Debt of Honor
Chapter 2
Political Consequences
Phillip Sheridan Parker III smiled at the guards as he passed the front gate. They didn't bother asking him for identification. He was the Director of Operations at Langley, and few people didn't know that. Parker was in good shape for his age, (he was sixty-seven) and he took good care of his body. He had learned about proper health while being in the army. If your body couldn't last through the day, then your mind sure as hell wouldn't, and in his job, he needed to be mentally alert for very long periods of time.
He waved at a few people once he entered CIA headquarters. Not that many people offered anything more than a greeting to him. People didn't usually want to risk offending a man that had on occasion, had a drink with the DCI (Director of Central Intelligence) and President of the United States. That suited Parker just fine, he didn't necessarily want to get close to the people that carried out the missions that he helped put together. You did that because you couldn't really tell if that person was going to be sent to a foreign land and might end up being caught as an intelligence officer and wind up with a bullet in the back of his head.
Parker came up to his office and greeted his secretary, the one he shared with DI (Director of Intelligence). He opened his office door and closed it, then turned.
"Hello dad."
Parker nearly yelled out in surprise when he saw his son, Phillip Sheridan Parker IV, sitting at his chair behind his desk.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Phillip smiled and stood up. "Why yes dad, I'm doing just fine, how's mom?"
"I'm serious Phillip, how the hell did you get in here?" Parker demanded.
"Your friend across the hall was nice enough to let me in."
The adjoining door between the DO and DI's office opened and Earl Murray, Director of Intelligence, walked in.
"I wish I could have seen his face," Murray said to Phillip.
"Oh don't worry, it was probably the same face he had when you told him that he would be taking a pay cut from the army."
"Does one of you want to tell me what the hells going on here?" Parker asked them.
"I'm not so sure myself actually," Murray admitted. "I'm a bit curious myself; all Phillip told me was that he had something that he wished to discuss with both of us if possible."
"You guys had better take a seat then," Phillip said motioning for them to sit in the two chairs that sat in front of the desk. Parker hesitated but sat down.
"Now," Phillip began, "I want you two to know that I got in from China last night, so my body clock is on China time. While I was over there I was with a mutual acquaintance of both of you, Seiji Inafune."
"How is that old fool?" Murray asked. He saw the pained expression on Phillip's face. "What's wrong?"
"Seiji died while we were in China," Phillip said. He had practiced saying that and he was still having trouble holding back the tears.
"What?" Phillip and Murray asked simultaneously.
"He was hit by a sniper and then he used a grenade to kill a bunch of PLA soldiers and in the process he died as well."
"What do you mean he was hit by a sniper?" Parker asked. "Does this have something to do with what you called me about while you were over there?"
"Yes, but I'm going to start from the beginning," Phillip said, and then looked at both of them. "This is going to take some time. Am I going to be interrupted?"
Parker got up from his seat and walked to the door; he opened and stuck his head out. "Sharon, make sure Earl and I are not disturbed until lunch, and cancel whatever appointments I had."
He came back and sat down. "Go ahead."
Phillip nodded his thanks and began. "Four years ago, Seiji got into trouble with the Yakuza. It seems they wanted to use him for their operations but he wouldn't do anything like that. They somehow forced him into it and were able to keep him there for awhile. About two or three months ago, he met two young Japanese teenagers. They are martial artists and trust me, some of the shit they can do is pretty amazing. Anyway, Seiji got these two to help him take down the drug operation in Tokyo; I think you'll remember the news story about that fire in downtown Tokyo that destroyed a bunch of buildings. Well, after that they came under pretty heavy fire from the Yakuza and they slipped into China."
"This was around the time you asked me to go visit him General," Phillip said, and then continued with his story. "But what Seiji didn't know was that, the Yakuza obviously has some major connections with the Chinese Politburo, because about one day after they arrived, a Chinese Special Forces team tried to arrest them. I found out about this and was able to help them escape by keeping Seiji and the two Japanese martial artists and their fiancées at the British embassy. It seems that the two martial artists had some kind of curse put on them, and I'm serious this was a for-real curse, and they were going to a place called Jusenkyo that was located in the province of Qing Hai. We decided we should go there, and along the way we ran into some guy named Koga, he was a big time drug producer for China and Japan."
"I say was because one of the Japanese martial artists flipped out when he thought they had killed his fiancée and ripped them all apart, and I mean literally ripped them apart. He other martial artist's fiancée was kidnapped at that point and that was when I met Isamu Kimura, a big name over in the Yakuza. He agreed to come with us after Jusenkyo and he would tell me everything he knew. But when we were going to Jusenkyo I happened to come to the house of a counter-revolutionary and bribed him into giving us some guns and stuff. We went to Jusenkyo but apparently the guide or whatever wasn't there and we had to wait."
"I had set up further away from the place with a sniper rifle, so I could keep an eye on things. When Seiji came to tell me about the guide, the kidnapper and that Kimura guy showed up with Ryoga's girlfriend. Seiji ran back their when he was just about to get there, a sniper took a shot at him and hit him in the shoulder. That Kimura knocked down the other kidnapper and grabbed the martial artist's fiancée and returned her before hiding. Because once they shot Seiji, the whole place erupted in gunfire."
"The Yakuza somehow got a hold of a bunch of PLA soldiers and they started shooting up this Jusenkyo place. I took out as many as I could with the rifle and then I ran like the wind to get Seiji and ducked into the hut with Kimura. The soldiers were lighting the place up with gunfire and it was really hairy. Seiji told me to take Kimura and get out of there. I didn't want to leave him but he gave me no other choice. I gave him my grenades and as we were running, I heard them all go off."
Parker and Murray looked at each other for a moment.
"Seiji told me to tell you that that was the way he went out, killing as many as those godless bastards as he could," Phil said, his voice cracking.
General Parker got up from his seat and hugged his son. Tears threatened to escape his eyes but he kept himself in check.
"I shouldn't have left him, I should've taken him with me," Phil whispered.
Parker released his son and sat back down, heavily.
"What about the body?" Murray asked from his seat.
Phil shook his head. "There were soldiers crawling all over the place, I couldn't even get within a mile of the place."
"What about Ishii?" Murray asked. "Has someone told him?"
"Ishii was there Earl," Phil answered quietly. "He nearly lost it when he heard the grenade go off."
"The poor boy," Murray said quietly. "Where is he now?"
"I sent him back to Japan so he could find the two martial artist's families and tell them about what happened. I sent Kimura with him too. Right now I'm trying to think of a way to get the others out of China."
"Do you think you could tell us their names?" Murray asked.
"Ranma Saotome, Ryoga Hibiki, Akari Unryuu, and Akane Tendo," Phil told them.
"So right now they are probably still inside China," Parker said, getting to his feet and started pacing. "What we need to do is think of a way to get them out of there without making some kind of political incident."
"You mean your actually going to help?" Murray asked, surprised.
"From what Phil has told me, these children helped Seiji out, and anyone that is a friend of Seiji Inafune's is a friend of mine," General Parker said.
