A/N: sorry, had to put this little blurb up here. The scene with the tape recorder was amazingly frustrating to write the way I had originally intended to, so I had to change it. Despite the fact that the voices are Korean, I'm going to write it out as if they were speaking Japanese, and we can all make the assumption that Ishii is translating it as it plays.
Close Combat
Chapter 2
A New Name for Chaos
1923 Hours, September 11, 2010
Washington DC, Maryland
"You know, on second thought I think it would have been smarter for me to drive," Ranma commented as they navigated the freeway.
"Shut up," Ryoga replied. "If they didn't have to make everything so damn confusing here than I'd have no trouble at all."
"Oh of course," Ranma agreed, his voice lacking any type of conviction. "I mean, you possessing the world's worst sense of direction wouldn't have affected you're driving skills whatsoever."
"I told you to shut up," snarled Ryoga. "I swear it Ranma, one more comment out of you and I'm crashing this car."
Ranma wasn't fazed by Ryoga's threat.
"But Ryoga, this is a rental and you know the rental agency will have a fit when it gets back to them that you drove it off the freeway," Ranma said straight faced. He noticed Ryoga's hands tightening on the wheel and decided it was time to change the subject, but not completely. "Y'know, I've been wondering, exactly how do you manage to drive Kimura to work every morning when normally, if you're given a long stretch of road to walk down, you somehow wind up back where you started in less than a minute?"
Ryoga's face flushed red, but now it was from embarrassment rather than anger.
"Kimura has his car outfitted with one of those navigator devices. You put in the destination and you're starting point and it'll tell you exactly how to get there as you drive."
Ranma nodded at that, and seemed to be contemplating something for a moment before opening his mouth.
"But still, even then I'd expect you to get lost at least a couple of times along the way."
The thin thread that reigned in Ryoga's temper snapped quite soundly and with fluid grace, he brought his foot down onto the accelerator and lined the car up with the center divider that was only a short distance ahead.
A quick shout escaped Ranma's mouth when he noticed that Ryoga didn't seem to be very concerned with the approaching concrete divider and quickly threw his hands across the car, grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it hard to the left.
"Are you insane!?" he shouted as the car spun briefly before brushing against the edge of the road and righting itself. He sent a stiff jab to Ryoga's leg that was currently clamped down on the accelerator.
Ryoga looked over at Ranma with an air of calm that seemed drastically out of place with what had just occurred.
"Does this mean your going to stop questioning my driving?" he asked. A somewhat nasty smile crossed his face as he regarded Ranma and not the road in front of him. "Cause you know, I could always accidentally lose control."
He hadn't actually intended to smash the car into the divider, but frightening Ranma after his somewhat embarrassing line of questions had made the action more than worthwhile. The fact that Ranma had reminded him of the first few times when he had driven Kimura to work and had somehow wound up in Kyoto had not helped his rapidly deteriorating mood.
Ranma looked at Ryoga for a moment before shaking his head.
"Remind me the next time we come here to just get Phil to come pick us up."
Ryoga nodded. "Will do."
They drove in silence for the next 20 minutes, attempting to navigate their way to Parker's home address. Ryoga turned down a random street and somehow stumbled upon a long row of houses on the street that Parker's house apparently existed. However, even this new discovery didn't exactly help their search.
"This would be a heck of a lot easier if all of these houses didn't look so goddamn similar," Ranma stated.
"Well," Ryoga began, "just look for the nicest house along here. Parker's the Director of the CIA; he's bound to have a nicer place than the other government pukes that live around here."
Ranma couldn't argue with that logic, but this was Ranma and Ryoga and some smart comment had to be made.
"Its not like they put out a big sign on their lawn that says 'Director of CIA Residence', and a little side note underneath reading 'Unauthorized personnel are prohibited to read above message'."
Ryoga's left eye twitched as he mentally counted to ten.
"Well asshole, I'd prefer to hear some of you're bright ideas on how we find his place then."
Ranma's mouth twisted into a smile. He reached into the pocket of his pants and extracted his cellphone. Ryoga noticed this and snorted.
