A Moder Nemo 38

Onodera started. He spat out the cigarette the moment he saw Hayashi leap to his feet. He was, however, unable to train his rifle on Mori as the Dutch giant tossed his beer can away and went back to eyeing him through his scope. 

Onodera clenched his teeth. "Of all people, it had to be you, big guy," he grumbled.

The giant merely smiled.

"Using scissors again, Ryuichi-kun?" remarked Mori as Hayashi's scissors slammed against his left chisel. "You're getting soft. Using the same weapon again; where's your creativity? Have you forgotten the EOGC special forces' motto?"

Hayashi leaped back. "How could I not forget?" he snapped. "But it doesn't matter when I'm dealing with you!"

Mori straightened himself and took a step back. "Then say it, my friend," he said, "you who are still with the EOGC special forces."

Hayashi paused and stared at Mori. The latter smiled,  took a step back with his right foot and bent his legs.

"Armamentarium," said Mori in latin, raising his left chisel with the blade pointing in a downward, diagonal, outward and forward direction.

"Meum," followed Hayashi. He also took a step backward with his right foot and bent his legs. He held his scissors in an outward, horizontal position.

"Mundum," continued Mori, bringing his right chisel near his left elbow.

"Est," concluded Hayashi as he brought his left fist -holding the shot glass behind his right fist.

Before Mori could do anything Hayashi threw his glass at the former, who deflected it with his right chisel.

"Now that's the Ryuichi-kun I know!" Mori exclaimed. "Looks like I'm going to enjoy this fight!"

"Bring it on, Taro Mori!" Hayashi cried.

Both men charged at each other, eager for blood.

A Modern Nemo 37

Mori laughed again upon seeing the look of disappointment of Hayashi's face. "So," he said, "now that we've run into a dead end, why not we talk about something else? Let's talk about things going on back home."

"Home?" Hayashi snarled. "You don't have any home."

"We both lost our homes when we fled Japan as refugees, Ryuichi-kun," said Mori after emptying his glass. "The EOGC took us in."

"You left."

Hayashi finished his glass in one gulp.

"Oh, but I'm always intent on returning, Ryuichi-kun, no?"

"After always causing trouble."

"Oh, I have to earn a living."

"By wreaking havoc wherever it is you go."

"Let's not talk about me, Ryuichi-kun. Let's talk about you," said Mori ashe leaned forward. "How's your sister?"

Instantly, Hayashi leaped to his feet. He pulled out another pair of scissors. "Don't you ever talk about my sister!" he snapped.

"Why not, Ryuichi-kun?" sneered Mori. "I used to have a crush on her."

"The path she took, she took on her own free will! You were in her way! You have no right to follow her, you scum!"

Mori rose slowly. "So like you, Ryuichi-kun. Always shrinking her options and keeping an eye on her," he hissed. "She's a bird in a beautiful cage; it's called a convent."

"Shut up, Taro!"

Mori dropped his glass and the wine bottle. Almost immediately a pair of chisels slithered, handles first, into his hands from the sleeves of his blazer.

"Don't deny it, Ryuichi-kun,"said Mori as Hayashi took a step back. "A control-freak of an older brother like you maneuvered her into taking that kind of life."

"Shut up!" cried Hayashi as he swung his scissors at Mori.

A Modern Nemo 36

Onodera clenched his teeth. Mori was looking at him, right through his crosshairs, and smiling. Now he had to watch both Mori and the giant. The playing field was leveled; now both snipers were watching each other as well as their men on the ground.

Mori reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of shot glasses. He tossed one to Hayashi. Hayashi caught the glass as Mori approached him, holding the bottle out.

"Mavrodafni," noted Hayashi,eyeing the wine. "I prefer retsina."

Mori chuckled. "Let's talk," he said.

Onodera's smartphone buzzed. He ignored it, even as it vibrated repeatedly in his coat pocket. Finally, he noticed movement on the giant's side.

Joop pulled his phone out and waved it playfully at Onodera.