"That reminds me," Phil said. "I happened to hear while I was in China from Koga, moments before he was disemboweled, that the Chinese were going to take Taiwan back by force."
"What?" Parker and Murray's heads snapped around.
"Yeah, that Kimura guy has some documentation on the subject, and he said he should be able to get some information about it because the Yakuza and the Politburo don't know that Minoru and Koga are dead."
"We need to see that man Phillip, right now," Murray said.
"Get him on the phone right now," Parker ordered. "I want to be able to confirm this and carry it to the DCI today."
Phillip looked a little flustered. "I don't think that he would be back in Japan yet."
"Then call wherever he's supposed to land and leave instructions with whoever's there that this man must be put on the next flight to Washington D.C."
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Zhisheng put an extra spring into his step. Today was the day that he was going to get final confirmation on the assassination of the Taiwanese president.
The spring in his step left as soon as it had come.
"We received a rather disturbing report today comrades," Premier Renyang said at the start of the meeting. "It seems that there were six Japanese in our country last week, and they were traveling with diplomatic passports with no relation to any diplomatic organization. As I began to look deeper into the reports that I received, I realized that they were terrorists. Nomuri Koga's body was discovered yesterday by a cabin located outside of Xining, along with fourteen other bodies. These terrorists then went deep into Qing Hai, right into the Bayankala mountain range. It was there that the local military base received a written order that ordered them into the mountains and that they were to kill all of the occupants."
"I never received a word of this written order and I would like to know who authorized it?" Renyang asked the assembled men.
Zhisheng got up from his chair and cleared his throat. "Comrades, I must admit that I am at fault here. I gave the Yakuza authorization to use PLA resources for whatever they will need in completing their mission."
"You had no right to do that!" Wei Liang flared. "I am the head of the PLA; you must get my authorization before you do anything involving them!"
Zhisheng glared at Liang. "The last meeting we held, you agreed to allow the Yakuza to be the organization from which we will complete the assassination, and then we all agreed that we will do anything to help them, short of actually participating in the mission."
Renyang spoke. "But I also wanted to have all matters passed before the Politburo so that everyone could be brought up to date on all the issues."
"I received the call at three a.m. comrade; the Yakuza member said that it was of the up-most importance that he gets the help from those troops. So I sent them, and now I have received word that the terrorists you spoke of have escaped, and now the Yakuza member and the half the troops are dead."
"I will have to speak to the Japanese prime minister about this," Renyang said. "Perhaps he will be able to help us get these men and take care of them."
"As far as I know the terrorists are still in China," Zhisheng said. "I have every border and airport watching for them."
"Good," Renyang smiled. "Now that that is out of the way, let us go on to other business."
Zhisheng let out the breath he had been holding. He had been facing immediate expulsion from the Politburo, and now he was receiving praise. Maybe he would have a better day than he thought.
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The path wasn't paved but it looked as if there had been a steady stream of traffic going over it, so they had decided that the best idea would be to follow it until they got back to civilization.
Ranma glanced over at Akari for the fifth time since they started out. She was walking strangely but not in a way that would be noticeable to other people. He also noticed that she kept stealing glances at Ryoga and then blushing when she looked back. Ranma wasn't sure what to make of it, except that something must have happened between them. He slowly moved himself so he was walking beside Ryoga and gently pulled his aside from the girls.
"What is it Ranma?" Ryoga asked worriedly.
"Did something happen between you and Akari?" Ranma asked.
"Eh?" Ryoga blushed and immediately looked over at Akari, who had been looking at him. "Nothing happened."
"Yeah right," Ranma said. "I suppose that blush is just there because you like the cold weather then."
"Mind your own business Ranma," Ryoga said, so sharply that Ranma backed up.
Ranma shrugged his shoulders and went back to his place beside Akane.
"How long do you think it will take us to get to Xi'an Ranma?" Akane asked.
"I don't know," Ranma said. "We've probably got about another five or six hours of straight walking ahead of us before we reach it."
Akane shivered as another blast of wind blew over the group. Akane rubbed her arms from beneath the sweater she was wearing. She was wearing a skirt that looked like Akari's but Japanese made.
Ranma noticed her shivering and looked at her concernedly.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "You don't look very warm in that skirt."
"I'm fine; I just wish I had brought a pair of pants instead of this skirt."
"Yeah well, I'm sure it won't get much colder than this," Ranma said. But as he said it, the first trickle of snow began to fall. Akane looked over at Ranma and he gave her a sympathetic look. He was wearing his normal Chinese shirt and pants. But the difference was Ranma was used to walking in most types of weather.
Ryoga's head perked up when he heard the low rumble of a car. In the distance he spotted a military transport truck coming down the dirt path.
"Maybe they can give us a ride?" Ranma said as he stood at the side of the road.
They waited until the truck was pretty close and when it showed no signs of stopping, Ryoga went and stood in the center of the road, his hand raised, like a traffic cop. The truck came to a stop and a man in the driver's seat pocked his head out the window.
He yelled something in Chinese and then made the distinctive gesture for Ryoga to move.
"We were sort of hoping that you could give us a ride," Ranma said to the driver. The driver turned and looked at Ranma for a second before spitting at his face.
Ranma dodged the spit but it hit Akari.
Ryoga saw this and stormed up to the driver's side door and yanked it open, grabbed the driver and threw him to the ground. The driver began to yell at him again and Ryoga glared down at him, silencing the man.
"Now you are going to drive us to Xi'an," Ryoga said, picking the man up by his collar. "And if you don't, I'm going to show you why you never spit on people!"
The driver was now looking at Ryoga with terrified eyes. He couldn't understand Japanese but he got the message. He bowed to Ryoga and quickly got back inside the truck and motioned for the others to get into the back. They complied and moved into the back, the truck rumbled and started down the path.
The back of the truck was filled with what looked like military rations. Ryoga sat down on one of the boxes and inspected Akari's skirt. He wiped the spittle off with a bandanna. Akari smiled at him and then came and sat down on his lap and rested her head on his chest.
Ranma sat beside Akane and he gently whispered.
"Have you noticed anything different about those two?" he asked, indicating Ryoga and Akari.
"No," Akane said, obviously surprised by the question.
"Didn't you notice the way Akari was walking? It looked like she had injured her groin or something."
Akane glanced over at Akari and Ryoga and saw the way Ryoga had his arms around Akari. She noticed that Ryoga wasn't blushing, which he usually did when he had any kind of physical contact with any female other than Ranma's cursed side. She turned back to Ranma, surprise on her face.
"I think I know what happened," Akane said. "Ryoga and Akari had sex."
Ranma's eyebrows rose in surprise and he looked over at Akari and Ryoga.
"Jeez, I think your right," Ranma said. "That would explain why Akari was walking like that."
Akane nodded and looked back at the other couple. She smiled. "Aren't they cute Ranma?"
"Yeah, I always did think that those two belonged together. They make a real good couple."
