Cajun Justice(83)

“Yes?”

“Come alone,” Champ instructed.

“I am alone,” Cain replied.





Chapter 63



Cain’s fatigue had caught up with him. He hadn’t slept since Saturday night. He strained to keep his eyes open, and when they were, his vision blurred more and more. He folded his arms on top of his desk and rested his head on them. He fell into a deep sleep.

Cain shot awake when Tanaka shook his shoulders. It took Cain a few seconds to recall where he was. “I can’t believe you were able to sneak up on me like that, Tanaka. I must be slipping.”

“Cain-san, you look exhausted. Let me get you something to drink.”

Cain’s heart raced and his breathing matched that rapid pace.

“What time is it?”

“It’s five o’clock,” Tanaka answered as he headed to the break room, presumably to buy Cain a coffee from the vending machine.

Cain had been asleep for only a few hours, but it felt like half the day. He stood. “I’m late. I’ve gotta go.”

Tanaka handed him the hot can of Suntory Boss coffee as Cain was leaving the office.

Cain popped the top and guzzled the coffee while Tanaka looked on with wide eyes.

“Thank you,” Cain said, and tossed the can into the recycle bin. “Call me if you need anything.” He left the office and sprinted across the empty parking lot toward Umiko’s scooter. It dawned on him that it was five in the morning, not in the evening. When he stopped at Umiko’s robin’s-egg-blue scooter, which looked more pronounced when sparkling in the sunrays, he heard her voice in his head telling him to take care of himself first, that he can’t help Bonnie if he’s not healthy. He thought, She’s right. The wind picked up and he suddenly caught a musty whiff of himself. I need to shower and get a fresh pair of clothes. I smell like sweat, BO, Zen retreat, Chinatown, and Tokyo Bay all bottled up.

Cain rode to his apartment, showered, shaved his several days of stubble, and threw on a pair of cargo pants and a button-up short-sleeve shirt. He stood at his balcony door and overlooked Yokohama Bay. He could see the iconic Ferris wheel and tons of commuters starting their workday. The conversation with Champ Albright kept replaying itself in his mind. I am alone, he’d told Champ. But now Cain realized that while it was his fight, he still had a shipmate who could help. He grabbed his phone and called Chief Alvarez.

“Hurricane! It’s great to hear from you. What’s cooking?”

Cain skipped the pleasantries. “My sister, Bonnie, has been kidnapped by some Japanese criminals,” he said. “They don’t want ransom. They want to punish her for what I did.”

“How can I help?”

“I’m meeting a reporter with the Stars and Stripes this afternoon.”

“Who is it?” Chief Alvarez asked. “I might know ’em.”

“Champ Albright. You know him?”

“Yeah, I know him. He’s a weasel, but he’s well connected. He’s got a Japanese wife and he speaks the language. He’s a strange cat, though.”

“That’s ironic,” Cain said. “He goes by the nickname Cat. Look, I don’t know how else to say this…”

“Just shoot it straight and level, Hurricane, like you always have.”

“I don’t want to involve you. That’s the last thing I wanna do. You still have your career ahead of you, and you’re drawing closer to either getting promoted to senior chief or retirement. But you remember those expeditionary bags the navy used to give us when we were flying on deployments?”

“Affirm.”

“Where could I procure one of those?”

“Um, hmm. I think I’m smelling what you’re stepping in. Meet me at the bar on the southwest corner of Shiyakushomae Park in Yokosuka. I’ll have one for you.”

“I see the chiefs still run the navy,” Cain said.

Alvarez shouted the navy’s battle cry: “Hooyah!”





Chapter 64



Cain recognized Yokosuka from a distance. As he crossed the bridge that merged the toll road with Highway 16, he could see both the Japanese and American navy bases off to the left. In the water were several military ships. There were a few submarines with submariners walking on top of them. The officers appeared to be inspecting something. Behind them were the destroyer battleships, and in the greater distance was the lone USS George Washington aircraft carrier. It looked more like a skyscraper than a ship. Although aircraft carriers had been based in Yokosuka for several decades, this was the first nuclear-powered one. Many Japanese citizens had protested its arrival out of fear of nuclear contamination.

Cain continued into the heart of Yokosuka, passing the multilevel Daiei shopping mall. The heavily fortified entrance to the American Navy base was on his left. Outside the gates, standing alone on the sidewalk, was a lone uniformed Japanese police officer. He stood watch, holding his keijo alongside him. Umiko had previously told Cain that the keijo—a police stick—was used to fend off potential attackers. She said that the police often trained in kendo.

Cain parked Umiko’s scooter at the foot of a three-story building on the opposite side of the military base. A nearby elementary school was dismissing students for the day. A flock of joyful kids, wearing stiff leather backpacks over their black-and-white school uniforms, flooded the congested area. Cain recalled a conversation he’d had with Umiko about children’s backpacks.