Top of the Eighth Inning Uno and his comrades headed over to Hakata pier via the fishing ship when two a.m. rolled around. The Hakata bay was quiet this night, and the waves were calm. After a couple minutes of crossing the pitch black ocean at a slow pace, their destination on the pier came into view.
They anch.o.r.ed the boat once they arrived to Sunset Park. They moved from the sea to land, crossing over the small fence with the guitar cases in one hand. There were no signs of people in the park as expected at this hour. Only the silence greeted them. There was a futsal field near the park, but it was far past its business hours and thus was pitch black. Directly across from a multistory parking garage and the red tower, the Hakata Port Tower, was visible.
A white monument was at the corner of the park ahead of Uno. This was their rendezvous point. They still had an hour until the deal took place. Uno and Ocho went to set down the cargo. Uno stood on land and took the cardboard boxes Ocho handed him from the boat and set them along the promenade. Treinta was draped over the side of the boat, leaning over to spew his guts out.
After a couple of minutes, Ocho suddenly stopped working and asked.
“...Hey, where did Treinta go?”
Treinta, who had been keeling over in the ship earlier, had vanished.
Uno pointed over to the portable toilet on the vessel with his chin. “He"s got to be in the lavatory, right?”
“He"s still throwing up? He needs to hurry up and help us.”
Ocho got off the boat as he muttered complaints when they suddenly heard a shout.
“Don"t move! We"re the DEA! Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air!”
Two men wielding guns rushed out in front of them. Both of them wore bullet proof vests which read DEA on them. They were American DEA agents.
“You guys are completely surrounded! If you resist, we"ll shoot to kill!” The agent yelled.
Uno examined the area around them. He could see men aiming handguns and rifles at them from behind the palm trees growing around the park. At first glance, he could see around ten of them. They were surrounded.
“This is bad, Uno.” Ocho clicked his tongue next to him.
To escape this situation, they had no other choice other than to get back on the boat. However, these men were not the j.a.panese police, they were American agents. There was the possibility they would shoot them down mercilessly if they turned their backs to them.
They had to comply here. Uno raised both his hands in the position of surrender.
“Ocho, do as they say.”
Ocho reluctantly held up his hands as well.
The two men drew closer to handcuff them. The man who came up to Uno was a large black man with tattoos. He had a black tattoo which stood out on his arms. It had the letter S design.
Uno was startled to see it.
Uno knew full well what that tattoo was. It was proof of those close to the boss of the Veracruz cartel, Ramiro Sanchez. He had the exact same one on his own arm as well.
What"s the meaning of this? Uno c.o.c.ked his head. Why does a DEA agent have a cartel"s tattoo?
Uno looked at the man. He had a large, dark-skinned body and a shaved head. He should not be anyone he knew, but he felt like he recognized his face from somewhere.
Digging through his memories, Uno had a realization. “Hold on, are you...Alex?”
Bottom of the Eighth Inning “Hold on, are you...Alex?”
Martinez"s heart leapt in his chest when he was abruptly called by his old name the moment he went to handcuff the Los Eses member.
Now able to see him from closeup, Martinez finally realized who he was. It was a familiar face. He was the driver for Ramiro Sanchez back when he was part of the Veracruz Cartel. He was of j.a.panese descent, and he believed his name was Nakamura...no, was it Muranaka? Nakashima? Nakano? Nakai? ...Ah, it was Nagai. Nagai. Martinez remembered now.
But more importantly, this was a dire situation. Martinez tutted internally. He did not expect to encounter someone he knew back when he was part of the cartel among the Los Eses. He was careless. Because of Martinez"s betrayal nine years ago, most of the organization"s executives he was closely a.s.sociated with had been arrested, and as such he had mistakenly believed there was no one who knew his past in the rising cartels right now.
Since this man was no one important to the boss and was just his driver, he must have gotten off light with the police. He had no direct connection with the cartel business and conduct, so he would not have even been acquaintances with the undercover agent Ricardo, but Martinez had encountered him face-to-face on a mult.i.tude of occasions. He had accompanied Don Ramiro in the same vehicle this man drove. It was natural for this man to have recognized Martinez so easily.
