough to reap the reprisals.
As she walked about, Petra observed the players on her team. Rico and Nana looked out over the city together. The former smiled and spoke kindly, while the latter appeared distraught at the kidnapping of her brother. A short distance away, Jean leaned against the guardrail, alone, grim and contemplative. Masaru, Osamu, and Alessandro huddled close together, most likely discussing operational procedure for when their feet hit the ground. Meanwhile, Robert's pirates were scattered around smoking, drinking, joking, and checking their weapons. Robert himself was pacing the deck leisurely while speaking on his phone, presumably to his lineup of shadowy contacts. Eventually he stopped and approached Jean carefully, noticing his solitude. Petra decided not to eavesdrop and left to stare off into the distance once more.
Jean felt as if his mind had been fractured. He should have been focusing on the upcoming mission, but his conscience dwelled upon Rio's hurt face when he had snapped at her earlier that night. Had he been wrong to do so? She had no chance facing an assassin on her own, but would she have survived the skirmish underground alongside her companions? Was his intent to keep her out of harm's way, or out of his hair? Jean struggled with so many thoughts in his head and each sent him deeper into despair than the last.
"Johnny Boy," Robert interrupted Jean's musings as he approached, "What's eatin' at ya?" Robert turned his back and leaned lazily against the handrail to look out over the deck and survey his men.
"Nothing," Jean growled, his tone finely tuned to warn Robert away without the need to state it explicitly.
"Aw, come on now," Robert chuckled, "I don't care how much of a hardened badass you are, John, that look of yours speaks volumes of your mental state."
Jean sucked his teeth in irritation. "You know damn well what's wrong," he seethed, "And don't you daremake me say it myself."
Robert examined Jean's face from a careful sideways glance. He was still wearing the same hard, analytical expression as always, but there was a bitterness and anguish bubbling up just under the surface.
"John," Robert sighed as he lit up a cigarette and took a long drag, "You've gotta loosen up a little."
Jean very nearly sputtered in disbelief. "A girl died because of me," he said, "I promised them freedom and peace of mind. Instead I've led them from one disaster to another."
Robert exhaled a quick stream of smoke and watched it float up and disappear. "See," he replied as if Jean had proven his point, "You're too hard on everyone including yourself. I know you're a take-charge kinda guy, but you're not team leader here. I know Masaru and Ricci were both involved in the planning of that operation and I know all three of you came up with and approved of the contingencies."
"What's your point?"
"My point is that if a plan goes wrong, the blame falls on everyone who had a hand in creating it. I promise you Masaru and Ricci ain't pointing fingers at you for what happened to the girl. And in any case, is now really the best time to be doing that?"
Jean paused and thought about this, quickly realizing that Robert was correct. Ever since he arrived in Japan, Jean had been doubting and doing nothing else. His classic surefooted attitude had gotten on the plane with him, but had not disembarked. All he had to work with was his professionalism, and that alone was insufficient.
Robert flicked his cigarette into the bay and said in an observant, understanding tone, "Listen, about that reaction of yours towards that whole…thing that happened earlier. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at the time, but it was familiar and I think I got it now. That was a relapse, wasn't it?"
This time Jean did have a response and a classic one at that. "Drop it," he said, keeping his tone and voice just above a snarl.
Robert chuckled and said, "Alright, I understand. We've all got our secrets. I'm sure I've got some that would interest you, for example. Maybe one day we can trade."
He checked his watch and straightened up as he said, "It's almost time to get going so I'm gonna give my boys a once-over to make sure they're ready to go. A word of advice, first, though. That girl of yours, Rico? She's a good kid: loyal, honest, playful, and, most importantly for you, a listener. I know you've gotta lotta baggage, but sometimes the best thing for it is to have someone help you carry it. You watch over her, 'cause you know she's doing the same for you."
Jean nodded thoughtfully and replied quietly, "So I've been told."
"Should've only needed to hear it once, John," Robert said in a way that, for the first time, could be described as sadness. He turned his back then and hollered to round up his men.
