Chapter 35: The Exorcists
October 10th 2010 0800 Hours
Rihga Royal Hotel, Koko's Suite, Tokyo, Japan
That rather nervous feeling I had in the back of my mind was right again. Koko said she would brief us formally the next morning but the moment she said to break out the hardware, I already knew our next fun filled adventure was right around the corner. Complete with all of the smoke, fire, bullets, and blood you can handle. But the crew handled it the same indifferent way they always did, lounging about prepping for the fight as casually as possible.
"I find it funny that we're gonna look like a bunch of backpacking tourists with a few extra battle scars." Sophia said putting her ACR in her pack.
"Yeah and armed to the teeth!" Koko followed up.
"Eh. I don't know about that, people like us can't really blend in." I said loading my .45's.
"Well not all of us look like they're about to flex out of their shirt Damien." Lutz said trying to get a rise out of me.
"That's what the jacket's for."
"Alright you two settle down. Now it seems the SR Unit want's a meet up. Hinoki called Tojo late last night and wants to parlay. The location for the meet up is the parking area at Umihotaru later in the day. The pretext is to divide up Kasper's trading area but I think we all know that that ain't gonna happen. The SR Unit made it clear that talking was thrown out the window since they threw the first punch. So why are they leaving the shadows? Why are they moving covertly to kill my brother like Tojo anticipated? Our opponents have become erratic and hard to read so what's the SR Unit hoping to achieve? Well it won't do much to brood over and they left the bait for us so we have to take it. Since they don't really have a base of operations we have to take this chance and if we miss it then finding them again won't be easy. Let's move out!"
"Kaaay." Everyone said. Been a while since I heard it.
"I think I can answer half of each of those questions Koko." I said getting up off the floor.
"Really? What are your thoughts Damien?" She asked.
"We'll I can't read their minds on what they want. But I can simplify their plan in three simple words."
"And that is?"
"Dumb as fuck." I said extending one finger per word, causing the crew to burst out laughing.
All seriousness though, what the hell do they plan on gaining by making such a radical change in tactics?
0954 Hours
Gran Melia Hotel
Jakarta, Indonesia
While his sister would be dealing with Hinoki's group in Tokyo, Kasper was beginning the first phase of his plan to distract them in Jakarta. But after the phone call he received from his sister last night he now had to improvise. The sudden request for one of Hinoki's representatives to meet him in person and discuss setting up new and different trade routes surprised him as well. As he was waiting in his suite he was contemplating on why the SR Unit had suddenly changed their methods so quickly and radically.
"The SR Unit's member should be here in a few minutes." Chiquita said checking her watch.
Kasper was leaning forward in his seat with a look of concentration on his face. He knew that there was no way Hinoki and his men would take what he did so passively that they would just divide up the roots and act like what he did to their client's son as a misunderstanding.
"Kasper?" Chiquita said grabbing his shoulder to get his attention.
"I heard ya. It's just that the ghosts made themselves be seen. Why?"
Before Chiquita could say anything a knock came at their door. Poe opened it and who followed was a rather chipper Japanese woman in a yellow shirt, black skirt, and a briefcase in her left hand. Chiquita then took her position behind Kasper.
"Boss this is Miss Kurosaka the one that's supposed to see you." He said with a quick nod that she was clear.
"Ahh yes. Have seat, we were expecting you." He motioned to her and she sat in the leather chair opposite from him.
"Glad we could finally meet in person Mr. Hekmatyar."
"Alright let's get down to business. You said you wanted to discuss setting up trade routes for both of our companies?"
"Yes I do. This is only a preliminary draft and I know you want to make the final decisions with our director before you make any type of conclusion. I would however like to apologize for our company not sending a more worthy representative for our first meeting with you."
As she bowed her head Kasper just stared at her neutrally with his arm resting on the chair with his hand behind his head, but all the while listening to every word she said. He knew that she was just a honey pot to get him to try and lower his guard. Apparently the SR Unit had never considered the fact that he had the experience of working with two of the most dangerous women he'd ever met in his life. One of them was right behind him, the other was with his sister.
"If we are able to reach a compromise today, Mr. Hinoki would be more than welcome to meet with you in person to hammer out the final details as soon as possible."
"I would like that very much. I hope we both can start off on a better foot considering our first encounter wasn't really the best."
"Well as an intelligence agency we must take a lot of precautions so I hope you understand that our rudeness is necessary for our safety."
Kasper then scratched the back of his head discreetly to let Chiquita know to be on her guard.
"That's alright with me, I don't care. So let's see this proposal."
"That's wonderful! In that case let's get right down to business."
As she then leaned over towards the briefcase, Chiquita caught a brief glimpse of Kurosaka's eyes. Falling back on her instincts and training she got in front of Kasper just as Kurosaka pulled from her belt what appeared to be an extremely thin but extremely sharp whip like blade. Knowing she couldn't block that with her bare hands she used the thick sole of her boot. As Kasper just sat there frozen in utter disbelief, Kurosaka prepared for a follow up. But not before Chiquita rushed forward using her height and experience to her advantage, kneeing the assassin in the face and following up with a roundhouse.
"Wake up sir you're spacing out." She said acting like it was any other work day.
She then walked over to the dazed assassin, cocked her sidearm, and put two rounds in her head.
"I think this means the SR Unit is moving against us." She said as the rest of the team bursted in the room with weapons drawn.
