CHAPTER XVI

/play Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock

…

As soon as the clock rang at four o' clock, I hurriedly left school and headed straight for the nightclub. Different from the usual itinerary of making my way alone, today I was joined by two new accomplices that are going to be involved in the scheme that was about to unfold. Tobe Kakeru and Yoshiteru Zaimokuza are now a part of our crew. Today is the day. Now it begins.

Although Tobe was an impetuous and foolhardy person, I have no choice but to take him in after entrusting him the possession of the stolen guns. The fact that he was able to keep the packages safe for almost two weeks was a feat to behold, albeit he opened up some of the crates and messed around with the rifles. I still wouldn't see him as reliable, but at least he can be trusted to some extent. He may be foolish, but he isn't stupid (He didn't fire off any cartridges, thank god for that) Nothing was stopping him from ratting us out to the police - except maybe the threat that we'd break his bones if he did - and yet he kept his mouth shut. So as much as I hate to admit it, this riajuu was worth acknowledging.

Last night, after lounging inside the salon Miura worked in and watching her do her job meticulously, I came home and received a message from Hanzo. Manuel Ieyori was going to gather the folks together tomorrow evening at The Grandeur and get them to cooperate with us. He told me that we're going to start getting our crew together in preparation to carry out the plan. My plan. Of course, everything has to be solidified first so I told him we'll take the stolen guns to Sakaecho, where our people would hopefully find someplace to hide the guns where the police will never find it.

I was too engrossed in the upcoming events tomorrow that I decided to go to Nitonacho and see Tobe myself. I told him that I was going to send some people tomorrow to finally pick up the packages from his garage, and that he was now one of us. I'd still need to get approval from Manny, but it was safe to say that Tobe was now an associate of ours. Tobe was excited and at the same time scared. I remembered the first time I got involved in serious business, which was the Yellow Cab Company job, so I understood what Tobe was going through. I told him it's fine to be scared, and that I also felt the same thing before.

To top it all off, I was informed that the policemen were not appearing in their usual posts tonight, which was very strange, given that patrols were always on the lookout for trouble along the avenues and streets. I think that was the green light from the inspector. We still have to be wary though, because you couldn't trust lawmen. He's leaving us to do what we would. The whole downtown area in Chiba would be basically policemen-free - but of course, they would still be watching, but they'd most likely stand aside while we roll out. I don't know for how long, but I know that we've got to get started now.

Sure enough, this morning a truck came by Tobe's house and transferred the guns to our district. When Tobe, Zaimokuza and I arrived at the bar, it looked like the whole neighborhood was gathered at The Grandeur. Mr. Bo, David Gong, Jackie-Chan, Kimlee, Johnny Woo, the Young brothers, Toto Santiano, J.R., Ernesto Garcia, Conrad Yap, Joseph, and our gang. Everyone is here. Hanzo told me that they were waiting for me. After word spread around of the opportunity to rid Sakaecho of the boryokudan and take over the rival Fujimi district, plenty of folks on our street were interested in taking a part of the cake. To them, this scheme was a free-for-all where you can try to get a hold of as much turf as possible this week. But that wasn't my intention at all.

Apparently Manuel Ieyori got Ernesto Garcia, the preacher and undertaker at the funeral parlor on block three to stow the guns away in the morgue and inside empty caskets. It was a shock to me. Of course, the police wouldn't expect to find the guns inside a funeral home, but seriously? All that was missing was to bury the guns in a funeral fashioned way. Ernesto was very much against the idea and refused to handle the weapons, saying it was cursed. I think he meant that it would bring bad luck, which wasn't that far fetched - the police were heavily bent on finding the guns after all. Not only that, Manny also took two Glock-19s out from the crates and intended for our crew to use them. That was the red line. Using the guns may have crossed my mind once, but I ruled it out as a very dangerous idea. Firing those guns would make us full-blown felons, and like I said I may be a criminal but I'm not a bad person. We are not bad people. And though there will be people hurt, I do not intend for anyone to be killed in this scheme. Forget everything you see on TV and in the movies. Guns are serious business, and taking another person's life is no joke. Pulling the trigger may be simple, but that also made it easier to succumb to evil. Nobody wanted to even touch the weapons, and they wore gloves to avoid getting prints on the guns. If Mama Imoguiri learned of Manny's intentions, she would be distressed and furious.

Eventually we just compromised to use the guns in very strict situations, such as when a gangster was also armed with a firearm. Nakano-san refused to use a gun again, and Kenji Isshiki was too hot-blooded. Manuel Ieyori hypocritically was not taking any chances of getting charged with illegal use of firearms, and the rest of us were out of the question, so that left only two in our crew. Manny gave the two handguns to Dan the Killer and Toramatsu Masamune - they were to be our gunmen. And I hope to god that Dan wouldn't live up to his moniker.

