World Class: A New Beginning, Part 3


    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I know the stereotype isn’t true about all Japanese knowing Karate,”  Sean asked Keiko as they walked outside her hotel.  “So where did you learn it?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Ninjitsu, actually,”  she replied.  “I was trained in Japan before being transferred to the U.S.”

    He stared at her again.  “So you’re a Kunoichi?”

    Keiko raised an eyebrow and stared at him.  She was surprised that he would know that word.  That could only mean one thing.  “Either you are a Japanese history buff, or Otaku.”

    Sean shrugged.  “A little of both.  That’s really cool, though.  I’ve always wanted to meet a female Ninja.  I always wanted a female Ninja girlfriend.  Since I was a teenager.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’re getting a little ahead of yourself,”  Keiko warned as she started walking again.  “Also, I’m surprised you didn’t guess Ninjitsu, after I stared him down.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“How did you do that, anyway?”  he asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Art of Intimidation,”  she replied with a casual shrug.  “Sounds more impressive than it is.  You know how actors can play a really creepy bad guy, and really scare you?  That could be the nicest person you’ll ever meet.  But they have trained themselves to be intimidating and scary.  Like this.”

    She turned around quickly and stared at Sean, lowering her head slightly but fixing a cold, unblinking stare upon his eyes, her face completely expressionless.

    Even though she knew it wouldn’t work on him quite as well, because he expected it, she saw his smile automatically disappear.  She could tell his mind was wondering if there was something wrong with her, or if he did something wrong, even though he didn’t consciously think it.

    Then she smiled again.  “See?”

    He nodded.  “So if you’re a trained Ninja, where’s the other 8 of your unit?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Dead,”  Keiko instinctively replied, though she regretted it immediately.  She was starting to trust him too much.

    Sean’s stare confirmed that there was no way she was going to be able to slip that past him and move on like nothing happened.

    She sighed, and quickly said, “I worked in a very, very dangerous business.  I just got out of it, in fact.  Ran away from it.  They aren’t happy.”

    Then he started to look worried.  “Is your life in danger?  Are you far enough from them?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes, and not yet,”  she replied.  “I need to move once more, using some sort of transportation that’s not recorded or watched.”

    The last part of that phrase made Sean’s face light up, even before she finished saying it.  “I drove here,”  he said.  “I can drive you back with me.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Is it your own car?”  she asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Company car.”  Sean smiled.  “My own cars are safely back home.  This one belongs to the Garden City Police.”

    Keiko couldn’t help but smile brightly.  That was perfect.  Her pursuers would be able to track the car, but their trail would go cold when it’s owned by a police department.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m leaving tomorrow after lunch, though, so you have to decide fast.”

    She nodded.  “I’m ready when you are.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“And you trust me?”  he asked.

    Keiko smirked at him, feeling happy for the first time in days.  “I am Ninja, I have nothing to fear from you.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Touché,”  Sean agreed.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s getting late tonight though, I should head to bed.  Are you staying in the same hotel?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah, just different floor, opposite wing.”

    She nodded.  “That will be convenient tomorrow,”  she said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It could be convenient tonight, too.”  Sean pointed out, with a quite obvious point.

    Keiko closed her eyes, and shook her head slowly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Too soon?”  he asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Very much,”  she replied.  “Besides, we have a long drive tomorrow.  We’d better actually get some sleep.”

    He nodded in agreement.  She had a point.  By then, the two of them had arrived back at the hotel lobby, so he said good night to her, and they split down the two wings of the hotel, back toward their respective rooms.

    Keiko entered her room, shut the door, and hung up her jacket.  She looked behind her at the door, and realized that she really liked him.  Not enough to become a one-night stand, she would have to trust him a little more first.  Become friends first, perhaps.  Either way, she settled in and prepared to sleep, she felt very lucky to have someone with her on her journey, someone who accepted her without being frightened by who she was.

