Chapter Thirty-Five: The Chase
The gray dawn spread slowly across the eastern sky, dispelling the magic of the city at night. Transitioning from lights to concrete, stately skyscrapers emerged, monuments to the wealth that saturated Marunouchi, Tokyo's financial district. Yet as the buildings transformed with the warmth of the early morning, the black tower remained untouched, absorbing the light into its void.
Across the street in a vacant office, a figure in white watched, his attention fixed on the porte-cochere at the tower's entrance. There a dark sedan idled, its plume of exhaust curling over the asphalt before dissipating into the crisp air.
Sesshoumaru's pocket began to vibrate, and he reached into it to retrieve his cellphone. He tapped the green icon.
"Everything's set up and ready to go," Kagome reported, her voice echoing. "There's no one here like we expected."
"Good," he replied, his eyes still on the sedan.
"We're going to go get into position now and await your signal."
He continued to watch. "Thank you."
Staticky whispers crackled over the connection, and as his thumb moved towards the red icon, she sighed into the speaker.
He frowned and his attention fell from the tower to his phone. "Speak your concern."
"I just want us to be sure," she blurted out before settling into a ramble, "That this is the car. I mean, I trust that this is the right place. You investigated it, but what if that yakuza guy was lying to you? And what if—"
"I will not give the signal unless I'm certain," he assured.
"Yes, but if it's a decision based on faulty or misleading information, then it won't matter if you're certain. We threw this plan together pretty quickly. Ishida isn't an unusual family name. If we have the wrong one—"
"Your concern is valid," he interrupted, keeping any weariness from his tone, "However, there is only one Ishida listed under the property's corporate ownership. We will act if he is present. If he's uninvolved, it's highly unlikely that he would be here this early on a Sunday morning."
"I just… I just don't want to attack anyone who's not involved, especially if they're innocent when it comes to supporting the yakuza." She hesitated. "I trust your reasoning and your instinct. I just need to know that things won't be like they were the last time we worked together. Or like they were with Tora at the shipping yard. That you're here in the moment with us. That we're a team."
He closed his eyes, feeling a twinge of shame in his chest. "You are not wrong to desire proof. I have waxed poetic about understanding what it means to be part of a family, but I have yet to show it in battle. Assurances unproven by action are nothing more than theories. However, oaths have value, and I vow that I will protect you and Tora, both physically and morally."
"And yourself? Will you vow to protect yourself?"
The tinted glass doors of the tower's lobby slid open and two figures emerged.
"Sesshoumaru?"
Dressed in a dark, tailored suit, the first man strode confidently towards the car. Sesshoumaru minimized the phone call feature and selected his photo library. A corporate headshot of Ishida filled his screen. The man was a match.
"Sesshoumaru?"
"Prepare yourselves," he ordered, his eyes narrowing on the figure hidden behind Ishida and then he scowled at the unfortunate angle, "Two people are on the move and one of them is Ishida. The other is likely the oyabun."
Ishida approached the sedan and opened the rear passenger-side door.
"They're entering the vehicle…" he reported, then his words trailed off as he felt a strange tingling at the back of his neck. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Reaching under his headdress, he discovered a layer of perspiration dampening his skin.
Iridescent eyes watched him from the shadows of a tree line.
He spun around, searching for the enemy and was met by the plaster walls of an empty office. No trees and no eyes. Nothing worthy of the tension that tightened every muscle is his body and drove him to repeatedly scent the air. The mundane was all that he found. He glanced down to discover that one of his hands had retrieved his crowbar while the other had unfastened the latch on the window.
"Sesshoumaru?"
"Yes?" he replied with a voice carrying an edge he hadn't expected.
"What's going on?" she asked worriedly. "What happened to the car?"
The presence was gone, and he felt his body slow down, returning to its usual sureness. Turning back to the tower, he scanned the porte-cochere for the sedan and spotted it pulling out onto the street.
"The vehicle is heading eastbound according to the route that we expected," he explained, pushing the window open before leaping out onto the ledge. "Get into position. Time to intercept will be between five and seven minutes."
"But—"
"On it," Tora replied over the speaker, "We'll be ready. Good luck."
Hitting the red icon, Sesshoumaru slipped the cellphone into his pocket. Glancing back, he searched the office one last time, unable to shake the disquiet. The sensation of glowing eyes watching him. An unseen enemy crouching in the undergrowth.
Then he was gone, sprinting along the ledge in pursuit of the car.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Something's wrong," Kagome said, frowning. With her helmet's visor flipped up, she perched on the back of a glossy red motorcycle, a compound bow in her hand and a quiver of arrows slung across her back. "You heard it too, didn't you?"
Wearing a black helmet bristling with a red mohawk, Tora straddled the seat in front of her, his eyes scanning oncoming traffic. Beneath them, the motorcycle hummed eagerly, ready to fly from the secluded alley at the first sight of the sedan.
"I don't know," he replied, his tone lacking his usual affability, "But this isn't the time to choke. Or to second guess. We have our jobs, and we really will fail if we don't do them."
"You don't have to worry. I'm not going to fail. I've already proven that I can handle a bow."
"I know, and it was amazing. But this is about believing in a cause, not just about rescuing Amaya. And most importantly, this is about believing in a person."
She stared at the back of his helmet. "What do you mean?"
"Just like Sesshoumaru has to prove himself with action, you also need to prove that you believe in him and in what we're doing. Not just in words shared at a dinner table but here too. Because you can be a master in any skill and still turn failure into a self-fulfilling prophesy if all that you express is doubt."
A pack of cars flew past, none of them a sedan.
"I get what you're saying," she said, her jaw tight. "And I'll prove myself. I believe in what we're doing. And I believe in him."
