Tokyo Noir: The Complete First Season

by J. Scott Matthews

  “You’re only to use force if you or another officer are in imminent danger, like if they fire first. But we’re going to do this quick and clean and hopefully catch them with their pants down.”

  “What’s the layout like?” Kentaro said. “Do we know that?”

  “Some of us have been here before,” Mei said. “There’s a circular bar in the middle of the room, with booths against each wall. Stairwell at the back wall on the right side of the building that leads to the second floor. That’s where we’re heading. On the back left is a hallway that leads to the restrooms, with back areas beyond that. Can’t say about the upstairs, never been.”

  “Backup one and two, you there?”

  “Here,” came the simultaneous responses from the riot police in the vans. Mei figured they would at least be good for containment in case it turned into a shootout that spilled out onto the streets.

  “Alright, hang back. Stay in your vehicles unless you hear gunshots.”

  “Roger.”

  “Sniper one?”

  “Here.”

  “Keep the front covered. Sniper two?”

  “Here,” said the man on the next building over.

  “Keep that side alley and rear alley covered. If anyone tries to escape that way, radio over to backup three on the next block over.”

  “Roger.”

  She waved over the lock tech. He sprayed the lock with liquid nitrogen, waited for a few seconds, then chipped it with a hammer and chisel. It shattered quietly, and the door swung open a few inches.

  Mei looked at her team. They looked back to her, waiting for her signal.

  “Go.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The Dextro-MXE was coursing through Satoshi in slow, undulating waves. As the vehicle wound its way through the city, he was sure to keep watch over Masa out of the corner of one eye.

  All of Masa’s attempts to talk were quickly silenced.

  They plunged through the midday mist towards the heart of the city. Towards the skyscraper with Club Hyperion at the top. Towards the end of all this. They were so close. Yet to Satoshi’s brain, it seemed to stretch on forever. A result of the time-dilation effects of the Dextro.

  After what seemed like an eternity, they arrived at the building. Soon Satoshi was dragging Masa through the lobby and into the elevator for the top floors.

  “You know,” Masa said, “we can still just walk away from this. Just leave here and forget all this.”

  Satoshi wavered for a split second, then pressed the button marked “44.”

  “It’s too late for that now.”

  “Now that you’ve pressed the button, you mean?”

  “Now that you …”

  Satoshi closed his eyes. Visions of Hisoka, pale and blood-soaked, assaulted his senses. Even with his eyes shut, he could still see her. He swallowed hard and tried to push the images away.

  “I didn’t want it to be this way.”

  “But now you do?”

  “Yes. Of course.”

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk. What happened to us, Satoshi? When did it go wrong for us?”

  Satoshi didn’t answer.

  “Come on, with all the history we share, I think you at least owe me a proper send-off. Sachiko kept warning me this day would come, but—”

  “Sachiko? That Sachiko?”

  “Yeah. We talk, sometimes.”

  “Huh. I guess you never really got over her.”

  “Well, you know,” Masa said. “We were close.”

  “Were. But you fuck up everything eventually.”

  “Come on, now, look who you’re talking to! It’s me! Masafiro! We had some good times. Let’s try to remember those before Vasili has me killed.”

  Satoshi remained silent. The Dextro-MXE was slowing time to an intolerable degree. As Masa talked, Satoshi’s mind raced to serve up images from the past. But he was partially to blame too for the visions. Satoshi had agreed to unearth all these graves from the distant past. Now he had to live with the ghosts he had freed. As the elevator crawled up towards Vasili’s headquarters in the sky, memories as real as any projected image flashed before his eyes.

  “Like that time we went to the shore down in Zushi. You remember that? How we could barely fit everyone in the car on the way over there?”

  Satoshi remembered all those dead bodies from the people Masa had killed at the bar. Masa had said they deserved it, but then he always used lines like that.

  “Well, most of that was your doing, as I recall.”

  “Sure was! Lotta girls that day!”

