CHILDREN OF TIME (2025 Edition) by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 4 – HIGH SEAS PIRACY

 

23:18, Friday, October 17,2014 ‘A’

Japanese tanker ship SHINKEN MARU

Strait of Malacca, south of Singapore

‘’The sea is really nice tonight, don’t you think, Miss Laplante?’’ Nancy turned her head and smiled to the captain of the tanker ship she was traveling on for two days now, answering him in fluent Japanese while putting back in place some of her long hair, which the wind had blown in her face.

‘’It is effectively a nice evening, Captain Kurozawa. By the way, you can simply call me ‘Nancy’, as I told you before.’’

‘’Uh, true! Sorry, Nancy! So, do you think that we may be attacked by pirates during our trip?’’

‘’Captain, I may be presently on a job to report on the problem of piracy in the Strait of Malacca and in the South China Sea, but I am not crazy enough to wish for an attack to happen against this ship, or against any other ship. You know as well as me how merciless those pirates can be. For one thing, they hate leaving witnesses behind, unless they plan to hold them against ransoms.’’

The captain became serious again as he weighed her reply. Dozens of ships of all sizes, from private sailing yachts to big tanker ships like his own ship, were attacked each year in Indonesian waters, either ending being looted and then scuttled or being renamed and sold to corrupt shipping magnates. As for the crews of those unfortunate ships, they too often ended being killed or thrown overboard. A nice-looking woman like Nancy could also expect to be repeatedly raped before being killed or being held against a ransom if captured by pirates. Nancy then spoke again while looking at him.

‘’Captain, you really should have hired some of the private armed guards the authorities in Singapore suggested to you.’’

‘’Well, I would have gladly hired some of those guards but my shipping company is unwilling to pay for them. We thus have to make do with the two hunting shotguns we have aboard.’’

Nancy sighed while shaking her head.

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‘’It’s easy for a bunch of desk-bound paper-pushers in Tokyo to risk other peoples’ lives in order to save a few bucks.’’

‘’True, Nancy! However, don’t worry too much: a simple speedboat with a dozen pirates onboard won’t be able to easily board a ship as big and and fast as mine.’’ Pride was evident in the voice of Captain Kurozawa as he looked at his 85,000-ton tanker ship. Nancy also looked down the weather deck of the tanker ship, noting many points which would facilitate a boarding, like the low freeboard, caused by the heavy load of refined gasoline, and the lack of defensive barbed or concertina wire along the handrails. If anything, the high value of the load of gasoline carried by the SHINKEN MARU would only make it a more interesting target for pirates. She however didn’t speak about those points, not wanting to worry Kurozawa more than needed.

‘’Well, if you will excuse me, Captain, I will now return to my cabin in order to continue typing my article. Good night, Captain!’’

‘’Good night, Nancy!’’

Kurozawa couldn’t help admire Nancy’s bum as she walked away, wishing that he could grab it with both hands one fine day.

Once in her small cabin, Nancy took her laptop computer out of its travel bag and plugged it, then switched it on. Like all the equipment and personal effects she owned on this ship, Nancy kept her computer packed and ready to go at all times when not in use: if by bad luck pirates attacked her ship, she would want to be able to hide quickly from them with all her things. She didn’t doubt that she could easily neutralize those pirates by herself, even without weapons if need be. However, flaunting openly her special powers in this time period could eventually force her to abandon her life in the 21st Century of Timeline ‘A’, something which would deeply sadden her.

Nancy worked on her article for about one hour, fusing together the various facts and reports she had collected around this region during the two last weeks. She now had no doubts left in her mind that most of the better organized groups of pirates enjoyed the secret support of many corrupt local officials. Some port officials were even ready to accept to shelter ships captured by pirates, having them repainted and renamed in order to change their identities, so that they could split the profits from the sale of their cargo or even of the ships themselves. The waters of the Indonesia Archipelago, with its thousands of islands dispersed over a vast area, were especially fertile in pirates, who

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could shelter and hide along the coasts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam or the Philippines. Chinese pirates, often being in collusion with corrupt Communist Chinese officials, only added to that already heavy threat. Finally coming short of fresh information, Nancy closed her computer and repacked it in its transport bag. She then went out on the open deck with her handheld camera equipped with a night-vision lens, she took some fresh air while scanning the horizon with her camera. Not seeing anything special, she returned to her cabin after five minutes and went to bed.

She was abruptly awakened a few hours later by gun shots on or near the ship. Shaking off her fatigue, Nancy quickly dressed in her obscure cabin while listening what was happening. She heard screams, orders in Malay and occasional shots which followed the initial barrage of fire. Putting on her big backpack and then passing the carrying strap of her carrying bag containing her laptop and her specialized equipment, she cautiously left her cabin and silently ran to the watertight door giving access to the open deck, ready to activate her time distorter at the first sight of pirates. Opening and then closing as quietly as possible that door, she started walking towards the stern of the ship but suddenly had to hide behind a ventilation duct as the noise of running men approached her. One of the sailors of the ship, panic on his face, ran past her hiding place, pursued by four armed pirates dressed in shorts and T-shirts. Nancy soon heard a shot, followed by horrible screams as the pirates finished off the poor sailor with their machetes. The mental screams of pain and panic from the dying sailor nearly sickened Nancy, who wished that she could intervene in order to help him. The four pirates then reappeared again a minute later and entered the superstructures of the tanker ship after passing by Nancy’s hiding place on the dark deck. Five more pirates, all heavily armed, also passed by her, to then enter the bridge block. Cautiously coming out of hiding, Nancy then got close to the railing and looked down the hull of the tanker. Her heart accelerated when she saw in the dark two large motor boats now moored to the tanker, plus what looked like an old, Soviet-built SO-1 armed patrol boat. Nancy swore when she saw and recognized via moonlight an Indonesian flag floating atop the mast of the patrol boat. It however was left to prove that this SO-1 truly belonged to the Indonesian Navy or if this was only a trick meant to catch unsuspecting preys. Pointing her camera equipped with a light intensification lens, Nancy quickly took a few photos of the speedboats and of the patrol boat, also taking a picture of the Indonesian flag atop the mast of the SO-1. Once that was done, Nancy activated by a mental order her time

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distorter, implanted inside her body, and became enclosed inside a bubble of highly accelerated time. Now invisible and moving a thousand time faster than normal, Nancy did a quick inspection tour of the tanker ship, coming out at intervals from her time bubble in order to take pictures from behind cover. She counted a total of 29 armed pirates now aboard the SHINKEN MARU, with more pirates on the speedboats and on the patrol boat. All the crewmembers of the tanker ship were already dead, except for the poor Captain Kurozawa, who was being tortured by the pirates in order for him to be forced to reveal the combination of the safe contained in his cabin. Both furious and horrified, Nancy unfortunately had to let that happen. In order to kill all the pirates on all four ships, she would have to use her special powers as an agent of the Time Patrol and would most probably end up blowing away her secrets to the whole World. Nobody would believe that one unarmed woman could kill over forty armed pirates, a claim that would attract questions she couldn’t then answer properly. Even her fifth Dan black belt in Kyokushin karate would not be sufficient to make such claims credible, unless her interlocutor believed everything he saw in Jacky Chan movies. Her heart heavy, Nancy thus withdrew to a good hiding place she had located earlier on, dropping her backpack and her carrying case there and keeping with her only her camera with night-vision lens and her GPS locator.

Nancy was hiding behind a life vest storage bin when two pirates passed near her, dragging behind the the bloodied corpse of Captain Kurozawa, to then throw the body overboard. She made a silent prayer for the soul of the unfortunate captain.

‘’May The One be kind to your soul, Captain.’’

Nancy then looked at her watch and saw that it was close to four in the morning: Sunrise would come soon. Wanting to know what the pirates were doing; she moved to a new hiding place high up the bridge superstructure that would give her a good view of the weather deck and of the pirate ships. Consulting her GPS locator, she saw that the tanker ship was 107 kilometers to the Northeast of the Indonesian island of Bintan, itself part of the Riau Archipelago. Scribbling down that position and the hour in her pocket notebook, she then continued observing what was happening. She saw a group of nine apparently unarmed men dressed like normal sailors come aboard the SHINKEN MARU from the patrol boat, while the armed pirates returned to their boats. The three pirate boats then left, while the diesel engines of the tanker ship came to life. Quickly removing her night-vision lens from her camera and using a long exposition, Nancy took

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as good a real-light picture of the SO-1 patrol boat as she could, along with its Indonesian flag and its hull number. She now had a fair idea about what the pirates would now do. Such a well-organized band would not be content only with the few thousands of dollars which had been in the captain’s safe: the cargo of refined gasoline of the SHINKEN MARU was worth nearly as much as the ship itself. The pirates were thus more probably going to head to a port where they knew they could sell both the gasoline and the tanker ship itself, something which would explain the new pirate crew. The question now was to which port the pirates would now go.

Having seen enough, Nancy used the last moments of darkness to return to the hiding place where she had left her backpack and carrying case, making a quick visit to a ship’s latrine on the way. Once back in hiding, she set herself up for a long wait. Thankfully, she always travelled with a bottle of water and some non-perishable food in her backpack. Noting down her GPS location every hour, she was able to establish that the SHINKEN MARU was heading North-northeast and was sailing away from Indonesia and from the other coasts in this region. The only plausible destinations of the tanker were now either the Philippines, China or the Korean Peninsula. In view of the important American military presence in South Korea, Nancy doubted that the pirates would be stupid enough to head there in a ship bound to be declared missing soon. She would have liked to to emit a radio distress call right now but, for that, she was going to need to visit the ship’s radio room. However, she was going to have to wait until late in the evening, when most of the pirates would be asleep, before going there. Having nothing to do for many hours, Nancy made herself as comfortable as possible and went to sleep after setting the alarm clock on her watch to vibration mode.

At midnight, she was ready to move again but first took a fresh GPS reading before cautiously going to the radio room under the cover of her accelerated time bubble. She found the radio cabin empty and dark. Using a small flashlight, she quickly inspected the HF transceiver and then set it on the international distress frequency, which never changed. Putting on a radio headset and using a cushion placed in front of her mouth to muffle her voice, she then sent her distress message in English.’’

‘’To all ships and stations on this frequency, this is the Japanese tanker ship SHINKEN MARU, presently in the hands of a pirate crew. The original crew was killed some twenty hours ago. My name is Nancy Laplante and I was a passenger on the

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SHINKEN MARU. I am presently hiding from the pirates. The heading of the SHINKEN MARU is presently North-northeast at a speed of twelve knots and my present position is 440 nautical miles west of Brunei.’’

Nancy added her precise location in longitude and latitude, then asked for assistance. She then repeated her message every minute, her anxiety growing steadily while she waited for an answer. To her relief, somebody answered her after six minutes.

‘’SHINKEN MARU, this is the patrol ship CHIKUZEN, of the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency. Resume quickly what happened on your ship, over.’’

‘’Thank you, CHIKUZEN. I can speak Japanese if you wish so, over.’’

‘’Affirmative, SHINKEN MARU, over.’’

Nancy then quickly described what had happened during the last 24 hours, along with where she suspected the pirates to be heading to. There was then a long pause before the Japanese patrol ship replied to her.

‘’SHINKEN MARU, be advised that we should be able to intercept you in about 39 hours. Can you send an updated report position in 24 hours, over?’’

‘’I will do my best, CHIKUZEN, but getting to the radio room is risky for me. I however have a small portable VHF radio with me. Could you provide me with a VHF frequency that I could use once you are close enough, over?’’

‘’Affirmative, SHINKEN MARU! Use the frequency 73.50 megahertz, I say again, 73.50 megahertz. We have a helicopter aboard our ship and will use it to drop an assault team on your tanker ship. What kind of armament do those pirates have, over?’’

‘’CHIKUZEN, I am not sure but they probably have pistols. I didn’t see rifles with them. However, the initial pirate boarding party was heavily armed.’’

‘’SHINKEN MARU, we now need to verify your identity. Could you give us your complete name, your date and place of birth, your address and the telephone number of your employer, over?’’

‘’With pleasure, CHIKUZEN! My name is Nancy Laplante. I was born on June 13 of 1982 in Montreal, Canada. My home is at apartment 213, in 800 Montarville Boulevard, in Boucherville, province of Quebec, Canada. My employer is CNN, in Atlanta, in the United States. I work for CNN as an international correspondent.’’ She then had to take out Christiane Amanpour’s calling card she had in her wallet before giving her telephone number on the radio. She had to repeat and spell her home address to the Japanese operator, who then asked her a last question.

‘’Miss Laplante, are you armed, over?’’

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‘’Negative, CHIKUZEN! I however a fifth Dan black belt in Kyokushin karate. I will stay for the moment in the radio room and will call you back in three hours with a fresh GPS position, then will call again at around midnight. Please don’t try to call me back in the meantime. Anything else, over?’’

