After the long and uneventful flights home, Nana had enough cheeriness left to let Kouta, Kaede and Mayu know that she could marry Eddie now with no restrictions from his boss. Being tired, Nana and Eddie did turn in early and actually slept.
Unfortunately, in the essay she had to do for school, she couldn't put down many things they did, like hanging Mr. Jamison over the rail of that tall walkway, or anything she'd done with the man-spider / Peter. Seeing the 'pre' production room and the presses, she did write about those and how weird it was that everyone drove on the wrong side of the street. She also told about the Chinese/American restaurant that had the very tasty General's chicken and great soumen with veggies in it. She also wrote about how long and boring the plane rides were.
Eddie went back to work and got his newest assignment. This one was about North Koreans kidnapping citizens to take them to North Korea. Eddie and Bill sat down for a day to look at the instances of mostly young women being carted off. The ones taken were college seniors or new graduates. They got the list of family names of the ones taken and their parent's addresses. Eddie went and requested the police files available and talked to the Police Captain on Kamakura.
They got an interview with him outside the station.
Eddie bowed to him. "Thank you for meeting with me, Captain." He handed the Captain the list of abductees he'd been given. "Sir This is the list of people I've found that were taken by who is suspected of being North Korean. Can you tell me how they were spirited out of Japan?"
"Only two that we can confirm," the Captain said heavily. "In both cases, agents from North Korea were pretending to be wealthy tourists from South Korea. They offered girls boat rides for the day. Hashimi Mina, and Suzuki Hamma went out with them for a fun day on the water. In Hashimi's case, a fishing boat spotted the speed boat next to a submarine. Through their big-eye binoculars, they saw the victim struggling as she was taken aboard the sub. They called it in, but by the time the coast guard got there, the sub had dove and was gone. They did verify the sub was North Korean. A protest was lodged, but the North Koreans said it never happened.
Suzuki Hamma was a very similar case. In her case, the agent was going to show her his boat after she had been drinking much of the night. The dock security camera caught her getting on the boat. She went below, and a half hour later the boat left port. The registration number was given to the Port Authority, and it was found to be a false number. The boat and Suzuki was never found."
"So most have been costal kidnappings?" Eddie asked.
"We believe so. Everyone who's been taken has been on or near the water. Either at boat yards, or on the beach." The Captain said firmly. "We do have warnings out to not accept any boat rides from people you don't know, and never go out on the water or to the beach by yourself."
"I can understand why," Eddie agreed. "Do you know or can you guess why the ones taken were selected?"
"Their education. Searching their records, all who are missing were scoring high in their classes. Most had or were about to have degrees in a science, or engineering field."
"The North Koreans want to use them for education or developing their systems," Eddie said in a musing tone.
"That is our assessment also. Unfortunately, the North Korean government claims those kidnappings never happened and refuse to even acknowledge our claims."
"That is really sad," Eddie said. "There is no way to discover where it is they were taken?"
"None. From the little we discovered, once the victims are in North Korea, their names are changed. We do want to get our people back, but to press too hard trying may erupt in a war with North Korea and China. Our government does not want to risk that."
Eddie shook his head sadly and looked at the camera. "All young people, please listen to the Captain's warning. NEVER go to the beach or on some boat ride without friends you can trust, and always carry some form of communication with you! Do not become one of the nineteen people who've been abducted and taken to a foreign country. This is Eddie Brock with the Brock report. Thank you for watching."
"And, we're off," Bill stated.
Not they were off, Eddie asked the Captain, "Can you tell me where those people were taken from?"
The Captain frowned. "Brock, do not attempt to try to catch these agents by yourself. You could end up in a bad way, or be found floating on the ocean someplace."
"I'd never do something like that." Eddie replied. "I was going to give that information to Venom and see if he can help."
The Captain smiled. "Come inside with me, I'll pass you the details of what we know."
.
Eddie went home and besides looking over where and when, and who was taken with Bill, he let Kaede look at what he had also. They got a map out of Japan and noted the places people had gone missing. Seeing what they were doing, Kouta came over also.
