CH 33

Although he was able to communicate with them, the cross-cultural exchange between them didn’t go very far.

Unfortunately, there were no “Jokes to Make Friends with Kidnappers” in his phone’s translation app, so it was difficult for Hiroki to explain the complicated circumstances behind the kidnapping with the vocabulary of the template examples provided.

Besides, Hiroki guessed that J and Ace (which were probably pseudonyms) were the lowest-ranking members of this kidnapping group and they didn’t have any information about their clients. There’s also the fact that one of them couldn’t talk at all because he kept crying.

[Pretending to cry was probably a ruse, so when I let down my guard, they would fight back with a knife hidden in their boots or something like that.]

Hiroki has seen stuff like this in movies and dramas. In fact, he’s quite familiar with it.

He was so impressed with the two of them showing guts even this late that he carried the drums to the hole and hung them up above it.

Of course, if he dropped them, he didn’t feel like fetching them up, so he carefully held them up with both hands so that only the bottom half of the drum was dipped into the hole.

However, the crying guy started going crazy the moment he was dipped into the hole, and he almost let go.

Hiroki wondered, was it extremely cold in the hole or something?

After a few hours or so thwarting the kidnappers like that, the phone had been taken from the kidnappers rang.

The number was unknown. Well, Hiroki could already guess who it is.

[Hello?]

""

[Are the two safe?]

In fairly fluent Japanese, the guy on the other end of the phone first asked Hiroki for the two’s safety.

It seemed like the leader of their group was very considerate of his fellow workers.

[They are alive. However, I haven’t given them any water or food, so I think we should hurry this up.]

Hiroki could hear him cursing in English on the other end of the phone.

It’s just, well, it’s hard to give water or food to a person stuffed in an oil drum, and if they did something, small or large, Hiroki suspects that they would probably do something so he’d end up wanting to throw them into the hole, so Hiroki hopes that the guy on the other end of the phone would make a compromise.

[……Including car repairs and nuisance fees, we’ve got $100,000 ready for you. I’m sorry, but we can’t offer more than that.]

[It’s fine. Where do you want me to take them.]

It’s not like Hiroki had any money problems.

There was an interval of up to a few seconds before the other party responded, as if he was a little perplexed by the fact that Hiroki hadn’t negotiated with them at all.

[……I sent you the location. Meet me there in half an hour and I’ll give you the money in exchange for the two.]

With that, the call was disconnected.

The designated delivery location was on an ordinary country road in the middle of nowhere.

It was right in the neighborhood.

It was only a 15-minute drive from his office through an ordinary road.

[Well then, let’s get going.]

Hiroki got up and left with the drums, which were slightly darkened and discolored at the bottom, and loaded them into his personal light truck, which was parked far away from the bulletproof Lexus.

[As I thought, compared to the Lexus, this one’s noisy and lacked power.]

However, as Hiroki drove the truck, he felt at home, as it had been his favorite vehicle for many years.

Feeling this, Hiroki thought it might be a good idea to take the SuperCab out of the storehouse for the first time in a while and give it a tune-up.

Hiroki drove his light truck along the country roads that were beginning to light up a bit.

★　★　★　★　★

The leader of the kidnapping group was waiting for Hiroki on a single road at night with good visibility.

Only one black SUV, the same one he had seen somewhere, was waiting nearby with its lights on.

Hiroki still had his guard up though, considering that there may be other people hiding somewhere.

As Hiroki got out of the light truck, the guys’ leader took off his balaclava.

He was a Caucasian with short-cropped hair and sharp eyes.

[Good evening. I see you were able to get here very quickly.]

[Speed is the key to business. Isn’t that right?]

[That sounds amazing, it really feels like the American Way.]

The Caucasian didn’t answer, but stared at the light truck and drums behind Hiroki.

[You came in a rather shoddy car. Are the two in there?]

[Yeah. However, it’s very convenient because it can carry a lot of stuff and is very maneuverable. Farmers in the US’ countryside drive pickup trucks too, right? This one’s the same as those.]

[Countryside farmers huh.]

Hmph, the way the Caucasian snorted looked straight out of a movie.

[How about we start by handing over the two?]

[Yeah, sure.]

Saying this, Hiroki took the drums off the back of his light truck and quietly placed them in front of the Caucasian.

He placed them carefully so as not to stimulate the people inside, but the leader guy seemed somewhat dissatisfied.

[Ahh, I guess it would be better if I open up the drums here huh.]

Since the other party will not have any tools available, it would be kinder to open the drum here.

