Jorgen was smiling.
It was crunch time. And he couldn't lose.
Maybe Kim would kill Kaname. That would add yet another layer of pain on the girl before he finished her off.
Perhaps Kaname would wrest the knife a way from Kim, killing the other girl in self-defense. It would be exciting, watching the blue-haired girl's eyes and face as she realized a chance... came to a terrible conclusion... and then took her betrayer's life.
Sheer art.
Worth the price of admission.
It could be that Kim would blindly rush him with the knife, some pent-up part of her wanting to take down the one who had made a mockery of her life. He could shoot her in the leg to stop her, and then proceed in any direction he chose.
Should he call in his hirelings? Gang rape might dull the girls' senses some, making their final moments less dramatic and satisfying. But, the fear, helplessness, and humiliation would be unparalleled.
No matter.
Nothing he did could possibly recapture the terror Franz felt prior to the moment he was turned into a lifeless liquid. Nothing could surpass the utter terror of that giant dagger probing the earth, or the moments he spent buried alive.
A man can only do so much.
The building shook. A muffled noise came from next door. Could that have been an explosion?
What were those fools doing up there? The whole idea was to lay low.
He could think of no level of compromise that would justify calling so much attention to their location.
Could it be that someone was attempting a rescue? Who? There were a number of groups harvesting Whispered. Was there one dedicated to their protection? Or did another evil cadre want to steal his catch?
Should he pack up the girls and move his entertainment elsewhere?
No.
If there was a group of professionals involved, he would need to evacuate now.
His work was too important.
"Well girls, I'm afraid play time is up. Miss Chidori, seeing that I haven't done much to punish you for your crimes, I think I will take you out first. I'll try to make things as painful as possible in the moments we still have." He brought his pistol up.
Kaname closed her eyes.
"Sousuke," she whispered.
Bam bam bam
A little whisp of smoke undulated upward from the tip of Jorgen's gun.
"Shit. Stupid little bitch. I should keep you alive just so I can spend as much time as possible making you suffer!"
Kim had stepped in front of Kaname, taking the shots intended for her.
Kaname opened her eyes, surprised to still be unharmed.
Slumping to the ground, Kim looked up at her.
"I'm s-s-sorry, Kaname. Thank you for what you did. Please tell Sousuke good-" Kim passed out.
Kaname opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She stared at Kim's slumped form.
Jorgen ran over and kicked Kim as hard as he could. A maniacal look in his eye, he turned towards Kaname, gun in hand. "Time to make a medicine of my great revenge, once more trying to cure my deadly grief!" His laughter made it clear that he was moving further and further away from rational thought. He was living on and breathing in vengeance, like a rarified air.
Gunfire could be heard out in the hallway. A great explosion threw parts of the two unseen bodyguards into the room. Smoke and dust hung in the air, making everything blurry and dark.
Jorgen's instinct for preservation took over. He sprinted out of the door and jumped out of an open window at the end of the hall way.
Kaname had no idea who was out there. For all she knew, it could be a group of angry Yakusa or a rival group of men hunting the Whispered. Hell, it could be a riled up group of the Neighborhood Watch. But, how could she be much worse off than she was moments ago?
She would call for help.
Kim was in desperate straights. Kaname looked at her still form, the blood slowly spreading over her shirt.
"Help. I'm in here. I said help. Can anyone hear me? We need help."
A form walking into the room. When it was fully visible, Kaname began to run forward.
The moment was real; but, it felt almost as if it were a dream.
"Sooooo-uuuuuuusssssssuuuuu-kaaaaaaaaaay"
"There is no time for greetings Kaname. I cannot let him get away. Take these. Do your best. I am counting on you." Sousuke reached into his bag, tossed a First Aid Kit to Kaname, and then slid a Glock and a spare clip across the floor.
"You may strike me later, if you wish. I have work to do." With that, Sousuke was hot on Jorgen's trail.
"SOUSUKE SAGARA! WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!" Kaname didn?t know whether or not he heard her, but saying that made her feel better.
Sousuke had come.
Just in the nick of time.
How did he keep doing that? Not that she minded, actually. She just wished she didn't have so many opportunities to find out!
No more time for nonsense thoughts. Kim lay dying before her very eyes. Kaname wasn't a doctor, but there had been some things that she had learned from Sousuke against her will. Time to do her best. She knew what was inevitable if she did nothing.
As she used a pair of scissors to cut away Kim's shirt, she felt conflicting emotions looking down at the helpless girl.
Kim had acted like a friend, and then betrayed her, nearly costing Kaname her life after who knows what types of torment. But, she had been conditioned to be that way, and had been terribly used. When the point of action came, she took a number of bullets meant for her.
An irreverent though crept into her mind: 'Well, maybe this means that I don't have to suffer through 'Pulgasari. Stupid random thought! She gritted her teeth. She would gladly watch that film if she, Kim, and Sousuke all made it through this alive.
