Kidnapped

It is up to Zack's new bodyguards to rescue him from a kidnapping.

“Okay we have up to, at least, three enemies.” Zack held an emergency meeting right after his teams return from their earlier mission. “A sniper, the person with the RPG"if they weren’t the same person"and the guy I fought with. It’s still unclear whether these people are different than the assassins from earlier.” He took a sip of coffee to keep his mind going. He had been awake for at least twenty-four hours; ever since the assassination of his friend. Now he had more people to deal with and with no motive from either threat. “We took two of them out. It is apparently clear that there is an organized group out to get us if both groups are in fact one in the same.”

Mei walked into the room with two other girls. “That is why you’ve been assigned two bodyguards. Only the best.” Zack seemed taken aback. Zack with bodyguards? That was unheard of.

“I’m fine Mei. Really"”

“I’m not losing someone else!” Mei’s eyes looked swollen but not from lack of sleep. It was as if she had been crying. Zack understood and nodded his head.

“Let’s start the introductions.” Tanji entered the room.

“Sorry, I’m late.” She saw the two girls. “Oh, their here already?”

“Just got here.”

“Haven’t met them yet?” Zack shook his head.

“Nope.”

“Good. Well, meet Yoko and Uriko. The best I have taught from Japan.” Zack cocked an eyebrow.

“The guys weren’t good enough?” He turned his head noticing that there were only females in the room besides him. “No offense.” Zack quickly added.

“Not as good as these two. Uriko Yuri is eighteen. She’s a genius and graduated college quite early as you know. She is a master of Tai ji Quan.” Zack nodded his head, impressed and Tanji went on. “Yoko Kare is nineteen. Her educational background is the same. She took Bai ji Quan at an organized dojo for half of her life.”

“Now I won’t have to watch my back at every corner. Kanji?”

“Yes?”

“Why is it that you don’t join up with us for now? With you as added support I won’t worry about any combat scenarios going crazy anymore.” Kanji’s face reddened.

“I’m sorry but my place is here for now. Tell me where those assassin b******s are and I’ll be over there in a heartbeat.”

“I think everyone in E.D.G.E. wants a piece of them but unfortunately we are an organized syndicate not some street gang.” Mei smiled at Zack’s comment.

“Spoken like a true leader.” The secretary walked in the room. She opened her mouth to speak but was silenced by Zack’s raised hand.

“While we’re at it, can you introduce yourself to us? I see you at least two hundred times everyday so it is rude of me not to know the name of a hard worker like yourself.” The woman seemed speechless but then regained her composure.

“My name is Chidori.” Zack gave off a wide grin and Chidori tried one as well but looked more like a nervous smile.

“Okay, Chidori, what have you to say?”

“Oh, right. We have assailants attacking at an apartment complex deep downtown. It might be related to the attacks from before.” Zack shrugged.

“It seems as if life never really gets dull.” Zack turned to Mei. “I need a full team at the apartment. Five squads of six and have backup on standby just in case. Everybody be ready to go in ten minutes. Uriko and Yoko.” At the sound of their names the two girls stood at attention. “It’s time to see what you can do.”

 

 

Crimson assault team members knocked down the door and stormed into an empty of furniture with one exception. They flashed their lights on a woman sitting in front of a computer.

“Put your hands up.” One of the squad members said. The woman didn’t move. “Put them up!” The man commanded again. Finally, the woman slowly raised her hands in the air.

 

Back on the street in front apartment Crimson members were able to keep the police at bay assuring them that the situation is under control.

“All right, I want two more teams ready.” The Crimson assault commander straighten his cap and turned to the assault captain. “Is everything secured? I don’t want anyone getting out or in through that building except for our people.”

“Everything is secured as you order"” The captain saw a black car pull up and moaned as three people stepped out. “Oh, no.” As the three approached the commander stepped in their path. “Don’t worry. We have everything under control. And don’t even give anything about ‘your jurisdiction’ crap.” Thantos sighed.

“Those orders were only for you and your men’s protection.” Thantos and the other two headed for the entrance to the apartment.

“I’ve already sent in two squads to handle it.” The captain called out and Thantos turned his head.

“No, captain, I believe that your men are already dead.”

 

The head crimson assault member approached the woman sitting down.

“Now, stand up slowly.” The woman did as she was instructed and the man grabbed her wrist to put handcuffs on her. She immediately turned, grabbing the man’s wrist and slammed her hand against his arm, breaking it. The woman then punched the assault member in the throat and kicked him into the other assault members, knocking them down. The two standing men fired their drawn pistols. She ducked under the oncoming fire and dodged behind one of them. Grabbing a hold of his gun the woman fired at the other man. After he went down she twisted the arm of the man she held and flipped him on the ground, kicking him across the head and knocking him out. The final crimson assault member raised his gun but was stabbed in the chest by a dagger the girl unsheathed.

