It's almost Christmas, so I decided to push this chapter out! I know writer's block sucks, but I'm still going to try to make this as good as possible.
The next day, Tom drove to the docks and got out of his Camaro. He walked into the office, Izuko greeting him as he went.
"So then, what is it today?" Tom asked.
"Paperwork." Izuko replied, handing Tom a bunch of papers.
"Yipee..." Tom looked through the files.
"Bunch of vehicles coming here in a couple of months. Boss wants these processed now, 'cause this is our first shipment from Europe."
"Lemme guess, bound for Yanase downtown?"
"Yep."
Tom scanned through the papers. "Whew... Real nice cars." Tom put the papers back in order. "Well, better get to it."
"Good luck Crenshaw."
"Yeah..."
At his desk, as he was signing the paperwork, Tom was thinking about the 911. He'd encountered an officer in his old TMPD days who drove a Porsche, a real rich kid. The kind who only wanted to join the police to further her social status. Yoriko had managed to beat her through the sheer luck she always had and the kid wasn't having any of it. They'd run into her a few times, with challenges ranging from ticketing violators to fighting with paintballs. Yoriko may have been technically beaten, but she'd managed to luck her way through every time.
Tom's train of though was interrupted by a man walking through the door. He was in his twenties and wore glasses. The new guy.
"Hello." The new guy greeted.
"Hey there." Tom replied. "So you're the new guy, huh? I just gotta get this paperwork sorted and then I'll show you the ropes. May want to stick around because I've been here two years and that's two more than you've been here. Make yourself comfortable." He pointed to the couch at the end of the room. "Turn on the TV if you want, I'm gonna be about 10 minutes."
"Sure." The new guy flopped down on the couch, while Tom got back to signing more papers.
The new guy had indeed turned on the TV, and was now watching TBS News.
"Breaking news." The reporter announced. "With Takashi Fujima still on the run, we see camera phone footage shot at the moment the wanted crime boss made his daring escape from a police convoy." Tom turned to look at the TV. "Plus, camera footage from the moment Fujima outran a police helicopter. He's the fastest thing on the road, so fast nothing the police have can stop him, and he's got gunmen who mean business. When is he going to stop? Who is going to stop him?"
"You know, I like watching the news." The new guy remarked. "I enjoy keeping my eyes on the city."
Eyes on the city. Those words bounced around inside Tom's head and brought up a few memories from his police service when a few people he knew had said those words.
Tom stormed into the traffic department office.
"Hey look bud." He spoke. "I'm going out there. That dress slasher needs to be caught, and I'm backing up my buddies. You don't like it, then the hell with you." He turned around to walk out. "I'm going out to get my eyes on the city."
Strikeman laughed at the poor rookie who had failed to hit his pitch. Natsumi was very angry at the vigilante baseball fan, while Tom was looking around for an air rifle to shoot his next ball out of the sky.
"You've got your eyes on the city, when they should be on the ball!" He yelled. "Don't come back until you find the true meaning of justi... OOF!" Tom had had enough and simply punched him in the face.
Tom was busy helping a couple of lost tourists when Miyuki marched up to him.
"Hey, Tom." She patted the American on the shoulder. "We need to get eyes on the city, that Z has just been spotted."
Tom leaned back in the seat of his Camaro police car. He stared out of the windshield, trying to process what the crew had got up to while he was off the grid investigating the Hachi-Ichi-Go plan.
"Tom?" Natsumi said from the passenger seat of the Camaro SS. "Tom. Eyes on the city Tom!"
A few more memories of Tom's police days played like a movie trailer until the new guy's voice derailed his train of thought.
"Is there anything I can do for you sir?"
Tom turned to face the new guy, determination in his face and in his voice. "No." He answered. "This is something I have to do myself." With that, he got up and went into the locker room, leaving the new guy alone in the office.
"Well, I might as well go do some of his paperwork." He got up and strolled over to Tom's desk, sitting down in the chair. He scanned through the paperwork until Tom walked back in the room.
"I decided to do your paperwork for you." When he didn't get an answer, he looked up. "By the way, I never did catch your name."
Tom turned around, and the new guy scanned the American. He was now sporting black wrap-around sunglasses, a black and red ZL1 cap and a flashlight clipped to his belt.
"Tom Fortnell." Tom stated before he was out the door.
Inside the traffic department office, the officers were gathered around the TV as the 11 o'clock news was playing camera footage from the helicopter. Fujima's Corvette could be seen shooting off into the distance.
"Look at that..." Ken commented. "Outrunning a helicopter."
"It's like a psychopath in the Batmobile." Aoi added.
"So how do we catch him?" Yoriko asked.
"We don't." A new, American voice called from the doorway. The officers all turned around to see Tom, their long lost colleague, standing in the doorway and taking off his sunglasses.
"Holy crap..." One officer muttered.
"Stay there." Yoriko walked over and lightly punched the tall American in the stomach. "How the...?"
"It's a long story." Tom said, walking over to his old desk spot and sitting down in the chair.
"Tom. You came back." Miyuki said.
"But... But..." Yoriko spluttered. "You were shot in the chest and fell three stories! They said nobody could survive that!"
"But don't you find it strange that no body was ever found?" Tom replied. "You see..."
2010. Tom had fallen off the side of the building and to his supposed death. However, his flak jacket had absorbed the 9mm bullet and saved him from serious harm, and a dumpster filled with garbage had broken his fall. Now, he knew the police would be searching for him, and they would be searching for the suspect, if they hadn't caught him already. While lying in the dumpster, he'd made up his mind. He would fake his death and start fresh with a new identity.
