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.
Author's Note: Okay, I'm sorry for taking such a long time to post this, but school's really been keeping me busy. Sorry! I really do value every one of you guys that keeps on reading the story and I can't thank you enough for your support. And this goes for recent fans as well.Hope you guys enjoy this and please don't forget to review. Thanks!
Chapter Thirty-three
Saturday, January 6
5:21 P.M.
Charity Medical Complex
Shark strolled into the busy hospital with only one goal on his calculating mind, and that was to speak with the girl named Kasumi and get some definite answers about just what exactly Smith was after in that secret village she called home and precisely what this CYPHER was. Was it a person of powerful influence? A clandestine organization of some sort? Or maybe it was a massive government database? The answers would come to him soon when he got his hands on that conniving little--
"May I help you, sir?"
Shark smiled brightly and straightened out his freshly bought suit and black tie. "I'm searching for someone and maybe you could help me. I heard she was in this hospital recovering from some kind of drastic injury. Her name was Kasumi. Do you know where I can find her?"
"Um...let's see... Kasumi... Ah, yes, here she is!" The receptionist said brightly. But then her smile faded which told Shark he was about to hear something he wasn't going to like. "I'm sorry but you just missed her, sir. She was discharged around noon. It's too bad you didn't get a chance to visit her. I just loved how she always managed to smile about something."
Shark rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I guess I'll go visit her at home then." He was trying to sound his best to make it sound like he was a friend of the girl, but he in fact had no clue where he was going to find her now. Unless… maybe she was back at Jack's apartment? It was worth a look but he would have to be careful in case the detective was with her.
Shark knew, however, that the two were probably inseparable and that it would be impossible to speak to one without the other nearby. By herself, the girl would be easy to pressure because Shark knew he could probably make her afraid. And if he could scare her enough, she might talk about what was so special in that village. It wasn't like he was asking where it was or anything, so she probably would say something useful if it meant sparing her another 'physical interrogation,' despite the fact that he was never intending to actually do her any more harm. Well, at least nothing serious.
But with Jack nearby, he wouldn't be able to twitch his little finger without being gunned down where he stood. It was obvious that the man loved Kasumi very much and so Shark decided that if he were around, he would need a plan to deceive the detective into leaving her side without exposing himself.
Shark groaned in his head as he exited the hospital. Stealth was not his specialty and he had no clue how to fool a man like Jack. Or any man for that matter. And since the girl was a Shinobi ninja, that meant that she would be well aware of what he was doing long before Jack ever caught onto him. He had to smile as he thought of the young couple because one's strengths reinforced the other's weaknesses, making them a very formidable team when they were together.
'I'll just have to wing it.'
Saturday, December 6
6:12 P.M.
Streets of Okashima
He awoke much later in the day, but he couldn't tell exactly what time it was or what had transpired since he had lost consciousness. Only that it was getting late in the afternoon and night had just fallen upon him. Slowly, Jack Wallace climbed to his feet, his body stiff, sore, and covered in dust and blood. What had happened? He remembered the narrow fight with the British man and then...nothing.
He dusted off his dirty leather jacket the best he could and turned around slowly, his mind racing with all the possibilities. The police station was wasted; obviously bombed to hell along with anyone inside that had managed to survive Smith's men. But who exactly set off the bomb? Smith wouldn't have done it because his own man was inside and Myamoto wouldn't have done it because he's not that good with explosives. Or any sort of weapon for that matter.
He walked over to a nearby rock and sat down. Would the Shinobi go so far as to bomb a police station? Jack didn't know much about either Hayate or Hayabusa, and Ayane seemed to be more of a puzzle now than any time he had ever known her. Kasumi would never resort to this kind of attack even if she was well enough to manage such a thing. Plus, from what he's learned from Myamoto, the Shinobi like to do things in the dark and this definitely wasn't a subtle assassination attempt. No, this was done by someone with a lot to lose and deep pockets. The Japanese government perhaps?
