Pandora's Succession

by Russell Brooks

  “Who are you people?” Katori coughed up in Japanese. They didn’t answer.

  A cell phone rang up front. The front passenger held it up to his ear and answered in what sounded like Russian. He was in the middle of a sentence when two explosions shook the car. There was a bounce, and they all flew forward as the driver tried to maintain control when the vehicle spun counterclockwise ninety degrees and crashed into a parked car. Katori heard one of them yell zaebis, which he assumed was some form of profanity, as he was thrown into the seat in front of him while being crushed under the weight of one of the thugs beside him. All was quiet, with the exception of the running engine. The driver turned to the passenger to say something, but his partner was too preoccupied fumbling for the cell phone he dropped.

  Glass shards burst inwards from the passenger windows and showered everyone, and that’s when he saw swift shadowy movement outside. The entire episode took less than ten seconds before screams and shouts of agony erupted around him. Bits of muscle tissue and blood splashed on his face. He was quick to wipe it off until the window behind him exploded inward. Katori was covered in several shards before hard fingers dug into both sides of his face and neck and pulled him through the back as he tried to pry himself loose.

  Fox tried to listen in on the conversation on the October Man’s phone call, but he couldn’t catch everything. So far he gathered that something was wrong when the October Man called out the responder’s name three times before he switched his phone off.

  The October Man turned to the driver, and Demyan, with a head tilt towards Fox. “Dump him.”

  The car slowed down without stopping. Fox was forced to open the door and was kicked from behind. He flew from the car and rolled over a few times until he crashed into a solid object. He then landed in a cold puddle of rainwater. Fox rolled out of the puddle and quickly got up, ran his fingers through his hair to get out any excess water and scowled as he watched the members of the October Cell speed off, taking his car with them. Next time he’d send them all to the morgue as retribution. He looked down and saw that he hit the edge of the sidewalk. He brushed downwards and hard, on his clothes, to get the excess water off of him.

  Fox thought of the oddness of their actions-releasing him, considering how much danger he was to them. The October Man must have been spooked. Fox figured that if the October Man feared that his men were being followed by the enemy, then dumping Fox would divert the enemy’s attention away from them. As the saying went, if you and your friend are trying to outrun a lion, you don’t have to outrun the lion-you just need to outrun your friend.

  After what Katori had told him, phones would have to be on hold for now. But there was one more option, and Fox was most uncomfortable thinking about it. He wasn’t going to spend the night on Dr. Parris’s couch-he just had to talk to her in person.

  At first, he walked down the street, and then he broke out into a slight jog. He didn’t know the name of the street that he was approaching, but several cars flew by, so a taxi was bound to pass by anytime soon. As he approached the cross street, a black stretch-limousine drove into the intersection and stopped. The tinted glass prevented him from seeing who was inside, but he already guessed that whoever it was wasn’t there to help him. At least, that’s what his instincts told him.

  Fox heard more than one engine gunning behind him, so he quickly jumped to the side and onto the sidewalk thinking he’d be run over. A black motorcycle shot past him and screeched to a halt, with its driver facing him sideways. Before he was able to look at the driver, another motorcyclist charged him on the sidewalk, forcing him to jump back onto the street. The first motorcyclist revved the engine a second time and drove slowly around Fox while the second did the same, putting Fox between them and the limousine.

  The Yakuza-style ambush was not unfamiliar to Fox, and although he couldn’t see their faces beyond their dark helmets, he knew that they were not there to attack him unless he provoked them. With him unarmed, they had the upper hand.

  Okay I get it. I’m walking to the limo. Fox looked over his shoulder at the limousine again, and this time the rear window lowered. Through it, he saw the familiar smile and high cheekbones. He walked sideways towards the limousine while keeping an eye on the motorcyclists. They followed him on their bikes at the same pace in order to maintain their distance from him.

  “Come inside and join me,” said Tanaka. “It’s not safe for you to be out there. But you’ve already figured that out, haven’t you?” He laughed when Fox turned to look at the two men as they simultaneously revved their engines, reminding him what was in store if he didn’t do as he was told.

