SEVEN

Kojima Electronics Incorporated was a sixty-storey glass tower which held a prominent position overlooking the city’s ocean in the popular beachfront neighbourhood of Punta Pacifica. Its exterior windows glistened brightly in the late afternoon sunlight that reflected up off the crisp, blue surrounding ocean.

Inside the building, for at least the first fifty-five floors, the place appeared no different to any other of the hundred or so inner-city office buildings. However, the interior of the top five floors was another matter entirely. The windows of these top floors were all tinted, shielding plates of armour-coated steel, which served to protect the buildings inhabitants from the outside world. Behind this thick exo-skeleton of steel, the interior carried a traditional Japanese design: thatch wood floors; rooms divided up by walls made from paper and thin sheets of wood, which were called fusuma; and the ceilings and walls were supported by large wooden beams, decorated by banners sporting Japanese calligraphy.

The top five floors of the building could not be reached by conventional means and they served as the inner sanctum of the Kojima-gumi, who were Japan’s largest Yakuza organisation.

With over 85,000 active members in circulation worldwide, the Kojima-gumi was a force to be reckoned with no matter where they set up. Every year their crime syndicate brought in billions of illicit dollars from gambling, smuggling, narcotics and shady real estate practices.

The two hundred and forty-two formal members of the Kojima-gumi clan currently residing in Panama city consisted of: one kumicho, or leader; the kumicho’s two sons and daughter; twenty shatei, or lieutenants; and two hundred and eighteen wakacku, who were essentially the muscle of the organisation.

The current kumicho of the Kojima-gumi was Kazuo Kojima, an aging man with a strong tactical and business-orientated mind. Presently though, Kazuo was away tending to business back in the Kojima-gumi’s home city of Kobe, Japan. Thus, in a great show of faith, Kazuo had left his eldest son Kenji in charge of things as acting kumicho until he returned.

On the fifty-seventh floor of the Kojima building there was a large dojo arena. There, Kazuo’s eldest son Kenji stood ready in a defensive stance with a wooden, sword-like kendo stick held firmly in his hands. Kenji looked calm and in total control of his emotions, his eyes unblinking as they held on firmly to those of his opponent, who was standing across from him with a sword-like stick identical to his own.

Like Kenji, Ryu Honda was a man of light-medium build. His spikey mid-length hair was tied back with a jade-green headband.

“I’ll get you this time, Kenji,” Ryu grinned, raising his wooden stick high over his head.

“Really, you think so?” Kenji’s youthful Japanese face showed a brief hint of a smile. “Then come get some, Ryu!” He signalled with his stick.

Ryu charged in and brought the weapon down hard, targeting his opponent’s shoulder. Anticipating the attack, Kenji easily parried the blow aside and countered with a swing at Ryu’s ribs, but then Ryu desperately lashed his sword aside and retreated back across the dojo.

Kenji followed his prey relentlessly, swinging and jabbing his kendo stick in controlled spurts of aggression. Then suddenly he latched onto Ryu’s stick and forced the point straight down into the floorboards, jarring the weapon from his grasp.

“Got ya!” Kenji grinned, holding his kendo stick triumphantly up to Ryu’s throat. “Yet again!”

Ryu glanced down to his weapon lying on the floor then back to Kenji, nodding begrudgingly. “Next time I’m going to make you my bitch. Just you wait…”

“Ryu, my friend,” Kenji rested a hand on the man’s shoulder, “I would beat you at kendo even if the only stick I had was my 12-inch dick!”

They both laughed at that, taking a seat at a small table across the dojo where two glasses of iced lemon water were waiting for them.

“So, what’s on the schedule today for the Kojima-gumi’s acting kumicho?” Ryu asked after he had drained his glass.

“Acting?!” Kenji shot him a look. “I think future is the word you are looking for, Ryu. Anyways, at 4:00pm I’ve got a meeting with the shatei, then at 5:30pm I have a private appointment with that whiney fuck Kaneda-san to run through our accounts. And then…” He didn’t bother trying to hide his frustration as he carried on. That was one funny thing about Kenji: he was never afraid to speak his mind about anything.

Ryu sighed, less than impressed by Kenji’s busy schedule.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Kenji added with a grin. “You know how all work and no play makes Kenji a grumpy son of a bitch?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I figured later on tonight we could head out for few drinks in Calle Uruguay with some of the wakacku boys. After all, it is Friday.”

Ryu’s face moulded into a smile. “Now that’s more like it, Kenji! You had me worried there for a second.”

“Maybe you can even grow some balls this time and ask my sister along,” Kenji said, nudging Ryu playfully in the ribs.

Suddenly Ryu’s smile dropped, his face starting to turn red. “You mean Meyoko? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, come on!” Kenji rolled his eyes. “You think you can still deny it, Ryu, you sly dog?! I know you have a thing for Meyoko. Hell, everyone in the Kojima-gumi knows you do.”

“Where did you get that idea?”

“Don’t bullshit me. You’re always so tense and fumbling your words when she’s around. So either you like her, or she gives you a bad case of the runs.”

Ryu smiled. “Honestly, Kenji, it’s the later.”

“Yeah, sure it is.” Kenji walked across to a small wall compartment on the other side of dojo and put away the two kendo sticks, taking out a pair of towels. He tossed one towel over to his friend, using the other one to wipe the sweat from his face. “Anyway, lets go grab some lunch. I want to go see what Sakura is wearing today. Hopefully something hot.”