It was possible that the Japanese were willing to use this kind of firepower to flush Smith's poisonous organization out of their beloved country. The guy was like cancer and would definitely only make things worse until he was stopped. But it couldn't be the government because of the obvious waste in both time and resources just to take out a small time gang. Or at least what they probably considered 'small time.' Besides, these tactics were being employed by someone who had no perception of the value of human life. And having them take out their own police station seemed like an impossible conclusion.
So that left Jack to think about a few things. One, it was a pure coincidence and this bombing was just a punk street gang attack or something. Two, it was an accident of some sort. Maybe a propane line had ruptured, or there had been a natural gas leak somewhere in the building that had been sparked at random. Or three, he had really pissed somebody off. Someone other than Smith. But who--
"Hey!"
'Oh shit…'
The fireman held and ax in his hands and he didn't look too happy to see Jack sitting on a piece of what had once been the roof or the building, covered in blood and ash. "What's your name?"
Jack glanced at the fireman and then off towards the darkened alleyways behind the rubble of the police station. It was probably better to make a break for it than stick around to answer questions, but if he ran he would look like the bomber and that was the last thing Kasumi needed right now. So he turned his head back towards the fireman and sighed.
"James," he muttered. "James Hutchins." Jack thought it best to use his father's name and his mother's maiden name seeing as how he was now wanted by the authorities. Well, he was if the police in this station had told anyone about him or bothered to draw up any paperwork on him, which he now doubted. After all, if Smith wanted to kill him, it would be best to make it look like he never existed so the cops wouldn't have to explain the hole in their prisoner manifest, right?
The fireman nodded and lowered the ax, slowly marching through the rubble towards where he was sitting on the rock. Jack made sure to keep his right hand close to the Beretta in case this fireman was yet another fake. After all, his father had always told him to trust no one, and that was a rule he had always kept, with one blatantly obvious exception.
"James, do you know what happened here tonight?"
Jack looked around, noticing that by now a few of the paramedics were beginning to head over to where he was as well. It seemed that he was drawing a crowd, and that was that last thing he wanted. "Uh, no. All I remember was visiting my friend and all of the sudden... boom."
"I see. Well after a brief examination by the medical team, you are free to go."
Jack was surprised to hear this. "Don't I need to give a statement? Or be taken to the hospital or something?"
"All the cops are dead or missing so a statement would be useless. However, I heard the government will be launching an investigation soon so you might not want to leave town because they will want to talk to you. And about the hospital, if you are determined fit by the medic, then there is really no reason to waste tax money hauling you to the doctors. If you think you need to go to the hospital, you're welcome to do it on your own time."
Jack nodded and breathed a minor sigh of relief. "Gotcha. Well, we better get this over with. I actually need to be getting somewhere."
"Good. Izumi here will take care of you," the fireman gestured towards a nearby paramedic with short shoulder length hair that seemed to shimmer in the evening sunset. She had reddish brown eyes and wore a forced smile on her face, obviously not used to such a grand scale of death and destruction.
"Sure," Jack muttered with a shrug. The firemen sighed and slowly walked away, shaking his head and groaning about all the work that was to be done.
About an hour and a half later 'James' was walking down the darkened city streets in confusion while the remnants of the station continued to burn behind him. He hadn't expected to get off so easy, but the blood on his clothes could be explained by the wound to his ribs and now that that was fixed he was as good as new. Well, almost.
As he continued down the street, his thoughts returned to the attack and just what might have happened. If someone was out to get him, then they might want Kaz. But she was relatively unknown to anyone who might have a long time grudge against him. Plus, now she was almost well enough to fight on her own and could probably take out just about any plain attacker out there. It was the people who knew what they were doing that worried him. But there was really nothing to worry about there because the only person who really had any grudge against him and knew how to fight was--
'Damn! It was that Russian son of a bitch, wasn't it?'
