You're Under Arrest Fan Fiction ❯ The Siege ❯ Calm Before the Storm ( Chapter 3 )

The Siege

Chapter 3: Calm Before the Storm

By: JagdPanther

The Kibosh was smiting people elsewhere, apparently. Several days passed and the story the six presented had stood. No reports came in anywhere in the entire Tokyo area about a shot-up compound having been found. Apparently the surviving guards had no intention of draw attention to their organization.

Everyone fell into their regular routines. Everyone in the station was a bit shaken up about six officers being abducted in the "safety" of the Traffic Department. The six were a bit paranoid for the first couple of days. Not all the time is one taken from their workplace, soon thereafter bound to chairs and interrogated, and then involved in a large shoot-out with forty soldiers trying to kill you.

Miyuki and Natsumi made their way around on morning patrol, stopping to see the young school children across the road as usual. The two found themselves more paranoid than usual, lest another group try and abduct them. Around lunch, they stopped at their favorite place.

"You know, just because we can't see anyone doesn't meant that they're not there." Natsumi mumbled over her food.

Miyuki nodded. "I know, but the least he could've done was tell us."

"Well, I guess."

"I just want to know if he has someone watching us. Nothing more. If he does, good. Then I don't have to divide my time between filing reports and scanning for people trying to take me hostage."

"He probably does. I doubt he'd let us go without protection."

"Then why can't we see them? The least they could do is let us know. What if we do notice them and we think they're criminals? Awkward, wouldn't you say?"

Natsumi sighed. "Maybe it's not even people tailing us. He's military. He could have one of those American unmanned spy platforms hovering above us at all times."

Miyuki glared. "I think I'd notice a small vehicle flying over my head."

"You're a news buff, right? Didn't you watch the news when you were a teenager? Like when America invaded Iraq back around 2003? Remember what they had then? Those things don't hover above you, they fly at twice the cruising altitude of passenger jets. And they can see the date on a coin on the ground."

"You seem to be defending him a lot lately. Everytime I express a little dissention you bolt to his aide." She sipped at her drink.

"Is there a problem with that? I trust him and I don't particularly like you continually questioning this. The man saved our lives, Miyuki. And not just in that compound. He's gone out on a limb for us plenty of times." Natsumi was getting flustered.

"You like him."

Natsumi's voice spiked as she blurted back, "What!? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, I just think that you're doing this because you like him. It's not hard to see."

"Shut up."

"Why? Everyone always pesters me about Ken. I'm getting a little payback. Besides, you're always so truth and justice oriented, why are you failing to look at what's he did while deceiving us? How many crimes do you think he committed while he was posing as a police officer, supposedly upholding the law? Hmm? Murder, burglary, espionage? Just to name a few."

Miyuki's words hit Natsumi hard. She wanted so badly to believe that Arleigh had done nothing wrong. "I don't like him like you like Nakajima, Miyuki." She held up her hand to stall a response, but it was obvious by the way her words had been rushed that she felt otherwise. "I respect him more than I do most people. He never failed to help either of us or anyone else at the station when they needed it. We got along well. I'm willing to look past all of that. You're a numbers person. Can you tell me just how much crime went down in the time he was here? Hmm? Can you? They took out twenty-five terrorist groups and gangs. That's twenty-five groups who can never hurt anyone again. All the street thugs who had their own little gangs saw what happened to the big groups and they got the crap scared out of them because they thought they might be next. I don't see murders or burglaries or spying. I see justice in a way that police can't provide. Just about the only thing I am miffed about is the endangering of any innocent people who might've been in the way. But I certainly can't help that. Nor can you. It's done. It's over. Those jerks can't hurt anyone else. Thanks to Arleigh and his soldiers."

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"Yes, when I put it that way, that's how it looks. You can continue to think it was wrong and I won't hold it against you, but just think about it and make sure you're not letting anything cloud your judgement." Natsumi's face was getting slightly red.

"Shouldn't that be what I tell you? I still think you're emotions are getting in the way."

