Kanuka's apartment was a shambles, doors knocked in, a head through the thin plaster
wall, and two arrests, the other thugs had made good their escape just before the
police had arrived.
Trenchard clicked his neck, he was tired, stressed out, been attacked and shouted at.
Sitting on what was left of the couch, holding his cup of tea rather closely, almost like
someone was going to take it away from him for being naughty.
Gallagher frowned at Trenchard "come on look lively lad" he said "what do you think
happened?"
"Well four blokes crashed in through the front door, and then proceeded to try to
knock seven bells out of me and Kanuka over there"
Gallagher looked at Kanuka as she pointed out the dent in the hall wall where one of
the thugs had met his match.
Goto just stared at the dent with raised eyes.
"I see" Gallagher said after a pause, surprised himself before leaning in, mouthing
"did she do-?"
Trenchard nodded slowly, Gallagher mouth did a silent wow before getting back to
business "I'm still wondering why the hell they came in here in the first place"
"Easy" Gallagher smiled as he leaned back "to shut the two of ye up", this caught a bit
of a glance from Trenchard and raised an eyebrow or two in the hallway.
"Well its simple, I've seen it happen many a time back in Ulster" Gallagher explained
"sometimes, it'd be a Provo gang blast bombing or kneecapping a loyalist man or an
RUC man, on the other side of the coin, you'd have a loyalist gang dragging
Nationalists and RUC men out of their houses and beating them up in the street"
He smiled "it's all in order to create an example out of yous, that the EDA are not
afraid of any foreign investigation snooping around their arses, maybe even a signal
that they're not afraid of the Yakuza?" he said, looking in Asuma's direction.
"Couldn't have been organised crime" Asuma said, baffled himself as he looked at all
the broken stuff on the floor "and even the EDA wouldn't challenge the Yakuza, at
least not right now"
"Did any of you do anything earlier in the day to cause this?" Goto asked from the
hall.
"Well there was one thing" Trenchard said sheepishly.
"He broke up a fight on the other side of the street between two kids" Kanuka added
"the bigger kid was driven off by Trenchard"
Trenchard nodded "the bigger kid was threatening the smaller kid not to talk about
'the local house' or he'll-"
"The what?" Asuma said in unison with Goto said as he peeked his head round the
corner.
"The House" Trenchard repeated "why is there something about it?"
Goto nodded "well at least we know who paid you a visit then"
"Who did then?" Gallagher looked at Goto with an uncharacteristic tilt in his head.
"The EDA of course, this is their local 'house'" Goto looked back "I think Aoi knows
we're sniffing around him"
Gallagher nodded and mused "the question is do we try and bring in all three or just
get Aoi then leave the IRA pair to the regular police?" he sat down next to Trenchard
who had put down his untouched cup of tea, picking it up and taking a sip.
"Hey guv thats my-" Trenchard blinked.
"Oi, bugger off and brew ye own bloody cuppa!" Gallagher bit back before taking
another sip and looking up at Goto with the look of a casual man with an interest in
Model Trains at his local Enthusiasts club "I say get Aoi."
"Why not the IRA pair?" Asuma asked "wouldn't it be better to get the people who are
training the EDA in the first place?"
"Nah, if they know that we're onto them by nicking the pair, the EDA won't want to
incriminate themselves by continuing with the bomb" Gallagher shook his head as he
sipped some more from the tea.
"Then how are we going to pick up Aoi?" Asuma asked "we more used to
apprehending labor pilots than hardened terrorists"
Gallagher grinned "oh! That? Leave that to me, they'll probably be slightly bruised by
the time I get em' but they should be okay" he stood "anyway, I need to pick up
Williams and head off to the British Embassy to drop off the radios we were using
today, you're going back home after this?" he asked Goto.
"I have to, got paperwork to get through" Goto said as he rubbed an eye.
Gallagher nodded walked swiftly out of the room, leaving Trenchard where he was,
nodding to Kanuka as she tried to patch up the dent in the side of the wall.
"Is he serious?" Asuma blinked at Goto.
"He can do it, if you want someone to find a terrorist, he's the man" he walked to a
seat on the now battered three piece suite and sat down onto it with the force of a
salary man running on empty after a hard days work "Asuma, what do you think of
the theory that big business would get involved in something like this?"
Asuma himself walked to a seat, sitting next to Trenchard (who had elected to stay
silent for the time being) "very probable" he quirked an eyebrow "why?"
"Who do you think would pull off something like that in the labor industry?"
"Schaft" Asuma said strongly "they have been in many copyright infringement and
corporate sabotage and espionage cases"
Goto placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit up "well as long as we don't have the
evidence to even link Schaft, then we as a police force can't go throwing accusations
around, until then we can't do anything to push that theory further"
Kanuka walked in, wiping her brow, she moved past Goto and Asuma towards the
kitchen.
"How much do you think all the damage will cost to repair?" Asuma asked.
"Much more than my salary could ever afford" she said quietly, perhaps her
demeanour had been pierced by such a shattering intrusion into her private home, her
castle.
Trenchard still said nothing, still a bit shy as he waited for another drink after
Gallagher had left the apartment with the mug, he was wondering he'd bother to bring
it back when he's finished with it.
