Ch 46
V 1.5
A/N 1 – This is the second of two chapters posted on the same day. If you have not read the section titled "Ronin's Physical'. go back one chapter and do so.
To Better Times Than These
Town of Chumphon,
Chumphon Province, Thailand
early afternoon
(fifth day after pirate raid)
Having spent most of the morning running around picking up the final materials needed for the mission to Roanapur, it was time to finish up with the financials needed before leaving on the trip. Upon being woken up shortly after dawn by Gaz, Keitaro was brought over to Nikolai's office, where the burly unshaven Russian was sitting behind his desk and Seta-sensei was slouching on the couch, his casted leg propped up on the low table in front of him.
Gaz and Nikolai had then given Keitaro a rundown of the plan to infiltrate Roanapur. The short version was that the young man was going to as a representative and negotiator of an un-named Japanese criminal group, one that was hired from the outside in order to maintain plausible deniability. Gaz was going along as his guide and his presumed bodyguard. This was mostly to cover for the fact that while Keitaro could pull off the mannerisms and speech of a Japanese gangster, he did not have the infamous tattoos or missing fingers that most people expected of a yakuza member. When asked why he was not a member of the group that hired him, Keitaro would vaguely allude to specializing in low profile work that could not have known criminal group members involved, especially when traveling internationally.
Entry was to be by a former US Navy PT boat named the Black Lagoon that was based there and hired to transport them. When Keitaro asked why they were going by boat and not by air, either by Nikolai or by another chartered airplane, Gaz had explained that Roanapur did not have an airport nearby. The city had expanded from the repair and resupply base that had been bulldozed out of the jungle by the Japanese in the Pacific War to where it completely filled the coastal plain the former tropical rain forest had been on until it hit the steep cliffs and mountains along it, resembling the infamous pirate port of Port Royal in the Caribbean. Since it was almost a hundred kilometers along a decidedly not straight mountainous road to the next area that could support an airfield, everyone in the town had gotten used to not having air access. A helicopter could land in the city but only after a long distance one way flight from central Thailand or Cambodia; it was considered slightly less risky than flying a Blackhawk at low altitude over downtown Mogadishu, since the criminal element there was the worst kept secret in Asia.
Once the discussion was over, Gaz and Keitaro made ready to leave. It was when their driver and escort came to pick them up that things got interesting.
"Sue, you and Jerry, get in here." Nikolai spoke into the phone before hanging up the handset. The four men turned to look at the door thirty seconds later as a poker faced blonde woman and a sheepish looking white haired man walked into the office. Everyone looked at each other silently before Nikolai spoke again. "You were going to say something, Jerry?"
The white haired merc opened his mouth but did not say anything for a long moment, not until his partner not so gently jabbed him in the side with her elbow. "Ronin, I am sorry for what I did last night. I was drunk, jealous, and stupid, and I should not have attacked like that. Please accept my apology." The expression on the man's downturned face was a mixture of both embarrassment and resentment.
"Jerry." Ronin waited until the Russian merc had raised his head to look at him. "I accept your apology, but this will not happen again. One of us will not walk away if it does."
Everyone in the room felt the temperature start to drop precipitously, but that was nothing compared to what Jerry was feeling. Besides the snakes of ice running up and down his spine, looking into the younger man's uncovered bloodstained eyes the older merc could see the message in them; you attack me again and I will kill you.
"I understand." Jerry replied, his mouth dry. Short of being punched by Sue, the merc had not been hit so hard in his life, and it had been just one punch. While he had years of experience in dirty hand-to-hand fighting, he had the feeling that the younger man was much more lethal that he looked, as his still sore abdomen proved.
"You and Sue are to be my escort into town today, yes?" The cold feeling in the room disappeared with Ronin's question. The two mercs nodded an affirmative. "Let's go then." The young man pulled his sunglasses out of his suit coat pocket and after putting them on turned and walked out of the office with Gaz behind him. The two Russian mercs looked toward their boss, who merely jerked his head toward the door. Taking the hint, the mercs followed after them.
The final materials they were picking up consisted mostly of clothing for both Keitaro and Gaz. During the entry into Roanapur they would be lightly armed… a relative value of lightly, anyway. Gaz would leave his legally registered Browning pistol with Nikolai and instead take a Colt 1911. The .45 caliber handgun operated in essentially the same manner as his previous pistol, and the formerly American military issue weapon was in widespread use in Southeast Asia. His CAR-15 would be swapped for an unregistered M4 carbine, as well as an AKS-74U Krinkov SMG for 'undercover' use that his partner could use as well. Keitaro would leave behind his original Glock 19 and take the nickel Glock from the dead dirty cop as well as his butterfly knife, and after some serious consideration, the hideout knife Granny Hina had given him before he had left for Thailand, since it was untraceable. Any more needed weapons and gear would be bought from contacts in town.
Clothing for Gaz was a simple manner, as he was replacing what he lost on Ko Tao during the pirate raid. Keitaro however had to buy visibly expensive business and casual attire that would still leave him reasonably able to move freely in case he had to fight. What they had wound up doing was taking designer brand suits off the rack (the prices of which had caused Keitaro's eyes to widen) and then have tailors adjust them for proper fit… all overnight. The young ronin had come back to the hangar the night before in a minimally fitted dark blue suit that made him look good, but the next day the suits he picked up (two single breasted suits and one double breasted) looked like they had come off the runway in Milan. However the price in the end was almost triple the already high retail cost for each suit.
