sChapter Thirteen

Shinjuku was a lively part of Tokyo, which was home to a large part of Tokyo's government and also the world's busiest train station.

Black Jack remembered this little fact rather irately as he sat in traffic for hours on end. He pounded his dashboard in frustration and cursed loudly quite a few times about how he should have left his car back in Kita.

Eventually he managed to make his way past the traffic lines and into the city. He had purchased a map of Shinjuku earlier and had found the Fire Spot, which was once again, located in the shadier side of town.

When he had stopped by at a convenience store to ask for further directions and to make sure he was on the right track, the clerk had looked stunned as to why he wanted to go down there.

"Uh," the teenage boy had scratched his head and responded, "Well, it's a couple streets down from here… I think your third left? But why do you want to go there?"

"No reason," Black Jack quipped, and then he had purchased a bit of tobacco for his pipe and left.

He got back in his vehicle and opened the compartment that was on the passenger side of his dashboard. In it sat a small black pistol that he had acquired a while ago and had left it in there. Now it seemed like he would finally have a time to use it.

He tucked it underneath his cloak as well as a few other scalpels, and then proceeded down the street towards the Fire Spot. He followed the boy's directions and eventually found this little shack like shop squeezed between two apartment buildings. Black Jack stopped about a block or two away and surveyed what was in front of the shop.

Two sleek muscle cars, obviously imported, were parked outside of the shop. Behind the dark panel of glass, Black Jack could see a few figures of people crowding in front of the window. Black Jack quickly checked his gun, hid it again, and then proceeded towards the shop. He pressed himself to the wall and leaned casually against it, listening to what he could make out from inside. He was delighted to hear that the walls were quite thin.

"…Imported… Yes, custom made…"

"…They cost a fortune… quality is second to none…"

"…In the back here, let me show you…"

Black Jack heard footsteps moving towards the back of the store. He took the opportunity at that moment to cross in front of the store and determine whether or not he had heard correctly. As he passed by he saw no one. So he headed into the store.

The store was haphazardly organized, with guns mounted everywhere on the walls and various types of ammo randomly crammed into counters and underneath the coverings of displays. Black Jack could see that a door at the back of the store was propped slightly open. The room was otherwise unoccupied.

He proceeded slowly to the back of the store and glanced through the doorway. He saw, to his amazement, a rather large and spacious garage that faced an alleyway, in which a car was parked at the back. Black Jack saw a group of men clustered in front of a couple of armored and cardboard boxes, listening intently while one man talked quite excitedly.

"See these are some pretty impressive weapons," he told one of the men, and then Black Jack's eyes widened.

Daitaro Usami.

Black Jack gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to pull out the pistol and shoot him right then and there. He waited. He had to wait. He would get him.

"…See, there are quite a few rifles here that are top of the line. Army quality. And there's a sniper here too that I've included that has got the best range, and a couple pistols that pack quite a lot of power."

"They're all imported?" Daitaro asked, a soft smile creeping across his lips. "Is that true, Shintaro?"

Shintaro, the gunsmith, nodded eagerly. "Oh yes. Imported from mainly European countries. The Europeans… they make a lot of good stuff."

"So I see, so I see."

"Here," Shintaro said happily, passing over a silver pistol to Daitaro, "this is one of my favorites. A German made gun."

Daitaro grabbed the pistol, felt its weight and admired it, then fired a couple rounds at the wall. Shintaro flinched each time he fired, but nodded when Daitaro gave a satisfied smile.

"Yes, yes, very good," Daitaro commented. "What is your price for this?"

"All of this or just the pistol?"

"All of it." Daitaro answered, and a dark look crossed his face.

"Well… the price is going to be around two million yen."

"Two million?" Daitaro tilted his head, as if confused by this number.

Shintaro nodded feebly. "Y-yes. Believe me, sir, that's a generous price as it is…"

"I'll be the one to determine that."

Daitaro nodded to his men, who instantly went forward and snatched up the boxes. Shintaro started screaming furiously and pulled out a gun, but forgot that Daitaro had been holding a pistol himself, and he fired.

Shintaro screamed and fell to the ground, bleeding, and then the henchmen rushed as fast as they could to get the boxes of weapons in the car. At that moment, Black Jack pulled out his gun and rushed out.

"Daitaro!" he roared furiously, pointing the gun at him.

Daitaro turned around, and his eyes flashed, but one of his henchmen shoved him inside of the car. Black Jack fired off a few rounds, but his hands were shaking so bad that they missed, hitting the sides of the car instead. The car tires screeched and spun, and then they were out of the alley.

"Damn it!" Black Jack roared, falling to his knees in pure rage.

His hands pulled at his hair and he glared furiously at the floor. "He was there. He was right there. I almost had him…"

He stopped. He slowly turned and glanced over his shoulder, and saw the body of Shintaro lying there twitching. The blood from his wound was leaking out quite steadily. Black Jack's eyes widened.

He quickly stepped over to the body and crouched down, then felt for a pulse. He was obviously still alive and in a lot of pain; too much pain to be able to talk. The thin pupils of his eyes stared pleadingly up at him, as his body started to convulse.

The bullet had appeared to have gone somewhere dangerously close to his heart. It was at that moment that Black Jack realized he was going to have to perform an operation.

A/N: Hey, hey, hey! So exciting. Finally he does another operation! Some of you might have noticed that I added titles to my chapters. I understand that some of the titles are just lame, but I wanted to create chapter titles that wouldn't give too much away… Anyway read and review as always and thank you very much for all your support!