"Hello everyone" Noa smiled happily as he peered round the knocked through door
"wow so this is what happened?"
"Off shift?" Asuma asked as he looked round from his seat.
"Yep, brought dinner too!" she smiled, stepping over the bin bags of broken stuff and
plaster, carrying a carrier bag with bento boxes, placing them on the non smashed part
of the coffee of the Living room.
"Smashing!" Trenchard smiled as he waited for his box, looking up at Asuma and
Goto "we'll still be able to do the show at the Expo right sir?" he said in Japanese,
now relaxed enough to speak in a more familiar tongue.
Asuma looked at Goto too, Goto's face was one a slight bemusement that people were
looking at him (like that had never happened before) "I should presume so" he said,
taking his bento box and opening it up "Oh lucky!" he said, totally bored at what was
inside.
Noa placed one in front of where Kanuka was about to sit down as she handed
everyone a cup of tea and coffee, Trenchard happily munched his bento, Noa sat
down to get into hers and Asuma had already gone half way.
"I haven't had a thing to eat all day you know" Asuma mumbled with all the food
stuffed in his mouth.
There was silence after that, the urge to eat overcame all other urges as was the case
for a group of people who lived in the middle of nowhere with nothing coming close
to a little noodle bar to provide food for them within a 5 mile radius.
Trenchard watched the scene, the atmosphere was comfortable, jovial even, but there
wasn't so much as a murmur as they all eat. For a person who had taken Sociology for
his AS-levels when he was a teen, this was a highly interesting (if slightly perverse)
thing to watch and mentally note. He caught a bit of a glimpse from Kanuka, realising
he might get a box over his head for staring, he got back to the meal.
****
The journey back to the Landfill site was as uneventful as dinner at Kanuka, they had
managed to salvage and reconnect the door back onto the hinges, a bit of a cheer came
up when that happened, apart from that not much else as the Nissan Primera drove
them back to the landfill site, it needed to go back to the Embassy tomorrow.
"Maybe they'll have some spray paint to cover over the scratches" Noa suggested.
"Sure they will, how do you think they cover up the daily knocks our units get?"
Asuma replied.
This was of course the car which Kanuka and Trenchard used today and was
scratched up by the EDA gang before they decided to drop in on the pair moments
later.
Goto sat in the front, Kanuka drove and Trenchard sat in between Noa and Asuma,
looking straight ahead at the dark (and bumpy) road.
"Where do you think DCI Gallagher went sir?" asked Asuma.
"He was going to pick up DC Williams at the department store last I heard" Goto said,
enjoying the ride with the leather seating and everything.
"oh I just want to go to bed" groaned Asuma, realising that he won't get a lift back
into town and home, this was just dawning on Noa and Trenchard too.
"You're lucky" Kanuka said as he scratched her forehead "at least you have an
apartment to go home to"
"True" Trenchard nodded as he took a sip from a can of coffee (*note is the coffee
pre-heated in the machine or is it cold*).
"It can't be that bad" Noa said, lifting the mood "at least we won't be late"
There was a pause, each person nodding in the car thoughtfully before Trenchard
looked up.
"Oh bloody hell" he cursed "I've forgotten my toothbrush haven't I!?" he said in a
question that wasn't meant to be answered as is the way with South Eastern dialects.
Noa sighed "maybe you're right, it is that bad"
The car turned into the landfill and drove round to the dirt car park. It was 10pm,
night was drawing in. However it wasn't drawing in quickly enough for Gallagher as
he was driven into the Embassy car park, he stepped out of the car with Williams.
"You may as well stay here" Gallagher said as he walked to the entrance "I'll drop
these radios off at the reception then we'll head for the flat"
Williams nodded and got back into the car as Gallagher walked across the car park to
the main entrance, a box of radios in his arms, looking to his left he looked at the cars
owned by the embassy, Rover 75's, Jaguar S-Types, Range Rovers.
The only exception to the rule was a black executive car parked in one of the visitor
slots. Shrugging he walked on and onto the steps leading up to the main reception, out
of the very same doors came Ayhagami and (of course) his minder Bhatou, quickly
making their way down the steps, not noticing Gallagher behind the box he was
carrying.
Gallagher watched them walk down before quickly walking the rest of the way up the
stairs and into the Reception, there he was quite surprised to find Sir Andrew standing
by the Reception desk, looking through a folder or two.
"What was he doing here?" was all that Gallagher said as he dumped the box on the
table, startling the young Office Temp by the box coming out of the blue and nearly
hitting her in the face.
"No idea old boy" he said as he handed the Folders to Gallagher "but coming at this
time of night, asking the kind of questions which gave you the wrong impressions.."
he stopped.
Gallagher looked out of the building through a window onto the car park, Ayhagami
was in the car, looking up at the building, mobile phone stuck to the side of his head
like a limpet as Bhatou drove him out of the car park.
"I don't trust him" Sir Andrew said as Gallagher stared, taking out another of those
tiny Whiskey bottles out of his coat pocket, opening it and downing it, raising
eyebrows from an escorted Japanese Business delegation leaving as they
passed the DCI.