Realizing he was being contacted by the dutch giant, Onodera pulled out his phone and saw a missed call and a text message.

"Hi there, 4 eyes." read the text. "This will take a while. Why don't we just sit down and cool off?"

Onodera looked back through his scope and saw the dutch giant wave a can of beer. He sent a reply. "Don't mind if I do, Necker D. Wrecker." it read.

The dutch giant grinned, popped the can open, inserted a straw and started drinking. Onodera lit a cigarette.

Hayashi tasted the mavrodafni  as he and Mori seated themselves among the rocks. The wine was sweet, with tones of chocolate and raisins. Mori drank from his glass, looked up and closed his eyes for a moment. "So, Ryuichi-kun," he began, "what's made you so interested in my employer's business?"

"Nothing, Taro-kun," Hayashi replied, "I'm just following orders."

"Part of the background work again, eh?"

Hayashi glanced at Mori irritably and continued drinking.

"Eh?" asked Mori, leaning forward.

Hayashi continued drinking.

"Eh?"persisted Mori, leaning closer.

"You're getting too close to my face."

Mori leaned back and laughed.

"It strikes me as odd that your boss is gathering all his ships in one place instead having them ply the shipping routes," Hayashi continued.

"And what of concern is that to Eric Ong?"

Hayashi looked at Mori suspiciously.

"Oh, you can trust me," said Mori, waving a hand. "I don't exactly like my employer. I'm just in here for the money."

"You are truly a mercenary, you know that?" said Hayashi as he held out his glass for a refill. "It's abnormal, the movement of your ships."

"It is, but what do I care?"

"This huge fleet of ships will make its way through the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean, won't it?" said Hayashi. "Konstantiniadis wouldn't go all this way to bring a huge fleet of ships to Greece and not have everybody on board them disembark permanently."

Mori laughed. "At least you know that much," he chuckled.

"And then what?" Mori persisted. "What then, when you reach the Indian Ocean?"

"I don't know, Ryuichi-kun," Mori replied as he filled Hayashi's glass as well as his. "Your guess is as good as mine. Even Konstantiniadis' pick-ups have no idea where they're going."

"Damn it; this is a dead end."

A Modern Nemo 35

Ruyichi Hayashi, or rather, Drake Forest, returned to his hotel room at the end of the day. As he opened the door, he found a small envelope on the floor. "Mr. Drake Forest" was written on it. Below the English name, he found "Ryuichi-kun" written below in Japanese.

So he wants to talk. thought Hayashi. Or maybe, he wants me to do the talking.

He pulled out his smartphone and called Onodera.

Carlos Bosque was standing on top of a low, rocky, cliff by the sea. From it, the harbor could be seen not very far away. He was carrying a bottle of wine in his right hand. The other hand was in the pocket of his blazer.

Drake Forest arrived. Bosque smiled and waved then put his hand back in his pocket. Forest waved back.

"Where is Onodera-senpai, Ryuichi-kun?" asked Mori as Hayashi approached him. "I thought I invited the both of you."

"Same reason why you didn't bring the big wrecker zombie with you."

"Now why would I do that, Ryuichi-kun?" asked Mori. "I've got nothing to hide."

"I'm sure you don't," said Hayashi, noting that the bell tower of the same church that Mori pointed at the other day was clearly visible over the latter's right shoulder. There was a reason why Mori barely moved from the spot he was standing. Hayashi knew it well.

Far off at the bell tower of the church, the giant Dutchman had Hayashi in the crosshairs of the scope of his sniper's rifle.

Mori grinned, sensing Hayashi had already determined where Joop was. But that was not a surprise.

"Now you know where Joop is," he remarked, "it's not a surprise that I know where Onodera-senpai is hiding."

He leaned sideways slightly, looking over Hayahsi's left shoulder towards the hill in the distance. There was a small, ancient stone hut.

Hayashi smirked. Mori was in the crosshairs of Onodera's own weapon, and he knew it.

"How about a drink?" asked Mori, lifting up the bottle of wine.