Finding shoes had almost driven the two nuts. Dress shoes were acceptable in an office environment, but they were not suitable at all when running or fighting. Keitaro at first had just wanted to put proper inserts in dress shoes, but any kind of rapid movement would cause the thin laces to untie and the shoes to loosen dangerously. Polished leather boots were vetoed by Gaz since that would be considered the type of footwear worn by the military or cops. In the end one of the tailors had referred them to a high-end shoe store where they stocked what where colloquially known as 'Indy boots'. Worn by the titular hero of the movie, they looked like high-ankle dress shoes, but wore like boots. After putting in the supportive inserts, Keitaro tried them out and finally gave them the thumbs up. However, paying for them caused both men to cringe; since they were bespoke shoes imported from America of all places, the brown and black pairs of boots they got cost over a thousand dollars each pair. Also bought at the shoe store was a high end leather suitcase for Keitaro's various clothing, matching leather belts for the suits and a garment bag. Gaz however, since he was former military as part of his role, has able to get away with one pair of hiking boots and one pair of polishable leather combat boots, as well as a large nylon duffle bag to carry it all in.
CreditZurich was not what he had expected it to be. Keitaro was not sure if he had walked into a modern bank or what he had imagined to be a high tech version of Gringotts from the Harry Potter books. The bank had the brick facade of a normal financial institution… behind sandbag emplacements set on either side of the main door, a pair of security officers behind each one. Heavily armed security at that; each short dark complexioned officer was wearing body armor over blue uniforms and carried M-4 carbines with a holstered side arm strapped to their leg, all topped off with an odd felt brimmed hat tilted sideways on top of their head. It was not until Keitaro saw the curved kukri knives sheathed on their belts opposite their side arms that he realized who they were; Gurkas, the famous mercenaries of Nepal. The mountain people had fought so successfully against the expansionist British East India Company in the early nineteenth century that after their eventual defeat they were hired as contract soldiers, forming the backbone of the British Indian Army. Made legendary by their fighting prowess and courage, they had remained part of the British Army even after the Partition of India in 1948, where half of their forces elected to join the newly formed Indian Army. Recruited yearly from Nepal, the Gurhkas had a special exemption in the international laws that prohibited the hiring of mercenaries along with the French Foreign Legion, since they were a part of a regular national army. Only three nations were authorized to recruit Gurhkas; Great Brittan, India, and Singapore, who used them as part of their police force. However, once Gurkha troopers retired after twenty years of service with an army, many did not want to return to the decidedly backwater nation of Nepal with a minimal army pension and would hire out as private security contractors. A great many did work for the British and the Americans as PMCs in the Middle East; apparently they were the favored security force for Swiss banks as well.
Walking up the steps of the bank, Keitaro could sense the troopers' eyes on him; even if they were not pointing weapons at them, the young man could feel himself being sized up as a possible threat. Nodding politely as he passed, the only response he got was a short nod from the trooper wearing corporal stripes on his sleeves.
Once they were through the door, Keitaro and Gaz saw a trooper with sergeant stripes behind a wooden counter, while two troopers were besides the doors behind the pair, only these men had their carbines at low ready. Even if they were not pointed right at them, the carbines could be brought onto target in a heartbeat.
"Good afternoon sirs." The sergeant spoke English with a British accept. "Welcome to CreditZurich. In order to enter the bank, you will have to undergo a security screening. Weapons are prohibited in the business areas of the bank and must be checked in here and will be returned once you have concluded your business. Any firearms must be declared and cleared in the safety barrel to the side of me before being placed on the counter before me. You will then be scanned with a metal detector and if necessary searched by hand before entry. Please do so one at a time." The tone of voice of the sergeant implied that disagreeing with him would have consequences.
Stepping up to the counter, Gaz turned to the clearing barrel and slowly drew his Browning High Power from his belt holster. Pointing the pistol into the sand filled drum, he dropped the magazine and after placing it on the counter beside him, racked and locked the side, placing the round that ejected from the chamber next to the magazine. Turning back to the sergeant he placed the pistol on the counter, turning it around so the barrel was pointed at himself before pushing it toward the other man. Slowly picking up the magazine, Gaz fed the loose round into it and pushed it and the two spare mags he had pulled from his belt toward the sergeant as well. Placing the pistol in a shallow wooden box marked with a number, the sergeant placed the magazines in a plastic zip-lock bag before putting it in the box as well. Gaz then unclipped his Baby Fairbairn knife sheath from his belt before putting it on the counter, which the sergeant placed in the box too. Seeing that he was not presenting him with any more weapons, the sergeant took a token with a number matching what was painted on the box and handed it to the British merc.
"Please empty your pockets of anything that may set off the metal detector on the table in front of you and step into the box painted on the floor with your hands at least shoulder high. The trooper will scan you with a metal detector wand." Gaz stepped next to a small table and after emptying his pockets stepped into the painted box on the floor facing the wall. A trooper with a black electronic wand quickly ran it over his body, the wand chirping when it ran over his belt buckle and shoe eyelets, areas that the trooper carefully checked by hand. Turning to the table the trooper ran the wand over the items there, and once he was satisfied he nodded toward the sergeant and stepped back. "You may pick up your items and step over the green line on the floor and wait for your companion there."
Once Gaz was standing next to the door leading to the main lobby of the bank, the sergeant motioned toward Keitaro, who had been watching all this. Placing the leather satchel he had unslung from his shoulder on the counter, the young man carefully cleared his nickel Glock and placed it, the magazine he had ejected and two spare mags, his butterfly knife and his backup knife on the counter. After the sergeant put everything in another numbered box and gave the matching token to Keitaro, he turned toward the satchel and raised an eyebrow.
Understanding the silent question, Keitaro spoke. "I am going to make a deposit of cash today with the bank. That and some papers are the only contents of the bag."