It was then that Jack remembered the strange phone calls he had gotten last week. They had seemed to be prank calls, but what if they had been calls to trace his phone? The first time to verify his phone number, and the second to establish a trace on his signal. This was bad. And the real clincher was that Jack's phone had been destroyed in the station explosion, leaving him with no way to warn Kasumi or the others.
Jack had some extensive experience with phone taps and line traces back when he was a detective in Los Angeles, and he knew that mobile phones were easy to watch as long as they remained on and you could tap into the user's network. And Jack never turned his phone off all last week so by now Bayman probably knew his habits up to the point he got arrested Monday night. He probably knew where he lived and he probably knew where Myamoto lived as well.
Jack broke out into an all out run for his apartment. He knew that the others were waiting at Myamoto's, but he had something he wanted to check. He needed to be sure...
Saturday, January 6
8:01 P.M.
Myamoto's Apartment
An unnerving silence filled the apartment in that absence of Myamoto and Ayane. Kasumi sat alone in the small dark apartment, her thoughts plaguing her and the guilt residing within them was unbelievably hard to swallow. Her previous argument with Ayane had left her heart a complete mess and when Myamoto ran out after her, she felt so powerless to change anything. It seemed that with only a single emotional out bust, she had brought to ruin almost everything she had strained to rebuild with her beloved sister since the beginning of this struggle.
'I've been so stupid, Ayane. Forgive me... please...'
Quietly, she got off of the old couch and slowly made her way to the apartment door, reaching for a large umbrella to use as a makeshift cane on her search for the others. Her dazzling red hair lay draped over her right shoulder and her sharp hazel eyes scoured the hallway for any sign of either Myamoto or Ayane but found nothing.
"Hello?" she said uncertainly, her soft voice pouring out into the empty passage. "Is anyone out there?"
There was no response, so Kasumi slowly decided to make her way down the hall until someone presented themselves. When she arrived at the flight of stairs she had so painstakingly climbed earlier, she heard something she did not expect to hear. It was crying, or at least she thought it was crying, but she couldn't be sure, since no one appeared to be around.
"Ayane? Is that you?"
The muffled sobs stopped and were replaced with a frozen silence.
Now that Kasumi's curiosity was piqued, she limped down the first flight of stairs until she reached the first landing and looked around, trying to find the source of the whining she had heard. And as soon as she located it, her head was whipped aside from a vicious slap that was so strong it made her nauseous. Kasumi froze, her mind clouded with the shock of the blow more than the actual pain. Then she calmly brushed her long silky red hair from in front of her eyes and slowly looked her sister in the eye with compassion and regret.
Ayane looked right back at her, tempted to yank the umbrella from Kasumi's arms and shove her down the stairs. She even went so far as to firmly grasp the base of the umbrella and slowly pull it towards her, making Kasumi stumble slightly as she was forced to shift the bulk of her weight back onto her own two legs. Ayane smiled darkly as her half sister gasped from the sudden pain, but still she never made a move or said a word. She just stared with her brilliant copper eyes, as if she couldn't find words strong enough to express her regret.
Beads of sweat now began to dot Kasumi's forehead as she strained to keep from falling. She tugged gently on the umbrella in hopes that it would somehow signal her sister to stop pulling, but it only made Ayane pull harder.
Kasumi let out a pained moan, her muscles burning. "Please... stop..."
Ayane no longer moved the umbrella, but she didn't let go either. She looked down at the floor for a split second, making Kasumi feel like maybe she was actually considering forgiving her rash actions, but instead got a disgusting surprise as Ayane snapped her head up once more and spat in Kasumi's face. Then she delivered a powerful kick to her sister in the stomach, sending her crashing into the wall opposite the stairs.
Kasumi yelped as she made contact with the cracked cinder blocks of the old building and slid to the floor, her guts screaming with anguish. But instead of simply taking it, Kasumi got up and looked over at Ayane, quickly wiping the saliva from her cheek. However, it wasn't anger that she felt now for those feelings had long since passed from her thoughts. No, this feeling was much closer to pity and remorse combined.
