The Formidable Stranger (Trilogy)

The Aftermath

Five months had passed since New York almost became the distribution point for 50,000 keys of Red Dragon Cocaine. Casper had readjusted to being at home and back with his friends, with both CEOs of Sakamoto Distributors Ltd being dead Casper had recently stepped up to the mantle. For the past three months he had been seated at the big table, owning his father's chair on the 20th floor of the company and with all the work he had to be doing the board members had been advising him for months to fill the position of an executive assistant. However, he was determined to leave the position open in hopes for the return of Penelope Shanae. It had been five months since she disappeared; leaving no trace to where she might have gone. Casper had Tammy forge a resignation letter on her behalf and so the accountant position she held before had been filled. "I already told you, I don't need an assistant Sophie," Casper said while being annoyed by Sophie; a shareholder and board member of Sakamoto Distributors."Yes Mr. Lee, I heard you the first two hundred times. However, please don't run this company into the ground" she said doubting his capabilities "Your father would turn in his grave".Casper looked up at her with eyes of disdain and she took that as her cue to leave the room. On the upside of things, Casper had done more than enough to save his father's company but in a way that none of the board members could ever know; Sakamoto Distributors was no longer tied to the Kingship or any aspect of the criminal underworld with him being the CEO. The secret basement had been cleared out of all illegal substances single-handedly. He had never exposed the area but instead he used it as his base of operations when his alter ego came out to play; there had been many sightings of a ninja running around New York and beating up criminals. No one knew anything, not the 6000 employees and not even his closest friends; Casper had been overly secretive about being in Japan and the fact that he was the one who dismantled the Red Dragon operation upon his return. He told Drew that he returned a week after the whole ordeal which led him to believe that maybe Jasper Wong was killed by rival gang members or even the kingship itself for accepting an outsider. Katherine was looking better these days as time helped to heal her broken heart, partially at least.Anyway, the evening came and unlike the previous Chief Executive Officers, Casper finished up and left the office at around 7:00; not having any extra underworld business to deal with. He would normally go straight home these days, with not much time for any fun with his pals, however, this evening was the beginning of a new terror and Casper was about to find that out. He departed from the building and entered the parking lot where he saw his father's bright and shiny red Range Rover waiting for him; he got out the keys and disabled the alarm moments before hopping inside. For the past few months, Casper had been driving his deceased father's vehicle to work, after spending some time with its restoration; it was like there was still a part of Sakamoto at the company. He started up the engine and drove out heading for his home in Forrest Hills, the red vehicle moving like a beacon through the night was easily identifiable and as he drove through the streets of New York he noticed a black old school Cadillac tailing him with the top down. To make certain of it, he made a few wrong turns to see if the car would follow him, and it did. "Who the hell is this?" He uttered to himself as his face made that infamous look of confusion; he could smell the stench of trouble. Cas pulled over on the side of the street next to an old post office and the Cadillac parked behind him in the same fashion, he jumped out and stared into the dazzling glare of headlights. Covering his eyes he heard the voice of a man "Mr. Lee". The lights dimmed and he saw the shadow get out of the car, on the passenger side there was another man getting out and he had something in his hand that seemed to be a gun. The main character held up his hand to his acquaintance and said "no, it's not that kind of night Stevie, I just wanna talk to him". Stevie then got back into the car and the man began walking towards him. "Who are you and what do you want?" Casper asked "Casper isn't it?" the man said; he was a man who seemed to be in his 50's however he looked like any old tough gangbanger, not anything like the usual criminals Casper faced as the shadow warrior."Good night, Casper Lee, how do you like your new position as CEO? Shame what happened to your father though""I'm not gonna ask again, who are you and what do you want?" Casper said with a face and tone that spoke even louder than his words."Hmm, I don't smell one drop of fear inside you, normally I'd get a little more respect or something from you youngins" he continued with a laugh "But I