Looking around the woman took out a cell phone and flipped it open.

“There’s a problem.” She said.

“They tracked you faster than anticipated. Don’t lose focus, Shinya. You can still make it out.” A deep voice on the other side replied. Shinya took a deep breath before asking the next question.

“Are there any Dark Redeemers?”

“Yes.” Shinya quickly looked around as if one of them would jump from the shadows in the darkly lit room. “You must stay calm, Shinya. You can still make it through this. Remember the large hotel down the street? Room 1401. Now go.” Before Shinya could ask what was in the room her partner on the other line hung up. She put her cell phone away and rushed out of the room knowing that the Dark Redeemers might already be in the building. She looked down the hall and saw one of them with several other assault members step into the hall. She turned around and started running in the opposite direction. As Shinya ran up the stairs at the end of the hall, she could hear her pursuers behind her. At the top of the stairs there was a door that opened to the roof of the building.

Shinya burst thru the door and paused knowing that she was at a dead end. She frantically looked around for a way off the roof. She saw an emergency exit ladder and was about to climb down when gunshots from its base rang out to where her hand would have been. Hearing the door she came through, being swung opened again, Shinya decided she had to jump across rooftops to get to her destination. She ran and jumped a small gap to the next building. The Redeemer behind her started to fire his gun at her from the other side. Each bullet missed its mark by hair and he grunted in frustration while putting his gun away to continue pursuit. Shinya ignored the shots and just prayed that she would not get hit as she jumped three more buildings. She was actually distancing the length in between her and her pursuers until she came across a large gap. The next building over was the hotel.

The distance was easily twice as wide as the other gaps had been if not a little wider. She looked back and her mind quickly raced through what would happen if she were caught. Shinya immediately decided that she would rather die trying than being capture and subjected to torture. With a deep concentrated breath, she ran and jumped the large gap and, to her surprise, easily landed on the other side. Shinya looked back just in time to see the Redeemer jump the gap just as easily as the assault team looked in awe. She turned and opened the door that led to the roof and literally ran into Zack.

“Please, you have to help me!” Zack cocked an eyebrow then pulled Shinya in, slamming the door and barring it shut with his knife. Zack then led Shinya down the stairs and into a large room where Xana, Uriko, Yoko were waiting. Xana approached the two as they walked in the room.

“There’s a problem. The exits are sealed off.” The sound of gunshots were heard coming from the floors below.

“Xana,” Zack ordered. “search for a way to get us out of here.

 

An assault member was checking for any signs of Shinya being in the large room. He turned to exit the room for lack of evidence when heard a noise. He spun around and listened carefully to pinpoint the noise. Uriko had tripped in the small confined space, in the wall, and was about to fall when Zack caught her. Dust came up due to the sudden movement and caused Uriko to suddenly sneeze. The assault member heard the sneeze clearly.

“They’re in the walls here!” The man let out a scream as his body began to change forms. Zack and the others knew that something wasn’t right. It had gotten too quiet too quickly and was about to tell everyone to move faster when to hands broke through the wall and grabbed Zack by his shoulders. He was pulled through the wall by a surprising amount of strength.

“Zack!” Xana called out and her arm was grabbed by Yoko.

“We have to keep going. Move now!” The four girls moved through the wall at a quickened pace while Zack was held with his feet hovering above the ground.

“You must be Zack.” A man with short hair as dark as night spoke to Zack with venom in his voice.

“And you?” The man’s face didn’t change from its blank expression.

“Kaoru.” He stated and Zack broke his grip while making a punch at Kaoru’s face. Kaoru grabbed Zack’s hand and started to push back, forcing Zack to drop to his knee.

Kaoru then punched Zack in the chest, sending him into the back wall. While the fight went on the girls made it into the next room.

“We have to go get him!” Xana pleaded and Shinya covered her mouth to keep her quiet.

“No! You can’t. It’s too late. He may already be dead. If the man that grabbed him is who I think it is then there is no hope.” Uriko put up a hand to silence both of them and had a determined look on her face.

“He isn’t dead. We still have a chance. It’s my fault he is out there and I’m going to get him back. I dare any one of you to try and stop me.” Yoko stepped up.

“I’m going too. We were ordered to protect him. I’ve placed a tracking device on him before we left. That should help us find him.