Part 4: Giving Back
LOCATION: Port of Los Angeles
The area was filled with guards from Storm Breaker. All of them were heavily armed as they patrolled around waiting for the time that the container would be moved. The head of security was a big man of German descent by the name of Hans Grin. Ever since the webcam had been broken two days ago, he and his men had double security around container 541. He didn't know what was in the container that was so important it needed to be guarded, but it wasn't his place to ask. He and his men were only in charge of making sure that the shipping container made it safely from L.A. to Kentucky.
Two of Grin's men were standing guard in front of the container when they heard a commotion. A young man and woman appeared from around the stacks of containers a few rows down from their position carrying suitcases and were dressed like tourists on a Hawaiian cruise or something. The man was wearing blue Hawaiian print swim shorts and a white t-shirt with a row of surfboards across the chest, and around the back. The woman was in a pair of small denim shorts and a pink Hawaiian print tube top with a light yellow short-sleeved button-up over top that remained unbuttoned, but was tied off below her bust-line. She was also wearing large stylish black sunglasses and one of those big straw sun hats. Both had the same sandy blond hair and were wearing sandals. They appeared to be brother and sister and were arguing. Loudly.
"The car is right over there!" The man was saying.
"That's what you said the last five times," the woman scowled. "I told you we should have taken the shuttle bus, idiot."
The pair of guards shared a confused look with each other before leaving their post to approach the angry pair.
"I was not going to ride in one of those tin cans again," the man said, scowling back at the woman.
"Whimp," the woman said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and adjusted her sunglasses.
"Hey! You!" the man said, spotting the approaching guards. "Come here. We're lost. Can you tell us where the Pacific Cruise parking lot is?
"You two have to move away from this area," the guard said sternly.
"What the hell do you think we're trying to do, dumbass?" the blond man snapped. "Just tell us where the parking lot is so that we can find our car.
"Oh, sure," the woman huffed. "Start a fight, why don't you? Next time I'm going to Alaska with Mom and Dad."
"Like you could stand all of that sunlight this time of year," the man scoffed at his sister. "It's summer. Night is only a concept up there right now."
"Whatever."
The guards looked on helplessly as the two started to shout insults at each other. Another pair of guards had stopped patrolling to watch the unusual spectacle and see what their colleagues would do about them, but the brother and sister were a formidable pair and their glares were as scary as Grin's.
LOCATION: Port Gates
Congressman Horowitz was in a bad mood. Sayle's contracting company had managed to screw his wood panel order up, so now he was here to see where the shipment had ended up. If it wasn't here, there were going to be some serious words said the next time he saw Sayle. He pulled his car up to the gate at the Port of Los Angeles. A young Asian man smiled welcomingly at him from behind a pair of rather large spectacles as he leaned out of the guardhouse window to talk to him.
"Excuse me," Horowitz said as he rolled his car window down.
"Yes, sir. Congressman!" the young man exclaimed when he realized whom he was now speaking with. "What a pleasure."
"Thank you," Horowitz said, dismissively, pulling out the paper work he'd printed off and handed it to the guard. "I paid a fortune for these mahogany panels and I'd like to know where the hell they are."
"I can help you with that right here, sir," was the reply. The young man seemed eager to help him. Horowitz couldn't help but smile at the man's enthusiasm.
LOCATION: The Container
While Shiho and Saguru were keeping the two guard's busy Kaito – dressed as a construction worker – and Heiji – dressed as one of the couriers that drove the port's white delivery trucks – were working on the container.
"They changed the lock," Kaito huffed.
"Just do what ya do," Heiji grunted. "Whatever ya need ta, ah…"
Heiji trailed off when Kid pulled out a small bomb from his tool belt.
"Nah. Uh-uh." Heiji paled, backing away as Kid shot him what he'd long since dubbed the crazy psycho grin. "Hell no."
Kid ignored his partner and fixed the bomb to the container door, setting the timer while Heiji moved away to a nearby delivery truck. He shot a quick glance at Saguru and Shiho and saw that the two were still in the middle of a heated debate.
That was when Hans Grin returned, having heard the commotion going on over by the container. Heiji quickly jumped into the truck's cab and waited impatiently for the signal.
