Case 30 - An Old Leaf Part 2


    It was a couple days later when Keiko arrived at the Garden City International Airport.  Upon leaving the plane, she headed straight for one of the banks’ ATM machines.

    Working for the Intelligence Agency had one distinct advantage over working as a private contractor - the assumed legitimacy.  When she completed a job, they would simply transfer funds to a secret Federal account she was given access to.  In the ‘private sector’, they used regular old bank wire transfers.

    That complicated things a bit, as the sums of money were fairly large, and subject to law enforcement detection.  So her employer would use multiple false names.  Keiko thought it prudent to use her own false name too.

    The ATM card she fed to the machine was a corporation named Kyoko Chiba.  She chose the names to be similar to two cities in Japan.  The Company would transfer money into the account - the bank would barely notice one corporation transferring a large amount of money to another.  She would withdraw odd amounts of cash, and then transfer a slightly different amount to a personal account.

    At the moment, though, she was just checking the balance to make sure she had been paid.  It seemed that her employer did indeed pay what they promised.

    Keiko knew she had to be alert.  While her employers tried to protect her by keeping her separate from the client, some could be so insistent on eliminating the entire chain of witnesses, they would have sent someone to eliminate the assassin too.  And they would usually wait until she was nearly home, so she would drop her guard.

    And that’s where she gave it her own special touch.  She had Sean meet her at the airport to take her home.  That would be unexpected, and scare away anyone who might be following or watching.  Assassins didn’t like witnesses, especially ones who were cops.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Did you have a good trip?”  Sean asked as he hugged Keiko tightly in the baggage claim area.  She dropped her duffel bag and returned the hug, leaning her head against his arm.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes.”  she answered plainly.  There was a hint of sadness in that reply, so she avoided elaborating by quickly adding, “I’m exhausted.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Let’s get you home, then.”  Before Keiko could reach for her bag, Sean picked it up.  He then led her outside, and across the ‘arrivals’ car traffic bridge to the parking lot.

    Once outside, Keiko painfully realized that it was still early afternoon in Garden City.  Her body expected it to be night time.  She climbed into Sean’s car and put on sunglasses, as the sun hurt her eyes.

    As they left, neither of them noticed a man in a black suit and shirt, and white tie, standing outside the airport, smoking.  He put out his cigarette, sighed, and walked the opposite direction.


---


    Young Keiko Takashi walked through a Japanese garden that was familiar to her.  So calming, yes so violent, the place was.  She remembered fighting another student near the koi pond she passed, the clicking sound of the bamboo water sculpture falling every few seconds.

    She still wore the bruises, though her opponent fared a lot worse.  He was still in the infirmary, nearly a day later, and hadn’t returned to his dorm.  She knows he didn’t, because she waited for him - she wanted to make sure he was okay.

    Keiko’s teacher called her a natural.  He said she was very athletic and limber, and very intelligent.  But she was also rebellious...and it was one of those moments that lead to her fellow student’s injury.  

    Frustrated after being fought to a stalemate, she decided to make up her own move.  One that wasn’t in any of the lessons or guides, so her opponent wouldn’t expect it.  What she didn’t consider was how her built-up strength and quickness would affect it.

    She leapt in the air, waited for her spinning kick to miss entirely, as her opponent ducked.  Then balled her fist and slammed it hard into the side of his head.  Keiko missed the appointed landing, and she fell on her side...but she didn’t miss the other student’s head snap back alarmingly, and she didn’t miss him collapse in a heap.

    Keiko was crying when the on-site doctor and nurses came to get him with a stretcher.  They paid her no attention, as her mind raced with scenarios of this young man who might die, or never walk again, because of something she did.

    She was even more saddened that she wasn’t even punished for it - in fact, her teacher lauded her ability to improvise.  The school was, after all, designed to teach deadly martial arts rather than peaceful ones.  In time, she learned to accept that.

    But it did plant a seed in her mind, one that germinated for years until it eventually sprouted.  It was then she discovered that everything around her was wrong, false, untrue.  And that she no longer wanted to be a part of it.


---


    Keiko had one dirty secret about traveling long distances to work - she suffered terribly from jet lag.  Especially when she travelled west, because she essentially had to live through the same day twice that way.

    In her case it was severe enough that by the time Sean brought a glass of water and a snack from her kitchen, she was curled up under a blanket on the couch, dozing off.  He felt bad waking her, but he had to nudge her to make sure she didn’t permanently get stuck in another time zone.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’ll let you nap for an hour after you’ve eaten something.”  he said.

    Keiko smiled in a silent apology, and rubbed her eyes as she sat up.
    
    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I know what you’ve been going through.”  Sean added cryptically.

    She perked up and watched him carefully as she started to eat the snack.  Did he know she was working as an assassin?  He had to at least suspect - Sean was smart, and it was rather suspicious that she travelled to a faraway country so suddenly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Finding out that your new career is much more difficult than you thought it would be,”  he continued just as cryptically.  “You have a lot of money, though, Keiko.  You could just retire.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah,”  she agreed with a shrug, trying not to talk with her mouth full.  “But I’d be bored.  I like to feel I have a purpose.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Okay.”  Sean said with a laugh.  Then his smile disappeared, and he said, “Just don’t work yourself to death for it, eh?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sleeping for it is okay though isn’t it?”  she asked with a tired smile.  “You can watch TV or hang out here if you want.”

    Sean checked his cell phone.  There were no messages.  “I guess I’m not needed urgently or anything right now.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“That’s very sweet, that you want to take care of me.”  she noted.  She then got up, stumbled a little, and then carefully walked up the stairs to her bed room.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m worried about you, Keiko.”  Sean whispered downstairs after Keiko retired to her room.


---


    Keiko awoke to the sound of Sean’s voice drifting up the stairs from the living room.  She was so tired when she began her nap that she forgot to close the door to her room all the way.  Because of that, she wondered if she took her shoes off - so she raised one foot, and was relieved to see she was wearing socks.

    She wondered who or what Sean was talking to, so she walked down the steps until she could see him downstairs, and she sat down until she managed to get his attention.

    While she waited, she looked at the front window.  It was evening, the sun was setting.

    Finally, Sean hung up his cell phone and looked up the stairs at Keiko.  “I’ve been called in,”  he said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.”  Keiko shrugged.  It was to be expected - he was a police detective, after all.  “It’s ok...I feel better now, I can manage.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You want to come along?”  Sean asked with a disarming smile.  “I miss working with you.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Is that allowed anymore?”  Keiko asked.  “I seem to recall they passed all kinds of new rules since the last time I...worked with you.”

    He laughed.  “Should be okay, as long as you’re just advising me.  No more chasing or subduing suspects though.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Gotcha.”  Keiko nodded and laughed.  “Can I shower and change first?  I feel like...airplane.”

    Sean nodded.  “Be quick though.”

    Keiko hopped up the steps with newfound energy.  It had been a while since she went into action with Sean, and she really missed it.  This would be fun indeed.


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.