To My Sunflower

Kei noticed they had a car tailing them when he turned onto the isolated dirt roads towards the north of Hiroshima City.

"Looks like we have a tail." Kei bit his lip as his eyes darted to the tiny vehicle barely noticeable in the rear vision mirror.

Tyne titled his head, so he could see what Kei saw in the mirror from his view in the back-seat.

"What's the condition of the car?" He wanted to triage their chances of an outrun.

"Tank's half empty." Kei soberly reported.

"Then try to ditch them through the forest paths," Sean said.

He nudged Tyne closer to the back window, so he could lean forward to point at the upcoming side road that seemed to be cutting into a dense forest.

Kei glimpsed Sean's finger targetting the road. He nodded and increased speed to do a sharp turn onto the dirt road. He turned off on to a wide fire trail that was heading downwards to another main road.

Sean dared a glance at the back window, to see if they were being followed. He sighed with relief when there was no one behind them.

"Looks like we lost them."

Eiji wasn't convinced. He held his composure in the front passenger seat with his mind reeling on plans and strategies should they be run off the road.

Tama had woken to the abrupt change of pace and leaped on to Sean lap into a trembling ball. He calmed her with pats.

Kei skilfully drove them onto the main road. The car entered the lanes at a calmer pace, and avoiding pulled carts or carriages with ease.

The way before them was eventually quiet and void of other vehicles and signs of life. Kei had managed to work out where they were, after noticing a few village signs from passing farm houses and minkas on the sides.

"SHIT!" He swore when a car swerved at them from the other side of the road, causing them to go into a fierce spin.

He dropped the gear and speed, eased back on the brakes to control the spin into a mad wobble. He was able to rebalance the car and continue the drive forward.

The offending car had regained speed to over take them. It did a sharp turn a few meters up the road to block their path.

Kei slammed the brakes. The car's screeching provoked a flock of birds into the air from nearby trees. The smell of burnt rubber wafted about their noses as they skidded to an abrupt stop.

"KEI!" Tyne yelped as his head banged Kei's when his body was jolted forward.

Eiji had instinctively slammed his arm on Kei's chest to stop his upper body from smashing onto the windshield and driving wheel.  He had been wearing his seatbelt, which had stopped him from going through the windshield himself. An extra safety measure to withstand Kei's mad driving. The consequence was a jarring pain to his forearm. He checked for broken bones and still felt feeling in his fingers. Seems the most he'd suffer later was a nasty bruise.

Sean had held Tama tightly that he suffered claw marks from where she had dug into his legs to stop herself from flying.

Outside, thick dust clouds hovered around them. When the dust had settled, from the view of the window, they saw two officers step out of the other car.

Eiji gulped at the sight of an all black uniform bearing the metal emblem belonging to a kenpei officer. His mind panicked at the sight of Ren in his khaki uniform. Ren's expression was void of pleasantries and cordialness

What was he doing there?

"Step out of the car!" The kenpei shouted when he stopped a few paces away from the driver's door.

Eiji glanced to Ren standing behind the officer. He suspected the man was angry and confused behind his poker face expression.

Kei felt his blood boil when the kenpei pulled out a government issued handgun and aimed it to his head from the other side of the driver's window.

"GET... OUT!"

Kei glared into the kenpei's narrowed dark eyes and common Japanese features. The shade from the man's stiff peak cap, accentuated the sobriety to his expression. He sensed the man's mad intent from the twitches to the corner of the man's mouth.

His eyes darted to the steady black gloved finger, which hovered a fraction of a move away from pulling back the trigger that would lodge a bullet into his brain.

He sighed and carefully unlocked the door to open it, stepping out with his hands raised.

The kenpei stepped back with his gun raised higher. Not giving Kei an inch to make a break or attack.

The other men reluctantly stepped out of the car.  Sean set Tama to the ground on the other side of them. At least one of them had a chance for a getaway should there be gunfire and bodies dropping to the ground.

She sniffed the dirt ground to gather her bearings and found shelter underneath the car, slightly frightened by the heighten energies coming from the humans.

"Officer Takahashi-san. What is the meaning of this?" Tyne calmly asked his question to Ren with his hands in the air.

He stood next to Kei with Eiji on the other side of him. Sean held his place closer towards the tank to hide Tama from view. They all had their hands raised in the air.

"My question to you Weber-sensei." Ren answered, not giving away his expression. "Officer Yamamoto-san told me what you did on the train."

Tyne sighed. "What do you intend to do officers?"

The kenpei lifted his gun and re-aimed it on Ren's head. "Takahashi-kun."  He fired the trigger.