Grin couldn't believe what he was seeing as he rounded the last stack of containers to find his two guards standing away from their post watching dumbly as this weird couple argued about Goths and Preps.
"It was a phase!" the blond man was yelling.
"Captain of the gymnastics and cheer squad teams? Yeah. Sure it was," his female companion scoffed back.
"Oh bite me, Buffy," the man growled back.
"Hey!" Grin yelled, having heard enough of this nonsense. "You two, back to your posts," he snapped at the guards before turning to address the blond couple. "What is this?!" he demanded, pausing what he finally came face to face with the man. He looked familiar. Hadn't he seen him at Sayle's office a little less than a week ago? "I know you."
"What?" the blond man frowned. Grin frowned as well. This man didn't have the accent Grin remembered him having.
That was when all hell broke loose. There was a loud, deafening explosion nearby. The couple stumbled forward, the man shielding the woman.
"Check the container," Grin ordered the men in his patrol group. They hurried away. Grin was just turning to address the couple once more, but they had run across the way from him and were now standing before a wall of shipping containers. He took a step towards them, but a big white delivery truck drove right between him and the pair, moving as if it were in a real hurry, and in the few seconds it took the truck to pass, the blond man and woman were gone, leaving only their suitcases behind.
"Where'd they go?" Grin growled. "No, no, no!"
Feeling a trickle of fear shiver down his spin he raced towards the container he was supposed to be guarding and saw that it had been the source of the explosion, the doors had nearly been blown off their hinges, the opening scorched. The container was empty. Whatever had been in there was gone now.
"No!" he shouted angrily, waving at his men to follow him as they raced after the truck. "Perimeter! Perimeter, there's a white truck coming at you. Do NOT let it pass!"
Grin and his men were in such a hurry, jumping into their vehicles after the delivery truck, that they didn't see Congressman Horowitz make his way into their sector, looking down at a piece of paper he held in his hands and at the containers around him.
LOCATION: Port Gates
Heiji grit his teeth as he brought the truck roaring through security and the front gate with a pickup truck full of Storm Breaker soldiers in pursuit. Next time, Heiji vowed, Kid was going to drive the truck and get chased by trigger-happy gunmen. He slammed on the breaks just as another pickup truck pulled in front of him and forced him to stop. Men jumped out of the black pickup trucks and surrounded him, pointing their guns at him.
"Hands up," one of the guards shouted at him.
Heiji sighed and raised his hands into the air.
Heiji couldn't see it, but back at the gate he'd just blown through Grin's crew had just pulled up and so had Herod Sayle. Sayle was looking around in bewilderment at the rush of activity as his company's guards ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.
"What's going on here?" Sayle demanded, watching Grin shove one of the regular port security guards out of the way.
"What are you doing here?" Grin asked, a little too tersely. You couldn't blame him though. He wasn't having a good day.
"We're moving the container today," Sayle frowned. "Why else? Now, what's happening?"
"The container is empty," Grin said through gritted teeth before moving on. He could see the white truck stopped by the perimeter patrol a little ways in the distance. His men were out of their vehicles, guns pointed at the driver.
Sayle didn't give his head of security another glance, heart beating fast as he put his foot on the gas and hurried his car over to where his container was.
When Grin got to the white truck he noted that it was unmarked with little to no identifying marks. He was willing to bet that the plates were fakes as well.
"Get out of the truck," he shouted as he came around to the driver's door.
The man that got out wore clothes that were big and loose, looking a couple sizes too big for him. He was also tall. Surprisingly so, considering he was Asian. China men weren't usually that big.
"And just where do you think you're going?" Grin demanded.
"Just transportin'," China man said in halting English.
"No, you're just gonna open this truck," Grin growled, grabbing the man and shoving him towards the back end of the truck. "Open it!"
The China man frowned, eyes narrowing at him.
"I know what dis is. Dis racial. Dis 'bout my et'nis'ty, ne? Yah! It 'cause I Cat'lic."
…What?
LOCATION: The Container
Congressman Horowitz stared in surprise at the blown out container, wondering what had happened there. He was still looking for the container holding his mahogany wood paneling, but the sight of the ruined container had distracted him.