‘’Negative, SHINKEN MARU! We will wait for your next calls, out!’’ Blowing air out in relief, Nancy then put the radio back on its original frequency and switched it on. Staying hidden in a closet of the radio room, Nancy waited another three hours and then sent out to the CHIKUZEN a fresh GPS location reading before shutting down the radio and leaving the cabin, returning to her hiding place under time bubble cover. Her two following transmissions, at midnight and at three in the morning on the next day, were done without problems, the pirates seemingly content to occupy the bridge, the engine room and the crew quarters. The ship’s heading also stayed constant, now pointing firmly to the Chinese coast of the East China Sea. Nancy was tempted for a moment to get into action and eliminate the pirates but decided to stay quiet and be patient.

05 :12 (Singapore Time)

Monday, October 20, 2014 ‘A’

Japanese patrol ship CHIKUZEN

South China Sea

‘’Here is the answer from Tokyo concerning this Nancy Laplante, Captain.’’

‘’They took their sweet time!’’ grumbled Lieutenant-Commander Yori Norita as he took the message offered by his signals officer. His operations officer became alarmed on seeing his captain frown.

‘’Something is wrong about that woman, Captain?’’

‘’Yes: she seems too good to be true, Mister Akimoto. Her identity is however confirmed by the Canadian government and CNN confirmed that she is one of her international correspondents presently on a mission in this region. She is also an ex-officer of the Canadian Army with extensive overseas experience on combat and peacekeeping tours. Those include tours in Afghanistan, Croatia, Bosnia, Haiti and Kuwait. She also covered a multitude of wars as a military affairs correspondent and is known to speak seven languages. However, nothing in her resumé explains her knowledge of Japanese, which she speaks fluently.’’

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The operations officer scratched his chin, impressed.

‘’Seven languages?! That’s a lot! Did we get a photo of her from Tokyo, Captain, so that our assault team could recognize her?’’

‘’Here is a photo transmitted by fax. She is not shabby at all, to be frank.’’ Akimoto looked at the picture for a moment before looking back at his captain.

‘’Let’s hope that she will come out of this intact. If those pirates find her...’’

‘’I know, Mister Akimoto. If what she said is true, then she had a much better luck than the crew of that tanker ship.’’

Akimoto froze at those words, not liking the tone used by Norita.

‘’Are you thinking that she could be an accomplice of those pirates, Captain?’’

‘’Well, judge by yourself, Akimoto: she boarded that tanker ship in Indonesia, from where those pirates also came, and had all the necessary equipment to provide to those pirates the exact position of the SHINKEN MARU. Her story about the pirates arriving aboard a SO-1 patrol boat flying the Indonesian flag is also hard to swallow. I thus believe that she initially helped those pirates, then felt remorse on seeing the massacre of the tanker’s crew.’’

‘’But, Captain, she is an ex-Canadian military officer with a distinguished record, plus is an accredited CNN correspondent.’’

‘’A correspondent doing a report on high seas piracy. What better way to sell an article than to take pictures of an actual pirate attack. Until proof of the contrary, we will

treat her with suspicion. Afte all, she is only a female Gaijin3.’’ Akimoto nearly expressed his strong disagreement then but kept his mouth shut: Captain Norita had the last word on the CHIKUZEN and didn’t tolerate any dissensions.

13:39 (Singapore Time)

SHINKEN MARU

South China Sea

Nancy had her pocket VHF radio in her hand for about two hours now when she finally heard a voice speaking Japanese.

‘’SHINKEN MARU, this is the CHIKUZEN, over!’’

‘’SHINKEN MARU listening, over!’’

3 Gaijin: pejorative expression used by the Japanese to describe a foreigner.

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‘’SHINKEN MARU, we now have you on our radar, at a distance of 31 nautical miles. Our ship will be near you in ninety minutes but we will now launch a helicopter with an assault team onboard. It should arrive over your ship in about 35 minutes, over.’’ Nancy didn’t like that at all: a helicopter would be very vulnerable as it hovered over the SHINKEN MARU while unloading its passengers.

‘’CHIKUZEN, I strongly counsel again an heliborne insertion at this state: those pirates will not hesitate to fire at your helicopter, which will be like a sitting duck as it will be hovering above the tanker, over.’’

A new voice then answered her after a short delay.

‘’Miss Laplante, this Lieutenant-Commander Norita, Captain of the CHIKUZEN. I ordered this heliborne insertion and I don’t see any reasons to delay it. Do you have a better idea, over?’’

Nancy barely avoided swearing on the radio and replied in a polite but firm tone.

‘’Affirmative, Captain! Wait until your ship will come within sight of those pirates before launching your helicopter. Those pirates will then think twice before shooting while a warship is in sight. Your helicopter would simply be too vulnerable to small arms fire as it will hover above the deck of this tanker ship, over.’’

‘’I am sorry but our heliborne operation will proceed as planned. In the meantime, stay in hiding and let us deal with those pirates, out!’’

Nancy gave a furious look to her radio: that arrogant idiot was finally going to force her to act. Pocketing back her radio, she left her hide and used again her time distorter, passing into accelerated time and becoming invisible. Looking down at the weather deck, she saw three pirates on the open deck, where numerous large steel pipes would give them a good cover if need be: those pirates were armed with compact submachine guns! This would definitely be bad news to any helicopter overflying this ship. Deciding to leave those three for last, Nancy then made her way to the engine room, finding one pirate there, busy checking out one of the diesel engines. Using her power of levitation to float silently and approach him, she used her two hands to grab his head, then twisted his head in a quick move, breaking the man’s neck. The man fell to the deck, dead, without a sound. Nancy held his body to avoid any noise, then grabbed the pistol held by the man’s belt and also taking the two spare magazines he had in his back pocket and the large knife sheathed at his belt. Next, she left the engine room, climbing the steep ladder leading up to the lower deck. Her next stop was the crew quarters, where she found four pirates sleeping in double bunk beds. Nancy rendered them unconscious

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by using the stun circuit implanted in her hands, then used their bed sheets to tie them and gag them. This thus left her with one pirate on the bridge and three on the open deck to be taken care of. Reactivating her time bubble, she went to the bridge and knocked out the pirate standing next to the steering wheel. Also tying and gagging up that man, she looked down at the open deck visible forward of the bridge superstructure and smiled on seeing that the three armed pirates on the open deck were now shirtless and lying down, taking some Sun and with their weapons laid next to them. Grabbing the pistol she had seized on a dead pirate, she calmly climbed down the stairs leading to the open deck and came out of her time bubble as she approached the three pirates, her pistol at the ready. One of the pirates turned his head on hearing her steps as she was a mere ten meters from him. His face reflected utter surprise and alarm and he shouted an alarm in Malay to his two companions while trying to grab his weapon. Nancy shot twice, hitting the man in the head and heart and killing him, then shot the two other pirates, using methodical double-taps. Being officially the third best combat pistol

shot in North America, with trophies to prove it, made those killings dead easy for her. First checking that all three men were dead, she then grabbed her pocket VHF radio and spoke in it.

‘’CHIKUZEN, this is Nancy Laplante, on the SHINKEN MARU, over!’’

‘’Speak, Miss Laplante!’’

‘’CHIKUZEN, the way is now clear for your helicopter: all the pirates are now either dead or tied up and prisoners, over.’’

This time, there was a rather long pause because she got a response in a hesitant tone.

‘’What do you mean, dead or prisoners? What happened, over?’’

‘’They were careless and I neutralized them, end of story. When will your helicopter arrive, over?’’

‘’Uh, in about twelve minutes. You should be able soon to see it on your starboard side. Where will you be, over?’’

‘’On the bridge: I will wait for your men there, out!’’

Before going to the bridge, Nancy went by her hiding place and retrieved her backpack and carrying case, then carried them down to the bridge, laying her luggage in a corner of the compartment. Soon, she saw a small black dot low on the eastern horizon, dot which then grew into a Bell 212 helicopter bearing Japanese markings. Going to the engine control station, she put the diesel engines of the SHINKEN MARU

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on idle power, in order to facilitate the work of the helicopter pilot, then stepped out on the starboard open bridge wing, leaving her pistol inside. She waived with one hand at the helicopter as its pilot came to a hover a mere meter over the weather deck of the tanker ship. Eight armed Japanese sailors then jumped onto the deck, following which the helicopter took back some altitude and took a waiting position some distance from the ship. The two first Japanese sailors to climb the ladder to the bridge did it slowly while aiming their submachine guns at her. Nancy kept her two hands visible but didn’t raise them over her head, smiling to the young lieutenant leading the armed sailors and speaking to him in fluent Japanese.

‘’I am Nancy Laplante. Could you please lower your weapons, Lieutenant: all the pirates have been neutralized by me.’’

Subjugated by her assurance and calm, the lieutenant did lower his weapon and signaled to his sailors to do the same while staring at her: she was actually taller than him and had wide shoulders. He then bowed in salute to her.

‘’Lieutenant Sakamura, from the patrol ship CHIKUZEN of the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency. Are you alright, miss?’’

‘’I am, Lieutenant! Unfortunately, I was unable to save the crew of the SHINKEN MARU when it was boarded at night by a strong party of over thirty armed pirates. I then had no weapons, except for a small pocket knife. The group of nine pirates who later crewed this ship however proved a lot easier to take on: they were widely dispersed, which allowed me to neutralize them one at a time. You will find a dead pirate on the bridge, another in the engine room and three more on the weather deck, plus four pirates tied up in the crew quarters. I will now give you the pistol and knife which I took from the pirate I killed in the engine room.’’

Sakamura took the pistol and knife offered to him by Nancy and gave them to one of his sailors before looking at her again, some doubts visible on his face.

‘’Excuse me, miss, but you speak as if that was easy for you to do.’’

‘’It was easy, Lieutenant. Those pirates were not vigilant and they paid the price for it. Know that I served for twelve years in the Canadian Armed Forces and did a number of combat tours, notably in Afghanistan, where I earned the nickname of ‘Taliban Exterminator’. I also happen to be a World-rated combat pistol shooter and am a fifth Dan black belt karateka. So, what will happen next?’’

‘’Well, our ship should be here in less than one hour. You will then be transferred to our ship, while we will escort the SHINKEN MARU to Japan.’’

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Nancy nodded her head at that.

‘’Good! I was in fact on my way to Japan, in order to complete my present reporting and to participate in the incoming International Tournament in Kyokushin karate.’’

Sakamura nodded his head then but didn’t reply, instead passing orders to his men to disperse and start searching the ship.

16:23 (Singapore Time)

Japanese patrol ship CHIKUZEN

Nancy, carrying her backpack and her carrying case, quickly climbed the rope ladder going down to the inflatable boat which had carried her from the SHINKEN MARU and stepped on the deck of the Japanese warship, where two officers and two armed sailors were waiting for him. She then saluted the officers with a bow.

‘’Nancy Laplante, CNN correspondent. Permission to come aboard, Captain?’’

‘’Permission granted, Miss Laplante. I am Lieutenant-Commander Yori Norita, Captain of the CHIKUZEN, and this is my operations officer, Lieutenant Akimoto. We have quite a few things to clear out with you about this sad affair, but I will let you get installed first. Lieutenant Akimoto will now escort you to your cabin.’’ Nancy bowed again, then followed Akimoto through a watertight hatch leading into the superstructures of the ship. She didn’t miss the fact that the two armed sailors followed behind her but did not comment about that, instead asking a question to Akimoto.

‘’Lieutenant, could you tell me where in Japan your ship is heading to?’’

‘’We are heading to Yokosuka, miss, where our ship is berthed. Our

headquarters, as well as the one for the Japanese National Police, are in Tokyo. We are treating this affair as one of the highest importance.’’

‘’Oh?! Why? This would not be the first time that a Japanese commercial ship would have been attacked by pirates, I believe.’’

‘’True, but this is by far the incident which caused the most deaths. Your allegations concerning a patrol boat flying the Indonesian flag also raised the interest of Tokyo.’’

Nancy abruptly stopped in the narrow passageway on hearing that, forcing the two armed sailors following her to also stop.

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‘’First off, Lieutenant, those are not mere allegations: I have pictures of that pirate patrol ship. Second, I simply said that it was flying an Indonesian flag. You know as well as me that this was most probably a ruse used by those pirates to approach and then board the SHINKEN MARU. Now, I believe that your two armed sailors are not following me simply to ensure my protection while on your ship. Are you planning to treat me as a guest or as a criminal?’’

‘’I am sorry, miss, but those sailors are following you on orders from Captain Norita. An inspector from the Japanese National Police is due soon to join this ship once off the Philippines, in order to examine the bodies found on the SHINKEN MARU. About your pictures, I will have to ask you to hand over your films once in your cabin.’’ In response, Nancy gave the Japanese officer a black look.

‘’I use a digital camera, Lieutenant. I will copy the images I took on my laptop computer, then will hand you a copy on diskette. Do not forget that I am presently reporting the subject of high seas piracy and that I will need my photos and my notes in order to complete my reporting.’’

