In a sudden wave of heat and sweat, Riq Pierantoni drifted again into the very same nightmare that had haunted him since the day he decided to leave FOXHOUND, an elite government infiltration and espionage unit, and lead a more normal life in San Juan of Puerto Rico, or at least, as normal as it could get. He uneasily stirred under the covers of his king-size bed and made futile attempts to keep the flashbacks from invading his mind.

~~~Flashback~~~

It was a cool summer night when Riq was preparing to initiate his one hundred and twenty-eighth mission.

“Shark, get ready to take off!” Snake ordered.

Riq jumped into the solo shuttle, covered his face with a mask and shut the door in a very routinely fashion. The shuttle was launched from thirty thousand feet above the earth, breaking through the Iraqi sky. Riq performed each airborne procedure with the sharpness and expertise of a Kajukendo kata before landing safely on the dry terrain.

Seconds after carefully exiting the shuttle, Riq was greeted by an ambush. Wounded like a rookie, his body was impacted by six gunshots. The enemies were there, patiently waiting for the FOXHOUND spy to arrive; White Shark had been betrayed. Rumors had been circulating among the squad members of information leakage and Riq had been the victim of this treason.

“Shark do you copy me? Shark? Shark??!!!”

Just as unconsciousness slowly raced through his body, the distressed words that Snake The Boss screamed into his ear set were the last words that echoed in Riq’s mind.

~~~End of Flashback~~~

Still in bed, Riq rubbed his eyes roughly as the memories kept playing in his head. He was awake now, the nightmare had interrupted his sleeping as usual, but his mind kept on forward, reminding him of his past life.

Two months after the incident in Iraq, Riq abandoned FOXHOUND, but not before working on one last assignment. He was involved in some preliminary research which led to believe that the multi-million dollar company, Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, was directly responsible for the disaster in Raccoon City. The accusations were soon denounced as fake and all evidence that led to the involvement of Umbrella in this incident were declared as hoaxes by the press. Riq knew otherwise, but his resignation from the organization made him leave the investigation before anything else could be proven.

Riq finally sat up in bed. His green eyes squinted slightly as he eyed the time on the digital alarm clock on his night table. It was 4:00am. Giving up on getting anymore sleep, he slowly got up and headed to the kitchen to prepare his first cup of coffee of the day.

He took his time inhaling the aroma that rose from the porcelain cup he was holding, and was taking only the first sip, when the ringing of the phone crashed against the silence of the empty house.

With an annoyed frown he lifted his eyes to the clock on the kitchen wall, and silently grunted, realizing it was merely 4:20am. He placed the cup down on the counter and picked up the receiver.

“Hola?” He answered the phone, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes and inwardly desiring his cup of coffee.

“Mr. Enrique Pierantoni?” The voice on the other line spoke, with an accent he couldn’t really decipher where it was from.

“Who wants to know?”

“This is Dr. Jacques Noiv from Umbrella Pharmaceuticals.”

Riq’s muscles instinctively tensed at the mention of the notorious company.

“Sir, you do realize it’s almost 4:30 in the morning? What do you want?” Riq replied, looking at the clock again.

“We have recently discovered interesting facts about research you have conducted in the past, Mr. Pierantoni. The corporation will be most fortunate to have you as one of our elite employees.”

Enrique’s eyes widened momentarily, but then narrowed with suspicion.

“I’m not interested.” Was the stern and simple reply.

“Umbrella does not easily give up any possible candidates. We deem you worthy of working for us. Please do consider this or we may use other more interesting means of persuasion.” Dr. Noiv said, with a slight hint of amusement in his voice.

“Like I said, I’m not interested.” Riq replied before slamming down the phone and hanging up.

With a frustrated sigh, he reached for his cup of coffee and growled angrily after taking a sip of its already cool contents.

*******

Riq stepped outside the Old San Juan Police Station and lit up a cigar. Being the FBI agent assigned to the Puerto Rican police department had lots of downsides and extreme amounts of paperwork was one of them. He hated paperwork and had to get away from it for a while.

It was almost noon and the sun was glaring with intense heat, a little too much for Riq’s liking, but he enjoyed his cigar anyway.

“Those things can kill ya, you know.”

Riq exhaled some smoke and turned around to see Victoria standing behind him with a pretty smile on her face. Riq did not smile; he rarely did, so instead he took another moment to finish up his cigar, tossed it away and bowed his head slightly in response to Victoria bowing respectfully at her Sifu.

“Going to the dojo?” He asked, briefly noticing her purple and silver earrings which so happened to match her purple “Roxy Quicksilver” tee. She was dressed casually in a pair of worn out jeans and sneakers; her violet hooded jacket was tied around her waist. On her back was an oversized black backpack, which amused Riq somewhat.

“Yeah… I’m already late, but…” She trailed off glancing at her watch.

“Then you better hurry, you know the Grandmaster expects punctuality.” Riq stated flatly, breaking eye contact with the young woman and focusing them on the glass doors of the police station.

Victoria’s smile faded, knowing that Riq had abruptly ended their conversation there.

“Guess I’ll see you later then.” Victoria said and Riq responded with a single nod.

He momentarily stared at her back as she walked away. His cell phone suddenly rang. Somewhat startled, he reached into his pocket and retrieved the mobile device. The screen read “Blocked ID” but Riq had a very good idea on who the call was from.

“Yeah?”

“Shark, this is Snake.”

Riq chuckled softly. “I was expecting you to call, and I doubt it’s a coincidence. What does Umbrella want with me?”