"Who knows" Gallagher said as he gave the empty bottle to the Office Temp "maybe
Goto knows something we don't"
****
This and many other thoughts circled round slowly, in perfect formation and at just
the right speed (as not to disturb the harmonious balance) inside of Goto's head as he
looked at the desk, all the information he had gotten from a dizzying array of
International, Supra-national and foreign police and intelligence sources. A Radio sat
next to him; he had a couple of bets on the late night Royal Stakes at Hong Kong
Racecourse.
"It's a bit obvious don't you think?" Goto said as he mulled over the reports, security
briefings, and minutes of meetings and conferences that lay before him.
"The case you're handling right now?" Shinobu said, looking up from a report she was
typing at that moment.
"Yeah" Goto nodded "they (the terrorists) walk into the most crowded place with the
biggest CCTV covereage in the city, then drive without a care in the world in a stolen
car of all things around town" he looked up with a smile "apparently Ota made some
much noise that would wake even the most decayed of dead people"
"You think DCI Gallagher knows this?"
"If he didn't, he'd be at home right now" Goto said as he picked up another report "got
a friend of mine at HQ to go to the Embassy to exchange Intel with the British, two
folders for two folders, he said he saw Gallagher walk in and talk to Sir Andrew"
Goto closed the second file and looked up at the clock "and when he does get here, I
hope he'll be thinking the same things I am right now"
Elsewhere, there was sleeping, night fishing and frantic work going on, on the two
Patlabors being used for the Labor-Expo in a couple of days time. Now confident he
had enough know how to maintain the Fairfax, Sakaki had now left Macca to his own
devices on the machine he now loved.
"Hey Jimmy lad" he shouted over to one of the maintenance crew "would you connect
the cooling hose like" he turned to the two next to him "lift the left half of the cooling
belt into the fitting position" he picked up his radio "Macca here, where in the bloody
'ell is my fooking dry ice!?" (*note literal spelling used to describe the accent
accuratly...like when did you last hear a Geordie or a Manchester accent??*).
"MG Rover said they were gonna move it in early in the morning guv"
"How early?"
"2am"
"And the engines?"
"Same time guv"
"Okay, get someone to wake up at 1am and wait like okay mate?"
"Guv"
Clicking the radio he ran halfway up the stairs leading to the balcony "okay now slip
the belt into it's fittings, easy does it now lads" he said as his crew eased the cooling
belt into the fittings around the upper belly of the Fairfax.
From this vantage point Asuma, Noa and Ota watched carefully.
"What is he doing now?" Noa asked.
"Beats me" Asuma shrugged.
"I like this man" Ota said "determined, keeps his mind on the job, attentive" he said as
he folded a bit of paper into his pocket "a dedicated worker like me"
Asuma just nodded, watching the Cheif Engineer ease in the shining metallic belts
into position before easing them back out again.
"That was his idea" Sakaki said as he climbed the stairs, his shift over.
"What was?" Ota asked.
"The cooling belt for the new engines" Sakaki replied "Rolls Royce said that they
were going to send the new engines on the next cargo plane from Stanstead this
evening GMT"
"They're going to replace the engines?" Asuma blinked.
"Order from on high" Sakaki shrugged as he opened a can of coffee, taking a sip "the
new Miniaturised Gas Turbines have been completed so now their Patlabors are...30%
more energy efficient than ours" he said after a pause, doing his sums obviously.
"So what's that down there?" Noa asked.
"Well apparently these Gas Turbines can get very hot, very quickly, they need
controlled, eased cooling" he nodded to the metallic belts "and so McVallened there
has converted the old fuel cells into a cryogenic cooling belt, utilizing spare energy
capacity to keep the belt frozen and cooling the engines"
Noa nodded and went 'ah', Ota listened attentively like he usually did when listening
to someone he respected like Sakaki, Asuma though just looked at the swarm of men,
like a representative of the Emperor surveying a party of Barbarians who had sailed
half way round the world to trade for Gold. He smiled; they were just like Sakaki's
men; honest and hard working, they got the job done.
Well that was the impression he got after watching them for five minutes.
****
Gallagher stepped into Goto and Shinobu's office, holding several scraps of paper,
Williams had come along too, wanting a nights sleep in the accommodation block on
the landfill.
"I verify the handover, Section 2 is now on standby" Goto said as he saluted Shinobu
(who was handing over to Goto).
"That's one thing I never understand here" Gallagher said as he walked in "the
amount of saluting, you'd think the bloody army's taken over"
Shinobu smiled "its just how we do things over here" she said as she took off her hair
band, shaking free her brown hair "much more formal"
"I don't see anything formal in those flip flops" chuckled Gallagher looking at the
'inspired' selection of footwear that Goto had chosen.
"Ah, I have athletes foot, had to have good ventilation"
"Oh come on" Shinobu laughed "you've had Athletes foot for over a year now, or so
you say"
"What can I say?" Goto shrugged with a smile "Recovery takes a long time here in
Tokyo"
"In any case, I'm going to bed" Shinobu yawned "I've got a long, long day ahead of
me, don't let me interrupt anything" she said as she headed for the changing rooms.
Gallagher watched her leave "did you get those files okay?" he asked.