Manuel Ieyori left it to me to speak in front of everyone about my plan, and how we are going to proceed with this endeavor. Speaking in front of a crowd - of gangly men no less - was never my tempo, but I'll have to get used to it one way or another. This is my life now, and that is of a member of the mob - a "wiseguy" if you will. And so I'll have to put on an appropriate persona, and along the way, learn and grow from this. I said to them, "the boryokudan have been leeching off on our streets for far too long. They think that this is their streets. They've got even the police on their payroll, and they think they're untouchable. Well, they aren't. And this street, it's ours, and so we'll take it right back from them by great force if necessary. Yes sir, we will. But they outnumber us three to one. Yet we have something that they don't: cooperation. Our crew have connections. We know how they operate. And your crews have muscle. Together, we can wipe them out," I glanced around. "But divided, maybe not."

The bar was quiet, but all eyes were on me. They listened carefully. Interests brought us all here, but common interest is what brought us here together. And I knew loyalty was not commonplace here. When interests change, so does loyalties. I continued with my speech. "We've brought you all here together today, because this is the day we run the boryokudan out of town. The day we take over Chiba city and take advantage of the most this country has to offer. What you see and what you can keep belongs to you. This is the day we become respectable. But first, we must do the dirty work."

Everyone drank to that proclamation. Soon, it was time to discuss business. There was a lot of arguing, and past rivalries and grudges flared up every moment and then. And there were so many opportunities and directions in which this scheme could go, and who should get which, that we ended up discussing how to divide the soon-to-be our territory among us. Eventually we came to a conclusion.

The biggest score would be the downtown area, the Times Square of Chiba if you will. Everyone wanted to control a street on Shinmachi and Shinchiba districts, as that is where all the lucrative establishments were. Once we drive out the boryokudan, the restaurants, shops and offices will now be paying the protection fees to us. To begin, we gave Mr. Bo the Fujimi district to take over, which he will start moving his men into tonight. Everyone within our circle knew that the police wouldn't be on their posts, so it would be easy to whack the bikers on the street, and fast. Johnny Woo and Toto Santiano get the Innai and Kanamecho districts respectively. Our crew would take Yuko district. It wasn't the ground we were trying to take over - it was the establishments. You see, shop owners and businessmen would pay good money to keep us off their tails, and sometimes to employ our protection against other troublesome street gangs, hence the term "protection racket." Not only that, we can put our own people in those establishments as employees or even managers and thus, virtually own the whole building and the revenues.

Everything was divided and dealt amongst us. The Chinese gets the shopping malls, restaurants and boutiques along Marche-Dori avenue and Fujimi Hon-Dori avenue for 500 million yen. The Koreans and Filipinos would pay a grand total of 800 million for their share of Innai and Kanamecho districts to us. And of course, the promised money would be fully paid in due time, once their newly acquired businesses pay off. As the second to Manuel Ieyori in this operation, I might get a cut of over a million yen, I think. Most of the money usually disappears in investments and expenses. Now you see, there's a good thing in being the mastermind of a grand plan. But it would be foolish to get our hopes high just yet. All of this depends on our operation succeeding.

The whole operation was about to begin at ten o' clock. A part of me wanted to stay behind at the bar and plan our next move, while another wanted me to go with the crew to see firsthand how things were about to go down. I decided to join Manny and the gang, also to make sure that nothing goes wrong. Tobe stayed behind with Zaimokuza and Matsudo, who were inside a computer shop which they turned into their intelligence-gathering base. Fukushi went with his cousins to Fujimi. Matsudo already distributed to us the timetables and papers on when the police would be on and off guard, as well as the places where the boryokudan were based on. Zaimokuza and Tobe, with his expertise in social media and networks, were able to give us the profiles of gang members and leaders we ought to take out first in order to ensure that the boryokudan are dissolved completely.

The seven of us got inside a white van and began to drive up to Yuko district. We roamed around the block past eleven, at which point we began to start looking for potential targets to attack - Boryokudan motorcycles in the parking lots, delinquents loitering in the bus stops and the occasional smuggler walking down the alleys. We were passing by restaurants, malls and shops that were in the process of locking up for the night. It was tense. Here we are, looking for trouble and there's none! We passed by Shironoshimo park, and still not a biker to be seen. There were a few police vehicles parked in some street corners, but hardly any patrolmen tonight. It's not like there was a strict curfew in effect in Chiba. But people knew to stay inside at night, and the police knew that only gangsters and troublemakers were out during this hour.