"Here, see this peninsula by Toyama?" Bill said. "Eleven of the people were taken from places on that peninsula, two from Sado island, Three from Komatsu, one from Joetsu, two from Niigata. All in the same general area."
Eddie nodded. "Right, nearly due south from North Korea. Look at when they came up missing. It looks like every summer, then come and get a few more. They've been working their way down the coast."
"Yeah, Kaga or Tsuruga is most likely next." Bill agreed. "But the police have to know that."
Looking on, Kouta said, "It looks like they all happened in the summer."
"Summer break from College," Eddie agreed. "The most young people out on vacation."
"When the pickings are the best," Bill agreed.
"What do we do about it?" Kaede asked.
"How do they know who to grab?" Kouta asked.
Eddie looked at Bill. At the same time, they said, "Hacks into college records!"
"They get who'd be the best to grab, their school records, their home addresses, everything they needed to grab the best students," Eddie stated.
"Having their photos and personal information, it wouldn't be hard to track their victim down," Bill agreed. "We need a genius."
"Who has just completed a nuclear engineering degree." Bill said with a grin.
"Who?" Kaede asked.
Eddie looked at Kaede and smiled. "You're a very smart student, Kaede! You got your courses finished early and got perfect scores! You're a nuclear physicist due to help design a brand new nuclear power plant!"
Kaede stared at him and blinked. "ME?" she cried.
"Oh yeah!" Eddie said with a wide grin. "I'll be there to talk with you about your fantastic grades and future job!"
Venom appeared over Eddie's shoulder. "And we can eat well on their boat in privacy when they try to kidnap her!"
"Kaede's never gone to school," Kouta reminded them.
"I'll talk to the police, I'm sure they can get someone to hack into college records," Eddie said with a grin.
.
The police weren't eager to hack into college records, but the Imperial Investigators were. Not wanting them to know Kaede's true name, Eddie told them her name was Kathy Tamura, an exchange student from Australia who was second generation Japanese. She was born in Perth, where there was a large population of Japanese, and wanted to become closer to her Japanese heritage. Hence, going to the University of Tokyo and accepting a job in Japan.
Now in the college records, the nuclear physicist and genius, Kathy Tamura, was 19 years old and was graduating with high honors from Tokyo U, finishing her bachelor's degree. She was continuing on for her masters, then doctorate. Eddie did an interview with her and found out she lived in Tokyo, but was going to spend her summer vacation in Kaga.
With those hacks done, Eddie, Nana and Kaede went to a military base where sub sailors taught them how to sink a submarine. Since this was a very secret operation, they only met with three Captains. They found they would have to get on the sub with it's hatches open, find the control room and open the ballast tank vent, then get off that sub once water began pouring in. To help that, the captains urged them to kill as many crew as they could, but don't go hunting for them. With an internal diagram of the diesel subs North Korea used, they got their rough path down.
They would also need a boat to escape on.
Kouta wasn't happy about this mission. He wanted to go with Kaede, at least to the beach. Kaede didn't want him to go due to the danger factor. Eddie explained that if there were too many people, the North Koreans might not take the bait. Nana who was now looking very sexy, was coming only to add some incentive for them to be kidnapped and watch their escape boat while Kaede and Venom got rid of the crew and sank the sub.
Getting ready to go, Kaede and Nana got straw hats and skimpy bikinis with light semi-see through wraps. Eddie had his swim shorts and a long tailed T-shirt and his straw hat.
The day they left, Kouta hugged Kaede close. She then got hugs from Mayu. Nana also got hugs, making her promise to come back. Eddie vowed to Kouta and Mayu that he and Venom would ensure nothing happened to Kaede or Nana.
At the bullet train station, Imperial Investigator Sakira met them and ushered them to an empty car where he opened a suitcase.
He passed out their ID. "Nana, Eddie, and Kathy," he said giving their ID to each of them.
"Nana looked at hers and smiled. "Eddie, look! I'm now Nana Brock!" she beamed, showing him her ID.
"You are Eddie's younger sister." Sakira explained.
Nana blinked at him. "But … if I'm Eddie's younger sister, we've been real bad."