can respect that, you got balls like your old man".Casper held his peace as he stood firm and stared into the eyes of the man."Allow me to formally introduce myself, I'm Mr. Sir and I'm here on behalf of the Kingship""Mr. Sir? A little redundant don't ya think?" "Sakamoto mentioned you were a wise ass, anyway, you know quite well what your father's role was regarding the organization I just mentioned, we expect the same from you""haha, sorry... Mr. Sir, not interested, now I suggest you get out of my face" said Cas as he turned around to get back into his vehicle. "I suggest.. You listen to what I have to say... Before you have another funeral to go to" Mr. Sir said as he held on to Casper's arm. "Did you just threaten me?" Cas said as he slammed the door and looked into Mr. Sir's eyes with a deadly stare. "You better believe it son, come to this location tomorrow night at 10pm and we'll discuss the particulars" he said as he handed him a piece of paper with an address "do as I say Casper, or Katherine, Drew, Tammy, Cipher, maybe even Penelope.. Will face the consequences for your actions" he pressed the paper into Casper's chest and gave him a little push.Clearly, Mr. Sir did his homework on Casper beforehand but he obviously didn't know Penelope was the Red Dragon or that she had been missing. Mr. Sir went back into his Cadillac and drove off shouting through the window "10:00 Mr. Lee!"Casper watched as the gangster disappeared and got back into his father's car, as he drove home the thought crippled his mind; how was he going to stop the kingship from hurting his loved ones and more importantly how was he going to defeat the head of the underworld. Since the beginning, Casper only wanted to stop his father's madness and had no intentions of taking on a criminal organization of that size. The inevitable had come though, he had to, plus there was the bigger issue of finding Penny. He had been searching all around New York and even elsewhere in the United States where he knew she had acquaintances or any known family, if they were even family to begin with. He even contacted Yakaturi to search around Japan as he pondered on what she said to him "I'm going home". Finally, he pulled up into his drive way, he entered through the big gates of the Lee's residence and drove along the pavement towards the garage as he reversed in. Not spending much time downstairs he kissed his mother good night and took his dinner up to his room, moments after he was settled in Katherine came up to ask if he was okay as she was taking his dirty plate from him."I was gonna wash that mom... You really don't have to...""Shush boy, it's alright" she interrupted "what's wrong though? You seem troubled" "Just more of dad's trouble...""What do you mean?""I got paid a visit tonight from a 'Mr. Sir' on behalf of the kingship, requesting that I continue what dad started or he'll hurt everyone I care about"Katherine's face made a wrinkled look as she sat down on the bed beside him. "Mr. Sir? A bit redundant but okay.""That's what I said" he added"However, I know you will do what's right." she said with a smile."How can you be so calm?" he asked "I have faith" she said... "Now you just focus on being the good boss".She then took the plate and left the room as Cas went to sleep early, many months ago this would have kept him up all night but he knew now that he wasn't the same person he used to be and besides, running a billion dollar company really tired him out. Saturday morning arrived beginning the countdown to his deadline, but much like every other Saturday before, Casper awoke to the beam of sunlight shining in his room and the smell of Kat's cooking. He went down to join her for breakfast and then the two did their usual weekend chores.As the day went by Cas went by Drew and Tammy's place, he told them about what happened last night. They knew everything concerning the Kingship and Sakamoto's involvement but had no idea about Casper's newly found identity."So what are we gonna do?" Drew asked"Yeah we can't take on the head of the underworld brother, our little detective games don't qualify us for that level of madness" Tammy said as she handed out beers. "We'll figure it out... I'll go to the meeting tonight and try to work things out, one thing I know is I'm not doing it" They both stared at him with doubt, and as time passed he went back home to prepare himself. Cas stood in his room looking at himself in the mirror for a little while before he released a deep sigh, he bent down and reached under his bed for a metal box. As he opened it up he saw his registered chrome Beretta handgun and two cartridges; inserting one and clicking the safety on he put it in his waist. "Insurance, tonight only Casper Lee can get things done" he said to himself knowing if the vigilante showed up they might figure out his secret.The deadline approached and he left home in his 69 Camaro, the car had gotten a facelift since