We got as far as the other end of the district, and we pulled over in front of a ramen restaurant. It had just closed the moment we arrived. Across the street, we finally spotted a row of motorcycles belonging to a biker gang. The vehicles were painted with flashy colors and stencils of dragons and divine elements. You'd see the same things tattooed on the skin of Yakuza members. Some of them wore full body tattoo. That was always something that made little sense to me. Isn't it counterproductive to have to wear a sign that sticks out like a sore thumb and proclaims to everyone, "hey look, I'm a criminal"? Anyway, we got out of the van and walked over to the gas station. Manny and the guys were armed with batons and baseball bats, a classic weapon of choice for gangsters… I took out a knife and began slashing the tires of the motorcycles, while Hanzo took his time smashing in the front lights. Then I stopped. He asked me why I suddenly laughed.

"Now, why didn't I think of this before?" I slapped my palm on my forehead.

"Think of what?" Hanzo glanced at me, while hammering the lights of a vehicle.

"Instead of just messing up a perfectly good motorcycle, why don't we just take it back to the lot and fence it?"

"Damn it, you're right!"

He stopped what he was doing and we both laughed. Then we heard shouting and cursing inside the convenience store. A crack appeared on the front window as the silhouette of a body pressed against it. Then the front doors burst open, throwing up several gangsters who looked badly beaten. Manny was yelling that if they ever showed up around here again, he'd come to their houses and kill them. I didn't think he was bluffing. Then they began to beat the gangsters again, hitting them on the head with the bats, before we finally got back to the van. Kenji's pockets were bulging. I'm guessing it's money. Hanzo told his uncle they should take every motorcycle we'd come by next back to the lot and fence them. Everyone agreed, and decided to come back with another group to drive the motorcycles back to Sakaecho, where a mechanic would have clean plate numbers fixed on it. On the way back, we stopped by several more parking lots, where we slashed the tires of boryokudan motorcycles to stop them from going anywhere. I sighed, knowing that there would be a second round of trouble.

I will be honest - I didn't like what I saw. Of course, deadly force is justifiable in some circumstances, but this was not one of them. But I knew that if we were to destroy the boryokudan presence in this city once and for all, we've got to pluck the weed out by the roots. I was relieved that I didn't have to use my knife. I hope I never have to. Here is the cruel truth about the world: in order to be respected out there, you've got to put the dead bodies on the table.

And while we were busy attacking the boryokudan, the police were also carrying out their own mission. They were making arrests and raids down at the south end of Chuo ward, conveniently taking out rivals and potential enemies belonging to the Ichihara-kai. Apparently, they got an anonymous tip-off from Jen Matsudo about the profiles of several dozen gang members and even Yakuza associates.

I didn't go with the crew the second time they went out tonight. Instead, I checked on Tobe, Zaimokuza and Matsudo who were inside the computer shop across Sakaemachinaka street. Zaimokuza was able to hack and rig the public CCTVs all around the downtown district and we were now getting a live feed on the street action. I don't know how he did it, but it was impressive. We were just watching the monitors, but Zaimokuza said that he might be able to disable the cameras for several minutes if we need to. The police were also watching the streets through the same CCTVs we now have. Matsudo and Zaimokuza got along very well, and said they'd work together - they were going to try to learn how to "blind" the CCTVs by uploading a video loop of the streets, tricking the police that there wasn't any trouble going on.

I didn't even go home that night. I fell asleep inside the nightclub, and Manuel Ieyori woke me up at five in the morning. I don't think it was even two hours since I've been sleeping - it was impossible to sleep knowing that everyone else is busy through the night. I'm thinking, chronic insomnia. I felt like a corpse when I woke up. Embarrassingly, I joined Hanzo and Mama Imoguiri for breakfast in their home. Today is Tuesday, and it all begins again. The late night news reported gang activity last night. I knew that it was just the beginning. The operation will be ongoing for the whole week. By the time it finishes, we would have almost all of the streets of Chiba under our control.

Delusions of grandeur and misplaced optimism aside, everything seems to be going smoothly. Still, I cannot afford to relax. Remember, failure is not an option - Because if I do, my whole life will go down the drain. While I ate, Mama Imoguiri offered me another piece of advice. She said to me, "you can go far with kindness and a smile. But you can go even farther with kindness, a smile, and a well-placed display of force. I am not saying that violence is a just method. But as with methods, there are times that you have to use a different approach for a different circumstance. This is no different from how the government controls the public. Good people must be persuaded with eloquence, but the rabble can only be subdued with force."