Akane smile and she took Ranma's hand in hers.
"So when are we going to consummate our relationship?" Akane asked with a grin.
"Well, despite what Ryoga did, I think it would be best if we waited tell were back in Japan. I would feel weird doing it in this messed up country."
"Yeah, but then we'd need to find a place where we wouldn't have to worry about our families busting in, or having any crazy fiancées attack. That would just spoil the mood," Akane said laughing. She looked out the back of the truck and saw that the snow was now falling at a steady rate. She smiled contently and leaned her head over and rested it on Ranma's shoulder.
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Ono Tofu walked quickly to the front door of the Tendo home. He opened the door and saw a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, standing there.
"Hello," Tofu greeted. He smiled politely at the man, but it was a little strained. The past two days had been rather nerve-rattling. He had just come from the hospital and found out that Genma would be in there for another day or so. The police had been here for round the clock checks. He wondered how this man got past them.
"Hello," the young man greeted. "My name's Ishii, I'm an acquaintance of Ranma and Ryoga."
"Oh," Tofu said, motioning for the man to come inside. "Does that mean that you know where Ranma and the others are, we haven't heard form them in over a week."
"I think it would be best if I talked to everyone, that way I won't have to repeat myself."
Tofu led the man into the dining room where Soun, Happosai, and Cologne were sitting. He left and brought Kasumi and Nodoka in from the kitchen.
"My name is Ishii; I have come to know Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki from their involvement with Seiji Inafune. I was hoping that I could talk to you all about what exactly has happened since they traveled to China."
Tofu glanced over at Nodoka. She was still under the effects of the tranquilizers that he had given her after Genma was taken to the hospital.
"Please do," Soun said, his voice tight, obviously trying to remain calm.
"We were in Beijing when the Chinese military caught wind of our presence and tried to arrest us. We escaped with the help of an American, and we made our way to Xining. Once there we were taken into custody by some select members of the Yakuza and the Chinese black market. We escaped again, but we did not run, Ranma Saotome saved us."
Soun beamed at the news and Tofu smiled.
"What did he do, beat them up?" Kasumi asked.
Ishii looked a little uncomfortable. "Actually Ranma killed our captives."
There was the collective sound of breaths being taken in. Nodoka smiled almost drunkenly at Ishii.
"Are you saying my son killed someone?"
Ishii looked even more uncomfortable. He hadn't expected to see Ranma's mother.
"Yes, I apologize that I must bring this news to you."
"Well that's alright, you see, right at the moment, my husband is in the hospital with gunshot wounds because the Yakuza broke in here last night and tried to kill us."
"Jesus!" Ishii blurted. "What happened?"
Tofu spoke up before Nodoka could.
"Luckily we were able to stave off their attack and the others were able to stop them."
Ishii breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good, I was worried for a moment, you see, the Yakuza can be most ruthless when they are set on a course of action."
"Yes, at the Kuno house, the young man there killed fifteen of the Yakuza members before he finally collapsed. And he even was able to dismember over thirty of them," Nodoka said.
Ishii looked around the room and saw from everyone's grave expressions that Ranma's mother was telling the truth. He decided that getting back to his story would be best.
"Anyway, after that we went to Jusenkyo, where they had hoped to receive cures for their curses. But when we arrived the guide was not there and then some more Yakuza members showed up. The Yakuza members brought some PLA soldiers with them and they were heavily armed. We had brought our own weapons but me, Seiji, and two others were forced to stay while Ranma, Ryoga, Akane, and Akari ran. They escaped from the soldiers and at the moment they should be on their way back to Japan. During the firefight Seiji was wounded and we were forced to leave him behind where he could tie up the enemy. Unfortunately he did not survive."
Ishii fought back the pain that came from saying those words. He bit into his inner cheek to keep from sobbing.
The room was quiet. No one could really think of something to say, but again Nodoka solved their problem.
"So my son did not receive a cure?" Nodoka asked.
"No, I'm afraid not, but the enemy forces were too intense for him to risk anything."
Nodoka smiled at Ishii. "I'm sorry, I know I'm talking too much, but the nice doctor here gave me some pills that he said would keep me from overreacting once I received the news that my husband was still in the hospital, and I was not allowed to see him."
Ishii could not think of anything to say after that, and he began to think that he should have waited for Phillip and Kimura before coming to see these people.
The phone rang, startling everyone. Kasumi got up and quickly answered it. She turned around and looked at Ishii.
"It's for you," she said and held the receiver out to him.
Ishii got to his feet and grabbed the phone from Kasumi, thanking her as he did so.
"Hello?"
*Ishii?*
"Ranma?"
*Yeah, were at the Tokyo International airport right now and I'm sort of low on cash and were all very tired. Do you think that you can pick us up?*
"Yeah, I'll be right there," Ishii said and then hung up. He turned back to the others. "That was Ranma. He and the others are at the airport, they need me to come pick them up."
Tofu was on his feet in an instance. "I'll come with you."
Happosai and Cologne remained silent and so did Soun. Kasumi stood and helped Nodoka to her feet.
"We'll go make some supper," Kasumi announced.
Tofu smiled and was out the door with Ishii. They encountered a police officer once they left the gate.
"Were just going down to the airport officer," Ishii told him. The officer smiled and let them pass.
Tofu opted to drive. They got inside Ishii's black sedan and drove down the street.
"So, you were close to Seiji Inafune?" Tofu asked. He saw the pain flash across Ishii's face and knew he had guessed right.
"You might say that," Ishii said slowly, making sure his words came out even.
"It's always hard to lose your father," Tofu said softly. Ishii looked at him in surprise.
"You knew?"
"Yes, I'm sorry about what happened to him, from what I could tell, Seiji was an amazing man."
"Thank you," Ishii said, gratefully. Then emotion took over, he started to cry. "Shit!" He said, disgusted with himself.
"It's alright, I myself lost my father. Does your mother know?" Tofu asked gently.
Ishii snorted. "My mother died when I was two years old, my father was out of the country and they placed me in an orphanage."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay; I guess I just miss the old bastard. We were together for about twenty straight years, never apart. Then he got involved in all that Yakuza shit and he made me leave. But I found out and joined up. He was so pissed," Ishii laughed. "The first thing he said to me after I told him was, 'Boy, when we get home I swear to god I'm going to plant my foot straight up your ass."
Tofu and Ishii laughed. Then Ishii grew serious.
"He was betrayed by men that had sworn their loyalty to him, and I will get revenge," Ishii said, dead serious.
Tofu looked over at him. "It is not wise to hold onto your anger; if you do you will end up destroying yourself."
Ishii looked at Tofu with anger and snorted. "If you think I will let my father's death pass without a word, you are a fool. I will kill the Oyabun himself."
"I don't expect you to give up your anger just like that, but what I do expect is for you to not go out and try and kill these men all by yourself. You should use your knowledge to help the police arrest these men and then there will be justice."
"Maybe, but I am going to kill the Oyabun myself," Ishii said.