‘’You will have to wait for your reporting, miss. Everything concerning this affair is now considered judicial evidence and will be covered by a publication ban. I am sorry, miss, but this is now police business.’’

‘’Lieutenant, you are starting to make me regret to have helped your government.’’ replied Nancy on a harsh tone. Akimoto did not reply to that, instead continuing to head towards the forward section of the ship, something that Nancy noticed at once. Crew quarters on a warship were not normally situated near the bow section. The truth became evident when her group stopped in front of a steel door equipped with external bolts. The voice of the four pirates she had helped capture were audible, coming from two other similar steel doors, while an armed sailor sat on a chair in a corner of the small compartment. The so-called ‘cabin’ reserved for her was in reality a tiny cell containing only a bunk bed, a toilet and a sink. There were no portholes and a single electric lamp protected by a steel wire cage lit the cell. The furious look Nancy shot at Akimoto made him step back, while the two armed sailors tensed up and aimed their weapons at her.

‘’Is that how you are going to treat me after I risked my life to help you? Are you mad or simply stupid?’’

Akimoto in turn gave her an embarrassed look, ashamed of the role his captain was making him play.

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‘’Please, miss, simply enter this cell and do not cause problems. You after all killed five men in cold blood on the SHINKEN MARU.’’

‘’THOSE MEN WERE PIRATES WHO KILLED THE CREW OF THE SHINKEN MARU AND WERE GOING TO SHOOT AT YOUR HELICOPTER, LIEUTENANT. I AM A COMBAT VETERAN AND AN EX-CANADIAN ARMY OFFICER AND I DON’T CARE ONE BIT ABOUT THE AMATEURISH OPINION OF YOUR CAPTAIN. I AM PAINED TO SEE THAT TRADITIONAL JAPANESE HOSPITALITY DOES NOT EXTEND TO GAIJINS ON THIS SHIP, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE WOMEN. BE ASSURED THAT I WILL COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS TREATMENT TO MY EMBASSY IN TOKYO.’’ Nancy, still furious, was about to enter the cell, was then stopped with a gesture by Akimoto, who pointed at her backpack and carrying case.

‘’Your belongings will have to stay with us, miss: we must search them for any possible evidence.’’

The renewed rage which appeared on her face made the two armed sailors aim their pistols at her. Nancy gave them a disdainful look before looking straight into Akimoto’s eyes.

‘’You can tell your captain that he is acting like an idiot and an incompetent and that he will soon be publicly exposed as the imbecile he is.’’ She then left her two bags on the deck and entered the cell. The steel door was then closed, with a metallic noise telling her that the locking bolts were pulled close. Still boiling made, Nancy sat down on her bunk and thought about what she was going to do next. She could easily escape this cell or even this ship simply by activating her time distorter and jump spacetime to safety. However, such an act would expose her special abilities and would probably put an end to her life in the 21st Century, a life she cherished. She thus will have to show some patience and hope that common sense would eventually prevail.

She received her first visitor ten minutes later: a mature man wearing thick glasses and carrying a medical bag. Her visitor bowed politely to her, appearing clearly to not approve the present situation.

‘’I am sorry to disturb you like this, miss, but my captain asked me to visit and examine you. I am Lieutenant-Commander Toshiro Sumitomo, doctor on this ship.’’ Nancy got up from her bunk bed and returned his bow.

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‘’You are welcomed to examine me, Doctor, as long as nobody else but you will be present and as long as this door is kept closed during your examination. I will not expose myself in front of other men than you.’’

‘’A most reasonable demand, miss.’’ said Sumitomo before turning around to face the armed sailor standing in the doorway of the cell. ‘’Get out and close the door. Do not open it unless I tell you so and do not look through the peephole.’’ Once the sailor left and closed the door, Sumitomo gave an embarrassed smile to Nancy.

‘’Please excuse me for this, miss, but I got orders to do a complete body search of you. We however don’t have women as part of our crew.’’

‘’Do what you need to do, Doctor.’’ replied Nancy on a resigned tone before undressing completely and standing up with both legs open. To his credit, Sumitomo did his body search as politely and quickly as he could, then nodded his head to her.

‘’You may now put your clothes back on, miss. I must say that I never saw a woman with such a fit and strong body as you. You could easily be an Olympic-level athlete.’’

‘’Thank you, Doctor.’’

‘’You’re welcomed! I just need now to take a blood sample for you.’’ Nancy in turn gave him a dubious look.

‘’What is your captain after, Doctor? Prove that I take drugs, or that all Gaijins are carrying infectious diseases?’’

Sumitomo again looked embarrassed as he prepared a syringe and lowered his voice, so that the sailor outside of the cell could not listen to him.

‘’Keep this to yourself, Miss Laplante, but Captain Norita has firm personal opinions on a number of subjects, including on foreigners and women. He is however my captain and I must obey him.’’

‘’Then, you may tell him that he will most likely lose his command after we will arrive in Tokyo, where I will make a strong complaint against him to my embassy and to your government, via CNN.’’

‘’I will inform him of this, miss, along with my opinion as a doctor about all this. Again, I am truly sorry about the way you are being treated. I will visit you periodically in order to ensure that you are not mistreated or abused.’’

‘’Your consideration is most appreciated, Doctor.’’

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Once Sumitomo was gone and the door of her cell locked, Nancy sat back on her bunk, thinking about what the Japanese could use against her. In truth, there was nothing she needed to fear about on that aspect, unless they tried to extract a ‘confession’ from her, a popular practice with the Japanese police, using methods which would be judged most questionable in most western counties and certainly in Canada. Once that was decided, she crossed her legs and put herself into a classic ‘Lotus’ meditation stance on her bed. She then reminisced on her first ever incarnation of this Earth, that of a woman named Nataï, the wife of a mason who had lived in the neolithic city of Jericho some 9,000 years ago.

Her second visitor showed up one hour later and proved to be Lieutenant Akimoto, escorted by an armed sailor.

‘’No need to get up, miss: I came to take your deposition about the events concerning the SHINKEN MARU. If this could reassure you, I personally believe that you have nothing to be blamed for in this affair.’’

‘’Thank you, Lieutenant. Am I accused of anything at this time?’’

‘’No! Could you now tell me in detail what happened aboard the SHINKEN MARU, starting when you boarded the ship in port.’’

With Akimoto using a small recorder and taking notes, Nancy readily spoke, telling him everything, except of course about her special powers. While Akimoto seemed to believe her, he did appear shaken by her calm assurance when she described how she had killed the pirates.

‘’Miss, you say that you killed those three pirates on the weather deck, each with two shots, one to the head and one to the heart, and this when they were armed with submachine guns and while you were approaching them openly. How come that they did not fire on you?’’

‘’Because I was a far better shooter than them, Lieutenant. I am the third highest ranking combat pistol shooter in North America, all categories, men and women included. I am also the North American standing champion in long-range metallic silhouette shooting, with the trophies to prove it.’’

Akimoto then hesitated, not a little impressed by her declarations.

‘’Uh, one last question, miss: what was the reason for your trip to Japan?’’ That brought a smile on Nancy’s lips.

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‘’Simply said, I have a reservation to go pass my qualification exam for my sixth Dan black belt at the central school of the Kyokushin Karate Association, in Tokyo. I

believe that you must have found my Ji 4in my backpack?’’

‘’Effectively, Miss Laplante. Well, I believe that we are finished here.’’ Akimoto was getting up to leave when Nancy stopped him verbally.

‘’Lieutenant, for how long will I be kept in this cell, treated like a vulgar criminal instead of as a witness to a crime?’’

Akimoto caressed his moustache, trying to find a diplomatic answer to her question.

‘’To be franc, miss, I don’t know. That decision belongs to the Captain. I will however do my best to convince him to release you.’’

He then left quickly the cell, embarrassed by his own evasive answer.

10:01 (Singapore Time)

Thursday, October 23, 2014 ‘A’

Cold storage room, ship’s kitchen

Japanese patrol ship CHIKUZEN

Chief-Inspector Takashi Kido, of the Japanese National Police’s Tokyo Section of the Homicides Division, was wearing a thick wool sweater during this visit to the cold storage room of the CHIKUZEN. Doctor Sumitomo was also with him , kneeling next to him near the body bags containing the pirates killed by Nancy Laplante. Kido had arrived by helicopter on the CHIKUZEN less than two hours ago and he already didn’t like what he had seen to date. Apparently full of his ‘supreme’ authority aboard his ship, the captain of the patrol ship had done about everything possible to date to sour up the only witness they had and had sabotaged the few judiciary evidence available with his arbitrary decisions. He was definitely going to talk in private with that idiot later on. However, he presently had to legally establish how those pirates had been killed. The body he was presently examining was, according to the notes taken by the boarding party from the CHIKUZEN, the pirate killed by Nancy Laplante in the engine room of the SHINKEN MARU. The man’s neck had been cleanly broken, with the head turning nearly without any resistance.

 

4 Ji: martial art practice uniform.

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‘’This Nancy Laplante must quite strong, Doctor. I rarely saw a neck broken this cleanly.’’

‘’She is effectively an athletic woman and she is taller than you, Inspector.’’ said Sumitomo. ‘’She must be one of the strongest-looking women I ever saw in my medical career.’’

Nodding his head at that, Kido examined one after the other the four other bodies, confirming his initial opinion: this Nancy Laplante could undoubtedly prove to be a very dangerous person, as much when unarmed as when armed. In view of the military file on Laplante provided to the JNP via the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, that did not surprise him. The captain of the CHIKUZEN had been a complete imbecile when he had ignored her counsel about his planned heliborne operation. If she would not have killed in advance the three armed pirates posted on the weather deck, those pirates could well have shot down the helicopter sent by the CHIKUZEN, killing ten Japanese servicemen.

Having completed his examination of the bodies, Kido thanked Doctor Sumitomo before leaving the cold room. Guided by a sailor assigned to him as a guide, he then went towards the bow of the ship and its detection section. When he was shown the door of Laplante’s cell, he stopped the sailor who was about to open it, then knocked on it three times and waited. A female voice then answered him in Japanese.

‘’Come in!’’

Kido opened the metallic door and stepped inside, to find facing him a young and pretty woman of about thirty. She was only wearing a T-shirt stained with blood and tight-fitting Lycra shorts. She in turn detailed him with curiosity before smiling to Kido.

‘’I must say that you are the first person on this ship to knock before entering my cell, mister. You must not be part of the crew.’’

As the got up from her bed, Kido took out his police badge and showed it to her.

‘’Effectively, Miss Laplante. Chief-Inspector Takashi Kido, from the Japanese National Police. I am in charge of the inquiry concerning the taking of the SHINKEN MARU and the murder of its crewmembers by pirates. I arrived aboard two hours ago and what I have seen to date made me wish that I could have come earlier. Personally, I see absolutely no valid or justifiable reason to accuse you of anything, and even less to keep you locked up like this.’’

‘’Does that mean that I am now free, Chief-Inspector?’’

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‘’As far as I am concerned, yes! Uh, were you wearing this T-shirt during your fight with the pirates?’’

Nancy smiled with embarrassment at that question.

‘’Yes! I have not had access to my spare clothes or to a shower for four days now. I am afraid that my body odor is not a very inviting one right now.’’

‘’Why did they refuse you access to your clothes, miss?’’ asked Kido, both surprised and irritated. Nancy then shrugged her shoulders.

‘’Orders from the Captain. I was told that all my possessions were now pieces of judiciary evidence and that I could not touch them.’’

‘’Nonsense!’’ immediately replied Kido. ‘’Please follow me, miss!’’ Nancy was too happy to obey him and followed him out of her cell after quickly grabbing her running shoes and her socks, which were drying up in a corner of her cell. The armed sailor on guard duty opened his eyes wide on seeing her exit her cell behind Kido and started to draw his pistol. Kido immediately interposed himself while glaring at him.

‘’Calm down, Sailor! I just freed Miss Laplante.’’

‘’But only the Captain could authorize this, sir!’’

‘’This is a criminal affair, not a military affair, and I am a police inspector. I am anyway going to speak with your captain about this later on.’’

‘’But I must at least warn the Captain about this, sir.’’

‘’Very well: do it but do it quickly!’’

The sailor immediately grabbed the telephone near his chair and formed a number, then turned his back to Kido and Nancy before speaking in a low but animated voice on the phone. He turned around to look at Kido after about half a minute.

‘’The Captain is on his way to here, sir. He asked that you wait for him.’’

‘’That will suit me just find, Sailor. Miss Laplante, I will ask you to let me speak with Captain Norita without interrupting when he will arrive.’’

‘’Understood, Inspector! In the meantime, I will put back my socks and shoes.’’

Norita, closely followed by his second-in-command, Senior Lieutenant Minegumo, arrived at a run two minutes later and looked angrily at Kido.