  When he closed his eyes, he could still see the corpses crammed in the trunk. Plus, the two they’d had to prop up in the backseat. Satoshi recalled the stench in that cramped vehicle, with those recently deceased bodies piled in, their heads lolling from side to side with each corner they took. How the girl with the slit throat in the backseat seemed to be staring at him as he drove.

  He remembered sweating bullets the entire drive over to the grave they had dug. The clammy fear he had felt when a cop car had passed the other way. How he had unsafetied his weapon just in case they turned around. Not to mention the nausea he always felt about being surrounded by death like that.

  “Or how about Osammy the Whale? Man, we couldn’t have asked for a better boss than that guy when we were coming up.”

  Satoshi disagreed with that strongly, but said nothing.

  “Taught us to play his version of baseball in that parking lot, you remember? Remember the crack of the bat in that empty lot?”

  “I’ll never forget it.”

  “Of course not! You broke the bat that one time!”

  Satoshi was sweating now. He could see it all clearly again. The circle of men standing around the empty parking lot at night. The terrified victim on his knees in the center of the ring of pale yellow light. He relived the fear he’d felt at defying Osammy, the feeling of dread that had hung heavy in his stomach, making him queasy. He remembered the look of terror on the man’s face that made him want to end it. He saw everything in slow motion again, from breaking the bat through to driving the sharp edge into the man’s eye. He had given the man a death much quicker than would have come otherwise, but he still hated himself for having to do it. For being forced to do it by Osammy.

  Now he wanted nothing more than to be at the top. To turn Masa over and fulfill his duty to Vasili so that he could just leave this city, knowing that Masa would get what was coming to him and then some. Then he could just leave everything behind him. There was nothing for him now. No life here. Maybe no life anywhere. He would do his duty, then be done with it.

  “Look, I know what’s waiting for me on the other side of those doors.”

  Masa kept talking. Satoshi wished in vain that he would just shut up. But soon Masa would be silenced forever. He could put up with his chatter for a few more seconds.

  “But before that happens, I just want to say that you’ve been like a big brother to me all these years. Even when I made that hard. Even when being associated with me made things difficult for you, you still stuck by me. I appreciate that. It’s like you raised me, brought me up, even.”

  The wave of memories unleashed by that comment came at him like a deluge, nearly knocking him over. Satoshi sewing up a vicious gash on Masa’s forehead that his father had given him. He’d had to do it because they didn’t have the money to go to the hospital in those days. Satoshi and Masa standing tall against members of a rival gang who were trying to take their stash, and taking a beating for their troubles. Satoshi putting himself between Masa’s father and Masa, before going to the ground on top of the drunkard when he was rushed. Satoshi and Masa drinking on the roof of Masa’s building, looking at the Tokyo skyline at night and dreaming about how one day it would all be theirs.

  “And even though I turned out rotten, I don’t blame you.”

  The memories took a darker turn now. Satoshi and Masa, now older, arguing about Masa’s decision to knife a guy he thought was a thr
eat to them. Satoshi peeling off ten-thousand-yen bills and leaving them on the counter at a smashed-up bar while angry, bloodied faces looked on menacingly. Then half-carrying, half-dragging a drunken Masa out of the place before they could take their revenge. Masa bashing a guy in the face with a beer stein, before realizing it wasn’t who he’d thought it was.

  It was as if he saw Masa’s entire spectrum in that single elevator ride. Watched him go from quiet, beaten-down abuse victim to violent abuser himself. He saw the childhood friend he had known become everything he’d said he hated, without batting an eye or questioning himself. But as soon as his sympathy was evoked, visions of Hisoka lying in her own blood came flooding into Satoshi’s head.

  “Which is why I know—don’t think, but know—that someday you’re going to make a great father. Someday.”

  His vision dimmed, then popped back into focus. Images came flooding through his head quicker than he could stop them. Flashes of the aftermath in their apartment. Blood on the walls. Hisoka on the ground. The letter soaking up blood from the carpet. Hisoka dead, and his life broken to pieces.