"Oh, drop it."

The paid for lunch and left. No words were spoken the rest of the patrol. Upon returning to the station, they went their separate ways. Miyuki went to file a report while Natsumi went to weight room to get her mind off the conversation over lunch.

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Assistant Inspector Kinoshita stood at the front of the briefing room with her usual stiffness. "The Investigative unit has been unable to dig up anymore information on the weapons cache found eight days ago or the kidnappers of the six officers. As Senior Superintendent Arizuka told you, more manpower is being placed into the investigation. The Traffic Department has been tapped to provide as many people as possible. We must get to the bottom of this. I find it hard to believe that so many high-grade weapons were there for no reason. They have to be connected with something big. It could be a gang, it could be a gun runner, it could be a drug runner, it could be anything. We must know what they are for before it's too late."

Everyone knew the drill. The same briefing was given every morning. It was two days since Miyuki and Natsumi's argument over lunch. They were back to normal, no hard feelings. As for the rest of the station, everyone was slowly feeling more at ease. Fear of another kidnapping was fading. Arleigh still hadn't stopped by, contrary to what he had said that morning over a week ago. But that would soon change.

Ken stood up after the briefing and stretched. "Well, I don't have patrol this morning so I'm heading down to the firing range. You girls want to come along?" He gestured to Bokuto's famous pair sitting next to him.

"Sure, I could use to the practice." Natsumi cracked her knuckles. Miyuki nodded and the trio made their way down to the basement range.

As they went down the stairs, Ken's blood began rushing to his face as he stammered out a small proposal. "You know, Kobayakowa, would you like to go see a movie tomorrow night?"

It was apparent to everyone over the past few weeks that Miyuki was getting a bit more comfortable with the relationship that her fellow officers had almost forced upon her. She smiled broadly and replied, "Sure! I'd love to get out and do something! I have afternoon patrol tomorrow with Natsumi and we should be back by 6:30 PM. How about after then?"

A little sweat dribbled down the back of his neck as he said, "Yeah, that would be great. We can go out to dinner afterwards, too, I guess." He seemed quite happy at the ease of her response.

"That'd be perfect, Ken." Her spirits obviously skyrocketing, Miyuki seemed to glide down the last few steps and into the range area.

They opened up their small lockers in the back of the range and removed their ear-protectors and pistols. Miyuki and Natsumi had Italian-made Beretta 92s, the civilian version of Arleigh's military-issue pistol. Ken used an older American Colt 1911 Government .45-calibre sidearm.

All three officers were very accurate and the talked in-between shots about various things related to the weapons cache. After each had gone through a target paper each, some commotion started up at the end of the range where a few other officers were honing their skills. They all turned to see Arleigh laughing with the officers over a joke. They hadn't noticed, but he'd been there for about five minutes already. He shook hands with the officers and made his way down to the trio.

He wore his typical grand smile. A pair of expensive Oakley's was caught-up above his eyebrows. "Hey! Didn't think you'd see me, huh? Just got into town a few days ago. I'm here on business. I'm with the Los Angeles Police Department now. Moved over there. I'm so sorry I didn't give y'all more of a notice, but the position was only open for a little while so I had to get over there fast. How have you been? It's been a long time, Miyuki, Ken, Natsumi." He winked at the brown-haired woman.

`Time for a little acting,' thought Miyuki. "Arleigh! Wow, what a surprise!"

"Long time no see, Rivera." Ken extended his hand while holstering his pistol.

"Great to see you, Arleigh!" Natsumi's own spirits were up.

The four chatted for a while to keep the façade up. Soon Arleigh withdrew his own pistol from his the bag he was carrying and loaded a magazine.

Miyuki eyed him, questioningly. "You know, you're not a cop here anymore, Arleigh. You can't have that."