"They are fake names," Sakira said. "Obviously, Kathy here is really Kaede Nokaze, but we can't let anyone know that."
Kaede stared at him. "If you know who I am, then why haven't I been arrested or fought against?"
"The same reason Eddie and his symbiote Venom have been left alone," Sakira stated. "By reports, we've been seeing you are working to help keep the peace and lower the crime rate. Yes, in your young life you were a murderer, you were also held illegally by Kakuzawa. Many bad things were done in your youth. Growing up, you have been a benefit to society. Like going on this mission. We are positive between you and Venom, you will have no trouble sinking that sub. The Emperor had decided all the bad things will remain buried so long as you keep doing good for our nation."
"So Kaede won't be looked for any more?" Nana asked.
"Call her Kathy, Get used to your new names and use them. A slip at the wrong time may ruin the operation." Sakira stated. "You and Eddie must also act like siblings while you're on this mission."
Nana frowned. "That's gonna suck."
"We need to, Nana," Eddie said.
"Yeah, OK," Nana said in a huff.
Sakira also gave them information that Kathy's records had been hacked into, so had their hotel reservations that were made a month ago. The navy has also been following a North Korean sub that was currently thirty miles off the coast of Kaga. In a week, a fishing boat would be off the coast there, waiting to assist them if needed.
Sakira then pulled a silenced pistol from him case. He looked at it and said, "I suppose you won't need any weapons."
Kaede snorted, "We are weapons."
Eddie gave Nana a one armed hug and announced, "So remember my cute little sister! We are innocent and only accompanying our friend Kathy Tamura to the beach for summer vacation!"
Kaede eyed his bright smile. "And Venom has to remain hidden until we need him," she reminded him.
.
Since Nana was Eddie's sister, she got the room for her and Kathy, leaving Eddie in his own room. Nana wasn't happy about that. Wanting to be seen, they spend their days walking around seeing sights and laying on the beach. Nana did get some attention from Eddie when he coated them down with sun block. Still, that felt like just a tease. Nana helped him put sun block on Kathy.
They were beach goes for three days before a well dressed man eyed them sitting together in a restaurant. Eddie noticed him but didn't pay attention to him until he came over to them.
"Such a nice family!" the man in the gold colored shirt with a gold necklace said with a bright smile.
Eddie and Kathy looked up at him.
"Nana is my sister, Kathy is just a friend," Eddie told him. "I'm Eddie Brock, this is Nana Brock, and Kathy Tamura. And you are?"
"Please forgive me!" the man said with a bow and a smile. "Suzuki Jiro. I just noticed your fine ladies here. I deal with magazines, photography. I would love to get pictures of these beautiful women." Holding up a finger, he added, "Twenty thousand per shot to each one who is in the picture."
Kathy let out a snort.
Eddie quickly said, "No nude shots."
Jiro waved a hand. "No, those don't sell well anyway. The best magazines go for swimsuit shots and fashion photos. Sexy, but not showing too much. Leaving some to the imagination works the best!" he declared.
"Where?" Kathy asked flatly.
"At my studio on my boat," Jiro said proudly. "We take a day trip out, take some photos of you standing on the deck, wind blowing through your hair. Things of that nature. Nothing crude or pornographic, I assure you."
'and get them out to the sub'
Eddie agreed with Venom. He spoke up. "Sir, I am sure you are serious, but I'm not letting you take my sister anywhere unless I come along."
"Of course!" the man beamed. "I won't be taking pictures of you, but you're welcome to come along."
"I've never done anything like this before," Kathy said. "I will try it once, so long as Eddie comes with us. What do we wear?"
Jiro explained, "I have many costume sets from beach wear to formal evening gowns. You need to bring nothing but yourselves, My boat is stocked with food and drink, including several alcoholic choices. However, there can be no drinking during the shoots. We must all remain professional."
'This guy lays it on thick. I'm thinking he wants to drug us after we leave port.'
Eddie nodded. He got the same idea. Looking at Kathy, he asked, "What do you think?"
Kathy said, "We can give it a one time try. Nana?"
