DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY DEAD OR ALIVE CHARACTER. THOSE CHARACTERS BELONG TO TECMO, LTD. AND TEAM NINJA. I AM IN NO WAY INTENDING ANY COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND I'M NOT MAKING A PROFIT FROM THE USE OF THESE CHARACTERS. ANY CHARACTER NOT A PART OF DEAD OR ALIVE IS MINE AND MINE ALONE.
Chapter Sixteen
Saturday, December 24
9:47 A.M.
Myamoto's Apartment
Jack awoke the next morning with a pounding headache. He looked around and noticed that he wasn't in his own apartment. There was an empty bottle on the floor next to him and he smelled like hard liquor. He climbed to his feet and tried to think clearly, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall what went down last night.
"You're finally awake."
Jack looked up to see Myamoto walk away from his computer and toward the couch. "What happened?" he asked.
"It's really simple. You got smashed because Kasumi is gone, presumably dead, and then you came over here and passed out," Myamoto held out a glass. "Coffee?"
Jack took off his leather jacket and eagerly grabbed the glass from the hacker's hand and took a big gulp. Surprisingly, it was just as strong as he liked it, which was usually so strong that it could dissolve a nail in two hours.
"I've never met anyone else who made coffee as strong as mine."
Myamoto shrugged. "I'm a hacker, remember? We live off of coffee sometimes."
Jack grinned. "So what are you doing?"
Myamoto looked back at his computer monitor and said, "I think I know where they took Kasumi."
Jack immediately snapped to attention. "Where?! I swear when I get my hands on those freaks--"
"Calm down, man. Just come here and take a look at this."
Jack got off the couch and followed Myamoto back to his computer.
"I knew this was a matter of life or death, so I decided to break out the big guns with this one..."
"Big guns?" Jack said as he took another drink of coffee. "What exactly are the 'big guns?'"
Myamoto grinned. "I used some special software of my own design that can break into almost any program and recreate the code."
"And what does that do?"
"It basically can shut down any secure system. I simply used this program, which I have named 'Thresher,' to break into the government satellite network."
Jack almost spit out his coffee. "You can do that?"
Myamoto nodded and pointed at his screen. "This is footage of the hospital the night Kasumi disappeared. I want to know something before I show you this: Do you know anyone who drives a black Galant?"
Jack shook his head. "No. Why didn't you do this when she was taken the first time?"
"Because I didn't know where she was taken from. It wouldn't have worked anyway because of the thick forest canopy."
Jack nodded. "I understand. Anyway, let's see what you've got."
Myamoto hit a button on the keyboard and Jack saw everything from a bird's eye view. He saw Kasumi leave the hospital, wearing the new clothes he gave her and wielding a pair of crutches. Then she was followed by a large man he had never seen before. He followed Kasumi as she limped toward a black Mitsubishi sedan near the front of the parking lot. When she got to the car, the large man grabbed the crutches and threw them into the front seat. Then he opened the back door and violently threw Kasumi into the car. After that he slammed the door and drove away.
Jack was seething. "Do you have any information on the big guy?"
Myamoto shook his head. "He never looked up, so I couldn't see his face."
"What about a license plate number?"
Myamoto again shook his head. "Nope, sorry."
Jack glared at him. "Well what do you have?"
Myamoto looked back at the computer. "I have this, but you're not going to like it."
Saturday, December 24
9:51 A.M.
Organization Compound 32
Smith had been asking questions, and as he had expected, going nowhere with the responses. He walked up to Kasumi and looked impatiently at Ayane, hoping this round would go better than the last.
"Let's try this one more time, and this time...," he grabbed Kasumi's chin and made her look into her sister's eyes, "...this time I want you to look into her eyes when you answer."
Ayane didn't say a word. She did, however, look at Kasumi, and saw pure anguish and sadness in her sister's eyes. She felt a deep twinge of sorrow in her own soul when she looked at Kasumi. Ayane looked away.
Smith released Kasumi's chin and smiled a sickening smile. "Now, tell me where to find the Shinobi village, or she gets hurt again."
Ayane showed no emotion on her cool exterior, but on the inside she "I've told you before and I will tell you again: I'm not going to answer your ridiculous questions! I don't care what happens!"
Smith's ugly smile vanished instantly and his face quickly became contorted in anger. "Damn you! Don't you care at all?!"
Ayane simply stared at Smith coldly in response.
Smith shook his head and struck Kasumi with a strong blow to the stomach with his elbow.