Tofu could tell that there was something else that was fueling Ishii's anger towards the Oyabun. But he decided to leave him alone for now.
When they reached the airport, Ranma and the others were standing outside at the pickup drop-off point. When they parked the four teenagers jumped into the back and told Tofu to go.
"What's wrong?" Tofu asked.
"I think the security personal is onto us," Ryoga said.
"What do you mean?" Ishii asked.
"We didn't have our passports on us and I distracted the customs agent by flashing him and running," Ranma said.
"How did you get out of China?"
Akane started giggling and so did Akari. Ryoga looked at them confused. Ranma started laughing.
"Well, you might say we had to fight our way into the country," Ranma said chuckling.
Ishii looked at him and made a 'come on' gesture.
"After Ryoga manhandled some soldier that didn't want to give us a ride to the airport, we were turned away at the airport because we didn't have any identification. So Ryoga here came up with an idea, we snuck into the airport and stole four stewardess flight suits and quickly went to change into them. But Ryoga grabbed all female uniforms so me and him had to go in our cursed forms."
"They had pig stewardess uniforms?" Tofu asked confused. He pulled into the downtown sector and set the car along the curb.
"Oh, that's right, you guys don't know about Ryoga," Ranma said. He turned to Ryoga. "There are now two victims of the Akanenichuan."
Ryoga blushed while Tofu and Ishii looked surprised.
"So anyway," Ranma said getting back to his story. "When we went onto the flight we had to serve people. We didn't know a single thing about stewardesses so we ended up trying to make ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. But then Ryoga here said he wanted a drink, and when he got up, a passing stewardess spilt coffee on him. He changed back to his original form and let's just say that the uniform didn't fit him anymore. He tore it in several places and then someone dropped their drink on him and he changed back to Akane. The places where he had torn it now showed off a bit of chest and Ryoga went off to find some hot water. He didn't get very far when some guy pushing a food cart down the aisle forced him to stop. When Ryoga asked him to move the guy replied, 'Don't worry, I'm almost done and then we can each go to the bathroom.' Oops, wrong thing to say and Ryoga grabbed the guy by his collar and shoved him into the cart and booted it all the way down aisle and into the cockpit doors. The pilots, thinking someone wanted something, opened the door and saw Ryoga without a properly covering shirt and he feinted, the copilot freaked and nearly lost control."
Ryoga was blushing by the end of Ranma's story, and Ranma was having trouble from trying to keep from laughing. Akari and Akane were giggling and Tofu and Ishii had started to chuckle.
"I didn't mean to knock that jerk into the cockpit door," Ryoga said, trying to defend himself. That resulted in more laughter.
"Alright, I'll take us back to the Dojo now, I think Ryoga's suffered enough," Tofu said as he pulled back into traffic and started his way home.
===============
"Is this your first time visiting Langley, Mr. Kimura?"
Kimura was surprised at the man's Japanese; it was a finely polished as the other American he had been traveling with before.
"Yes," Kimura said quietly.
He had been approached by two very burly airport personnel once he got off the flight from China. They had taken him and put him onto a flight destined for Washington D.C. Once he arrived there, he was met by an old black man wearing what looked to be a L.L. Bean shirt. The man said he was an associate of Phil Parker. He was driven to a building that looked nice from the outside, but when he got inside (and saw the symbol of the CIA) he noticed how bland the interior looked.
General Parker had made arrangements with the departments to make sure that no field operative was in the hallways. It would not be wise to let the foreigner see a face that he might remember later.
"Let's go up to my office, we can talk in there."
Kimura realized that the kind old man was not an associate, he was somebody important. Not every desk jockey would get a protective detail and have entry to the seventh floor of CIA headquarters. (Author's Note: The seventh floor of the CIA is generally thought of as the place where all the decisions are made. Many a number of jokes inside CIA are focused on this floor.)
Once they were inside, the kind the man offered Kimura a drink. He made a glass of bourbon for himself and then made Kimura a scotch with no ice.
"My son tells me that you have information regarding an attack planned by the PRC on Taiwan. Is this true?"
"Yes," Kimura said slowly. He was now beginning to understand what this was all about. The American that had helped him get back to Japan had given told him that he was going back to America and that Kimura should expect a call anytime soon.
"I was wondering where you may have acquired the document from."
"I received it from a man that had sources inside the Chinese Politburo. He's dead now but I still have the document if you'd like to read it."
The man's eyes lit up and he smiled warmly at Kimura. He handed the document to him.
Parker scanned the paper, reading it very thoroughly. His eyebrows rose up twice while reading it, signifying something that surprised him. His eyes moved back to Kimura.
"You are certain that this document is real?" Parker asked.
"Should be, but I can always check," Kimura said. He saw the confused look on the man's face and continued. "The Yakuza don't know what happened in China yet; I can call them and ask for confirmation."
The man pointed to the phone sitting on his desk.
"Can you call now?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure what the time over in Japan would be."
Parker picked up the receiver and spoke into it and asked for the outside line. He handed the phone to Kimura.
"Go ahead."
Kimura dialed the number from memory and waited as the call was directed overseas.
*Yes?* Came the grumbled reply.
"This is Kimura; I need to speak with the Oyabun at once."
*Right away sir.*
There followed a few moments before another voice came over the line.
*Ah Kimura, I trust everything has been going alright over in China?*
"Yes, but I do need some confirmation."
*About what?*
"Why was I given a report telling me about the Chinese plans to attack Taiwan?"
*Because we are involved in it.*
"How?"
*The Chinese have contacted us and asked us for our assistance in the elimination of the Taiwanese president. We are scheduled to carry out with the operation in about one and a half weeks time.*
Kimura felt his blood run cold.
"Where are we doing it? Koga never told me what the details were."
*Were supposed to carry it out when Lee is moving to his airplane which he is to take to America. Were going to ambush him on the street and blow up his car and the car that carries his protective detail.*
General Parker thanked whatever person had equipped his phone with an auto-recorder.
"Thank you Oyabun, I will get back to you later," Kimura said as he set the receiver into its cradle. He let out the breath that he had been holding.
"My god, he was telling the truth."
"Yes," Parker said. "But before we do anything, we need to go see the DCI. Then we'll probably go see the President."
"The President?" Kimura asked, shocked.
"Don't worry; I'm sure they're going to be on their knees thanking you after they hear this conversation."
Kimura smiled a little uneasily. For his first trip to America, it was certainly an interesting one.
===============
Author's Notes: Now, during my service in India, my wife made the pointed remark that I had gone through Ranger Training. It's true that I graduated from the John Wayne School for Boys, but I do not agree with the Ranger Philosophy, "Complete the mission with complete disregard for casualties. The United States of America spends millions training these men to be the best and it shouldn't have to train a bunch more people just because the others don't care about casualties.
I find myself leaning towards the Green Beret type of personality. That includes completing the mission while preserving yourself and your men. This is a much better way to fight a battle, and it makes for excellent morale amongst the troops.
I hope everyone has been enjoying the story, and I hope everyone has been writing reviews.
