Redemption (27 page)

“Listen, I can’t answer that because I don’t know any better than you. What I
do
know is that Andy Bane is an honest man, I trust his judgment. I know it’s weak assurance but it’s all I got. So let’s decide. Think about it, if it’s right? And if there’s actually a society that regulates our world as we know it, and they’re asking
us
for help? You don’t think that would be worth it?”

“I’m curious. Why are you so caught up on the cause bit? You’re cashing the check in the end,” said Guerra.

“Yeah, James, that’s what we’ve always done, take money without asking questions, who knows if this whole time we’ve been helping the people we needed to be taking out? It’s exactly what Maki wanted for us,” said Namara spitefully.

“What, you think we’re evil?” retorted Guerra.

“No. I think that we’ve done what we could with the means we have. But I also think we could do better. If these mysterious individuals are what they say they are, they’re going to give us means, I’m talking whatever the hell we need or want, and a completely different perspective, and we can do impossible shit just because nobody could see us coming. We’ll be above everything. What we’re doing now, let’s be honest, is minimal damage to the big crime entities, because the real tops are all holed up in their hideouts. What I’m saying is, we could actually be making a difference for once, and more than cashing the check,
James
, cashing it for a good cause, and by our own rules! Touch everyone who thinks they’re untouchable,” said Namara proudly.

“Yeah, yeah, but you lost me at the bit about Maki.”

“We’ve never talked about why he chose us, but aren’t we all curious as to why he would train us with no explanation?” retorted Namara.

“Do you have an idea why?” asked Kamilia.

“Traditionally, no Japanese would never have shared hereditary knowledge with foreigners, especially Westerners. Isn’t that right, Shinsaku?” asked Namara.

“You are right. Why would we?”

“Maki wanted to use us for vengeance. He’s always hated the West, and created us to exact the Orient’s revenge. Maki watched us closely. He saw our warrior abilities and our potential. He’s more slick than we’d suspected – he knew we’d all been through hell, figured we’d be full of hate. So he made us killing machines, so when our passion for chaos finally came out, we would wreak the most havoc possible. He wanted us to destroy the West. If a dog keeps pissing on a rosebush, the roses will eventually shrivel up and die.”

“I think you’re being dramatic. We’re not like that at all,” Ming Mei retorted.

“Not yet. But he did, or at least that we would eventually.”

“I think Maki is a crazy bastard, if you’re right,” said Kamilia.

“So what do you think we should do, Danny?” said Shinsaku.

“I think this is the time for us to redeem ourselves. We’ve been harbingers of suffering for years and it would have eventually destroyed us. For my part, I have enough! We can take this offer, change our path, defy all those bastards like Maki who lied to us and underestimated us. All that crap we pulled through, let’s make it mean something. Redemption. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“Damn… have you seen the light, or what? Must be your fucking trip in the Chinese mountains. But I’ll follow you, you know that,” said Guerra.

“This can’t be about following this time, James. You need to decide for yourself… because I’m thinking, whatever we decide now is going to change our lives.”

There was a long pause, and everyone looked at each other.

“We’re with you,” said Kamilia finally.

“Really? …All right then, that’s the first step solved. Now, we need to find a means of cover that’ll keep us hidden and generate profits.”

“We could open a restaurant, it could double as our headquarters,” said Ming Mei.

“What about a training dojo, like Maki said the ninjas do?” asked Shinsaku.

“No, you’ve got it all wrong. What we need is a bar,” said Kamilia decisively.

Ming Mei scowled. “I don’t love the idea of dealing with drunks all right.”

Kamilia laughed.

“You’re not hearing me. Imagine: we’ll build ourselves a giant nightclub, an urban hotspot!”

“Gotta say, I’m really not a nightclub kind of guy,” said Namara.

“No, no... Listen. We’re going after criminals, corruption, the worst of the worst, aren’t we? Isn’t there a proverb… ‘Keep your friends close, your enemies closer.’ You know what a nightclub comes with, right?” “Girls, booze, money, glamour, thank you God,” muttered Guerra.