  Satoshi’s jaw muscles clenched and unclenched spasmodically, as did his hand. He was shaking now, uncontrollably.

  “You … you …”

  Satoshi never finished the thought.

  The elevator doors began to open.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jun was looking around the small office. He got Vasili’s attention and pointed to a grate against the wall.

  “Where does that lead?”

  “I don’t know. Is part of ventilation system.”

  “Would it take me to the main floor?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know for sure.”

  Jun nodded. He removed his coat and checked both of his guns for ammo. When he was satisfied, he announced, “I’m going out there. See if I can take them out from that side.” As he spoke, he took out a knife and began unscrewing the screws holding the grate in place.

  “Be careful out there,” Vasili said. “Don’t take them all at once. One at a time.”

  “Got it.”

  Jun was about to duck into the grate when Vasili grabbed him by the arm.

  “One. At a time. No heroics. No dying.”

  Jun grasped his boss by the forearm and nodded. His eyes said more than he ever could with his words. He turned and slipped into the ventilation shaft.

  Vasili turned to Kameko.

  “Okay, where are our people?”

  “Tengu’s out of reach. I’m guessing he’s in the air as we speak. No luck with his backups.”

  “So they’re out. Shit.”

  “Yeah. Chieko’s rallying a contingent of her men. Be here in thirty minutes. No word from Kozu. Nor Hikaru.”

  Vasili shook his head. “Fuck.” Their absence now was particularly suspect. Hikaru, he understood. The man had been turning on him for a while, and he had let it get too far. But Kozu? What was going on there?

  “You want me to try Madoka?”

  “Don’t bother. He is scientist, not fighter. We need Tengu and his men here as soon as he’s back.”

  “I’ll keep trying them.”

  She dialed the phone again, with her thumb in her mouth.

  “What’s with that?” Vasili said. “You’re probably the toughest person I know. Yet you still suck your thumb.”

  “I’m not sucking my thumb. I’m blowing on it.”

  “Still. Why?”

  “Blowing without letting air out increases intra-abdominal and intrathoracic pressure, which stimulates the vagus nerve. This slows your heart rate and calms you. Frankly I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do this.”

  “Never too late to learn something new.”

  “Yeah. Let’s hope.”

  Vasili went back to the intercom. He needed to stall as much as he could. He was about to suggest that he and Chobei bring the issue to Eriko as a way to buy time, but then there was the problem of what would happen if Chobei took him up on that. Eriko’s room of skin suits flashed through his mind, and he dropped the idea.

  “Chobei, it doesn’t have to be like this.”

  “Oh, and how would you prefer we handle this? A sit-down with my mother? Would you like to explain to her how you ordered a hit on her only child?”

  Damn, it was like he’d read Vasili’s mind. Vasili was pondering his reply when Chobei continued.

  “Well, it’s a little late for that. You see, my dear mother passed away in the night.”

  “What?”

  “Seems she was poisoned last night. I haven’t decided yet who did it. Frankly, I’m leaning towards you, but Uchida would make a good candidate too.” He seemed to be musing out loud. “Well, I’ll figure it out.”

  “You … snake,” Vasili fumed. “You killed your mother? Why? Because she didn’t make you boss? You unworthy … shitstain of a …”

  The death of Eriko rattled him more than he could have imagined. The very thought that that unworthy bastard would kill someone like Eriko, his own mother—that anyone could turn against their own mother, their own flesh and blood … the fury threatened to engulf Vasili and swallow him whole. No. He had to remain calm. He would have his revenge. But only if he was calm enough to extract it.

  Chobei smirked into the camera as his men continued laying charges. Vasili pushed his rage down into the pit of his stomach.

  “Go ahead, laugh,” Vasili said into the intercom. “Before today is over, I will kill you with my own hands.”

  He was pleased to see the smug grin disappear from Chobei’s face.

