| Banana Fish; volume four |
| This volume begins with Jim Callenreese, Ash's dad, telling Max, Ibe, Eiji, and Shorter about Ash's past, and how he came to run away from home when he was eight years old. The story is terrible, and everyone leaves in a quiet mood, clearly feeling sorry for Ash--all except Eiji who admires his strength and will to survive. Later, when Jim is closing down his bar, a couple of Dino's men show up, looking for Ash. They hold Jim and Jennifer hostage, yelling for Ash to come quietly or they'd be killed. Ash surrenders, but before the men can take him, Max and Ibe flash car headlights into the bar and call out, pretending to be the police. Ash uses the opportunity to fight his way out. In the fray, Jennifer gets shot and killed and Jim gets shot through the shoulder. This makes Ash falter, and for a moment it looks like Dino's men are going to win, but Shorter comes to the rescue, wielding a very sharp knife. Jim orders Ash to escape while he can, promising to cover up the attack and killings with a story about a robbery. Ash leaves reluctantly, for the first time showing how much he cares for his father. With no other lead than a Los Angeles address, Max, Ibe, Eiji, Shorter, and Ash hop in the the truck and head west. Meanwhile, Papa Dino is clearing the path for Banana Fish. During a conference with Mr. Lee, the "Big Man" of New York's Chinatown, they come to an agreement not to work against each other. A fragile alliance is formed, and Lee offers the services of a certain "Yut-Lung" who resides in Los Angeles as a means to get ahold of Ash. In L.A., a very nervous Max guides them to his ex-wife's place, where they can find refuge for a few days. Though Max is thrilled to meet up with his son, Michael, his reaction to his furious, rifle-wielding, ex-wife Jessica is less enthusiastic. Before too long, they get to Dawson's house. They arrive in the midst of an attempted kidnapping. They foil the attempt, and discover that the beautiful Chinese boy they rescued is named Yau-si, and claims to be the adoptive son of Alex Dawson. Yau-si explains that he has no idea where his father is, that the man disappeared six months before. Dawson's house seems to have been ransacked by the kidnappers, but strangely, the computer wasn't touched. Ash gets right to work on it, hoping that Dr. Dawson's information on Banana Fish is on the hard drive. Before the night is out, he manages to hack the system, finding more data on Banana Fish than he had hoped. Still, something about Yau-si makes Ash uneasy, and he asks Shorter to use his Chinatown connections to dig up any information he could on him. Shorter's friend Sonny verifies that Yau-si is exactly who he says he is, but then urges Shorter to ditch Ash and go home, that he's involved in something dangerous. Before he can explain further, they're interruppted by Lee Hua-Lung, the L.A. head of the infamous Lee family. Lee calls on Shorter's loyalty to the family and demands that he report Ash's actions to him and follow the orders of the Lee's youngest scion, Yut-Lung. It doesn't take much for Shorter to realize that Yau-si is really Yut-Lung. He doesn't want to do what the Lees want him to, but he was raised since childhood to put his faith in them. Ibe and Max are getting nervous. They're all clearly in over their heads in this, and though they both intend to see it through to the end, they want Eiji safely back in Japan before it gets any worse. Ibe is trying to come up with a way to tell him, but Ash volunteers to break the bad news. He explains to Eiji that he's a liability and needs to go home to stay out of the way. Eiji is clearly shaken by his words, but accepts them--if Ash doesn't want him around then he has no reason to be there. Yut-Lung observes the whole conversation and notices right away that Ash cares deeply for his Japanese friend. He orders Shorter to help him in a plan to kidnap Eiji and take him back to New York, to Dino Golzine. Shorter refuses, furious, but Yut-Lung threatens the life of his sister, Nadia. Shorter realizes that Yut-Lung can have her killed in no more time than it takes to make a phone call, so he's forced to agree. At the end of the volume, Jessica and Michael are attacked in their home by three Asian men looking for Max Lobo. |
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