"What are you gonna do, call Parker and ask for directions?" he asked. "Because if you are I think you're overlooking the fact that we don't have his home number."
"If you'd be quiet for just a second you negative individual, I'd be able to finish what I'm doing," Ranma said. He pushed a few numbers and waited for something to load. "I have no intention of trying to call Parker; the Director of the CIA doesn't exactly have a phone number that is given out to anybody that asks for it. These new cell phones Ishii got us have a GPS program built in."
Ryoga looked at Ranma in surprise. "They do?" Ranma nodded. "If you knew this all along then why the hell did you let me drive around Washington for the past 3 hours?"
"Because I didn't remember up until about a minute ago."
Neither of them talked while Ranma inputted Parker's address. Both men looked at each other in uneasy silence as they waited for the phone to connect.
"Alright, according to this were about..." Ranma trailed off as he peered at the phone. He raised an eyebrow at what it read. "Okay, were about 4 feet from Parker's place."
Ryoga looked out the side window, then down at the small slip of paper with Parker's address written on it.
"Well, how do you like that, I found it," Ryoga said as he slowed the car and pulled into the driveway.
"Whadd'ya mean you found it?" Ranma intoned as he slipped the phone back into his pocket and clambered out of the car. "With your driving habits we'd have wound up in Brazil before the night was over."
Ryoga shot Ranma a glare as they made their way up to the front door.
"Don't make me have to pound you're amazingly thick head into the ground in front of Phil, Ranma. I know how much that would embarrass you."
"The only thing I'm embarrassed about is that I was stupid enough to think you couldn't drive 30 miles from the rental agency to Parker's house without taking 3 hour long detours," Ranma said.
Ryoga paused in front of the door and turned to face Ranma. They stared at each other for a moment before breaking into grins.
"Alright, I call a truce," Ryoga offered. "For the rest of the evening I won't comment on you're lack of intelligence so long as you don't talk about my sense of direction."
"Agreed."
They briefly shook hands and then knocked on the door.
-------------------------
0823 Hours, 12 September 2010
Tokyo, Japan
Kimura set his the morning paper down on his desk as he walked briskly into his office. He headed straight for the coffee machine located on a separate desk along the wall, turning the machine on. That done, he went to his desk, extracted his laptop, and set it on the desk, opening it up and starting it up. He reached behind him and opened up the blinds that covered his window that allowed him a look at the beautiful grounds outside the Diet building.
Without Ranma and Ryoga there to take part in his morning routine, there didn't seem to be as much to do, and it was only 20 minutes before Kimura's mind began to drift away from the many different documents sitting on his desk. He glanced at the clock located in the corner of his laptop.
'Ranma and Ryoga should be at Parker's place already,' he noted to himself as he sipped at the fresh cup of coffee.
The whole business about the Russian nuke scientists disappearing had him worried. Coupled with North Korea being unnaturally quiet, the situation had migraine written all over it.
Shaking his head sadly, Kimura got back to work. Without Ranma to sort through the morning's intelligence, a lot of meaningless drivel found its way onto his desk. After the seventh item concerning the political implications of having the cattle industry in Canada go sour, Kimura was just about convinced, that Ranma deserved a medal for his work. Most of this stuff should have been carted off to the separate government branches.
'No wonder Ryoga always likes to drive me every morning. It keeps him from having to go through all this each day.'
It was several more hours before Kimura noticed that he was hungry. He buzzed his secretary, prepared to request the man bring him a sandwich.
"You're lunch appointment is already here Mr. Prime Minister," his secretary replied.
'Lunch appointment?' Kimura thought to himself. He hadn't recalled having a meeting scheduled for now.
Before he could question his secretary anymore the doors to his office opened and two women walked in. Kimura stared at them for a moment before smiling.
"Well now, I'd ask what you two are doing here, but I think I already know the answer."
Akane Saotome smiled briefly at Kimura before replying.
"Since you saw fit to send our husbands off to Washington and our kids are at school, we figured it'd be best if we came down here and kept you company."
