Case 26 - Rise of Dawn Part 3


    The shadowed figure brandishing a pistol took the time to walk around the couch, meaning he was much heavier than Keiko.  She knew that she would have gone over the top of the couch instead for maximum element of surprise.  In this case, it's what she had, as she sprung up, put one foot on the rear of the couch, and used it for leverage to leap and jam her knife hard into his shoulder.
    
    And as she guessed, he lost his grip on his pistol and dropped it to the floor.  She still had momentum enough to pin him to the floor by his shoulder before he had a chance to fight back or speak.
    
    "Tell me before you die,"  Keiko whispered to him viciously, "Who sent you?"
    
    "I'm a professional,"  he choked pitifully, his eyes showing complete panic and fear.  "I'm just doing my job."
    
    Keiko pushed a hand against his mouth to keep him silent and yanked the knife painfully from his shoulder.  She looked him in the eye, trying to see his intentions, watching him quake in fear.  And once his intentions were clear to her, she jammed the knife viciously into his heart and listened to his last breath ooze out of his lungs.  She didn't speak a word.
    
    None of those actions made a sound above a whisper.  Keiko wiped off her knife on his clothing and sheathed it, and then quickly disappeared out of the sliding door.  She was still steaming when she returned to her car - Matt must have hired some idiot just out of prison, either directly or through a third party, to try and catch whoever he thought was cheating with Karen.  And now all of them would pay dearly...
    
    ...if, that is, she could get to the bank and secure that file.  That was more urgent than ever now, to ensure that she and Sean be placed far out of reach of the storm that was about to erupt.  One was sure to now, with a dead man lying in Matt's living room.


---


    Keiko remembered the knife she was carrying as she pulled up in front of the bank.  She quickly and covertly slipped it under the passenger seat.  Then she put on her leather jacket and sunglasses and straightened herself before heading inside.
    
    The bank was a downtown branch, meaning it looked and smelled like money.  Imposing marble walls and floors, high ceiling, and desks made of dark, shiny wood.  The soles of her boots echoed as she walked into the lobby and headed for one of the tellers.  She waited patiently with the key and box reciept in hand.
    
    "Hello,"  Keiko greeted one of the tellers finally.  "I need access to a safe deposit box."  She handed the teller the reciept.
    
    The teller looked at it and then typed something.  "You know, you're not supposed to write the password down,"  she said.
    
    Keiko simply shrugged.
    
    "It says the box is registered to a man,"  she noted.  "Do you know him?"
    
    "Matt Kreeger, yes.  He sent me here to get a file he needs.  His work has him...detained."
    
    The teller took a deep breath and stared at the screen some more.  "Do you have the key?"
    
    Keiko nodded and passed the key over the desk.
    
    "Keep that for now,"  she said.  She then printed out a small slip and handed it to Keiko with the reciept she was given earlier.  "Wait over there--"  she pointed at some overstuffed leather chairs across the lobby.  "--until the number on that slip is called."
    
    Another nod from Keiko, and she said, "Thank you."  She quietly walked across the room and sat down.  Being a seasoned assassin she wasn't prone to uneasiness bcause of time limits.
    
    As she was leafing through some magazine about retirement funds, an older man finally came out of a wooden door pretty close to her, and looked at a small slip of paper in his hands.
    
    "Sixty-Two?"
    
    Keiko looked at her paper slip.  It had the number 62 printed on it in large type.  She stood and walked over to the man and handed him the slip.
    
    "Do you have your key?"  he asked.
    
    "Yes."  Keiko help up the key.
    
    "Follow me please."  he said, sounding bored.  He led her through the wooden door and around a corner to a vault, which was open.  He stuck a small key into box number sixty-two and then looked at Keiko.  "Key please."
    
    She handed him the key and watched as he put it next to his own.  He turned them both at once and the small door they were attached to popped open.  He then handed the box and her key back to her.
    
    "This way please,"  he said.  He led her to a small glass booth with a wooden table and a bench.  "When you're done just leave the box here and we'll replace it."
    
    "Okay,"  Keiko agreed.  "Thank you."
    
    The man closed the glass door to the booth and walked away.
    
    As soon as he did, Keiko quickly opened the box and looked inside.  There was a blue folder, and inside it were a couple dozen pages of typed text plus photos.  Some of them were of Keiko.  She figured then that this had to be the file.
    
    The trip out of the bank was easy, and being well trained at being patient, Keiko simply strolled out calmly with the folder under her arm, stopping to take a complimentary mint on the way out.  She even took the time to change the music in her car before placing the folder on the seat next to her and driving off.
    
    She drove away slowly and calmly.  No need to rush - panic is what gets a person busted in these kinds of situations.  The best thing to do was stay calm and drive home carefully, and by the time everyone else catches on it'll be far too late.
    
    But first there was one more stop.  The folder was evidence of a theft, and possibly a murder, as long as it was in her possession.  She would have to eliminate it like she eliminated a gun after a job.


---


    The secret to total destruction of evidence is to find its mortal enemy.  Guns, made of metal, have to be completely disfigured, melted, or wrapped in a material rendering it unrecognizable - tossing it in a car crusher usually sufficed.  Paper, on the other hand, has a very simple mortal enemy - fire.  The only difficulty in destroying paper is to make sure the fire is hot enough and the paper is prone enough to burning.
    
    Easy enough to make the paper prone to burning.  A stop at a random 24-hour copy, shipping, and fax center gave her access to a powerful shredder.  She put the remains of the shredded folder into a large manila envelope she bought there.  The manila envelope would help the shreds of paper burn more easily.
    
