Masaki was in a reflective mood. He and Hiroto had been alone for so long, but now they both had girls they wanted to keep safe. There was more responsibility for him, because as the older brother he had to protect all three of them. Sure for the most part they could take care of themselves, all of them fighters, but sometimes he stepped in. Asuga was similar to himself, in that she was an optimist, but she also love to be spontaneous and almost live on the edge. She didn't like responsibility or planning ahead, but she wasn't selfish either. Her twin Noriko, was more like Hiroto in that she was too serious and often internalized everything she felt. Surprisingly his brother got her to talk and open up. Compared to when they'd been kids, Hiroto now had more patience, or at least when it came to his woman. He still jumped at the chance to fight, if someone annoyed him or went against his will. In the past when their older brother had been around, Masaki mostly let him deal with Hiroto, because they fought often. But after Takeru had died, being the big brother, the protector job landed on him. He no longer was so fixed on being better than Hiroto, but instead stepped back to let his brother shine. He encouraged him, although it was often seen as more of an annoyance. Masaki was sure that Hiroto sometimes thought that having an older brother like him, was a curse. If they got in a fight, where there might be dire consequences, Masaki took the lead and responsibility. They'd been through so much together and that made their bond even stronger than most siblings. Their bond was trumped by the twins in many ways. They couldn't finish each others sentences, but sometimes they could look at each other and know what each was thinking. That happened mostly when there was trouble or during a fight.
Lately it was Masaki who lined up jobs for just him and Hiroto and then for the four of them. Mostly it was courier jobs, but sometimes, like today, they were used to protect someone. Saigo the cop was going to be transporting two mafia snitchs to a safe house. It was a brother and sister, who had been born into the mafia and wanted out. Even though a police detail had been assigned to the job, he didn't trust them. So privately he hired the Amamiya Brothers and agreed the Chiba Twins would be an asset also. The job would begin at the end of the week, so Masaki was training Asuga, while Hiroto trained Noriko, how to defend against weapons. In the past Noriko had been stabbed and shot at, so that's how he knew the twins had no weapons training. Other than kicks to disarm the attacker, they showed the girls how to fight in close range with a weapon. Whether they were ready or not, the day of the transport came.
Saigo sent a detailed message of their route, check in times and the final destination. Even though the first safe house was not in S.W.O.R.D. territory, it was near the harbour, which was where the Mighty Warriors had their hang-out. The house was once a rich person's compound, with gates, high concrete fence walls and cameras everywhere. The rich person went to jail for tax evasion and his property was seized. Few in the police, knew it was a safe house location. The safe house would be used for the snitch siblings to live until they went to trial. The Amamiya Brothers and Chiba Twins would be hired to keep Saigo and the siblings safe.
"Girls pack light, because we never know when all has to be left, to get the snitch pair to safety fast." Masaki said, after he saw Asuga pack unnecessary things.
"I can put some of the essentials in the saddle bags from the Sportster," Noriko promised her sister.
Hiroto reminded the twins, "no one gets paid if those snitches die."
Noriko wouldn't be swayed. "There are some things girls need, that guys don't. I will check what Asuga packs, don't worry."
Asuga said, "if you prefer, I could put my pack on the passenger seat of the Ninja and you can have one of the snitches ride behind you Hiroto."
That made him relent, "pack whatever you want." Even though he had a black passenger seat, the only one who was allowed to use it was Noriko.
The twins smirked, but Noriko still made sure nothing unnecessary was packed. The job might take months or just two weeks, no one knew. They'd either move around a lot, or stick to the schedule. Even though the Amamiya Brothers had done a job like this in the past, when Takeru was alive, the twins never had. Noriko had grilled Saigo the cop, for an hour about how to get the job done successfully.
Masaki handed out the burner phones. "Leave your normal cells here. We only use the burner phones and these new bluetooth earbuds. Also keep these analog handheld transceivers on you at all times too. Remember they are short range. Girls, here are your pocket tasers. The battery in those things only last eight hours when fully charged. If the battery indicator starts flashing, it only can discharge once and it won't be a strong zap."
Hiroto and his brother had planned out how they would tail and watch over the police transport detail. He went over it three times with all of them and then because Noriko asked, a fourth time with her. She said it was so everything was committed to memory, but he knew she was always absorbed in preparation before a job.
"It's time to go," Noriko announced.
They all wore helmets; the twins had visors, because both of them hated when road debris or bugs hit them in the face. Before they got on their motorcycles to ride, Masaki reminded, "live strong." The four of them touched fists.
At one time Asuga had asked him what the hell that had meant. He'd explained that it's to keep moving forward even if the next day is unpredictable. To keep smiling through your pain, gain knowledge, accept what you can't change and change what you can. Find love in the simple and unexpected places. Surround yourself with like minded people, who encourage you to achieve your goals. On a job it meant to trust in yourself, listen to instinct and always keep going. It meant to never surrender, to never give up on life. The sisters had liked that mantra and adopted it for themselves too.