"What did you do?"
Horowitz started in surprise, turning around in time to see a furious looking Herod Sayle stomping up to him. He was even more surprised when Sayle grabbed him by the lapels of his suit and shook him.
"Who the hell are you working for you stupid son of a bitch?! I will bury you!" Sayle raged.
"Get your damn hands off me!" Horowitz snapped and shoved Sayle away, having had enough of the rough treatment.
"You don't think we kept all of your e-mails? All of your phone calls?! You go down with us on this," Sayle said, continuing his tirade.
"What is this? What's going on?" Horowitz demanded.
"This is the container!" Sayle shouted, gesturing to the ruined blown out container they were both standing in front of.
"The container?" Horowitz frowned, trying to make sense of what the man was saying. Then it clicked. "The container with the Iraqi money?"
"I'm supposed to believe that you just happened to be here on the day that a couple hundred million dollars in cash goes missing?"
"Don't blame me! I helped you smuggle that money through customs. I broke laws. I could go to jail!"
Horowitz and Sayle stood there for a moment glaring at each other until they heard a small party approaching. They both groaned when they saw the cameras and microphones and began to self-consciously straighten their appearances.
"Congressman? Is this the container, Congressman?" A woman holding a microphone with the CNN block on it asked.
"Uh…what?" Horowitz blinked, not sure what was going on now.
"You called us, Congressman," the newswoman pressed.
"I—no, no, no, you must be mistaken about that," Horowitz protested, glancing at Sayle, pleading with his eyes for the man who'd been his partner for years to believe him.
LOCATION: The White Truck
"Just cuz one bad priest make news, no mean all us bad. What 'bout nuns? Tha sisters is lovely ladies. They—"
"Open that door," Grin said stiffly, shoving his gun in the China man's face. His patience had reached its end. "Or I open your head."
"Ok! Ok!" the China man whined, flinching away from him, muttering in gibberish as he fumbled with the latch on the truck's back door. Grin helped the man push the door up, but all he could see was an empty truck.
LOCATION: The Container
The woman from CNN made her way forward past the congressman and moved one of the open doors back to reveal the numbers on the container.
"No, it's not this one," she said, frowning. "This is 542."
"What?" Horowitz said, puzzled. Seriously. What was going on here?
He and Sayle watched with growing trepidation as the reporter shut the door and moved to the undamaged container next to it.
"Your phone call said 541," she said, smiling winningly. "Sir, you're holding the key."
"Oh," Horowitz said in surprise, looking at the key and map in his hand. "Yeah, well…"
In that moment Horowitz realized he had been set up. He didn't know by whom or for what reason, but he was sure that the security guard at the gatepost was involved. He'd been told that the key he was holding belonged to the container holding his wood panels. He had a sinking feeling that it didn't.
With a fake smile he moved to unlock the container, his heart sinking further with every second. There was nothing else he could do with all of the reporters watching.
"Don't," Sayle hissed. "Don't."
"They're watching," Horowitz hissed back. "They're filming us." Then he raised his voice so that their audience would hear. "Herod, will you help me here, please?"
With a resigned look, Sayle and Horowitz pulled open the doors to reveal the container filled with cash. There was a collective gasp from behind them.
"Congressman, what is all this? What have you uncovered here?" the CNN reporter asked.
Horowitz hid a relieved sigh. They didn't expect anything foul… from them that is. Maybe there was a way to salvage this.
"I have uncovered corruption," he announced, warming to the story that was quickly forming in his mind. He gestured to Sayle. "This is Herod Sayle, from Storm Breaker Security, and in the course of his company's very patriotic work in Iraq they discovered a massive theft of U.S. currency."
"Our intel revealed that this container left Iraq sometime last month," Sayle added, improvising and working with the story that Horowitz had come up with. "I knew that I would need high level help unraveling this conspiracy so I called the most honest man that I know, Congressman Horowitz."
"And I want to tell you this," Horowitz announced, "I for one am not going to stand by and let this sort of war profiteering continue."