"Yeah I noticed! What in the actual hell!? God she was fast!" He said ecstatically while picking up the thin sword.
"Sorry sir. I was the one that frisked her. I had no idea." Edger said apologetically.
"Do you see this thing? It's awesome!" Kasper said as if he ignored anything he just said.
"Yeah and it was strong enough to cut through the sole of my boot. I think I like these guys." She said all the while with her lazy smile.
"Anyway, Poe how many of them are there?"
"No idea sir, much less even where they are. Orders?" He said as he was passing his team their P90's and backpacks.
"Hotel's too big to secure and someone would have heard those shot's by now. We're leaving. And not to mention I'm gonna have to deal with the police after this. God this sucks."
Tojo, you called this all wrong. We'll I'm not going to blame him though. I was caught with my pants down too. But this is kind of weird, the SR Unit HAD to know that we can handle crude assaults. What are they thinking?
As Kasper's crew began to make their way out of the hotel the SR Unit was preparing to attack considering that they had failed in executing their surprise. Fully armed and ready they then went with their back up plan, moving up both sets of emergency stairs and ready to attack on Kasper's floor on two sides.
After collecting everything they needed for a quick getaway Kasper's team then led their boss out of the building. Poe and Edger covered Kasper while Allan and Chiquita moved ahead to make sure the hallways were clear. After making their next turn, Allan then heard the rattle of weapons clacking against equipment and motioned to Chiquita to halt. Hotel hallways were normally pretty quiet and since they were quieter than them, they caught them with their guard down. He slowly moved forward and when he saw the barrel of an assault rifle he opened fire, keeping them pinned so that Chiquita could advance. With her blade drawn and incredible speed despite her age the SR members didn't realize until it was too late that they were within her killzone.
She stabbed the front man in the neck and then grabbed him to use as a shield to make towards the next one. They may have worn the gear and had the weapons of a special ops team but they were far from the actual thing. As Chiquita then stabbed the next one in the head she quickly moved to her left and Allan appeared out of cover and lit up the remaining three.
"You good?" He asked as Chiquita pulled out her sidearm.
"I take back what I said earlier. These guys are too easy. I can't believe I'd actually miss fighting my little mishka." She said double tapping the one's Allan shot.
He just looked at her with an eyebrow raised and then called back to the rest of his crew. "Let's keep moving!"
Poe and Edger then covered both sides of the hallway as Kasper then turned to where the dead SR members were. Along with Chiquita, her face splattered in blood and smile fixated on her face. If it was any other type of person here, they would have seen a total sociopath but Kasper knew that that wasn't the whole woman. He then looked toward the bodies.
"Playing soldier is tough work, but that's the only thing you're doing. Playing. And my soldiers are far better, cause they got more experience." He said as Poe and Edger began leading them away.
Chiquita then chuckled. "You're happy? Not the type of mood I'd expect from a guy under attack boss."
"Well I was hoping to fight these guys. But I would more likely want to fight the ones before them. The ones that fought in Vietnam, they fought with absolute grit. Those guys made a real empire in the underworld, but these guys are no different than any other group of thugs that have tried going up against us. It's kinda embarrassing. Hinoki needs to stop testing me and bring me a real fight."
Chiquita then looked at him somewhat surprised. "I'll be damned. How did you turn out like this Kasper? You used to be so cute when you were younger."
He then looked at her with a deadpanned stare but still smiling. "I'm only in the latter half of my twenties. And besides I don't need to figure out that you've already found someone a lot cuter."
"Damien is far different. He just looks that way, inside though he a completely different person. Plus it's fun to tease him." She said unfazed by him calling her out.
Suddenly more gunfire erupted from behind them. What remained of the SR Unit wasn't done yet. Chiquita pushed Kasper into a doorway while Poe and Edger returned fire.
"Oh no reinforcements." He said sarcastically.
Looks like this is what happens when a ghost exposes itself, how pathetic.
"Whatever. Just kill all of them." He said uncaring.
With that simple order, each member of Kasper's crew smirked sadistically. They now had an excuse to cut loose. No SR member left the hotel alive.
1100 Hours
Highway 409, Kawasaki, Japan
The plan was for Koko, Lutz, Mao, Ugo, and myself to meet up with the SR Unit at Umihotaru to discuss the parlay while Lehm, Wiley, and Sophia acted as our backup. While we knew that this meeting wasn't going to be a simple talk, the only thing we could plan on was to improvise and watch what happens. At least we were going into the fight prepared. But it was a quiet ride to wherever we were going, and a little boring. I leaned forward from my back seat and put my hand on Ugo's shoulder. I then held up my iPod and he knew the drill. Whatever was playing on the radio was immediately replaced by a rhythm and blues classic, Green Onions.
"Nice." He said tapping his finger on the steering wheel. "I thought you were a straight metal head."
"You kidding? I love the classics. James Brown, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, you can't be a true fan of music if you don't listen to the pioneers."
The mood in the car then became a bit more mellow. Lutz whistled to the tune softly, Mao had a smirk on his face even though he was half asleep, and Koko was slowly bopping her head. Tojo however was just looking out the window as if nothing happened. No doubt in his mind he was stressed that he was going up against the guys he not only used to work with but the starting point of how he began his career as an agent for the Japanese government to bodyguard for an arms dealer.
"Hey Tojo."