  Just then, he could hear the dull report of shots fired ringing out through the club.

  “What was that?” Kameko asked.

  He glanced at the monitors. “It’s Satoshi. He found Masa. Finally. Good for him.”

  “Little late.”

  “Yeah. Bad timing too.”

  “Can you tell him not to come up here?”

  “He looks busy right now.”

  Outside, he heard Chobei ordering two more of his men downstairs to the entrance at the sound of the gunfire. Good. Now the total outside was a more manageable eight to their two. Three if Jun found a way out.

  “Well, he can take care of himself,” Kameko said. “What’s that prick out there up to now?”

  “He’s … shit, almost finished laying charges.” Vasili looked up at Kameko. “Get out.”

  “Fuck off,” Kameko said.

  She didn’t even take her eyes off the shotgun she was loading. Vasili unsafetied his own gun. It had been so long since he had used one of these. So long since he had done his killing himself, instead of outsourcing it.

  “I’m serious. You can squeeze through vent. I cannot. Get out now.”

  “No.”

  Vasili bristled. “This is order.”

  “And this is me disobeying that order.”

  “Blow it,” Chobei could be heard saying over the intercom.

  “Goddammit, Kameko, they’re going to—”

  He never finished that thought. He was interrupted by a bone-rattling explosion. The sound was fierce, the reverberation strong enough that it rattled his teeth. And that was even with the thick concrete wall muffling the blast somewhat.

  “Going to what?” Kameko screamed over the ringing in his ears. “Try to kill us?”

  She pumped the shotgun in her hand as she darted from behind the sofa straight towards the hole that had been blown in the wall. It was roughly ten inches across, and jagged where the concrete had been destroyed. Kameko put one foot on the wall next to the hole to steady herself as she put the tip of the shotgun through the opening. She angled herself so the gun was braced against her hip and she had a clear line of sight through the hole. Then she began firing at the figures on the far side of the room visible through the haze of dust. She stopped only when the shotgun clicked dry.

  “They’re welcome to try!” she snarled. “I do this shit for a living!”

  Vasili smiled. He had never loved her more
than he did right now. He’d have to tell her that, if they ever got out of this alive.

  It was still hazy on the other side of the wall. But the screaming outside told him she had hit at least one of them. It didn’t sound fatal, until the crack of a gunshot rang out, silencing the screamer. Chobei the merciful, Vasili thought wryly.

  With the damage to his club, it felt like the foundation was crumbling beneath him. Eriko was gone and his club—the seat of his empire—was coming down around his head. It was like the world was caving in.

  “Load another charge!” Chobei yelled from somewhere on the far side of the room outside.

  “Help me with this,” Vasili said.

  He angled himself behind a large metal cabinet against the wall, while she pushed from the side. They slid it in front of the hole.

  “Why not make this easier on all of us!” Chobei yelled. They didn’t need the intercom to hear one another now.

  “No!” Vasili yelled.

  “But if I accidentally blow you up, I won’t be able to torture you to death!”

  “Chobei, you haven’t done one thing right in all of time I know you! What makes you think you can get this right?”

  Chobei shrieked curses at them. He fired a handgun several times into the hole, the bullets easily punching through the metal cabinet. Luckily, Vasili and Kameko were out of the line of fire. Unfortunately, the enormous wall-length window across the way wasn’t. It shattered. Vasili winced.

  “Hope no one is standing below.”

  “That’s the alley side. Should be alright. I’m more worried about us up here.”

  Vasili checked the monitors outside. A few of Chobei’s men were arranging another charge at the wall. Two had weapons aimed at the hole, covering it. Chobei himself was pacing around, hurling insults and expletives at them. He seemed coked up, or high on something.

  Another charge or two and the wall would be breached. He tried to focus on the problem, but now something else was troubling him.

  “What is that smell? Is like smoke.”

  “I don’t know. Probably whatever they’re using to blast through this wall.”