Jeremiah was in his secure offices at the safe house when the message from Grey’s security system notified him of the attack and Grey’s final choice. Rage did not overwhelm him, but he began to contact the people who would be needed.

It only took an hour to trace the contract and the hitman’s identity. First, he made the hardest call. It was answered on the second ring. “Mushi-mushi Jeremiah san.”

“Jasmine, I have need of a Nogitsune. Your father has been granted his final wish.”

“He was proud that her voice did not tremble when she replied, “Have we traced the ones who granted his wish?”

“Yes. I am sending you an information packet. It will involve two individuals. One, I want to have a final solution on. The younger one is up to you. I trust you to make the best choice.”

There was a pause on the line before she spoke again. “I will honor the promise of the Shinigami Oyabun. I will uphold the honor of the family.”

“Please let me know when you have finished.”

“You will know almost as soon as the subject does.”

---===+++===---

Jeremiah made the call to Johnny Black as soon as Grey’s last transmission came through. “Johnny, I need you in Las Vegas, ASAP. I am sending you the transponder code for your passenger.”

“Jeremiah, your guy Sam is just getting to know the Mods. I can’t strand him here.”

“Johnny, Grey was just killed at his house. It was a sniper who shot him first. When he went to confirm the kill, Grey blew them both up.”

“Got it, sir! Anything you need. I am sorry for your loss.”

Jeremiah sighed at the other end of the line, “It was how he wanted it to end. The person you are picking up is named Jasmine. Get her to LA as soon as you can. Wait for her to finish her mission. Probably less than a week. Your usual fees and bonuses apply, of course.”

“I’ll keep you updated.” After saying this, Johnny waved goodbye to the Mods he saw and yelled to them, “I have to go do something for Jeremiah. I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

Running to the Tear, he closed it up and powered up the engines as soon as he was jacked into the nav system. As he lifted off, he found the tracking signal for Jasmine and did the calculations for a ballistic arc to bring his powerful craft down gracefully in Utah. He would be landing in an area that was considered a free zone near Salt Lake City. Countermeasures he had never tried before were turned on. This would be a great ride. Going full burn had him at the apogee of his ballistic path in ten minutes. Allowing the tear to fall most of the way through the downward part of his path. The countermeasures included a plasma field that would surround the craft. The field created caused the air molecules to slide off of it, so that there was no heat created because there was reduced friction. At the last moment, he got rid of the downward momentum with the engines. The G-forces were punishing and nearly overcame the pressure zones of his flight suit that kept his blood from being forced away from his brain.

The Black Tear groaned at the rough treatment. Johnny was going to have to have Haans check the craft for signs of metal fatigue. Structural failure would not be fun at high altitude, speed, or G-forces. All readouts showed nominal, and the engines were all in the green range as he dropped it to a gentle landing fifteen feet from a young woman with a stereotypical high school backpack. The cute anime characters on the bag were brightly colored. Her clothing was just a pink sweatsuit and some little, pink canvas shoes with white soles. They looked comfortable. She walked right up to the hatch as it swung open.

Walking up the ramp and into the main compartment, Jasmine looked around. Seeing the passenger seat, she sat in it and buckled her seatbelt. “What are we waiting for? I have business in LA. What’s your name?”

“The engines are spinning up right now. We will be airborne in moments. I’m Johnny Black. Welcome to the Black Tear.”

Before she could respond, the cabin tilted upward at the front, and Jasmine was pushed back into her seat by acceleration. The walls of the cabin, the floor, and the ceiling showed the spectacular view as they went up to tree-top altitude. Dust and light debris swept up in a rooster tail were visible when she looked behind her at the back wall. The flight took less time than the girl expected. She just had time to apply the disguise prosthetics and makeup. She went with the Japanese schoolgirl look. The plan was to get the clothes part of the disguise taken care of in the small safehouse in LA. The rest of the flight was used to study the information about her targets.

The hard look in her eyes as she studied the materials made it clear to Johnny that small talk was not going to be part of the flight. It felt like a shame that such a beautiful girl would have such a cold look.

He was focusing on his flightpath when she spoke up, “Ahem, it’s Johnny, right? Since you work for Jeremiah, did you know Grey?”

“Yes. He was a really great guy. Not very talkative, but a great guy. I guess you knew him, too?”

“He was my father. I respected him greatly.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

She took a moment to look down, then she replied as she looked back up to Johnny as he flew into the outskirts of LA. “He was going to die from cancer. It was already stage four when they detected it. He got the blessing to pass the way he always wanted to. He took out the garbage who attacked him.”

Johnny was a little shocked at the quiet venom of her tone. I would hate to be on the wrong side of her in that mood! That was all Johnny could think.

“Once we are down, I will go get things ready. I should be ready to get to WSFZ by tomorrow evening.”

“Cool, I’ll use the time to double-check the Tear and get her ready for the trip. Refueling should be simple. The safehouse has all of the supplies. Get ready, we have to reduce our speed to keep from raising a fuss.”

She nodded curtly to the man. Johnny couldn’t help but wish she would be around long enough for him to see her smile.

Dropping to a more sedate speed as they entered the outskirts, Johnny brought the craft around to enter the warehouse district at the docks. The rusted metal roof of one of the warehouses opened up just enough for the Black Tear to slide in before it closed with almost no sound at all.

As soon as the hatch opened, the girl looked at Johnny and made a little wave, “Thanks for the lift. I’ll knock this out and be back by tomorrow night. Be ready. Jeremiah needs us in WSFZ for the cleanup on this opp.” She walked out and left through one of the concealed exits from the building.

Johnny started the electronic diagnostics through the computer and broke out his overalls and the toolkit. Once he was dressed for the work, he started taking apart the delicate parts of the sophisticated machine. It would take him several hours to go over the critical systems.

Johnny finished up three hours later and took a shower, ate some of the food stored in the full chef grade kitchen of the safehouse, and went to sleep in one of the five bedrooms.

---===+++===---

Jasmine walked for an hour before she called a car service to pick her up. She had set up the hotel room she needed before Johnny came to pick her up. She put her bag in the room and changed into an outfit that would be ignored more easily than the pink sweatsuit. She had some supplies to get and an outfit to arrange. It was a good thing that Jeremiah-San had set up a line of credit for her. Of course, how could he not? We are family after all.