If his true ident.i.ty was found it, it would impede the plan. He had to play the fool.
“...Alex?” Martinez c.o.c.ked his head. “Who"s that? I think you"ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“Don"t play dumb.”
The man retorted.
He declared, pointing at Martinez"s arm. “That tattoo is proof that you"ve sworn loyalty to Don Ramiro. I have the exact same one.”
As the man had stated, he could not deny the meaning behind the tattoo. Martinez decided to acknowledge it.
“Yeah, it is. When I went undercover, I had this made to deceive the dealers in the cartel.”
He thought given the circ.u.mstances, it was a good excuse.
The other fell silent over the proclamation. His conviction that Martinez was Alex had weakened slightly. Martinez relaxed, believing he could escape the other"s suspicion of him.
However-
“No, hold on.”
Another man spoke up.
“I remember his face!” He pointed at Martinez"s face and shouted. “He"s Alex! This guy made a move on my partner in a Veracruz bar!”
Martinez grimaced. This man was a former Veracruz policeman? He must have changed occupations to a drug dealer. It happened plenty of times.
“Hey, is that true?”
“I"m sure of it.” This man nodded and glared at Martinez. “You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you raped my partner back then!”
“Like I said, that was completely consensual!”
Martinez realized his mistake immediately after shouting his response.
“...Ah.”
By the time he slapped a palm over his mouth, it was already to late.
s.h.i.t. I went and said that.
“So you really are Alex!” The two yelled simultaneously.
Ricardo was fuming next to him. “You dumba.s.s!”
Martinez had carelessly revealed his ident.i.ty. This was not good. Martinez frowned.
“As if a hitman from a cartel would become an investigator.” The former policeman grinned. “These guys are fakes.”
He turned to the fake investigators surrounding them and shouted.
“You guys over there, we"ll kill every last one of you! If you care for your lives, run right this very instant!”
In the next moment, all the fake investigators shrieked in alarm. They tossed down their weapons and fled in haste.
“Ah! Hey, don"t run!”
Martinez shouted to stop them, but they paid no heed. The foreigners vanished in mere moments, leaving only Martinez and Ricardo behind.
The j.a.panese man remarked in amazement. “You two are sure cowards despite claiming to be investigators. I mean you paid foreigners in the area to increase your numbers.”
They had completely seen through their plan.
“...You got us.”
Martinez muttered. Ricardo sighed next to him. “Why didn"t you wear long sleeves? You dumba.s.s.”
But their opponents were also only two. They were even in numbers, but Martinez and Ricardo had guns. They still had the advantage. As long as they could capture these two, they could clear their mission.
“Still,” the j.a.panese man spoke. “It"s been awhile. Nine years, was it?”
It had been a while since they had last seen each other, but the man was everything but pleased about it. In fact, resentment could be detected in his tone of voice.
Of course he would be mad. This man had been dying on the side of the road when Don Ramiro found him and took him in as his driver. He would resent Martinez, who had betrayed Don Ramiro whom he had respect for, even nine years after the fact.
“I"ve missed you, Alex.”
“Likewise, Nagai.”
“...It"s Ichihara.”
He was completely off. “Disculpa, Ichihara.”
“I don"t really mind. I got rid of that name long ago. I"m Uno now.”
Martinez had heard from Ricardo the members of Los Eses received code names in numeric order. “If you"re Uno, you"ve sure made your way in the world then. Even though you were just Don Ramiro"s driver.”
“Now that,” Uno deeply scowled. “is a thing of the past.”
“This brings back memories. You were scared of me. You should shake every time I talked to you.”
The frown Uno had deepened. “That is also a thing of the past.”
“Is it now? Shall we test that then?” Martinez smirked provocatively. “...Just kidding. We don"t have the time to play around. We have to capture you.”
“What"s your objective? You don"t intent to s.n.a.t.c.h our merch from us, are you?”
“Yeah, we are,” Martinez lied. “We heard there was a big trade going down, so we planned to steal the money and drugs by pretending to be investigators.”
“What a poor plan.”
“I thought so too.” Ricardo nodded.