‘’I could have you put in a cell for this, Inspector Kido! I have absolute authority on this ship and...’’

‘’YOU FUCKING IDIOT! HOW DARE YOU THREATEN ME, A CHIEF-

INSPECTOR OF THE JNP? YOU HAVE BUNGLED THIS AFFAIR FROM THE START

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WITH YOUR INCOMPETENCE AND STUPID PREJUDICES AGAINST MISS LAPLANTE. BE ASSURED THAT THE JUSTICE MINISTER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS AND THAT HE WILL THEN MOST ASSUREDLY CONTACT THE DIRECTOR OF YOUR ABOUT YOUR STUPIDITY. RIGHT NOW, I COULD ACCUSE YOU OF ILLEGAL DETENTION AND GROSS INTERFERENCE IN A CRIMINAL AFFAIR. YOUR ACTIONS AGAINST MISS LAPLANTE, MY ONLY WITNESS AVAILABLE TO ME, POSSIBLY SABOTAGED BEYOND REPAIR MY INVESTIGATION IN THIS AFFAIR. YOU WILL NOW FREE IMMEDIATELY MISS LAPLANTE AND RETURN ALL OF HER BELONGINGS TO HER. YOU WILL THEN HOPEFULLY SHOW THE PROPER HOSPITALITY DUE TO HER.’’

Norita, red with rage, was left speechless for a moment, then looked at his executive officer.

‘’Lieutenant Minegumo, allocate a cabin to Miss Laplante and give her back her things. I am now going to my cabin for a moment.’’

Norita then left with heavy steps, having just lost face in front of his crew. Nancy however felt no regret for him: she had seen too many men like him, officers without real talents who have gone up the ranks strictly by virtue of their seniority. That was a common enough problem in armed forces which had not experienced real combat or wars for decades, like in the case of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. In truth, war was still the best, most rigorous test for a soldier. Minegumo, his face impassive, then bowed to both Kido and Nancy.

‘’If you could please follow me, Inspector, miss.’’

Their first stop was at the quartermaster section, where Nancy was able to retrieve her backpack and carrying case. She then reviewed carefully their content, watched by Kido. She visibly frowned when she checked her digital camera.

‘’Damn! My memory card is missing. The photos I took of the pirate ships were on that card.’’

In turn, Kido threw a severe look to Minegumo.

‘’Where is this memory card, Lieutenant Minegumo?’’

‘’At the ship’s photo section: our photo technician was working to improve the definitions of the photos on the card and to produce prints.’’ Kido had to control himself on hearing that answer.

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‘’Lieutenant Minegumo, do you realize that, even if that memory card is still intact, any attempt at enhancing the pictures in it effectively rendered it legally worthless as a piece of judicial evidence. However, it seems that the damage is already done, thanks to the stupidity of your captain. Let’s go retrieve that memory card!’’

‘’Follow me, Inspector.’’ simply said Minegumo, now less than assured.

They arrived a few minutes later to a small, cluttered compartment with a strong odor of chemicals. The petty officer working in the photo lab jumped on his feet at Minegumo’s arrival.

‘’At ease, Petty Officer Minumi! Here are Chief-Inspector Kido, of the National Police, and Miss Laplante, who owns the memory card you were working on. I want you to give back that memory card to her and to show to Inspector Kido what you were able to extract from it.’’

‘’Yes, sir!’’ replied the photo technician, who then opened a drawer and extracted from it a small plastic envelope, which he then gave to Nancy while bowing to her.

‘’Here is your card, miss. The data on it is intact and: I copied the data and worked from its copy, in order to not possibly corrupt your memory card.’’

‘’Excellent!’’ said Kido as Nancy pocketed her memory card. ‘’Show me what you were able to get out of it, Petty Officer.’’

‘’The prints I produced to date are here, sir. As you can see, the pictures taken at night still came out quite well. I believe that you will be especially interested in the pictures taken of the so-called Indonesian patrol boat which intercepted the SHINKEN MARU. The flag on top of its mast was effectively an Indonesian flag.’’ Kido with intense interest the prints, finally pointing to a specific one.

‘’This patrol boat is of quite a respectable size. Do we know of which type it is and from where it came from?’’

Lieutenant Minegumo took on him to answer that question.

‘’As Miss Laplante told us, that patrol boat is an old, Soviet-built SO-1 class patrol boat, built in great numbers during the 1950s and 1960s. Some 150 of them were built, to be then widely sold off or transferred by the dozen to many countries in this region, including Vietnam, North Korea, Burma and Cambodia. Many of them were in turn resold or scrapped, but the historical archines on that subject are often nebulous. It is thus plausible that some arms merchant may have sold one or more to illegal customers. This is indeed bad news for the commercial ships using the Strait of Malacca: this type

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of patrol boat is fast enough and has enough autonomy to represent a big threat to anything but a warship. Our agency headquarters in Tokyo did not like at all that piece of news.’’

‘’And did the Indonesians possess such a boat, Lieutenant?’’ asked Kido. Minegumo shook his head in response.

‘’No! The Americans and the Australians have been watching closely for years the Indonesian forces and they are categoric on that subject: Indonesia never possessed SO-1 class patrol boats. This is a pirate ship, pure and simple. Our agency is now publishing an international warning notice to warn all ships about that new pirate threat.’’ Kido stiffened while staring hard at Minegumo.

‘’So, if Miss Laplante had not risked her life to take those pictures and then call for help by radio, the SHINKEN MARU would have disappeared for good and nobody would know about that pirate ship, correct?’’

Minegumo hesitated and bit his lip before answering Kido.

‘’That is essentially correct, Inspector.’’

Nancy, who felt that the poor Minegumo had nothing to do with her incarceration, then jumped to his rescue by changing the subject.

‘’Lieutenant, one of the pirates I took out was working on a chart at the time. Do we have an indication of where the SHINKEN MARU was heading?’’ A smile then appeared on Minegumo’s lips.

‘’We now do, miss. The tanker was heading towards the Chinese port Zhanjiang. We also found documents on one of the prisoners which gave us the name and phone number of their contact in Zhanjiang, a local official of the Communist Party. Unfortunately, we don’t have the power to touch that Chinese official.’’

‘’Could I have the details concerning that Chinese official, Lieutenant? asked Kido, immediately interested.’’

‘’You certainly may, Inspector. I will give you after this everything we found on our prisoners and on the dead pirates. You will also get a copy of all those photos and of the digital data copied from Miss Laplante’s memory card.’’

‘’Thank you very much, Lieutenant.’’ said Kido, bowing to Minegumo, who returned his bow before looking at Nancy.

‘’If you will now follow me, miss, I will guide you to a real cabin, so that you could get comfortable and rest.’’

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‘’Thank you, Lieutenant. In truth, my first priority will be to take a long shower. I can barely stand myself right now.’’

Grabbing her luggage, Nancy followed again, followed by Kido, to soon arrive at an empty junior officer’s tiny cabin. Minegumo gave her an embarrassed smile while showing to her the five-square-meter cabin.

‘’There is unfortunately no private bathroom for this cabin but I could arrange for your intimacy to be respected while you will use the officers’ shower room.’’

‘’I will arrange something myself, Lieutenant. Thank you for your help.’’ Nancy next put her bags on her assigned bunk bed and extracted from her backpack a bathrobe, a pair of sandals, a large towel and her personal hygiene kit. She then excused herself with Kido and closed the curtain acting as a door to her tiny cabin, so that she could undress and put on her robe. Once ready, she left her cabin and invited Kido to follow her to the nearby shower room, where Kido made sure that no men were inside before she entered it. As she showered, Kido stood guard at the entrance of the shower room and actually had to turn away one officer intent on showering. Nancy actually made it quick and left the shower room after only fifteen minutes, feeling brand new.

‘’Let’s go back to my cabin, Inspector: we need to talk.’’

Once in her tiny cabin, Nancy pulled closed its privacy curtain and sat at the small work table of the cabin, while Kido sat on the bed. Kido was actually the first to speak.

‘’Can I first say that you seem to be a very special woman, Miss Laplante?’’

‘’Thank you, Inspector! I must say in turn that you extracted me from a rather difficult situation.’’

‘’That’s nothing, miss. Be assured that my report to the Justice Minister will mention the most stupid conduct of Captain Norita towards you. I am afraid that he is only part of the huge number of Japanese men who still consider women and foreigners as as inferior beings. By the way, may I ask where you learned such a good Japanese?’’

‘’That is actually simple, Inspector: I always had a special gift for languages and I took private lessons, on top of studying Japanese by myself. I also have an excellent memory and an I.Q. of 153. My mother was an anglophone while my father was a francophone. I was thus bilingual from a young age. I learned Spanish and German during my teenage years, followed by Arabic and Russian during my university years in political sciences and international affairs. Because of my civilian work as a war

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correspondent, I then learned Mandarin Chinese, Serbo-Croat, Pashto and Hebrew. I have been practicing karate since the age of eight, which encouraged me to learn Japanese. I have already visited Japan many times in order to improve my karate skills and to pass my black belt exams.’’

‘’Your parents must be proud of you, miss.’’

That compliment actually attracted a sad look in her eyes and she lowered her head before answering Kido.

‘’My parents died in a car accident when I was sixteen, Inspector. Fortunately, they left me with enough money to allow me to live independently and continue my studies. I then enrolled as a reserve cadet-officer in the Canadian Armed Forces at age eighteen and, with my uncommon linguistic abilities’ and my diploma in international affairs, followed by a master’s degree, I quickly became an indispensable person for a variety of overseas tours. I can count myself lucky to be able to do all that I did up to now. I resigned from the Canadian Forces about a year ago and am now working for CNN as an international correspondent, on top of doing occasional stints in Hollywood as an action actress.’’

Kido nodded his head, truly impressed. The rest of this sea trip thus promised to be quite interesting while in the company of such a young woman.

16:42 (Tokyo Time)

Tuesday, October 28, 2014 ‘A’

Docks of the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency (JMSA) Port of Tokyo, Japan

A young Japanese woman wearing a long dark blue raincoat greeted Nancy and

Kido at the foot of the gangway linking the docks of the JMSA to the CHIKUSEN, bowing politely to them and speaking in Japanese to Nancy.

‘’Welcome to Tokyo, Laplante-San. My name is Kimi Miura and I am Chief-Inspector Kido’s assistant.’’

‘’I am honored to meet you, Miura-San.’’ replied Nancy, bowing back to her. The policewoman then pointed at a compact Toyota sedan parked near the quays.

‘’If you will put your luggage in my car, I will then drive you to the Ibis Hotel, in Roppongi, where you had reserved in advance a room, according to Chief-Inspector Kido.’’

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‘’That’s correct, Miss Miura: my trip had been planned a couple of weeks in advance. I also registered myself as participant at the IKO’s All Japan Weight Category Karate Championship, to start here in Tokyo on November eight. I also intend to train intensively before that championship at the Honbu Dojo of the IKO, in order to pass the examination to earn my sixth Dan black belt in Kyokushin Karate.’’ The eyes of the young Japanese policewoman lit up at those words and she smiled warmly to Nancy.

‘’Really? I will be more than happy to watch your combats. The fighting techniques you demonstrated as the ‘Shadow Dancer’ in the movie ‘CROSSROADS’ were very impressive indeed.’’

Miura then turned to face Kido, who had been calmly standing next to Nancy.

‘’The Justice Minister is anxious to be briefed by you on the SHINKEN MARU affair, Kido-San. He also wants to know what exactly happened on the CHIKUZEN concerning Laplante-San and has requested that you go see him as soon as possible after your arrival in Tokyo. I can drive you to the Justice Ministry before dropping Laplante-San at her hotel.’’

‘’That would be perfect, Kimi. Let’s load up!’’

The trio went to the Toyota sedan, putting Nancy’s and Kido’s bags in the trunk before sitting in the car. As Miura drove out of her parking space, then left the restricted military zone reserved for the JMSA, a car that had been parked some forty meters from the gated exit rolled out of its parking spot and started to tail Miura’s car. A few seconds later, a second, then a third car, also started following the Toyota carrying Nancy.

17:38 (Tokyo Time)

Ibis Hotel, Roppongi District, Tokyo

The smile Nancy was harboring in front of Kido and Miura since her arrival in Tokyo, disappeared the moment she was alone in her small hotel room of the Ibis Hotel, a modest establishment in the Roppongi District of Tokyo: Otto Skorzeny, aboard the scoutship WALKUREN, which was flying high above Tokyo under cloak, had already warned her via her implanted radio that three cars had tailed Miura’s car all the way to the Ibis Hotel and were now parked near the main entrance of the hotel, with their occupants apparently starting to watch it. The spy micro-probes sent down by Skorzeny had also established the fact that two very different groups were now after her: an Israeli

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team bent on killing her and a Russian team who wanted to capture her alive in order to then interrogate her concerning her hypothetical time machine. Nancy then thanked herself for having called via her implanted spacetime radio transmitter for some reinforcements from the Time Patrol, to act as her invisible bodyguards. While the presence of two competing spy teams being after her was worrying, the fact that the big Austrian was now watching on above her, along with George Townsend, Jack Crawford and Klaus Manheim aboard the WALKUREN, did a lot to reassure her.