"Eh, special permission. So, yes I can." His smile broadened as he took a stance in the last lane of the range. Arleigh pressed the target controller to move the target to the farthest position it could go away. "One `Happy-Happy Smile' coming right up." In eight short seconds, Arleigh proved that what Riggs had done in Lethal Weapon was more than possible. The target returned to the firing point and Arleigh removed it from the clip. Ten bullet holes formed a smiley face in the paper.

"That never ceases to amaze me." Miyuki marveled at the placement of the holes. Not even a machine hole-puncher could have done such a good job.

"Yes, us Americans have way too much time on our hands so we perfect things as obnoxious as that." His laugh filled the range.

Ken eyed the duffel bag Arleigh had brought in with him. "Hey, Arleigh, what's in the bag?"

"Ah, nothing much. Just some random stuff I had left here that I picked up before I came down. Papers, a spare pair of shorts I had left in the gym lockers, etc."

"Oh."

They talked and shot for about forty minutes, with Arleigh playing a little shooting coach and helping all three officers increase their accuracy. Arleigh stayed in the range to talk with some more people filing into the range after hearing of his return. The three made their way back up to the Traffic Department area.

Miyuki spoke up first. "Hey, Chief, you know Arleigh stopped in."

"Yes, I am aware of that, Kobayakowa. He already stopped in to say hello. By the way, you and Tsujimoto have just been reassigned to the investigative division for the time being. No more patrolling for you too until their release you. I hate to lose my two best people, but they need the help. Tokuno wants to see you right away."

The two saluted, got a few things together, and left. It was only 10:30 AM.

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Arleigh left his bag in the range locker room and made his way up to the cafeteria with several former colleagues to get some coffee. He talked awhile about cases that he was making up on the spot that he had supposedly dealt with in Los Angeles over the past four months. The group loved the stories. `Honesty is not always the best policy. Heh,' thought Arleigh as he spoke.

Soon, the group broke up to continue working. Arleigh mentioned that he'd be in Tokyo for another couple weeks so he'd stop again if he had more time. Next stop was the range locker room and then back to a safe house just over the Sakura Bridge.

The "operator," a term specifically denoting a Delta Force soldier, made sure the locker room was clear before going to work. He had to move quickly. Three security cameras made sure the entire room could be seen clearly. `Almost the entire room,' he thought. `There's a blind spot under that one over there. I remember that from when I used to work here. The vent grate can't be seen by any of the cameras. Perfect.' Arleigh moved casually down the row of lockers and made as if he was going to sit on the floor, doing his shoes. He looked straight up and made sure he was completely out of view by the cameras. In one swift move he rolled up onto his feet and turned around to hug the wall. He was taking no chances of being seen. With his foot, he pulled over his duffel bag. Next he extracted a small screwdriver from the bag and began taking the grate off the wall. It was a bit above his six-foot frame. Very few people in the station were tall enough to do this without a ladder. After taking the grate down he pulled himself up to look in. `Nothing. Good.' He lowered himself down and extracted another bag from the duffel. Arleigh slid the bag into the vent and pushed it back far enough that even he could get at it without lifting himself up on the duct's edge. He did so to make sure he could grab it while holding himself up with one hand. Pulling himself into the duct itself, he opened the bag and checked the contents to make sure everything was okay, and everything was perfectly alright. He dropped back down and quickly replaced the vent. Rivera checked the duffel bag at his feet to make sure that the documents he had swiped from the operations room and Investigations Department were still there. `These should be helpful. I'll have Intel go over them as soon as I get back to the safe house.' Two officers entered the locker room just as he finished dusting himself off. `They need to clean this place. Just not anytime soon, hopefully.' Arleigh said hello to the officers. `Newbies. I have no clue who they are. Nor do they know me. Good.' The American left the room, quietly singing to himself the lyrics of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

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The next day, Arleigh was sitting at a table in the safe house drinking coffee, looking over the papers he had boosted from the station. Master Sergeant Jake Anderson, the Delta unit's executive officer (XO) sat at the other side of the table, likewise reading one of the documents.

"Jake, this really bothers me."

"I know."