Hands covered with blood, she put pressure on Kim's wounds, calling out for help.
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Jorgen ran as if he were being chased by one of the hounds of Hell.
He should be so fortunate.
Sousuke had sprung headfirst through the window, rolling as he came to ground. He was just in time to see Jorgen vanish around a small group of shops.
If the kidnapper made it into the crowd, he would find it easy to hide as one man in the multitude. Should he have time to alter his appearance, the game would likely be over.
The young Mithril operative knew he was already in for a good tongue-lashing... at best. If Jorgen Wagner eluded his grasp, Sousuke would be in serious trouble... VERY serious trouble.
Still, if Kaname came through this alive and unharmed, he would do it all again.
It was time to gamble. Instead of following in his quarry's footsteps, Sousuke sprinted towards the middle of the next area, hoping to then pin Jorgen against the waters of the bay. He ran like he had never run before, the bag on his back thumping up and down painfully.
There was no time for apologies. Sousuke bounced off of women... knocked over children... and threw elderly men out of his way. Baskets of food and kitchenware went flying. Bentos fell down to the dirt. A number of helium balloons rushed skyward. Gasps, shouts, and cries followed him as he ran to the center, eyes vigilant.
There!
Slipping into a pilfered jacket and cap.
Jorgen.
Sousuke made his way along the fronts of stands and stores, his eyes on his prey. Then, it was time to be seen, time to drive Jorgen the way he wanted him to go.
Witnesses or not, Sousuke planned on shooting the man as soon as he had a clear shot away from innocents. He would need to be cautious, however. It was likely that the mercenary was armed as well, given Kim Jun's condition.
He did not spare the young Korean girl a single thought. He had no time to deal with traitors at the moment. The fact that she had been acting on her loyalty to another person, with whom she had already pledged her allegiance, was of no matter to Sousuke.
There was no time to mourn the dying.
There was the living to contend with, and to fight for.
Yes! He saw me. Run, rabbit. Run.
Jorgen took his pistol out, but couldn't keep a clear view of a swiftly dodging Sousuke. He knew he was up against someone skilled. Possibly even more skilled then himself. There was only one chance. He had to try and find some position where he had the edge.
The kidnapper fired a number of shots, cursing. He should have saved those rounds. His target dodged every shot, while innocent passersby had not been so fortunate. He ran between a number of large tool sheds. He had not perused the map this far out. Everything rested on chance now. That was fine. He was doing Heaven's work.
God would provide.
Sousuke slowed a bit, swinging his bag forward. Reaching in, he felt around until his hand found what he wanted. His Colt M-1911.
He saw Jorgen run out into an open area, sparsely populated. Longshoremen and trash collectors ambled about, but the huge teeming mass of humanity that frequented the shops and auction were nowhere to be seen.
Perfect.
Bang bang bang bang
Dirt kicked up where the .45 caliber bullets hit the ground near Jorgen's feet. One bullet grazed the blonde man's leg, causing him to stumble. Turning awkwardly, he pulled out his own weapon, and fired a number of shots in Sousuke's direction.
One bullet whizzed just by Sousuke's ear.
Close.
Much too close.
Bang bang bang bang
Jorgen had headed between stacks of metal containers. Bullets ricocheted in all directions, as Sousuke continued to pressure the other soldier. A worker stepped out of nowhere, bumping into the running madman. Rolling to his feet, Jorgen was forced to head for the nearest place of concealment.
Sousuke hurdled the boatsman who had jostled Jorgen, firing twice while he was airborne.
Bang bang
A metal fragment tore through Jorgen's right earlobe, as another struck him painfully in the neck.
As he ran, he didn't think of his own survival. He thought of Franz. He obsessed about work undone. There was no way that he was going to let anyone prevent him from doing that which was preordained.
Ah!
That might just do the trick.
Bang bang bang bang
Bullets ricocheted off of a covered ramp way heading up to one of the wharf's huge mobile cranes. Not as large as the mammoth stationary lifters visible further down the way, the 14-wheeled behemoths still possessed a maze of metal base work...a veritable jungle of cables and small structural components... an enclosed cab... and a huge boom reaching upward, positioned above a container ship.
"Once more into the breach!" Jorgen began his climb up the crane.
As Sousuke reached the ramp, he threw himself roughly against one side, injuring his shoulder. A number of bullets lefts graze marks just where he had been running. There was little time to pay attention to anything but his opponent; but, out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the gunplay was attracting a crowd.
Sousuke steadied himself. Jorgen had turned and resume his climbing.
The young sergeant held his breath.
There was one shot left in the clip.
Bang
Jorgen stumbled forward, held himself with one hand, then continued. It was obviously not a good hit.
