Come Out and Play

The next day came with another pager alert. Sable and Cliff both looked at their screens and noted it was another address and time. Cliff grumbled, but not as much as Sable. Neither of them were morning people, but one had an ability to adjust better than the other. They got out of bed and got on with their morning routines to get ready for the day. They would have to skip breakfast to make it to the meeting place on time. Ikumi hadn’t even heard Sable leave as they both quickly snuck out.

The streets were buzzing with activity as the workday got underway, even if the sun hadn’t fully come out yet. Cliff and Sable made their way to the bus stop and took it to Numazu. Sable guided Cliff to the specified address once they arrived and came upon a local cafe. Susan was already inside with a few cups of coffee on a table. The pair entered and took the empty seats. Once they did, Susan regarded them by opening her eyes as she nursed her cup of hot coffee.

“Drink,” she said, “We’ll talk later.”

Cliff and Sable traded looks of hesitance but took their cups from the table anyway. They enjoyed their coffee. Enjoyed it perhaps a bit too much. Sable and Cliff looked up at Susan who gave them a very neutral poker face.

“You didn’t think we only went through your files, did you?”

Cliff looked down at his cup. Black. In fact, it was an americano. Hot watered down espresso. He loved it when he could get it down in South America on deployment. Sable, by stark contrast, had a mochaccino. The chocolate flavor eased the bitterness of the espresso, just how she liked it.

“You’re scary, y’know?” Sable said to Susan.

“Thanks. It comes with the territory.”

“So what’d you get?” Cliff asked nonchalantly.

“Irish coffee.”

Cliff and Sable looked up at her again with incredulity written all over their faces. Though to be honest, Cliff was more impressed than anything. He didn’t expect to get that anywhere around here.

“Day drinking? At this hour?” Sable asked.

“Is it day drinking if I haven’t been asleep yet?” Susan shot back.

“She’s got ya there.” Cliff said.

Sable puffed her cheeks and went back to her mochaccino. Susan drank her Irish coffee and made a motion with her index finger like she was twirling something, indicating for the both of them to hurry up. They sighed, knowing that they had to keep a timetable, and finished off their cups. When they were done, Susan got up and paid for all three drinks before leading the pair outside.

Susan walked ahead onto the sidewalk. She looked back at the two of them. Cliff noticed her eyes tracking something else behind them for a slight second. She took a sudden turn down an alley; the two of them quickly followed. Susan opened and closed her fist behind her at them. Cliff stepped up into her personal space and brought Sable up with him.

“We’re being tailed. Act cool. Don’t look behind you. I’m taking us to the car. You two need to get in it as soon as I do. Don’t lollygag.”

Cliff looked at Sable and nodded. She nodded back with a serious expression. Out of his peripheral vision, he noticed two figures following them down the alley. He looked ahead and followed Susan as she walked at a brisk pace. She took an abrupt turn around a corner that was almost hard to follow, and then broke out into a jog. Cliff and Sable struggled to keep up until she moved back into her brisk walking pace. She was trying to get some breathing room.

The problem with shaking the tail was that Susan wanted to get rid of Cliff and Sable to make things much easier. She stuck out with the two of them, but it couldn’t be helped. She still had to talk to them, so she knew how this was going to end. She pushed ahead and practically dragged them along until they came to a parking garage. Susan went in and made sure Sable and Cliff were still right behind her. They went to the second floor with the two men hot on their heels.

Susan walked the rows of parked cars and then slipped between two of them. She opened the door of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III in a sleek black color and sat in the driver’s seat. Cliff took the shotgun seat and Sable hopped into the back. They sat there in the car and watched as the two men passed by them in a matter of minutes. They doubled back, scratched their heads, and then disappeared. Susan sat there for ten minutes before she started up the engine and pulled out of the parking spot. She eased the car down out of the parking garage, paying attention to any bystanders as she got onto the city streets.

“So-” Cliff started before Susan put her finger to his lips. She turned the radio on with some J-pop and then put the volume up to the point where they had to almost shout to hear each other.

“You can talk now.” Susan told them.

“What’s the deal?” Cliff asked.

“You were followed. I know you guys haven’t been to The Farm, but you need to be more careful.”

“Alright then, we get it. Now spill it.”

