Chapter 5: Finding Death

[thegoldendragon]

You’re under arrest Shinoda. Now, DROP THE F**KING GUN!

Time seems to stand still as everyone in the room stares at each other. I slide my head up to get a better look and after that; we are all frozen. No one even blinks as the tensions rise in the room.

Shinoda grumbles under his breath as he slowly lays his gun on the table. As Shinoda raises his hands up, Agent Phillips looks at Tetsuya Goko and nods his head. With a quick and smooth motion, Tetutya grabs the handle of his tanto and slices the throat of Shinoda. As Shinoda grabs his spewing throat, Agent Phillips turns towards me.

I duck down deeper behind Hiro’s body, hiding my face behind his torso. I hear two shots ringing out, and then I feel Hiro’s body go limp. I dare not peek from behind my shield as I plan my next course of action.

“Shinjirō, watashitachi no moto jōshi mo sōdatta to torihiki shiyou.” I hear Tetsuya say.

I stick my head around the shoulder of Hiro’s body to see Tetsuya cleaning his blade off with the cloth napkin from the table. I stand slowly and remove the nun chucks from around the throat of Hiro. As the nun chucks move from around his throat, Hiro's body collapses to the floor, leaving me face-to-face with Agent Phillips.

Phillips is wiping down the handle of Shinoda’s golden gun. Phillips lays the gun back on the table after wiping it off. He is no longer the meek and frail-looking man but now appears as a cunning and calculated assassin. Phillips adjusts his wire frame glasses as he takes a seat at the table. Phillips crosses his legs and leans back in the chair looking relaxed. Phillips looks at me and Soshi.

I slowly turn my head and look at Soshi, who is just as shocked as I am. We both turn our gaze to Tetsuya, who has placed his tanto back into its home. Tetsuya smiles at both of us and takes a few steps closer.

Soshi, you have been my greatest employee. You have followed every instruction I have given and proved yourself to be a valuable asset to the Sumiyoshi-kai. I do hope that you will stay on as we transition leadership.

Soshi says nothing but lightly bows his head. Tetsuya smiles and nods his head as well. Tetsuya motions for Soshi to take his seat once again, which Soshi does without a word. Tetsuya then looks back at me and motions for me to take my seat.

I think I’d prefer to stay standing.

“Understandable,” Tetsuya says in his broken English as he takes his seat.

Tetsuya and Agent Phillips can sense that I am still trying to figure the situation out in my head, and Phillips is the first to speak up.

Mr. Yamamoto, Shinoda has been working for us as a confidential informant for over two years. Over the last six months though, he has proven to be less than fruitful. By that I mean, he was a real pain in the butt. He was costing us more than he was earning us. We dug into the bad intell he was giving us on the other clans and found that Shinoda has been triple dipping. Funded by the FBI, paid by, and skimming off the top of the Sumiyoshi-kai. And, working as a double agent for Inagawa-kai.

We couldn’t have that. Inagawa-kai wasn’t as open to corroboration as Sumiyoshi-kai, we a change in leadership was required. Also, your arrival in San Fran sprang up some other issues, and when Tetsuya told me about the situation with you and your family, I knew the change of leadership had to happen immediately as you can be a valuable asset to us all.

How?

Phillips smiled, and replied, “Maybe you should take that seat after all”.

I nodded my head, and sat down cautiously, but also curiously.

Days had passed since that meeting, and since it had concluded my life hasn’t been, nor ever will be the same again. I am currently on a plane headed for Detroit to meet with another FBI Agent that Phillips needed me to contact. As I traveled to major cities I would pass along sensitive information to trusted agents for Phillips, as well as other duties. In exchange, the Sumiyoshi-kai would forgive my family's debts.

The entire situation was making my head spin. I stared out the window of the plane trying to ease my mind, but all I could think about was how I had just crawled into bed with something nastier than Brooke Blakely. I pushed the situation to the back of my mind, and let my thoughts on my upcoming match at Access Denied flow.

Brooke, you've already lost this match. You don’t know it, but I do. Your overconfidence. Your bravado. Your ego. They are all failing you. The fact that you don't think you can or will lose, is exactly why you'll lose. You are coming into this thinking you have already won it. That means you are not properly training, and that you are not considering all scenarios.