Phillip Sheridan Parker III smiled at the guards as he passed the front gate. They didn't bother asking him for identification. He was the Director of Operations at Langley, and few people didn't know that. Parker was in good shape for his age, (he was sixty-seven) and he took good care of his body. He had learned about proper health while being in the army. If your body couldn't last through the day, then your mind sure as hell wouldn't, and in his job, he needed to be mentally alert for very long periods of time.
He waved at a few people once he entered CIA headquarters. Not that many people offered anything more than a greeting to him. People didn't usually want to risk offending a man that had on occasion, had a drink with the DCI (Director of Central Intelligence) and President of the United States. That suited Parker just fine, he didn't necessarily want to get close to the people that carried out the missions that he helped put together. You did that because you couldn't really tell if that person was going to be sent to a foreign land and might end up being caught as an intelligence officer and wind up with a bullet in the back of his head.
Parker came up to his office and greeted his secretary, the one he shared with DI (Director of Intelligence). He opened his office door and closed it, then turned.
"Hello dad."
Parker nearly yelled out in surprise when he saw his son, Phillip Sheridan Parker IV, sitting at his chair behind his desk.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Phillip smiled and stood up. "Why yes dad, I'm doing just fine, how's mom?"
"I'm serious Phillip, how the hell did you get in here?" Parker demanded.
"Your friend across the hall was nice enough to let me in."
The adjoining door between the DO and DI's office opened and Earl Murray, Director of Intelligence, walked in.
"I wish I could have seen his face," Murray said to Phillip.
"Oh don't worry, it was probably the same face he had when you told him that he would be taking a pay cut from the army."
"Does one of you want to tell me what the hells going on here?" Parker asked them.
"I'm not so sure myself actually," Murray admitted. "I'm a bit curious myself; all Phillip told me was that he had something that he wished to discuss with both of us if possible."
"You guys had better take a seat then," Phillip said motioning for them to sit in the two chairs that sat in front of the desk. Parker hesitated but sat down.
"Now," Phillip began, "I want you two to know that I got in from China last night, so my body clock is on China time. While I was over there I was with a mutual acquaintance of both of you, Seiji Inafune."
"How is that old fool?" Murray asked. He saw the pained expression on Phillip's face. "What's wrong?"
"Seiji died while we were in China," Phillip said. He had practiced saying that and he was still having trouble holding back the tears.
"What?" Phillip and Murray asked simultaneously.
"He was hit by a sniper and then he used a grenade to kill a bunch of PLA soldiers and in the process he died as well."
"What do you mean he was hit by a sniper?" Parker asked. "Does this have something to do with what you called me about while you were over there?"
"Yes, but I'm going to start from the beginning," Phillip said, and then looked at both of them. "This is going to take some time. Am I going to be interrupted?"
Parker got up from his seat and walked to the door; he opened and stuck his head out. "Sharon, make sure Earl and I are not disturbed until lunch, and cancel whatever appointments I had."
He came back and sat down. "Go ahead."
Phillip nodded his thanks and began. "Four years ago, Seiji got into trouble with the Yakuza. It seems they wanted to use him for their operations but he wouldn't do anything like that. They somehow forced him into it and were able to keep him there for awhile. About two or three months ago, he met two young Japanese teenagers. They are martial artists and trust me, some of the shit they can do is pretty amazing. Anyway, Seiji got these two to help him take down the drug operation in Tokyo; I think you'll remember the news story about that fire in downtown Tokyo that destroyed a bunch of buildings. Well, after that they came under pretty heavy fire from the Yakuza and they slipped into China."
"This was around the time you asked me to go visit him General," Phillip said, and then continued with his story. "But what Seiji didn't know was that, the Yakuza obviously has some major connections with the Chinese Politburo, because about one day after they arrived, a Chinese Special Forces team tried to arrest them. I found out about this and was able to help them escape by keeping Seiji and the two Japanese martial artists and their fiancées at the British embassy. It seems that the two martial artists had some kind of curse put on them, and I'm serious this was a for-real curse, and they were going to a place called Jusenkyo that was located in the province of Qing Hai. We decided we should go there, and along the way we ran into some guy named Koga, he was a big time drug producer for China and Japan."
"I say was because one of the Japanese martial artists flipped out when he thought they had killed his fiancée and ripped them all apart, and I mean literally ripped them apart. He other martial artist's fiancée was kidnapped at that point and that was when I met Isamu Kimura, a big name over in the Yakuza. He agreed to come with us after Jusenkyo and he would tell me everything he knew. But when we were going to Jusenkyo I happened to come to the house of a counter-revolutionary and bribed him into giving us some guns and stuff. We went to Jusenkyo but apparently the guide or whatever wasn't there and we had to wait."
"I had set up further away from the place with a sniper rifle, so I could keep an eye on things. When Seiji came to tell me about the guide, the kidnapper and that Kimura guy showed up with Ryoga's girlfriend. Seiji ran back their when he was just about to get there, a sniper took a shot at him and hit him in the shoulder. That Kimura knocked down the other kidnapper and grabbed the martial artist's fiancée and returned her before hiding. Because once they shot Seiji, the whole place erupted in gunfire."
"The Yakuza somehow got a hold of a bunch of PLA soldiers and they started shooting up this Jusenkyo place. I took out as many as I could with the rifle and then I ran like the wind to get Seiji and ducked into the hut with Kimura. The soldiers were lighting the place up with gunfire and it was really hairy. Seiji told me to take Kimura and get out of there. I didn't want to leave him but he gave me no other choice. I gave him my grenades and as we were running, I heard them all go off."
Parker and Murray looked at each other for a moment.
"Seiji told me to tell you that that was the way he went out, killing as many as those godless bastards as he could," Phil said, his voice cracking.
General Parker got up from his seat and hugged his son. Tears threatened to escape his eyes but he kept himself in check.
"I shouldn't have left him, I should've taken him with me," Phil whispered.
Parker released his son and sat back down, heavily.
"What about the body?" Murray asked from his seat.
Phil shook his head. "There were soldiers crawling all over the place, I couldn't even get within a mile of the place."
"What about Ishii?" Murray asked. "Has someone told him?"
"Ishii was there Earl," Phil answered quietly. "He nearly lost it when he heard the grenade go off."
"The poor boy," Murray said quietly. "Where is he now?"
"I sent him back to Japan so he could find the two martial artist's families and tell them about what happened. I sent Kimura with him too. Right now I'm trying to think of a way to get the others out of China."
"Do you think you could tell us their names?" Murray asked.
"Ranma Saotome, Ryoga Hibiki, Akari Unryuu, and Akane Tendo," Phil told them.
"So right now they are probably still inside China," Parker said, getting to his feet and started pacing. "What we need to do is think of a way to get them out of there without making some kind of political incident."
"You mean your actually going to help?" Murray asked, surprised.
"From what Phil has told me, these children helped Seiji out, and anyone that is a friend of Seiji Inafune's is a friend of mine," General Parker said.
