Chapter 1: First Mission
10:50 PM
May 5, 2016
Yamamoto's Mansion
"Abort the mission, we are compromised" Kanou cried out on the other line while the others stiffened on their position after hearing his report.
'Shit' he glanced at the unsuspecting lady by his side and the other gentlemen engrossed in a conversation with the host. From his peripheral vision, he noticed the security moving into the room while the others proceeded to the second floor. He realized he needed to vacate the area as soon as possible.
"Excuse me for a second," he smiled at them and walked away. The other simply gave him a fleeting look before resuming to their conversation but his companion gave him another glance, he simply offered her an apologetic smile before picking up his speed.
"Entrances are blocked," he heard Hinata, "They are coming in from the side doors," he followed up. Tora quickly turned around after the warning, he tried his best to remain calm by offering the guests his shrimp platter while stirring away from the security and moved to the back of the room.
"I'm driving to the alley in the next street. Be there in 10 min," Hinata instructed.
Takumi glanced at his watch; 10:50 pm. He slipped out to the backyard from the windows in the maid's quarter, cleverly dodging a couple of passing guards in the process and safely hiding himself behind the hedges. After looking around he found a possible escape route, 10 feet on his right was a brick wall where he could climb over and land on the street next to the alley but assessing their situation he realized he will be shot before making it to the other side. He took a deep sigh when he noticed a shadow emerging from the corner of the house and two running figures heading his way.
"Yukimura, 6 o'clock two guys approaching," the shadow quickly hid behind the wall as two men in black suits ran past him.
"That was close. How are we getting out?" he asked with a shaky breath. Takumi glanced at his watch once again, 10:54 pm. At this rate, both of them will be captured if they stay any longer.
"There's five men in the vicinity. Make a run for it while I distract them," Takumi signaled at him and pointed at the wall on their right.
"If I don't make it just leave without me. We can't compromise our identities," after his instruction, Takumi ran to his left towards the direction of the gate which he hoped to be able to cross before they catch him.
"Over there," he heard the men screaming and shots were fired in his direction. With one last glance and no other option, Yukimura took the chance and dashed towards his only escape route. Takumi took cover behind a statue located near the fountain. 10:58 pm. His chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath, he could feel the pounding in his chest and the adrenaline rushing through his veins. He hasn't felt this rush in a long time. He fired at them and dived to the next statue to take cover, a sharp pain on his arm made him pause on his feet.
"Fuck," he groaned while applying pressure on his wounded arm. The guards kept firing at his direction and he could only stay still in his position and wait for the worst possible scenario; get caught.
"We are not leaving without you," he heard Hinata say.
He cradled his arm and shook his head, "Thanks for the concern, but they followed Yukimura's trail and there's more security coming my way,"
Takumi heard gunfire on the other line, "We are surrounded. We have to leave," Kuuga yelled.
"Leave. NOW," Takumi commanded as his grip tightened around his gun.
"Fucking shit," Tora cursed as Hinata slammed on the gas pedal.
24 hours earlier
Liberty Conference Hall
"I am here to see Mr. Tadashi."
"You can go right ahead. It's the door on your right."
He walked in the familiar hallway that led to their usual meeting room and opened the door expecting one reaction. The room became quiet as the occupants stared in shock at their surprise guest.
"Long time no see," Kouga warily said while Takumi took a seat beside him.
"Where have you been?" Hinata furrowed his brows, "You know we were so worried about you," his entire team gazed at him in silence. He didn't think that his leave after their last mission will affect their team but their reaction showed that there was a lot of doubt and concern regarding his sudden disappearance. But he knew he couldn't blame them for being suspicious, he left without any warning and he wasn't sure if he would be ever ready to tell them his reason.
"I had to take care of some personal business," he said as he leaned back on his chair. Working as a team for six years, trust was one simple thing that made their team work, no secrets were kept from each other but in this case he wasnt ready to admit the truth to himself.
"What did I miss?"
"You missed a whole month of training," Yukimura said.
He nodded, "I guess I didn't miss a lot then," he smirked
The tension in the room died down a bit as they began cracking a few jokes
"Hope your little vacation was worth it because they will kick your ass when you get back in the academy," Tora sneered
Before Takumi could rebuttal, Jiro Tadashi came in. Jiro is one of the appointed supervisors in the institute, he overlooks and arrange missions given from the headquarter office of the S.F.I also known as the Secret Force Intelligence.
"Good afternoon boys," he walked to the front and put down his suitcase on the table "Glad to see that everyone made it to the briefing today. Welcome back Takumi," Jiro nodded at him.
"Let's begin, shall we?" Jiro fired up his computer and began the presentation. A picture of a man in his fifties appeared on the first slide. He was all too familiar to everybody in the room, he appeared plenty of times in the news and tabloids for having questionable number of properties and allegedly being involved with illegal businesses.