"Quite honestly, I don't think that station knows what these are. These things are suggesting something major. Like, bigger than huge. If that makes any sense."

Anderson rubbed his eye and grimaced. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. These look like timetables for the Tokyo freight train lines. Find out what's running on these lines then. Could be something important like money or military equipment. And the dates they look at coincide with that movement arrow on the map. I wish we had a better map than this one you got at the compound."

"Yeah, sorry. We were moving too quick. I guess I should've had a few more people help me grab stuff. Anyway, Jones brought this stuff to my attention right after I told them about the Delta Op. In one week, I have made no progress in figuring this stuff out. Which reminds me, why the hell would SOCOM authorize me to tell them about our operation? That blows my mind."

"That confused me, too. I know you trust those officers, but I can't see SOCOM trusting them at all. Not that I meant that by trusting them you'd freely tell them."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Arleigh downed the last bit of coffee in the cup. "Okay, about the map. One thought I just was that this could be a tactical map. Look, all the major roads have markers like we use to show tank drivers what roads they can and cannot use for movement. There isn't a key to the map, but I'm betting this marker means "armory," like we use on maps of bases."

"Interesting. You're right, they are the same. Disturbing, too. Look how many of those markers there are. Most of them look like larger buildings, too. Could be warehouses."

"Yeah. You know, I'm going to check some of these places out. I want at least two other guys doing the same. Pick some people who know the area well and send them to the markers in this area here and the area here. I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

At the end of the day, all three men returned from their scavenger hunt and a general meeting of the Delta operators was held. The findings were discussed as well as possible plans of action.

Arleigh looked out at his troops. "This is the first time in my life that I want to be very, very, very wrong. Anderson, brief the SOAR boys. Jones, get on the horn to Camp Fuji. Tell them I'm going to need at least a company of Marines out of the 3rd MEF shipped over here and placed on standby. I want their HMMWVs, too. Morris, you see about getting us some help from those units out of the 25th Infantry Division training around Torii Station on Okinawa. I think it's parts of 1st Brigade and of 4th Brigade. That means they've probably got 2nd/14th Cavalry with them and their choppers. I want their armor and their choppers on standby, if possible. Everyone else, we've got a little mission. I need four volunteers to come with me and commandeer a small boat. It's carrying a weapons shipment down the Yokojukken River around 0100 Hours local time. Clandestine op, of course. Silenced MP5s, silenced pistols. No neutrals or good guys aboard so we'll be weapons free. If it moves, shoot it. In-depth briefing en-route to the Insertion Point. Any takers?"

Ryker raised his hand and yawned. "Yeah, I need the exercise."

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A few more days passed. Very little was learned of the first cache found. That was because Natsumi and Miyuki found a second cache in a parked truck that had been hit by a drunk driver. The investigators had released them for the day due to lack of happenings in the case.

This time the cache didn't contain just SWAT grade pistols and submachine guns, but it also contained several military rifles. The rifles were the HOWA Machinery Corps Type-89 5.56mm Assault Rifles, the same kind used by the JSDF. The entire station was getting edgy. What could anyone possible be doing with these weapons? Better yet, how were the getting them? More people were tasked to the investigation and a few officers arrived from other precincts to help out. Miyuki left her communications station in the large conference room-turned-operations station to go to the morning briefing. She caught up with Natsumi who was carrying CDs full of slides for the projector's computer.

"This is getting so aggravating. I wish we could get a break. All these weapons can't be for something as simple as a little drug gang. There are probably lots more out there, all for some grand purpose. But I don't know what that purpose is." Miyuki stared out the windows at the rising sun while she walked down the corridor.

"I know, but all the leads are dry. Unless someone discovers something big soon, we might have to drop the investigation. And I agree that there are probably more caches out there with more weapons, maybe far more dangerous weapons. But we can't just go searching every car in Tokyo for them." Natsumi sighed and entered opened the door to the briefing room.