Climbing out of the dumpster and landing on the tarmac, Tom stumbled away, searching for a place in the alley where he could hide. He took cover behind some garbage as a police car shot by, responding to the incident. Walking out, he saw a familiar red Mini, and strolled over to it.
The old driver noticed Tom, and greeted him.
"Hello Tom. You need some help."
"Oshou..." Tom panted. "You need to help me get out of here. The police think I'm dead."
"OK..." Oshou opened up the passenger door of the Mini ERA Turbo, and Tom got inside.
Out on the road, Oshou drove his new passenger towards the temple. "So Natsumi and Miyuki are OK?"
"Yeah. I think so... Let's hope the suspect doesn't use his gun again." Tom replied.
"Get down." Oshou warned, and Tom complied and ducked down as a group of police vehicles went by, sirens blaring. "So what are you thinking?"
"New identity." Tom returned to sitting upright and rattled off. "New papers, new history, clean slate. I'm gonna need your help for that."
"It might take a while, but I think I could do that. About your apartment?"
"I'll work on that. I can't go back, especially when Natsumi and Miyuki live in the same building. I'll have to find someplace else. I also need you to keep this a secret. Not even Kachou can know about this. They all think I'm dead. I need to make this stick."
Oshou nodded as he pulled up outside the temple.
"Well. We're here."
"Thank you Oshou..." As Tom got out, he looked back at the Tokyo skyline. "Someday..." He muttered. "I'll be back." He sighed. "I hope you'll understand."
"...And a few months later, I had set up my new identity with Oshou's help." Tom finished. "I'm sorry I brought this on you guys, but I knew I wanted to start fresh. Oshou understood." He stood up. "And that is why Tom Fortnell has been dead for two years."
The officers were left speechless at the revelation.
"So then." Tom walked over to the whiteboard. "Fujima. Let's ge to it." He picked up a marker and drew a mind map. "Why can't we catch him?"
Ken raised his hand. "He has a hostage."
"Right." Tom scribbled down the details. "One Assistant Inspector Kaoruko Kinoshita, still as I remember her apparently. She was part of the convoy escorting Fujima and got taken hostage when he escaped. We can't call in an airstrike on him, 'cause we'd nuke Kinoshita in the process. We'd need an order from the emperor or something, if we even can get an JASDF F-2 to carpet bomb the area. How much is Fujima asking for release?"
"3 billion Yen." Yoriko spoke.
"That figures to about... 35 billion US Dollars in today's money." Tom continued as he scribbled down the information on the whiteboard. "Obviously paying the fee is out of the question."
"Can't we move in to get her out?" Aoi offered.
"Good luck catching that Vette. Even then, Fujima probably won't hesitate to drop her."
"So what now?" A random female officer asked.
"What's number 2?" Tom asked.
"The mercenaries!" Natsumi shouted with her usual bold voice.
"Right." Tom continued to draw the mind map. "From what I've been hearing, these guys are dressed in all black and have access to military grade firearms. AK-47s, SAIGAs, even a couple of QBZ-95 rifles from China."
"Heavy firepower." Another random officer, this time male, remarked.
"Sure. Just the kind of crap I dealt with in the Army." Tom commented.
Miyuki raised her hand. "Forensics was on the line." She reported. "Several people died in the escape, including one at the motor show."
"Motor show?" Tom questioned, turning around. "Cause of death?"
"Shot in the head by a mercenary. They dug out a .500 Magnum round."
"Sounds like a Smith & Wesson Model 500 revolver." Tom said. "Massive recoil, hell of a punch, takes down deer for a living."
"No-one in their right mind would use that in a firefight."
"No-one in their right mind, unless... I think we're dealing with Daisuke Sato here. Former Ground Self Defense Force, he and his bunch of mercenaries have no affiliation. Pretty much they fight for whoever pays them the most. His service is top quality, and his price is high. Now who do you think has got enough muscle to put him on the payroll?" Tom rhetorically asked.
"Fujima!" The officers in the room spoke in unison.
"Right. Now, the motor show reminds me, what is the last thing in this crapstorm that means we can't take him down?"
"The car." Miyuki replied.
"Yeah." Tom drew some more on the whiteboard. "I'm sure we already know the details, so I'll keep it short. Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, 638 horsepower, max speed quoted at 330 km/h (205 mph) and retails for $110,000 base."
"Not your run-of-the-mill car." Natsumi commented.
"Fujima's not your run-of-the-mill criminal." Tom stuck a picture of a Corvette on the whiteboard. "ZR1 diet: Eats GT-Rs and R8s for breakfast, munches superbikes for lunch and has been known to dine on a helicopter for dinner, with a side serving of Ferrari for dessert."
"A perfect combination." Ken said.
"What we have on our side is determination, a promise to serve and protect the people of the Sumida Ward and..."
"Our long lost colleague." Yoriko finished. "With Tom here, we can accomplish anything."
"I'm not sure about that." Tom replied. "But if my re-appearance has triggered this new wave of hope, what the hell has this department been for two years?"
"Completely by the book since you left." Aoi answered. "Not even Natsumi and Miyuki could change that."
"Oh really?" Tom sarcastically replied. He then pointed to Miyuki and Natsumi. "You guys are coming with me. We're heading to the docks, 'cause I think I offloaded the mercenaries' new cars yesterday." The trio walked out of the traffic department office, and past Kachou, who was left wondering about how Tom had survived.
Have a nice Christmas everyone, and don't forget to leave a review!