Kasumi clenched her fists and wailed loudly as the fierce blow connected. She coughed and tried to catch her breath, but the pain seemed to be stealing her air. After a few minutes of gasping and crying, she finally managed to recover. As she slowly recovered her breath, she looked into Ayane's eyes with her own pleading copper ones. Ayane saw, for the first time, Kasumi's hurt, and it was something she never wanted to see again. It shocked her that someone could hold so much pain inside. Kasumi looked away and Smith then calmly walked over to Ayane's side of the room.
"I always enjoy this part more," he said.
"Don't hurt her!" Kasumi yelled. "Please!"
"Tsk, Tsk. Have we forgotten the rules of the game? If you answer truthfully, she won't get hurt. Now, maybe you can tell me about the Shinobi?"
"No..." Kasumi sobbed.
"Tell me!" Smith was sick and tired of hearing the same things over and over again.
Kasumi again looked into Ayane's amber eyes. "I'm....I'm so sorry Ayane."
Smith yelled angrily and brutally hit Ayane in the lower stomach with his knee.
"Ayane!" Kasumi cried.
Ayane gasped for air and tightly squeezed her eyes shut. She would not let him see her cry. After she recovered her breath, Ayane spat in Smith's face. "You're pathetic."
"That is it," Smith said coldly.
He was already seething with rage and now he had been pushed past his limit. He wiped his face, walked over to the control panel Kasumi had seen earlier, and pressed the red button, causing Ayane's frame to slowly rise.
"No! Stop! She didn't mean it!" Kasumi yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Please, turn it off!"
Smith held the button down until he heard Ayane's pained scream over the anguished cries of her sister. Then he returned the machine to it's original position and stormed angrily over to Kasumi.
"If you care about her so much, why don't you tell me the location of the village?"
Kasumi looked sadly at the white tile floor. "I can't..." she sobbed.
Smith shook his head. "I figured as much." Then he walked out of the room and slammed the door.
Kasumi watched out of the big glass window as he walked down to the big room's floor and talked to the English man she had seen earlier.
"Ayane, we will--"
Ayane cut her off. "Save it. We're not getting out of here."
Kasumi shook her head. "You're wrong. Jack will come for us."
Ayane scoffed. "Jack? What can he do? This place is underground. Even if he does find the warehouse, how's he going to get down here? The elevator's hidden, and encoded, and there's no stairs."
Kasumi looked sadly at her sister. "He'll be here. I know he won't give up on me."
Ayane glared at Kasumi. "Whatever. Just don't talk to me."
Saturday, December 24
9:56 A.M.
Myamoto's Apartment
Jack looked at the streaming video showing on Myamoto's screen. "This is it?"
"Just keep watching, Jack."
Jack watched as the black car drove swiftly to the piers. The strange man got out of the car and walked calmly over to the door he had shoved Kasumi into earlier. He opened the door and yanked Kasumi out by her long red hair, then he threw her to the ground. The man attacked but Kasumi held him off, despite her injuries, which impressed Jack greatly. After she dodged an angry and desperate lunge, the man threw dirt in her eyes, causing her to stumble around and cover her face with her hands.
"That bastard cheated!" Jack yelled angrily.
As Kasumi stood blinded and defenseless, he was again filled with the dark anger as he witnessed the brutal beating the man then gave her. The large man threw her against a nearby wall, and nearly strangled her, and Jack could feel Kasumi's despair as she was losing the unfair fight. He became especially angry when he watched how the man had mercilessly stomped on her bad leg, even though she was clearly defeated.
Myamoto was stunned. "Jack, I didn't know...I'm so sorry."
Jack clenched his jaw. "I'm going to kill him.," he said in an icy cold voice.
Myamoto looked at Jack with a surprised expression. He had never, in all the time he had known Jack, heard him use that tone before.
Jack continued to watch as the man kneeled down over her still body, and pulled her head up by her hair. Then he took out a long knife and held it to Kasumi's vulnerable throat.
Jack turned away. "I can't watch this."
"Look! Something stopped him," Myamoto said.
Jack reluctantly turned his eyes back to the screen. The man had just answered his phone. After a few minutes, he hung up and put his knife away. Then he dragged Kasumi's unconscious form back to the car, where he tied her up and again harshly threw her into the back seat. After he had started the car, he drove towards the other side of the warehouse district. He stopped at fourteen, and then....nothing. The screen went blank.
"Hey! Turn that back on," Jack said.
Myamoto shook his head. "That's it. After that, the satellite moved out of the area and by the time I found another one, the black car was already gone. I'm sorry, but there's nothing else I can do."
"Damn it!" Jack yelled angrily.
"She might still be alive, Jack."
"You saw the same things I did. The chances are very small, and you know it."