    But this also was not the time to become complacent.  She knew that the moment just before getting away was when things would start to become much more dangerous.


---


    The next morning turned out to be more of a hurry than Keiko anticipated.  She was so happy the night before that she forgot to set the alarm, so she ended up waking up just a half hour shy of the 11 am check-out time.  She felt she had to call the desk and apologize, and beg for a little more time to finish getting ready and packing before they gave the room away.  They were fortunately accommodating.

    After showering, she unloaded all of the shopping bags, and transferred all of the clothing to the two small duffel bags she also bought.  There were two in case she had to run and abandon one - she would still have half her clothing that way.  She learned her lesson from the escape at the dorm.

    Then she headed downstairs with her hair still damp, and dropped the two bags beside Sean, who had one suitcase, and was sitting comfortably in one of the lobby armchairs.  He raised an eyebrow at her two bags.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s not the reason you think,”  she said.  Then she added, “Point the way to the car.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Don’t you want breakfast?”  he asked.

    She could tell he’d been there in the lobby for a while, he had read a few magazines.  They were lying on the table in front of him in a neat stack.  “No, I’ll just grab fruit or a smoothie or something on the way.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Okay.”  Sean shrugged, and rose from the armchair.  He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and picked up his suitcase.  Then he reached for one of Keiko’s bags.

    She almost argued with his act of chivalry, but then she remembered that someone had to open doors along the way.  And also, she should keep her hands free just in case.  As she kept reminding herself, the moment of getting away was the most dangerous.

    The lobby door was automatic, and the parking lot next door had the door already left open, so Keiko didn’t really have much to do as they got the car and loaded it with the three bags.  She then climbed into the passenger side and settled in.  It would be a long drive.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’ll search for a hotel while we’re driving,”  she said.

    He looked over, and noticed that among her other shopping the day before, she also bought herself a state of the art smartphone.  “That’s nicer than mine,”  he noted.

    She ignored him, and explained about the hotel search a little more.  “I can’t make a reservation because that puts my pursuers one step ahead.  Instead I’ll pick one or two that are decent and have rooms available.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Who are these pursuers, anyway?”  Sean finally asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I told you, I escaped, and they aren’t happy.”  She hoped that cryptic reference would be enough for him, but she knew it wouldn’t be.  She looked at Sean, and he was starting to look irritable at her being so secretive around him.

    Keiko slouched in her seat, and looked down slightly, a little afraid that the confession she was about to deliver would result in their journey together coming to sudden end.  But she also knew that was a danger anyhow if she kept trying to keep secrets.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I...worked for a government operated organization as an assassin,”  she said quickly.  “They don’t have a retirement program, obviously.  I broke too many rules, I knew my days were numbered.  So I ran, before they had the chance to...retire me.”

    Sean found that unbelievable at first, but it seemed to dovetail perfectly with her being Kunoichi.  She had to be telling the truth.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I had a plan, but it fell apart, they knew somehow.  So I had to abandon the plan, and flee on foot.  I was lucky to catch a moving train...which hurt a lot, by the way...and get aboard, and ended up here.”

    He nodded.  It all added up.  “So that’s why you have a slight limp.  You’re still hurt from catching that moving train.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes,”  she replied honestly.  “I’m really sorry.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m just taking it all in, Keiko,”  he said calmly.  “Were you any good?  How many people did you kill?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m...not comfortable answering that,”  she protested quietly.  “Not as many as they wanted me to, which is why I had to run away.”

    Sean nodded.  “When we get to Garden City, I’ll put you in my safe house apartment.  You should be okay there, it’s on the third floor and faces the street.”

    Keiko was quick to come up with an obvious question.  “Why do you have a safe house apartment?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m not comfortable answering that,”  Sean echoed her earlier response.

    But she put together the clues, and came up with the only obvious possibility.  “You’re married, aren’t you?  And you wanted to sleep with me?”

