Babel Orchestra [Kiriyama]

‘I am protection,’ the red-head thought to herself as she walked through the cool halls of the vast and nearly empty building, trailed by an entourage of twenty or so men in black three-piece suits and shades. In years past, the building probably hosted many seas of cubicles or a business firm. Anymore, it held only stacks of cardboard boxes and the occasional drug deal between reputable and esteemed mafias, like this one.

‘So, I should look professional. Calm, cool, and collected. After all, it’s not like anyone is expecting anything to go wrong. We’re here to make a deal. We’ve got the sunshine, they’ve got the money, and we trade. Piece of cake,’ she assured herself. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something just wasn’t right about this. Maybe it was that she’d never been involved in a drug deal before, maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, it was giving her the shivers. She steeled herself and put on her blackjack smile as the Fir-Dai gang rounded the last corner and walked into a large room with a bare wooden floor and a high ceiling. All of the boxes in this room had been pushed into its corners, making its center ideal for a meeting place.

As they entered, the Nyu-Tsi gang was filing in from the other side of the room, in numbers just as strong. A muscular, fair-featured man with blue eyes carrying a wooden sword led their party in the same fashion as she led hers. She gave him a once-over to size him up, then straightened out her left cuff as the two gangs approached the center of the room. Each group stopped with about fifteen feet of breadth between them.

People on one side and the other examined each other for a few moments in silence. Kylie set her hand on the case on her right hip while the blue-eyed man adjusted his grip on the sword. Katsuo, the shadeless middle-aged Japanese man she’d been hired to protect, walked out of the center of their group carrying a dull black wooden box with gold latches. One of the black suited men glanced at him, but Katsuo just waved him away. On the other side, another man of similar age emerged from the Nyu-Tsi group carrying a black briefcase. The two men exchanged a friendly nod as they approached the center of the room.

Then, everything turned south. A Nyu-Tsi man on the right-hand side of the group took a step out into the open and pulled his gun. Kylie’s was in her hand in an instant, but he’d already pulled the trigger. The shot sped past Katsuo with a resounding bang, and the red-headed gambler unloaded two rounds of hot lead into Nyu-Tsi gunner – one in his chest, the other in his shoulder. He sprawled to the ground on his back, his face paling already. Another man fired a shot from the Nyu-Tsi side and the room exploded into chaos. People were moving in all directions, and the reports of gunfire filled the air. Kylie lunged for Katsuo and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him toward a stack of dusty boxes. He tried to go for the trade-box in the center of the room. “Come on, Kats. Move it!” she growled at him over the mayhem, and gave his collar an insisting jerk.