“Shut it,” Martinez pouted.
“Anyway, we"re going to take your captive now.”
Martinez reached out to handcuff Uno.
“No se muevan.” (Don"t move)
He abruptly heard Spanish from behind him.
When Martinez turned around, he saw a man wielding a rifle on the anch.o.r.ed boat. In that instant his attention was diverted Uno and the other man used the opportunity to pull out their own guns.
They all stilled, guns pointed at one another.
“...You had another friend with you?”
Martinez tutted. He did not antic.i.p.ate a third person. He must have hid on the boat and awaited a chance.
“Took your time, Treinta.” Uno said to the man.
There was only two of them. There were three opponents, and one had a rifle. There was a high chance they could get killed if they started a shoot out. They were at an overwhelmingly disadvantage.
“Drop your guns,” Uno ordered.
Martinez and Ricardo did as they were instructed, placing their guns onto the ground and raised their hands up into the air.
“Now the tables have turned.” Uno laughed. “You two are the captives now.” This was the worst outcome.
Ricardo grimaced. Their plan fell through. They were one step away from succeeding, but then this idiot gave away his ident.i.ty. Ricardo glared at the large man next to him.
Afterwards, Uno tasked one of his comrades to take care of the drugs and took Ricardo and Martinez onto the boat, in bounds. The place they were brought to was an abandoned warehouse near the pier, which must serve as the Los Eses" hideout and storage for their merchandise.
Ricardo"s hands were tied together with rope. The end of the rope was fastened to a hook suspended from the ceiling, preventing mobility. Even when he attempted to struggle, he only succeeded in rattling the chain of the hook; he could not break free. His legs were tied neatly as well. Next to him, Martinez was in the same state as he was. Ricardo felt they resembled pigs in a slaughterhouse, but he was grateful they were not strung upside down.
Their bullet-proof vests had been removed as well, leaving them defenseless. All of their belongings including cell phones, wallets, and hand guns had been confiscated, and they were laid out on the ground.
“Hey Uno,” the man looking through Ricardo"s personal items, Ocho, raised his voice when he discovered his DEA ID. “This guy"s a real investigator.”
“What?”
Uno closely examined Ricardo"s face and muttered.
“So this guy must be the suspected undercover agent.” He then shifted his gaze over to Martinez and scoffed.
“From the CIA to the DEA? You"re so inconsistent.”
“I have a large strike zone.”
“It"s not good for even a dog to change masters so often.”
Uno picked up a metal pipe from off the ground and rested it over his shoulder. He then slowly drew close to Martinez.
“You betrayed Don, you filthy dog.” Uno glared, patting the tip of the metal pipe against Martinez"s chin.
“Will you bark for me? Huh? You s.h.i.tty dog.”
“Woof, woof.”
The moment following Martinez"s snark response, Uno swung the metal pipe, striking Martinez in the gut.
Martinez slightly groaned and smiled wryly.
“...Why did you hit me? I barked just like you asked me to.”
“It"s because you always make fun of people!” Uno shouted in anger, veins bulging in his face. “I hate that about you!”
“The feeling"s mutual.” Ricardo murmured softly.
“You, the agent over there. We"re going to cut off your head and send it to the DEA"s HQ.”
Uno pointed at Ricardo before turning it back to Martinez. “And you"ll be sent back to Mexico. As a souvenir for Don Ramiro.”
“No f.u.kuoka souvenirs for one foul man? That"s pretty inconsiderate.” Martinez shrugged. “At least get him torimon.”
“Did you forget? Don Ramiro hates sweets.”
“That"s exactly why.”
Uno hit Martinez once more. This time the metal pipe struck him in his side, making Martinez grimace. “What was that for? That hurt.”
“You"re always joking around. It p.i.s.ses me off.”
“You"re telling me.” Ricardo nodded.
He should just behave. Why does this man always have to get the last line in? Ricardo was exasperated by him.
“I"ll use your head as a soccer ball and kick you around.”
“I"m more of the baseball type than soccer though.”
Uno yelled as he struck again with his metal pipe. “Then I"ll just! Have to beat you! Until you cease your meaningless comments!”