"If you can please open the bag so I may look into it?" The sergeant pulled a tactical light from his vest and Keitaro opened the bag and shook the contents around so he could see that there was nothing else in the bag as the man shone the light inside. The trooper with the metal detector wand ran it over the bag, and except for chirping at the buckles the wand stayed silent.
"You may place the bag on the table there, after you empty your pockets please step in the box." After Keitaro did so he stepped in the box and raised his hands, the trooper ran the wand over his body, only for everyone to freeze in place when the wand squealed loudly over his left hip pocket.
"Sir, do you have anything metal in that pocket?" The sergeant asked evenly, his hand on his holstered pistol. The carbine-armed troopers were now aiming at both Keitaro and Gaz, who now had his hands up, and the trooper with the wand had backed out of the line of fire.
Keitaro mentally cursed. "My other wallet. It has a metal badge inside."
"The trooper will remove the wallet and bring it to me. Please keep your hands up." Staying stock still, Keitaro felt the wallet removed from his pocket and then silence fell for what felt to be a long time. "Sir, please slowly turn around and remove your sunglasses."
Ohgodsohgodsohgodsohgods Keitaro was chanting in his head. Seeing the expression on Gaz's face as he turned around, he realized his partner was thinking the same thing. Facing the sergeant, the young man would see him looking at the wallet, the Royal Thai Police badge visible in the recessed cutout on the outside. Looking at the photo IDs on the inside windows, the sergeant's eyes flicked from the wallet to Keitaro's face and back again. Finally, the sergeant slowly closed the wallet and looked steadily at him, not flinching at his bloodstained eyes.
"Are you here on official business, Inspector?" Keitaro could hardly breathe, and the question really did not help.
"No, I am not. I am here to do some personal business." The sergeant kept staring at him.
"You may not be aware, but part of this bank's agreement to do business with the Thai government and the RTP gives our security forces full authorization to use deadly force to prevent violent criminal actions, even if the persons initiating those actions are officials of the government?" The sergeant's meaning was clear; your badge will not save you if you decide to do something stupid.
"I understand." Keitaro had stopped chanting in his head but he was still motionless.
"Very well." The sergeant handed the badge wallet back to the trooper, who put it on the table and scanned everything else. "You may put your hands down and retrieve your items." Once the younger man had done that, the sergeant spoke one more time. "You are both cleared for entry to the bank, thank you for your cooperation."
Keitaro just nodded silently as he picked up his satchel and walked over to Gaz, the relief mostly hidden in his eyes but still apparent if one knew what to look for. The young man walked through the lobby doors into the bank proper, his partner following behind him.
The actual business in the bank took about a hour to complete. Keitaro did not know if it was a tendency of all bankers or just the Swiss kind, but the well-dressed middle-aged European man did not blink at his customers producing cash totaling about sixty thousand American dollars from a bag. Instead he called in a teller with a money counting machine and offered the two contractors something to drink.
While the teller worked counting the money (and checking for counterfeits, a not insignificant problem in Southeast Asia) Keitaro and Gaz drank an excellent cup of café da, Vietnamese dark roast coffee with condensed milk. Once the counting was done, Keitaro asked for the assorted bills to be exchanged for hundred and fifty dollar packets, with an additional fifty thousand dollars transferred from Yuri's account to even everything out to $100,000 American in used hundreds and fifties after all the fees were paid.
Once everything was done, with the bundles of cash placed in Keitaro's satchel and their weapons claimed from the front desk, the two contractors walked out of the front doors of the band and down the small flight of steps to the bustling street. Sue and Jerry had been detailed to stay in the beat up Nissan SUV to keep an eye on their vehicle and purchases. But what they now saw made them stop in their tracks.
The SUV had been parked about ten meters away from the front of the bank, as there were thick concrete posts set in the sidewalk and the edge of the road as an anti-vehicle barrier. The last the two contractors had seen of the two mercs Jerry had been behind the wheel of the SUV while Sue was in the shotgun seat, the two of them arguing in Russian about something or another.
Now there was a district police patrol car parked at an angle in front of the SUV, blocking them in. Sue and Jerry were out of their vehicle with their hands on the hood in the classic frisk position. The problem was that one Thai police officer had what looked to be a Colt .45 pistol against the back of the head of a visibly angry Jerry while another police officer was busy frisking a furious looking Sue… mostly by groping her large chest.
After seeing all this Gaz opened his mouth to tell Keitaro to follow him back to the bank and wait this out; the notoriously corrupt police would pull crap like this occasionally on mercs and other contractors. The cops would posture and threaten and then shake them down for a bribe before walking away.
Once upon a time during an arctic warfare training exercise Gaz had been caught in a small avalanche. His fellow trainees promptly dug him out but for the longest five minutes in his life he had been buried in the dark under the snow. But just as Gaz was about to speak, he abruptly felt that same crushing cold sensation he had experienced that day. His head snapping sideways to look at Keitaro, all he saw was a blur as he moved…
Patrol Corporal Mookjai was enjoying his day for once. Normally it was troublesome to patrol his district with his partner Montri since most of the crime that occurred was linked to the organized crime syndicate based there, and they were paid nowhere near enough to go up against their hired mooks. Worse yet, they could run into one of the really big guns, who either had enough connections to make shooting a poor patrolman a simple exercise of pulling the right strings, or stumble into one of the rackets run by the higher ups in the police that would just shoot you out of hand. But once he got a glimpse of the blonde farang woman with the huge tits he knew he had to get some of that. His partner had pointed out that the woman was with a known mercenary, but that merely meant they had to be a little more proactive. The fact that the two were parked near the entrance to a bank just gave them a better reason to do a stop on them.