    He sighed, and then reluctantly nodded.  “I’m sorry,”  he said quietly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Well,”  Keiko whispered, “At least we’re on the level with each other now.  That’s more than I’ve ever had with anyone else.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Is that true?”  Sean asked.

    She was trying to hide her face by then, because her eyes were tearing a little bit, and she was ashamed of it.  She didn’t reply, because she felt like her voice wouldn’t cooperate - but her feelings were clear enough as she tried to wipe her eyes dry.  It was the other reason she left the Agency.  Nobody had ever been honest, and she lived in suspicion and fear every moment of her life.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I know I can’t tell you what to do with your own life,”  Keiko asked in a whisper, trying to keep her voice even and calm, “But I’d like you to live more honestly too.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You mean stop cheating?”  he guessed.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes,”  she asserted confidently.  “Or stop hiding it.  I don’t know you well, but I need honesty in my life, and in my friends.  I need it.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You still want to be my friend?”  he asked.

    She nodded.  “Yes.  I need that too.”

    That finally made Sean smile.  “I can live with being friends with a Kunoichi.”

    Finally, Keiko smiled slightly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“And even better, I had one set me straight,”  Sean laughed.  He then drove into a shopping center.  “Smoothie shop here,”  he pointed out.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh,”  Keiko remembered her promise to have one for breakfast.  “Thank you.”


---

    The hotel clerk looked up from her computer and saw a woman with short hair looking at her icily, sending shivers down her spine.  She gave her best fake smile, but was trembling a little as she noticed just how muscular this woman was when she leaned over the counter.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Do you have a young Asian girl in this hotel?”  the woman asked, speaking slowly, patiently, but forcefully.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m sorry, I...I can’t talk about guests,”  the scared clerk replied as she watched two males walk over from the lobby area and stand to either side of the woman.  She swallowed hard, and tried to play this smart.  “Would you like to speak to the manager?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah,”  the woman asked.  “Why don’t you go and get the manager?”

    The young clerk nodded and went into the back room.  There was a loud, hysterical shriek from her as she found the manager’s body, beaten and stabbed several times.

    The female assassin, meanwhile, had vaulted the counter, and was busy searching the list of guests.  “Nothing,”  she grumbled.  “Absolutely nothing.  What the hell did she check in as?”

     The clerk in the back shrieked again, and again.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Would you shut her up?”  the woman asked her two male companions.

    One of them walked into the back, and saw the clerk on the phone, whispering frantically to 911, and sobbing.  He grabbed her by her hair, and slammed her head hard into the corner of a cabinet, again and again, until her body stiffened and collapsed.

    He emerged from the back room, covered in blood.  The remaining patrons in the lobby, who hadn’t noticed the three assassins before, noticed them now.  They started to shriek and run outside.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“We have to go,”  the female said.  She angrily pushed the computer screen over the desk, and stormed out with the two men behind her.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Freeze!” a police officer who had just arrived yelled at them, and he kneeled behind his patrol car’s door, leveling a pistol at them.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You can’t get all three of us!”  the woman yelled back.  She flung a knife at him, which punctured the driver’s side car window of the patrol car, shattering it all over the street.

    There were sirens; more police were approaching.

    The cop panicked at seeing the knife fly just above his head as he ducked.  He fired, and then ducked again.  One of the two males drew a shotgun and fired back.

    Two more police cars arrived, with two officers in each one, all of whom hopped out of their cars quickly and took coverage behind car doors.  The assassins scattered as a barrage of gunfire erupted, shattering the windows on the front of the hotel into a flood of beaded glass.

    Four of the officers moved forward as the chaos suddenly lulled.  More police cars arrived; a helicopter began circling overhead.  The female had been hit by two shots, and she was dead.  The two males were on the run.

    A detective had just arrived, and searched the female for identification.  She had none, but she carried a small photo of an Asian girl.


TO BE CONTINUED?
    


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2012 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- World Class and all characters therein are property of 
--    Strike Two and Jason Froikin.