Myamoto said nothing and the room was filled with a tense silence, which was broken when Jack checked the load on his black 9mm. He made sure there was one in the chamber and the clip was full. He returned the weapon to its holster and put on his jacket.
"Jack, don't do anything stupid."
Jack wiped a tear from his eyes. "Kasumi may be gone, but I'm still here. They're going to pay for this in blood."
"Where are you going?" Myamoto asked.
"Warehouse fourteen."
Jack practically ran all the way back to his apartment and grabbed the keys to the Jeep. Soon, he was on his way to the piers. The town was very busy because it was almost lunch hour, but he didn't care. The longer it took to get there, the more time he would have to think about what he was going to do to this 'Smith' guy.
He thought of Kasumi and all the great times they had together. How many times had her gorgeous smile illuminated his day? How often had her happy laughs brightened his spirits when things weren't going so well? Now she was gone, and nothing he did would change that, but he was going to stop these criminals from doing this to anyone else. He was going to make them pay.
"Smith," Jack said to himself, "you're a dead man."
Saturday, December 24
12:14 P.M.
Organization Compound 32
"I'm going to use it. I'm fed up with their bullshit," Smith said to Thomas.
"Don't you think that's a little extreme?" Thomas asked as he started playing with his zippo. "No one deserves that kind of treatment."
"I don't care. They had they're chance. Now, go get it."
Thomas shook his head and started towards the storage area to retrieve the item. When he got there he picked a medium sized box, and carried it back to the large control room where Smith was waiting. He wouldn't wish this stuff on his worst enemies, but the girls weren't his problem. They could rot for all he cared, he just wanted his money.
Smith looked at the box with satisfaction. "Excellent."
Kasumi looked out of the large window at Smith and the English man, who had just carried a box out of the back room. She hoped Jack would hurry, because she really didn't want to know what was in that box.
She sighed and tried to suppress the pain from the beatings Smith and Bayman had recently given her, but it was too extreme to ignore any longer. She couldn't even breathe regularly without letting out a sharp gasp or a quiet whimper. Her waist ached badly and she was sure it was bruised and bleeding. At least this time, the room was heated.
She looked at Ayane with tearful eyes. "I never meant for this to happen. I'm so sorry."
"Sorry isn't good enough!" Ayane yelled angrily. "Because of your complete stupidity, I have to pay the price."
"It's not like I did this on purpose," Kasumi said sadly, "I can only say sorry so many times, Ayane."
Ayane shot Kasumi a piercing glare. "I never asked for your apologies. I don't like you anymore, Kasumi. In fact, I wish you had never been born."
"But....I...." Kasumi began to cry at her sister's remarkably painful statement. "I don't want you to hate me anymore...." she sobbed. "Why...?"
Ayane sighed and glanced at her sister, who was clearly on the verge of a colossal mental breakdown. There were large tears streaming from her eyes and she looked very hurt inside. "Look, don't cry, okay? I'm--"
Smith returned to the room just as Ayane cut her sentence short, accompanied by the English man. He seemed happy to see that Kasumi was already sobbing, but he had no idea why. But it didn't matter why, as long as she was suffering. "Thomas, put it down over there."
After Thomas put down the box, he turned and faced the girls. "My advice to you is to give him what he wants."
"Thanks, Thomas, you can leave now."
Tom took the hint and walked out of the room, again pulling out his lighter. He didn't want to see this anyway. Just because he didn't care didn't mean that he wanted to see their deaths. After he had left the room he grabbed a nearby walkie-talkie and hailed Bayman, who was watching the place from the roof. He had a feeling this was going to be a busy day.
Kasumi watched as Smith walked over to the box, gleefully cackling in a maniacal way that filled her with panic.
"I'm not even going to bother asking you a question, because I already know what you're going to say," Smith said coldly. "I cannot believe that you have resisted this far, but I promise that after this, you'll be begging to tell me what you know. Too bad I don't care anymore. It's time to die, girls."
Ayane rolled her eyes. "You disgust me. Do you honestly believe that--"
"Silence! I don't want to hear another word out of either one of you. Only screams."
Smith was about to open the box when Thomas came back into the room. "Hey, there's something I think you should know."
Smith groaned. "What is it now?"
"It would probably be better if we stepped outside."
After they had left the room, Smith said, "What is so important that you had to drag me away from my business?"
"Bayman says he spotted a green Jeep driving around a little while ago."
"And why do I care?"
Thomas cleared his throat. "Well, it seems as if the Jeep has stopped outside the warehouse."