  Chapter 19

  Dr. Nita Parris’s Apartment, Chofu-shi, West Tokyo, 9:12PM

  Parris entered the elevator to her apartment building and put down the two grocery bags. The doors closed and she paced within the small space, her hands on her hips. Why did Dewan attack me? What did I do? And now he’s become a complete angel, changed even more than those so-called born-again Christians. At least, those were Hashimoto’s findings when he spoke to her earlier over the phone. It didn’t make any sense.

  The thoughts kept revolving like a treadmill through her mind. Then, there was Fox, the man that started it all. Her life as a field agent could be traced back to the moment he dumped her. How could I have been so naive as to believe that he was interested in the book-smart goody-two shoes that I used to be? She’d always been viewed by many guys the same way. Throughout high school, university, especially at her track meets.

  But Fox seemed different. She didn’t know what it was about him that intrigued her, but she sensed it when she met him earlier-especially when he played the piano. He couldn’t have written that piece for me…yeah right, wishful thinking. Why would I even think that in the first place? It was only then that she realized that the elevator wasn’t moving.

  She hit the seventh-floor button on the panel. That’s a sign that I’m thinking too much.

  When the elevator stopped, she gathered her belongings and walked to her apartment. All she thought of doing was preparing something light to eat and then heading straight to bed.

  Parris reached over to the wall and flicked the light switch. As she removed a can of corn, some green peas, and then a bag of noodles from her grocery bag, she heard the door buzzer. At this hour? It must be Levickis.

  She walked to the front door, where a ten-inch monitor was mounted on the wall. It showed a live camera shot of the entrance to her building. Levickis stared back at her, looking exhausted. Parris pressed a second button beside the monitor to buzz him in. She then unlocked the front door and headed back to the kitchen.

  By the time Levickis arrived, Parris had downed two glasses of cranberry juice, finishing off the two-liter bottle. He walked into the kitchen as she took out another bottle of cranberry juice from the second bag and put it into the refrigerator. “Juice?”

  Levickis unzipped his jacket. “No thanks.” From inside his jacket, he took out his PDA and then threw the jacket over the back of a chair.

  Parris looked at him and noticed how he fumbled with his PDA. “You look worried. What’s wrong?”

  “Everything. Something’s happened to Fox.”

  “Really? And he was concerned about me not being able to take care of myself.”

  “I lost contact with him after his meeting.”

  “Who’d he meet with? Anyone in the agency files?”

  Levickis tapped the screen with the miniature plastic wand. “I ran a face recognition search on his contact. Nothing’s come up yet. My guess is that he’s Boeisho.”

  “Did you find anything else?”

  “It looks like he’s been kidnapped. He was in a scuffle and his camera-my camera — got broken when he was thrown from a moving vehicle.”

  Parris tried to get a look at his PDA. “My God, is he all right?”

  “It appeared that he got up and walked a bit before the camera stopped transmitting. So he’s fine. You, on the
other hand, had the decency to fall headfirst so as not to damage yours when Dewan went berserk on you.”

  “I’m going to ignore that last comment.”

  “Ah, here we are,” said Levickis, as he brought up the video caption at the point where Fox was accosted at his car. He then handed the PDA to Parris.

  “Let me guess, you ran a face recognition search on these men and it turned up nothing.”

  “Not quite. Fox managed to get three of them on camera. Two of them were once in the Russian Air Force, up to about a year ago. Both of them were dishonorably discharged. Now they’re known members of Ares.”

  “Yes, I see.” Parris walked as she read the PDA. “Both of them were involved in drug trafficking to the Russian Mafia while in service. They were arrested and charged, but managed to escape custody, due to what may have been an inside job.”

  “What do you know about Fox?”

  “He’s a jerk, but I’m not going to get into any of that right now.”

  “Sounds like your type of guy.”

  “You wish.”

  A ringing came from her belt clip. Parris removed her cell phone and flipped it open. “Hello.”