As he'd been finishing his last statement all of the reporter's and Horowitz and Sayle's cellphones had started going off. When they opened their phones, they received a video message of Sayle and Horowitz as they'd been talking only a few minutes earlier in front of the blown out container. Horrified, and upon noticing the angle of the video, the two damned men and the reporters looked up and spotted the webcam mounted on a pole nearby the row of containers opposite them.
"Congressman, it this a confession?" the CNN reporter and many others demanded.
"There's an explanation for everything," Horowitz said weakly.
"And, sir, what is that explanation? How long have you been involved in this smuggling?" the reported asked, her eyes alight with excitement for a story that was sure to make headline news for the next few days.
Horowitz struggled to come up with an answer and excuse, but nothing was coming.
"Ah crap," he muttered before turning away from the cameras and walked off, ignoring the buzz of the media frenzy behind him as reporters got on their phones with their bosses to deliver this juicy scoop.
The CNN reporter was no different as she made her own call, grinning up at her cameraman. "We're gonna lead with crap."
LOCATION: Los Angeles General Hospital
Alex Rider was wheeling himself outside and down the driveway of the hospital, followed by Dr. Jones.
"What's all this about?" the doctor asked, sounding resigned.
"I don't know," Alex shrugged. "James called and said he wanted us down here right away."
As they reached the end of the drive, they spotted Saguru and his team waiting at the back end of a white delivery truck.
"Hello," Saguru smiled at them as they approached.
"What do you want?" Dr. Jones asked, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"Show them," Saguru grinned, stepping aside.
"Oh! Me, me, me!" Kid squealed, dressed as a woman again – this time with long strawberry blond hair pulled back in a braid and was wearing a bubble-gum pink dress that barely came down to her knees. She unlatched the door and threw it up, revealing the empty insides of the truck that Grin and his men had seen the day before back at the port.
"An empty truck," Dr. Jones said tonelessly, looking far from amused.
"Nothing up my sleeve," Kid giggled before climbing into the truck's interior and, with a flourish, ripped back a painted canvass that had made the truck appear empty. Behind the canvass were two large pallets of cash from the container of stolen money. In the chaos of arresting Horowitz and Sayle, and while the police were moving the money from the container, Kid had pretended to be part of the construction crew tasked with manning the forklifts and had managed to sneak away with two of the pallets. No one was going to miss a few million out of hundreds of millions anyway.
For a moment Alex and Dr. Jones could only stare in surprise and shock. Naturally it was the good doctor who recovered first.
"Is this stolen?" she demanded.
"Not anymore," Saguru smiled reassuringly.
"What…what are we supposed to do with it?" she asked, looking overwhelmed.
"Pay for Corporal Rider's rehab," Shinichi suggested.
"And some 'a tha other guys' rehabs," Heiji added, looking around at the other recovering veterans limping around outside the hospital grounds.
"Pretty much whatever you want," Shiho said with a small smile.
"Doc," Alex said, after finally managing to find his voice. "A couple of cute blonds show up with a few million dollars," Shiho rolled her eyes while Kid winked at him, "I say we take the win." He turned back to face the team. "Thank you," he said with feeling.
"No, Corporal," Heiji said, stepping forward and grasped the young man's hand in a firm handshake. "Thank you." Heiji may not be an American or see himself as belonging to any country in particular – even if he always did identify himself as Japanese – but he admired this young man and others like him that fought for their country and aided others in need because they thought it was the right thing to do to keep their own home, friends and families safe. Those men were honorable and they deserved respect.
The other three smiled and followed Heiji's example before leaving, but Saguru lingered for a few moments longer.
"The world doesn't work this way," Dr. Jones protested half-heartedly.
Saguru thought about that and nodded slowly. Then he looked up and saw his team standing further away by Shinichi's car watching as other curious injured soldiers made their way towards the truck. A group of thieves had become a team of modern day Robin Hoods. They were still learning how to work together, were still getting used to being the good guys for a change, but they had made a difference today, and if they could…
"…So change the world," Saguru told her. He shook Alex's hand one last time and after promising to get in touch again soon he moved on to rejoin his team. For a moment the five of them were silent, watching Alex and other injured soldiers gather around the truck, staring and talking about the money inside and what to use it on. It was a great feeling. One that Saguru never got tired of feeling after a successful job. They'd helped these people and now it was time to move on.
