Cajun Justice(101)

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“I’m taking us to the American Navy base.”

She nodded.

“I’ve got one last thing to do,” said Cain, who was still on the Minashigo. He grabbed the fuel lines on the outboard motors and ripped them off with his hand. Diesel fuel started pouring onto the deck of the yacht and spreading. He then stepped on board El Viento and kicked the sailboat away from the yacht.

Chief Alvarez twisted the throttle and reversed the sailboat away from the yacht. When they were about ten yards away, Cain instructed the chief to stop.

Cain balanced himself on the rocking sailboat and retrieved the flare gun. He cocked the hammer and pointed the gun toward the yacht’s outboard engines. He squeezed the trigger and an orange fireball rocketed across the ocean, lighting the darkness, until it hit the engines and they caught fire. The blaze grew, consuming more and more of the yacht until the entire Minashigo was on fire. Dark smoke billowed into the sky.

They could feel the heat and smell burning plastic and diesel from the sailboat. Cain turned to Chief Alvarez. “RTB.”

“Roger,” Alvarez acknowledged.

“What’s RTB?” Bonnie asked.

“Return to base,” Cain said. He sat on the deck next to her, his arm around her shoulder, and watched the Minashigo start to disintegrate.

Bonnie looked at him. “I gotta go to my apartment. I’ve got nothing with me. No clothes, no jewelry.” She paused. “My life is there.”

“We can’t go back to your apartment. We can probably never even return to Japan. We’ll both always be on the yakuza’s hit list. Forever. Or at least until the yakuza is disbanded.”

Bonnie started crying. “I feel so guilty,” she said.

“Guilty?” Cain asked. “Why?”

“There are more women, just like me,” she said. “They’re being held somewhere else. I overheard them talking about how they were going to send them on a cargo ship that goes from Japan to Italy before heading to the Middle East.”

“Where in Italy?”

“Naples,” she said.

Dismantling the yakuza’s global influence would require attacking the organization from multiple angles. Cain called Tanaka to follow up on the information that LeRoy Hayes had mailed.

“We did the impossible,” Cain said with relief.

“You rescued Bonnie-san?”

“You guessed it. She’s safe now.”

“That is wonderful news!” Tanaka said.

“I need to get that package from you—the one His Royal Highness sent. Can you meet us at the base in Yokosuka?”

“You cannot come near me,” Tanaka warned. “The police are looking everywhere for you. Your picture is all over the news. You’re wanted for the murder of Hayabusa. My father even interrogated me about your whereabouts. The inspectors have been following me. I detected them using the countersurveillance techniques you taught us.”

Cain’s realization that he would never be free from this chase started to set in. He doubted that the Japanese would understand that a gaijin was a victim of circumstances. They would always look at him as a cold-blooded murderer.

“Then can you do me one last favor, Tanaka-san?”

“Hai.”

“Please mail that package to the Stars and Stripes office in Yokosuka. Address it to the attention of Champ Albright the Third. He’ll know what to do with it.”

“I thought you hated the press.”

Cain smirked. “That journalist has grown on me. Kind of like an ugly birthmark you learn to accept.”

Tanaka started laughing. “You have a certain way with words.”

Cain laughed back. “You’ve always gotten my sense of humor, Tanaka-san. I’ll miss you. You’re always welcome at my home, partner.”

“Partner?” Tanaka repeated. “You’ve never called me partner before.”

“You’ve earned it, Tanaka-san. Before I go, someone else here wants to talk to you.” He handed the phone to Bonnie.

“I’ll miss you, too, Tanaka-san,” she said. “You’re one of the good guys.” She listened and smiled. “Thank you for being there for my brother.” Following Tanaka’s response, she replied with tears in her eyes, “Genki de, Tanaka-san.”

After Bonnie handed the phone back to her brother, she asked, “Where is your wedding ring? Did you lose it on the yacht?” She knew what his ring meant to him, what it symbolized.

Cain looked down at his bare finger. “I stopped wearing it.”

“What? After all these years?”

“I found a special woman who helped me find inner peace.”

“That’s wonderful.” Bonnie smiled. “A little shocking, and way overdue, but still wonderful news. Who is she? Where is she?”

“Safe,” he replied. “But we’re not. The yakuza must have stolen your passport at your apartment. It wasn’t there when I searched the place.”

“They must have,” she replied. “I certainly don’t have it.”

“I was able to grab your flight attendant ID, though,” he said. “The police are surely watching for us at Narita and Haneda. They’d be foolish not to.”