"OK," Nana said happily. "At least we'll get a boat ride."
"Wonderful!" Jiro cried. He pulled out a card and handed it to Eddie. "The marina I'm at is just down the beach. Second dock, slip 12. Come any time after eight in the morning. I'll have things ready to go."
"Thank you," Eddie said and took the card, which did look professionally made.
Jiro left with a smile and a wave.
Eddie waved back. After he left, he said, "We think that's the guy. We'll take our own drinks too. Don't trust anything he supplies."
"Go look at his boat tonight?" Kathy asked.
"Right after we eat," Eddie said. "We go by water and listen to what he's doing. We hear him or anyone speak in Korean, or talk about plans, we'll have him."
"How far do we go with this charade? I'm thinking just out of port,"
Eddie offered, "Let's see what we can learn by listening. That may tell us when to act."
.
In the late afternoon, Eddie found a good place to slip into the water and not be seen near the marina. Kathy had no trouble getting in and going under to get close. Nana was nervous, so Eddie told her to wait here for them and watch the boat only if she was sure she wouldn't bee seen. He then let Venom covr him and slipped into the water with fins for hands and feet.
In front of him, Kathy wasn't swimming, but grabbing objects with her invisible arms to propel herself along. She peeked up for a breath and to get a look around a couple times. She surfaced her head under the dock Jiro's boat was at. Eddie/Venom went to the other side of the boat to peek up and listen. Since Venom got him here, he retracted back into Eddie.
There was low talking on the back deck. Eddie lifted himself up by the cabin to listen. It wasn't Japanese he listened to. Jiro was giving instructions to three other men. They split up to go do something. Eddie lowered himself down. They went in the cabin. He peeked up again to see the back deck clear. Moving over a bit, he peeked in the cabin.
'Eddie, go!'
Eddie did. Venom had sensed something. Eddie pushed him self down and under the boat as quietly as possible and swam under the dock. He surfaced under the dock to find Kathy hiding against a pier upright. He got behind another one. She motioned silence.
Shortly, bright lights came in from the boat and scanned the water around it. There was some talking, then the lights went out. Eddie motioned back the way the came.
Coming out of the water, they met Nana. Nana whispered, "There are four men on the boat, three went down inside, one stayed up on the top thing. He called down, and the men came back up to shine lights on the water. The three went back down again. One man is still up on the top."
"Did they see us?' Eddie asked.
"Nana don't think so. They looked then went back down inside."
"We'll know tomorrow. If that boat isn't here, they saw us," Kathy stated.
Eddie looked at Kathy. "What I heard them speak wasn't Japanese, did you understand them?"
Kathy shook her head. "I'm sure these are the kidnappers."
"Me too, let's head back." Eddie told them.
Nana grabbed Eddie's arm. "Not yet!" she said firmly. "Nana wants some Eddie time."
Kathy let out a snort. "I'm heading back. Have fun you two."
Eddie knew Nana was after some cuddling fun. Well, it was getting dark out, and this place was pretty isolated. He was wanting some Nana attention also. Upon the first kiss wrapped together, he knew they were going to be here for a while.
.
In the morning, a bleary eyed Eddie went down with Kathy and Nana to get bottles of water and some iced tea, and some food to take with them. Instead of a single backpack, all three had belt pouches and packed them full. Dressed in their swimwear, sandals on their feet, they went down to the marina.
Just inside the entrance, Jiro was waiting for them. He was pleasant with his wave to them and smiles and led them down to the boat. On the cabin cruiser, a man was already at the helm. Eddie also saw the camera set up on a tripod on the back deck. As they boarded, another man cast off the lines and the engines started up.
"This is going to be a great day, I can feel it already!" Jiro said heartily. "Some refreshments before we begin?"
Kathy shook her head. "Let's get started with the pictures."
Jiro paused, then said, "I'd planned on open ocean shots. More emphasis on the subject and not the background."
"There won't be anything in front of the boat after we clear those breakwaters, will there?" Kathy asked.
"If you want to get started right away, that's fine," Jiro offered. He picked up the camera and tripod. "Follow me to the front." He then noticed their belt packs. "You can leave your packs back here."