"Hmm?" He looked towards me.
"I know you didn't want to work for the SR Unit for the obvious reasons, but you could have used that as a springboard to go on and do better and maybe bigger things. Why'd you quit?"
"What? That came out of nowhere."
He then stared at me for a few moments a little puzzled. "Well?"
"Well I'll tell you why prefer working for Koko. Which answer do you wanna hear? Funny one? Or serious one?"
Why do I have a feeling it's gonna be the same answer.
"Serious one."
He then formed a massive shit eating grin. "Cause at this one I get to work with two smoking hot babes!"
Called it.
The whole car then let out a lot of restrained laughter. I just stared at him with my casual smirk, there was no way in hell he would have said that to Koko and Sophia in the same vicinity. Before I could counter though, Koko spoke from the front seat.
"Tojo. Your salary just doubled for this month."
"Really!? Awesome!" He said.
"Hmpf. I'll give you props for having the brass to be honest. And also that you worded that answer carefully."
"How'd I do that?" He asked with his head tilted.
I held my hand up next to my face as I was looking at him with a smirk. Then slowly closed it forming a fist, with a slight audible crack of knuckle. With almost perfect timing as we just then passed into a tunnel causing the inside of the SUV to darken.
"You work with them, nothing else." I said with my classic deep growl and his grin instantly turned into a visual gulp.
"Damien…don't scare him to death. I need everyone for this op."
"Sorry Koko." I then relaxed in my seat and looked back towards Tojo. "You can tell me the real reason later bro."
He then smiled casually. "Right."
After a few more minutes we got out of the aqua tunnel. Umihotaru was in sight. Time for phase two.
"Let's park deeper inside Ugo, more cover."
"Roger that."
After we parked the car I checked my rifle and pistols one last time before we got out. Mao then handed us all our radio's and ear pieces. Tojo was on the phone trying to get a hold of Hinoki. And Lutz and Ugo we keeping a look out. A lot of civilian's came through here and anyone of them could have been an SR member. But the next part of the plan was riding on me, I was the one who had to make contact with the SR Unit. Naturally I was a little nervous but I've done kinds of things like this alone before. All I had to do was keep my head on a swivel.
"Still can't get a hold of Colonel Hinoki Koko." Tojo said.
"Keep trying. Alright we stick to the plan and this will all go smoothly. Damien, we're counting on you."
I then left the crew and then made my way to the elevators to the main level. If anything Umihotaru was a bit of a tourist trap, a bit of extra decoration on what really mattered which was the Aqua Line. The amount of people there made a somewhat dense crowd but as painful as this was to admit, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I kept my composure of just walking around without a care with my hands in my pockets but a big American with long hair and cold blue eyes wasn't really subtle. As I was walking up the stairs to the third floor to the restaurant I heard Koko's voice through my earpiece.
"You reached the meeting point yet Damien?"
"Walking towards the restaurant now."
"Stay on guard. I got a bad feeling about this."
As I entered the double doors I immediately scanned for the Colonel, no surprise he wasn't there. I then pressed my earpiece to get ahold of Koko.
"Koko, your hunch was right. No one's here, but I don't think this is the ambush point. Too many people."
"Get back down to the garage now! Stay—" Before she could continue there was an electronic screech in my earpiece.
"Koko!? Koko!? Shit!"
I then sprinted out of the restaurant and then tried the alternative frequency but I just got more static. They knew we were here and they had to have had a jammer somewhere. This was unexpected, even for me. Knowing the radio was useless I then pulled out my cellphone. But as I was about to get to the second floor to dial in Koko's number I saw a man with a backwards ball cap at the bottom of the stairs looking right at me. The fight was about to begin and he caught me in a bit of a bottle neck. He then reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a MAC11 machine pistol. With a lack of options in a direction to move I pulled out one of my .45's and jumped over the side of the railing, both of us firing at once. I then landed on the floor below in a roll and looked for the nearest cover.
The eruption of automatic fire sent the patron's there into a panic. People were running away in any direction away from us. I had to get away from him or stop him from shooting so that he didn't hit anyone else. As I reloaded my pistol, I then took cover behind a support beam. Then came the shouting of orders in Japanese over the panicking crowd. I then peeked my head out to look and there were two more of them dressed in plain clothes coming towards me with machine pistols. I then dropped my backpack and pulled out my ACR, switching to single shot I quickly leaned out of cover and dispatched the first one with a well placed headshot. The other two returning fire and getting into cover. As they reloaded I then sprinted away from the support beam to get around and flank them. But there wasn't a lot of solid cover and they returned fire, shattering the glass windows of the shops I ran past until I dove behind a garden. I waited for them to reload and after they stopped I returned fire and double tapped one of them in the chest, but baseball cap wasn't with him. I then ducked back behind cover but I then heard a metallic click, he had flanked me.
But before he could fire I heard Tojo shout, he was rushing towards us with his pistol drawn. Ball cap then turned towards him and they both shot at each other at point blank range. Ball cap then fell to his knees.
"Ura…girimono." He said weakly before planting his face on the floor, blood pooling from him.
(Traitor.)
I then leaned up from cover and saw Tojo, clearly in a rage, and blood coming from his shoulder. He knew he'd been hit, but it looked like he didn't care. This had to be the first time I've seen him angry.