"That reminds me," Phil said. "I happened to hear while I was in China from Koga, moments before he was disemboweled, that the Chinese were going to take Taiwan back by force."
"What?" Parker and Murray's heads snapped around.
"Yeah, that Kimura guy has some documentation on the subject, and he said he should be able to get some information about it because the Yakuza and the Politburo don't know that Minoru and Koga are dead."
"We need to see that man Phillip, right now," Murray said.
"Get him on the phone right now," Parker ordered. "I want to be able to confirm this and carry it to the DCI today."
Phillip looked a little flustered. "I don't think that he would be back in Japan yet."
"Then call wherever he's supposed to land and leave instructions with whoever's there that this man must be put on the next flight to Washington D.C."
===============
Zhisheng put an extra spring into his step. Today was the day that he was going to get final confirmation on the assassination of the Taiwanese president.
The spring in his step left as soon as it had come.
"We received a rather disturbing report today comrades," Premier Renyang said at the start of the meeting. "It seems that there were six Japanese in our country last week, and they were traveling with diplomatic passports with no relation to any diplomatic organization. As I began to look deeper into the reports that I received, I realized that they were terrorists. Nomuri Koga's body was discovered yesterday by a cabin located outside of Xining, along with fourteen other bodies. These terrorists then went deep into Qing Hai, right into the Bayankala mountain range. It was there that the local military base received a written order that ordered them into the mountains and that they were to kill all of the occupants."
"I never received a word of this written order and I would like to know who authorized it?" Renyang asked the assembled men.
Zhisheng got up from his chair and cleared his throat. "Comrades, I must admit that I am at fault here. I gave the Yakuza authorization to use PLA resources for whatever they will need in completing their mission."
"You had no right to do that!" Wei Liang flared. "I am the head of the PLA; you must get my authorization before you do anything involving them!"
Zhisheng glared at Liang. "The last meeting we held, you agreed to allow the Yakuza to be the organization from which we will complete the assassination, and then we all agreed that we will do anything to help them, short of actually participating in the mission."
Renyang spoke. "But I also wanted to have all matters passed before the Politburo so that everyone could be brought up to date on all the issues."
"I received the call at three a.m. comrade; the Yakuza member said that it was of the up-most importance that he gets the help from those troops. So I sent them, and now I have received word that the terrorists you spoke of have escaped, and now the Yakuza member and the half the troops are dead."
"I will have to speak to the Japanese prime minister about this," Renyang said. "Perhaps he will be able to help us get these men and take care of them."
"As far as I know the terrorists are still in China," Zhisheng said. "I have every border and airport watching for them."
"Good," Renyang smiled. "Now that that is out of the way, let us go on to other business."
Zhisheng let out the breath he had been holding. He had been facing immediate expulsion from the Politburo, and now he was receiving praise. Maybe he would have a better day than he thought.
===============
The path wasn't paved but it looked as if there had been a steady stream of traffic going over it, so they had decided that the best idea would be to follow it until they got back to civilization.
Ranma glanced over at Akari for the fifth time since they started out. She was walking strangely but not in a way that would be noticeable to other people. He also noticed that she kept stealing glances at Ryoga and then blushing when she looked back. Ranma wasn't sure what to make of it, except that something must have happened between them. He slowly moved himself so he was walking beside Ryoga and gently pulled his aside from the girls.
"What is it Ranma?" Ryoga asked worriedly.
"Did something happen between you and Akari?" Ranma asked.
"Eh?" Ryoga blushed and immediately looked over at Akari, who had been looking at him. "Nothing happened."
"Yeah right," Ranma said. "I suppose that blush is just there because you like the cold weather then."
"Mind your own business Ranma," Ryoga said, so sharply that Ranma backed up.
Ranma shrugged his shoulders and went back to his place beside Akane.
"How long do you think it will take us to get to Xi'an Ranma?" Akane asked.
"I don't know," Ranma said. "We've probably got about another five or six hours of straight walking ahead of us before we reach it."
Akane shivered as another blast of wind blew over the group. Akane rubbed her arms from beneath the sweater she was wearing. She was wearing a skirt that looked like Akari's but Japanese made.
Ranma noticed her shivering and looked at her concernedly.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "You don't look very warm in that skirt."
"I'm fine; I just wish I had brought a pair of pants instead of this skirt."
"Yeah well, I'm sure it won't get much colder than this," Ranma said. But as he said it, the first trickle of snow began to fall. Akane looked over at Ranma and he gave her a sympathetic look. He was wearing his normal Chinese shirt and pants. But the difference was Ranma was used to walking in most types of weather.
Ryoga's head perked up when he heard the low rumble of a car. In the distance he spotted a military transport truck coming down the dirt path.
"Maybe they can give us a ride?" Ranma said as he stood at the side of the road.
They waited until the truck was pretty close and when it showed no signs of stopping, Ryoga went and stood in the center of the road, his hand raised, like a traffic cop. The truck came to a stop and a man in the driver's seat pocked his head out the window.
He yelled something in Chinese and then made the distinctive gesture for Ryoga to move.
"We were sort of hoping that you could give us a ride," Ranma said to the driver. The driver turned and looked at Ranma for a second before spitting at his face.
Ranma dodged the spit but it hit Akari.
Ryoga saw this and stormed up to the driver's side door and yanked it open, grabbed the driver and threw him to the ground. The driver began to yell at him again and Ryoga glared down at him, silencing the man.
"Now you are going to drive us to Xi'an," Ryoga said, picking the man up by his collar. "And if you don't, I'm going to show you why you never spit on people!"
The driver was now looking at Ryoga with terrified eyes. He couldn't understand Japanese but he got the message. He bowed to Ryoga and quickly got back inside the truck and motioned for the others to get into the back. They complied and moved into the back, the truck rumbled and started down the path.
The back of the truck was filled with what looked like military rations. Ryoga sat down on one of the boxes and inspected Akari's skirt. He wiped the spittle off with a bandanna. Akari smiled at him and then came and sat down on his lap and rested her head on his chest.
Ranma sat beside Akane and he gently whispered.
"Have you noticed anything different about those two?" he asked, indicating Ryoga and Akari.
"No," Akane said, obviously surprised by the question.
"Didn't you notice the way Akari was walking? It looked like she had injured her groin or something."
Akane glanced over at Akari and Ryoga and saw the way Ryoga had his arms around Akari. She noticed that Ryoga wasn't blushing, which he usually did when he had any kind of physical contact with any female other than Ranma's cursed side. She turned back to Ranma, surprise on her face.
"I think I know what happened," Akane said. "Ryoga and Akari had sex."
Ranma's eyebrows rose in surprise and he looked over at Akari and Ryoga.
"Jeez, I think your right," Ranma said. "That would explain why Akari was walking like that."
Akane nodded and looked back at the other couple. She smiled. "Aren't they cute Ranma?"
"Yeah, I always did think that those two belonged together. They make a real good couple."
Akane smile and she took Ranma's hand in hers.