Jean stood alone now, but felt uneasy about it. It had been a while since he had allowed himself to be affected by loneliness, but for now he would suppress the feeling as usual and join the others.
In a matter of minutes, the refugees, Robert and his crew had gathered near the center of the ship's deck to be briefed. Robert began first.
"Several hours ago," he announced loudly to the crowd, "We got word that the Hanone were mobilized from Tokyo. Presumably, this is also where the Aruji is located and has been giving orders to assassinate strategic figures throughout Japan. I asked around and my contacts tell me they've sighted Hanone in Roppongi Hills."
Alessandro took over from here, "We're still not sure who the Aruji is and we don't know what he and the Hanone are doing at a shopping center, but if he's there, that's where we'll hit him."
"All we've got are the things we can carry off the ship," Robert continued, "There'll be transport waiting for us outside the harbor. As a bonus, I've managed to weasel a helicopter off the hands of one of my contacts, which I'll use to scout out Roppongi Hills ahead of time. Once I've found out where they're concentrated, you all can begin your assault on the ground."
"It is vital that we win tonight," Masaru spoke up with mounting passion, "The Satori are more powerful now than ever before, but that does not change the truth. The truth is that while the beast has many eyes, ears, and claws, it only has one heart. If we remove the heart, the beast dies. If we kill this man, the Aruji, we kill the Satori. However, if we fail, he will go back underground and even if we survive tonight, tomorrow will forever be an uncertainty."
At this point, Robert addressed his men directly, "Now, we're not gonna be able to conceal all of the equipment we need for this mission. There's no beating the Satori at their own game, so we'll have to make them play yours. Sure they have their ninja skills, but y'all are pirates! And what do pirates do?"
"We take!" Robert's men cried and pounded their weapons on the deck once in unison.
"And the stuff we can't take?" Robert raised his voice further.
"We burn!" Robert's men shouted in savage glee.
"And the people who get in our way?" Robert yelled fiercely.
"We kill!" Robert's men hooted, hollered and whooped excitedly, ready to embrace either glory or death equally.
Robert turned to Masaru and laughed, "Didn't mean to steal your thunder there, friend. They just love that speech."
Jean watched as Robert, Masaru and Alessandro proceeded to talk and joke off the pre-operation stress. Meanwhile, he noticed Rico and Nana walking off together. Out of habit, he opened his mouth to call to her commandingly, but he stopped himself. Instead, he approached the girls and said calmly, "Rico."
The little blonde turned, somewhat surprised, yet smiled and greeted Jean with an enthusiastic, "Hello, sir!"
Jean hesitated at first, unsure what to say, then settled on, "Are you feeling alright?"
Rico blinked once and answered, "Yes! But Nana isn't. She's afraid for her brother. Why? Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong. This is the most important operation we've had and I just wanted to see how you were doing…that's all." Jean thought he sounded like an awkward high school boy talking to a cheerleader.
"I'm fine!" Rico reassured her handler with a smile, "I was just telling Nana about home since we'll be going back soon."
"Oh?" Jean turned his attention to Nana, whom he'd unintentionally left out of the conversation. Her gaze wandered, first off to the side, then down at her feet, then here, next there and so forth. It was clear she was intimidated by Jean and because of this he realized that he could not remember the last time he had interacted with a child who had not been brainwashed or conditioned to behave in a certain way.
"You know," he said in the big brother tone that he hadn't used for years, "I have a brother as well. A younger one. He's in danger, too. Maybe even in more danger than we are."
"Are you worried about him?" Nana's voice sounded nervous and was nearly a whisper.
"Of course," Jean answered, "But he's strong and he's brave."
Nana nodded. "Nobu's brave, too," she said.
"People sometimes say that my brother and I have fire in our eyes. I saw it in Nobu. Tell me more about him…" Jean and the two girls walked off and the conversation continued like this for some time.
Petrushka, who had seen all of this and watched surreptitiously from the corner of her eye, smiled. When she could no longer eavesdrop on the trio, she turned back to Tokyo and to her fantasies.