    Second part was to ensure no witnesses to the fire.  Not too difficult in an urban area if you know where to look.  She stopped at a large local park which had a picnic area and a barbecue grill.  A small bag of charcoal and a match from a local mega-store provided a hot enough flame, and the shredded paper looked like simple kindling to get the fire started.
    
    And for good measure, at just the right moment, she poured in a small amount of alcohol, flaring up the fire to leave nothing of the paper fragments but tiny bits of black ash.  No stray words would be found, no corner of a photo.  
    
    She grilled a couple of hot dogs she also bought at the mega-store.  It had to at least appear like she was running one of the grills for legitimate reason.  No one would notice her toss out the hot dogs as she left the park.

    Keiko had no reason to hurry now.  The file was destroyed, and since she was out and about it would be fairly easy to claim no involvement with the dead man at Matt's home.  She no longer had the file in her possession.  Only one more contingency to cover.
    
    The bank employees, manager, and surveillance system there would be able to prove she was there picking something up from his safe deposit box.  There was a new file sitting on Keiko's passenger seat - her own employee file from the police department, taken from Matt's office.  She could claim that was what she was taking from the safe deposit box.

    It was tough for any person to resist driving past Matt's home again to see if the situation had blown up yet.  But while Keiko had that thought in the back of her mind, years of experience demanded she stay away.  She obeyed that demand without question, finally heading back home.  She'd been out long enough.
    
    Keiko sighed with relief as she arrived home and calmly pulled into the garage.  Relief because there was always a remote chance that someone would be intelligent enough to anticipate her plan and be waiting for her at her home when she arrived.  A minute chance, but a chance nonetheless.

    Once she had finished carefully cleaning the knife and sheath with water and then oil, and put it back in her closet, she slipped out of her jacket and boots and relaxed in front of the television, waiting for Sean to come home.  At least then she could be feel confident that he was safe.


---


    When Sean arrived at Keiko's home, she naturally considered hinting to discover if he knew anything about Matt.  But her training and instinct told her that wouldn't be prudent, even though Sean was her closest friend.  Instead, she greeted him with a mysterious smile from the couch.
    
    "Anything interesting happen while I was at work?"  Sean asked as he headed into the house, meeting her in the kitchen.  She was snacking on a few pieces of gourmet cheese.
    
    "No."  Keiko shrugged slightly.  "What do you feel like eating for dinner?"
    
    "What was all that in my office earlier then?  About making sure I'm safe?"
    
    "Oh, I was just ensuring that even if you and Karen are caught there won't be any severe consequences,"  Keiko explained as she finished off the pieces of cheese.
    
    Sean's eyes met Keiko's as she dusted off her hands, staring at him over the kitchen counter.  She looked exhausted...no, more like weary.  She looked like she had a long day.  He walked around the counter and hugged her.
    
    She sighed softly, and hugged him in return without speaking.
    
    "I know you're trying to protect me from something you're not saying,"  Sean whispered to her.  He felt her tense a little when he said that.  "But it's okay.  I understand why you need to protect me."
    
    "You do?"  she asked suspiciously.
    
    "Matt left work suddenly and headed to his house."  Sean said.  He skipped telling the rest of it, assuming Keiko knew.
    
    "Was he sick?"  Keiko asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
    
    That prompted Sean to smile.  "Keiko, I didn't make Detective because of my good looks."
    
    She sighed, and her shoulders slumped.  But she didn't say anything,  she was expecting a scolding.
    
    So Sean hugged her again.  "You probably saved Karen's life,"  he said.  "No matter how bad things get I'll always be grateful.  And you saved mine too, I could have been there."
    
    Keiko relaxed again, sure now that Sean was on her side.  "Now you must make it worth my time,"  she said.
    
    He nodded.  "I'll do my best."
    
    "What do you want for dinner now?"  she asked again.
    
    Sean smiled again, his arms still around her, in a way which made her feel valuable to him.  "Surprise me,"  he said.
    
    "I suppose I could do that."  Keiko smiled and slipped away from him.  "I'm starved,"  she whispered as she looked through the refrigerator.  She smiled as she spotted something and glanced at Sean.  "I think I'm going to try something different,"  she said.
    
    Sean watched as she took several items out of the refrigerator and freezer including two kinds of fresh fish.  "What are you making?"
    
    "You'll see,"  Keiko taunted him as she took out some knives and sliced open a package of frozen fish.
    
    "Aren't you supposed to use fresh fish?"  Sean asked, easily countering her taunt.
    
    "Yes, well this is the gaijin special,"  Keiko shot back.
    
    Sean gave a mock gasp.  "I know what that means!"
    
    Keiko laughed and transferred some of the slices to a frying pan that was already heating up.  "Trust me, you'll like it."
    
    She turned out to be right.  Soon after dinner was served Sean ate about half of it without speaking a word.  Keiko was hungry too, she made about the same amount of progress with her own helping.  She stared at Sean as she ate.
    
    "I find it strange,"  she finally said, "that you aren't upset."
    
    "What do you mean?"  he asked, pausing his eating.
    
    "I've killed suspects when we were working together,"  she explained.  "you were not happy about that at all--"
    
    Sean interrupted her.  "You saved the life of someone innocent to your world this time,"  he said.  "Karen has always lived in suburbia, she leaves her car doors unlocked.  The rest of the crime infested world is miles away to her, and the paranoid cut-throat world of yours doesn't exist to her."
    
    "I suppose it does now."  Keiko curled her lip slightly in a grin.
    
    "You're joking,"  Sean noted, "but this is probably the most wonderful thing you've ever done, for someone you barely know."
    
    Keiko looked at Sean for a moment, and then shrugged and looked at her food.  "Thank you,"  she whispeed.


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2007 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- World Class and all characters therein are property of 
--    Strike Two and Jason Froikin.