"I did" Goto nodded, holding the two files up "did Sir Andrew get the files he needed
okay?"
"He did indeed" smiled Gallagher "so much someone paid him a visit"
"And who was that?" Goto shifted again through the files, checking a few things.
"None other than Ayhagami" smiled Gallagher, holding up a DoCoMo engineers
report "just to make sure"
"Of what?"
"That he's phoning the right people that's all" Gallagher said, mouth creased into a
slight smile.
"Well it has to be done after all" Goto smiled back, taking the Engineers report "I take
it that Sir Andrew got this for you?"
Gallagher nodded "he doesn't trust him, nor do I come to think of it" he said as he
dumped one of the plastic mini-whiskey bottles in the bin "what do you think?"
"He'll be useful until the time comes" Goto mused, looking in the bin "just how much
did you buy on the plane?"
"Oh got 10 of those mini-bottles, complementary" Gallagher shrugged "care to let me
in on what you said?"
Goto shook his head, tapping his nose "you'll know when you need to know, until
then, get the evidence to get Aoi"
Gallagher nodded "will do, until then, I'll get some kip" he turned, scratching his head
"can you hear the work in the warehouse from the accommodation block?"
"Kinda" Goto said, standing on one leg "it's the vibrations from the overcoming
aircraft that get me though"
Gallagher nodded and walked out of the office "see you in the morning mate"
Gallagher nodded to Williams and Trenchard as they were leaning on the upper
balcony, looking down at Macca doing his work, they nodded back without saying a
word. After Gallagher had gone, they turned back to the action.
"You'd think they'd just correct the dent in the side but ohhh no" Trenchard chuckled
as he shook his head.
"Well we can say Macca goes over the top ever so slightly" Williams grinned as they
watched the engineers pack away their tools, the lights being turned off except for a
couple of small lights, two engineers sat down to play a card game.
"Waiting for the engines I see" Trenchard said.
"I'm gonna go join them" Williams said "wanted to see what they've been up to all
day" he made his way down the stairs, Trenchard stayed where he was. Asuma
walked past Trenchard from where he was watching, taking notice of what the three
were doing.
"They playing Poker down there?"
"No idea mate"
"Man, haven't played a game of that since I joined!" He said as he raced down.
Trenchard watched, scratching his head as Asuma found a space and a four way Poker
game began, drawing in more and more punters, Noa walked up to Trenchard.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked.
Trenchard looked over "hey, sure, sure!" he smiled widely "I haven't seen you since
Waseda! How have you been!?" he asked.
"Oh well the usual, got sent straight here after I completed my training" she said,
looking up at the Londoner "same with you huh?"
"Yeah, still can't believe I learned how to pilot a labor, a Patlabor and learn to read,
speak and write in Japanese" Trenchard fumbled with the railing "I'm amazed myself"
"You still got your phrase book?" Noa asked, giving Trenchard a soft elbow.
"Nah, sent it back home to my kid brother, he's into all the Anime and Manga and
wants to move here" He grinned as Ota joined the game, betting his shirt in Japanese.
"You want him to come over?"
"He's 18 so he's either going to finish College and apply for University or finish
College and move here" he looked at Noa "if you ask my opinion, I'd have him get a
degree first before coming here, it's hard enough to find a job as it is, let alone without
any decent qualifications"
"Is it that bad for someone from England?" Noa blinked.
"Well luckily we have some of the most recognised qualifications in the world"
Trenchard shrugged "didn't you have that problem?"
Noa smiled and gave a shrug herself "didn't know that you needed special
qualifications to be a pilot, if I did, I'm sure Captain Goto would've gotten me round
them"
"Really?" Trenchard quirked his head.
"Sure!" Noa smiled as she looked at a clock on the wall "well I'm going to bed" she
said, turning to walk away "oh and one thing" she said, looking round "we get paired
up for a practice match" she winked "and I will win!".
With that she walked away, leaving Trenchard scratching the back of his head again,
He turned to walk to his room in the accommodation block when he saw Kanuka step
out.
"Oh, Kanuka" he said "thought you went to bed?"
"Couldn't sleep" she said "can't sleep when you keep thinking about how you're going
to pay for the stuff that wasn't covered by insurance"
"It'll be okay, trust me" Trenchard smiled, offing a warm smile.
Kanuka paused, looking down at the table as Ota took off his shirt, much to the
amusement of everyone else "Vulgar" she said under her breath as she looked at
Trenchard "I'd like to apologise for what I said this morning and to thank you for what
happened this afternoon"
Trenchard blinked "w-well, I-" he said then stopped, thinking as Kanuka furrowed her
brow a bit "I'm sorry as well, I shouldn't have run off like that, you were the superior
there, I should've listened to you" he smiled a bit "and as for the..thing this afternoon,
I think you had things well in control" he put his hand out "freinds?".
Kanuka took it firmly, shaking it "freinds" she said quietly, an ever so slight smile
forming through her Stainless steel exterior, she then turned "I'm going back to bed"
she yawned "see you tomorrow morning".
Trenchard was now very confused "night" he chuckled nervously before turning for
bed himself, not wanting to be ambushed by anyone else tonight. The job at hand
would have to wait another 8 hours before going back on track.
wall, and two arrests, the other thugs had made good their escape just before the
police had arrived.