Kathy took her belt pack off and handed it to Eddie. Nana did the same. They followed Jiro along the side of the cabin to the front deck. Quietly, Kathy said, "Put up a shield."
Nana nodded.
As the girls went up to the front, Eddie climbed p to watch from the small bridge. Besides the helm and instruments, he saw this man also had a radio. The man looked back at him, Eddie waved. "I'm Eddie Brock, this is some boat," he beamed. He also noted they were passing beyond the breakwaters.
"You shouldn't be up here," the man said flatly. "Please return to the deck."
Eddie frowned at him. "Aww, that's not a good attitude. It's a great place to watch the girls get their pictures taken." He clapped the man on the back of his neck. Venom grew black fingers around his neck. "And, if anything happens to either of those girls, or you get me angry. I rip your head off and toss your body in the ocean. Keep your hands on the wheel."
The man swallowed and kept quiet.
Below, Jiro was showing the girls where to stand, facing the open water and by each other holding hands. Eddie also notice the two other men were back by the camera. Jiro was messing with the camera and asked the girls to move to the right 'just a bit', then he pointed at them. The men beside him drew up with guns and shot. The darts they shot stopped mid air behind the girls and fell to the deck.
Kathy and Nana turned around and eyed the men. The men beside Jiro exploded, bits of them flew off the boat to the sides.
The man driving gasped. Eddie tightened down around his neck grabbed his hair and tore his hea off. Luckily he moved to the side o miss most of the blood that pumped out of the neck. Eddie/Venom tossed the body overboard, Venom ate the head.
In shock, Jiro back away from the camera to stare at Kathy.
"This trip not turning out as you planned?" Kathy asked, walking towards him.
Throwing his hands in the air, Jiro cried, "I didn't know they were going to do that!"
Eddie called down, "Did so, you gave them the signal to shoot."
Jiro spun to see Venom at the helm.
"You got two choices," Venom called down. "Take us to the sub you're meeting and live, or get ripped apart, limb by limb while I eat you."
Jiro bolted for the side. He jumped and was pulled back to fall on the deck where he started.
"You're not getting away," Kaede intoned.
The time for fake names was over. Venom called down, "Kaede! We have the navigation information. Can I eat him?"
Kaede chuckled darkly. "Not yet. He cooperates, he'll live to leave with the sub. If he doesn't, feel free to munch on him."
"I'll cooperate!" Jiro cried. "If that sub sees I am not in control, they will sink this boat!"
Kaede glared down on him. "Nana, please clean the blood off the boat. Venom, just drive for now and follow the course."
Venom shrunk back into Eddie.
Kaede had Jiro go below, watching him carefully. She sat him down by the radio. "Here's what will happen. We meet the sub on schedule, you assure them all is well and we come up along side like nothing is wrong. You get off, we drive away. Otherwise, Venom will eat you slowly. Understood?"
"Yes." he said. "How did you know? Who are you really?"
"You don't get to know," Kaede said flatly.
Kaede say watching Jiro, if that's what his name really was, Eddie drove and Nana washed the boat clean. They traveled 15 miles out and Eddie saw a radar contact. He called down, Kaede! Got a radar contact five miles out. It just appeared. I think it's our sub."
The radio spoke in Korean. Jiro looked at it. "I have to report we got our passengers."
"Do it." Kaede said flatly.
Jiro sent a reply. The radio spoke again.
Jiro send a short reply and said, "We are to come up along the starboard side. The crew will tie us up and provide stretchers to load you on board."
Kaede nodded, then noted he was still keying the mike. She cut the mike cord and grinned at him. "You just became Venom's dinner." She then snapped both his arms and popped his knees out of joint. She raced up to the bridge. "Eddie, they are onto us!"
Eddie could see the sub now. He shoved the throttle to full power. "Guard the front, we'll run right up onto their back deck!"
"Nana come on, make your shields!" Kaede yelled as she ran to the bow.
Eddie note the main deck of the sub was still awash. He aimed the boat at the back. Seeing men in the sail, he left the bridge in a jump.