After slamming to a halt in front of their vehicle, the two officers jumped out of their car with their guns drawn screaming for the two mercs to put their hands up. Once they did, they dragged them out of their SUV and propped them up on the hood of their vehicle and searched them for weapons and contraband. Or at least he was searching the blonde farang very carefully in her chest area. Meanwhile Montri had his .45 pistol against the white haired man's head to keep him under control, grinning like an idiot behind his mirrored sunglasses.
Keeping one hand on the blonde's neck to keep her from moving, feeling her trembling with anger, his other hand had finally moved away from her braless tits (truly, how could so something so big not sag halfway to the floor?) and was starting to move down to her ass when three things happened in rapid order. First a crushing cold feeling fell upon all of them; Mookjai felt the woman tense under his hands and saw out of the corner of his eye that his partner and the other man stiffen as well; then a moment later Montri collapsed to the ground gagging and choking, both of his hands at his throat; finally something hideously strong grabbing the back of his shirt collar and slam him face first onto the hood of the SUV, pain exploding through his head like a gunshot. "What in all the hells do you think you are doing?" someone growled in clear but somewhat slow Thai.
Stars and flashing lights floating through his eyes, putting his hands on the hood Mookjai tried to push himself off the hood, only to be slammed down twice before being held there. This time his face was to the side and he could see who was holding him down; a youngish looking man wearing a dark suit and sunglasses.
"I'll fucking kill you, bastard! I'm a police officer, you can't do this to me!" Mookjai was not thinking very clearly, which was why he was shocked to see the man push the pistol he was holding - Montri's pistol - into his eye, causing a fair bit of pain but holding him in place, while he reached into a back pocket and producing a black wallet with a Royal Thai Police badge inset on the outside of it and pushing it close to his one open eye. His next words caused his fury and embarrassment to freeze in a heartbeat.
"For King. For Country." Those words were the motto of Special Branch, the feared political intelligence division of the national police. "Once again, what in the hells do you think you are doing?" The man in the suit put the wallet away even as he kept the pistol against his eye as he spoke. "I'm walking down the street and I see two uniformed officers shaking down and sexually assaulting foreigners, my people, in the open! I should do a summary judgment right here and now!"
Mookjai almost pissed himself. Among Special Branch's functions was that of investigations against government officials and police officers. It was not so much preventing corruption as it was to keep it out of the open and affecting national interests and the tourist trade. It was whispered that Special Branch agents had full authorization to deal with corruption as they saw fit under the euphemism 'summary judgment'; that usually meant either making a public example of the offending officials or disappearing them, usually in a weighed 55 gal drum that was dumped in the sea.
Looking over to the side, Mookjai could see that his partner Montri had stopped gagging and was looking like he was going to run away, having heard everything that the Special Branch agent had said, only for the agent to kick him in the jaw, knocking him out. Looking back at the corrupt cop on the hood, he pulled back his pistol so it was not jammed into his face anymore but it was still close to it.
"My people?" For some reason those words stuck in Mookjai's head.
"Yes, my people. I have a mission I hired them for, and here I find you shaking them down like street rats." The agent leaned close in, his voice dropping. "And I really hate rapists."
At that point Mookjai did piss his pants. Staring into the reflection of his face on the red lenses of the shades that the agent was wearing, all the cop could feel was like he had been dropped into a tub of ice water, like he was freezing and drowning at the same time.
"What to do, what to do." The agent started to tap the barrel of Montri's pistol on Mookjai's nose.
"Inspector." Hearing his companion speak, the agent's head turned slightly toward him. "We still have a mission to do. You keep playing with these arseholes, we're going to be delayed." The man, a Westerner, was speaking in English.
"True." Turning back to Mookjai, the agent thought for a moment before speaking again. "Take the other officer, cut his uniform off, cuff him behind his back and put him in the back of their car."
"Sir, we're being watched." Looking around at the crowd of people gawking at the spectacle they were putting on, they abruptly looked and walked away as they saw the man in the suit and shades coolly looking back at them.
"You two, deal with the idiot on the ground. You help me with this one." The Westerners reluctantly nodded, and it only took a couple minutes work to get the cops stripped and cuffed, leaving them in their underwear. The cop's cut up uniforms, badges, IDs, wallets, and weapons were all loaded into the SUV by the Russian woman, who by this point had a grim smile on her face.
Staring into the dirty cop's eyes, the agent spoke softly in Thai again. "I have better things to do than deal with the likes of you. Once you get out of the car, you two will quit the police and leave this city. I know who you are, I know where you live. You tell anyone about what happened today, I ever see you again, you disappear." Tilting his face forward so blood red eyes were visible behind his shades, he said, "Understand?" Mookjai nodded rapidly, horror written across his face.
Pushing him into the back seat of the patrol car, the agent locked the doors and walked away toward the SUV, tossing the keys into a storm drain. The two Russian mercs were already seated inside the SUV, and the Westerner was waiting for the agent to get in.
Glancing back at the bank, the agent was slightly surprised to see the Gurhka sergeant and his troopers standing on the steps of the bank, apparently having watched the entire incident. Seeing that the agent was looking at him, the sergeant sketched a salute toward him with a thin smile on his face. Giving a nod in response, the agent got into the SUV and after closing his door the last Westerner got in and the vehicle roared off down the street, leaving the crowd of people pointedly ignoring the police car in the road.
Voron Technical Group,
Chumphon Province, Thailand.
Forty minutes later.
"What the fucking hell happened out there, Ronin?! You damn near killed two police officers in public, and my people were involved! You very well might have just fucked up my business!" Nikolai was not shouting, but it was a close thing. He was standing behind his desk, leaning forward and glaring at Keitaro, who was sitting on a chair that had been placed there, with Gaz standing behind him, Jerry and Sue off to the side, and Seta sitting on the couch nearby.