In the beginning of doing jobs together, the brothers would ride side by side in the lead, with Asuga and Noriko behind them. Now it was Masaki and Asuga together in the front and Hiroto with Noriko in the back. The custom Harley Night Rod Special had a higher top speed, where the V-Rod Muscle custom was quicker off the line. Asuga's Kawasaki Ninja ZX top end, after Masaki tweaked it, was 210 MPH, but he warned her that speed wasn't street legal and the cops would impound her super bike if she got caught. At one time Noriko's 883 Sportster was the slowest of the four of them. But with the brothers' help she got a larger engine kit, that allowed her to have a 1200 engine and then it was customized. It was still slower than the other three motorcycles, but they no longer left her behind. For the pick up of the snitches, Masaki and Asuga would be there together, in the lead and out of site of the police escort. Then Hiroto and Noriko would join after the group came past the first check point, to follow in the rear. All ambush points and side streets had been examined and known by the four of them. Still, even with all this planning, something could go wrong and usually would. Before they split up, they checked that their earbuds worked. Then Masaki and Asuga accelerated quickly and raced ahead.
"The snitches have been picked up successfully and we've begun to travel to the first check point. No tails and so far nothing ahead either," Asuga reported to her sister.
Noriko relayed the message to Hiroto, after lifting her visor. They sat side by side, with their machines off, until the escort vehicles got closer. After that they rode behind, not too close to make it obvious, but enough that they could keep the vehicle in view. Occasionally they turned down side streets, so they could take a road that ran parallel to the police escort. Hiroto chose those roads randomly and just used a hand signal to Noriko when it was time to turn.
They were a half an hour into the ride, when Noriko saw a black SUV coming up fast behind them. There was nothing more irritating than having someone tailgate her, but it truly made her angry when it happen while she was riding. At first she just kept glancing in her mirrors, but the closer it got, the more agitated she became. When Noriko started to shoulder check and then even turned her body to look back, Hiroto noticed. He signalled for them to turn and they'd ride parallel until the SUV went past. He had a suspicion that it was mafia thugs, sent to silence the snitches, but they wouldn't know until the SUV started tailing the police cars. Sure enough, not only was there one SUV, but three and four matte black sports-touring motorcycles.
"We've got company back here," Hiroto reported using his bluetooth earbud.
Masaki replied, "just past the next stop lights, there's two parked cars directly across from each other. Probably got spike strips, so watch out."
"We'll clean up the rear." Hiroto hung up.
The two of them rode up behind the black hitmen on the bikes. Noriko kicked one in the head, while standing on the seat of her bike, like a stunt rider. Hiroto whisky throttled the guy to the left of him, who in his surprise smacked into the guy beside him, who was trying to shoot at Noriko. That left one more motorcycle in the rear. That guy was a better rider and out maneuvered them. He forced Noriko down a side street, but she made it back onto their road. Hiroto's back wheel had a large spiked axle nut cover and when he bucked the rear end into the motorcycle beside him, that spike caused damage that made its rider have an ugly crash. Hiroto smirked.
Now even the police escort realized the danger and began evasive driving. Two of the black SUVs tried to run it off the road, while shooting at the police. The third and last SUV started opening fire on Hiroto and Noriko. They split up, each going down a separate street, then closing back in on the last SUV from both of its sides. Hiroto was able to flatten one of the tires, with that spiked nut cover. The men in the SUV opened fire, but were too far away to be effective.
Meanwhile the cops ran over the spike strip and had to pull over. The vehicle with the snitches, in which Saigo was also in, had special Kevlar tires that had internal reinforcement, that let them continue normal function even after a puncture. Unfortunately the police escort had to deal with machine gun fire, but the Amamiya brothers and the Chiba Twins didn't stick around to see what happened. They instead took over being the escorts, as planned. The mafia hitmen didn't give up. The other two SUVs continued pursuit. Noriko gave Hiroto the brass knuckles and he punched in the driver side window on the SUV closest to him. The shattered glass distracted the driver, long enough for Hiroto to grab the gun and hit the driver in the face with it. That SUV veered off and hit a concrete light post, that almost sheered it in half. Masaki had gone ahead, parked and Asuga picked him up. He was standing on the passenger seat of her Ninja and then leaped onto the roof of the remaining SUV. Using the steel heal of his riding boots, his hard kick went through the windshield, spraying glass into the faces of the two thugs in the front seats. One screamed as a shard scratched his eyeball. The driver had a bunch of small cuts on his face, but that was nothing compared to when Masaki smashed his nose in with a knee. A geyser of blood erupted. The guys in the backseats opened fire, but Saigo had given the Amamiya Brothers and Twins bullet proof vests. Masaki easily disabled the fire arms, then used the gun buts as hammers to render the thugs unconscious. The SUV was still moving and using one of the doors, Masaki waited until Asuga picked him up. She took him back to his own motorcycle and then they caught up with the others.
Saigo called, "everyone in our vehicle is okay, but the snitch siblings are hysterical." He said they were going to drive faster and take the second route to the safe house, as previously discussed.
"We'll go ahead and confirm the safe house is clear. You two keep them safe until then," Masaki advised to his brother.