Ayane smiled and threw the umbrella like a dart straight at Kasumi's chest, hoping the sharp tip might impale her soft exterior, but Kasumi, being a well trained Shinobi ninja, reflexively reached out and grabbed the flying projectile out of the air seconds before it made contact with her skin. Then she put the umbrella on the floor and braced herself with it once more, a relieved look spreading across her face.
"Ayane, please don't be angry at me. I wasn't thinking and--"
"You never think, do you? That always was your major flaw. That's what makes you so useless!"
Kasumi gently massaged her hip with her free hand so she might suppress the pain and took a careful step towards her sister. "I didn't mean those words I said. It was just--"
"I don't have time for your lies, Kasumi," Ayane muttered as she turned around and began walking down the stairs, "Don't try and follow me or I might just take you out myself and save Hayate the trouble."
Kasumi took a step forward reaching for her sister's arm and grasping it tightly in her hand. "Please, don't leave!" she cried. "It was an accident and I'm sorry! Just don't go….don't go…"
Just as Ayane shook herself free from her sister's grasp, a man came running up the stairs behind her. Myamoto stopped and paused to catch his breath before looking up to see Ayane facing him. "There you are! I've been running all over the building trying to find you. You sure are fast--hey! Kasumi, you shouldn't be walking around! Go back to the room and--"
The injured kunoichi had reached a limit and wasn't about to let everything crumble in front of her without an argument. "I refuse to sit around while the world falls apart around me! I'm sorry, Myamoto, but I can't allow you to exclude me from this."
Kasumi's voice wasn't exactly hostile, but it did have an edge to it. An edge that made Myamoto think twice about forcing her to return to the apartment. "Well, I guess you don't look so bad right now. Besides you do have my umbrella to help support yourself."
"Thank you."
Ayane rolled her eyes and again began her descent down the stairs, shoving past the hacker like he wasn't even there.
Kasumi took another limp forward. "Wait, Ayane! Please, just listen--"
"I'm done listening to you. Everything you ever told me was nothing more than a lie and I won't hear it anymore! I'm finished with you, Kasumi, and whatever friendship we may have had together is now completely dead. Don't talk to me again."
Myamoto grabbed her shoulder and held her firmly in place, or so he thought. "We need to stick together until Jack returns, okay? I know you two have your problems, but--"
Ayane did an amazingly fast spin, freeing her from Myamoto's grasp. "Jack's never coming back and neither am I."
"But--"
The true extent of the damage she had inflicted began to sink into Kasumi mind. "Let her go, Myamoto. I don't blame her and she is probably better off without me anyway."
Myamoto turned and glared at Kasumi as Ayane darted down the steps. "For once, I think we're in total agreement. I mean what the hell was that all about anyway?"
"It's a long story and I don't want to go into it right now. Let's go back to the apartment and wait for Jack. I only hope that she'll come back to us after she calms down a moment."
"I think if she does return, it'll be to tear out your throat. Why did you say those things to her?"
Kasumi shut her eyes and looked away from Myamoto, her bottom lip slightly trembling. "I don't know. I wish I had never even thought those things and I hate myself for throwing them in her face, but there isn't anything I can do about it now. I know you want an explanation, but I don't feel like diving into my past with you right now. So, please, just let it go."
The hacker shook his head as Kasumi wiped her eyes and began to hobble down the hall. "Well, I guess we should probably head back. If Jack's still around, he'll most likely head here first."
Saturday, January 6
8:42 P.M.
Jack's Apartment
"Nothing..."
Shark sighed and looked around the tattered living room of Jack's apartment, disappointed to see that the injured girl was nowhere to be found. Of course this was to be expected, but he had thought that at least someone was going to be here. But there was nothing; no clues for him to base his next move on and nothing that could tell him what Smith was after.