"Watashi wa uragirimonode wanai! Watashi o anata no norowareta-mono ni shinaide kudasai! Anata wa kurutta hidodesu!"
(I am not a traitor! Don't make me into your scapegoat! You're the ones that went crazy!)
Hopefully that had to be all of them cause we couldn't stick around here much longer. Someone had to have called the police already. I then leapt up and ran towards him, he was gripping his shoulder hard and the blood was spreading fast from his shirt.
"Jesus Christ man are you alright!?"
"I'll be fine just give me something to stop the bleeding." He said wincing.
I then ran towards one of the souvenir shops and grabbed two t-shirts from the racks. I didn't have any first aid supplies with me. After making quick work on putting pressure on the wound McGuyver style. We then bolted towards the parking garage elevators.
"Where's Koko is she alright?" I asked taping up his shoulder.
"I told her to get out of here the moment we lost contact with you. We'll steal a car and catch up to her and the rest."
As we got out of the elevator, people were starting to get as far away from Umihotaru as possible. We had to get something fast to catch up to Koko and the rest. Tojo then went to a guy that was about to pull out and take his car and shouted at him to stop. But upon closer inspection from my angle, a dull grey Japanese hatchback wasn't really going to cut it.
"Can you not get a better car than that!?" He then looked at me wonder why I was shouting at him. "Let that man go!"
"Our options are kind of limited Damien!" He shouted back as the hatchback sped off.
After a quick look around I then spotted something we could use. The man who was trying to get into was fumbling with his keys too much so this was our opportunity. Biggest advantage was speed, style was just icing on the cake.
"That's what I'm talking about." I said pointing to a red Nissan GT-R Coupe.
"Oh God." Tojo said following me.
We quickly made over to where the poor guy we were about to rob. I tapped his shoulder, he turned around, I punched him the face, and gravity took over. I then picked up his rather large set of keys and immediately spotted the ones for the car. I had to drive because Tojo was in no shape to do it. The engine revved to life and we peeled out of Umihotaru in hot pursuit of Koko.
We then got to the entrance of the Aqua Tunnel and I tried the radio again. All the while not letting my foot off the gas.
"Koko! It's me! You ok?"
"Damien!? Are you alright!?"
"I'm good but Tojo's been shot."
"How bad!?"
He then clicked on his radio. "I'll be fine. What's your 20?"
"We got two of them on our tail. We're sticking to the plan and heading towards Kawasaki. But we caught word on the police scanner that they're setting up a barricade at the entrance of the tunnel. You'll have to evade."
"Understood. Don't shoot at us when we catch up." He said taking my ACR out of my bag and loading it up.
"Ok hang on. Getting around these guys is gonna be rough."
I was starting to see daylight, as well as the blue lights of police cars. I then turned off the lights of the car, hoping they wouldn't see me until the last second. As I got as close as I could I floored it and swerved around the first car of the barricade. The second one thought then threw out a spike strip. Not really caring because it wasn't my car I made my way on to the shoulder and scrapping the side of the car on the retaining wall. We managed to get past the barricade and I floored it towards Kawasaki.
"GAH! Son of a bitch this hurts."
"Sorry man, I had to make those sharp swerves as best I could. If I could trade places with Ugo right now I would."
"It's alright I can still fight. You just drive." He then got out his cell phone. "You owe me an explanation Colonel."
As he was waiting on a response I was swerving around traffic looking for Ugo's car. After a few moments I saw them up ahead, I motioned to Tojo and he leaned out of his window to take aim. Using the sports car's rapid acceleration and speed we got alongside the rear attacking car quickly. The shooter standing up through the sun roof ducked back into his car and Tojo opened fire.
"Aw shit! Armored glass!" He shouted.
"Damn." I then pressed my earpiece. "Koko! Were no good back here! Got any more options!?"
"Backup is already on the way. Take the Bay off ramp!"
Tojo then sat back down in the car and I gunned it to catch up to Ugo. But then I heard the distinctive rotor sound of a helicopter. I looked in the cars side mirror and sure enough there was one and was keeping pace with the two attacking cars. Before I could question when Koko had the time to charter a civilian helicopter, automatic fire erupted from the side of the chopper lighting up the two enemy vics. They had to have heavier hitting rounds than we did because both of them started to swerve violently and one crashed into the retaining wall and the other rolled over on its side.
"Nice!"
"And that is how you do it." Koko said over the radio.
"Another miracle you pull out of nowhere Koko. Who's our guardian angel up high?" I said pressing my earpiece.
"You know it's us kid." Lehm said in his usual bored drawl.
"I know that I meant who's flying?"
After a few seconds a bit of a jager tone came on the net. "You must be Damien. Keith Gordon, I fly for Koko every now and then."
"Uhh I'm glad we beat them but can I get to a hospital sometime soon? Kinda got a bullet in my shoulder." Tojo interrupted.
As he was looking at me I then noticed that the phone in his hand had picked up and there was someone speaking Japanese on the other side.
"You also have a call in progress."
"What? Oh shit. Hinoki?"
"Anata wa hito o Tojo ni yobu kimyona hoho ga arimasu. Watashi wa hangu appu shiyou to shite ita." Hinoki said with a hearty laugh at the end.
(You have a weird way of calling people Tojo. I was about to hang up.)
"Cut the shit Colonel! Where the hell are you!?" He shouted switching over to English.
