Chapter 06

Crossroads Again

A Hero Companion is the last in line for the healing chamber unless they’re seriously hurt, which I’m not. So I stand around and talk with Merry while I wait. She came to visit since I’m back. She berates me for not bothering to find out the names of the other camp staff or any of the women we released. I accept her criticism and reply, “I knew I’d have nothing to do with the Damsels at any stage so I didn’t bother with them. At that point I saw little reason to bother with the others as well.” That was a big mistake, one I won’t ever make again. Boy, did she chew my ears off; and, in hindsight, she was totally justified too. I’m glad to climb in the box for medical treatment because it ends the discussion.

While Joe does his duty by his ladies Merry and I discuss Chaos and study where she’s up to with the map she’s making. While looking at it I ask her to see if she can mark the zone of influence for the Brotherhood and to look for a suitable base of operation on the edge of their zone so I can stop their expansion and deal with them while making rescues in their area of influence. She promises to have it all ready for my next visit. We also spend time catching up on where I was back on Earth so I won’t be out of touch when I return. What’s been fifteen minutes for them has been a number of months for me.

Joe adds a few more months to that time while doing his duty to the Damsels. One morning the last of the three ladies walks out to tell us she’s with child. Then Joe and I get the bum’s rush to our portal and back to Earth. Merry hands me a ring before shoving me through the portal.

Back Home

Arriving back in Joe’s basement I shake my head at the speed we’re tossed out. He looks at me and says, “Be glad they did it that fast. If you’re slow you get stomach pains that are not nice, not nice at all.”

I acknowledge his comment and say, “Well, that was an interesting time and it lived up to all you said it would. But we’ve some real problems to deal with on both planets. I’ll talk to those I know to see what can be done about the Aryan Brotherhood.” He gives me a strange look. “Joe, how much did you learn about me?”

“I thought I was able to find out a lot, Al. You’re rich because you own a few businesses. Some said you wrote books, but they didn’t say what books you wrote. You built a new big mansion out on Etzler Road. Oh, you’ve had ninja training. What else should I know?”

I shake my head. “Joe, I’m now worth a few billion dollars.” He’s stunned. “I’m the leader of an alliance that includes a number of Yakuza clans. I deal with the National Security Council on a regular basis via a Pentagon contact. Not only am I a trained ninja, I’m qualified to train others and I’m doing that. I’m about to turn a major spotlight on the Aryan Brotherhood for being involved in what’s happening on Chaos, and they won’t like it, not at all. So, if you need anything, money or help. Just let me know. The hotel I was living in, I own it!” He’s very stunned by these revelations. He gives a slow nod of his head while he locks up. I suspect he’s thinking about how I can provide extra help.

Spreading the News

I leave Joe still walking around like a stunned fish and I go home to the residence. We moved in some weeks back and are now well settled. We still have discussions about how to finish off half of the main building, but there’s been no rush on getting it done. At home I go straight to my office to call John.

He answers and we exchange a few words while I fax the drawing to him. I say, “John, I’m sending you a drawing of someone I need you to identify. I suspect his name is Jimmy Bond.” I stop while John makes the expected comments. “Yes, that’s what his parents burdened him with, and his brother is Ian F. Bond.” Another rude comments break. “Look, I know Ian’s involved with the Aryan brotherhood and is now dead, although his body will never surface. His brother Jimmy is also involved. I’ve reason to think the man in the drawing is Jimmy. Whoever he is, he’s also dead and he’ll never surface.”

“Al, how come you’re getting involved with the Aryan Brotherhood, and how do you know these two are dead?”

“I’ve just come back from a high security meeting and it was real Chaos there when those two turned up. The Aryan Brotherhood has been offered one third of the organisation for helping two other groups to take full control. I know Ian is as good as dead and the other is dead. The bodies won’t be found because they were eaten by some hungry local animals.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound good at all. I’ll let my people know about the Aryan Brotherhood and see what we can do about disrupting them, both here and at the other end of the pipeline.”

“I thought you might. I’ll be doing the same. See you around.”

“See you, Al. I’ll let you know what we learn.”

Hanging up from John I call Tadao and Tsukasa on a conference call. When both are on the phone I say, “Due to security reasons I can’t tell you why I’m concerned about the Aryan Brotherhood, but I’m very concerned. Please inform everyone we know I’m against doing any sort of business with them and I’d appreciate anything anyone can do to make it hard for them to do business. Is that clear?”

Both acknowledge my concerns and agree to pass the information on to everyone they’ve contact with. Tsukasa says, “Lord Torao, we’ve a situation developing here in Washington. A new chapter of the Aryan Brotherhood is set up in our area and they’re trying to take our business. We’ve been careful because we know you don’t approve of street wars. What should we do?”

“Tsukasa, I don’t approve of street wars because most of them can be avoided. Sometimes they can’t be avoided, thus the only option is war and to kill the enemy. That’s what I did in Tokyo soon after I arrived there. When you find evil ones you must eliminate them. The Aryan Brotherhood is very evil. If you need my special skills to aid you let me know and I’ll help you eliminate them. Do not hesitate to ask me for help, or to ask Tadao for help since he has some resources you don’t, so do I. Also, as long as you’re not blatant about it I’m sure the authorities won’t put a great effort into solving the deaths of any known members of the Aryan Brotherhood who die in the next few months. I’ll let you know if that changes. I’m particularly interested in any building where they’ve a lot of visitors, especially from other organisations and people from out of town. The Aryan Brotherhood, and two other organisations, are trying to take over the world and they’re getting involved with some nasty stuff in order to do so. I intend to stop them from doing this.” Both men agree with my position and they promise to keep me informed of anything about the activities of the Aryan Brotherhood they feel is worth passing on to me, and we hang up.