Starting to be hungry and in no mood to stay cloistered in her small hotel room, Nancy decided to go out and eat at one of the restaurants located near her hotel. While unpacking her backpack and suspending or shelving her clothes, she then realized how limited her wardrobe was. She had in fact voluntarily limited the amount of luggage to be carried when she had departed Boucherville for her trip to Asia, knowing that her travel conditions could become both unpredictable to a point and minimalist in terms of personal comfort. She would definitely need to do some shopping for extra clothes in the days to come. Thankfully, nearly all stores, shops and commerce in Japan were open on Sundays, and this between ten in the morning to eight at night, with some, like convenience stores, fast food restaurants and supermarkets in big cities even staying open 24 hours a day. She also happened to be presently quite comfortable financially, thanks to her revenues from her acting in the movie CROSSROADS, so the notorious high cost-of-living in Tokyo should not be an obstacle to a shopping spree. Just for curiosity, Nancy switched on the television set of her room to listen a bit to Japanese news. It didn’t take long before a picture of her appeared as a background to a pair of Japanese newscasters talking about the news of the hour. She shook her head when she heard the new nickname now glued to her.

‘’The Pirate Lady... Well, I am truly infamous now.’’

Seeing on the list of channels available that she could listen to CNN, she switched channels and sat down on her bed to listen to the CNN breaking news at the top of the hour. If anything, the news about her encounter with pirates were even more prominent than on Japanese television. If she had been hoping to stay relatively anonymous during this trip, then her hopes were now hopelessly out by the window.

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Some 20,000 meters above Tokyo, in the ground operations control compartment of the scoutship WALKUREN, Otto Skorzeny looked at the three members of his field assault team, assembled with him around a tactical display table.

‘’Alright, people: let’s give a breather to poor Nancy, so that she could have a safe stay in Tokyo. As the proverb says well: the best defense is a good offense. Here is what we will do.’’

The huge Austrian spoke for a minute or so, at the end of which the members of his team nodded their heads, smiling in approval.

‘’Otto, I would have hated to have to fight you in the last war.’’ said Jack Crawford, attracting a mean grin on Skorzeny’s scarred face.

In one of the two cars that had stayed parked in the street in sight of the entrance to the Ibis Hotel, Mossad agents Zev Blumberg and Sarah Silverman were settling in for a possible long and monotonous watch while staying as discreet and unnoticeable as possible from the passing pedestrians and cars. The passenger, Zev Blumberg, was about to open a thermos of hot coffee when he saw a small cylindrical object the size of a grenade suddenly appear in front of him in a brief flash of light. Before he could fully react to it, the object glued itself to him, then disappeared from the car, along with Zev. His partner Sarah, who had been looking at the entrance of the Ibis Hotel, saw only two brief flashes of light and reacted a bit late by looking to her right. Her jaw dropped open when she saw that the front passenger seat, where Zev had been, was now empty! Next, she looked around inside the car and looked outside at the sidewalk area: still no Zev in sight! She did not have time to start panicking before she herself disappeared from the Mossad car.

In the Russian SVR5 car which had stayed near the hotel, while the other car of their team drove back to their operational hide, the two Russian agents watching the entrance of the hotel suddenly had their attention distracted by two successive small flashes of light which came from another car parked some twenty meters from their own car.

‘’Hey, what were those flashes of light in that gray Honda, Ilya?’’ asked the driver, Ruslan Navojan, to Ilya Konovalov, his partner sitting in the front passenger seat.

5 SVR: Russian federal secret services, in charge of international spying, sabotage and assassination operations

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‘’Uh, I don’t know, Ruslan. It looked as if someone briefly lit a flashlight to see if it worked properly. Thinking about it, that car...’’

Ilya didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence before he disappeared from the SVR car in a brief flash of light, followed a second later by Ruslan.

Sarah Silverman suddenly and inexplicably found herself falling from high altitude over the sea. Screaming in terror, she looked below her, at the ocean still a good 4,000 meters below, then looked around in search of a visible land. She did see a coast on the horizon but it was at least a good twenty kilometers away, too far for her to possibly swim to it...in the improbably case that she was going to survive the impact on the water. After a long and terrifying fall, she actually broke her neck on impact and died instantly. A few kilometers away, her partner Zev had the same fate, dying and disappearing at sea, along with the two SVR agents.

The second SVR tailing car, which was rolling back to the coastal house near Yokohama which served as the safehouse for the Tokyo team of the Russian secret services, arrived after some 35 minutes at the said safehouse and parked in the driveway beside it. Before the three persons inside, two men and one woman, could step out of their vehicle, their car exploded, with a spectacular fireball rising afterwards as the gas tank ignited. That explosion and fireball were seen by dozens of neighbors, who then frantically called the emergency services, using either 110 for calling the police or 119 for calling the fire and ambulance services department. When the first police car arrived on the scene, followed three minutes later by two fire trucks and one ambulance, the two Japanese policemen on the scene found a completely destroyed and incinerated car, three bodies reduced to black shapes and a house partially on fire. One of the policemen then ran to the front door of the house and frantically knocked on it, intent of ensuring that nobody inside could be endangered by the fire. Not getting any answer and seeing and hearing nothing inside the house, he joined back his comrade to help keep the growing crowd of curious onlookers away and to keep the street free for the approaching fire trucks. What he couldn’t know was that the three persons who had been inside the house as the SVR was parking alongside it were now floating, dead, on the surface of the Pacific, some 120 kilometers off the eastern shores of Japan. About four minutes after the arrival on the scene of the first police car, Otto Skorzeny, Klaus Manheim and Jack Crawford, who had been quickly searching the house for documents

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of interest, jumped back to the waiting WALKUREN, leaving behind the small (and highly illegal) arsenal kept in the house by the SVR and a sinister basement room equipped with a variety of instruments of torture.

When Nancy left her hotel to go have supper in a restaurant, dressed in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, a pair of sneakers and a light windbreaker coat, she had already been informed by Otto Skorzeny of the actions he had taken against the Israeli and Russian agents who were after her. She thus felt much reassured as she started walking down the sidewalk while examining the few restaurants situated on her street, finally settling on what was known as a ‘conveyor belt’ sushi restaurant. In such restaurants, the customers sat along a long oval counter on which ran a conveyor belt. Instead of being brought to the customers by waitresses, the plate ran on that conveyor belt, letting the customers choose and pick up the plates they wanted. In turn, the customers were then charged according to the plate colors and shapes they had picked up, with each item on the menu being served in different shape and color of plate or bowl. Nancy ate quickly and rather frugally, never having been the glutton type. She also wanted to go start shopping for clothes this evening, as Japanese stores routinely stayed open until eight in the evening or even later, depending on what kind of stores they were. Some supermarkets even stayed open 24/7, like convenience stores, coffee shops and bars.

Once she was out of the sushi restaurant, Nancy went to the nearest subway station and took the line linking the Roppongi District with the Shinjuku District, which was famous (or infamous) as the sex district of Tokyo. While she wanted to buy new clothes, she was definitely resolved to find herself some really sexy attires, of which Shinjuku was widely reputed for.

The night had already fallen when Nancy emerged from the giant Shinjuku subway station and started walking down its main avenue and side streets, looking at the front windows of the stores selling sexy clothes and sex-related items, books and magazines. Such stores were actually a dime a dozen in Shinjuku District, so she found a wide variety of things of interest to her. Her first stop was in a sex shop selling among other things a wide and quite complete variety of sexy clothing items. She smiled to herself when she imagined what kind of reactions her husband Mike, who was from the 1940s, would have at viewing some of the articles on sale that she was now looking at.

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On the other hand, her adopted daughter Ingrid, still a teenager, would probably go nuts here and start buying the whole store. The first item that really attracted her interest was a pair of long red leather boots with zippers along their inner sides which went up past the knees, also known as ‘fuck-me boots’. The heels were moderately high but would still boost appreciably her natural height of 183 centimeters, increasing it to 188 centimeters, a towering height for a woman in Japan. Grabbing a pair that fit her, she next found a very short red leather skirt that barely went down past her groin, plus a matching sleeveless red leather jacket with a spectacular and wide ‘V’ cleavage. Looking for something appropriate to wear under that jacket, she took a few minutes before finding a long-sleeved shirt made of a golden mesh fabric. The mesh pattern was quite tight and could still be considered appropriate for public wear...if the girl or woman wearing it wore a bra under it. Nancy did grab a gold-colored bra, but one that only covered and supported the bottom half of her breasts and left her nipples protruding out. Going into a changing cabin to see what the final result of all those items would be. She made a devilish grin when she saw that the mesh shirt and open bra under it let her nipples uncovered, partly hidden by the tight mesh pattern. Mike was going to drool when he was going to see her in this attire. Dressing back in her T-shirt and jeans, she left the changing cabin and, as she was walking towards the cashier, stopped abruptly in front of a carrousel supporting a variety of sexy belts and purses. The item that had attracted her attention was a wide, red leather belt with an attached purse. The purse was actually quite large and made her think of the kind of cargo packs soldiers attached to their combat belts. It was actually large enough to easily hold her Glock 9mm pistol, which she had left in Boucherville, and also was suspended from the belt at hip level, the way a speed-draw pistol holster would be, with a Velcro strap at the bottom which went around the right leg and prevented it from flopping around. Seeing a smaller red leather purse which could also be fitted to the belt she was looking at, she eagerly grabbed the lot, then added a few sexy, red panties to her items and put the lot on the cashier’s counter. As the female cashier added up her purchases, Nancy asked her a question in Japanese.

‘’I have a question, well, two actually. First, would it be possible after I pay for these items to go change into them, using a changing cabin, before leaving? I want to go tour Shinjuku after this while wearing those new clothes.’’

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‘’That is certainly possible, miss. Just keep the price tags and your receipt for them at least long enough to leave the store. And what would be your second question, miss?’’

Nancy lowered her voice and bent forward before answering the young and pretty employee.

‘’Uh, would you know of a bar or club nearby which would be frequented exclusively by women?’’

The female employee smiled at Nancy’s question and nodded her head, understanding perfectly what kind of bar she meant, and also lowered her voice.

‘’I myself frequent from time to time a small but friendly bar two streets to the left when going out. It is called ‘Lagoon’ and it is a women-only bar. It is quite small, having only a long counter with stools but it is intimate and friendly. It’s in the Shinchidori Building. If you find it too small, then you have the ‘Ellevie’, which is located in the same Building and has both a counter with stools and a few tables. I however find the external appearance of the Ellevie rather shabby. You should try the Lagoon first.’’

‘’Thank you for the counsel, miss.’’

Returning to the changing cabin, Nancy quickly undressed, then put on her new sexy outfit, including one of her new red panties. She grinned while looking at herself in the full-length mirror of the cabin.

‘’Dressed to kill... This would have been perfect for the Shadow Dancer.’’ Grabbing her previous clothes and shoes in her hands, she returned to the cashier and paid for her new clothes, gratefully accepting a large shopping bag wearing the logo of the store, in which she stuffed her street clothes. As she was about to walk out, she encountered four incoming customers, two men and two women, who all stared at her with a mix of admiration and sexual hunger.

‘’What do you think, guys and girls? Does this fit me well?’’ The two men, grinning like idiots, could only nod their heads as an answer, while the two young women eyed Nancy with envy from head to toe. Seeing that, Nancy pointed at the store’s alley where she had found her leather outfit.

‘’The leather items are down that alley, girls.’’

‘’Thank you, miss!’’

Proud of the effect she had caused, Nancy then walked out of the store and headed towards the ‘Lagoon’ lesbian bar, attracting countless admiring looks from the men and women who crossed her path.

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When she arrived at the Shinchidori Building, Nancy saw a rather old and decrepit building that looked like many other buildings located along the narrow side streets of the Shinjuku-Nichome District. Flanking that building were numerous small bars and cafés which could be truly described as ‘holes in the walls’ and which were typical of many commerce in this neighborhood. Entering the Shinchidori Building, she went up one level and first

encountered the entrance to the

‘Ellevie’ bar, which was near that of

the ‘Lagoon’. Nancy shook her head

slowly as she eyed the entrance to

the ‘Ellevie’: the store cashier girl

had been right in describing it as

‘shabby’. Passing in front of it, she

arrived after a few steps in front of

the entrance of the ‘Lagoon’ bar,

which at least had a better look to it. Entering the bar, she found a long but narrow room with a long bar counter occupying

the right side of it and with a dozen

stools lining it. A television set was

suspended high in a corner of the

bar, facing the stools, and eight

female customers plus one barmaid

were present in the Lagoon Bar. All

eyes immediately turned towards her

at her entrance, with the female

customers all eyeing her with either admiration or lust.

