Goodbye's Second Chance

And You Better Stay Clever if You Want to Survive

Somewhere Over the Southern Atlantic...

After an endless night of not sleeping, crying off and on, that asshole checking on me every fucking hour, then another 2 hour delay at the gate, we were back on our way to Argentina. He reminded me repeatedly that while he would love to just severe a major artery of mine and call it an eye for an eye, he wasn't in charge of the auction and was just following orders. However, he could easily make the call to end Iwa. As if I didn't know this, fucker. Why else would I be complying with you?

As he snored next to me, hand on the seatbelt again, I spent the time trying to think of something, anything, to get a warning out to Iwa. I'd moved past giving up to fighting any way I could out of sheer rage and spite. Iwa and I did nothing wrong. What happened in the fight was a tragedy, but the guy was a yakuza and a really shitty human being at that. He knew exactly what he was getting into and personally, I feel like what he got was instant karma for targeting us.

I was mad at the guy for dying, for coming after us in the first place, for being a shit person, for having the influence to set this chain of events in motion, for everything. We were nothing to him, what was the point? Just because we came out of a gay bar-that gave him the right to try and beat us to death? If he hadn't died that night, Iwa and I probably would have. Then there's Masashi.

I knew my anger at him was misdirected. He never meant to kill that guy, no matter what Nicky Nine-fingers here says about him. He was protecting me, protecting us. Still, I couldn't help the fury I felt inside. Why did he have to get involved? Why didn't he just send his guys to do it, then the beef would be strictly with them and we'd be left out of it. His guys. The thought triggered something in my brain.

His "friend". Masashi had told me a friend of his wanted to "watch me practice" and both he and Hitori seemed cagey about it. It's probably Hitori's replacement as bodyguard. I don't know why I didn't realize it before now. I looked at my watch and did the time zone calculations in my head. Between both delays, it was almost time for practice back home. I wish there was some way I could get a message to this guy, but they had my phone bugged, they probably already know-

WAIT. Masashi didn't tell me about him on my phone-he called Hitori. There's no way they could bug his phone without them knowing, right? So that means there's a player on the court they know nothing about. How can I use this? Was there a way to contact him somehow? It finally clicked and I spent the next few hours coming up with a message that would let this guy know there was something going on. I took inventory of what I knew about Masashi that the asshole next to me wouldn't pay attention to, but Masashi's guys would know.

He likes cats-like a lot. Has a younger brother. Family disowned him. First job was as a bouncer at a club called The Park. Loves iced coffee and good whiskey. Forced into a life with the yakuza after living on the streets. Fiercely loyal to his friends. How the fuck am I going to use any of that? I had no idea who this guy was, but he probably knew about me, so if I could come up with something that seemed off for me, maybe he'd get the idea that something was wrong and at least contact Masashi from there.

The pieces were slow to come together, like putting together a puzzle blindfolded, but once I figured out the how and the who, I was able to concoct a plausible enough story and message that, to anyone who didn't know the participants, would seem benign enough. I looked at my watch again-one hour until practice started. Gomez would be leaving for the gym soon. I had to get him before he left. Reluctantly, I shook the prick awake.

"What?" he growled at me, eyes still not open. "I just remembered I never called my cat sitter. He's coming to practice today to bring my baby back to me. If I don't let him know I won't be there, it'll raise big questions and you don't want questions, right?" I said, trying to keep my voice even but it all kind of came out in a rush. "Also, my teammates are going to start calling if I don't show up today for practice. It's a little early for the alarm to be sounded, isn't it? Let me call, my idiot teammate. You can listen in the whole time. It'll kill two birds with one stone." I tempered my tone better this time.