"So when are we going to consummate our relationship?" Akane asked with a grin.
"Well, despite what Ryoga did, I think it would be best if we waited tell were back in Japan. I would feel weird doing it in this messed up country."
"Yeah, but then we'd need to find a place where we wouldn't have to worry about our families busting in, or having any crazy fiancées attack. That would just spoil the mood," Akane said laughing. She looked out the back of the truck and saw that the snow was now falling at a steady rate. She smiled contently and leaned her head over and rested it on Ranma's shoulder.
===============
Ono Tofu walked quickly to the front door of the Tendo home. He opened the door and saw a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, standing there.
"Hello," Tofu greeted. He smiled politely at the man, but it was a little strained. The past two days had been rather nerve-rattling. He had just come from the hospital and found out that Genma would be in there for another day or so. The police had been here for round the clock checks. He wondered how this man got past them.
"Hello," the young man greeted. "My name's Ishii, I'm an acquaintance of Ranma and Ryoga."
"Oh," Tofu said, motioning for the man to come inside. "Does that mean that you know where Ranma and the others are, we haven't heard form them in over a week."
"I think it would be best if I talked to everyone, that way I won't have to repeat myself."
Tofu led the man into the dining room where Soun, Happosai, and Cologne were sitting. He left and brought Kasumi and Nodoka in from the kitchen.
"My name is Ishii; I have come to know Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki from their involvement with Seiji Inafune. I was hoping that I could talk to you all about what exactly has happened since they traveled to China."
Tofu glanced over at Nodoka. She was still under the effects of the tranquilizers that he had given her after Genma was taken to the hospital.
"Please do," Soun said, his voice tight, obviously trying to remain calm.
"We were in Beijing when the Chinese military caught wind of our presence and tried to arrest us. We escaped with the help of an American, and we made our way to Xining. Once there we were taken into custody by some select members of the Yakuza and the Chinese black market. We escaped again, but we did not run, Ranma Saotome saved us."
Soun beamed at the news and Tofu smiled.
"What did he do, beat them up?" Kasumi asked.
Ishii looked a little uncomfortable. "Actually Ranma killed our captives."
There was the collective sound of breaths being taken in. Nodoka smiled almost drunkenly at Ishii.
"Are you saying my son killed someone?"
Ishii looked even more uncomfortable. He hadn't expected to see Ranma's mother.
"Yes, I apologize that I must bring this news to you."
"Well that's alright, you see, right at the moment, my husband is in the hospital with gunshot wounds because the Yakuza broke in here last night and tried to kill us."
"Jesus!" Ishii blurted. "What happened?"
Tofu spoke up before Nodoka could.
"Luckily we were able to stave off their attack and the others were able to stop them."
Ishii breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good, I was worried for a moment, you see, the Yakuza can be most ruthless when they are set on a course of action."
"Yes, at the Kuno house, the young man there killed fifteen of the Yakuza members before he finally collapsed. And he even was able to dismember over thirty of them," Nodoka said.
Ishii looked around the room and saw from everyone's grave expressions that Ranma's mother was telling the truth. He decided that getting back to his story would be best.
"Anyway, after that we went to Jusenkyo, where they had hoped to receive cures for their curses. But when we arrived the guide was not there and then some more Yakuza members showed up. The Yakuza members brought some PLA soldiers with them and they were heavily armed. We had brought our own weapons but me, Seiji, and two others were forced to stay while Ranma, Ryoga, Akane, and Akari ran. They escaped from the soldiers and at the moment they should be on their way back to Japan. During the firefight Seiji was wounded and we were forced to leave him behind where he could tie up the enemy. Unfortunately he did not survive."
Ishii fought back the pain that came from saying those words. He bit into his inner cheek to keep from sobbing.
The room was quiet. No one could really think of something to say, but again Nodoka solved their problem.
"So my son did not receive a cure?" Nodoka asked.
"No, I'm afraid not, but the enemy forces were too intense for him to risk anything."
Nodoka smiled at Ishii. "I'm sorry, I know I'm talking too much, but the nice doctor here gave me some pills that he said would keep me from overreacting once I received the news that my husband was still in the hospital, and I was not allowed to see him."
Ishii could not think of anything to say after that, and he began to think that he should have waited for Phillip and Kimura before coming to see these people.
The phone rang, startling everyone. Kasumi got up and quickly answered it. She turned around and looked at Ishii.
"It's for you," she said and held the receiver out to him.
Ishii got to his feet and grabbed the phone from Kasumi, thanking her as he did so.
"Hello?"
*Ishii?*
"Ranma?"
*Yeah, were at the Tokyo International airport right now and I'm sort of low on cash and were all very tired. Do you think that you can pick us up?*
"Yeah, I'll be right there," Ishii said and then hung up. He turned back to the others. "That was Ranma. He and the others are at the airport, they need me to come pick them up."
Tofu was on his feet in an instance. "I'll come with you."
Happosai and Cologne remained silent and so did Soun. Kasumi stood and helped Nodoka to her feet.
"We'll go make some supper," Kasumi announced.
Tofu smiled and was out the door with Ishii. They encountered a police officer once they left the gate.
"Were just going down to the airport officer," Ishii told him. The officer smiled and let them pass.
Tofu opted to drive. They got inside Ishii's black sedan and drove down the street.
"So, you were close to Seiji Inafune?" Tofu asked. He saw the pain flash across Ishii's face and knew he had guessed right.
"You might say that," Ishii said slowly, making sure his words came out even.
"It's always hard to lose your father," Tofu said softly. Ishii looked at him in surprise.
"You knew?"
"Yes, I'm sorry about what happened to him, from what I could tell, Seiji was an amazing man."
"Thank you," Ishii said, gratefully. Then emotion took over, he started to cry. "Shit!" He said, disgusted with himself.
"It's alright, I myself lost my father. Does your mother know?" Tofu asked gently.
Ishii snorted. "My mother died when I was two years old, my father was out of the country and they placed me in an orphanage."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay; I guess I just miss the old bastard. We were together for about twenty straight years, never apart. Then he got involved in all that Yakuza shit and he made me leave. But I found out and joined up. He was so pissed," Ishii laughed. "The first thing he said to me after I told him was, 'Boy, when we get home I swear to god I'm going to plant my foot straight up your ass."
Tofu and Ishii laughed. Then Ishii grew serious.
"He was betrayed by men that had sworn their loyalty to him, and I will get revenge," Ishii said, dead serious.
Tofu looked over at him. "It is not wise to hold onto your anger; if you do you will end up destroying yourself."
Ishii looked at Tofu with anger and snorted. "If you think I will let my father's death pass without a word, you are a fool. I will kill the Oyabun himself."
"I don't expect you to give up your anger just like that, but what I do expect is for you to not go out and try and kill these men all by yourself. You should use your knowledge to help the police arrest these men and then there will be justice."
"Maybe, but I am going to kill the Oyabun myself," Ishii said.