Trenchard clicked his neck, he was tired, stressed out, been attacked and shouted at.
Sitting on what was left of the couch, holding his cup of tea rather closely, almost like
someone was going to take it away from him for being naughty.
Gallagher frowned at Trenchard "come on look lively lad" he said "what do you think
happened?"
"Well four blokes crashed in through the front door, and then proceeded to try to
knock seven bells out of me and Kanuka over there"
Gallagher looked at Kanuka as she pointed out the dent in the hall wall where one of
the thugs had met his match.
Goto just stared at the dent with raised eyes.
"I see" Gallagher said after a pause, surprised himself before leaning in, mouthing
"did she do-?"
Trenchard nodded slowly, Gallagher mouth did a silent wow before getting back to
business "I'm still wondering why the hell they came in here in the first place"
"Easy" Gallagher smiled as he leaned back "to shut the two of ye up", this caught a bit
of a glance from Trenchard and raised an eyebrow or two in the hallway.
"Well its simple, I've seen it happen many a time back in Ulster" Gallagher explained
"sometimes, it'd be a Provo gang blast bombing or kneecapping a loyalist man or an
RUC man, on the other side of the coin, you'd have a loyalist gang dragging
Nationalists and RUC men out of their houses and beating them up in the street"
He smiled "it's all in order to create an example out of yous, that the EDA are not
afraid of any foreign investigation snooping around their arses, maybe even a signal
that they're not afraid of the Yakuza?" he said, looking in Asuma's direction.
"Couldn't have been organised crime" Asuma said, baffled himself as he looked at all
the broken stuff on the floor "and even the EDA wouldn't challenge the Yakuza, at
least not right now"
"Did any of you do anything earlier in the day to cause this?" Goto asked from the
hall.
"Well there was one thing" Trenchard said sheepishly.
"He broke up a fight on the other side of the street between two kids" Kanuka added
"the bigger kid was driven off by Trenchard"
Trenchard nodded "the bigger kid was threatening the smaller kid not to talk about
'the local house' or he'll-"
"The what?" Asuma said in unison with Goto said as he peeked his head round the
corner.
"The House" Trenchard repeated "why is there something about it?"
Goto nodded "well at least we know who paid you a visit then"
"Who did then?" Gallagher looked at Goto with an uncharacteristic tilt in his head.
"The EDA of course, this is their local 'house'" Goto looked back "I think Aoi knows
we're sniffing around him"
Gallagher nodded and mused "the question is do we try and bring in all three or just
get Aoi then leave the IRA pair to the regular police?" he sat down next to Trenchard
who had put down his untouched cup of tea, picking it up and taking a sip.
"Hey guv thats my-" Trenchard blinked.
"Oi, bugger off and brew ye own bloody cuppa!" Gallagher bit back before taking
another sip and looking up at Goto with the look of a casual man with an interest in
Model Trains at his local Enthusiasts club "I say get Aoi."
"Why not the IRA pair?" Asuma asked "wouldn't it be better to get the people who are
training the EDA in the first place?"
"Nah, if they know that we're onto them by nicking the pair, the EDA won't want to
incriminate themselves by continuing with the bomb" Gallagher shook his head as he
sipped some more from the tea.
"Then how are we going to pick up Aoi?" Asuma asked "we more used to
apprehending labor pilots than hardened terrorists"
Gallagher grinned "oh! That? Leave that to me, they'll probably be slightly bruised by
the time I get em' but they should be okay" he stood "anyway, I need to pick up
Williams and head off to the British Embassy to drop off the radios we were using
today, you're going back home after this?" he asked Goto.
"I have to, got paperwork to get through" Goto said as he rubbed an eye.
Gallagher nodded walked swiftly out of the room, leaving Trenchard where he was,
nodding to Kanuka as she tried to patch up the dent in the side of the wall.
"Is he serious?" Asuma blinked at Goto.
"He can do it, if you want someone to find a terrorist, he's the man" he walked to a
seat on the now battered three piece suite and sat down onto it with the force of a
salary man running on empty after a hard days work "Asuma, what do you think of
the theory that big business would get involved in something like this?"
Asuma himself walked to a seat, sitting next to Trenchard (who had elected to stay
silent for the time being) "very probable" he quirked an eyebrow "why?"
"Who do you think would pull off something like that in the labor industry?"
"Schaft" Asuma said strongly "they have been in many copyright infringement and
corporate sabotage and espionage cases"
Goto placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit up "well as long as we don't have the
evidence to even link Schaft, then we as a police force can't go throwing accusations
around, until then we can't do anything to push that theory further"
Kanuka walked in, wiping her brow, she moved past Goto and Asuma towards the
kitchen.
"How much do you think all the damage will cost to repair?" Asuma asked.
"Much more than my salary could ever afford" she said quietly, perhaps her
demeanour had been pierced by such a shattering intrusion into her private home, her
castle.
Trenchard still said nothing, still a bit shy as he waited for another drink after
Gallagher had left the apartment with the mug, he was wondering he'd bother to bring
it back when he's finished with it.