"Trust me when I say that I wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been absolutely necessary," Kimura replied. Akane and Akari both gave him dubious looks. "Moving on, since your both here, how about you rescue me from all this paperwork and come have lunch with me?"
"Alright, but your buying," Akari informed him. Kimura laughed and walked out from behind his desk and towards the door, stopping to grab his coat.
"Fine, but I'll have you know that it's quite a travesty that the two chairwomen on the board of one of the largest investment banking companies in the world should have to mooch a meal off of the Prime Minister."
Just as he got the delighted laughter from both Akane and Akari, the door to his office swung open sharply. Ishii Inafune stood in the doorway.
"Something the matter Ishii?" Kimura asked, slightly nonplussed by his entrance.
"I have something to show you," he glanced at Akane and Akari and added, "in private."
Akane and Akari both looked put off by that, and Akane voiced her problem.
"Really Ishii, I'd think that you'd be able to trust us enough that we wouldn't go to the press immediately."
Ishii looked pained for a moment before replying.
"Trust me you two, this isn't something that you'll want to hear."
Akari looked like she was going to put her two cents in but Kimura stepped in before she could get further than opening her mouth.
"They can stay Ishii."
"Fine," Ishii said angrily. "But don't say I didn't warn you."
Kimura replaced his jacket and went back to his desk, motioning for the others to grab a chair and sit down. Once everyone was sitting down Ishii reached into his pants pocket and extracted a small recorder. Kimura looked at him in confusion.
"What's that for?"
Ishii set the recorder down on Kimura's desk and sat back in his chair with an exaggerated sigh.
"The PSIA received the tape in there about 30 minutes ago. They got it from the Seger channel. There not sure if this is something our agent recorded himself, or if he picked it up from one of his operatives."
"Seger?" Akari asked, the word unknown to her. Akane shared her look of confusion.
"You don't have the need-to-know," Ishii said simply.
"Seger is the codename for an agent that the Americans and the PSIA managed to acquire inside North Korea. He's in the military, but that's just a cover that the Koreans gave him. Were not quite sure what he does, but we do know that he's been working with the nukes and the development of them for the past little while," Kimura explained. Ishii shot him a glare.
"I hardly think we should be throwing that information around, no offense guys," he added to Akane and Akari. "The more people in on this the more likely something gets out, and that means this guy gets a bullet in the back of the head and we lose any future information."
"What's on the tape," Kimura urged.
"Nobody here speaks Korean right?" Ishii asked after a moment. He received nods from the others. "Alright, then I'll translate as it plays."
He reached forward and hit play on the recorder. As he sat back he glanced over at Akane and Akari.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," he repeated.
The first noises heard were the scraping of chairs and some muffled voices. After a few moments the sound of someone shouting angrily came clearly through the recorder.
"Sit him down in the chair and bind his arms and legs. Get me that knife."
Someone saying something in Russian could be heard. There followed a few unrecognizable sounds, which was the sound of someone having their arms bound behind their back.
"Now that you're a little more comfortable Andre, perhaps you'd like to offer you're assistance in helping us get the missiles ready for transportation?" the original person asked.
"Go to hell," was the somewhat shaky reply. The voice had a noticeable Russian accent.
"You're not being very helpful Andre, and that is unfortunate for you."
The distinct sound of flesh hitting flesh could be heard, along with a painful grunt.
"Every time you aren't helpful something bad will happen to you," the same voice explained. "Now, are you going to help us move those missiles?"
"Fuck you!" the man with the Russian accent shouted.
"I am very sorry to hear that Andre."
There was a moment of complete silence before the sound of metal piercing flesh could be heard. A loud haggard scream came forth. The scream continued for a minute, drowning out any other sounds.
"You will tell us how to move those missiles!" the Korean ordered.
"N-no," the Russian replied weakly. There was no warning this time, the knife pierced flesh once again, and the screams resurfaced. It continued for a long moment before a different voice interrupted.
"You got carried away," the voice was calm, a stark contradiction to what had just happened. "I think he's still alive."
"No problem," the original voice said. The sound of a bullet being chambered was heard, followed shortly by the sharp report of a gun firing.