Tofu could tell that there was something else that was fueling Ishii's anger towards the Oyabun. But he decided to leave him alone for now.
When they reached the airport, Ranma and the others were standing outside at the pickup drop-off point. When they parked the four teenagers jumped into the back and told Tofu to go.
"What's wrong?" Tofu asked.
"I think the security personal is onto us," Ryoga said.
"What do you mean?" Ishii asked.
"We didn't have our passports on us and I distracted the customs agent by flashing him and running," Ranma said.
"How did you get out of China?"
Akane started giggling and so did Akari. Ryoga looked at them confused. Ranma started laughing.
"Well, you might say we had to fight our way into the country," Ranma said chuckling.
Ishii looked at him and made a 'come on' gesture.
"After Ryoga manhandled some soldier that didn't want to give us a ride to the airport, we were turned away at the airport because we didn't have any identification. So Ryoga here came up with an idea, we snuck into the airport and stole four stewardess flight suits and quickly went to change into them. But Ryoga grabbed all female uniforms so me and him had to go in our cursed forms."
"They had pig stewardess uniforms?" Tofu asked confused. He pulled into the downtown sector and set the car along the curb.
"Oh, that's right, you guys don't know about Ryoga," Ranma said. He turned to Ryoga. "There are now two victims of the Akanenichuan."
Ryoga blushed while Tofu and Ishii looked surprised.
"So anyway," Ranma said getting back to his story. "When we went onto the flight we had to serve people. We didn't know a single thing about stewardesses so we ended up trying to make ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. But then Ryoga here said he wanted a drink, and when he got up, a passing stewardess spilt coffee on him. He changed back to his original form and let's just say that the uniform didn't fit him anymore. He tore it in several places and then someone dropped their drink on him and he changed back to Akane. The places where he had torn it now showed off a bit of chest and Ryoga went off to find some hot water. He didn't get very far when some guy pushing a food cart down the aisle forced him to stop. When Ryoga asked him to move the guy replied, 'Don't worry, I'm almost done and then we can each go to the bathroom.' Oops, wrong thing to say and Ryoga grabbed the guy by his collar and shoved him into the cart and booted it all the way down aisle and into the cockpit doors. The pilots, thinking someone wanted something, opened the door and saw Ryoga without a properly covering shirt and he feinted, the copilot freaked and nearly lost control."
Ryoga was blushing by the end of Ranma's story, and Ranma was having trouble from trying to keep from laughing. Akari and Akane were giggling and Tofu and Ishii had started to chuckle.
"I didn't mean to knock that jerk into the cockpit door," Ryoga said, trying to defend himself. That resulted in more laughter.
"Alright, I'll take us back to the Dojo now, I think Ryoga's suffered enough," Tofu said as he pulled back into traffic and started his way home.
===============
"Is this your first time visiting Langley, Mr. Kimura?"
Kimura was surprised at the man's Japanese; it was a finely polished as the other American he had been traveling with before.
"Yes," Kimura said quietly.
He had been approached by two very burly airport personnel once he got off the flight from China. They had taken him and put him onto a flight destined for Washington D.C. Once he arrived there, he was met by an old black man wearing what looked to be a L.L. Bean shirt. The man said he was an associate of Phil Parker. He was driven to a building that looked nice from the outside, but when he got inside (and saw the symbol of the CIA) he noticed how bland the interior looked.
General Parker had made arrangements with the departments to make sure that no field operative was in the hallways. It would not be wise to let the foreigner see a face that he might remember later.
"Let's go up to my office, we can talk in there."
Kimura realized that the kind old man was not an associate, he was somebody important. Not every desk jockey would get a protective detail and have entry to the seventh floor of CIA headquarters. (Author's Note: The seventh floor of the CIA is generally thought of as the place where all the decisions are made. Many a number of jokes inside CIA are focused on this floor.)
Once they were inside, the kind the man offered Kimura a drink. He made a glass of bourbon for himself and then made Kimura a scotch with no ice.
"My son tells me that you have information regarding an attack planned by the PRC on Taiwan. Is this true?"
"Yes," Kimura said slowly. He was now beginning to understand what this was all about. The American that had helped him get back to Japan had given told him that he was going back to America and that Kimura should expect a call anytime soon.
"I was wondering where you may have acquired the document from."
"I received it from a man that had sources inside the Chinese Politburo. He's dead now but I still have the document if you'd like to read it."
The man's eyes lit up and he smiled warmly at Kimura. He handed the document to him.
Parker scanned the paper, reading it very thoroughly. His eyebrows rose up twice while reading it, signifying something that surprised him. His eyes moved back to Kimura.
"You are certain that this document is real?" Parker asked.
"Should be, but I can always check," Kimura said. He saw the confused look on the man's face and continued. "The Yakuza don't know what happened in China yet; I can call them and ask for confirmation."
The man pointed to the phone sitting on his desk.
"Can you call now?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure what the time over in Japan would be."
Parker picked up the receiver and spoke into it and asked for the outside line. He handed the phone to Kimura.
"Go ahead."
Kimura dialed the number from memory and waited as the call was directed overseas.
*Yes?* Came the grumbled reply.
"This is Kimura; I need to speak with the Oyabun at once."
*Right away sir.*
There followed a few moments before another voice came over the line.
*Ah Kimura, I trust everything has been going alright over in China?*
"Yes, but I do need some confirmation."
*About what?*
"Why was I given a report telling me about the Chinese plans to attack Taiwan?"
*Because we are involved in it.*
"How?"
*The Chinese have contacted us and asked us for our assistance in the elimination of the Taiwanese president. We are scheduled to carry out with the operation in about one and a half weeks time.*
Kimura felt his blood run cold.
"Where are we doing it? Koga never told me what the details were."
*Were supposed to carry it out when Lee is moving to his airplane which he is to take to America. Were going to ambush him on the street and blow up his car and the car that carries his protective detail.*
General Parker thanked whatever person had equipped his phone with an auto-recorder.
"Thank you Oyabun, I will get back to you later," Kimura said as he set the receiver into its cradle. He let out the breath that he had been holding.
"My god, he was telling the truth."
"Yes," Parker said. "But before we do anything, we need to go see the DCI. Then we'll probably go see the President."
"The President?" Kimura asked, shocked.
"Don't worry; I'm sure they're going to be on their knees thanking you after they hear this conversation."
Kimura smiled a little uneasily. For his first trip to America, it was certainly an interesting one.
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Author's Notes: Now, during my service in India, my wife made the pointed remark that I had gone through Ranger Training. It's true that I graduated from the John Wayne School for Boys, but I do not agree with the Ranger Philosophy, "Complete the mission with complete disregard for casualties. The United States of America spends millions training these men to be the best and it shouldn't have to train a bunch more people just because the others don't care about casualties.
I find myself leaning towards the Green Beret type of personality. That includes completing the mission while preserving yourself and your men. This is a much better way to fight a battle, and it makes for excellent morale amongst the troops.
I hope everyone has been enjoying the story, and I hope everyone has been writing reviews.