He rummaged through various cabinets and shelves before stopping at the kitchen table, where in the center a tattered file folder lay. It was neatly organized and tied up with a rubber band, the word 'sensitive' written on the front of it in bold red letters. Shark smiled and grabbed the file because it was obviously what he was looking for.
"This is too easy."
But as he fingered through the pages, he noticed something more valuable than he had realized. It was from Smith's databases, that was for sure, but for some reason some of it was jumbled up with nonsense. It was almost like it was encoded. But there were a few files with legible text and many pictures for him to look at. And when he realized just what the many pages were for, he had to smile. This was his ticket to the answers, he could feel it!
However, since there were so many pages, he would have to scan through it at a later time. If this file didn't give him what he wanted on CYPHER, surely it would point to where he could find something else. Maybe the probable location of the girl and the detective? He could only hope so.
Just as the Organization double agent decided to make his departure, the doorknob to the front door began to slowly turn clockwise...
Jack slowly opened the door to the darkened living room of the apartment with his Beretta in hand and his senses on high alert. For some reason the place seemed too damn quiet and something was off about the way the door was unlocked. He could've swore that he always locked the place up and he was positive that he had done so before going to the police last week. Something was wrong...
He stepped inside and leveled the pistol out in front of him, instantly ready to make a head shot if he needed to, but to his disappointment, no one was in the room. Jack slammed the door shut behind him and sighed. But it wasn't a relieved sigh, but more like a tired one. He was beginning to gain some perspective on the way Kasumi was forced to live since Smith made his appearance and he really didn't like it.
Jack kept the gun ready as he meticulously began checking all the rooms for intruders. As he passed the kitchen table, his sharp eye immediately spotted the missing file Myamoto had brought him, revealing one of Kaz's many well kept secrets. So it was most likely that the man who took it was in one of the rooms in the back of the small apartment; the bedroom or the bathroom. There had to be--
CRASH!
Jack whirled around towards the living room as a shadowy figure stumbled through the window from the fire escape platform where he had been hiding and rushed for the door, tripping on the gigantic fern along the way. He just barely caught the man's shadow as he fled through the door, but Jack had noticed immediately that whoever was running was clutching something under his arm; presumably the missing file. The former private eye darted from his apartment door with the gun still in hand and rushed after the intruder with blazing speed, shoving past various residents as he chased the man down.
"Freeze!"
The footsteps didn't slow, so Jack bolted for the stairs at the end of the hall and headed straight for the lobby of the building, barely catching sight of the intruder's back as he made his rapid descent.
"Freeze means STOP!"
By the time he got to the lobby three floors below, Jack was on the man's heels and was tempted to stop him by shooting out his kneecaps, but something held him back. Most likely it was Kasumi's soft voice whispering in his thoughts, guiding him to do the right thing. She was always his guiding light, even when she wasn't near, but it wasn't just her influence that held him back from attacking with everything. Something told him that this guy was someone he had met before. Something about the sandy blond hair and the way he ran was so familiar, yet so hard to place. Although, he knew in his gut that the man was none other than the one that had carved up Kasumi's delicate body as well as her innocent spirit nearly three weeks ago. 'I had no clue he was so stupid as to come back here looking for trouble! Well, I'll show him what happens when you piss off a Wallace!'
When they set foot on level ground, Jack used his shoulder to check the man in the back like a hockey player, sending him sprawling across the floor and the sensitive information he was carrying flew everywhere. Then as Shark rolled onto his back to see exactly who had knocked him down, he got a brutal surprise as Jack kicked him in the ribs.
"Knock it off!" he choked.
Jack grinned coldly at Shark, tempted to pull out his deadly Beretta and finish the man off, but again held back feeling that there was more to this than met the eyes.
Shark began to frantically gather up Myamoto's files, but Jack took one step forward and grabbed the collar of his white cotton dress shirt, hauling him off the ground like an enraged animal. When he had the seasoned interrogator at eye level, Jack easily gave him a glare from his deep brown eyes that made Shark's cold blue ones look friendly. "You have three seconds to explain yourself before I show you the true meaning of torture."