"Go bring in the next one," the first man ordered. "Make sure you drag this one out in front of them before they come in."
There followed a few unidentifiable noises and finally the sound of something being dragged across the ground.
Ishii reached forward and hit stop on the recorder.
"That's where it stops. A couple analysts over at the PSIA figure that the original recorder was hidden on someone that was standing about two or three feet from the Russian that was murdered. Whether or not they assisted with whatever happened after the tape stops, is unknown."
Kimura nodded his head in agreement, trying to keep his face impassive. Despite his efforts his face had turned a sickeningly pale.
"Is there anyone on the tape that analysts can identify?" he asked Ishii, mentally noting that he might never eat in this lifetime. He glanced over at where Akane and Akari were sitting, and saw that the two women were wearing two identical sickened expressions. It was only a moment before Akari got to her feet and rushed out of the room, a hand pressed to her mouth, and with the obvious intention to go throw up. Akane stayed for a few more moments before getting up and leaving the office to go check on Akari, despite her desire to follow Akari's example.
Ishii waited until the women had left before answering.
"I left the analyst team a copy before heading over here, but I doubt they'll find anyone we know on that tape. Though, I would definitely put money on the bet that the poor bastard that gets cut up on there is one of the Russian scientists that went missing not too long ago."
"Yeah," Kimura said, almost to himself. "Parker's going to need to hear this."
Ishii nodded his agreement. "I'll get another copy made and have it sent over to Langley."
"Get on that right away," Kimura ordered as he got to his feet. "I'm gonna go check on Akane and Akari."
--------------------------
2256 Hours, 11 September, 2004
Washington DC, Maryland
"Gogol was right in passing that bit of information along to you Ryoga. The Russians might like to think that nuclear scientists bugging out is a domestic concern, but those guys are running around with way too much essential information," Parker confessed. He refilled Ranma and Ryoga's drinks before doing so to his own. "Kimura was also right in thinking that sending you two over to pass on that bit of news was better than just sending a memo. We may be on the same sides again, but that doesn't mean the Russians haven't stopped trying to read our mail, and vise versa."
Ryoga sipped lightly at the glass of scotch. He wasn't much of a drinker, but Parker's scotch was quite good.
"Gregory told me there's plenty of places the scientists could have gone, but he's mainly worried about some of them winding up in North Korea, or Iran. I didn't really think that scientists leaving their posts would be such a big deal, its not like they stole a couple ICBM's when they left," Ryoga confessed.
Parker shook his head slightly. "Getting the materials for a nuke isn't as hard as everyone would like it to be. The main problem with doing this is other countries, mainly the US find out about it and bring it out to the world's attention. If a country can get it started and finish it off secretly though, then their pretty much scot-free. The first step towards making sure you don't get caught is by having people that know what their doing and are capable of working without attracting notice."
Ranma caught on quickly.
"So if a country like, say, North Korea were to suddenly find itself holding a bunch of scientists that can assist them in finishing up the production of their nuke program, than it'd be pretty much impossible for us to find out about it."
"Exactly," Parker said. "Right now there's 17 nations that have the necessary equipment to process nuclear arms, and at the last count, there's 11 countries that have in their possession actual nuclear equipped warheads. With a bunch of Russian nuke scientists running around undetected, those numbers could increase pretty goddamn quickly and no one would be the wiser till a nuke came crashing down on our heads."
Ranma and Ryoga nodded their heads gravely at that assessment. Both took rather deep pulls on their drinks. Parker was about to continue his lecture when the phone in the den went off. Toni had long ago gone to bed, so he excused himself and went to go answer it.
It was only a few moments before Parker came back into the room, a troubled look plastered on his face.
"What's wrong?" Ranma asked.
"That was Ishii. The North Koreans have the Russian scientists," Parker said.
"Shit," Ryoga said softly.
------------------------------
A/N: well, the scene with the torture isn't exactly how I had envisioned it, but it's still effective I'd say. As squeamish as I was while writing it just goes to prove that. Oh yes, and this story is definitely going to be bumped up to an 'R' rating by next chapter. So sometime next week make sure you go looking in that section for this story when I update.