"Eddie, aim for the sail!" Kaede cried.
Shit. Running into the control room, he adjusted his aim. A man with a machine gun on the sub shot the crap out of the bridge. Lowering his aim, his bullets bounced off the shields Kaede and Nana had up. Bullets tore up the highest parts of the boat over Eddie's head. He re aimed at the sail. He also noted spray coming up from the front and near the back of the sub. Right, they were going back under.
Eddie drove right up next to the sub. Kaede bounced up and out onto the sub. She splatter the men on top, then dropped down through the hatch. Seeing the lower hatch open, she dropped through that. In the control room, men stared at her. She killed everyone she saw quickly then shot back up through the open hatches.
Back on top, she saw the top of the sail was getting close to the water. She leaped back over to the boat. Back on the boat, she watched the sub go under. More air blew up, like a whale exhaling. Then, only bubbles and think foam rose to the surface.
That sub wasn't ever coming back up.
Down in the cabin, Jiro was crying from his wounds. He saw something coming. The black monster Venom looked down on him. "Lunch time," Venom said with a growl.
He screamed and tried to gt his broken joints to move. Venom dragged him back up onto the back deck.
Nana drove the boat back the way they came as Jiro wailed out his last screams.
"How are you doing, Nana?" Kaede asked as she came in.
"Nana's fine. Steering the boat is easy. Can we keep it?"
A wail of "PLEASE STOP!" cried out, then Jiro went silent.
Kaede glanced back then eyed Nana. "Why do you want to keep this boat?"
"It's a nice boat! The bad guys don't need it anymore, and Nana saw it has bedrooms a kitchen and everything!"
"It also has blood on it and lots of bullet holes," Kaede told her. "We make shore and leave it."
"But, then it will be wasted!" Nana cried. "Nana thinks we can get Kouta and Mayu and have fun on this boat!"
Kaede shook her head. "No, Nana. We have to get rid of it."
"OH, please!"
Kaede let out a huff. "Nana, how are we going to get this boat back home?"
"Just follow the water. There's beaches in Kamakura isn't there?" Nana asked.
"That's a long ways away. We also don't know how to navigate. We can't keep it."
Eddie came in. "The last guy is gone and Venom was careful not to get much blood on the back when he was eating."
"Nana turned to him and pleaded. "Eddie, don't you think this is a nice boat? We got it, can't we keep it?"
Eddie grinned at her. "Sorry Nana, we have to dump it."
"Oh!" Nana frowned.
"What now?" Kaede asked.
Eddie shrugged. We wait til night fall, go back to the marina, get off and walk away. Tomorrow we go home. Job's done."
Pouting, Nana complained, "But Nana likes this boat!"
Eddie put an arm around her. "I'm sorry Nana, but we can't keep it."
Nana whinned.
.
The bridge was a wreck, nothing up there worked. Still, after night fell, Nana managed to get the back into the marina and not hit anything, except bumping up against the dock a little hard. Kaede got a rope over to hold them in place. They got off to find Investigator Shakira coming down the dock towards them.
"Well done!" Shakira said and bowed to them. "We verified that sub went down with all hands and you three returned safe. You even brought back evidence."
"We did what we had to," Eddie said with a shrug.
"And you did it very well." Shakira agreed. "For such a fine job, is there anything you'd like for a reward?"
Nana quickly pointed at the boat and asked, "Can we have that boat?"
Eddie let out a sigh. "Nana, they need that boat for evidence."
"There is no way we can take it back home, either," Kaede added.
Sakira told Nana. "We do need to inspect that boat for evidence."
Nana frowned and stomped a foot. "Darn," she grumbled. "When we weren't fighting, that boat was a lot of fun."
Eddie drew Nana into a hug. "Nana, if we could have than boat for you, we would. The fact is the they need it for evidence. Maybe some day, we'll get a boat. Ok?"
Nana hugged Eddie and relented. "OK."
Eddie kept an arm around Nana as they headed back to their hotel. There, Nana did insist on sleeping with Eddie instead of in Kaede's room. The next day, they caught a train back to Kamakura.