"Wow, your English is fantastic. You've learned quite a lot since you left. But anyway to answer your question, if I told you that, then it would defeat the whole purpose."
"Purpose of what!? Your whole team is dead. What in the hell were you trying to accomplish here?"
There was a slight pause on the line. "HCLI's firepower verses the SR Unit's prowess. There was only one way this could go and this is how both sides wanted it. I just granted their wish."
Tojo and I then looked at each other and were most likely sharing the exact same thought.
What the fuck is he talking about?
"Come on Tojo, you know you wanted this fight too. But I think it will be more appropriate if I tell you this in person. I know your boss is already taking measures to find my location, so I'll help her out. I'll see you in a few days."
There was a click on the other end. We'd have to worry about this shit later, Tojo needed to get to a doctor.
October 13th 2010 0145 Hours
Flight 3400 To Martinique
Not long after Tojo was admitted into surgery to get the bullet out of his shoulder Koko was already making arrangements to track down Hinoki's location. I found it truly bizarre that he was willing to hand over that information so freely, it really didn't seem right. What the hell was Hinoki trying to pull?
The amount of thoughts that were running through my head really weren't allowing me to get to sleep. Even though I started sleeping better, doing it on planes was still taking some time to get adjusted to. Even with Sophia resting her head on my shoulder, letting out soft snores. I then took my pillow and lifted up her head to place it there while I stood up to use the bathroom. As I made my way back through the cabin I saw Tojo wide awake, he had to be thinking the same things I was.
"Shouldn't those painkillers you got help you sleep?" I asked getting his attention.
"I'm only taking less than what I should. Taking what they recommended makes my stomach upset."
I stared at him for a few more moments and remembered he owes me a story.
"You still didn't answer my question on why you quit. I know it was nothing like what I did but it would be nice to know anyway."
He then looked up to the roof of the cabin and back to me.
"It is good to open up every now and then."
12 Years Earlier
May 20th 1999 0400 Hours
Cuba
The storm rolled in almost immediately when the SR Unit had accomplished its objective, it would be the perfect cover to mask their escape. The waving palm trees and rolling waves combined with the wind and rain made quite the dramatic scene. The hit was done and all that was needed to be done was for the SR Unit to evacuate. Their escape vessel was just off the coast disguised as a cargo freighter but was under the flag of the Japanese government. Tojo had known that these types of covert ops were the riskiest and if you were caught it was over. But they had to make sure that they had the accountability for everyone, there were quite a few people short.
"Where are the Cuban operatives?" He shouted over the rain and wind.
The direction he was shouting was directly towards Colonel Hinoki but it was intercepted by some of the unit members sitting in their escape boat.
"Not our problem Tojo, we're waiting on Kurosaka. Then we leave." One of them said.
Just then a terrible thought came to his mind.
"You gave those agent's a false rendezvous point. If the Cuban Army catches them they'll all be shot!"
"Tojo! This is how it has to go down!"
He ignored him. "I want to hear it directly from you Colonel!"
His back was still turned to his protégé, but before he could say anything else Kurosaka tackled him from behind into the inflatable boat.
"Sorry I'm late, I'm the last one. Let's go!"
The engine sputtered to live and they opened their distance from the shoreline. Tojo then got up and put back on his glasses that she knocked off of him.
"You're ok with this crap too!?" He demanded.
Kurosaka then grabbed him by the collar. "Shut up and understand the situation. Leaving them removes a variable, distracts the enemy, allows us to escape. And what's the one thing we can't do on this mission? We can't leave any trace of Japanese presence here. It would not only jeopardize Japan but our units accomplishments as well.
So that means we leave our comrades that helped us to die!? Men that want to make a difference here!?
He took her hand off his collar and sat down frustrated. He then looked towards his mentor and he was still facing forwards from the bow. As their freighter was getting closer he then started to realize that they didn't change anything here at all. All they did was shoot a couple of military officials and gave them the "evidence" so that this would wrap up as quick as it started. Castro would still be in power, the Communist flag would still fly, even the drug trade routes would still slip by unnoticed.
"Elite intelligence operatives is what we're supposed to be? God what a joke. All we did was infiltrate a third world nation, kill some of its military leadership, and leave. When the fuck did this unit turn into Omega? Or even Gorgon?"
There was silence around the boat but then eventually the ones with the bigger ego's spoke up first.
"Kid's gone soft on us."
"What do you expect? He came from Central System Admin, he's a geek with a gun."
"And before that electronic warfare, like they EVER get their hands dirty."
"Both of you! That's enough. He does have a right speak what he's thinking. And you all know that he earned that." Hinoki said piercing through the conversation.
Knowing that this wasn't what he had signed up for, Tojo then made a decision. The only problem was what he was going to do with the rest of his life since on paper he was legally "dead."
I'll have to wait till we get back to Jakarta. Can't do that here.
Present Time
"I was actually kind of surprised that Hinoki accepted my resignation without any argument. He didn't even try to stop me."
"Well the downside to working in black ops means you don't really have any other option in choosing another career if you decide that this one doesn't work out." I said holding back my laughter.
"I know that. But walking around downtown Jakarta frustrated wasn't gonna help my situation, so I just took a walk and decided to get some noodles for lunch."
My guess was that he had to have been a mess until he finally came across HCLI. I wondered how long he was drifting around Indonesia for.
"How long was it until you joined up with HCLI?"