"Glad you could join us, Tsujimoto and Kobayakowa. Please, take a seat." Superintendent Arizuka was also quite annoyed at how the whole investigation was going. Natsumi walked up to him and handed him the CDs. "Thank you," he replied tersely. "Alright, let's get this underway, shall we, Inspector Kinoshita?"

"Yes, sir." The tall Assistant Inspector began her usual speech that everyone was now accustomed too. In the past week, hackers began attacking the traffic system around the precinct. Random traffic lights would lose power and intersections would have no order to them. Accidents were steadily increasing, and, unfortunately, so were the fatalities. Then telephone communication grids began failing on a daily basis. There was no way to tell if the incidents were in anyway linked to the caches, but it was easy to see that the hackers could very well be proceeding with preemptive strikes. If they wanted to, the hackers could easily take down every vital system in the area and create chaos on an unheard of level.

However, she began to allude to some new documents that had been found on the ground near a railroad bridge south west of the station.

Just as Kinoshita was about to delve deeper into the material, Arleigh slipped in the door and took a seat next to Natsumi.

Kinoshita stopped and looked at him. "Ah, Detective Rivera. I see you were able to make it. People, I've asked Arleigh to help us since this was his specialty when he was with us."

Arizuka spoke up from his seat next to the Assistant Inspector. "Correct. I've already cleared him, so you can talk with him freely about anything on the case."

"Glad to be working with y'all again." Arleigh waved to everyone in the room quickly. He leaned his chair back against the wall and motioned for Kinoshita to proceed.

"Hey, Arleigh." Natsumi was all smiles.

He returned the expression and patted her on the shoulder. "Hi Natsumi."

Kinoshita resumed the briefing. She motioned for the projector man to put up a slide of the first document. Everyone studied the document for a few moments. "This along with several other documents was found yesterday by a patrol officer who thought it was litter. When he saw that the papers were all marked with this seal, he remembered the flyer in the station showing this crest." Using a sleek laser pointer, she highlighted the small crest at the bottom of the paper. The Investigations Department had printed up flyers and distributed them around the station with the crest on it. "We found a similar crest on the papers officers Kobaykowa and Tsujimoto found the other day. I'm asking now, does any one have any idea what these papers could be? As you can see, this one is simply a spreadsheet with many numbers attached to alphanumeric designations. Most of the other ten documents are the same except for two, which are unreadable. All the ink ran because the papers were sitting in a puddle." Arleigh raised his hand. "Yes, Detective?"

"Yeah, can you put the other ones up? Just for about ten seconds each."

"Very well."

All the documents were shown, including the unreadable ones.

"Hmm. That is very puzzling indeed." Arleigh pulled a silver SONY PDA from his right pocket and brought up a few papers stored on the tiny hard-drive.

"Do you see something in them?" Kinoshita didn't get an answer. "Detective."

"Hold on, I want to check something really quick. I have a vague idea of what those are. Just hold on. If they're not what I think they are, then I won't bother mentioning what my thought was because it might not be something…" He trailed off.

"Something what?"

"Something that wouldn't be very politically correct to mention. Something bad."

"Uh huh. Moving along, while Arleigh doesn't answer me, does anyone else have something to say about these?"

Nobody could make heads or tails of the sheets.

"Holy shit." Arleigh was holding up the PDA and shifting his eyes laterally between it and the projector screen. "Oh my God." Everyone turned to look at him.

"What is it, Rivera?"

"Something extremely bad that I had hoped it wasn't. Damnit, I need to make a phone call." He jumped up and rushed out the door.

"Rivera! Get back in here!" Kinoshita yelled at his retreating body. "Tsujimoto, go get him back in here.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Outside, Arleigh was on his cell-phone yelling in English. "Yes! Tell the Marines to haul some ass! And the damn Tropics! ["Tropic Lighting" is the nickname of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division; likewise, "Tropics" is Army slang for 25th ID troops] I am not kidding! It's just what we feared. Yes. Exactly. No, I it hasn't started. No. No. Yes. Well, I'd hope so. Of course. Get everyone together and get them here on the double. No, bring the HMMWVs. Yes, broad daylight. We're going to need them. Yes. Anything and everything. And my gear, yes. Thanks, almost forgot that. Contingency plan? No clue. I'll think of something. Yeah, you know the general layout. Right. I'll arm them as soon as possible. Stuffs' in the range locker room. I'm heading there right now. Roger. I'll be expecting y'all. Over and out."