Smith quickly walked to one of the surveillance stations and watched as a tall man wearing a black leather jacket and carrying a large black pistol got out of the Jeep.
"This should be interesting," Smith said.
Saturday, December 24
12:25 P.M.
Warehouse 14
Jack stared at the abandoned warehouse with confusion. The place was old and looked like it hadn't been used in years. It didn't look like there was anything significant about it. But it was a great place to hide.
He took out his Beretta and got out of the Jeep. He cautiously proceeded inside the structure and looked around. The place had a cracked concrete floor and brick walls. There wasn't anything that looked out of place, until he looked closer. Jack noticed that there was drag marks in the dust on the floor. But what really bothered him was that the drag marks led directly into the wall. Jack put the gun away and ran toward the wall.
"There has got to be some kind of secret passage here somewhere."
Jack examined the bricks carefully and noticed that one of them was loose. He pressed on it, and it sank into the wall, making a distinct clicking noise. Then the wall slid open and revealed an large metal door with a keypad and a retinal scanner on it. Bingo, Jack thought to himself.
However, it was a bittersweet discovery, because he knew that there was no way he was getting through the door. Not today anyway.
Thomas activated his end of the walkie-talkie. "Bayman, I want you to kill the man who was driving the Jeep."
Smith nodded in approval. The last thing he need right now was someone snooping around. Bayman could get rid of this menace quickly and easily.
Kasumi looked out the window. "Why didn't he come back?"
"Does it matter? As long as he's not in here, I don't care where he is," Ayane said.
Kasumi nodded in silent agreement. The air between her and Ayane was tense, and her sister's previous remarks had wounded Kasumi deeply, far deeper than Ayane had realized. She returned her gaze to the window and watched as Smith muttered something to the man named Thomas. Then, to her disappointment, he started up the stairs.
Ayane glanced at her half sister and felt something that must have closely resembled guilt. But she didn't truly regret her words, and she didn't care how badly it had torn into Kasumi's soft heart to hear such things. Or did she? Suddenly everything was so confusing and complicated. She wanted desperately to make Kasumi feel lower than the scum on the bottom of her boots, but at the same time she didn't want to see her get hurt any worse. Why did she feel that way? Was she starting to care, or was it something else?
Jack's search was interrupted by the sound of heavy footprints behind him. He raised his gun and quickly turned around, ready to fire in an instant. He immediately recognized the man from the satellite footage.
"You! I swear I'm going to kill you for what you did."
Bayman looked confused. "Do you know me?"
Jack glared at him angrily. "I saw what you did to Kasumi!"
Bayman wondered how this man could know about that, but he soon remembered that he didn't care. "Well, I hope you enjoyed that show, because you're about to experience the same thing."
Jack laughed. "We'll see about that."
He put away his gun and took a stance. He was going to take this egotistical freak down with his bare hands.
Bayman grunted and came at Jack with a powerful lunge but Jack simply stepped aside and executed a sweeping low kick, making the larger man fall flat on his face.
Bayman was surprised. He had assumed that this man had no fighting skills, or at least none that compared to his. This time he would be more careful. He cautiously threw a hard right but, Jack blocked with his forearm and countered with a wicked left to the stomach. Then he crashed his knee into Bayman's gut.
Bayman took a step back and tried to regain his breath, but Jack knocked him down with a low kick. He quickly climbed to his feet and faked a left, then he landed a mean right to Jack's chest knocking him flat.
The blow just fueled Jack's anger and he quickly hopped to his feet. Then he ran at Bayman, who braced himself against the charge, but Jack's adrenaline was too much to defend against. He knocked him off balance, then Jack pushed Bayman against the wall. After that, he used his knee and hit Bayman in the stomach again. Bayman doubled over and Jack used the opportunity to hit Bayman forcefully in the back of the neck with the butt of his pistol. He was going to shoot Bayman, but at that moment, two or three men came running into the entrance.
"Damn! How many of you guys are there?!"
Jack didn't give them time to answer, because at that moment he raised his Beretta and shot the two men in between the eyes with stunning accuracy. He turned back to Bayman.
"We'll finish this later, I'm sure," Jack muttered coldly.
Jack didn't want to stick around until more reinforcements arrived, so he ran back to his Jeep and started the car. He decided it would be better this way anyway, because there was no need to cause too much trouble until he could get through that door. But when he did, they would all pay. Including Bayman.
He concentrated hard on the mysterious hidden entrance, trying think of some way to get through. But he was out of ideas, unless...
The idea hit Jack like a speeding train. He depressed the pedal of his Jeep to the floor and spun his tires. There were a few things he would need to take care of before it would work, but he would get through that door.