"When I ran into Kasper when I went to get the noodles."
Once again, my brain stopped. "What?"
"He sat down said "Yo!" and twenty minutes later I had a new job."
Now I had some real problems trying to turn the power back on. And I thought Koko pulled weird shit outta nowhere.
"Damien? You alright?" Tojo asked adjusting his glasses.
"I wandered around Pakistan for several months mostly surviving off of the gun runner I was working for until I finally scrapped up even enough money to even get place of my own to rest my head. How the fuck did you get a new job in that short amount of time?" I demanded.
"Well this might be a good textbook example of misreading the situation. The SR Unit though I was working with HCLI all along, but I think someone had a hand in me getting employed by HCLI."
Wait a minute, he can't mean Hinoki?
"Now that I think about it, Kasper was only half right. A single man can change quite easily, we bend whichever way the wind blows. And I'm looking at the evidence right in front of me. You think the CIA were even remotely accurate in designating you as a nightmare?"
I smirked at him and let him continue.
"I'm only realizing this now. Hinoki was the best spy his country had ever had, he held a major hand in developing the DIH, he was as solid as a rock. But as soon as we had him cornered, he abandoned everyone and everything. Just to save himself."
That's why he sent his own team into the furnace that was the Hekmatyar siblings. Hinoki must have known that he pounced onto something that was clearly out of his league and didn't really have the options available to counter attack if we could sense out his invisible fists. But this would be something he would have to explain himself to get the clearest picture. And speaking of pictures, I never even dreamed that one day I'd be going there and I would get as many shots as I could. Plus the better change in temperature was very welcoming.
October 15th 2010 1120 Hours
Eleuthera Island, The Bahamas
White sand beaches, warm sunny skies, bright blue sea. They are some of the many visual beauties that are scattered around the Caribbean Sea. When we first touched down in Nassau I had to get me one of those drinks in the coconuts. I could just eat the thing when I was done with everything else. Changing into a lighter set of clothes was good too but I wasn't going to be too touristy. I was never really much of a fan of Hawaiian shirts, and this wasn't Hawaii. But after doing a quick dive into the tourist thing, we went right back to the mission. One thing that a lot of people don't know is that there are a few places in the Caribbean that have some pretty solid tax haven's. Perfect place if you wanted to disappear.
"Kind of remind you of the James Bond movie Dr. No. doesn't it?"
Koko wasn't wrong about that, The Bahamas were an often filmed spot in the early 007 films. And I honestly always thought that spy's were never like what they were portrayed in the movies. That it was mostly just boring paperwork and listening to wire taps and not, well everything that I had gone through since I started working for Koko. God was I proven wrong on a colossal scale. Despite on how I wrecked my own life, it has turned into one hell of an adventure that most people would only dream about.
It was just me, Koko, and Tojo going to see Hinoki. She specifically told the rest of the crew to wait at the beach bungalow that we had rented until we were done. I felt a little uneasy walking along the beach, just cause the scenery was pretty didn't mean that anything bad could happen.
"So where is he?" Tojo asked.
"I don't know. Maybe a shark ate him." Koko said as she slapped Tojo on the shoulder. His injured shoulder.
"GAH! GODDAMNIT! Koko! I just had a bullet taken out of me!"
"You've probably got the only frowny face in all of paradise. Be proud of your accomplishments, we tracked down Japan's best spymaster."
"Yeah quit your bitching. I've been shot plenty of times, and you don't see me complaining." I said.
"Not all of us are 99.9% muscle you dumb jock." He sneered.
"A jock am I? Well then allow me to reinforce the stereotype you nerd." I said cracking my knuckles.
"Stop acting like you both are in high school. Or we leave the moment were done here!" She ordered while hitting us both in the head with her large hat.
"Sorry Koko." We apologized.
"Now I'll tell you what Tojo. When you see your old boss, I won't tell you how to react, this is totally up to you. But the consequences will be yours as well."
"Right. But I think that there's a good chance we've been dancing to the Colonel's tune this entire time."
We continued to walk along the beach with Tojo on point. Probably contemplating on what to say to his mentor, and this was just a guess but I had a feeling that it was gonna be blunt. Very blunt. I then realized why she wanted me to tag along, make sure Tojo didn't lose his cool. I was about to ask her if this was a good idea, but before I could say anything I heard running footsteps. A girl, probably no older than five or six, was running towards us in a yellow dress and a pink flower in her hair. Judging from her tanned bronze skin she had to have been a local. As she was running past us she tripped on a rock in the sand and fell face first on the beach. The three of us we a little perplexed but she got off the ground and not even upset.
"You didn't even cry. Good girl." Koko said.
"Uhh…Koko I don't think she speaks…"
"Why cry? That's what sad people do." She said cutting me off in an American form of English.
Ok?
I then noticed the flower had fallen out of her hair. I then got down on one knee and dusted the sand off it to hand it back to her. She then took it with a slight bit of hesitation, so I lifted up my sunglasses to let her look me in the eye to let her know I wasn't some intimidating behemoth. But what she said next caught me a little off guard.
"Wow. You're really big for a girl."
I instantly heard the restrained laughter from Koko and Tojo. I did my best to ignore them and addressed her in one of my gentler tones.
"I'm not a girl sweetheart, I'm a boy."
She giggled. "You're so silly. Boy's don't have long hair."