"Hello everyone" Noa smiled happily as he peered round the knocked through door
"wow so this is what happened?"
"Off shift?" Asuma asked as he looked round from his seat.
"Yep, brought dinner too!" she smiled, stepping over the bin bags of broken stuff and
plaster, carrying a carrier bag with bento boxes, placing them on the non smashed part
of the coffee of the Living room.
"Smashing!" Trenchard smiled as he waited for his box, looking up at Asuma and
Goto "we'll still be able to do the show at the Expo right sir?" he said in Japanese,
now relaxed enough to speak in a more familiar tongue.
Asuma looked at Goto too, Goto's face was one a slight bemusement that people were
looking at him (like that had never happened before) "I should presume so" he said,
taking his bento box and opening it up "Oh lucky!" he said, totally bored at what was
inside.
Noa placed one in front of where Kanuka was about to sit down as she handed
everyone a cup of tea and coffee, Trenchard happily munched his bento, Noa sat
down to get into hers and Asuma had already gone half way.
"I haven't had a thing to eat all day you know" Asuma mumbled with all the food
stuffed in his mouth.
There was silence after that, the urge to eat overcame all other urges as was the case
for a group of people who lived in the middle of nowhere with nothing coming close
to a little noodle bar to provide food for them within a 5 mile radius.
Trenchard watched the scene, the atmosphere was comfortable, jovial even, but there
wasn't so much as a murmur as they all eat. For a person who had taken Sociology for
his AS-levels when he was a teen, this was a highly interesting (if slightly perverse)
thing to watch and mentally note. He caught a bit of a glimpse from Kanuka, realising
he might get a box over his head for staring, he got back to the meal.
****
The journey back to the Landfill site was as uneventful as dinner at Kanuka, they had
managed to salvage and reconnect the door back onto the hinges, a bit of a cheer came
up when that happened, apart from that not much else as the Nissan Primera drove
them back to the landfill site, it needed to go back to the Embassy tomorrow.
"Maybe they'll have some spray paint to cover over the scratches" Noa suggested.
"Sure they will, how do you think they cover up the daily knocks our units get?"
Asuma replied.
This was of course the car which Kanuka and Trenchard used today and was
scratched up by the EDA gang before they decided to drop in on the pair moments
later.
Goto sat in the front, Kanuka drove and Trenchard sat in between Noa and Asuma,
looking straight ahead at the dark (and bumpy) road.
"Where do you think DCI Gallagher went sir?" asked Asuma.
"He was going to pick up DC Williams at the department store last I heard" Goto said,
enjoying the ride with the leather seating and everything.
"oh I just want to go to bed" groaned Asuma, realising that he won't get a lift back
into town and home, this was just dawning on Noa and Trenchard too.
"You're lucky" Kanuka said as he scratched her forehead "at least you have an
apartment to go home to"
"True" Trenchard nodded as he took a sip from a can of coffee (*note is the coffee
pre-heated in the machine or is it cold*).
"It can't be that bad" Noa said, lifting the mood "at least we won't be late"
There was a pause, each person nodding in the car thoughtfully before Trenchard
looked up.
"Oh bloody hell" he cursed "I've forgotten my toothbrush haven't I!?" he said in a
question that wasn't meant to be answered as is the way with South Eastern dialects.
Noa sighed "maybe you're right, it is that bad"
The car turned into the landfill and drove round to the dirt car park. It was 10pm,
night was drawing in. However it wasn't drawing in quickly enough for Gallagher as
he was driven into the Embassy car park, he stepped out of the car with Williams.
"You may as well stay here" Gallagher said as he walked to the entrance "I'll drop
these radios off at the reception then we'll head for the flat"
Williams nodded and got back into the car as Gallagher walked across the car park to
the main entrance, a box of radios in his arms, looking to his left he looked at the cars
owned by the embassy, Rover 75's, Jaguar S-Types, Range Rovers.
The only exception to the rule was a black executive car parked in one of the visitor
slots. Shrugging he walked on and onto the steps leading up to the main reception, out
of the very same doors came Ayhagami and (of course) his minder Bhatou, quickly
making their way down the steps, not noticing Gallagher behind the box he was
carrying.
Gallagher watched them walk down before quickly walking the rest of the way up the
stairs and into the Reception, there he was quite surprised to find Sir Andrew standing
by the Reception desk, looking through a folder or two.
"What was he doing here?" was all that Gallagher said as he dumped the box on the
table, startling the young Office Temp by the box coming out of the blue and nearly
hitting her in the face.
"No idea old boy" he said as he handed the Folders to Gallagher "but coming at this
time of night, asking the kind of questions which gave you the wrong impressions.."
he stopped.
Gallagher looked out of the building through a window onto the car park, Ayhagami
was in the car, looking up at the building, mobile phone stuck to the side of his head
like a limpet as Bhatou drove him out of the car park.
"I don't trust him" Sir Andrew said as Gallagher stared, taking out another of those
tiny Whiskey bottles out of his coat pocket, opening it and downing it, raising
eyebrows from an escorted Japanese Business delegation leaving as they
passed the DCI.