The trip back to the converted hangar had not been a fun one. Once the four mercs had been in the SUV and driving away, Sue had taken one look at Keitaro's face and almost panicked; the young Japanese was pale and sweating heavily, slumped up against the door. Once she raised the alarm, the SUV had slammed to a stop, with Sue almost throwing Gaz out of his seat as she grabbed her medical bag and jumped into the back of the vehicle next to the younger man. A quick exam revealed the symptoms of hypoglycemia, almost as though he was having a diabetic attack. Sue ordered Gaz to go and buy as many candy and energy bars as he could find, as well as water and sports drinks. Three minutes later the Briton was back with a dozen chocolate energy bars, a couple liters of sports drink, and a a two liter bottle of water, all of which Sue started to almost force feed to Keitaro. After the first two energy bars and the first bottle of sport drink he started to look much better, so Jerry started driving back to the hangar again. They had just gotten back and gave a short overview of what had happened when Nikolai had lost his temper.
"Would you have preferred for me not to interfere?" Even though he was the smallest person in the room, and still looked somewhat tired and sick, the expression on Keitaro's face brought Nikolai up short. "It was only two police officers holding a gun to the head of one of your people and sexually assaulting the other, out in the open! We could have backed off and let it happen, but I didn't know how it was going to end, and I don't leave my people hanging."
"Your people?" Nikolai had a derisive tone in his voice.
"Yes, my people. You and your group are working for Seta-sensei and me, being paid with our money, that makes you my people. Or is your business more important than your people? Because what would have stopped those cops from spraying Jerry's brains all over the street and then dragging off Sue? I had to make a call on that street, and I am sticking by it." Keitaro was not projecting ki, he was not even raising his voice, but the look on his face was bloodcurdling.
Nikolai's eyes flicked from the young man to the Brit next to him, who's expression was blank, but he could tell that he agreed with his partner. Next he looked toward Seta, who seemed upset but accepting of Keitaro's reasoning. Lastly, he looked at Jerry and Sue. The white haired merc appeared upset but grateful, and the blonde medic looked grateful as well, but also something else… ashamed was the closest he could come to describing it.
Bringing his hands up to his face, Nikolai rubbed his face, the stubble producing an audible rasping. Sighing, the burly Russian looked back at Keitaro. "Look, sorry for losing my temper. We catch crap from the police, and resisting just makes things worse. But what makes you think that the cops aren't on their way here to lock us up or blow us all away? They know who we are."
Gaz spoke up. "The local cops are too scared of Special Branch to do that. That was actually a damn good idea to say that you had hired them, Ronin. What gave you the idea to do that?"
"A video game." Seeing everyone stare at him, Keitaro explained. "There is a video game called Mass Effect, it's a sci-fi adventure set in space in the future. The player character is an agent for the central galactic government called a Spectre. They have unlimited authority to resolve threats and investigate crimes, and they answer only to the top executive council. There aren't very many of them, so they hire mercenaries and have military personnel seconded to them to assist them, and they get to keep all the salvage and money they recover from missions. Gaz told me some stories he knew about Special Branch after I pretended to be an agent at the hospital to fool the doctor, and Special Branch sounded a lot like how Spectres operate in the game." The story that had really stuck in his mind was when Gaz had been attached to a mission with a RTP Special Branch agent who was interrogating a Thai government official who at first refused to cooperate then was giving false information. Finally the agent, who up to that point had not revealed that he was Special Branch, had identified himself with the 'For King, For Country' motto. Even as the official's eyes had widened in horror, the agent drew his pistol and shot the other man in the head before turning and walking away.
"I have a question." Everyone turned to look at Jerry who then continued talking. "What the hell did you do to those two cops? All I know is the one holding me fell to the ground choking and the other one got slammed into the hood."
"I used my chi to flash-step next to the first cop and flicked him in the throat while pulling his gun away from you." Seeing the incomprehension in the merc's eyes, Keitaro explained. "I can use chi to speed myself up. Now that I loosened my seals I can move fast enough to blur."
"Flicked him in the throat?" Apparently Jerry was having a problem with the second part of the explanation.
"Hn." Keitaro looked around the office for a moment. "Nikolai, hand me that phone book, would you?" Once he had the book in hand he held it at the loose end with one hand just below the level of his jaw, the other hand with the fore and middle fingers curved and held in place behind the tip of his thumb, just as though he was going flick a small light object across a table. Bringing the fingers up to the spine of the book, suddenly a good chunk of the corner of the spine ripped loose, a sold twack sounding in the room. Wiggling his two fingers, Keitaro continued. "Flicked. Although I didn't hit him that hard, that would have torn his throat open. It was more like I used the momentum of my flash-step to tap him," he finished saying, a slight frown on his face as he examined the nails of his fingers. Jerry nodded in response, his face paling slightly. "The other cop was just regular strength."
"What about that crushing cold we all felt?" This question was from Sue.
"Ki projection. It's used to terrify and freeze people. That is what used up most of my chi, I don't have recent experience in using it, so it slipped out of control for a moment. It was successful, no?" asked Keitaro curiously.
"I'll say! I think the entire block felt that!" Sue replied vehemently.
"I need to practice more with that technique. I can't afford to use too much chi in the middle of combat doing that." Keitaro turned from Sue to look at Seta and Nikolai. "Not to change the subject, but are we ready to leave on our mission?" For operational security reasons, only Nikolai, Gaz, Seta, and Keitaro knew the full details of the mission to Roanapur; Jerry and Sue were not told where the mission was taking place, nor who was taking them there, as the Black Lagoon had a reputation for being involved in criminal acts.
A look passed between Seta and Nikolai before the Russian asked, "Are you ready? I mean health-wise."