"I do. And I'm not afraid of what anyone thinks of it." I said adjusting the flower in her hair.
After a few seconds she smiled and then lunged at me trying to hug me all the way around my large form. Then the dam bursted on Koko and she started laughing her ass off. Tojo looking at me how the hell I managed to do what I think I just did.
"Seriously!? What is it with you? They just flock to you! Don't even matter the age!"
"Don't ask me, I just handed her flower back."
We then heard laughter from an old man behind us. A rather tall Japanese man about Lehm's age with a crew cut and dressed like he was on vacation here. No doubt in my mind it was Yoske Hinoki.
"I was wondering how you found me Tojo. My God it's been forever, you actually look great. When was the last time we actually spoke face to face was it Cuba or when we returned to Indonesia?"
"Please Colonel you remembered every hour, minute, and second of that op." Tojo said.
Hinoki then looked to Koko as she approached him. He bowed with the respect of a normal Japanese man of his age.
"Koko Hekmatyar, pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm former Colonel Yoske Hinoki and former SR Unit director. I like to formally apologize for my subordinates behavior, it seems as though that they were too proud to negotiate with you. I hope that they didn't cause any type of permanent damage."
"The pleasure is all mine Colonel Hinoki. Tojo got shot and my driver wasn't too thrilled about his car getting lit up but other than that the damage is minimal. Now I know you both have some catching up to do so I'll leave you both to it. Come on Damien! Let's get some sea shells!"
Before I could walk off I felt a tug on my shorts. "Can I come too?"
I looked to Koko and she nodded. I then looked back to Tojo. "We won't be far but show him how good your English has gotten since you left his unit."
He got the point on what I was implying. Koko wanted to be sure that there wasn't any type of underlying statement in what they were about to discuss. I took the little girls hand and we made our way to the tide trying to find any unbroken shells or rare ones.
"I thought she would have said a lot more to you considering that you threw the first punch." Tojo said.
I was thinking the same thing.
"Your boss is practical. All she sees is the bottom line. I could have dragged this out but then attacking you both at the same time would have ended this as fast as possible. I hope Kasper called to thank you though. You couldn't really hide a type of incident like this so how did the news handle it?"
Tojo then scoffed before he straightened himself up. "I was a little busy getting a bullet out of me and fleeing Japan when the story hit. They played it down a lot and came up with some type of lame excuse that a bunch of junkies went on a joyride."
"And in the process the bodies of some JSDF officers appeared to have died twice. Same thing happened in Jakarta. Even the biggest muckraker would know better than letting the real story get out."
"The whole SR Unit gone in one day. When Kasper called he was so happy I thought he'd gone crazy. I really misjudged you, this went the total opposite of everything I thought you would do. So I want to know the truth. Why did you sell them out?"
Koko and I may have been collecting the shells with the girl but we were listening in on every word. That was what we wanted to know.
"I didn't. They were never happy as ghosts. They wanted a fight so I gave them one."
Against a group that frankly outclassed them.
"And by giving them the weapons trade routes you just helped Kasper expand his reach."
Hinoki then let out a deep sigh. "If I have one true regret is that I couldn't stop the unit from evolving. The SR Unit thrived on selling weapons. But it changed not only our goals but my men as well and not in the way I wanted. Hmm…makes me wonder how your unit is gonna hold out."
Koko may have had her usual carefree smirk but I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her. I knew for a fact she didn't want what she built to become like the SR Unit.
"Just think of the old proverb. The bird makes a clean break as it fly's away. That you shouldn't cause trouble on your way out. But reality can be quite the opposite, a bird that leaves it's flock is often seen as a traitor by the other's that can't comprehend why he did such a thing. While those that can't fly away will envy him."
It seems that no matter where I go, I'm constantly reminded in some way or form of how I started out this way and ended up in Koko's company. I doubt anyone would envy me, everyone who ever truly knew me would see me as a traitor and nothing else. As I then went to pick up another shell, Koko took my hand and squeezed it tightly. She heard what he said as well, and she knew what I was thinking.
"You know I honestly thought that you were come crying back to me begging for your job back but I was wrong. I find it ironic that even with everyone in the unit combined you have the most experience walking through the battlefields of actual wars. It was why everyone in the unit was jealous of you Akihito. You wanted to fly away and you did."
Why do I have this feeling that you gave him the directions to fly to?
"Well I think that's enough for now, I think it's time I head home. You know when I heard that you found me I was considering moving but I don't think I see any problem with that anymore. Visit again whenever you have time, the rum is on me." He said ending with a hearty chuckle.
"Yeah sure I'll do that." Tojo said sarcastically.
"Mana! Time to go!"
The little girl we were picking up shells with looked to Hinoki "Ok daddy!"
"Whoa hold up! That's your dad?" I asked her.
"Yep! Thank you for finding all the seashells with me." She then gave me one last hug before running off to her dad.
Ok what the hell?
"You said something about a sham marriage?" I whispered in Tojo's ear.
"Why are you asking me this? I didn't know." He whispered back.
"Darling! Mana! Lunch is ready! Oh! Do we have guests?" A woman said from a path leading from the beach.
"No just saying hello to a few friends." Hinoki said looking at the three of us with a big grin. Tojo returning one.
We then went our separate ways, looked like our job was done. But just before we put some distance between us, the spymaster had one more thing to say to his best student.