  “May I speak to Helen Pierce?” It was her contact and Helen Pierce was the signal.

  “I’m afraid you have the wrong person, maybe you want to speak to Sheldon Spears.”

  “Ain’t he still at work?”

  “He is. I’m his sister.”

  “So you’ve been briefed on our arrival?” said Walsh who was careful not to use her name and keep the conversation curt. Although they both used secure lines designed by the tech guys at the Office of Science and Technology, or OST, in Langley, Virginia, the precaution was necessary. Their cell phones, as well as their PDAs and any other communication devices, had to be changed every few months, since less friendly nations had their own tech guys who did nothing else all day long but try to break through the secure lines of other nations-especially those in the United States.

  Parris handed the PDA back to Levickis. “Yes, we have.”

  “Is the computer nerd with you?”

  Parris glanced briefly at Levickis. “He is.”

  “Good. Any word from Sheldon? The bastard ditched us.” Parris understood Sheldon was code for Fox.

  “That’s what both of us are trying to find out. We’ve just learned that he’s run into some bad company.”

  “Oh, Christ. This ain’t good.” Walsh then spoke to someone else in the background. “Listen, both of you need to get over here ASAP. We’re staying at a different hotel than before. I’ll have my guy send the computer nerd our location to his PDA.”

  “I’ll let him know.” She hung up.

  “What was that all about?” asked Levickis.

  “That was Walsh. He’s sending us a meeting location.”

  Less than five seconds later a tune came from the PDA and Levickis tapped the wand to the envelope icon on the screen. “They’re at the Shinigawa Empress Hotel, room 305.”

  “I’ll go change.” Parris left the kitchen and walked to her bedroom. First, she had learned that her experiments were part of a recruitment ploy, as of this moment, Ares had their agents in town, and now Fox was missing. Parris knew that she was in for a long night.

  Chapter 20

  Shibuya Ward, 10:20 PM

  The black stretch-limousine cruised between forty and fifty kilometers per hour through the streets of the Shibuya Ward, a major fashion district of Japan and also a major nightlife area that teemed with young people and countless garishly-lit neon lights and billboards.

  “I thought you’d be happy to see me. After all, we rescued you,” said Tanaka. His bodyguards flanked Fox while he sat opposite them.

  “Yes, you did. Only now I’ve been kidnapped in luxury and without any sake to serve me this time. It’s an interesting scheme Hashimoto has going on. You keep the Boeisho in check so that he can carry out his plans. If only you knew what you were doing.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “You must admit that it’s hard to believe an important person within the Boeisho could be swayed by the teachings of a cult.”

  Tanaka laughed. “I hope you weren’t too taken in by what your contact told you. His understanding of things is, how should we say, limited. He most likely blew things out of proportion.” Tanaka sighed. “May he rest in peace.”

  Fox was not surprised. He feared the worst once he saw the October Man panic. He said nothing but just stared angrily at Tanaka.

  “Poor soul. It was the only way to put an end to his state of confusion. We can’t allow people like him to spread lies about us. It was for his own good, and, you could say, for ours as well.”

  “Ours? I don’t see anything good about your so-called beliefs, so I guess you’ll have to kill me, too.”

  Tanaka laughed again. This time he sighed louder. “It’s a real shame that you don’t understand the way things should be, at least for now. It was the same for everyone at first, including me. But that’ll change, and trust me, you won’t regret it.”

  “Is that why you’re keeping me alive? So that I learn the teachings of Hashimoto? My God, he’s really warped your mind. Sooner or later the Boeisho will discover you’re a mole, responsible for the deaths of your own men, which will leave you either court-marshaled or executed without trial. But I’m guessing that you’ve accepted that as part of Hashimoto’s plan.”

  “It’s the final outcome that matters. If I should die before then, I will have gone down as a martyr.”

  Fox didn’t say anything else, but noticed that they were slowing down, and he looked out the window to see where they were. Outside was the glitzy entrance to a nightclub. Cylinder was written, in both Japanese and English, in large, green neon lights above the entrance. The line-up was the same as with most nightclubs, long enough to go around the block with probably a sixty-to ninety-minute wait.

