Utsukushi - Banana Fish

Chapter 13

"No, nothing yet. I don't know what he's up to, but I don't like it." Ash sipped his drink.

"Me either. Any other news, though?" I asked.

"Nah. But that red-head cop Charlie came to talk to me earlier. Says he has a couple of guys from Japan flying over in a few months that want to do a report on street gangs. He's asking me to be the main subject."

"Japan? That's a far ways away to come just to write about some kids." Shorter said.

"They're photographers I guess. I didn't turn him down though. I owe him one anyways." Ash said.

"When are they coming?" I asked.

"He said maybe 6 or 7 months. He had to ask me far in advance so they could sort out some stuff."

"Good luck with that. Tourists are always needy." Shorter said.

"Boss!" Skip yelled for Ash from the door.

"What is it?"

"Marvin's here. Says he's here to pick you up. Dino wants to see you."

"The hell does that old man want now?" Ash muttered.

Shorter grabbed my arm. "C'mon. Let's not risk it today."

I signed but got up and went with him to the back entrance. We waited for Marvin's car to drive off before leaving.

"If Dino's calling in Ash, something might be wrong and he could send out his guys this way. It's happened a couple times before." Shorter said.

Alex called a few minutes after we left.

"Hello?"

"Rose! Get as far as you can. Dino's guys are after you!" He said urgently.

"Fuck! How?"

"I don't know but Golzine must've known you were here."

I hung up and quickly wracked my mind. I could've been spotted, or maybe it was those guys from a few months ago. No, if they had really gotten a hold of Golzine, he would've come after me a while ago.

But the reason doesn't matter now. My options do.

"Rose? What is it?" Shorter asked. My heart was pounding as I quickly tried to make my decision, and I was too preoccupied to answer. "Rose?!" He yelled, as he began to panic, looking back and forth between me and the road.

I looked at him, and when I saw the concern in his face, I knew.

"Pull over." I told him.

"What?"

"Pull over!"

The car screeched as he slammed on the break and pulled to the curb. I grabbed my gun and got out of the car. 

"Get out of here. Just head back home. I'll meet up with you when I can. If you start being chased, don't speed off. Let them see that it's just you, and they'll leave you alone." I told him quickly.

His jaw tightened. I could tell he wanted to argue my decision but he sighed and nodded to me. He didn't know the situation, and I'd explain it to him later, but he understood the urgency.

"Be careful." He said.

Just as I shut the door and Shorter sped off, a couple cars appeared far down the road, barreling my way.

"Fuck." I muttered. I turned and ran into the nearby alleyway. It was a maze and I hoped I could lose them in it.

I heard a bullet ricochet off the brick near my head. Shit. They must have more guys than just the ones in those cars.

"It's no use, Rose." A man yelled after me. I knew that voice- gruff and smug.

Arthur?

That fucking asshole.

Telling by the footsteps behind me, there were probably 3 or 4 of them. I sped up, and turned a sharp corner. I stopped there and waited for their footsteps to get louder.

When it sounded like they were about a few yards away, I leaned out from the other side of the wall and shot two of them.

Arthur and his other guy scampered out of the way and took cover.

"C'mon now. Papa Dino's been waiting for you." Arthur said.

"You some lowly dog now, huh?"

"It's called being smart. It's business." he said.

"Getting down and kissing his shoes ain't business." I told him. He only snickered.

I turned the corner again and shot at their hiding places to buy time. Then I ran again, going down any random alley I could to lose them.

Then I found a trash pile of old wood crates and hid behind them, listening.

Arthur and his guy eventually caught up, but ran past.

"I don't see her, boss."

"She must've went the other way."

They ran back past me again and trailed down another set of alleyways. When their footsteps faded and it was quiet for some time, I ran the opposite way from them until I hit the main road.

I made sure there weren't any of the cars that were pursing earlier, and started off toward Chinatown.

Even Arthur wouldn't step foot in there without more backup.

I tried to blend in with the passerby on the sidewalk as I walked a few miles back home, continually checking my surroundings.

When I finally got to Chinatown, some of Shorter's gang were sitting on some of the balcony's of the buildings.

"There you are, we heard Golzine sent some punks after you. Are you okay?" Sing called down to me.

"I'm fine. Where's Shorter?"

"Chang Dai." Willie answered.

"Thanks. I'll meet up later." I told them.

I walked down to the restaurant and Shorter was outside with Lao and Yang.

"Finally." Shorter said. "My guys found out what happened. Was it really Arthur?"

"Yeah. He's working with Dino now."

"Shit."

"Have you gotten ahold of Ash?" I asked.

"Yeah. He was called there for some bullshit reason though. Golzine just wanted him away from there so they could get to you easier."

"I figured that much."

"But how'd they find you?" Lao asked.

"I don't know. I might've been spotted just by a whim. Otherwise, they might've tried to target me here directly."

"That, or they thought it was better to get you when you'd least expect and in an area with less backup." Yang said.

Lao nodded. "We've found some of Arthur's guy's roaming around here lately, so he's not entirely scared."

"Regardless, I need to find a way to shake them before Arthur's tries to incite war with Ash or you guys. Either way, it's not looking good."