"Tojo, I have no doubt in my mind that you'll be back one day. When you do I'll teach you everything I know. I'll make you a world class spy."
"I told you Colonel, I'm not like you."
"Nonsense, of course you are. Every good spook thinks five years in advance. There's a reason why you're the only one left from the SR Unit. Be seeing you!"
And he left with his child to his wife.
2300 Hours
Our mission against the SR Unit had come to an end and we had a few days to spend in tropical paradise. The rest of the day was quiet, I got to work on my tan, we dined on the local shrimp, I even bought a box of Cuban cigars. It was a quiet night in the bungalow, some of them were asleep and the rest of us were just lounging around. But I don't think that Koko had forgotten about what Hinoki said to Tojo earlier in the day. She was pounding the rum a little bit more than the rest of us.
"Tojo I promise that you'll be working for me for years to come."
I could tell that that would be my cue to get as far away from the patio as possible. I grabbed one of my new Cuban's and bit the tip off.
"What? Don't tell me you took his ramblings seriously Koko?"
She then turned around to look at him, face flushed with a pompous pout.
"Aki baby, you're on your own." I said lighting the cigar up, I grabbed my rum, and calmly left the porch as she started her barrage on poor Tojo.
"YOU'RE MY BITCH TOJO! GOT IT!"
"OW! Again with the shoulder!"
"SAY IT!"
"OK! I'M YOUR BITCH!"
"YOU BETTER MEAN IT!"
As I left him to his fate I paused at the bottom step before I stepped onto the beach. It was a better idea to walk around barefoot, or else I would have had to dig the sand out of my boots later. As I got further away from Koko's shouting and her wailing on Tojo's shoulder the noise was drowned out by the waves. There wasn't a lot of places to sit so I just picked the nearest large rock and leaned back on it. It was another beautiful night in the world where I had been traveling with an arms dealer. Full moon, clear starry sky's, the scent of the sea, and the mellow flavor of tobacco with the bite of rum, I was in paradise.
Only then I realized I was in a paradise that wasn't too far from home. The bungalow was on the west side of the island, just travel in a straight line and you hit Miami, Florida. Since I "flew away" I have literally traveled around the entire world now and there's still one place I can never truly fly back to. The pain was still there, but this time it didn't hurt as much. Because I wasn't alone anymore.
"You know you're not supposed to wander off by yourself."
I turned around to see Sophia, dressed in a little bit less because we jumped from mid-Fall to Summer so quickly.
"You're not my babysitter." I said taking a swig of rum.
"Well for as much trouble as I keep you out of I might as well be."
I then took another puff of my Cuban. "Wanna sit down and enjoy the view?"
"Only if you put that out first."
I looked at my cigar and then back to her a few times, the decision was obvious.
"Nope."
I wasn't as merciful as Lehm was, I finished whatever I started. But my choice probably wasn't the best as she then snatched it out of my mouth and threw it into the ocean.
"Hey what the hell!? That was—OOOF!"
She then sat down on my gut first causing me to drop my drink. She then slid down to the sand leaning back on me, sitting in between my legs. When the lady wants to make a point she makes it.
"Well now that you've ruined my drink as well are you happy?" I asked dryly.
"Yep."
Rolling my eyes and practically giving up at that point I wrapped my hands around her waist and got comfortable. We sat there for a while just looking at the sea, it's the simple things in life you treasure.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked.
After thinking for a few seconds I answered what was on my mind for a while. "Home."
She then wrapped her hands around mine. "You know it's not like that you don't have one anymore."
"I know it's just...I can't help but want to let my family know I'm just fine and that they don't need to worry about me. But if I tell them, they'll find out eventually what really happened to me and it'll break their hearts."
I then started to hold her tighter, she tightened her grip on my hands as well.
"I won't lie and say that I know how you feel, but I've rarely spoken to my family too. Hell my father thinks I'm just a secretary doing a lot of overseas traveling for HCLI. He doesn't know what I really do."
"Well how do you handle it?"
She sighed. "You don't, it's always there. But the fun of working for Koko makes it easy. And…being around you makes it even easier."
"Hmpf. What happened to that girl who wanted an excuse to rip me apart every day?"
"Oh she's still here, and I can do more than that." She said seductively.
She then took my hands and then started to move them up to her breasts. Then she lifted her arms up and wrapped them around my head. It was obvious what she wanted and it had been a while. I gently started to massage them and she began breathing deeply. She then slid down from my chest and pulled my head down to kiss her. Lengthy, passionate, and sensual. As painful as this is to admit, when a woman you care about makes herself that open to you, your brain totally shuts down. But as romantic as this scene was about to become, this wasn't the place for it. I took my lips off her's and then stood up.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Not here. Let's head back to our room." I said taking her hand and pulling her up.
"There was a reason why I wanted the two of us to be alone. Those walls aren't very thick."
"Well we'll have to be as quiet as possible."
"That's not very passionate you know."
"Well it's either that or some rashes from friction and digging sand out of your ass. Which do you prefer?"
It dawned on her instantly and then looked away rather embarrassed, but suppressing her laughter. I then held out my arm and she looped her's around mine and we walked back towards the bungalow. As I looked straight into her gold eye I couldn't help but feel a sense of completion. My life was changing for the better every day, despite the gunfights and explosions. And tonight was going to be another one of pleasure with her.
James Bond, eat your heart out.