"Urzu 7, come in. This is Urzu 2, do you copy?" The communicator in Sousuke's pocket activated. Obviously, Sgt. Major Mao and the other team members were in the vicinity now.
Sousuke rested a moment. He may not need to do this alone.
"Urzu 2, this is Urzu 7. Kaname is in a red-roofed barracks-like building in a cluster of three similar structures, near the west corner of the auction hall. There is a wounded girl with her. I am ascending a large blue crane near a container ship. It is the third ship west of Miss Chidori's position."
"Sousuke. What is your situation. Are you in combat?" Mao's voice was momentarily drowned out by the noise of helicopters flying overhead. There were no aircraft to be seen.
The ECS was functioning perfectly.
"Affirmative. Jorgen Wagner is climbing above me. It is possible he could reach the zenith, descend along a lift cable, and make his way to the ship's hold, or to any number of nearby small water craft." Sousuke took a moment to describe how Jorgen was clothed. "Is Sgt. Weber a member of the team. Could he be in place for a kill shot within five minutes time?"
"That's a negative, Urzu 7. Kurz is here, but we are just preparing to disembark. It may take longer for him to find a vantage point. Contain the enemy if you can. If he looks about to escape, take him down. Urzu 2 out."
Sousuke continued upward.
Like two hyperactive children at a playground, the two soldiers strove to outdo one another climbing. When Sousuke reached the pathway to the boom, he forced Jorgen's hand again, keeping the other man heading up that airy structure.
Jorgen fired back at the younger soldier, finishing off one his sole remaining clip. Sousuke managed to avoid being hit. The operator of the crane was not so fortunate. One of the bullets pierced the front window of the cab, then embedded itself in the skull of the unlucky man. Slumping over the control panel, he knocked two levers.
Slowly but surely, the crane began to move forward, climbing over the insufficient number of chucks placed in front of its wheels. If no one stopped its progress, the transporter would drive off the end of the wharf.
The crane swung violently to the side, beginning a continuous circular movement. Sousuke just barely managed to keep from plummeting to his death. His bag slid off of his shoulder and fell, catching its strap on a large piece of framework.
There was no way that Sousuke could climb down and retrieve his weapons. Not with the machine moving this wildly.
Mad laughter caused him to look upward. Jorgen was holding on with one hand, screaming at the top of his lungs, amused by the whole situation.
Jorgen was getting close to the top. There was a chance he could make his escape. Sousuke couldn't take that chance.
It would be risky.
He had to try it.
The operator's lifeless body had also set the crane's cables in motion. Wrapping his shirt around his hand, Sousuke made a grab for the slowest moving one that moved in the upward direction. Taking hold, his body bounced along as he was dragged towards Jorgen. He rolled off just before being crushed under a low hanging spar.
Bracing his feet, he looked at his adversary, only thirty feet above him.
Sousuke still had his knife.
And, if necessary, he would try to kick Jorgen off of his perch.
He'd better do it soon, in any case. The front wheels would be at the edge of the wharf in a few minute's time.
"Isn't this fun, my new young friend?" A weaponless Jorgen laughed, looking down at Sousuke. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp… or, what's a heaven for?"
Sousuke's normal instinct was to be silent. There was often nothing to be gained from talking during a conflict. He might distract himself, too busy with words. However, Jorgen might be a special case. If he could instead occupy his adversary's thoughts, that might provide an opening.
"It is not fun. It is merely something that needs to be done. You are a kidnapper and a killer. Both end today."
"O, so serious! You are right... something DOES need to be done. My work! Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death, can erase my good deeds." Jorgen took a few more careful steps up the metalwork.
A megalomaniac? An obsessive? Perhaps even a madman? Sousuke had faced all of those types before. He had been perilously close to those things himself at one time.
"There is nothing more frightening than ignorance in action." Sosuke grunted, pulling himself up some, then locking his legs tightly when he slipped. "I doubt that you have done one thing that an unbiased man would call good."
Would that prick the man's pride?
Jorgen stopped, made certain he was braced securely, then pulled down a zipper. He began to urinate, trying to hit Sousuke. "Don't mistake madness with mistakes. If God had wanted me otherwise, he would have created me otherwise. And, no one needs to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds… our planet is the mental institution of the universe. If my madness is God's tool, who am I to complain?"
Fixing his fly, Jorgen began moving sideways along a long metal girder.
Sousuke had Jorgen pegged. He was deluded. His mind had snapped. For whatever reason he may have once started his association with the Whispered, he thought himself an acolyte or disciple now. He would see if he could goad the man into an urge to become a martyr.
"It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies. You are a killer. A kidnapper. A despoiler of innocents. God would have no use for you, or for the false goals you have set forth in his name." For some reason, Sousuke thought of what Kaname mighty say. "Loser. Moron. Jerk!"
Sousuke pulled himself up more, avoiding the areas slick with urine.