A Modern Nemo 34

Mancini walked swiftly toward the Embark. Entering the bridge, he found Konstantiniadis speaking with the captain. Konstantiniadis noticed him and bade the captain to take his leave. As the captain exited through the door opposite, Mancini walked towards his boss. "We have a problem, Tony," he said.

"What is it, Tom?" asked Konstantiniadis.

"Somebody seems to have gotten wind of our operations. We may have to speed things up a notch."

"What do you mean?"

"Four of our men were killed after trailing two suspicious-looking characters who were asking around about why so many of our ships are moving  together as a group," Mancini explained. "I have a hunch the EOGC's indirectly involved."

Konstantiniadis' face darkened. "What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Bosque says the weapon used to kill two of our guys was standard-issue EOGC equipment."

"Bosque, eh? Isn't he an ex-EOGC soldier?"

"He is."

"But why would Eric Ong suddenly get interested in my operations? Are you sure it's really Eric Ong or somebody with EOGC connections?"

"It may well be the latter," replied Mancini. "I'll have Bosque get to the bottom of it. Meanwhile, we need to move fast."

A Modern Nemo 33

Tom Mancini returned to his office and was taken aback when he saw Carlos Bosque sitting on his chair. Concealing his mild surprise he looked at the Asian man, who had his legs crossed and on the desk and smoking a cigar that he had taken from the cigar box.

"Did you find out anything, Bosque?" he asked coldly.

Bosque grinned, put his feet on the floor and stood up. "I don't know the identities of our quarry yet, Mr. Mancini," he replied as he walked toward the Green Oceans officer, "but I do know that a major organization has gotten wind of our activities and is actually trying to second-guess our objectives."

"Who?" demanded Mancini. "The US federal government? The European Union?"

"Whoever hired those people and killed our security men in the process apparently wants to keep his hands clean and his people's mouths shut. I suggest we should speed up with our operations before they overtake us."

"What do you mean? We have to move now?"

Bosque nodded.

"But it'll take days to get the entire fleet through the Suez Canal, not to mention, that many ships belonging to one company concentrated at one tiny spot will attract world attention."

"Not if we say our plan to move this many ships is part of our overall program of reshuffling the assignments of the various ships in he fleet."

Mancini looked at Bosque. "You're not coming, are you?" he asked.

"Oh, no," replied Bosque. "I'll be staying here to take care of our guests. Plus, I'll be doing some travelling to gather information. I think I'll start by going home and asking around."

"The EOGC, huh?" This, he knew about Carlos Bosque, a former member of the EOGC security forces. "You suspect the EOGC is behind this?"

"No," replied Bosque. "But there are many powerful entities doing business there. And besides, I suspect that our assassins were ex-EOGC servicemen. Those scissors recovered were standard-issue EOGC technical forces utilities."

"So we're dealing with hired guns at the moment, are we? Very well then. See to it that you give our guests a warm welcome."

"See to it that Mr. Konstantiniadis takes action," said Carlos Bosque as he walked out the door.

Mancini walked over to his desk and looked at the open cigar box. It was a gift from Konstantiniadis. Bosque had taken several cigars, in addition to the one he was smoking. Mancini clenched his teeth and fists and slammed to box shut.

Carlos Bosque, now Taro Mori, walked into at church later that day. He knelt at the rearmost pew with his back to the entrance of the bell tower. He took his hat off and made the sign of the cross in the Greek Orthodox style and bowed his head.

Presently heavy footsteps were heard behind him. A huge man with blond hair and a large, zigzag, scar on his chin loomed behind him. This man was bigger than Konstantiniadis, almost seven feet tall, and was almost completely draped in a black trench coat. The only other color came from a red turtle neck shirt that was barely visible  over the trench coat's collar. A deep, rumbling sound came from his throat.

Mori looked up. "Now, now, Joop." he said with a smile. "We should start by being hospitable." 