"I know all of you know him very well," Jiro said.
"Kiro Sasaki," Kuuga mumbled.
"He is running a multi billion-dollar cocaine trade here in Japan. Kiro is well protected by the police and military, all the whistle blowers have been killed and the others are too scared to come out. The evidences and their activities are also covered up by the authorities," he turned to the next slide
"and this is where you come in," the next slide showed the picture of Kenji Yamamoto, a business tycoon who owns the largest bank in Japan. Jiro took out folders from his suitcase and distributed it to each one of them.
"Kenji Yamamoto has an annual event for his business partners. The next function will be held tomorrow night and Kiro will make an appearance. Your roles for tomorrow night are listed in the folder," Takumi opened his folder and skimmed through the descriptions.
"Kenji manages Kiro's bank accounts and the transfer of moneys from the other dealers and high-profile customers. Your job is to get a hold of the security files in Kenji's office and possibly gather some information from Kiro himself. The security will be put into high alert so everyone needs to be careful. As of now they have no suspicion that we are coming," they will be going up against one of the most influential and powerful people in Japan. If something goes wrong during the operation, it will be not just their lives that will be in danger but also the whole organization, "Make sure that this operation runs smoothly. This is a rare chance to get this close to the enemy and there's no room for ANY mistakes," he added
The group nodded in understanding, "and now to the more exciting part. Here are your new toys," he went around the room and placed a black attaché case in front of each person. They broke into a smile as they excitedly anticipate for the latest items that will be part of their collections. Trying and getting to play with the latest weapons and most advance gadgets during missions is one of the most exciting part of their job, aside from the adrenaline they get from the gun firing and near-death incidents.
"Come to daddy," Tora mumbled as he unlocks his case.
Every mission they get a variety of gadgets and weapons that will be useful for their tasks. For this mission, they were given a wireless nano earbud, 1 mm in size that enables them to communicate to each other. Contact lenses that records everything they see, a pen that shoots bullets, pocket knives for easy concealment and the elixir, in case they get caught, and the last but not the least, the most important weapon in their briefcase: Guns and bullets.
"Lets do this," Takumi grabbed the gun and pointed it at the picture of Kiro.
-xxx-
7:10 PM
Yamamoto's Mansion
"Confirm location, first floor."
"In position," Tora mumbled as he arranged champagne bottles on the table situated in corner of the room.
"In position," Yukimura made his way out from the kitchen
"Moving in," Takumi reported. Hinata parked the car at the front staircase with the rest of the other chauffeur.
"Stick to the plan. Set up the laptops for transmission and standby," he nodded and Takumi got out of the car.
Takumi fixed his tie and walked up to the stairs leading to the huge wooden door guarded by two men. He quickly observed his surrounding, there were at least a dozen men patrolling the front of the house alone. The first rule of being an agent is to always be in full alert. Knowing each exit points, studying your surrounding and assessing the number of people you are up against are just few of the things they need to keep in mind every mission.
A tall, muscular man stopped him at the top of the staircase, "Identification," Takumi showed his ID and the man checked the guest list.
"Sir, we need to check if you are carrying any dangerous objects," Takumi put his hands up and the security checked all of his pockets and patted him down. As soon as he was cleared the man nodded at the guards standing by the door and they pushed it open for Takumi.
"In position," Takumi mumbled as he made his way into the ballroom. He looked around and spotted Tora serving champagnes while Kenji was standing near the stage surrounded with other business men. Yukimura appeared from the crowd.
"All Set," Yukimura notified him.
Takumi went into the restroom. He opened the sink vanity and took out a handgun and a couple pistol magazine buried under a bucket full of dirty washcloths. He quickly loaded his gun and put it under his belt.
After grabbing a champagne, he went up to a few men to strike up a conversation while stealthily eyeing Kenji. His main objective was to get close to the host and meet their target, Kiro but looking at the host fixated in a conversation with other gentlemen, he realized that his task was harder than it seemed.
"Negative," he heard on the other line, "Kiro is nowhere to be found,"
He furrowed his brows after hearing their report. He excused himself and walked to the bar to observe the crowd, it was unlikely for someone like Kiro to arrive late at a party where his associates will be waiting for him. According to their reports, a lot of private events thrown by his associates are used to make deals and secure businesses with Kiro. He didn't want to think of the worse but with the missing target, there was a big chance they have to retreat if nothing else falls into place.
"Can I get tequila shot," he glanced at the girl beside him.
"One more please," she gulped down the second one and signaled the bar tender for another one.
"Rough night?" He asked returning his sight to watch the crowd.
She laughed "Oh, you have no idea."
Takumi looked back at her as he suddenly thought of a plan "I'm sure it will get better."
She looked up to meet his eyes and a cunning smile formed in the corner of her lips, "I think it just did,"
"What is your name?"
"Michael Smith."
"Maria Mori," she shook his hands.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Maria," he smirked.