Sign of the Dragon (Tatsu Yamada Book 1) by Niall Teasdale (e reader TXT) 📕

for a second, trying to discern whether she was being sincere or not. TNM, her network, had an agenda and not one sympathetic to refugees. They called them immigrants, which suggested that they had a choice about coming to Japan. Just what was Yamauchi’s view on Chiba and its residents?

‘Okay, let’s get going,’ Tatsu said. ‘We’ll do the tour and, as you say, see where that takes us.’

~~~

‘Basically,’ Tatsu said, ‘Chiba is split into three sections.’ The van was driving north from Funabashi to Shiroi, taking something of a winding route. Suzuki was sitting in the passenger seat with his camera while Tatsu and Yamauchi sat behind, opposite each other, on seats mounted to the sides of the vehicle. It let Yamauchi do her interview thing. ‘Here in the west, the Russian gangs rule, and by rule, I mean that they hold the territory and control the street gangs below them. The street gangs around here are mostly Yankees, though the Denshitoakuma have a solid presence around Funabashi.’

‘The Denshitoakuma?’ Yamauchi asked.

‘Basically a collective of sex workers, started by a group of Japanese women. East of here, the two surviving tongs hold territory. It’s a largely Chinese region, some Hispanic and American residents. Out past Yotsukaido, there are no major criminal gangs operating and the Hispanic street gangs rule the roost.’

‘You personally took down one of the tongs last year, I believe.’

‘There were other people involved,’ Tatsu replied, smiling. ‘I led the operation and, yes, I did a lot of work on it. They were a small gang, but they were trying to get a lot bigger, pushing into the other tongs’ territories and the Funabashi mafia areas. Their tactics were brutal. The area they exclusively held remains largely unoccupied. The Denshitoakuma hold that area if anyone does. They have their main HQ there.’

‘And the area we’re in right now? Which mafia group holds this area?’

‘The Funabashi gang, though we’ll be crossing into Shiroi territory soon. Let’s see…’ Tatsu checked her navigation data. ‘This is Futawahigashi Six Chome territory. That’s the Yankees gang holding the area. They distribute drugs for the Funabashi gang, extort money from a few shopkeepers, and generally try to keep the Shiroi-owned gangs from invading their territory.’

‘Not many people about,’ Suzuki commented. ‘Place looks deserted.’

‘We’re in an air-conditioned van,’ Tatsu pointed out. ‘Out there it’s an oven. Would you want to be on the streets in this weather?’

‘That’s a point. Makes for lousy video though.’

‘Shame. Turn left here, Watanabe.’

Before their driver could respond, Suzuki perked up. ‘There’s some action. Are they gang members?’

Tatsu had a feed from Suzuki’s camera in her sensorium, which she now checked. ‘Could you zoom in?’ As he did so, her facial recognition system began picking out faces. ‘Yeah, that’s the local Yankees. That’s Alex Willard, their leader. What are they up to?’

Now Yamauchi perked up. ‘Can we get an interview with Willard?’

‘I don’t know, can you?’

‘I can get an interview with anyone, Sergeant.’

‘Your funeral. Pull over, Watanabe, but give them some distance. They might decide your van is a threat if you get too close. How’s your English, Yamauchi?’

‘Excellent.’

‘Good, because they’ll probably avoid Japanese.’

‘We’ll subtitle it,’ Watanabe said, slewing the van over to the side of the street.

They were surrounded by apartment blocks, occupied ones in good repair. Or as good as it got in Chiba. Still, the sun was beating down on the street and the heat flooded in as Yamauchi opened the van’s side door. She frowned at Tatsu when the cop followed her out. ‘They aren’t going to talk to us with a police officer standing beside me.’

‘You’d be amazed,’ Tatsu replied.

‘Sergeant Yamada,’ Willard said, in English, as the trio approached. ‘Who are the tourists?’ Willard was your typical thuggish gang leader: violently cropped hair of an indeterminate, dark colour, a flat nose, and plenty of muscles. His eyes were blue and showed distinct signs of intelligence, however.

‘Miss Yamauchi is a reporter. She wants to interview you fine, upstanding gentlemen.’

Willard frowned. ‘Don’t recognise her. Small channel?’

Tatsu shook her head. ‘TNM.’

‘Oh, that’s why I don’t recognise her.’

‘You don’t watch TNM?’ Yamauchi asked. ‘Mister Willard, right?’

‘Yeah, and no, I don’t watch TNM. Have you seen your programming? Lame-ass game shows, crappy sitcoms, filler anime, and biased reporting.’

‘Can’t disagree about the game shows,’ Suzuki said.

Yamauchi gave him a look. ‘I don’t do biased reports. I report what I see and hear. If my bosses don’t like it, they get to put up with it. I just want to ask a few questions about the conditions here in Chiba.’

‘Get lost,’ Willard said. ‘Whatever I say, you’ll twist it into something that paints refugees in a bad light.’

‘But–’

‘I said no.’

‘You can get an interview with anyone?’ Tatsu asked as they walked back to the van.

‘Maybe don’t mention which channel I work for next time,’ Yamauchi said.

‘Ah, so you get interviews by lying to your interviewees. Got it. I can probably get you an interview with Vasilev, even if he knows who you are.’

‘Grigory Vasilev? The current leader of the Funabashi gang?’

‘That’s him. Willard may look like a thug, but he’s pretty smart. He holds a border territory, so he knows to pick his battles. He likes to win, and an interview with you is, as he suggested, a no-win situation. Vasilev will think he’ll look good on a vid stream, and he’s lost the advisors who’d tell him he shouldn’t do it.’

‘If you could arrange that, that would be great.’

Tatsu put one foot into the van, taking one more look at the Yankees before she stepped inside. They had been armed, ready for at least a skirmish. What had they heard? Or was it simply that all the gangs were getting ready for things to spark?

25th August.