"TAKAHASHI!" Eiji wailed as Ren's body dropped to the ground.  His heart raced with anxiety at seeing the man lifeless near his feet. "WHY?!"

"Because you were careless." The kenpei relaxed his hold on his weapon and hoistered it.

"The trail you made that I had to cover.  I should shoot you all myself." His voice relaxed into an American accent.

Sean recalled the spy they had handed the map to. "You were our contact back at the drop zone. You've been following us this whole time?"

"Major Schmidt's orders."

"Why kill Takahashi-san?!" Tyne gritted his teeth.

"You're a terrible agent." The kenpei officer smirked, wagging a condescending finger before his face. "A weak bastard for a lieutenant."

"How close was he to finding out about us?" Sean soberly asked.

"He was always digging for the truth of you, according to our asset." The kenpei officer winked at Sean.

"Asset?" Tyne gulped, his mind circling back to facts and landed on a likely candidate. "Suzuki-san."

The kenpei nodded. "She had heard about the train attack from her associates. Your timing to the village was too coincidental."

Eiji cupped his hand over his mouth, holding back his urge to vomit. He caused all of this. Ren would still be alive if he hadn't wanted to make a detour to deliver his teacher's letter.

"It's okay. Throw up. A Jap faggot don't have guts to be a man." The kenpei crudely acknowledged Eiji's condition.

"Mutherf'cker!" Kei dropped his hands to swing a punch at the kenpei officer.

The kenpei was able to skillful side-step around Kei's hand-to-hand combat tactics. He landed a near-deadly punch to Kei's stomach. Kei fell back into Sean's arms.

The officer did a swift round-house kick to push Kei and Sean onto the car. They both landed to the ground, groaning from pain.

"What some whoopass too, Pussy?" The kenpei cackled maniacally.

Tyne observed the tightness of the man's muscles beneath his suit jacket and the broadness of his shoulders.  Likely a trained US marine before becoming a spook.

"What are your orders?" He stood firmly before the man, not willing to show any weakness.

"Good solider." The kenpei smirked. "You're to deliver another comic to Dr. Hashimoto at Wiesmen's office in the Higashi district. It's near the Oto River. The drop off has to happen at 08:00 on July 21st. You'll face consequences if you fail your mission. Treason would be the least of your problems."

Tyne received the sealed map from the kenpei.

"I'll take back the radio too." The kenpei issued another order.

Tyne heaved a sigh. After a moment of thought, he calmly went to the bonnet to pop the hood and retrieve the suitcase.

"No more mistakes. I won't be around to keep your life free and lovely. And a message from the Major, 'It has been a pleasure soldiers. Don't betray your country no matter what'." The kenpei smirked as he claimed the suitcase from Tyne and strolled back to his car.

He got in and cockily drove off. Leaving Ren's body for them to clean off the road.

Eiji knelt down over Ren with apologises. If Ren was an enemy soldier during honorable battle he could justify the death.  Ren was a civilian officer for Japan. A good man who he came to see as a friend.

"I'm sorry Eiji," Sean said to console him.

"This is my doing. My crime for being a traitor to my country." Eiji swallowed back his tears, feeling his resolve for his next actions. "His death is on my hands."

"No. Wrong. You didn't pull the trigger." Tyne tried to reason with Eiji.

"If we didn't detour to Ohno-sensei's village, Takahashi-san would still be alive!" Eiji shouted. "He died because of me!"

"For godsakes Eiji. YOU ARE A SOLDIER!" Tyne yelled.

"FOR JAPAN!" Eiji shouted back. " I was a soldier for Japan! This is f'cked up!"

Eiji went to the passenger seat to grab his jacket.  He glanced at Tama who was starring at him from underneath the car.  He knelt down to give her a farewell pat.

"Look after them." He gently whispered to her.

"What'd you think your doing?!" Sean pulled him up and spun him about to face him.

Eiji answered by slamming a punch to his stomach.

"What I should've done as soon as I got here!" Eiji spat back. "I can't..."

He turned and sprinted into the thick of underbush and dense canopies of the trees.

Sean held in the pain. He faced the direction Eiji had taken. He and Kei motioned to go after him when Tyne shocked them into a stop with an abrupt round of gunfire from his handguns that he had retrieved from the bonnet's hiddent compartment.

"We have to deal with Takahashi-san's body first." He said, drawing their attention back to Ren who had lost a deal of color from his skin due to the loss of blood that had left a shallow puddle around his body.

Sean and Kei reluctantly retraced their steps back to Tyne. The three men commenced with the gruesome task of disposing Ren's body.