"Pretty much. The problem is that I burned through my reserves too fast today. I need to start eating much more than normal and do some exercises to strengthen my reserves. But yes, I am good to travel and even fight, as long as I don't do something unwise like multiple flash-steps or other techniques for the next few days," answered the young man.
Nikolai and Seta looked at each other again, silently conversing before the Japanese man gave a slight nod. Sighing, Nikolai spoke again. "Then yes, we are go-mission. I had already arranged for the pick-up, it's going to arrive tonight. So go to your room and start getting ready to leave. Don't pack anything in your bags, Gaz and I are going to go over everything first. And strip down to your shorts, we need to go over your clothes as well."
Keitaro slowly stood up from his chair and turned toward the door before he stopped and looked back at the Russian. "You know, I think I prefer having Sue tell me to strip than you, Nikolai," the young man said with a half smile on his face before turning forward and walking out of the office, leaving the rest either laughing, chuckling, or in Sue's case, blushing madly.
Seaside Wharf,
Chumphon Province, Thailand,
Just before 0200 local time
(six days after pirate attack)
"This is it, Keitaro-kun." Seta's words were strangely familiar, even though the tone was melancholy, something that had changed after Sarah being taken during the pirate attack. After a moment's thought the younger man remembered when the words had been previously spoken and repeated his response.
"Let's do this, Seta-sensei. 'Time to go to far off distant lands and meet unusual exciting people.'" Keitaro responded, much more seriously than the first time.
"You know the rest of that saying, Ronin?" Gaz's tone was a slight rebuke to Seta for using his real name.
"Why yes. It's 'meet unusual exciting people, and kill them'." Keitaro's eyes flicked toward the British merc for a moment before looking back at his sensei.
"You don't have to do this, Keitaro-kun. I won't hold you to that promise. I was out of my mind with shock and drugs, I shouldn't have pushed you into it." There was sorrow on Seta's face as he spoke.
"I knew what I was doing when I made that promise. Even if you release me from it, I would know that I did not do my best to get Sarah back. I would have to live with myself in the dark with that knowledge. I won't. I can't." Keitaro responded, a solemn look on his face.
The four men were sitting in the Nissan SUV parked at the head of the dock. Nikolai was behind the wheel and Seta was in the front passenger seat. Gaz was sitting behind Seta and Keitaro was behind Nikolai. It was almost time for the rendezvous with the Black Lagoon at the dock, and the two contractors were about to unload their gear and wait for their ride on the dock.
Earlier the night before all four had been in Keitaro's room helping him pack and get ready. It was not just folding clothes and packing bags; they were making sure that he had everything he needed for the mission, and conversely that there was nothing that would blow the mission or reveal his true identity. This included even inspecting the labels of the clothes he was wearing and placing aside his personal items for Nikolai to store while he was away.
After Keitaro was dressed in a dark blue suit and tie and had all his bags packed he turned toward his dresser and the items laying there. The weapons he was taking along were off to the side, consisting of the nickel Glock and spare mags, the butterfly and hideout knives, and a very nice holster set made out of black sharkskin leather that matched his suit belt; having seen his pistol while fitting him for his suits, one of his tailors had brought out various sets of leather holsters and magazine pouches for him to chose from, and adjusted the fit of his suit coats so the pistol would not print against the fabric.
What was left were the things that identified him as Keitaro Urashima and would be held by Seta and Nikolai; his Japanese passport and his Tokyo Prefecture state ID. His regular eyeglasses were there as well, since he did not need to use them anymore now that his chi seals had been loosened and he could used chi to sharpen his vision. It was tiring to do so after a while, but it was one of the ways Keitaro could build up his reserves, and he was taking his prescription red tinted Wayfarer sunglasses to use the rest of the time. His purloined RTP badge and ID case would be handed over to Nikolai just before they would part company later on, so Keitaro could still use them if they were stopped by Thai police looking for them after the incident in town.
The one item that he was not allowed to take that surprised him was his watch; apparently it did not fit his cover to be wearing an inexpensive Timex analog. After a moment of thought, Seta took off his own watch, a stainless steel Rolex GMT Master with the Pepsi bezel, and handed it to Keitaro, telling the surprised younger man to make sure to bring it back to him, before he put Keitaro's watch on his own wrist.
Finally what was left was the photo wallet containing his pictures of Miyuki and Natsumi. Borrowing the Zippo lighter that Yuri had left Gaz, Keitaro burned them one by one in a cigarette ash tray, the last one being of the girls in police uniform, their smiling faces slowly crumbling into ash. Seeing the sorrow on his protégé's face, Seta was about to ask why he had done so only for Gaz to beat him to the punch and softly tell him, "Where he is going, he does not want them to follow."
Once all the bags were packed and loaded in the SUV (Gaz's duffle bag and rifle case for the M4 and ammo, Keitaro's leather suitcase and garment bag), the four men went into Nikolai's office for one last piece of business, Seta sitting down due to his bad leg. Opening his floor safe, the burly Russian took out a lock box, and after pulling out a Japanese passport booklet placed Keitaro's real passport and ID in the box and locked everything up.
Handing the passport to the younger man, Nikolai went to a small refrigerator and pulled out a chilled bottle of Stolichnaya. Placing the bottle on his desk, he then produced four glasses and started filling them with vodka. Once he was done he looked up to see Keitaro looking down at the booklet, a small frown on his face.
"Everything is in order?" Nikolai watched as Keitaro showed the passport to Seta then to Gaz, who took it in hand and fingered it thoughtfully.
"Yes, as far as I can tell it's a legit passport. Your man was truly worth the $10,000 we paid." Nikolai had referred them to a forger who had produced the document in their hands. Not only was the passport a legitimate one that had been skillfully altered, the forger's associates had accessed the Thai border control agency's computer system and inserted false entries showing that the holder had arrived in Bangkok three weeks ago and had a ninety day tourist visa approved. A local computer check would stand up to scrutiny; an in-depth inquiry to Japan would not.