‘’Yup, I’m in the right place!’’ thought Nancy before starting to walk slowly to one of the unoccupied stools, beside which a truly beautiful young Japanese woman in her mid-twenties sat next to an equally beautiful and even younger woman, nearly a teenager. As she walked, near-silence reigned in the small bar, with only the voice of the Japanese newscaster coming from the television set resonating inside the room.

‘’…just learned that Nancy Laplante, the famous Canadian war correspondent who is now nicknamed ‘The Pirate Lady’, arrived in Tokyo today aboard the patrol ship

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CHIKUZEN and is due to testify against the Indonesian pirates who had attacked and seized the Japanese tanker ship SHINKEN MARU a week ago, in the Strait of Malacca, slaughtering its entire crew. According to a dependable source, those pirates were planning to go sell the SHINKEN MARU and its cargo of refined gasoline on the Chinese black market. However, the heroic intervention of Miss Laplante, an ex-officer of the Canadian Army, wrecked their plans, with Nancy Laplante killing five of the pirates and capturing the four other members of the prize-handling crew...’’

‘’Aw shit! Why does this always happen to me at the worst time possible?’’ swore Nancy in French, frustrated, as the looks of the Japanese women changed from lust to awe. A powerful mental voice tainted with amusement then resonated inside her head.

‘’You asked for it, Nancy!’’

‘’Thanks a bunch!’’ she replied mentally while continuing to walk towards the stool she was aiming for. She sat down and smiled in turn at the two women flanking her, bowing as well to them, then looked at the mature barmaid and spoke to her in Japanese.

‘’I will have a Sapporo beer, please.’’

‘’Coming up, miss!’’

As she was waiting for her beer, the young woman to her left spoke to her in a soft, nearly timid voice.

‘’You really are the Pirate Lady, miss?’’

‘’Well, it seems to be my newest nickname after the ‘Taliban Exterminator’ and ‘Nancy, the Shit Disturber’. Mayhem seems to follow me around, these last few years. However, just call me ‘Nancy’, miss.’’

The young Japanese took the hand presented by Nancy and shook it while bowing.

‘’And I am Hoshi Minori. My friend and partner to my left is Kimiko Sakai: we live together, along with two other girls.’’

Nancy then bowed and shook hands with the young Kimiko, who had a true baby face but also had very feminine curves.

‘’Please to meet you, Miss Sakai.’’

‘’Please, simply call me ‘Kimiko’, Nancy-San.’’

‘’Kimiko it will be, then. So, if you are four girls living together, where are your two other friends tonight?’’

Hoshi Minori took on her to answer that question.

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‘’Both are presently working in commerce and stores in Shinjuku until ten o’clock, Nancy. They will return home after their work shift is done.’’

‘’I see! And is your home far from here?’’

The two young Japanese repressed smiles at that question, with Hoshi answering it.

‘’Oh no: our apartment building is a mere three blocks from here.’’

‘’Hey!’’ suddenly exclaimed young Kimiko, who had just looked at the shopping bag containing Nancy’s street clothes. ‘’You went to the store where Akira works!’’

‘’Oh! Is your friend the cashier at a sex boutique?’’ asked Nancy, liking that possibility.

‘’Yes, she is, Nancy! What a piece of blind luck! The Kamis6 must have sent you to us.’’

‘’And what would be the name of your other missing friend?’’

‘’Her name is Hiromi: she works at a convenience store not far from here and is due to finish her shift at ten, like Akira.’’

The barmaid then put a full glass of been in front of Nancy, who then paid for it. As per Japanese custom, she did not give a tip, which was considered insulting in Japan. Instead, she put more money on the counter while smiling to the barmaid.

‘’You would honor me by having a beer to my health, miss.’’

‘’I certainly will, Laplante-San.’’ replied the barmaid while bowing to her, please to see that Nancy was well versed in Japanese etiquette. Nancy then raised her glass to Hoshi and Kimiko.

‘’To your health, friends!’’

‘’To your health, Nancy!’’ replied the two Japanese girls, liking her use of the word ‘friends’. All three drank from their respective drinks before Hoshi eagerly asked a question to Nancy.

‘’Could you please tell us about your adventure with those pirates, Nancy?’’

‘’Why not? I am already part of the prime news anyway.’’

Nancy then recounted what had happened on the SHINKEN MARU, omitting of course the parts about her using her powers and her temporal equipment. With Hoshi, Kimiko and the other women in the bar asking her many questions at intervals and with Nancy paying a general round of drinks, time went quite fast and it was past ten o’clock

6 Kamis: Divine spirits of the Japanese mythology.

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before Nancy could realize it. Hoshi did look at her watch then and grabbed her cell phone to call her two friends and invite them to come to the Lagoon to meet Nancy. Looking at some bar information scribbled on a small blackboard and seeing that the bar would close at one in the morning, Nancy slowly finished her second beer, which gave time to Akira and Hiromi to join her and Hoshi and Kimiko. When they arrived, Akira ended with no stools left available for her and was going to keep standing next to the bar when Nancy playfully patted her own left leg.

‘’Come and sit here, Akira.’’

The cashier girl didn’t have to be told twice and quickly sat on Nancy’s left leg, with Nancy’s left arm then going around her waist and with her left hand resting on the inside of Akira’s left leg, very close to her groin area. Nancy also discretely guided Akira’s left hand inside her mesh shirt, allowing the Japanese to start caressing her left nipple. Things got quite steamy from there and, by the time that the five of them left the Lagoon Bar, they were already fully aroused.

They arrived after a fifteen-minute walk at an apartment building which had seen better years but seemed to be still adequately maintained. Taking an elevator, the group went up to the fourth floor, with Hoshi leading Nancy to one of the apartment doors lining the hallway, unlocking it and inviting her in. That apartment proved to be quite large by Tokyo standards, comprising three bedrooms, a lounge, a small kitchen and dining corner, a complete bathroom and a tiny laundry room. As she guided Nancy around for a tour of the apartment, Hoshi explained a few things to her.

‘’With the astronomical prices for rent in Tokyo, we must combine many salaries together in order to find a decent place to live. We get along well together, work in the same district and generally have the same interests and tastes, so we came together and rented this apartment for the four of us. We wished that we could have found a place with four bedrooms but that kind of apartment is both rare and very expensive. So, we got a double bunk bed for the biggest bedroom in order for the four of us to fit in. It also saved us from having to stay with our families, where we would be stuck doing all the cleaning and the cooking on top of our own jobs, while our brothers would do nothing apart from their own jobs and then going on long evening drinking sessions with their office comrades.’’

‘’A most practical arrangement indeed. I myself always was an independent-minded girl. What next?’’

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‘’We go to the lounge, get comfortable and listen to some music. What kind of music do you mostly listen to, Nancy?’’

‘’I like pop music from the 80s and 90s, like Abba, Roxette and Belinda Carlisle, plus divas like Sarah Brightman and Enya. I don’t like hard-sounding rock and especially dislike rap and hip-hop, which are not true singing in my opinion. Do you by chance have the CD for ‘Harem’, by Sarah Brightman? I could do a belly dance for you girls.’’

‘’Oh yes! That would be great! I do have that CD.’’

Hoshi however went first to pull closed the curtains on the large windows of the lounge, smiling apologetically to Nancy as she did so.

‘’Our neighbors across the street are a bit of voyeurs and they could be really nosey at times.’’

Hoshi next put on a CD in their player-radio unit, then went to sit on the largest sofa with Kimiko and Hiromi, while Akira sat in an easy chair. As soon as the soft Arabic-style music from ‘Harem’ started playing, Nancy, standing in the middle of the lounge, started dancing slowly on the spot, imitating the moves of a belly dancer. She next started to undress methodically while humming in synchronization with the music. Once down to her bra and panties, she approached the sofa while still dancing, showing to the Japanese girls her body from up close. The Japanese, now truly aroused, started shedding clothes themselves while watching her with hungry looks. As Nancy, now completely naked, kept dancing and parading in front of them, the four Japanese started stimulating each other manually while watching. When the CD came to an end, Nancy laid down on the carpet of the lounge and opened her legs while inviting the four girls to join her.

‘’I’m all yours, girls! Let’s have some fun together.’’

The four Japanese didn’t have to be told twice and joined her on the carpet, to start a four-on-one centered on Nancy, with plenty of hands and tongues roaming around on all sides.

06:01 (Tokyo Time)

Wednesday, October 29, 2014 ‘A’

Apartment in Shinjuku District, Tokyo

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Nancy was awakened by the chime of her wristwatch’s alarm and slowly opened her eyes, to find the hands of sleeping Hoshi and Kimiko on her breasts and groin, while Hiromi and Akira slept together spoon-fashioned. Staying still for the moment, she savored the next minutes while gently playing with Kimiko’s clitoris. She definitely had needed that evening and night of relaxation and pleasure after the days of discomfort and stress she had lived at sea. She finally got up slowly, trying not to wake up the four Japanese girls, but Hoshi did open her eyes and, seeing Nancy up, looked at her own watch.

‘’Oops! Time for us to wake up as well: we have work to go to. WAKE UP, GIRLS: IT’S FIVE PAST SIX!’’

Still naked, like Nancy, the four Japanese got up quickly and started putting back on their panties and bras. Hoshi next went to their small kitchen and dining corner and looked at Nancy.

‘’What would you like for breakfast, Nancy? We have bread, eggs and cereals.’’

‘’I will make myself a couple of toasts with jam, along with strong coffee: I have to go this morning to the National Police Headquarters in order to make a signed deposition about the SHINKEN MARU incident. Then, I will go to the Honbu Dojo of the Kyokushin Kan Karate School, in Nishi-Ikebukuro, where I will train for my sixth Dan black belt examination, due in a week. I will then participate in the IKO 2014 World Tournament, which will be held from November seventh to ninth. I could get you tickets for that tournament if you are interested, girls.’’

‘’OH YES! I WANT TO SEE YOU FIGHT!’’ nearly shouted enthusiastically Kimiko, accompanied in this by the three other Japanese. Nancy grinned at their response.

‘’Then we have a deal, girls.’’

Nancy stayed completely naked while preparing and then eating her breakfast, allowing the four Japanese to periodically roam her body with their hands while they ate. When she dressed, however, she reverted to her jeans and T-shirt, packing her sexy red outfit in her shopping bag while smiling to the Japanese.

‘’I shouldn’t wear my red leather outfit to go visit the National Police Headquarters: the cops there would be liable to direct me to the courts dealing with prostitution cases.’’

‘’These cops are hypocrites!’’ spat out Akira. ‘’They are the first to play voyeurs on us. I hope that they will treat you right at JNP headquarters, Nancy.’’

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‘’They better do, or I will have my ambassador make a formal complaint. The Maritime Safety Agency is already in hot water about me, thanks to the stupid conduct of the idiot commanding their patrol ship CHIKUZEN.’’

Before leaving the apartment with her full shopping bag, Nancy shared warm kisses and hugs with the four Japanese girls.

‘’Would you mind if I visited you again during the next couple of weeks, girls?’’

‘’Are you kidding, Nancy?’’ replied Hoshi. ‘’You better visit us, or we will chase after you. Here is my calling card: just call in advance and we will greet you appropriately.’’

‘’Hmm, appropriately... That sounds just right.’’

The three other girls also gave her their calling cards before she left the apartment, on her way to take the subway system to go to the National Police headquarters.

Nancy ended showing up at the Honbu dojo of the IKO, or International Karate Organization, only at two in the afternoon, her interview at the JNP headquarters having gone longer than she had expected. As she was exiting the women’s locker room after changing into her exercise Ji, she was intercepted by Hatsuo Royama, the President of the IKO and a ninth Dan black belt. Nancy bowed at once to the 66-year-old master karateka.

‘’Sosei7!’’

‘’At ease, Nancy-San!’’ replied Royama after returning her bow. ‘’You came to practice before your sixth Dan examination?’’

‘’That is correct, Sosei!’’

‘’You recently went through some stressful situations, Nancy-San. Are you ready mentally and physically for your examination and for the coming tournament?’’

‘’Mentally, I am as strong as ever, Sosei. Physically, while a warship’s cell is not an ideal place to train, I intend to diligently work on my body in preparation for my belt examination. I thank you for your concern for me, Sosei, but I will be ready.’’

‘’Then, I will let you train now, Nancy-San. Good luck for both your sixth Dan examination and for the tournament.’’

 

7 Sosei: Grand Master.

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‘’Your encouragement honors me, Sosei.’’ replied Nancy while bowing low to Royama.

‘’And your presence will only bring extra prestige to our tournament, Nancy-San. Your feats as a soldier and fighter are becoming near-legendary.’’ Said Royama, returning her bow before walking away. Nancy pondered his last words for a moment then. Her acting in the movie CROSSROADS and her actions in Afghanistan, then aboard the SHINKEN MARU, had been highly publicized around the World and Royama had been right in saying that she was becoming near-legendary. Maybe she was becoming too well known in view of her secret identity as a member of the Time Patrol. She finally shrugged her shoulders at that: at least she was not going to die as a nobody.

