Page 5 of Bound By the Yakuza

A few minutes later the lights in his apartment flickered on.

I raised my head in suspicion. We waited outside the front driveway; there was no way we could have missed his stumbling drunk ass get out of a taxi. I motioned towards the building, Kaoru caught my look.

I pulled on my favorite leather gloves and took my Glock out of it’s holster. “Stay here.” I said and made my way towards the building. The parking lot was filled with cars and bicycles. Somewhere amongst them a cat in heat was crying out. I kept the the shadows, inching through the cars and towards the front doors.

“Someone here must have inherited some cash.” I muttered under my breath, noticing the black Lexus parked near the front door. I slipped into the lobby and up the stairs. As I climbed up the third floor, my mind was swimming. How the hell did he get past us? Why would he take the back way unless he knew we were coming?

I stopped at his front door, gripping the gun in my hand tightly. It didn’t matter anyway, his fate would be the same.

Just as I was reaching for the door, I heard a scuffle inside.

“Please, please, I have the information you asked for.” It was Kawasaki’s whining tone.

I froze, pushing my back against the wall and listening hard.

“You think we care about that? Your life is more useless than any information you have. We’re not stupid, Kawasaki,” It was a deep man’s voice. Gruff, rude and running out of patience.

I held my breath.

“Please, I don’t want to die.”

The deep voice laughed. “Well, that’s too bad. So make your choice. You wanna be a yakuza murder or do you want to die with honor?”

Kawasaki’s sobs echoed through the hall.

There was a few minutes of tense silence before I heard more. “Good man,” The deep voice said. “I’ll let you get it sorted out.” Footsteps approached the door.

I snuck around the corner just as the door slammed open. The same heavy footsteps echoed down the hall and down the stairwell.

In a flash, I dashed into Kawasaki’s apartment but it was too late. He hung from the rafters on a broken neck, the word “karoshi” written on his dress shirt with a permanent marker. Death by overwork. This wasn’t suicide, but it would be investigated as such.

I stepped back carefully, not disturbing a piece of dust. The last thing that the Himura-gumi needed was to have this traced back to us. I sucked in a breath and then shot down the stairs.

Bang. Ping. Ping. Ping!

I ducked down, dodging a barrage of bullets. “Shit!” I breathed, hitting the concrete stairs hard.

“Don’t be shy, Himura dog!” It was that same deep voice. He was waiting for me and I had no clear shot at him.

I cocked my gun, steadying my hand and my breathing. I gritted my teeth. I could just make out his shadow against the wall, he was waiting for me one floor down and he would have an easy shot if I made a run for it. I edged towards the railing a fraction to see if I could get him in my line of sight. No luck.

“Come out, Himura.” He laughed.

I didn’t wait a moment, hurling myself over the railing and taking four quick shots in his direction, using only my ears to guide me and hit him in the arm and side. I landed light on my feet, watching him scramble upwards and flee down the last flight of stairs.

“Coward!” I shouted, taking aim again.

The man shot at me but not a single bullet came close.

I followed his trail of blood out of the building and to the parking lot. He threw himself into the black Lexus and the getaway driver tore off in a shower of gravel. I chased after them, squeezing off my last round into their left back tire.

Kaoru met me at the front gate, revving his engine. In a minute, we were flying down the street, weaving around parked cars and gaining on the Lexus fast. We chased them out of the residential zone and into a crowded business district. Our bikes navigated easily through the congested traffic, late-night commuters, and club-going college students milled around like ants.

Suddenly, we lost them, even with the burst back wheel. The Lexus vanished from our sight, heading around a corner and they vanished.

“Damn it.” Kaoru came to a stop and flipped open his helmet.

My bike rumbled beside his. I blew out an exhausted sigh, trying to fix my hair that had been blown up in the wind. The sound of traffic and pedestrians settled in around us. I slammed my fist down on my bike and grabbed my phone to text Masaru. “500,000-san was compromised. Suicide. Shimazu.” I only shared the bare minimum over text.

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