Free Football Frenzy by Alex Ko Page A

right foot back and swung it like he was taking a penalty kick in extra time, sending the contents of the table flying into the faces of the Yakuza – teacups, a teapot and
the boiling tea inside it, and a small rainstorm of hard, ceramic tiles. The young Yakuza screamed and fell back, covering their faces.
    “Woo! What a move!” Jessica yelled. “Come on, let’s— Urk!” Josh spun round, nearly losing his footing and falling. More guys had appeared in the doorway
– four Yakuza in shiny suits and a whole bunch of hulking goons. One of them had grabbed Jessica, and had his arm around her throat; she was clawing for air, her face going red. Josh froze.
The bad guys spread out through the room, cutting off all possible escape routes.
    “Now,” said the brute with his arm over Jessica’s neck. “We don’t want any—”
    Suddenly, the man’s arm dropped from her throat and he fell to his knees, twitching. Josh just had time to see the sparking wires from a taser gun retracting from the man’s back
before there was a flash, a huge bang, and thick yellow smoke flooded into the room. Within seconds, Josh could barely see a thing.
    What’s going on? he thought desperately.
    A voice boomed into the room, in deafeningly loud Japanese. Josh couldn’t fully understand what the voice said, but it was something like, “Police! Do not attempt to resist. We have
all exits covered.”
    Josh heard the Yakuza coughing and panicking. He held his breath and clapped his sleeve over his mouth, trying to breathe slowly.
    Granny seized his hand and pulled him down from the table. He saw the silhouette of Jessica standing beside her.
    “Quick and quiet,” Granny whispered.
    They stepped over the still-twitching thug in the doorway, and climbed the stairs to street level.
    What just happened?” Josh gasped.
    “Yoshida called for reinforcements,” said Granny sternly, “and so did we. Now, come on, I want you two out of here.”
    Police officers passed them on the stairs, running down to the gambling room with gas masks and handcuffs. None of them gave the old lady and her two grandchildren a second glance until they
reached the very top. A man in a particularly shiny uniform nodded to Granny as they reached the doors.
    “Are you all right, obaa-sama ?”
    “ Hai ,” Granny said. “Good work, officer.” The policeman opened the door and bowed politely to Granny and the twins. Josh bowed back, and then they stepped out into
the neon glare of Shinjuku.
    “This operation was a success,” said Sachiko, pouring tea for Josh and Jessica back in Team O’s headquarters, “even if not a clear victory. We learned
    everything we went in to find out, and a little more besides.”
    Josh rotated his shoulders, which were aching and stiff, and glanced at the livid bruise on Jessica’s neck.
    “Yoshida saw me, and he saw the children.” Granny frowned into her teacup. “So he knows that we are on to him. And he and the Minister escaped. There must have been a secret
exit in case of police raids.”
    “On a positive note,” Mr. Yamamoto said, with a cheery smile and a wink at Josh, “the Omajinai will be shut down – no more filthy gambling Yakuza on that block, eh,
Mimi-san?”
    “Now, Yamamoto-san, it’s not nice to tease your team leader,” Sachiko said, just as if she was telling off a naughty little boy.
    “Nana-san, any change in Kobayashi’s status?” Granny asked, with a firmly-changing-the-subject tilt of her head towards the control banks.
    “No change,” Nana said. “I haven’t picked him up on any airport cameras, but if I were him, I would have fled the country by now. Leave Yoshida to do his own dirty
work.”
    “I agree,” said Granny. She walked up behind Nana’s seat and stared at the still photographs of Yoshida, Kobayashi and Shini on the large screens. “Kobayashi was a smart
choice for blackmail. The Minister for Culture won’t be out of place at this kind of event and he has no