"Who knows" Gallagher said as he gave the empty bottle to the Office Temp "maybe
Goto knows something we don't"
****
This and many other thoughts circled round slowly, in perfect formation and at just
the right speed (as not to disturb the harmonious balance) inside of Goto's head as he
looked at the desk, all the information he had gotten from a dizzying array of
International, Supra-national and foreign police and intelligence sources. A Radio sat
next to him; he had a couple of bets on the late night Royal Stakes at Hong Kong
Racecourse.
"It's a bit obvious don't you think?" Goto said as he mulled over the reports, security
briefings, and minutes of meetings and conferences that lay before him.
"The case you're handling right now?" Shinobu said, looking up from a report she was
typing at that moment.
"Yeah" Goto nodded "they (the terrorists) walk into the most crowded place with the
biggest CCTV covereage in the city, then drive without a care in the world in a stolen
car of all things around town" he looked up with a smile "apparently Ota made some
much noise that would wake even the most decayed of dead people"
"You think DCI Gallagher knows this?"
"If he didn't, he'd be at home right now" Goto said as he picked up another report "got
a friend of mine at HQ to go to the Embassy to exchange Intel with the British, two
folders for two folders, he said he saw Gallagher walk in and talk to Sir Andrew"
Goto closed the second file and looked up at the clock "and when he does get here, I
hope he'll be thinking the same things I am right now"
Elsewhere, there was sleeping, night fishing and frantic work going on, on the two
Patlabors being used for the Labor-Expo in a couple of days time. Now confident he
had enough know how to maintain the Fairfax, Sakaki had now left Macca to his own
devices on the machine he now loved.
"Hey Jimmy lad" he shouted over to one of the maintenance crew "would you connect
the cooling hose like" he turned to the two next to him "lift the left half of the cooling
belt into the fitting position" he picked up his radio "Macca here, where in the bloody
'ell is my fooking dry ice!?" (*note literal spelling used to describe the accent
accuratly...like when did you last hear a Geordie or a Manchester accent??*).
"MG Rover said they were gonna move it in early in the morning guv"
"How early?"
"2am"
"And the engines?"
"Same time guv"
"Okay, get someone to wake up at 1am and wait like okay mate?"
"Guv"
Clicking the radio he ran halfway up the stairs leading to the balcony "okay now slip
the belt into it's fittings, easy does it now lads" he said as his crew eased the cooling
belt into the fittings around the upper belly of the Fairfax.
From this vantage point Asuma, Noa and Ota watched carefully.
"What is he doing now?" Noa asked.
"Beats me" Asuma shrugged.
"I like this man" Ota said "determined, keeps his mind on the job, attentive" he said as
he folded a bit of paper into his pocket "a dedicated worker like me"
Asuma just nodded, watching the Cheif Engineer ease in the shining metallic belts
into position before easing them back out again.
"That was his idea" Sakaki said as he climbed the stairs, his shift over.
"What was?" Ota asked.
"The cooling belt for the new engines" Sakaki replied "Rolls Royce said that they
were going to send the new engines on the next cargo plane from Stanstead this
evening GMT"
"They're going to replace the engines?" Asuma blinked.
"Order from on high" Sakaki shrugged as he opened a can of coffee, taking a sip "the
new Miniaturised Gas Turbines have been completed so now their Patlabors are...30%
more energy efficient than ours" he said after a pause, doing his sums obviously.
"So what's that down there?" Noa asked.
"Well apparently these Gas Turbines can get very hot, very quickly, they need
controlled, eased cooling" he nodded to the metallic belts "and so McVallened there
has converted the old fuel cells into a cryogenic cooling belt, utilizing spare energy
capacity to keep the belt frozen and cooling the engines"
Noa nodded and went 'ah', Ota listened attentively like he usually did when listening
to someone he respected like Sakaki, Asuma though just looked at the swarm of men,
like a representative of the Emperor surveying a party of Barbarians who had sailed
half way round the world to trade for Gold. He smiled; they were just like Sakaki's
men; honest and hard working, they got the job done.
Well that was the impression he got after watching them for five minutes.
****
Gallagher stepped into Goto and Shinobu's office, holding several scraps of paper,
Williams had come along too, wanting a nights sleep in the accommodation block on
the landfill.
"I verify the handover, Section 2 is now on standby" Goto said as he saluted Shinobu
(who was handing over to Goto).
"That's one thing I never understand here" Gallagher said as he walked in "the
amount of saluting, you'd think the bloody army's taken over"
Shinobu smiled "its just how we do things over here" she said as she took off her hair
band, shaking free her brown hair "much more formal"
"I don't see anything formal in those flip flops" chuckled Gallagher looking at the
'inspired' selection of footwear that Goto had chosen.
"Ah, I have athletes foot, had to have good ventilation"
"Oh come on" Shinobu laughed "you've had Athletes foot for over a year now, or so
you say"
"What can I say?" Goto shrugged with a smile "Recovery takes a long time here in
Tokyo"
"In any case, I'm going to bed" Shinobu yawned "I've got a long, long day ahead of
me, don't let me interrupt anything" she said as she headed for the changing rooms.
Gallagher watched her leave "did you get those files okay?" he asked.