"Anybody who wants to walk away can do so right now," Saguru said softly.
"…One more," Heiji said after a moment.
"Maybe two," Shiho shrugged.
Shinichi smiled, shaking his head and bumped his shoulder against Saguru's in silent agreement.
"…I bought a plant," Kid suddenly announced. "For the office."
"Nice," Shiho said, straight faced, but there was a small amused smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I'm sure it'll be a great addition."
"What's it supposed to do?" Kid asked.
Shiho rolled her eyes in exasperation while the others laughed, following Saguru as he moved away and headed towards another section of the parking lot.
"Did ya really give all yer money away?" Heiji asked, after one last look back at Alex and the other soldiers. The whole situation reminded him of a question that had been hovering at the back of his mind since the job had started, but hadn't found the time to ask. "Ya didn't buy yourself anything?"
"Oh, I bought a car," Saguru mused.
"Probably a some tiny little jukebox car," Shiho scoffed.
"It's an electric car, actually," Saguru told them.
"Of course it is," Shiho sighed.
"How sweet," Shinichi snickered. "Do you have to wind it up?"
"I'm just trying to be responsible," Saguru shrugged. "And I'm still testing it out anyway. I'm not even sure if I'll keep it."
"Responsible?" Heiji repeated, rolling her eyes. "Ya know it sucks bein' tha good guy, right?"
"You haven't figured it out yet, have you?" Saguru asked, grinning at them. "Just because you're the good guys now, doesn't mean you can't have a little fun along the way."
Then he jumped into a red Tesla Model S. The team watched in astonishment as he backed the car out of an "Electric Car Only" spot and peeled away with a cheeky wave.
"Woo hoo," Kid whistled, grudgingly admiring the shiny sports car – even if it was electric.
"Oh boy," Shinichi muttered, shaking his head.
"Is he old enough ta have a mid-life crisis?" Heiji asked.
"No," Shiho answered. "But he's certainly compensating for something, I'd say."
The others nodded in agreement.
~End~
And that's the Storm Breaker Job! Sorry for the wait for the second half of this you guys, but what did you think? Was it good? Bad? Should I continue writing more of these? If I do, it'll be a while before I start the next one. I have a lot of other fan fics I need to get back to and update, but if there is interest in more stories involving these characters in this universe, please let me know in a review and I'll work writing more stories into my updating schedule. :)
All right! Easter Egg time! Did you catch them all?
Alex Rider references:
Alex Rider – title character
Paul Roscoe & Fiona Friend – characters that kind of become friends in Alex Rider's second book, Point Blank
Dr. Jones – Mrs. Jones, the assistant to MI6's head honcho, Alan Blunt
Storm Breaker and Herod Sayle – the first book in the Alex Rider series and it's main villain respectively
Congressman Horowitz – Anthony Horowitz is the author of the Alex Rider series
Congresswoman Starbright – the character Jack Starbright was Alex Rider's housekeeper and good friend
Hans Grin – Mr. Grin was Sayle's lead henchman in the Storm Breaker book.
"James" – Saguru's middle name is something I've seen in a lot of fan fics, but I got the idea from a Tumblr RP-er whiteknighthakuba. I liked this idea so much that I have adopted it into my own head-cannon for Hakuba's character and use it in many of my fan fics. Because Hakuba is half-English and grew up in the UK, it made sense to me that he should have a middle/Christian name. He was raised as a Catholic in my head-cannon, so "James" is the name of the Patron Saint he chose for his Confirmation/Christian name. But James is also the name of a character that Alex Rider meets and befriends in Point Blank, so it's kind of a duel purposed Easter egg.
So what do you think of my Easter Eggs? Are they fun to look out for when you read? Should I keep using them? Let me know what you think in a review! ALSO! If you haven't already read it, there is a one-shot ficcy that I released for Christmas that takes place 3 months after this one. It's called The Christmas Job. Go read it if you haven't already! Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading these fics as much as I have had writing them. :)