“You got Parkinson’s?”

“No.”

“Fuck.”

“What is it?” Sable asked loudly over the radio.

“Those men you took photos of. You get any weird vibes?” Susan asked Cliff.

“Not really beyond the normal mafioso. They did seem to have longer canine teeth, though.”

“That’s it, then.”

“What is?” Cliff asked, turning to face her.

“Those yakuza are vampires. That explains why they came up blurry in your photos.”

“You serious?”

“Afraid so, Mister Parsons. That means we need to move on with the expectation that we need to work around this.”

“So vampires can’t see their reflection and show up blurry in photos. Fantastic.”

“Yeah, but with the new digital cameras being made by Fujifilm, they show up nice and clear. I’ll get the boys working on it.”

“Why do we need the photos anyway?” Sable asked.

“Mainly so that we can get the police to help. You two are onto your next task.”

“Well we didn’t-” Sable started to protest.

Susan cut her off and said, “Your photos proved to us that these yakuza are also vampires. We weren’t entirely sure, so it’s not a wasted trip. Forget about that now. We need to find out what they’re doing and where they’re going. We’re running out of time, so I brought you some more goodies. Sable, pick up that briefcase in the back.”

Sable looked on the floor of the back seat and grabbed the briefcase as she was instructed.

“Inside is an audio bug. We need you to plant it in the onsen. The yuki-onna, Miss Ichibashi, was willing to help. The yakuza have reserved the onsen for all of tonight so I’m taking you up there right now to get it planted before things get started. The bug is inside of a fake rock. Plant it near the hotspring in some place inconspicuous but close enough to be able to pick up the audio.”

“Alright. We’ll handle it.”

“You two did well at the restaurant. Just keep your heads on straight and you’ll ace this. It’s easy as it gets, but make sure you aren’t seen. Get in and get back to the safehouse.”

“We’ll get it done!” Sable said with a heap of conviction in her tone.

Susan looked back and smirked. “Little firecracker, that one. Reminds me of myself when I started out in the OSS in 1942. You two will do just fine.”

Cliff shook his head with a smile and asked, “Are we still being tailed?”

“Nah, we shook them at the parking garage. Thankfully that means they don’t know about my car. Dumbasses didn’t even look for the diplomatic license plates.”

The rest of the drive was calm and easy as morning broke. Susan drove them back to the base of Mt. Fuji and dropped them off at the trail.

“You really couldn’t put us up on the front door?” Sable asked, annoyed.

“Honey,” Susan said with a smile that would make a fox cackle, “you need the exercise more than he does. Step it out.”

Susan pulled away, leaving Sable standing there with the briefcase in her hand and her hair on fire. She held a finger up as she heard the telltale sound of Cliff inhaling.

“I don't wanna hear it, man. Not. A word.” she told him.

“Alright. Let’s move then.” Cliff said as he let the whole thing drop.

The two made their arduous trek up to the onsen once again, and Cliff was really hoping he’d get to spend a night here after this was all over to let himself wash the whole affair away. Sable was not enjoying making the hike a second time, but to her credit she didn’t complain. As they reached the establishment, Cliff made sure that there wasn’t anyone else there looking for them. Sable asked the front desk clerk about the onsen’s clientele today. She said that due to it being reserved for the day, there was no one else here. What’s more, the yakuza wouldn’t be there until later that evening. That is, unless they wanted to spend the whole day there.

Sable asked to see Miss Ichibashi, and the two were escorted to her office once again. Sable and Cliff made good on their manners, informed her of their job, and said that they wouldn’t be there for too long. Miss Ichibashi was very cordial and even offered them a place to stay should they need it later. Sable thanked her graciously and led Cliff outside into the hot spring.

“Remember what to do?” she asked.

Cliff grabbed the rock from the briefcase and marveled at how similar it looked to the ones already there. He chose to place it in a cluster with other similar rocks next to the water.

“So…do we need to turn it on?” Sable asked.

“I’m not sure. They just said put it down. It’s not like it has an on and off switch, right?”

“But how do we know that it’s working?”

Both Cliff and Sable’s pagers buzzed. They looked at the screens and read the message that scrolled across that said “WE CAN HEAR YOU.” With that, the two ran off and headed back down the mountain to the bus stop.