"Preperations" by Samuel C. Takara

© Samuel C. Takara, 2001

"And so it begins."

Billy surveyed the South Town skyline from the penthouse of the infamous Geese Tower. The cloudy night was foretelling of a dour day ahead. Storm? Perhaps. Rain at the least. Rain and wind.

Billy grimaced. Sometimes the East Coast was too much like England. Billy despised English weather. Oh well. South Town's summers were moderate, and even quite pleasant during July. But the winter months were cold, wet, and rainy. For some odd reason it never really snowed there; only once in a blue moon, it seemed. He turned from the window reluctantly, not eager to go back to work.

The view would not change during the night, and the work had to be done. He consoled himself on that much.

He sat down to a fullsize oak desk. It suited his purposes, but admitted it was a bit extravagant for his tastes. Not much he could do about that, though. Appearances must be kept, and his position required it. After all, it would be unseemly for Geese Howard's second-in-command to have anything less.

The computer monitor flickered as it brought up the feasibility analysis for various business ventures. Howard's legitimate business interests were doing rather well, enough to more than pay for all his "daytime operations." The profits were good the past quarter, and several investments were already showing dividends in terms of growth, profitability, and even a few key patents.

Billy clicked a separate icon, entered his password, and spoke into the microphone built into the monitor.

"Kane, Billy. Access code confirmation: Peekaboo."

He smiled a little. He doubted anybody would think of that. And even if they did, the security program used voice recognition and also watched the individual typing style of the person trying to access the computer. All at Billy's insistence, of course.

The screen flashed black for a moment, then a single message graced the screen.

"Access secured. Encryption active. Firewall Active. Operating under Stealth parameters."

The monitor burped again, and a slew of information poured forth. He usually worked on the "Night-time operations" at night, considering it the only time he was truly in the right frame of mind to do so. The night hid many unpleasant things about Southtown, including this. Drug shipment and production schedules, power brokering, blackmail, weapon orders, fraud of every magnitude, and more. Normally, Billy could spend the whole night micromanaging every detail, but there were more pressing issues on a more global scale.

Primarily that of the Shadowlaw and the major independents, which included Geese.

The tension between the two groups had existed for a number of years, but apparently conflict was now unavoidable. Expansion plans were beginning to intertwine, and there had already been 7 incidents between the factional underlings. The estimated losses were between ten and fifteen million dollars. Admittedly, when each organization did roughly several billion dollars per year, the losses could be overlooked for the sake of a peaceable market. However, the dwindling available markets and desire to expand prevented this from being a long term option.

Billy began looking through the various journals and profiles of the cast for the upcoming drama. Rugal Burnstein topped the list. As the second largest member of their partnership, Rugal was essential to anything they would undertake. However, unknown to most of the leaders involved, Rugal was allegedly killed out at sea. His secretaries carried on with business, faking his communications with a very sophisticated computer system that Billy provided them. As long as they smart enough to avoid any focused scrutiny, the illusion could be continued.

Wolfgang Krauser, on the other hand, was alive and well. However, he was linked by Rugal, so if the truth ever came out, he could become a wildcard. Krauser was not known for his sense of humor. However, as long as Shadowlaw was viewed as a threat to his dominance in Europe, the "Enemy of my enemy" principle would work. Billy noted at least one altercation between Krauser and Shadowlaw would need to occur, manufactured if need be.

Mr. Big could be trusted for South Town's operations during any absence required of Billy or Geese. Although suspected of having plans to overthrow Geese's regime in South Town, he would never endanger his position with the general scheme of things. Also, the Shadowlaw's habit of putting their own people in high places would prevent him from selling out.

Billy sighed. The only allies present were more dangerous than they ought to be. Unfortunately, they were all that were available and could knowingly be brought into these affairs. Everybody else had to be manipulated one way or another. Shadow games, while effective, were also unpredictable by nature. The reliance on properly motivated pawns could hide the trail back to them, but could also backfire on them too. You can only focus their motives so far, and while the pawn's agenda protected you, you were still dealing with someone else's agenda. Tricky business.

Billy brought up a separate group of profiles: Sakazaki, Kusanagi, Bogard, "Orochi."

Very tricky business.

He secured his computer, closed all available files, and send a copy of his proposal to Geese, encrypted and for his eyes only. He had no doubt Geese would approve. Geese would just assume every contingency was considered, every angle examined, every question answered. And he would be right up to a point. Unfortunately Shadowlaw's leader was an unknown quantity, and that troubled Billy. That, however, was Geese's problem, not his. Responsiblilty of position and all. Leader versus leader, seeing who had the better strategy.

That didn't help Billy feel any better, but business was business.

So, he re-entered the daytime logs, checked his own financial standings. Business was good. Profits weren't spectacular, but steady and reliable. Just the way he liked them. His holdings in various companies were doing well, but he double checked them anyhow. Regardless of how everything went, he was going to be ready, even if it meant an early retirement from the South Town syndicate.

A little preparation never killed anybody, he reasoned.