"I did" Goto nodded, holding the two files up "did Sir Andrew get the files he needed
okay?"
"He did indeed" smiled Gallagher "so much someone paid him a visit"
"And who was that?" Goto shifted again through the files, checking a few things.
"None other than Ayhagami" smiled Gallagher, holding up a DoCoMo engineers
report "just to make sure"
"Of what?"
"That he's phoning the right people that's all" Gallagher said, mouth creased into a
slight smile.
"Well it has to be done after all" Goto smiled back, taking the Engineers report "I take
it that Sir Andrew got this for you?"
Gallagher nodded "he doesn't trust him, nor do I come to think of it" he said as he
dumped one of the plastic mini-whiskey bottles in the bin "what do you think?"
"He'll be useful until the time comes" Goto mused, looking in the bin "just how much
did you buy on the plane?"
"Oh got 10 of those mini-bottles, complementary" Gallagher shrugged "care to let me
in on what you said?"
Goto shook his head, tapping his nose "you'll know when you need to know, until
then, get the evidence to get Aoi"
Gallagher nodded "will do, until then, I'll get some kip" he turned, scratching his head
"can you hear the work in the warehouse from the accommodation block?"
"Kinda" Goto said, standing on one leg "it's the vibrations from the overcoming
aircraft that get me though"
Gallagher nodded and walked out of the office "see you in the morning mate"
Gallagher nodded to Williams and Trenchard as they were leaning on the upper
balcony, looking down at Macca doing his work, they nodded back without saying a
word. After Gallagher had gone, they turned back to the action.
"You'd think they'd just correct the dent in the side but ohhh no" Trenchard chuckled
as he shook his head.
"Well we can say Macca goes over the top ever so slightly" Williams grinned as they
watched the engineers pack away their tools, the lights being turned off except for a
couple of small lights, two engineers sat down to play a card game.
"Waiting for the engines I see" Trenchard said.
"I'm gonna go join them" Williams said "wanted to see what they've been up to all
day" he made his way down the stairs, Trenchard stayed where he was. Asuma
walked past Trenchard from where he was watching, taking notice of what the three
were doing.
"They playing Poker down there?"
"No idea mate"
"Man, haven't played a game of that since I joined!" He said as he raced down.
Trenchard watched, scratching his head as Asuma found a space and a four way Poker
game began, drawing in more and more punters, Noa walked up to Trenchard.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked.
Trenchard looked over "hey, sure, sure!" he smiled widely "I haven't seen you since
Waseda! How have you been!?" he asked.
"Oh well the usual, got sent straight here after I completed my training" she said,
looking up at the Londoner "same with you huh?"
"Yeah, still can't believe I learned how to pilot a labor, a Patlabor and learn to read,
speak and write in Japanese" Trenchard fumbled with the railing "I'm amazed myself"
"You still got your phrase book?" Noa asked, giving Trenchard a soft elbow.
"Nah, sent it back home to my kid brother, he's into all the Anime and Manga and
wants to move here" He grinned as Ota joined the game, betting his shirt in Japanese.
"You want him to come over?"
"He's 18 so he's either going to finish College and apply for University or finish
College and move here" he looked at Noa "if you ask my opinion, I'd have him get a
degree first before coming here, it's hard enough to find a job as it is, let alone without
any decent qualifications"
"Is it that bad for someone from England?" Noa blinked.
"Well luckily we have some of the most recognised qualifications in the world"
Trenchard shrugged "didn't you have that problem?"
Noa smiled and gave a shrug herself "didn't know that you needed special
qualifications to be a pilot, if I did, I'm sure Captain Goto would've gotten me round
them"
"Really?" Trenchard quirked his head.
"Sure!" Noa smiled as she looked at a clock on the wall "well I'm going to bed" she
said, turning to walk away "oh and one thing" she said, looking round "we get paired
up for a practice match" she winked "and I will win!".
With that she walked away, leaving Trenchard scratching the back of his head again,
He turned to walk to his room in the accommodation block when he saw Kanuka step
out.
"Oh, Kanuka" he said "thought you went to bed?"
"Couldn't sleep" she said "can't sleep when you keep thinking about how you're going
to pay for the stuff that wasn't covered by insurance"
"It'll be okay, trust me" Trenchard smiled, offing a warm smile.
Kanuka paused, looking down at the table as Ota took off his shirt, much to the
amusement of everyone else "Vulgar" she said under her breath as she looked at
Trenchard "I'd like to apologise for what I said this morning and to thank you for what
happened this afternoon"
Trenchard blinked "w-well, I-" he said then stopped, thinking as Kanuka furrowed her
brow a bit "I'm sorry as well, I shouldn't have run off like that, you were the superior
there, I should've listened to you" he smiled a bit "and as for the..thing this afternoon,
I think you had things well in control" he put his hand out "freinds?".
Kanuka took it firmly, shaking it "freinds" she said quietly, an ever so slight smile
forming through her Stainless steel exterior, she then turned "I'm going back to bed"
she yawned "see you tomorrow morning".
Trenchard was now very confused "night" he chuckled nervously before turning for
bed himself, not wanting to be ambushed by anyone else tonight. The job at hand
would have to wait another 8 hours before going back on track.