Parker Raymond recently inherited his estranged grandfather's large plantation home in Savannah, Georgia. The Spanish Moss hanging from the estate's large oaks, its massive gardens, and a near endless bank account were, in the end, not what captured...
"Halt!" shouted the elderly security guard with a shaky hand in the air. He stood from behind a rather nondescript security desk placed strategically between the hallway and the tarmac doors. The frail man looked to be every bit of seventy years old.
"Listen sir, my plane is out there on the runway waiting for me and my future bride," said one sweaty Ryohei as he lifted Kanda's hand to his lips and smiled at her. "You don't want us missing our wedding, do you?" Lie.
"Let me see your documentation, sir!"
"Oh, yes sir, here you are," Ryohei said and looked behind him nervously. "But, we really need to go."
One exhausted Parker ran up behind the couple and placed a hand on each of their shoulders just as the old man took Ryohei's identification to look it over. "Okay, I think...I think...we...lost him," he said between breaths.
"Lost who...?" The old man blinked and then stumbled backwards as his eyes lifted from Ryohei's identification and landed on Parker's face. "It's...it's you!"
Parker looked around and noting no one else behind him pressed a finger to his chest. "Me? Sir, what did I do?" Parker asked, wondering why the old man was pointing at him.
"Taured."
"Taured?" Parker remembered the word from his grandfather's notebook.
Ryohei and Kanda looked at Parker and then at the unsteady guard, who was beginning to perspire and turn pale.
"What does that mean, Parker?" Kanda asked.
Ryohei's papers fell to the floor and scattered as the old man stumbled backwards, landing forcefully in a chair. He slumped down into the seat and his arms fell over its sides. He began groaning.
Parker raced over to check the guard's pulse. It was weak, but it was still there. He looked up at the couple. "Go! Get out of here! I will stay with him until help arrives."
"But Wada will kill you!" Kanda exclaimed. "We can't just leave you here to die!"
Parker watched the sun falling behind the airport's control tower. "Don't worry about me, I'll be out of here soon. Now, please, just go you two lovebirds! You may not get another chance!"
Kanda paused at the opening of the sliding glass doors. She turned and ran back over to give Parker a hug. "Thank you, Parker! One day, come find us and you can tell me how you ended up in my hotel room...I promise I will believe you."
Parker smiled and patted the girl on the shoulder. "Go...live your lives."
"Arigatou gozaimasu!" Kanda stood, took a slight bow, and then turned to leave with Ryohei through the open sliding doors.
Parker looked down at the old man. "Tell me about Taured, mister."
The old man's eyes were wide and breathing labored. He lifted a shaky hand to Parker's face to touch it. "How? I'm older and you're younger..."
Parker felt the old man relax in his arms. "Oh no, no, no...don't you do it!"
"Kanda! Stop!"
Parker heard Wada's deep voice echo down the hallway. He watched the Yakuza run past without seeing him. "Sorry, old fellow, but, I have to go. Forget the fallen...erm, dammit, rest in peace." Parker lay the old man's body down on the tile and chased after Wada. He found the one—handed, bloody Yakuza standing at the bottom of the boarding stairs pointing a sword up at Ryohei.
"You will die, pop star! Kanda is mine...Kanda belongs with the Yakuza...with me!"
"No!"
Wada turned to find Parker standing behind him. He lifted the blade of the sword and pointed it at Parker's stomach. "It is your time, now, gaijin...then theirs!"
"Go Ryohei! Leave! Now, dammit!" Parker shouted. Suddenly, his eyes became saucers and he gasped.
Kanda screamed as Wada ran Parker through with his sword. The Yakuza began laughing. "Die gaijin! Now, your turn, Ryo...what?" Wada felt Parker grab him around the arms.
"You're not going anywhere, asshole!"
The sounds of police sirens filled the air. Blue lights reflected from the hull of Ryohei's jet as it pulled away and taxied toward the flight lane with Kanda slapping the windows of the airplane.
Parker could see the woman shouting at him as he felt Horo begin to buzz. "Hold on Parker...don't die, yet..."
"Let...go...of...me!" Wada shouted.
Parker released the Yakuza thug and fell backwards to the concrete. The pain was intense. Horo finished its second buzz. Parker clutched the device with all of his remaining energy.
Wada forcefully removed the sword's blade from Parker's bloody abdomen and then lifted it above his head.
"Put down the sword, Wada Izo! You are under arrest."
Wada turned toward the police officers with the sword still above his head.
"Fire!"
<<*>>
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Kanda watched the strange episode play out from the window of the plane. She could not believe what she had just witnessed. She watched Wada remove the sword's blade from Parker and turn with it in his hand toward the cops. Then, the police officers shot the Yakuza thug and Kanda watched him fall.
But Parker, one second he was there, then the next...he was gone. Vanished as if he never existed.