He nodded.
A dark spot appeared at the distant curve of the street, growing larger as it cruised towards them. Amorphous lines solidified into the familiar contours of a sedan, the same make and model as the ones that had been parked in front of the besieged hotel months ago.
"Here we go," he sang softly, and then he peered back at her, his opaque visor reflecting her steely gaze, "Ready?"
Seeing her determination as he saw it, galvanized her further, and she nodded. "Ready."
The rush of tires sailing over asphalt grew louder as the sedan approached, and with a whoosh, it passed them.
Leaning forward, Tora added throttle and shifted into gear, and the impatient motorcycle jetted out of the alley, giving chase. As the pitch of its buzzing engine climbed, he shifted into the next gear, adding power as they quickly closed the distance. Ahead of them, the sedan continued cruising, unaware or unperturbed as they came up behind it.
Letting the right handlebar go, he raised two gloved fingers and then pointed them towards it as if aiming a gun. He scythed the bike to the left and moved in close to the bumper. With her thighs and pelvis braced against his back, Kagome stood up and brought her bow to bear on the car. Reaching back with her free hand, she pulled an arrow from her quiver and nocked it.
Red lights flashed, and the sedan braked hard, swerving towards them.
Downshifting, the motorcycle strafed right, crossing back with its front tire nearly kissing the bumper.
"Gotcha," she whispered as they slid beside the sedan's right fender, and she loosed the arrow.
With a loud pop, it collided with the sidewall of the front tire, piercing it through. Air burst out through the hole, followed by rhythmic slapping as the tire went flat.
She grabbed the collar of his vest as they fell back, narrowly avoiding the sedan's unsteady weaving as it bore to the right. After giving him a pat on the shoulder, she retrieved another arrow from her quiver, and the bike surged forward again.
The arrow flew, puncturing the right rear tire.
The sedan careened wildly to the right, and the bike braked, dodging it as it bounced off the curb. With her knees bent and a hand gripping his vest, she held on as they kept close, watching it struggle to recover.
Finding the lane again, the sedan barreled forward, its front wheels angled to the left. Rims sparking, it blasted through a red light, leaving a cacophony of honking horns and screeching tires in its wake. Slipping and weaving through the stopped and spun out cars, the motorcycle sped after it.
Raising three fingers on his left hand, Tora pointed and Kagome let him go to pull another arrow.
Fear tightened in her chest and she tried to swallow it down. If they were wrong, she wasn't sure if she could forgive herself. Setting her jaw, she nocked the arrow. Believe in them. Believe in him.
Aiming diagonally through the rear driver-side window, she imagined the path of the arrow exiting through the right side of the windshield. Then, she let it loose. It struck sure before ricocheting away, leaving behind a perfect ring of distorted glass.
Relief shuddered through her. Bullet resistant. Just as they had expected. This was the right car.
In rapid succession, she launched a volley of arrows, each one striking the driver's window before bouncing off. Reflected in the side mirror, she could see the driver's flinching tension as each one hit, causing him to veer frantically across the lanes.
The flat tires. The arrows aimed at his head. The primal fear of being hunted and unable to escape. Strip away the gilding of expensive watches and tailored suits and anyone can be prey. Too distracted by the predator nipping at their heels to notice the one about to go for their throat.
The sedan shot through another red light and as it crossed the intersection, a car sailed through the air and into its path, rolling as it smashed into the ground.
Tires screamed as the sedan hit its brakes, sending it fishtailing to the right. It skidded down the street and slammed sideways into the wrecked car, and together, they slid to a stop in front of the K-Lin Lounge. Through the spider-webbed fractures of the sedan's windshield lay the entrance to the parking structure across the street. And with a sputtering engine, it limped for it.
As quietly as its highly tuned motor would permit, the motorcycle slipped away to park beside a pedestrian egress in an adjacent alleyway.
As Kagome pulled off her helmet, she could hear the shrill cry of wheel rims echoing inside the structure as the sedan climbed. Then a constant thwap joined in, louder than a flat tire.
"I think they found the spike strip," Tora chuckled as he shed his helmet and pulled up his snarling tiger mask, concealing half his face. "That car is done."
The tempo of the noise slowed down until there was only the struggling idle of a battered engine.
"We did it," she said, adjusting her mask and hood into place.
"Team effort," he replied, and nodded his head towards her in acknowledgement, "I wasn't sure how your archery skills were going to play out while riding on my back, but that was %$#&ing badass."
She laughed. "Actually, that part was easy. If we had added some jumps, then it would have been even more nostalgic."
"I'm not sure if I want to know." He thumbed towards the stairwell entrance to the parking structure. "Shall we before Sesshoumaru has all the fun?"
Together, they hustled up the first flight until they reached the second level and followed the sound of the hobbled car. Glossy pavement reflected the morning light, and stark against the white concrete that surrounded them, she spotted the dark sedan. Through the shattered windshield, she could see the driver glaring at them, his hands still gripping the steering wheel.
In costume and halfway between them, Sesshoumaru waited, his eyes fixed on the car. He held up a staying hand, and both Kagome and Tora stopped.
"Something's wrong," she whispered as a strange mixture of comfort and dread pulsed through her.
Tora staggered back, panting as he felt for his chest. "What is this? What's going on?"
The driver's door creaked opened and Ishida slid out, a smug look replacing his previous glare. Smoothly, he walked around the car until he reached the rear passenger-side door. Lifting its handle, he swung it open as he glided to the side and bowed reverently.
A pair of satin pumps stepped out as a dark-skinned woman in an immaculate white suit emerged.
"Run," Sesshoumaru commanded as he put his body between them and the woman. "Run now!"