  “Does this remind you of your high school years?”

  Fox stared at the crowd. “It sure does. I never had to wait in lines though, since I always knew someone on the inside. It’s always helped, just like it’s helped Hashimoto having you on the inside.”

  When the limousine stopped, a bouncer, the size of an NFL linebacker, opened the door, and Tanaka’s two henchmen gestured for Fox to exit.

  “No, after you,” Fox said to the ninjas. The two men forced him out, causing him to nearly stumble and fall. The two motorcyclists, who had accosted Fox earlier, had parked on the sidewalk close by, away from the crowd.

  Tanaka was the last to get out of the car and the same bouncer closed the door. He looked at the two motorcyclists and waved them off. They both responded by revving up their engines and speeding away. Tanaka then straightened his tie as he looked at Fox.

  “It’s not a good idea to disobey Hashimoto’s ninjas, especially since they’ll kill on a command from an authoritative figure.”

  “Well, since it’s only you, I guess I have nothing to worry about.”

  Tanaka laughed once again.

  Another bouncer unclipped the velvet rope to allow the four of them to pass through. As expected, the people closest to the front of the line yelled in protest and Fox gladly waved back to them. They walked up a set of stairs and were met by another bouncer who opened the door for them.

  Fox noticed that all the bouncers had similar physiques. Steroids…could they be more obvious? They were almost cartoonish with their oversized upper bodies and stout lower bodies, sort of like the bulldog from Looney Toons. Fox forgot the character’s name. Hector, possibly.

  The foyer, circular and painted, lit in fluorescent red, ringed the actual dancehall. A clever feature was the smell of cherries, and it made him thirsty. With the massive crowd outside, Fox knew the bartenders would have their pockets overflowing with tips by early morning.

  The inner circular wall was covered in mirrors and had four entrances to the main dance floor, all equidistant from each other. Each dancehall entrance had t
wo rows of thick, black-leather curtains that acted as a sound barrier to keep the music inside.

  Tanaka turned to Fox. “We should hurry. The young people will be streaming in any moment now.” Tanaka led the way to the glass-enclosed elevator, which was on the outer circular wall of the foyer.

  Along the walls, were small artificial palm trees in large ceramic pots, filled with sand. Fox dropped down and pretended to tie his shoe. As expected, Tanaka’s henchmen grabbed him from behind and pulled him up. However, Fox pretended to stumble and caught the edge of one of the pots with both hands. Again, Tanaka’s men were too occupied pulling Fox up onto his feet to notice him dipping a hand into the sand and then dropping some of it into his pants pocket. He could’ve flung it in the eyes of Tanaka’s men right now, however he wanted to meet Hashimoto, and letting Tanaka lead him was the easiest way to do so.

  Once they got in, they rode the cylindrical elevator up all five stories. They exited the elevator into an area that was similar to the street-level foyer, except the walls were fluorescent green and actually emitted a strong lime scent. A powerful blast of House Music overwhelmed them when Tanaka pulled open the second leather curtain of the doorway.

  This floor of the dance club was empty, and it resembled a cylindrical-shaped prison with fluorescent surroundings. The fifth floor was fluorescent green, the fourth floor was yellow, the third was blue, and the second, purple, then the bottom floor was red.

  From where he was, he saw that each floor was ring shaped with the exception of the bottom floor and that there were bars that surrounded the inner ring. Then there was the most spectacular feature. Five cage-dancers, three young men and two women, each dressed in fluorescent red, purple, blue, yellow, and green bodysuits. As they danced, their individual cages were randomly lowered and raised in the open space of the cylinder.

  Fox walked on with the others as he observed the surroundings. A front for recruits, no doubt. According to what he knew, Hashimoto was recruiting people in the age group he saw lined up outside. It didn’t matter what happened behind the scenes at this nightclub, but Hashimoto had no right to be around anyone this age. And if things went Fox’s way, he’d burn the place to the ground.