Going to the exercise room, she first took a few minutes to warm up and stretch, doing full splits, then went to the strength apparels and, jumping up, grabbed an overhead bar and started doing chin-ups. The karatekas exercising around her soon stopped to watch her in disbelief as she did chin-ups at an infernal rate while showing little fatigue. She stopped after performing thirty chin-ups, then switched to a big leather sandbag fixed to both the ceiling and to the floor. There, she repeatedly kicked and punched it, with her hits resonating loudly around the dojo. As much as the power of her punches and kicks, her speed impressed all those in the exercise room. Standing in the

door of the exercise room and watching her was Sensei8 Shokai Matsui, one of the most senior karateka in Kyokushin Karate and the one who was going to direct the coming tournament. He had seen Nancy fight, some two years ago, and while she had then impressed him by her technique, speed and agility, she was now showing a clearly improved performance. Hopefully, other participants to the tournament would not accuse her then of using performance-enhancing drugs. Such drug uses had

unfortunately happened in the past, especially concerning a particular national team. Matsui soon walked away while reflecting on that possibility.

17:58 (Tokyo Time)

Roppongi District, Tokyo

 

8 Sensei: Master, in martial arts jargon.

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The female parking meter attendant checking the cars parked near the Ibis Hotel frowned when she encountered a car which was in clear violation, with the meter next to it marking ‘expired’ for over fifteen hours now. Incensed by this, the attendant took out her violation pad and started writing a ticket. She was about to slip the said ticket under the left-side windshield whipper of the car when she froze: part of a pistol was visible in the central console between the seats of the driver and front passenger. Quickly looking around her in alarm, the young Japanese woman didn’t see anyone nearby who could have been an occupant of that car. Grabbing the microphone of her portable radio, she spoke in an urgent tone.

‘’Central, this is Agent 339, presently near the Ibis Hotel on Roppongi Dori. I have spotted a car that was in parking violation but I see a pistol inside. Please send a police car, quickly!’’

‘’A pistol?!’’ said the shocked despatcher. I will call the police dispatch right away. Please give me the plate number.’’

‘’Uh, it is a rental car, here is the plate number...’’

The agent then read the plate number and also gave the rental agency number visible on an identification sticker inside the car.

‘’Good! Stay near that car and call us if anyone tries to get in it.’’

‘’Agent 339, understood!’’

The young female agent nervously waited next to the car. Thankfully, a police patrol car showed up within three minutes and stopped beside the car, its gyro-lights on. Two policemen stepped out of their car, with one looking inside the car while the other went to see the female agent.

‘’For how long as this car being in parking violation, miss?’’

‘’For over fifteen hours, Officer. I rarely see such long violations, to be frank. I was about to slip a violation ticket under the driver’s whipper when I saw that pistol between the two front seats.’’

‘’I EFFECTIVELY SEE A PISTOL BETWEEN THE TWO FRONT SEATS!’’ shouted the agent checking out the car. His partner immediately grabbed his radio microphone: a firearm violation was considered a very serious thing in Tokyo, which had an extremely low level of firearm-related crime.

‘’Central, this is Car 29: we have a car with a pistol visible inside, parked along the Roppongi Dori, near the Ibis Hotel. We will need a locksmith to gain access to it... Understood, will do! Car 29 out!’’

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The policemen then looked at the female parking agent.

‘’Have you noticed other cars nearby who have been in violation for the same approximate amount of time, miss? We may be dealing with some kind of organized crime activity here.’’

‘’I haven’t had a chance to check, Officer, as I was told to stay near this car.’’

‘’Then, could you please check that out? Concentrate on cars being in violation for over twelve hours or more. Please ignore those which are in violation for only a couple of hours.’’

‘’I will get to it, Officer.’’ Replied the young woman, who then inspected the parking meters located on this side of the street, and this within 200 meters both in front and behind the car containing the pistol. Finding no suspicious car, she crossed to the other side and did the same there. Four minutes later, she shouted at the policeman while standing next to a Gray Honda sedan.

‘’THIS CAR HAS BEEN IN VIOLATION AS LONG AS THE TOYOTA, OFFICER. IT IS ALSO A RENTAL CAR.’’

‘’Two rental cars in parking violation in the same area and both for fifteen hours?’’ said the policeman to himself. ‘’That can’t be simply a coincidence.’’ He then crossed the street and joined the parking agent next to the Honda. He was surprised when, trying the driver’s door, he found it unlocked. Thanking his luck, he then opened the driver’s door and, using his flashlight, started inspecting the inside of the car. One article of interest he found at once was a sophisticated-looking two-way handheld radio held in the forward central console. He next found the registration papers of the car, which were made in the name of a known rental company. Finding nothing special on or under the front and back seats, he then popped open the trunk and froze at once.

‘’Shit! There is a scoped rifle in the trunk, along with a Uzi submachine gun!’’ Seeing a sort of travel bag in the trunk, he opened it and did a double take at the sight of a collection of grenades and explosives contained in the bag. Keying again his radio, he spoke urgently in its microphone.

‘’Central, this is Car 29: urgent call!’’

‘’Go ahead, Car 29!’’

‘’Central, we found another car in parking violation near the Ibis Hotel. It has weapons, grenades and explosives in its trunk, plus a two-way portable radio near the driver’s seat. I request reinforcements urgently, over!’’

‘’Grenades?! I am alerting the Roppongi Precinct right away!’’

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Next, the policeman smiled to the young parking agent.

‘’Well, it seems that you may have put us on some serious criminal affair here, miss. Well done!’’

Despite her fear from seeing all those weapons, the young woman did feel pride at that compliment.

10:44 (Tokyo Time)

Thursday, October 30, 2014 ‘A’

Chief-Inspector Takashi Kido’s office

JNP headquarters, Tokyo

Takashi Kido was studying the results from the forensic examinations of the dead pirates from the SHINKEN MARU when Kimi Miura knocked on his glass door, then stuck her head inside.

‘’Excuse me for disturbing you like this, sir, but two gentlemen from the Security Bureau would like to speak with you.’’

‘’The Security Bureau? Very well, let them in.’’

Kido thought quickly about the possible motives for a visit by two agents from the JNP’s Security Bureau, which was in essence the counter-espionage and counter-terrorism arm of the National Police and was partially the equivalent of the American F.B.I., but in a much smaller scale. Two men wearing good quality suits then entered. One was of medium height but was built like an athlete, while the other looked more like a bear, being big, massive and strong. Kido got up from his chair and walked around his desk to go shake their hands. The athletic one spoke first while shaking Kido’s hand.

‘’Chief-Inspector Kido, I am Detective Seiji Morita, of the Security Bureau, and this is my partner, Kazuo Asakara.’’

‘’And to what may I owe a visit by two agents of the Security Bureau, Mister Morita?’’

‘’To a trio of seemingly unconnected incidents which happened in the last two days, which turned out to be linked together in a most sinister manner. By the way, you may want to have your assistant stay and listen.’’

‘’Oh! Please, have a seat and tell me about those incidents. KIMI, COME AND SIT DOW!’’

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With Kimi entering the office and taking a chair, along with his two visitors, Kido then sat back behind his desk.

‘’Alright, tell us about those incidents, Detective Morita.’’

Seiji Morita assembled his thoughts for a moment before speaking calmly.

‘’The first incident happened Tuesday, at around five thirty in the afternoon, in Yokohama. A car that had just stopped and parked beside a house with a front on the Bay of Tokyo exploded and burned, killing its occupants and starting a fire in the house. Neighbors called the police and firefighters, who reacted quickly and extinguished the fires. When policemen entered the house to ensure that no one inside had been hurt, they found a number of shocking things, but no bodies. What they found was a large arsenal of military-grade weapons, some very sophisticated communications and electronic listening equipment...and a fully equipped, sound-proof torture chamber, complete with electrodes and syringes with drugs. In view of those finds, the Yokohama Police Department contacted the Security Bureau and we went to investigate that scene. What we found was, to our best opinion, a safehouse for the SVR secret service. The two men and one woman who had died in the car’s explosion were all carrying pistols. By the way, the car was a rental but the person who had rented it turned out to have used a fake identity.’’

‘’By the Kamis!’’ exclaimed Kimi Miura, stunned by that information. ‘’Do we have an idea about who killed those Russians?’’

‘’None at all! Whoever did this had left absolutely no traces or evidence behind but also apparently made sure that this SVR safehouse would be found by us. I would rate those who killed these Russians as very dangerous professionals in the class of the CIA or of the British M.I.6.’’

‘’So, we may looking at a war between international spies, here in Japan. The Justice Minister must not be too happy about that.’’

‘’He is definitely not, Chief-Inspector Kido. Then, yesterday at around 18:00, a young parking agent found a rental car on Roppongi Dori which had its parking time expired by over fifteen hours. As she was issuing it a ticket, she saw a pistol inside and immediately called the police. The policemen who showed up asked her to check for other cars with long-expired time, fearing that this could signal some organized crime activity. That parking agent then found a second car with a fifteen hours expiration, parked nearby next to the Ibis Hotel on Roppongi Dori. When a policeman checked that car out, he found a large arsenal inside it, including grenades, explosives and a sniper

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rifle. When the Security Bureau was notified about those two cars, I and Kazuo went to examine them. What we found about those cars, apart from the weapons inside them, was that they had both been rented by persons using false identities. However, they had been rented by people from two clearly distinct origins. The car with the arsenal inside it had been rented by a visiting Israeli woman, who showed the dealer an Israeli international driving permit, while the car with the pistol had been rented by a Russian national. This, connected to the exploding car and burning house in Yokohama firmed up our opinion that some kind of spy war is going on around Tokyo. It is also our opinion that a third party is also involved in this, and not only the Russians and Israelis.’’

‘’You said that those two cars were found parked along Roppongi Dori, next to the Ibis Hotel.’’ said Kimi Miura, suddenly feeling unease. ‘’How close to the Ibis Hotel were they?’’

‘’Both were within forty meters of the main hotel entrance and both had a clear view of who went in or out of that hotel.’’

‘’Wait! I dropped off Miss Nancy Laplante, who is now famous due to the SHINKEN MARU’s hijacking by Indonesian pirates, at the Ibis Hotel at a bit before five thirty on Tuesday afternoon.’’

‘’And that is why we came here to talk about these incidents. That...plus this.’’ Having managed his effect, Morita then extracted a picture from one pocket of his vest and showed it to both Kido and Miura.

‘’We also found this picture of a woman in the car containing the arsenal.’’

‘’Nancy Laplante?’’ exclaimed Kimi. ‘’So, she was possibly targeted by those spies? But why would she be targeted?’’

‘’We also wondered about that, thus dug in her known history. I must say that what we found about her was very impressive indeed. For one thing, she served in the Canadian Army for ten years, serving overseas in a multitude of peacekeeping and combat missions, including three tours in Afghanistan, where she won international fame by the way she shot down on camera four Taliban irregulars and beat up and captured a fifth one. The night before, she had led into combat a patrol group of Afghan female police trainees who killed over 300 Taliban fighters who were besieging a local Afghan police fort. Then, she was involved in an extensive reporting tour of the Middle East connected to the Iran-Israel conflict, which was going full tilt at the time, visiting Israel, Lebanon and Iran. She was given access by the Iranians to their secret uranium enrichment plants and was even given samples of enriched uranium, to be brought to

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the International Atomic Energy Agency, so that the Iranians could prove to the World that they were not pursuing an atomic weapons program. Miss Laplante did give those samples to the IAEA, on top of publishing the films she had taken inside the Iranian plants. All that enraged the Israelis, who were already accusing her of supporting

terrorist groups. Miss Laplante, who is no supporter of terrorists and who has a fatwa9 from the head of the Taliban on her head, ordering all Muslims to kill her on sight, can now be described as a marked target for the Israeli Mossad.’’

‘’Wow!’’ said Kimi, her eyes wide. ‘’What a woman!’’

‘’Indeed!’’ replied Morita, smiling. ‘’With her role in thwarting the takeover of the SHINKEN MARU by Indonesian pirates, all this confirms Laplante as being a very dangerous woman...for her enemies. However, everything also shows her to be a person of high integrity, honor and humanity.’’

‘’Still, why come to us with this, Detective Morita?’’ asked Kido.

‘’Because we would very much want to speak with her but don’t know where she is presently. Since you were dealing with her concerning the SHINKEN MARU affair, we thought that you could possibly help us meet her.’’