Martinez took another three, unrestrained hits and choked. He muttered as he grit his teeth, fighting against the pain, “gaisi.”
What did he say? Uno frowned.
“Uno, it"s about time. Let"s go.”
Ocho called out to Uno while looking at his wrist watch.
“...d.a.m.n.” Uno tutted and tossed down the metal pipe. “Alright.” He nodded and turned on his heel.
The two left the factory. As they did so, Uno turned around and pointed at them. “Just wait patiently until the deal is over. I"ll take good care of you later.”
“Looking forward to it.” Martinez smiled back.
“...”
When Lin awoke, he was sitting in the pa.s.senger"s seat. His gaze wandered, and a familiar setting came into focus. He was in a small car with a red body. It was Banba"s vehicle.
Huh? Lin c.o.c.ked his head. Why am I here? He dug through his memories. If I remember right, I had a brawl with Banba in the park...that"s right. Now I remember. I pa.s.sed out after one punch.
“...You"re awake.”
Lin heard a curt voice - it was Banba"s. He was in the driver"s seat, and his face was swollen red. They both collapsed at about the same time, but Banba was the first to regain consciousness. He was unable to leave Lin lying there unconscious and had reluctantly carried him here.
“Hm,” Banba coldly handed Lin a moist handkerchief. Lin took it obediently. His right cheek stung. Banba wanted to tell him to cool down the swelling with this. That was the greatest compromise this stubborn man was capable of.
All at once he felt everything dissipate. It was stupid to keep up this obstinance.
Lin, while keeping the handkerchief pressed to his right cheek, used his unoccupied hand to retrieve the ball from inside his pocket and handed it over to Banba.
“Here, you can have it back.”
Banba took it in hand, eyes wide in shock. “This is-”
“It didn"t get thrown away. It fell under the bed.”
Lin had planned to not return it until he had got an apology, but he did not care anymore. Now that he had calmed down, he had realized something. He was not just upset that Banba yelled at him for unknown reasons.
‘He"s got a lot of things on his plate." Lin had recalled what Genzo had told him at the food stall.
This man, who thought nothing but baseball, would hardly tell Lin anything about himself. It was the same in this moment as well. Banba made no attempt to explain what the dirty practice ball was and why he was mad. If he just did not want to say, Lin could understand. As such, Lin did not intend to force him to give information he did not want Lin to pry into.
Even so, Lin could not help but wish he would tell him.
Come on, am I not dependable? You still can"t trust me?
The abject thought dominated his mind.
“Take care of it next time.”
Lin spat back.
“...This here is-”
Banba had put the ball away in his pocket and went to say something when Lin"s cell phone went off. It was an incoming call. He got a call from Enokida.
Lin hit the b.u.t.ton to accept the call and pressed the device to his ear.
‘I finally got a hold of you."
He heard Enokida"s voice and a sigh of relief.
‘I called you numerous times."
“Sorry, I was knocked out for a bit. Did something happen?”
‘Where are you right now?"
Lin looked outside the car. They had not changed locations.
“In front of the park near the office.”
‘Where"s Banbsan?"
“Next to me.”
‘Ahh, so you made up. Glad to hear it."
That was not quite what happened. “What do you want?”
‘Go save Mar-san."
“...What?”
Lin exclaimed, dumbfounded by Enokida"s sudden request.
‘Mar-san has gotten captured by the enemy. I have a bug on him equipped with a GPS, so I"ll guide you to where he is on the phone."
Lin had no idea what had transpired, but he had to listen to him. “Drive,” Lin instructed Banba as he remained on the phone.
That reminded him. The Chinese men had called him. And Banba had been called by the Noma Group as well. However, it was 2:30 in the morning now. It seemed they would both neglect to head to Sunset Park as promised.
“...Ahh, s.h.i.t. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d got five punches in.”
Martinez voiced next to him immediately after the two had left the abandoned factory. He cursed, unaffected by the relentless punches he received.
“Hey, what was that earlier?” Ricardo asked. The word Martinez said to Uno earlier was neither j.a.panese or Spanish. “Was it Chinese?”
“Yeah, it was.”