the last time he took it out for an adventure; it was newly given a fresh coat of paint, Jet Black with deep dish red wheels and a dark black tint job. The muscle car roared through the city of New York as he made his way to the address on the paper, it was an old factory on the west side of Harlem. When he approached there was a big chain link gate with two thugs guarding it, already given their orders they let him in but unfortunately, he was searched and stripped of his weapon before entering the building. As he walked inside he took notice of everything; broken glass on the ground from the windows, rats running around and a table in the middle of the factory with five chairs, four of which were occupied and one for him. This all seemed too familiar with the first day he started working at his father's company, and he could tell that this wasn't a permanent location for the kingship due to the horrible housekeeping. "Mr. Lee, It's nice of you to join us, ready to talk business?" Mr. Sir said as he stood up and pointed to Casper's chair. Casper walked up slowly eyeballing everyone around the table, and finally responded "Yeah we do need to talk""Wonderful! These are your new coworkers, Stevie, Marco, and Haram. We welcome you to the Kingship".Cas chuckled, "That's funny, I'm not here to join anything, I'm here to let you know that you better back off and leave my family out of your shit, got it?" Within seconds of hearing this Stevie flew up out of his chair and approached Cas. "Stevie... What are you doing?" Mr. Sir said as he tried to simmer down his hot-headed soldier, but Stevie being the way he is, took out his gun and pressed it into Casper's forehead."Excuse me little boy, you were saying?" he said to him, eager to pull the trigger."See now Stevie, that was a huge mistake.." Casper said with a smile, with no further hesitation he used his hand to push away the gun as the sound of a single shot expanded throughout the factory, he delivered one solid punch to the throat of his foe and disarmed him, spinning him around in a split second he used him as a shield and pressed his own gun against his temple. The other two thugs, Marco and Haram stood up and pointed their Thompson sub-machine guns at him. "Tommy guns? You guys are really old school with this mafia shit huh?" he teased at them. The next sound heard was the clapping hands of Mr. Sir "Very nice presentation Casper, boys sit down" he said as they followed his command. "I heard you were a capable fighter; however I suggest you let my guy go, he's a little hot on the temper but he's the best I got". As Mr. Sir said this, he took out a cell phone and dialed a number. When the person on the other end picked up he placed the phone on speaker, Casper's face instantly showed fear as he heard the screams of his close friend Tammy. It seemed like she was being slapped around real good and Drew's voice was heard screaming at her abusers "NO! Leave her alone!" Without second guessing it, Cas let go of Stevie and handed him his gun. Stevie in return delivered a gun butt to Casper's face and he fell on the floor hard, blood spewing from his nose, when he looked up he saw Mr. Sir walking toward him. "You see Mr. Lee, the Kingship will get what it wants, tell you what... I'll give you until tomorrow morning to come to your senses, I understand you may have a concussion. Your friend Tammy, will be in our custody for safekeeping to ensure you cooperate. Now I suggest you go attend to your brother... beautiful friendship by the way". Casper's eyes peered at him, as he struggled to get up."Here, come to this address tomorrow morning at 9:30" Mr. Sir said as he gave him another piece of paper with a new address. He threw it on the floor as Cas grabbed it and hurried to his feet.Quickly he went back outside, the guards gave him back his gun and he got into his Camaro and blasted off to Drew's place, when he arrived his tires could be heard screeching as he jammed the brakes entering his best friend's yard. He ran inside and saw Drew tied up in the corner. "Brother!" Cas shouted as he took a knife and cut the ropes, removing the tape from Drew's mouth as he uttered "They took her...""I know, don't worry we're gonna get her back" Cas said as he gave comfort to his friend. He continued to tell him everything that happened at the old factory and they wondered what they would have to do to get Tammy back."There are four of them plus they got thugs on demand as extra muscle from what I could gather""Screw extra muscle, we take out those four and we cut off the head" Drew said "I hope so, listen I have a plan, but there's something I've been hiding from you.""What?" Drew asked sternly as he placed an ice bag on his head "I don't even know where to begin, but I'll tell you everything tomorrow, just be at this address at 8:30 in the morning, we'll get her back" Cas said "I gotta go check on my mom"."Okay brother we'll talk later" Drew responded.