“Exactly. And with that comes: corruption, crime, drugs and all that follows! We’ll hide amongst them, like chameleons, and remove any doubt in their minds. Moreover, we will be able to move big amounts of money for our group with the nightclub as a cover... big investments in that business are common so we will avoid embarrassing questions about where the money comes from... you got it!?”

“Interesting… but, Kamilia the Chameleon, do any of us know how to run a nightclub?” asked Shinsaku.

“Please. Who do you think you’re talking to?” she said with a wink.

“So, there is a god, I guess, and he’s answered my prayers. Ladies, I’m all yours!” Guerra laughed, pumping his fist in the air.

Ming Mei rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you ever tired of being predictable, James?”

“Thanks, Mingy, love you too,” he said, blowing her a kiss.

“Prick.”

“All right, all right. Where’s this bar going to be ?” asked Namara.

We need to make ourselves over. What about… Miami? Heat, ocean, money, glamour, I mean, that’s where they all go on vacation, isn’t it?” said Shinsaku.

“Miami then,” said Ming Mei.

“And what are we going to call it?” asked Guerra.

They paused for a bit in thought. Guerra piped up first.

“I got it, I got it! We’ll call ourselves – ready? – ‘My Crotch!”

Namara burst out laughing.

“Aaahhh... come on, please!!!” said Ming Mei.

“Redemption,” muttered Kamilia.

“Pardon?”

“It’s like Danny said, this offer is our redemption. So the name of our club should reflect that… I mean our second wind, our new life, our group... Redemption!” said Kamilia happily.

Everyone smiled. It felt right.

“Ok, you’re a genius,” said Shinsaku. “But the killing question... it takes money… lots of money. Where are we going to get it?”

“Andy told us that money wasn’t a problem, our buddies in the shadows could finance us no problem, right?” asked Guerra.

“That’s what he said. Let’s call him and see,” said Namara.

*     *     *

“Have you completely lost your mind!!?” yelled Andy.

“Why? What’s the problem!?” asked Danny calmly into the phone.

“The problem…!? You want to know the problem? Shit. You want to relive the adolescence you never had, or what!?”

“Calm down, Andy. We talked about it and we decided—”

“No, no, no! Out of the question. I don’t think I could even ask them such a thing! A Miami disco. No, really, you think we’re paying to you to live like millionaires and party all the time?”

“No, that’s not what we’re looking for and you know it, godammit! ”

“Danny… Listen.”

“No, you, listen. Don’t think that we’re going to risk everything for these shadowy creeps and live by their will without asking for anything in return. I’m done with risking my life constantly because we didn’t have the means. They want flawless work? Apparently we are the best, but they’re going to have to pay the price to get those results. End of discussion. Anyway, if I recall, you told me that they’d finance anything, whatever the cost! We
need
a solid cover that puts us in the loop with influential crime magnates. We’re talking about going through the looking glass, and to do that, it’s not enough to open a goddamn bookstore!”

“They told me they’d finance whatever it took to
get the job done
. What is your plan, exactly!?”

He explained the plan as they’d discussed it to Andy.

“You’re going to have to trust us like we’re trusting you. Take it or leave it. You came to us, remember?” retorted Namara.

“Ok, I get it! I’ll talk to them and see what I can do.”

“I'll wait for your call.”

“By the way, prepare yourselves, because you’re getting an assignment soon.”

“What kind?”

“I don’t want to say too much right now, it’s still in the research stage. All I can tell you is to prepare yourself. The situation in question is, quite simply, horrifying. I get chills just from thinking about it. It’s the real shit.”

“Don’t worry, we’re used to it,” said Namara calmly.

“I’d prefer if we met in New York City. I’ll contact you closer to the date.”

“Ok. Until then, we’re waiting on a response from your friends…”

“You never let anything go!”

“Indeed. It is my charm.”

“Yeah, you talk too much.”

“Let me know when you’re ready.”

“All right, take care,” said Andy, and they hung up.

PART IV — CHAPTER 38

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

— Revelation 12 : 7–9

Hell is empty and all demons are here.