We were going to start bringing in the goods held up in Chuoko to town, where we'll sell them to a fence. A lot of people grew up near the bayside area. Even I used to go with my father down to the promenade overlooking Tokyo Bay, where he'd meet his friends who were contractors and seamen. Mihama ward was home to a lot of folks who used to work in the shipyards, trucking and at the port, so they knew every pier, warehouse, building offices, terminals, unloading bay and gangways where cargo went in and out of the ships. That was what they did. Chiba port came to employ over 50,000 people back in the days, and they had vertical parking spaces for up to ten thousand vehicles. The revenue it took in hovered around several hundred billion yen annually. Security was quite lacking around the seaport, and it was very easy to get information about important shipments and cargo at the office where more often than not, the accountants were happy to get rid of. It was the job of people like Manuel Ieyori to relieve Chiba port of its heavy burden, and take away the "excess" flow of goods. It was a golden age of smuggling and bootlegging back in the 70's and 80's. Today, rackets ran on a much smaller extent. That wasn't to say that it was an obsolete business anymore, it just became more difficult with all the surveillance and technology that replaced security guards with cameras and scanners.

It was quite early, and the streets were pleasantly quiet. It looked like it was going to be a good sunny day, which was well appreciated. Hanzo and Dan was sitting at the back, leaning out the open windows. I've already told Manuel Ieyori about the agreement between me and inspector Saburo, but I cautioned against lowering our guard, as there was no telling if the inspector would decide to cheat us over. Behind us, the rest of our crew inside another car followed.

When we arrived at Chuoko, there were around twenty guys waiting for us at the park. They were the truck drivers who got held up by the police several days ago. Manny had called them over to start driving the trucks out of the bayside district and into town. We convinced a gatekeeper to clear the exit for our caravan to start moving. Seeing half a dozen dangerous men standing outside of his booth made him think that it was better to just hand the keys over.

I was surprised. We were handling twenty-seven trucks, which was a frightfully large number of vehicles to take to the road, all together no less. "This is the biggest contraband I've ever seen," I gasped.

Manuel Ieyori just gave a laugh and glanced at me, saying, "a friend of mine was once able to pull off thirty-eight trucks. Don't worry my boy, we're in the clear."

"What are we selling this time?" I ask.

"The usual. Cigarettes, liquor, imported items from the U.S. - anything we can sell. But today, we're also carrying appliances. Air conditioners, electric fans, we even have a whole television set in there. Hachiman, this load has to get to town, you hear?" He said.

I nodded. So far, there wasn't any issue. Manny threw me the keys to the car and Hanzo was with me on the way back. We were assigned to scout ahead of the trucks and alert Manny if there was an upcoming police checkpoint. I was nervous, but I did my best to keep cool. We knew there wasn't going to be any checkpoints for a mile, and if there was, they should've already gotten the message to let us through. A bribe should fix any more unexpected nuances.

We were already driving down the main road when Hanzo started pointing out a police car parked in front of a 7-eleven. There was fencing blocking one side of the road, so that every passing car had to go directly past five policemen. Everyone knows that only truckers and smugglers are up this early. "Hey, Hikio. Am I seeing things or is that really a checkpoint?" When I didn't answer, he began to squirm. "They shouldn't be here, what the fuck… what are we going to do?"

"Keep quiet," I shushed him. "We'll pull through this."

"Let me try to call Manny," Hanzo fished his phone out from his jacket.

We slowed down beside the curb, while a policeman dressed in a fresh blue uniform peered inside the window and at me. "Good morning, officer."

"Where are you going, sir?" The cop asks.

"To Sakaecho, officer," I answer. "I am scouting ahead for a group of trucks carrying goods."

"May I see your papers?"

I broke out a small smile - the kind of smile people give when they are uncomfortable, sort of. I told Hanzo to produce the papers, but the truth is that we didn't have any. I just presented my driving license to the policeman, who examined it before giving it back to me.

Meanwhile Manuel Ieyori spotted us ahead getting interrupted by the cops, and his eyes widened. He put a hand over his face and cursed under his breath. "Oh, I can't believe my luck. Damn cops!" He immediately ordered Dan to stop the engine, as the column of twenty-seven trucks grinded to a halt.

Manny walked towards us, carrying the red sling bag he always has with him under his arm. He had on a look of confusion and surprise, to hide his frustration. "Good grief, what's taking so long, eh? Are they asking for the papers?"

"Ieyori-san, we need to go back to the bay to get the rest of the cargo," I say.

"What are you talking about? Good heavens, we aren't getting paid to drive back there again."

It was a clever trick that truckers used to slip away from the police. If you're stopped at a checkpoint and you were carrying contraband goods, you might be able to get away by excusing yourself that you'll get the rest of the items back. Then you use the opportunity to drive down an alternative route. But this time, it seems that it wasn't going to work.