A Modern Nemo 32

Shoji Kawamura sat in the sauna. It was a long time since he last took a bath this way. But this time, it was also rather awkward; after the birth of Saya Shoji went along with Konstantiniadis, listening to the businessman's rants, with the North Korean following them. Now, the three of them ended up in a sauna. The businessman had invited them to come along and Shoji, eager to listen to more of his ideas, accepted his invitation; the North Korean followed automatically.

So now he was in a room, wearing only a towel. The steam was rising and Konstantiniadis was talking endlessly about building an artificial nation that moved across the sea, protecting the ocean's environment and controlling seaborne commerce.

He sat on a wooden bench, only a few feet away from Konstantiniadis, who was sitting on another bench. The North Korean sat far from them on another bench near the door. As he sat and listened, he became curious about one thing: Konstantiniadis wasn't talking about the people he met or relationships he had.

"Mr. Konstantiniadis," he began, mustering enough courage to bring the topic forth, "have you ever had any relationships outside business?"

Konstantiniadis paused. He toned down somewhat. It was silent in the room. "You know Shoji," he said, moving a little closer to the latter, "I've been blessed with a lot of success. I'm practically married to my job."

"But isn't that lonely?"

Konstantiniadis put an arm on Shoji's shoulder. "I'll be honest with you," he said, "I know you're an honest person so I can trust you. I've never had a girlfriend."

That was a shocking revelation.

"Why?" Shoji asked. "You're one of the richest men in the world. You have the money, the resources" -he glanced at the businessman's large, muscular, frame- "you have the assets. What girl wouldn't fall for you?"

"You see, that's the problem," mumbled Konstantiniadis in a rather embarrassed tone.. "The only thing girls see in me is my money. Never met a great girl in my life. Never had any lasting relationships. Had to turn to hookers because no normal woman would take me for what I am."

"Hookers? Why?"

"Because they're the only ones who can say the right thing at the right time and make you feel like you're on top of the world, even if it's just for a short time."

"You never had any lasting relationships?" Shoji became more intrigued.

Konstnantiniadis nodded. "If you can't please your girl, she'll leave you," he said.

Shoji looked at Konstantinidis from head to foot. What was wrong with a strong, good-looking, man with a herculean build? He wondered.

"But you're better than I am," he said to Konstantiniadis. "You have the wealth, the looks-"

"Wealth, looks, yeah," said Konstantiniadis as he leaned back and put his hands on his lap. "But when you go down there" -he nodded to indicate his lower regions- "that's when you see that nothing's alright."

"What?" exclaimed Shoji, bewildered.

Konstantiniadis looked at Shoji. "What kind of woman would fall for this?" he asked, standing up. He removed his towel to reveal what was underneath.

That was very tiny.

Shoji gaped.

Konstantiniadis put his towel back on and sat down. "Well, I bet you give Chidori the time of her life whenever the two of you feel like it."

"Well," murmured Shoji, "I-"

"Don't just sit there, show me what you got." said Konstantiniadis, gesturing at him.

Shoji sighed, rolled his eyes and stood up. He undid his towel.

"Damn!" Konstantiniadis swore, "that's even bigger than mine!"

Shoji quickly put his towel back on and sat down.

"That's huge!" Konstantiniadis continued.

"Huge?" repeated Shoji. He had been to bathhouses before back in Japan. There wasn't anything unusual about seeing other men naked. "It's normal," he said.

"Normal?" said Konstantiniadis. He began wondering if Shoji was just trying to be modest. He looked around and saw the North Korean gaping at the two of them in shock.

Konstantiniadis was already feeling very insecure. But when he saw the North Korean, some thoughts came to his mind. It was hard living there with famine a common occurrence. The result was too many unhealthy people in very bad shape.

"How about you?" he asked, pointing at the North Korean. "Is that thing you have under there normal?"

Kim Nam-ha swallowed nervously. He stood up and removed his towel.

The next scene comes as we see the three of them outside the sauna. What was revealed was truly frightening.

"Gad, that was huge," said Konstantiniadis in a low voice.

"Yeah," agreed Shoji, "huge."

Kim Nam-ha stood behind them, looking at them nervously.