‘’Well, you thought right, Detective Morita: Miss Laplante did inform us about her list of future activities for her two weeks in Japan. Presently, she should be at the Honbu dojo of the Kyokushin Karate organization, the IKO, training and practicing for her coming examination to earn her sixth Dan black belt. She is also due to participate in the incoming IKO karate tournament in Tokyo, which starts on this November seventh.’’ Both Morita and Asakara smiled with satisfaction on hearing that, with Morita replying to Kido.

‘’Then, what about going together to visit the Honbu dojo and watch the good Miss Laplante train?’’

11:05 (Tokyo Time)

Honbu dojo of the IKO

3-3-9 Nishi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-Ku District

Tokyo

 

9 Fatwa: Religious edict made by a Muslim spiritual leader concerning a person, group or organization.

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Seiji Morita, who himself was a practicing karateka, felt at ease as he, Kazuo, Kido and Miura walked in the main practice and competition room of the Honbu dojo, finding Nancy Laplante and others practicing katas and strikes. Morita was at once impressed by the lightning speed and energy of Nancy’s moves. In fact, he found her to be easily the fastest karateka he had ever watched doing katas or fights. After a few seconds, Nancy noticed the presence of the group of police officers in plain clothes and stopped her practice, to then walked calmly to them and bow in front of Kido.

‘’Chief-Inspector, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?’’ Kido returned her bow, then answered her while keeping his voice low.

‘’To an unexpected twist concerning you, Nancy-San. With me are Detectives Morita and Asakura, of the National Police’s Security Bureau. You of course know already my assistant Kimi.’’

‘’The Security Bureau? But isn’t it concerned with counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism business? What does the SHINKEN MARU affair has to do with the Security Bureau?’’

‘’You are right about the habitual roles of my division, Miss Laplante.’’ answered Seiji. ‘’However, a number of notable incidents happened during the last two days, incidents which appear to be linked indirectly to you.’’

‘’To me?’’ said Nancy, feigning surprise.

‘’Yes!’’ replied Seiji before speaking for a couple of minutes, telling her about the exploding car and two cars found parked near the Ibis Hotel. Seiji then asked her a direct question.

‘’Miss Laplante, while we know the motives which would push the Israelis into targeting you, the interest of the Russian SVR concerning you are less evident to us. Do you have any suggestions or ideas about that?’’

Her response then froze him and the others flanking him, as Nancy rolled her eyes.

‘’Hmm, where to start? First, understand that my international reporting and investigations riled up many people, and not only the Israelis. The French secret services call me ‘L’emmerdeuse’, or ‘the shit disturber’ in French, for my role in unmasking a rather unsavory weapons trafficking deal they had been engaging in in Africa. Similarly, I reported on the activities of the Russian mercenary group Wagner around Africa, plus unmasked a couple of high-level Russian officials engaged in corruption and illegal sale of Russian weapons to black market dealers. By the way, those two officials are now spending long vacations in a Siberian prison.’’

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Her revelations actually made both Morita and Kido smile in amusement.

‘’The French were right about you, Miss Laplante: you seem to disturb the plans and activities of many, and not only of Indonesian pirates. However, that does not explain why the Russians were apparently ready to kidnap and then torture you.’’

‘’I believe that I know why they would have wanted to tickle my nipples and clitoris with electrodes, Detective Morita: I once investigated a number of illegal arms dealers connected to the trafficking of Russian weapons. They may have wanted to learn their names and secret storage sites from me.’’

Morita nodded his head at that, finding her explanation believable.

‘’That may be so, miss, but this would still leave you the target of two very dangerous spy organizations. What are you going to do about that?’’ The look she gave him then was firm and resolute.

‘’If anyone tries to attack me during my stay in Japan, then I will defend myself and will not hesitate to kill, Detective Morita. I am also a very tough woman to take out or kill, even when unarmed. You may find out how tough I am if you come watch me compete at the oncoming tournament in November.’’

‘’I will certainly come and enjoy watching you fight, Miss Laplante. May I ask you where I would be able to find you during the next few days if need be?’’

‘’You certainly can: I will either be here, practicing Karate and getting ready for my sixth Dan black belt and for the tournament: or will be touring the Shinjuku District at night in order to relax and have some fun. By the way, if you are thinking of having me followed in Shinjuku, then you should use Detective Miura for that purpose. I will be mostly visiting lesbian bars and café, as I am a bisexual woman.’’ She then winked to Kimi Miura, who reddened with embarrassment, while the three men with her grinned in amusement. Takashi Kido took on him to reply to her declaration.

‘’We will respect your intimacy at night, Nancy-San. What we will do instead will be to closely watch all known Israeli and Russian agents, to keep them away from you.’’

‘’That I would appreciate much on your part, Chief-Inspector. Do you have other questions for me at this time?’’

Kido looked at Morita before answering her.

‘’It will be all for the moment, miss. Have a good practice!’’

‘’Thank you, Chief-Inspector.’’ replied Nancy, who then bowed deeply to Kido before returning on the practice floor. Seiji Morita watched her for a few seconds, then shook his head in amusement.

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‘’A bisexual woman! This Laplante is definitely a hot, spicy commodity.’’

11:17 (Tokyo Time)

Wednesday, November 05, 2014 ‘A’

Honbu dojo of the IKO, Tokyo

‘’IPPON!’’

Seiji Morita, watching with Kazuo Asakara, Takashi Kido and Kimi Miura the examination demonstration and fights of Nancy meant to win her a sixth Dan in her black belt, applauded as the referee shouted the one word for a one point, knock-down strike just delivered by Nancy on her third consecutive opponent of the morning. With her impressive skills, speed and strength demonstrated in her qualification kata and with this third consecutive victory against an opponent of theoretically the same level as her, Nancy had just won in his opinion the sixth Dan to her black belt, with a lightning-fast Mawashi Geri high swept kick to the head that had sent her third adversary, a fifth Dan black belt Japanese woman, down to the carpet, dizzy and unable to get back up within three seconds. The judges present, which included Hatsuo Royama and Shokei Matsui, quickly confirmed the verdict of the referee, himself a sixth Dan male karateka. Seiji then whispered to Takashi Kido, sitting next to him along one wall of the dojo.

‘’This was a solid, convincing win in my opinion. Miss Laplante should do very well in the coming tournament.’’

‘’Indeed! I pity some Israeli or Russian agent trying to knock her out in bare hands combat. Talking of the Israelis and Russians, is there anything new concerning them?’’

‘’Officially, no! Unofficially, a lot! The Russian vice-consul, who we were suspecting of being in reality a SVR agent, did the mistake of inquiring about the whereabouts of the person who rented the car in which we found a pistol, thus confirming our suspicions about him. He has since been declared Persona Non Grata and was thrown out of the country. As for the Israelis, their commercial attaché was found dead on Monday, a bullet between the eyes, in the underground garage of his apartment building. That man was suspected by us of being the Tokyo head of the Mossad in Japan.’’

‘’Do you have a suspect in that case, Detective Morita?’’

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‘’None so far. The security cameras covering that underground garage were conveniently all temporarily out of service at the time of that shooting, done with a silencer-equipped pistol. It seems that somebody is intent on protecting Laplante, a somebody who may be the CIA.’’

‘’The CIA? Why would they protect Laplante like this?’’

‘’Because we learned that the CIA already protected her in the past, when Laplante was accused by the Israeli of supporting terrorist groups. The information and pictures she brought back from Iran concerning their secret uranium enrichment plants was deemed by Washington worthy of providing support and protection to Laplante, without her knowledge or participation. Laplante may actually be an innocent target presently, but she has some big friends she may be unaware of. We actually had her discretely followed at night by female agents and she was nowhere near that Israeli’s apartment building when he was murdered. By the way, we also gave a stern unofficial warning to the Israeli embassy to stay away from Laplante and to stop stirring shit around Tokyo. She thus probably will be able to compete in the tournament with peace on her mind.’’

‘’Excellent! The more I learn about her, the more I like her.’’

‘’The same here, Chief-Inspector.’’

14:41 (Tokyo Time)

Sunday, November 09, 2014 ‘A

Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium

Sendagaya, Shibuya District

Tokyo, Japan

Kimi Miura was all excited as

she, Takashi Kido, Seiji Morita and Kazuo Asakara watched on as Nancy was preparing to fight for the first place in the 65+ kilo category. Sitting in the row of seats in front of them were four particularly enthusiastic young Japanese women who were obvious fans of Nancy Laplante in this tournament, as were an apparent majority of the spectators in the huge gymnasium. Nancy’s popularity had actually steadily climbed as she won fight after fight against experienced, high-level women karateka. Her final opponent in the tournament, a big Russian woman with a fifth Dan black belt, was however not as tall as Nancy and weighed some 69 kilos, compared to Nancy’s 71 kilos. While showing a

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confident appearance, Seiji Morita could detect in the Russian karateka some apprehension, which was in his mind justified by the way Nancy had dominated her past opponents in terms of speed and strength. On the signal from the referee, both Nancy and the Russian woman bowed to each other, then approached the center of the mat. The Russian woman, deciding that the faster was the better, suddenly crouched and delivered a lightning-quick low swept kick, intent on sweeping Nancy off her feet and make her fall on her back, thus winning a Waza-Ari, or half-point. The response of Nancy to her move was even faster. Jumping up to a good meter in height and avoiding entirely the swept kick from her opponent, Nancy delivered a devastating Kin Geri straight kick to the Russian’s right ear as the latter was still crouched and pivoting. The Russian was then thrown backward hard with a distinct ‘HUNG’, to crash face first on the mat, where she stayed, nearly knocked out. There was stunned silence around the gymnasium as the referee counted the regulation three seconds before raising one arm and shouting.

‘’IPPON!’’

The large crowd of spectators then erupted in wild cheers as the referee and a pair of paramedics went to the Russian woman, who was twitching on the mat. Nancy also approached her opponent, genuinely worried about her, as Kimi and the four young Japanese women sitting in front of her went off the rails with joy.

In one of the television booths overlooking the fight mats, the two commentators and announces from Nippon Television shouted nearly as loudly as the other spectators on seeing the quick and decisive victory by Nancy over the Russian who had been until now the top female champion in Kyokushin Karate.

‘’NANCY LAPLANTE, THE CELEBRATED ‘PIRATE LADY’, WON HER FINAL FIGHT OF THE TOURNAMENT AND IS NOW THE UNDISPUTED FEMALE CHAMPION OF KYOKUSHIN KARATE! HER WINNING KICK WAS SO QUICK THAT IT APPEARED BLURRED TO ME. WE WILL NOW REPLAY THAT KICK IN SLOW MOTION, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.’’

On the fighting mat, Nancy crouched near her opponent, worried, as the pair of medics were frantically examined the still twitching Russian young woman. A medical stretcher was then rolled in a hurry on the mat and the Russian karateka was cautiously put on it, to then be rolled out towards the ambulance stationed outside as a precaution

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for the tournament. The referee then raised Nancy’s left arm high and loudly proclaimed her the winner, to the wild cheers and applauses of the spectators. While happy about her victory, Nancy still looked with concern at her opponent, being hurried out on the medical stretcher. Seiji Morita noticed that and nodded his head in approval: Nancy was not only a top karateka; she was also a fair and respectful fighter, thus embodying the spiritual qualities promoted by Kyokushin karate.

A bit before noon, after the awarding of medals and trophies at the end of the tournament, the four plainclothes police officers were able to join again with Nancy as she walked out of the women’s locker room, her sports bag in one hand, her trophy in the other hand and a big smile on her lips. Kimi was the first to hug her, kissing her on the cheeks.

‘’Nancy, you were the queen in there! You proved that you are truly the best.’’

‘’Thanks, Kimi! What do you say that we all go eat lunch at a good restaurant: I’m paying!’’

She then looked at the four young Japanese women who had been sitting in front of Kimi during the tournament and who were now waiting with anticipating smiles nearby, waving at them to approach.

‘’You too, girls! Come hug me!’’

The girls didn’t have to be told twice, gluing themselves to Nancy in a passionate group hug, watched by the police officers. Nancy then smiled to those four between kisses on the lips.

‘’These are four very good friends of mine: Hoshi, Hiromi, Kimiko and Akira.’’

‘’I see!’’ said a grinning Morita. ‘’So, what are you going to do after this tournament, Nancy-San?’’

‘’I will continue my work as a CNN international correspondent traveling the World, plus may soon play in another action movie: my success in CROSSROADS made me quite popular with film producers in Hollywood. Don’t ask in which movie: I swore to secrecy on it until its trailer will be made public.’’ Twenty-one-year-old Kimiko Sakai looked up at her with pleading eyes.

‘’You can’t even tell US about it, Nancy?’’

‘’Sorry, Kimiko, but a vow is a vow. However, I firmly intend to celebrate tonight with all of you four. Would you like to join us for our evening party, Detective Miura? I would love that very much.’’

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With the four young Japanese women looking at her with hopeful smiles and with the three male detectives watching on in amusement, Kimi finally nodded her agreement while a bit red under the collar.

‘’Alright, Nancy, I’ll be there.’’

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