— William Shakespeare

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Then said I,
“Here I am. Send me. ”

— Isaiah 6 : 8                                                                 

San Matanza, Mexico.

“Have you seen Jovanna?” asked Barbara, panicking, of her neighbor from down the street.

“No, I haven’t! Did she say she was here?”

“Yes, she was going to see Abigail. I told her to come here directly because it was dark, and it’s been two hours, and I’m sick with worry!”

“Abigail, come here!”

A swarthy fifteen-year-old girl arrived calmly at the door. Muffled racket radiated from the headphones clamped over her long black hair.

“What is it?” she asked nonchalantly.

“Did Jovanna come here tonight?”

“No, Mami, I didn’t see her. Why?”

“Her mother thought she did. She’s looking for her now.”

“I swear I haven’t seen her!”

The little house in which the panicked scene unfolded was an old corrugated-tin structure half-eaten by rust. The inside was well-kept, but the poverty, omnipresent in the region, was clear. Several dozens of houses of the same sort sat a few meters from each other along the gravel road. It was a slum, and its families had been here forever. Most were underpaid factory workers. Their pitiful salaries and long hours allowed for their families’ survival and not much else.

Barbara worked in a textile factory where she spent long days, returning late at night to take care of her thirteen-year-old only child. Jovanna was all she had and, despite her financial difficulties, she had got them a decent life. Barbara tried to be a good mother despite her long absences from the house. She constantly told her daughter to return directly to the house after school, and forbade her from going out at night because of what happened in their city. Jovanna, at the dawn of her teens, fought hard to go out with her friends, but Barbara was strict. No going out, even if other parents allowed it. She had explained to Jovanna that she did it for her sake and that she was all she had. Jovanna had understood and not argued further. Her best friend, Abigail, lived in the same road. The two were always together and the only permission Barbara gave was to go to Abigail’s. It couldn’t have been more than four hundred meters from door to door.

Even if Barbara didn’t want to let her walk out at night, she couldn’t keep her chained up in the house. The houses in the neighborhood had running water and electricity, but no street lamps, rendering the streets black when night fell. The only source of light came from the windows in the houses. Otherwise, it was only the darkness of the desert plains that surrounded them, and the powerful hot squalls that whistled through the night and hit at the windows of the houses. The hot desert winds whipped up the sand and the tumbleweed that rolled through the streets and empty ground. This sort of scene was routine for the residents of San Matanza who lived in the infamous neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city.

“Ohh, my god,” said Barbara in a voice full of lament. Her eyes were full of tears.

“Maybe she went somewhere else?” offered Abigail’s mother.

“Impossible! She only had permission to come here! She’s never done differently, I know my girl. Something happened to her, I know it! My god, I should have never let her out,” she cried, completely in shock.

“Calm down, Barbara. We’re going to call the police.”

“The police! You know as well as I do they don’t care about us! Oh god, not my girl!”

Barbara fell to her knees in tears at the steps of the door. The wood cracked underneath her. Abigail’s mother helped her to her feet.

“Let’s go door to door, I’m sure she’s all right. She’s a teenager. Teenagers disobey.”

The women knocked on the doors of all the houses in the street. They went everywhere Jovanna went during the day. Nobody had seen her. Barbara appeared to be right: her daughter was another victim, another disappearance in the city of San Matanza. The residents hid a terrible secret that endured for a decade. Young girls and women constantly disappeared. Nobody had a description of the perpetrator, or perpetrators. Sometimes, it was children that disappeared, and other times, young women in their twenties.

The authorities estimated that the kidnappings had claimed over a hundred women. Several women had been found dead in the desert several weeks after their kidnapping. The bodies were dropped in the desert and, by the time they were found, they were in a state of advanced decomposition. The autopsies revealed that they’d all been raped, as well as tortured. No child, living or dead, had been found. The public demanded an investigation, but there was never enough evidence to give the police a solid lead. The disappearances increased and the population cried scandal – they begged the authorities and the media to find those guilty of the terrible crimes.