“Simple, either to recruit you, or to dispose of you. From what I’ve heard, they’ve already decided on the latter.”

Riq chuckled again, this time it was more audible, as if the whole situation simply entertained him.

Snake continued. “Umbrella, along with other organizations, will be sponsoring a fighting tournament to be held in about two months. We believe it is the perfect opportunity to infiltrate their facilities and finally bring them down. You are the perfect man for the job, Shark. What do you say?”

“I say… find someone else to do your dirty work. I want nothing to do with it.”

“Come on Shark, it’ll be like old times…”

“No. Please don’t call me again.”

Snake grinned. “Don’t worry; you’ll be the one calling me…” The Boss trailed off and hung up the phone.

Riq lost himself in thought for a few seconds, just as the line went dead. Deciding it simply wasn’t worth it, he brushed off any worry that had slipped into him and walked back into the police station.

~~~Old San Juan Police Station, later that night~~~

“Come on Riq! Its Friday dude lets go get some drinks!” Officer Anthony Maldonado said, leaning on Riq’s desk, much to the latter’s annoyance.

“Not tonight, Tony. Got some stuff to take care of at the dojo” Enrique said as he tiredly stacked some papers into his brown briefcase.

Tony held his chin as he pretended to think for a moment. “Hmm, oh I see. You’re going to see Victoria aren’t you?” Tony grinned and nudged Riq on the shoulder with his elbow, which only made Riq’s frown even more evident.

“Man, if I was you, I’d totally forget she’s my pupil and…”

Riq suddenly stood up from his chair, towering over Tony about five inches. The Kajukenbo master locked his gaze on the shorter man and Tony knew it was best to shut up.

The phone on Riq’s desk decided to ring just as he was gathering his things to leave. He looked over at Tony again saying: “You answer it. I’m outta here.” Tony nodded and picked up the phone.

“Riq, I think you better take this call!” Enrique looked back at Tony with a slight hint of annoyance in his eyes. “It’s the dojo, it’s been attacked.” Tony’s eyes no longer possessed the glee they had earlier.

“WHAT??!” Was all Riq could muster, before hastily ripping the phone out of Tony’s hand.

*****

Riq quickly made his way through the large crowd of spectators. In the short distance away, he could see Grandmaster Ortiz’s shop and dojo being consumed by flames. Firemen were rapidly extinguishing the fire, but the building already appeared to be in ruins.

He pushed some people aside and made his way to the ambulance. Two firemen tried to restrain him but he quickly shoved his badge in their faces, indicating he was a police officer.

His heart suddenly tore as he reached the battered form of Grandmaster Ortiz just as paramedics were about to lift him up into the ambulance. For a brief moment he held the old man’s hand and inwardly cursed. It was as if losing his father again.

“We must take him to the hospital, NOW!” A young, female paramedic pushed him away from the Grandmaster. His thoughts then turned to Victoria as he wildly scanned the crowd. The paramedic knew nothing of her.

He spotted one of his superiors interrogating a young blonde man, whose shoulders were covered with a blanket. He was trembling intensely.

“Roberto! Has anyone seen Victoria?” The older man nodded a thanks to the youth he was interrogating and placed a hand on Riq’s shoulder, leading him away from the madness.

“According to some witnesses, she was here right after the explosion…”

“Explosion?” Riq asked somewhat worried.

“Yes...” Roberto continued eyeing his notes briefly. “Apparently she went in pursuit of those responsible and never came back…”

“What??” Riq stopped dead in his tracks.

“Yes, yes…it was a, hmm, a black Audi… Riq, wait!!” Roberto yelled after the younger man but Riq did not bother turning back.
 

~~~Midnight: “Centro Medico” Hospital, San Juan~~~

Riq sat quietly on Grandmaster Ortiz’s side. The hospital room was silent, except for the faint humming of the medical equipment now attached to the old man’s body and for Riq’s occasional heavy breathing. The doctors had managed to stabilize the Grandmaster’s condition and were very positive he would soon recuperate.

Riq knew this, for the Grandmaster was a very strong man.

He had stopped by Victoria’s apartment earlier, but she had not answered her door. He had called her cell phone incessantly and yet had not been able to contact her. Riq was extremely worried and was beginning to fear the worse.

Riq also took some time to call the other Sifus and inform them of the situation. He needed them to take care of whatever was left of the dojo while he was away…

He glanced one last time at his Master, bowed and walked out of the room.

~~~Later that day, 11:30am~~~

“Victoria!!!” Riq pounded for what seemed to be the hundredth time on Victoria’s apartment door. He ignored the odd looks the neighbors were giving him. He simply did not care.

Tired of the non-response and once again fearing the worse, he front-kicked the door, slamming it open with no effort at all.

He rushed into her room. She was nowhere to be seen. He noticed some of her drawers were partially opened and her bed was not made.

Riq kneeled, picking up a curious paper from the floor, by Victoria’s bed. It was crumpled up, and he could still see remains of blood on it. He opened the paper and discovered it to be an ad for the very same tournament Snake had mentioned the day before. He cursed loudly and punched the wall, leaving a deep hole on it.

He walked over to Victoria’s phone hoping he could trace any recent calls. He then saw a few jotted notes on a notepad sitting by the phone. It was information of a flight to San Francisco.

Enrique tore the piece of paper out of the notepad, took with him the ad for the tournament and ran out into the hallway, first making sure he’d close what remained of the door.

Retrieving his cell phone, he quickly dialed a number he had sworn he’d never call.

“Snake? This is Shark. Count me in…”