Hiroto rode in front of Saigo's van and Noriko behind. They had no problems and the safe house was clear, but everyone anticipated that this was the lull before a big thug shit storm. The only thing that made things easier, is that only Saigo and his partner Kikuchi knew where the safe house was. The police escort had never been given the information. Everyone parked in the five door garage. They didn't even have to back their motorcycles in, because the garage had parking turn tables and remotes for each of the five doors. That allowed each of them and the transport van to have a garage door entry. Even though the garage looked like it was a completely separate building, they accidentally discovered that there was an underground passage into the house.
"This place is in a rich neighbourhood, even if the houses aren't close to each other, the wind makes noise travel. Which means when they do find us and send their hit squad, they won't bring guns, but everything else." Saigo explained to the others.
"I saw some security guards patrolling earlier," Masaki advised.
"They're a private company and won't get involved unless one of the other neighbours reports something. They get paid to be discrete. We also have stocked the house with food, but if this goes on for more than a month, we'll have to go grocery shopping. I forgot to ask, but do any of you know how to cook?"
"Nori does and she's really good at it," Asuga answered.
Kikuchi explained the house layout and gave them the blue prints to study. "This place has a safe room or panic room, on the ground floor. It has no windows, but a separate ventilation system. The only way to open the door is from the inside, once it is closed. It's stronger than a bank vault and can handle any crazy weather too. The guy who designed it, survived a nuclear explosion in his private panic room. It even has a kitchenette and ensuite bathroom."
"If worse comes to worse, you Chiba Twins and the witnesses we're protecting, will go in there and not come out until the enemy is gone. Is that understood?" Saigo asked.
Noriko questioned him, "how would we know if they're gone? Is there some kind of video feed to see that?"
"Right. There is a video, motion sensors and thermal imaging, wired into to the room. A computer system inside controls it all."
After looking over the blueprints Masaki and Hiroto chose the rooms where they would sleep. Because they were on a job, the twins took separate bedrooms too. The cops took the rooms on the top floor that flanked the snitches. Those siblings chose a guest room that had two queen beds already in it. While Hiroto and Masaki checked the grounds, the girls went to the kitchen. It was huge, with two industrial sized fridges and a walk in freezer.
"This place is better than a vacation resort. Damn rich people!" Asuga marvelled, looking at everything.
"Two grills, a glass top and a gas stove, four ovens… did the owner of this place have a huge family or just lots of parties?" Noriko asked in awe.
Masaki came into the kitchen and answered, "who cares as long as it makes food. I'm starving."
Hiroto arrived then too, "shut up and let them unpack first."
Asuga threw an apple at him, like a baseball pitcher, but Masaki caught it with one hand and laughed. He bit into it and gave a thumbs up.
"Everything normal outside?" Noriko asked.
"It's as it should be," Masaki confirmed. "Saigo and Kikuchi will be watching this place's outdoor security feed and doing rotating shifts with us. That means someone is always alert and watching, to protect everyone, at all hours."
Asuga groaned, "this is going to get boring."
Masaki laughed, "this place has its own gym, indoor pool, game room and theatre. No one will get bored in just a month."
"The owner was exceptionally paranoid and rarely left his house," Saigo explained, as he went to a fridge for a bottle of water.
"Where's the booze?" Asuga asked.
"What do you want? There's a room designated for wines, hard liquors, beers and even ciders."
"If no one needs me for a bit, I'll be in that room." Asuga grinned.
"At least unpack first," Noriko groaned with disgust.
Asuga smiled, "after I unpack and change, do you want me to bring you some silver tequila?"
Hiroto shook his head negatively. "Food first."
"Party pooper!"
Noriko asked Saigo, "do our special guests have any dietary restrictions or requests?"
"No. Also they will eat by themselves, I'll bring up their plates."
Noriko left the kitchen and went to her assigned room. She unpacked and unzipped her leathers, to change.
While bent over in her bikini underwear, Masaki walked in. "Asuga where is…."
"I guess I should've locked the door. Asuga already went to that booze room," Noriko said calmly, as she turned around.
"Damn, you two are identical. Sorry," Masaki grinned.
Hiroto came in behind and punched him. "Get out."
"It was an honest mistake, I swear. I said sorry!" Masaki quickly backed out of the room, his hands up to defend against his brother's attacks.
Noriko finished getting dressed and blocked one of Hiroto's punches. "Save it for the bad guys."
"He's a womanizer."
She gave a nod for Masaki to leave, while distracting her man. "How about you use those hands on me instead?"
Hiroto turned and backed her into the room, closing the door and locking it. "You saved him."
Noriko was pinned by his body, but still was able to reach up and capture his mouth with hers. "How you handled those thugs, was so hot. After we eat, want to join me for a shower?"
He nodded and then smiled when his stomach grumbled, reminding her he was hungry too.
"Okay I'll go start cooking. Want to help?"
"Sure, seems I have to guard your body too."
"Shh… if Asuga hears you or what Masaki accidentally did, she'll fight me and kick his ass."
"I'll let it go this one time."
Noriko reminded, "didn't you check out Asuga's ass that one time, the first night they were together? I'm sure you wondered if her ass looked identical to mine." She laughed when he hastily retreated.