Case 31 - Another New Beginning, Part 3


    Sean raced toward the exit of the train station, followed by Keiko.  But as they ran through the station, she stopped suddenly, and focused on the benches just ahead of the ticket counter.

    There was a bundle lying on the bench that looked a lot like a blanket wrapped around someone.  Next to the bench were two dirty canvas shopping bags.  She watched as two white uniformed transit cops began walking toward the bundled sleeping person.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Stop them,”  Keiko urged Sean.  “Stop them!”  she repeated when he turned and looked.  “He might be a clue, and they’re going to kick him out!”

    That got Sean’s attention.  He began running toward the transit cops.  They heard him coming - since he was wearing plain clothes, they didn’t recognize him as a detective, and they became jittery, placing their hands on their weapons.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“GCPD!”  Sean called toward them, and he held his badge up high.  He approached the two and showed them his I.D.

    The noise woke up the homeless man, and he looked out from the blanket.  He tried to gather his belongings quickly.  As he stood up and stumbled a little, Keiko stood in his way.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I have a couple of questions for you,”  she said.

    The old man tugged at his scraggly beard nervously.  He made some unintelligible sound at first, unable to express his thoughts coherently.  Finally, he said, “I didn’t do nothin’ wrong.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I know.”  Keiko reassured him.  “I’ll buy you a late lunch, will that be okay?”

    Sean watched carefully as Keiko led him over to the small food court in the station and offered him a seat at one of the small tables.  She headed to several food stands and bought as much food and drink as she could carry.  Then she brought it to the table, nearly filling it.

    The old man was wide-eyed as he started eating quickly.  He hadn’t seen so much food in a long time.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“A few days ago, someone asked you to put a bag in a locker.”  Keiko whispered as he ate.  “Do you remember what he looked like?”

    He took a couple more bites and nodded.  “He gave me a phone and money,”  he said.  “Said someone would call me.  It was him who called me though, I recognized his voice.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“A very distinctive voice, eh?”

    Another nod.  “Midwestern, or east coast, or somethin’.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Do you have the phone?”  she asked.

    He shook his head.  “Needed the money more than the phone.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I understand,”  she nodded.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I remember the number that called me though.”

    Keiko quickly raced to one of the food stands and swiped a pen.  She handed it, and a napkin, to the old man.  He scrawled a number on it.

    Keiko pulled out her cell and dialed the number.  After a few seconds, a man answered with a very familiar voice.  A very, very familiar voice.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Enjoy your meal,”  Keiko told the old man as she stood, “And take this.”  She tossed a hundred dollar bill on the table.  “You earned it.”

    Then she walked over to Sean quickly and whispered something to him before she headed out of the station quickly, alone.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“She said she had something to do,”  Sean related to the uniformed officer with him.  He left out the last part, where she told Sean he’d rather not be there.


---


    Keiko cursed to herself as she tugged at the glass door to Ron Clancy’s office.  The interior was dark, and the door was locked.  It figured that he listened to her so well when she told him to go into hiding.

    She figured she could go to his house, only she didn’t know where that was - and a short search later on her phone showed that he was unlisted.  Or was he?

    After a quick look around her to make sure no one was watching, she slipped on gloves, and then picked up the sharpest rock she could find, and she smashed the door, its safety glass spilling all over the sidewalk and the interior of the office.  She stepped through the still locked frame, ignoring the high-pitched alert the security system made as the police were called.

    Keiko quickly rifled through the desk.  She found just what she needed to - a completely blank personal check Ron left behind, with his home address on it.  She pocketed the small piece of paper and slipped back out the door in less than a minute, far less time than the cops would take to arrive.  As she left, she hoped they would board up the door at least to keep looters away.

    That check she carried, she thought as she walked between buildings to avoid being spotted, was the reason she told Ron to leave town, and not just hide at home.  Anyone who really wanted to find him could have done the same as she did.

    A block or so away, she hailed a cab, and asked the driver to take her to the address on the check.  She didn’t show him the check, of course, she memorized the address as she entered the cab.  Otherwise it would have raised suspicion.