"I, uh, was just--"
"One." Jack took the Beretta and aimed the barrel at his gut.
"Hey, hold on a sec--!"
"Two." He pulled back on the hammer and slowly applied pressure to the weapon as to muffle the shot when he pulled the trigger.
"Wait, you crazy son of a bitch! I can explain!"
Jack set him down and put away the gun, smiling with cold satisfaction. "Spill your guts before I do it for you."
Shark looked around uneasily and tried to think fast. "I found something in Smith's data bases. Something I decided to check up on, but--"
"I'm not interested in your bull unless it has anything to do with Kasumi. And you better pray that it does or you're dead where you stand."
Shark wasn't intimidated, but he could easily see that this man wasn't bluffing. It was a good thing that he didn't give a damn about his life or he might be scared right now. "CYPHER. That's all I know about what I'm looking for. I don't know if it's a man, a place, an agency, or a databank of some sort. All I know is that whoever knows what this means is pulling the strings in this whole mess, and we are all just puppets in their twisted game."
"So why come to me with this? I don't know what it means, and even if I did, I'd never lower myself to the level of helping you."
"Fair enough, Jack, but what about the girl? It's this CYPHER that's putting her in danger, not me. Would you refuse to help her?"
Jack grit his teeth and angrily shoved Shark into the wall behind him, his forearm squeezing his throat against the wall. "Don't you dare bring her into this! The only reason you're here is because you're desperate and I bet I can figure out what your plan was."
"Oh yeah, smart guy? What was I going to do then?"
"I know your type and I know that you're nothing but a coward. And being a coward, you'd take the easy route and try to get some answers out of a source where you think you can get results. And I know that you're too yellow to think that you could scare me, but what about a sweet young woman that you managed to crush not too long ago? She'd be easy to scare some answers out of, am I right!"
Shark hid his expression with the skill only a criminal could have. "I don't know what you're talking about, Jack. She wouldn't know any more about this CYPHER than I do so why bother trying to beat it out of her? If there's one thing I know in my line of work, it's that you can't get someone to sing if they don't know what song you want to hear."
Shark, of course, was only telling a half truth because had intended to come here with the intent of scaring that girl once again. And even though he believed she knew nothing of CYPHER, which was the truth, he did believe that she knew exactly what Smith was looking for which might give him some clues about this mysterious word and what it meant.
Jack backed away, never letting the gun off of the man pinned before him. "Pick up the files and give them to me. Then me and you are gonna have a nice long drive."
Saturday, January 6
9:02 P.M.
Myamoto's Building
Kasumi sat in a small collapsible chair at the small kitchen table opposite Myamoto with her legs crossed over one another and her head buried in her arms next to a carton of steaming fresh takeout, her silky red hair reflecting light from the small bulb overhead with stunning beauty. Myamoto had been kind enough to order a hot meal, but she was far too stressed about the recent turn events to eat anything. Maybe Ayane had been right. Maybe Jack was gone…
"Are you feeling okay? You haven't touched your food."
"I'm not hungry…" Kasumi mumbled. "I'm sorry for wasting your money."
Myamoto downed another mouthful of food and adjusted his wire framed glasses, knowing that the girl had to be hungry. All she had eaten all day was a few slices of old pizza. Something was up. "What's wrong now?"
She sighed, never bothering to lift her sweet innocent face from the table's surface. "Nothing."
"You know," Myamoto said, waving his chopsticks in the air, "for someone so stubborn, you sure are a crappy liar. It's your sister isn't it?"
Kasumi gave him no confirmation, but didn't deny his statement either. Finally, she nodded once, still refusing to raise her head to face him.