"Isn't Yuki a girl's name?" The Russian's innocuous question caused Seta to smile somewhat while Gaz twitched slightly, remembering his partner talking about Lady Yukiko. Keitaro did not visible react though.
"It can be, if it's used alone. In this case it's part of another name and used as a noun, since the common usage is for the word 'snow'. Hiro is a descriptive that means 'great', so Hiroyuki together means 'great snow', or blizzard."
"And the name Akira? That sounds familiar," wondered Nikolai.
"Akira is the name of an appliance company in Singapore. It also means 'bright' in Japanese." This time is was Seta's turn to twitch; while Akira was a relatively common name in Asia, in Japan it's most famous usage was the name of a sci-fi action manga series and movie where Espers (ESP users) had superpowers that could (and already had before) destroy a city. Given that Keitaro was going to a town that no one but the inhabitants would miss, he hoped it was not a premonition.
"Hiroyuki Akira," Nikolai said slowly, sounding it out. "Sounds decent enough." Picking up one of the glasses of vodka, he waited until the rest of the men each took one. "A toast."
"Only the one glass, Nikolai," Gaz cautioned. He had been around Russians doing toasts before; with a full shot gulped down with each toast, it did not take very long for everyone to get hammered.
"Fine, fine," the Russian grumbled. "Everyone gives toast, then we drink." Raising his glass slightly, he said, "Nostrovia - to your health," before looking over to the side.
Seta raised his glass and said "Kampai," the traditional Japanese toast that translated to 'cheers' and looked over toward the Briton.
Gaz raised his glass and murmured "To absent friends," thoughts of Yuri among others going through his mind, before glancing over to the youngest among them.
Keitaro hesitated for a moment before he finally raised his glass. "To better times than these," he said softly. In unison all four men drank down the vodka and then placed the glasses on the desk.
Nikolai looked down at his wristwatch and announced, "Time to go. I have to take a piss, meet me at the SUV in five minutes." With Seta struggling to his feet and placing his crutches under his arms, the three men walked out of the office and toward the vehicle, only to see someone waiting there for them.
"Ronin, can I speak to you for a moment?" Sue was standing with her arms crossed under her chest, visible nervous.
Keitaro nodded and gestured for Sue to follow him a short distance away. Stopping ten meters away from the SUV, he watched as Gaz assisted Seta in getting into the vehicle for a moment before turning back to the blonde Russian and raised an eyebrow.
"I need to apologize. I fucked you, treated you like crap, and then you risked your life and mission and saved my ass from those cops. Anyone else would have walked away or even laughed at what was happening. Ronin, I truly am sorry." Sue bowed her head, unable to look him in the eyes. Her head came up suddenly as she felt something unexpected; a kiss on the forehead.
"I know." Keitaro looked at her for a long moment. "Just be more careful in the future." Then he did something that completely surprised her; he smiled, the half-grin completely changing his appearance from that of a lethal and scary fighter to that of a not bad looking young man. "Do me a favor, keep kicking Jerry's ass, he seems like a decent enough man, he just needs the attitude adjustment." The smile left his face as he turned so that he was facing her squarely. Performing a medium bow, he came up and softly said, "Until we meet again, Sue-san." Turning he walked away from the blonde Russian and toward the SUV, which now was running with Nikolai behind the wheel. Opening the door, Keitaro got in and the vehicle dropped into gear and turned in the lot, letting the passengers see the blonde Russian and now her white haired partner standing next to her as they drove off.
"Five minutes to rendezvous." Nikolai announced, looking at his watch. With those words, he and the two contractors got out of the SUV. Seta staying in his seat upon Keitaro's instance due to his bad leg, their bags were unloaded and placed on the weathered wood of the wharf. After slinging his leather satchel (containing $100,000 in American cash and $100,000 in gold coin with another $100,000 in coin in a money belt under his clothes, $50,000 being paid out for current and future services) Keitaro handed his RTP badge and ID to Nikolai and silently shook his hand before he walked back toward Seta, who had opened his door and turned sideways in the seat.
The two men looked at each other for a long moment before Seta spoke. "Remember your promises to Gaz and Hina, Urashima. I don't want to face your Granny and Haruka-chan without you."
"What is life without honor? We would be tossed about the dark and cold waves of life, a true ronin." Keitaro looked at his mentor, his face softening as he bowed. "Owakare da, Seta-sensei," using the formal words for farewell, or this is where we part.
"Itterrashai, Keitaro-kun," Seta replied, bowing in his seat, his words meaning 'safe journey'. Keitaro then turned and walked away, not seeing the tears starting to form in his mentor and friend's eyes.
Shifting his gaze toward the British merc, Seta opened his mouth to speak, only for Gaz to answer his imminent request. "I will. Sayonara, Seta," giving a head bow as he spoke. Looking over toward Nikolai, he said, "Dasvidania, old friend,"
"Dasvidania, tovarisch," replied Nikolai, using the Russian words for 'farewell, comrade'. The two men watched as the Briton slung his rifle case and picking up his duffle bag followed after his partner. The burly Russian then got behind the wheel of the SUV, and using only the parking lights, drove away slowly on the dirt road. By prior agreement, Nikolai and Seta would stay in their darkened vehicle a short distance away until they saw their compatriots get picked up, then leave the area entirely.