"God is not nice. God is not an uncle. God is an earthquake." Jorgen laughed. "Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong. And I have been very successful."
"Yes. At killing innocents. By a coward's means. Deeds are everything. Glory is nothing. Your deeds are that of a weak and hurt child. Your glory is that of a drunkard, proud of his ability to drink." Sousuke had no idea what might have driven the other man to such a life, but he had no room for pity or understanding.
He himself had passed through the fire and eventually came out stronger.
Jorgen stopped. His face purpled in rage. "What do you know. It is YOU who are mistaken… you work for the good of those monsters. If you knew what those witches had hidden inside them… and what was done with that knowledge… you would NOT be so smug then!" Shaking his fist at Sousuke, he almost slipped to his death. Regaining his grip, he crowed. "I found the truth. I had the courage to act on it. I have made the world a safer place. I never asked for the glory I deserve."
"When ideas fail, words come in handy. Same thing goes for ideals." Sosuske pulled himself up over a long reach, handing precariously as the metal edges pressed painfully into his fingers.
Jorgen had kindly given him a path to follow with this taxing conversation.
"I DO know some of what the Whispered hold within them. I work with Black Technology every day. It is invaluable in my fight against usurpers, drug manufacturers, crime lords, and power-crazed madmen who put the world at risk."
"WHAT?" Jorgen's eyes bulged.
Sousuke nodded in satisfaction.
"You admit that you work with the toys of Satan? You are proud that you are a puppet for those bloodthirsty witches?" Instead of heading over towards the cable down, Jorgen began sliding along a diagonal spar oriented towards Sousuke.
"Affirmative. You seek to kidnap those who are truly innocent, victims of a science that they have no knowledge of… a condition they are faced with since birth. Who are you to try and separate out the wicked from the just? They stand together before the face of the sun even as the black thread and white thread are woven together. How many have gone to fates they do not deserve, simply because you judge yourself more clever than everyone else?" Sousuke began maneuvering his position, looking for a place of advantage should Jorgen descend any further.
"Fool!" Jorgen stopped. "If I were clever, I never would have been caught unawares. My brother would still be alive. He would never have been crushed to a bloody pulp by that very technology you trumpet. Those metal monsters were the spawn of that evil knowledge. How can you dare challenge what I do?"
"I see." Sousuke said, his mind working swiftly.
Brother.
Crushed.
Metal monsters.
"You have faced a tragedy, embraced an obsession, and descended past the boundaries of sane thought. That, in your mind, justifies your actions. You are very much wrong." Sousuke put a sound of authority in his voice.
"Blasphemer! Devil's pawn. What can you know of the pain I felt?" Jorgen began moving downward again.
"I was a child in Afghanistan, who never got to know his family. I too became an avatar of death, never satisfied by the numbers of men I tortured or killed. I was balanced on the knife edge of madness, but made my way back. One errs as long as he strives; the one who always strives, can be redeemed.?" Sousuke pulled his combat knife out of his ankle sheath.
The man's rage might be his undoing. But, he would need to be cautious. Madmen can possess a terrible strength.
And, time was running out. Perhaps that was all Sousuke needed to do. Delay his enemy. Then place his own survival in the hands of Fate.
No.
Fate might not protect Kaname. That was his job.
Jorgen was quiet, but he was not still. He was obviously wrestling with Sousuke's statement, looking for some way to turn things his way. Now, when he was off balance, Sosuske would bait him further. He would test his supposition.
"I went on to work for men who give their lives to right true wrongs. The Black Technology is not our master, but rather our servant. The Arm Slave that I pilot has saved more innocent lives than any many can count." If his guess was correct, the monster that crushed Jorgen's brother was a mecha of some type…possibly even an Arm Slave.
"Arm Slave?" Jorgen's question was deceptively mild. He shook his head, as if to clear away some cobwebs. "Arm Slave." He stood up, not holding on to anything, teetering back and forth as the crane's turret spun. Just as the front wheels of the crane bumped over the edge of the wharf, he threw his head and arms downward, plunging like a diver towards Sousuke.
The suddenness of the move shocked Sousuke. One eye on the falling maniac, he noted that the huge transporter was about to tumble into the waves far below him.
Jorgen slammed into Sousuke, knocking him free. "MONSTER-R-R-R-urrrllllggg…" the blonde-haired man yelled, his shout interrupted by the deep stab of Sousuke's knife up under his ribcage.
Both men sped downward, the sea seeming to rush up eagerly to claim them.
Sousuke saw a chance... reached out... and grabbed his weapons bag. The strap held. He was secure.
Jorgen disappeared into the frothy waves below.
"I have done it, Kaname." Sousuke said.
Then, only a heartbeat or two later, the transporter tilted, bumped along a number of huge wooden moorings, and then slid into the water, crane and all.
When first responders made it to the water's edge, they didn't see any sign of movement.
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End of chapter 8