    Ron’s house was dark and quiet.  It was relieving to see it that way - Ron was smart enough not to try and stay there.  She exited the cab and asked the driver to wait, tempting him with a fairly large tip if he did.

    She approached the house from the front, and casually tugged at the door.  It was solidly locked, so she walked around to the back, glancing at windows as she went.  Both doors were locked, but as she stepped back from the rear door, she noticed an upper window was unlocked.

    Most people - and most cops - would have looked up there and thought the window was unreachable, and not to bother.  Keiko, however, thought like Ninja.  That window was perfectly accessible, and a great way to make an entrance without any entry being noticed.

    She gripped the small overhang above the back door and pulled herself up, and then grabbed the sill for the upper window.  Propping herself on one knee on the narrow sill, she pushed against the glass to slide the window upward.  Then she tumbled in, and quickly recovered to her feet.

    As she shut the window, the house was absolutely silent, and all the lights were off.  Keiko knew that was wrong - people leaving town, or even for the day, leave something on.  A lamp, a television, a radio.  She reverted to her old training, and quietly retreated into the shadows in the room to listen.  Listen for breathing.

    There were many ‘voices’.  It was a term used in sensory deprivation training to describe the distinctive sound of voices.  She could tell that they were all breathing in a controlled fashion, trying to mask their locations and numbers.  But there were nine of them - a full Ninja cell.  Something was very wrong - Keiko had no suspicion of what she was dealing with.  And once she did, she knew the stakes.

    It was clear to her at that moment that this was a trap, and she cursed herself for walking right into it.  They knew her, and knew that unlocked window was irresistible bait for someone trained who thought they had the upper hand.

    Keiko had one trait that pushed her to the head of her class as she trained as a Ninja and as an assassin.  It was something highly valued and prized, but very rare among her kind - she was extremely patient.  Patience is also how she managed to escape the Intelligence Agency, and then later defeat its best assassins when they came after her.

    And patience was where she had an edge against these other Ninja hidden in that house.  They expected her to wander the house carelessly, or perhaps go hunting for them, so they could close the trap.  Instead, she would wait.  In time, they would lose patience, and attempt to surround her from the one door and one window.

    Her heart quickened as she suddenly thought of a fault in her plan.  her one weakness - while they had her trapped in that room, they might notice the taxi driver outside and kill him.

    Sometimes the best way to win is not to fight.  As cheesy as that sounded, quite a lot of the time it was true.  She could probably kill every one of those Ninja, but she couldn’t save the taxi driver too.  Plus she would have a lot of explaining to do to Sean.

    They were listening though.  If she walked to the window, they would give chase, and try to intercept her.

    Keiko smiled to herself.  She knew the solution now - there was one path, and only one path, where they would not be able to intercept her - if she travelled above them.  It would also put them in such a state of chaos they would not manage to reach the taxi in time.

    She went quickly to the window, not bothering to move silently so they would surely hear her footsteps.  She slid the window open and climbed out.

    But then instead of heading down, she stood on the windowsill and pulled herself up to the roof.  She raced across the roof and over the peak, and then down the other side.  Keiko didn’t care if she slid - she spun around as she hit the other end and grabbed the aluminum gutter.  It broke free, but slowed her fall enough so that she landed on top of the front porch.

    She could hear them racing to catch up inside the house.  So she jumped to the grass, tumbling once to absorb the impact, and ran for the taxi.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Go, go!”  she told the surprised cab driver as he sat in the driver’s seat calmly reading a newspaper.  Then she looked back as the cab sped away to see if any of them ran after her.  None of them even left the house.  They were smart - they decided to abandon the chase rather than show themselves in daylight.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Where to?”  the driver finally asked.  “We can’t just circle around all day.”

    Keiko told him.  She knew where the Ninja would go next, and she had to make a stand there.  After all, it’s where she would go next if she was in their position.

    She had to meet Sean at work.


TO BE CONTINUED
    


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2008 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- World Class and all characters therein are property of 
--    Strike Two and Jason Froikin.