My Yakuza

his success, seemed to ebb away.
They stopped outside a café.
“Just here is fine,” she said.
They got out, Chizu handing the driver some money. He was surprised to see it was a Chinese restaurant.
“The apartment is just around the corner,” she said. “I know the people who own this place. The food is very good.”
She turned to smile at him. The taxi took off and another car rolled up. Her eyes registered surprise. In a flash, Shiro turned, saw the gun poking out of the top of the rear passenger window. He didn’t hesitate. He ran as fast as legs would carry him.

Chapter Three
“Daiben!” Chizu yelled as she ran after Shiro to avoid the gun.
A shot rang out but missed either target, striking the front window of the restaurant, shattering the glass and forcing the patrons inside to scatter to the floor.
As they ran, they heard the squeal of screeching tires as their pursuers surfed around the corner bearing down on their quarry.
“Turn right into the alley,” Chizu shouted.
Blindly obeying, Shiro turned right into the next alley he came upon finding a row of dumpsters holding the scraps of food disposed of by the many restaurants in the neighbourhood. As they dodged in and out of the row of obstacles, Shiro heard the car come to a loud halt at the entrance to their escape route. As Chizu caught up with him, she urged him on.
“The next door on your left, open it and go in quickly!”
Once more Shiro did as he was told and much to his surprise, he found the door open and accommodating as the fugitives entered the building and slammed the door shut behind them. Chizu threw a bolt across the door, securing it from the inside.
“This way, hurry!”
“What the hell is going on?”
“Not now, keep running,” she urged.
The pair ran up a staircase and down a hallway to where they came to a door marked, “Roof.” Chizu yanked it opened and they ran up a short flight of stairs, which led to another door. When that was opened, Shiro found himself outside on a low level rooftop over one of the restaurants where the smell of chicken rose to fill his nostrils.
“Now what?” Shiro asked, out of breath.
“Over here. We go down this fire escape and down that alley over there. They won’t find us now, but we must hurry. We can’t use the apartment I had set up for you. They may know its location.”
Before Shiro could get any more of an explanation out of the resourceful woman, she was over the edge and down the escape. Shiro quickly followed her. They were once again on street level. They ran down the alley indicated by Chizu, which brought them out onto one of the many side streets in New York.
“When are you going to tell me what’s going on? I’m not moving until I know,” Shiro said defiantly.
Chizu quickly looked around. He assumed she saw no immediate danger, because she pulled Shiro into the shadows with an annoyed look.
“Those were men from the Tinaken clan and they obviously knew you were coming. They are trying to kill you so that you don’t get the chance to carry out your mission and the Harada clan loses face and their leader to American justice. You must not fail! Come, we go to an alternate site for you to stay while you prepare.”
Once again they were practically running down the street, taking short cuts through alleyways until they arrived at a non-descript building that housed apartments. Chizu opened the main door to the building with a key and they quickly went up to the third floor and entered apartment three-o-nine. When the door closed, Chizu swiftly made sure that all the curtains were closed before turning on even a single light.
“You will stay here while you carry out your assignment. No one will bother you. There will be food in the refrigerator shortly and there is a coffee shop one block over, although I recommend you stay out of it for a while until we see if they are looking for you in this area.”
“How is it possible that they knew we were going to be at that restaurant at that moment? How could they possibly know?”
“I don’t know. I will call people in a short while and tell them what has happened. Before you arrived, I placed an envelope in both locations in a hidden place with all the information that you will need to make contact and decide on how you will carry out mission given to you by Nobuo-san. While you wait for food, please read the information and use this cell phone to call me. My number is listed on the phone as Aunt Sadie. Any questions?”
“Yes, who will bring the food and can they be trusted since there is obviously a leak somewhere?”
Chizu sighed and raised an eyebrow, which made her look all the more deadly.
“I agree someone has told the enemy that you are here. But the lady who brings the food for you is related to the Harada clan and can be trusted completely. I will go now, read the information.”
Chizu walked over to one corner of the room and lifted up the carpet. Underneath, she slipped the tip of a pen into an almost invisible hole and flipped up a small board. She reached down and withdrew an envelope and replaced everything as it was.
“Learn this material well and begin to plan your mission. Call me if you have questions or need something.”
With that, she left Shiro standing in the middle of the three-room apartment that had seen better days. He looked down at the envelope and decided that now was as good a time as any to see what he was getting himself into and to see if there was a way out of the mess. He briefly reflected on the fact once more that he was in his current predicament because of a mother who long