Walking up to the end of the wharf, Gaz put down his duffle bag and pulled out the Krinkov SMG. Slinging and charging the weapon he then looked at his battered Luminox watch. "Thirty seconds to contact," he announced, producing an infrared signal strobe from his vest pocket. Keitaro nodded silently and the two waited until the second hand hit the '12' on his watch before activating the strobe, the pulses of light visible only through an infrared scope. The agreed rendezvous signal was that the strobe be on for five minutes at the top and the bottom of the hour. If the boat did not show up after the second signal attempt, the pick-up would be considered called off.
Four minutes had passed before the two men heard the low grumbling of a marine engine. Looking around, they were able to see a low dark shape slowly approaching, barely visible by the light of the half moon. The shape came to a stop twenty meters from the wharf before a red light flashed three times, then two times, then three times again.
"Ahoy the boat," Gaz called out, his voice soft but still carrying across the water. "You have any Bacardi and Guinness with you?" giving the first part of the pass code.
A deep male voice replied in American English. "No, but we have Coors and Jack Daniels," giving the correct response. "Stand fast, we're pulling up alongside. If you have weapons, keep them holstered or slung or things will get messy."
With the volume of the grumbling engine increasing slightly, the darkened boat floated up to the side of the wharf. A small red lamp was turned on, illuminating the side of the boat and showing a gap on the railing. Gaz picked up his duffle and with a long step jumped off the wharf onto the deck of the boat, landing heavily. Moving to the side to make room for his partner, the Briton saw two people flanking him on the deck; one a large black man with a shaved head wearing rounded shades, a flak jacket over his bare chest and camo pants, and on the other side an Asian woman with long hair pulled in a ponytail, wearing a tank-top and cut-off jeans. The man was holding a pump shotgun with one hand and the woman had a pistol out and not quite aimed at him.
Gaz was about to call out when with a light thud his partner landed beside him, his knees flexing to absorb the shock of landing. His bags were softly lowered to the deck before Keitaro straightened up with his hands free, looking around for a moment before locking onto the armed woman beside him. Gaz could understand why; while the man had an air of calm and coolness, the woman radiated anger and aggressiveness.
"Good day. My name is Akira, and this is my companion Gaz. I believe you are transporting us to Roanapur?" Keitaro's voice was soft yet clear, with a heavier Japanese accent than he normally had. He was looking toward the large man, but kept the angry woman within his peripheral vision.
"That's right. My name's Dutch, and besides you is Revy. I am the captain of the Black Lagoon, and she's my security. Once we get you situated we'll get going. But first we need to settle up," the large man stated.
"Of course." Keitaro slowly reached into his inside coat pocket and produced a banded packet of cash. Offering it to Dutch he said, "Five thousand dollars upon pick-up, five thousand upon drop off at Roanapur."
Pulling out a penlight, Dutch cradled his shotgun and examined the packet, looking closely at and counting the bills. After a few moments he looked up as he tucked the packet into a thigh pocket of his pants. "Everything's good to go. Revy will show you to your cabin, that room and the head are the only inside areas you are allowed to access. Failure to stay in those areas or to follow orders in a combat situation will result in you being considered hostile. You don't want to do that," the black man finished saying.
Keitaro looked at Dutch for a moment, then at Revy for a longer moment, before looking back at the captain. "So long as you don't do anything that Gaz-san and I would consider unreasonable or hostile to us, those conditions would be acceptable. Agreed?"
Dutch looked down at the smaller man. Given that he was close to two meters tall, heavily muscled and black, most Asians were intimidated by him. But the man before did not seem scared or worried. In fact, he seemed to be a little too calm given the situation, but since he was not planning a rip-off (as much money as could be made doing those, the hit to their reputation was not worth it) it should not be a problem. "Agreed." Seeing the woman about to protest, the man merely frowned at her and she shut her mouth. "Revy will show you to your cabin, we'll be on our way shortly. It's about 450 klicks to Roanapur from here, and we're going to be cruising at 35 knots, so this trip is going to take about seven or eight hours. The seas are a bit choppy and windy, so make yourselves comfortable gentlemen, it going to be a bumpy ride."
A/N 2 – It's been three months since my last update. I feel so ashamed. :( But I posted a lemon, so hopefully that makes up for some of it.
We are now seeing Badass In A Nice Suit Keitaro in action. Hopefully this will tide you over until we get to Roanapur and we see Hiroyuki Akira rock out. First stop, the Yellowflag Bar! Not even two hours in Roanapur and Akira-san will be making his reputation. *grin*
Except for two smaller omakes that are still coming, this is pretty much the end of the Pirate Raid/Chasing Sarah Arc. Next stop, the Hinata-sou, where Sarah-chan is going to going to hit the Japanese public school system like a bomb. Good thing she have Little Miss Badass Nyamo watching her back… Also, everyone's favorite turtle girl will make her appearance by falling on our favorite ronin and dying… don't worry, she gets better.
Like I said, two small omakes left (Omake + 10k words = does not compute). One is going to be secondary canon (a peek inside Keitaro's head and the reappearance of our favorite snow spirit), while the other is a glimpse of what is happening to Sarah right now, and I can tell you right now, it's not a happy situation (no harm or abuse, but not happy nonetheless).
There was an odd glitch in the stats system for almost three weeks in November and December, so it threw the counts of people reading my story off. :( Since it's been more than three months since my last update, I'm going to have to make an arbitrary selection for Most Unusual Place Reading My Story. The winner this month is Iceland (I really would like to visit the place one day, along with Alaska, Japan, and so on) and the runner up is Singapore (which is probably the best place to see a Gurhka close up short of a combat zone).
As of 1600PST 26Dec2016, there have been 255K words in this story (not counting the lemons), 647K views, 730 Reviews, 60 C2 Listings, 1203 Favorites and 1099 Story Alerts for this story. Thanks again to all my readers. Happy Holiday, and may Peace Prevail on Earth. *thumbs up*