"Nobody is going anywhere." The cop firmly said. "I hope you won't mind if we check the contents of your truck."

Two policemen began to walk around to the back of the truck Dan was in, who was dead silent. He eventually got out at the orders of one of the policemen. The metal doors creaked when they pulled it wide open, revealing the stacks of brown boxes that filled the container of the twenty-six-footer truck. The officer stared at it for a good moment before looking at me, then at Manny again.

"It's a full load, I see," the officer put his hands on his waist, squinting at me. "I assume you have the proper papers for all this cargo?"

"You got that wrong, officer, because we don't."

The policemen all stared at me until the officer spoke up again. He said, "then we'll have to confiscate these goods. We will also take the trucks."

"Sir, I believe there has been an order from your superior, which came from the Chief Inspector of Chiba to allow us to pass through unimpeded," I calmly say. The officer said there hasn't been any order of any sort. I couldn't believe it. Something either went wrong, or there really wasn't. In any case, I would have to deal with this unexpected situation again. It looked like they weren't going to let us pass.

"Officer, first of all if you want to take the trucks, you'll have to get all twenty-seven drivers out because we have twenty-seven vehicles. Second of all, you'll need six times more men to unload all of the cargo. And finally, I suggest that you call in one hundred more cops so we can have a proper shootout." I spoke with an air of confidence and seriousness, as if I was actually meaning to fulfill my threats. The man's eyes widened and his hands moved for the pistol on his hip. As if on cue, we were joined by Dan and Shinota, who already had their hands underneath their shirts and in their belts, revealing the dark glint of a handgun. Only one of the policemen is armed with a firearm, and the rest were probably just privates. There are seven of us, and only five of them.

"Who do you think you are, eh? You don't even bother to hide your fucking contraband!" The officer angrily says.

"This isn't for me, Wataru-san." The officer gasped in shock when I addressed him by his real name. He wasn't wearing a name badge or showed an identification card, so it took him by surprise. Besides, policemen actually didn't use their real name while on the field. They used aliases, as a safety measure against blackmail and threats to anyone they are associated with, such as family. Thanks to an informant of mine who's good with computers, I knew a lot of details about nearly every cop we could possibly come face to face with on the streets. And if a gangster asks you about your family, you should take it as a warning that they know where to bring their fury. "Your wife, madam Tashi is a customer of ours. I'm sure she'll like the new delivery of coffee machines. And your daughter Kokomi, it's her birthday this week, no? Why don't I have one of my men to drop by a present by your house?" I say to him.

The other four cops I didn't know. They were new I suppose. The policemen didn't know what to do next, but they knew that if they didn't comply, it wouldn't end well for them, seeing how it seems that we mobsters knew much about them.

"It's all very simple, really," Manuel Ieyori began, stepping forward with an assertive smile and holding up his red bag. "You can step aside and accept our bribe, just as the other patrolmen did, or we start shooting at each other right now. Look at me, I'm an old man. Money is what I have. Everything can be settled in a peaceful way, you know? Otherwise, we're all going to die here, it's barely even seven o' clock, and it's not even these boys' faults!"

The other four cops glanced at each other and then at their officer, and eventually decided unanimously to concede. Manny began telling everyone else to start the trucks, as he closed the container up. "Come on now, let's move! And here, good sir, for your cooperation."

He handed the five officers thirty thousand cash each. Most people think cops can't be bribed anymore. But one has to remember that they're also human. They have families to take care of, a living to be made, and their lives to worry about. Between principles and family, anyone would choose family. And that was perfectly understandable. It was the right choice.

Hanzo jumped inside the truck with Dan, while Manny got inside the car with me. Once we were in the clear, we both started laughing out loud. Manny praised me and said that it was brilliant. I can't remember the last time I was this overjoyed. But I have to admit that for a moment I really thought we were done for. I inwardly sighed in relief.

When we got back to the bar after seeing that the trucks got to where they were supposed to be, Manny gave me my cut. 200 thousand yen. He said that he'd give me more soon. I was humbled, and respectfully bowed to him before leaving to go home.

I got back to my apartment just in time to take a quick shower and get dressed. It was just 8:33am, so I had half an hour still before classes started at nine. Yui Yuigahama sweetly greeted me good morning when we met each other at the park. I guess life isn't so bad, is it?

...

A.N.:

thanks for the reviews everyone, I'll improve the writing soon!

to Achagoya0072: you're right, goddamn I made a huge blunder in ch13. sorry!

to Kzux: right, my bad! noted, I've got to write a more reasonable story, apologies!