Putting his hand on the lid of the drum, he peeled off the lid.

He also went on to peel off the lid of the other drum.

Since Hiroki thinks it would have been difficult to get them out of the drum, he tore the drum itself from the side as if he was peeling off the wrapping paper.

He was able to peel off the drum cleanly, leaving only the drums’ bottom plate, which secretly felt good for Hiroki, as if he had peeled off the skin of an apple in one go.

If there had been an audience like those in cooking shows, he’s sure they would definitely be just as satisfied as him.

[……What is that? Some kind of magic trick?]

Ripping open an oil drum with his bare hands, and two big men appeared! Looking at that scene, that certainly looks straight out of a magic show.

Hearing that gives Hiroki some pretty good ideas for the future.

However, his two magic assistants who were rescued sat down on their knees and didn’t move.

[It’s not magic. Anyhow, here are the two men, safely handed over.]

[……What did you do to them?]

[We just had a little talk.]

After the Caucasian gave his signal, several men clad in black, wearing balaclavas, emerged from the darkness and carried the two hostages out.

With their backs to Hiroki, they were cursing something in English, but the only word Hiroki could make out was “sadist”.

[Here’s the money. There’s $100,000 there.]

Checking it for a bit, Hiroki saw that the small suitcase handed to him by the Caucasian was stuffed with stacks of dollar bills.

Hiroki was too lazy to count them though, so he just calmly nodded.

[Lastly, I have some questions to ask.]

Hiroki called out to the man who was about to turn back after they finished their transaction.

He had a few questions he wanted to ask them.

[If the kidnapping had been successful, how much ransom would you have demanded?]

[100 million dollars would have been a firm guess.]

High. However, from the amount of cash the company had, Hiroki thinks taking out money like that would have been possible.

They could probably pay it all in one lump sum.

[Heehhh…… That’s quite the amount. Can you tell me the name of the client?]

[They seemed to be having some sort of fun. I don’t know the details because it went through several intermediaries.]

[A fund huh…… I don’t remember incurring anyone’s grudge…… so nothing comes to mind.]

[That’s what super rich people would think. They probably wanted to add your company to their portfolio.]

Hearing that, Hiroki wondered. Are they treating companies as cards you collect?

In that case, is MCTBH some sort of rare card with special effects?

……Thinking of it like this, Hiroki wanna collect some of those cards too.

[So, what are you gonna do after this?]

[Are you going to call the police?]

[No, I won’t. I think someone may call the security company for that bulletproof car though.]

[We’ll use a ship then. We would take a cargo ship to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia…… Then, we’ll ride whatever that would bring us out of Southeast Asia.]

That seems to be the case.

Hiroki couldn’t help but smile at their resilience.

They may have been kidnappers, but they were certainly pleasant people who cared about their men.

[I hope you get home safely.]

[And I hope we don’t ever see you again, you and your demonic black eyes.]

As the Caucasian commanded, with controlled movements, the men in balaclavas loaded John and Adam, whose feet had blackened until the top of their boots, into the SUV and drove off.

With the mountainside starting to become bright, dawn is almost upon them.

It has been quite an eventful and enjoyable evening.

Stretching out wide, Hiroki’s stomach growled with hunger.

[I guess I’ll go to a gyudon chain resto for breakfast.]

Gyudon is a worker’s best friend in the morning, with a raw egg lightly drizzled in soy sauce, a lot of red ginger, and plenty of shichimi.

As he drove off his light truck, Hiroki felt like having such a meal.

★　★　★　★　★

The next day, or rather, later that day, the person in charge was happy when Hiroki told him that he decided to buy the bulletproof Lexus.

And when he requested for a repair, he didn’t say anything about the accident on the car side just in case.

Even then, the data on the security side might still be there, but since Hiroki had bought the car, the other side would just take care of that.

If they don’t…… Hiroki wonders if he should bribe them with the dollar bills he received from the kidnappers.

He isn’t very clear about the rules of the underworld.

A few weeks later, the entire crew of a certain cargo ship disappeared and said ship was found drifting in the Indian Ocean as a ghost ship.

It was unknown if the ship had been attacked by pirates or not, but blood seemed to have been splattered all over the ship.

However, none of the ship’s cargo was missing except for food.

Since the ship wasn’t registered or owned in Japan and had no Japanese crew, it didn’t appear in Japan’s news except for some maritime-oriented websites.

T/N: Gyudon, or Japanese Beef Bowl, is basically a dish of thinly sliced fatty beef, cooked in a slightly sweet mixture of mirin and soy sauce and served over rice.