Brooke, I have counters for your counters to my counters. I've been in this sport before I could even walk, while you are still a novice. Granted you were on a meteoric rise, but the meteoric rise crashed and burned into mediocrity. Failure has found you just as fast as you found success. WGWF, TPW, and coming soon to your losing streak, OCW.

Why do you think your fortunes turned so quickly Brooke? Did you ever dream to think, it's because of you? Your attitude and actions have been vile. You went from what many would refer to as a "sweet girl next door", to just being a Meinu. Karma is real Brooke, and with all that negative energy you put out into the world, are you really surprised it came back to find you? Karma, and the universe are coming for their revenge, and they are coming in the form of the Golden Dragon at Access Denied.

It isn't coming in the form of some "dog" that you will beat like a heavy bag. To put a spin on a quote from the great Bruce Lee, "Heavy bags no hit back". All of your fake bravado. All of your nonsensical training. Your over-inflated ego. And, your ill-planned strategy will all disappear faster than your momentum did when I land the first blow on you. As the great American, Mike Tyson has said "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face".

Brooke, no one has ever accused you of being a master strategist, after all, you have shown yourself to be a fool. You call the Asian form of wrestling a tradition, but it is a sport that was brought to our homeland by the Americans. You do not even know the history of your own sport or country, yet you say people like Junko and myself make a mockery of the sport. What we make a mockery of is you Brooke, by exposing you as the entertainer you are, and not the athlete and warrior you could only ever dream of being. Just like Junko defeated you, I too will defeat you, but in an even more humbling fashion.

If you want to be an entertainer, America is full of entertainment shows. I guess you don't have the talent for America's got talent. You aren't noble enough to be an American Idol. You only use your mouth for complaining and spouting lies, so you couldn't be The Voice. You do not have what it takes to answer The Challenge. And, at Access Denied Two, you will not be the Survivor.

Your title reign and your career are going down in flames Brooke. Like Icarus, you have flown too close to something that burns much hotter than you. You have flown too close to the dragon, and now you will be consumed by my fire. And how fitting that when your career has gone up and flames, and you've been fatally burned by this sport that it comes courtesy of a flaming death.

My train of thought ended as the “fasten seat belts” sign came on. I followed the safety protocol, and soon found myself unfastening a seat belt, not the one of the plane, but the one of my Uber as it pulled up to the old house in Detroit I was set to meet Agent Kemp at for Phillips.

I took my bags from the car and as the stench from the exhaust dissipated, a new, and even fouler stench slid up my nostrils. I couldn’t quite place the smell, but it was the most foul thing I had ever smelled in my life. I pulled my shirt up over my nose, but it was of no use as the odor cut through the cotton.

The closer I got to the front door of the house, the worse the smell got. I pulled out my phone, double-checking the address. I shook my head in curiosity as I confirmed this was correct. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I again checked the address and double-checked the time for our meeting, and the photo of who I was meeting with. It was the right place and the right time, but no one answered. I knocked several more times and received no answer.

I texted Agent Phillips and he told me that if no one was answering something was wrong, and to check the back door. I had to squeeze myself between the house and the privacy fence that separated it from the neighbors, but as I got to the backyard I noticed the door was ajar and the smell was even worse.

I reached forward, holding back my urge to vomit, and knocked on the door. As I knocked the door swung open. As the sight and smell of the decaying bodies that lay in front of me in the kitchen hit me, I could no longer fight the urge and began vomiting. I fought to gather myself, battling with my natural reactions to the sights and smells.

As I collected myself, I leaned my head into the doorway and examined the four bodies laying on the floor. Holding my phone up and looking at the photo of Agent Kemp, I compared it to the least decade of the four bodies. It didn’t take a forensic anthropologist to see this was the body of Agent Kemp.

I quickly stepped out of the house and placed a video call to Agent Phillips.

Shinjiro, what are you doing face-timing me?

Mr. Phillips, I think we have a problem. A big Inagawa-kai problem.

I turn the phone to show him the decomposing bodies inside of the house.

SON OF A….

To be continued.