Martinez nodded.
“Gaisi means, ‘d.a.m.n you." A Chinese friend of mine taught me that.”
He continued with his explanation proudly.
“By the way, heigui means ‘n.i.g.g.e.r," and gaomizhe means ‘whistleblower." But p.r.o.nouncing Chinese is pretty hard. You know the roll of the R? How they do it is different than Spanish-”
“I don"t have the time to listen to your Chinese lesson.”
Ricardo interrupted Martinez from enjoying to talk at length before attempting to put strength in his arms. Despite shaking and pulling at his bounds, neither the chain or the rope yielded.
“We gotta do something quick…”
They had to get out of here before Uno and his friends came back. Is there no good way out of this? As Ricardo desperately put his mind to work, Martinez remarked cheerfully. “Come on now. Don"t struggle so much.”
“Do you want to be made into a soccer ball?”
“I got a plan.”
“What plan? Your plans have always been hit-or-miss.” Ricardo snorted. “You Latinos live so carefree that you get into situations like this.”
Martinez responded to Ricardo"s string of complaints with a serious expression. “I wasn"t being carefree this time. They should be here soon.”
The moment after he state that, the door opened.
Who could it be? Ricardo moved his gaze to the entrance. He thought Uno had returned, but it was not.
He saw a group of two people.
Martinez pointed at them with his chin and smirked, “told you.”
The pair rushed over to them. One of them spoke to him. “Mar, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Martinez nodded and smiled. “I knew you"d come.”
He then introduced the tall man holding a j.a.panese sword to Ricardo.
“Rico, this is Banba.”
And after him, he glanced over to the other person. “And this is Lin. He"s the Chinese friend I mentioned earlier. He dresses like a woman, but he"s a man. Both of them are my teammates.”
Banba and Lin used their weapons - a j.a.panese sword and a knife - to cut the rope binding Ricardo and Martinez. Once they were free, Ricardo picked up his belongings and asked while getting himself situated.
“What"s going on? When did you call your friends?”
Martinez"s hands were tied this whole time they were held captive. He should not have been able to call for help.
“I didn"t. Our informant did for me.”
“Informant?”
“Remember? He"s the guy you met with me. The blond mushroom-head one.”
When he heard that description, he vaguely remembered. There was a young man with gaudy hair accompanying Martinez when he had first tailed him.
“Back then he put a listening device in my clothes. He"s a rascal who loves to eavesdrop.” Martinez let a wry smile slip onto his face. “He noticed our dilemma and sent these two to get us.”
In other words, this man knew his friends would come save him from the beginning. That was why he kept joking around and provoking Uno: to stall for time.
However, Ricardo would have appreciated it if he had told him.
“Why didn"t you tell me something so important?”
Ricardo questioned him.
“I did just now.”
Martinez replied calmly.
Ricardo grew sullen and punched Martinez in the gut.
Martinez looked at Banba and Lin as he rubbed his beaten stomach.
“By the way, you guys.”
He looked them over and asked.
“What"s with your faces? Did you guys get the mumps?”
Lin and Banba both had their right cheeks swollen.
“Nope.” Lin spat out. “Drop it.”
“Well, a lot happened, you see.” Banba said ambiguously.
Martinez tilted his head to the side in curiosity but then his phone went off.
He accepted the call and pressed the device to his ear. “Who is it?”
‘"It"s the rascal who loves to eavesdrop."
“Ahh, it"s you.”
The caller was Enokida.
‘Are you alright, Mar-san?"
Martinez smiled wryly. “Thanks to you.”
‘I didn"t think you had noticed I put the bug on you. Color me impressed."
“It was just foresight. As if you wouldn"t try to poke your head into this.”
And so he had faith the other would act.
‘I made all the preparations for you."
“You do a d.a.m.n good job as always.” Martinez replied with a smile. “Leave the rest to me.”
He hung up and turned back to face Banba and Lin.
“Did you hear the situation from Enokida?”
“Yeah.” Lin nodded. “He said members from a Mexican cartel arrived in f.u.kuoka.”
“Correct. They plan on carrying out their business here. At this rate, drugs will be distributed throughout f.u.kuoka City.”