“Kenji, you’ve got to be one of the sleaziest bastards I know,” Ryu shook his head. “But hey, that’s probably why I love you so much.” He slid open a fusuma doorway and they walked out down the hallway-like passageway on the other side.

Just as Kenji and Ryu were approaching the end of the passageway, a doorway to their left slid open and out walked the two personal bodyguards of Kenji’s younger brother, Saito Kojima. First there was the well-groomed, tall and broad-shouldered Sano Sayo, who had about as much in the way of emotion as a stuffed animal. Then came Ude Pikamoto, who was a former unknown sumo wrestler, well-known thug, from the backstreets of Tokyo. Not surprisingly, Kenji’s younger brother was not far behind his two favourite lackeys.

“Hey, Saito,” Kenji said.

Even though Saito Kojima smiled as he saw his older brother, it was not one of sincerity as one might expect from a sibling. Saito was twenty-five years of age, which made him Kenji’s junior by just a little over a year. He was a man with a long, lean jaw-line, and very small eyes.

“Ah, Kenji, I’m actually glad I caught you,” Saito said with more than a little sarcasm in his tone.

“Yeah, and why’s that?” Kenji asked. “Need me to recommend you some cheap hookers?” His question was deliberately blunt. The two brothers had never really gotten along all that well, even in their younger years, and as they had grown older the friction between them had only increased. Kenji always suspected that it was because his little brother was jealous of him for being the next in line to lead the Kojima-gumi once their father stepped down.

Saito casually glanced down at his watch. “That’s funny, brother. Really. But no. I just wanted to let you know that I have an errand to run, so I won’t be able to make our 4pm meeting with the shatei.”

“Oh no, that’s too bad,” Kenji feigned sincerity. “I’m sure all your usual contributions will be missed… by someone.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow.” Saito either completely missed or just chose to ignore his brother’s sarcasm. “Let me know if anything important comes up.”

Before Kenji had a chance to respond, Saito edged past him and continued on his way down the passageway. Sayo and Pikamoto quickly followed after their boss.

“Fuck, I hate those guys,” Ryu turned to Kenji with a frown once they were gone. “And what is your brother’s problem anyway?”

Kenji just shrugged. “Can’t really blame him, I suppose. He’s been that way ever since that night back at the condo when Fang Fu’s guys got hold of him. Who knows what his issues are. He’s probably just pissed off he hasn’t found a hooker with a mouth small enough to suck on his microscopic—”

“Come on, Kenji,” Ryu cut him off. “Don’t put that image in my head right before lunch!”

They kept walking, through another sliding doorway, to a steel security door. Ryu scanned his security card there and walked inside as the door opened, up the red-carpeted staircase to the 58th floor of the building. The entire 58th floor was divided into small private rooms by walls of fusuma, and served as the building’s restaurant for employees.

The waitress there, Sakura Inoue, smiled politely as she walked over to greet them. “Good afternoon, Kojima-san and Honda-san. Your lunch is ready for you at your usual table.”

Sakura was a pretty woman, but due to her strict family she had led a rather sheltered life. She was very kind, but innocent, almost to the point of being naïve. Her skin was tanned quite dark for a Japanese woman, a product of the strong Panama sun and many long days spent out on the beach reading novels. She was wearing a navy-blue kimono that had a glittering golden dragon coiled around it.

“I must say, you’re looking lovely today, Sakura-dono,” Kenji said to her as she led them over to their table.

Sakura smiled back to him a little self-consciously. “You’re too kind, Kojima-san. Thank you.”

“Please, call me Kenji.”

“Oh… okay.” She slid open the door the Kenji’s private eating quarters where there were two smalls trays of sushi waiting for them on the long wooden table.

Sakura waited as Kenji and Ryu took their seats across from each other then asked, “will there be anything else?”

Kenji grinned, glancing across the table to Ryu. “Well, now that you mention it… would you mind it if I arranged for my personal limo to drop you home tonight after work?”

“No, that’s okay,” Sakura said a little unsurely, “I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

“Oh, but I’m afraid I must insist, Sakura-dono. These streets aren’t safe enough for such a pretty young girl to be walking alone at night.”

“Well, okay then.” Sakura smiled politely and nodded. She slid the door closed behind her as she left.

Once she was gone, Kenji turned back to Ryu and winked. “There, you see, Ryu, take notes. That’s how you’re supposed to get something started with a woman; you assert yourself, and you don’t take no for an answer.”

Ryu shrugged. “I don’t know, Kenji. She didn’t seem all that interested to me...”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Kenji picked up a chopstick and tossed it at him. “Didn’t you see that smile she just gave me? What else could that possibly mean?! I’m in!”

“You’re the son of her boss. What else was she supposed to do? Lodge a complaint to your father for sexual harassment?”

“Ryu, you just don’t get it. The point is, if you want something to happen with a woman you need to pull your finger out of your arse and make it happen!”

“Ah, I see. And what exactly is going to happen between you and Sakura Inoue? You’re going to get married, have ten kids, and live happily ever after?”

“Well, I know you’re just being a smart-arse,” Kenji smiled. “But who knows? If she plays her cards right, I wouldn’t exactly rule it out.”

“Now you’re just dreaming.”