Natsumi stood in front of him. "Arleigh, what the hell was that all about? What's going on? Who was that on the phone?"

"Never mind that. Go back in there and tell everyone to go get all the guns in this place locked and loaded. I have to go do something. I'll explain as soon as I get back."

With that, Arleigh sprinted down the hall and down all the stairs to the range. Using a small crowbar held to the wall next to a fire alarm, Arleigh ripped the grating off of the wall in the locker room. He used the bar to drag the bag out of the hole. It dropped to the floor with a clack. Arleigh ripped the zipper back and extracted his M4A1 Compact-Assault-Rifle. Along with it he grabbed some military web-gear in the bag. Webbing is a pair of suspender-like utility belts that soldiers wear like a jacket. The straps go up the left of right front of a person, crisscross along the back, and run around the waist where the whole set-up is clipped. On the webbing were two M67 fragmentation grenades, an M18 Smoke Grenade, an M14 Incendiary grenade, and three pouches filled with two magazines each for the rifle. Already he wore a tactical hip-holster with his Beretta M9 pistol in it. Kicking the empty bag to the side he ran back upstairs to the briefing room, the police still sitting, discussing Arleigh's reaction. They were horrified by his new attire after he burst back into the room.

"Everyone, listen up! These documents suggest that the 7th District Police Headquarters, this very Bokuto Station, along with most of Sumida Ward will be hit hard by a massive terrorist attack involving military equipment. The spreadsheets are code and number listings that denote Japanese Self Defense Force equipment including tanks, Armored-Personnel-Carriers, trucks, jeeps, mortars, everything. I'm willing to bet that those other two documents are marching orders or a freight train schedule. I have no time to explain anything more. Right now, you all need to get every damn gun in this building locked and loaded! NOW!"

Arizuka boomed, "Wait just one minute, damnit! Rivera! What the hell is this all about? You're going to explain everything right now. How the hell do you know all this?"

"Look, I said I have no time to explain! Just do what I say! Get all the damn guns from the armory! Do it! Kobayakowa, go back to the op center and start telling every unit out on patrol to get the hell out of the Ward. Tell them do not chase any trucks for any reason whatsoever. Just get out of the damn area and tell them to keep anyone from coming into the Ward over the bridges! Any civilians coming out of the area, let them out. Also, monitor for any communications coming in from American military units. Tsujimoto, Nakajima, Aoi, Yoriko, and you two," he yelled, pointing at the two officers he had met in the locker room, "go get all the ammunition for the guns, since you people don't keep the freakin' guns and ammo in the same place. Everyone else, get the guns and barricade every entrance to this place. Sound a general alarm for the station."

With that, Arleigh rushed out of the room. The only thing that anyone could do was to listen to him. He had scared them in to action. Within fifteen minutes the guns and ammunition had been consolidated and most people were armed with either their personal sidearms or heavier weapons from the armory.

Kinoshita ran up to Arleigh. "I believe you. Miyuki was telling the patrols to leave and they, well, got shot at by a column of trucks boiling out of the warehouse district. They got out all right, another squad car picked them up and they're out of the area. I called the local governor to get an evacuation order put out."

Arleigh paled. "Kaoruko, that is going to cause mass chaos! Civilians are going to be all over the place and they're going to get killed! That's why I didn't mention an evacuation order back there!"

"But…"

"Never mind! Just go help with barricading the station." He looked at his watch. "Reinforcements should be ten minutes out! Move it!"

"Wait, reinforcements, what?"

"Just get your weapons! Those trucks are headed here!" Arleigh dashed down to the main entrance. The storm was about to strike.

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