“That ain"t good.”
If they let the cartel drug dealers do as they pleased, f.u.kuoka could eventually be a repeat of the drug war in Mexico. There would be shootouts, violence, and murder day in and day out, involving the innocent. The corrupt police, ma.s.s media, and politicians would be under the cartel"s thumb. They could not let those tragic events take place in this city.
“I won"t let them get away with it. I need your help.”
Lin and Banba nodded firmly to Martinez"s request.
“So what plan are we going to go with?”
Lin asked Martinez. Ricardo spoke up with a tired expression. “Don"t go along with his plans. They"ve all been hit or miss.”
“Don"t worry, Rico. We"ll be fine with these two around.”
Martinez proclaimed with pride. They should succeed with any plan they go with.
“The drug deal is going to take place at Sunset Park. The men from the Noma Group should be there by now as well.”
They should have enough people sent to carry ten kilograms of marijuana. On their team, they had four people. The enemy"s numbers would be much higher for certain.
However, they had two skilled hitmen. That should even the playing field.
“The Noma Group plans on eliminating the Chinese drug dealers.”
Lin"s eyes widened at Banba"s statement. “Are you serious?”
“I heard so from Kishihara. He said the fellas was gonna call them to Sunset Park and then kill ‘em. Since I ain"t there, his underlings will.”
“Then that"s convenient. Once the number of them decrease, we can attack them from the sea.”
Martinez picked up the bullet proof vests and metal pipe from off the ground. “Let"s get going.” The others followed after him.
“If we"re going to come from the sea, how do you plan on getting there?”
Martinez answered as he put on his bullet proof vest. “Obviously we"re going to get there by ship.”
“Can you even operate a ship?” Ricardo asked.
“No.”
“Does someone have a license for it?”
Ricardo looked over to Lin and Banba.
“No.”
“I don"t got one.”
The both shook their head.
“Hey, let"s get on that.”
Martinez pointed to the small craft floating on the water.
“Hold on, that"s just a boat!”
“Come on, just get in.”
The four boarded the rowing boat, causing the vessel to reel.
“...We"ve got to be over maximum capacity for this, right?” Lin commented as he cut the rope holding the boat to the bit with a knife.
“I feel like this here"s gonna capsize.” Banba also frowned. “What are we gonna do if we go into the water?”
It was time to take off. Martinez took the oars in hand and rowed the boat with his monstrous strength. The boat slowly pushed forward through the pitch black ocean, rocking as it did. Would they reach the sh.o.r.e? Or would the boat sink? They were barely making it.
“Gosh it"s rockin" like crazy.”
“Is this really alright?”
“You"re the heavyweight. Get off.” Ricardo told Martinez.
“Hey.” The boat was far from the sh.o.r.e. “As if I can get off now.”
“You can swim.”
“Don"t be ridiculous.”
Martinez went on with the rest of the battle plans within the small, rocking boat. “Listen. Our first objective is to arrest the Los Eses and to confiscate the marijuana. I don"t care about the j.a.panese guys, but don"t let the cartel members get away.”
“In other words, we can kill all of them, right?”
“Hold on, don"t.” Ricardo interjected without a moment"s delay. “You can"t murder anyone in front of me.”
Lin made a sullen face, but Martinez defended him, “he"s an investigator.”
“Then should we just knock them all out?”
“Do exactly that.”
After they rowed for a couple of minutes, a park facing the sea came into view - Sunset Park. There were around ten men gathered under the faintly lit street lamps. They were able to see Uno and his comrades as well.
“Look, they"re here.” Martinez spoke in a whisper and pointed at them. “It looks tense.”
Immediately after that, a shootout began. The Noma Group surrounded the Chinese group and shot them down. A fishing boat was anch.o.r.ed nearby. They drew close to it during the commotion and came alongside the pier, hiding in the boat"s blind spot.
“Alright then. It"s time to switch offense and defense.”
Martinez gripped the metal pipe and smirked.
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Translation: Kaede726
Reposts are prohibited and should be exclusive to Kaede726 on blogger.
Editor: Voissane
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