"I don't know why you care. If I had a sister that bitchy, I wouldn't lose any sleep over seeing her leave. And besides, after what you said, you should be relieved. Now that you have your true feelings out of the way, she--"
"That's not how I feel about her!" Kasumi shouted, snapping her head up and revealing her tearful eyes. "I cherish her and she needed me, but I let her down, just like I always have. I just… I lost my control. She's always so cruel and I didn't know what to do and so the words just flew out. But it wasn't true! None of it was really true!"
"Sure…." Myamoto said slowly. "…and pigs can fly. Listen, I'm not saying you're a bad person for saying what you did, but when stuff 'just flies out,' it's usually the truth."
Kasumi shook her head and again buried her head in her arms, trying not to get frustrated, not at Myamoto, but at herself. However, she wasn't doing a great job.
"Eat your food, Kasumi, and stop feeling so bad. If you truly didn't mean what you said, then Ayane will probably know it."
"Thank you, Myamoto, but you don't know her like I do." Kasumi took a deep breath and ignored the tempting aromas drifting out of the white carton as Myamoto pushed in front of her. "I'm really not that hungry. I think I'll go take a walk."
Myamoto watched her with piqued curiosity and exasperation as she got up from her chair and grabbed the long blue umbrella. "If I know what you're thinking, and I think you're being a very stupid, immature, irritating--"
"I must leave. Goodbye, Myamoto."
These words silenced Myamoto, not because of what she had said, but the way her soft voice had sounded when she had said it. She had managed to sound so hollow right then that he forgot all about his frustration and just stared at her, wondering if she were going to even come back after she walked out of that apartment door. "Kasumi… what are you doing?"
But she turned her back and slowly hobbled out of the apartment, quietly shutting the door behind her, never saying a word to Myamoto about her intents.
As she left, the hacker remembered his promise to Jack about keeping her safe until he came back, but this general chicken wasn't going to eat itself and this was the first real meal he had had all day. But his loyalties to his friends far outweighed his loyalty to his stomach.
"Damn it!" he shouted as he threw to chopsticks into the carton and grabbed his denim jacket. This girl was really starting to aggravate him and Myamoto was just now realizing that he may have bitten off more than he could chew when he agreed to protect her.
Saturday, January 6
10:46 P.M.
Refinery Ruins
Jack slammed on the brakes to his Jeep, tossing Shark into the passenger's dashboard with irresistible force. "Well, I think this is as good a place as any to have our little discussion, don't you think?"
Shark looked around after peeling his face from the front of Jack's Jeep. "Where exactly are we? I've been all over this town and I've never noticed this place before."
"Not that you would care, but this is where Kasumi had been staying before your boss decided to stalk her. But the reason I came has nothing to do with her. It's that if things get ugly, no one will hear anything. Not even a gunshot can be heard out here."
"So you brought me here to die then?
Jack shook his head and turned off the Jeep. "You wish. No I have no intent of hurting you. All I want are some answers."
"What can I possibly tell you that you don't already know?" Shark spat.
"What Smith wanted from Kaz and her sister? I know that he wanted the location of their home, but I want to know why. And don't tell me you don't have any clue because I'm not in the market for bullshit right now."
Shark shook his head and chuckled. "You think if I knew that I'd be here right now?"
"Why are you here anyway? You know just as well as I do that Kaz is far too stubborn to help you. After all, she would never put her home at risk so that you could find a few answers about a stupid word. Hell, she wouldn't tell me anything even when she was scared of being attacked in her sleep. What makes you so special?"
"Because I can stop Smith. I helped her before and she probably knows that I would help her again."
Jack waited for him to elaborate, but he never did. "I've had enough of this. Get out."
Shark nodded once and then stepped out of the Jeep and into the cold winter night. Just as he was about to turn and walk back to town, Jack tossed him the file folder.
"Wha--?
"Let's be clear on one thing: I'm not doing this for you, Shark. I don't think you're telling the whole story, but I also don't think you know the whole story. If you find anything wait for me at my apartment. And if you do anything to hurt Kaz or her sister, I assure you that you won't live long enough to regret it. Now get out of my sight."
