General Quan sat in the back seat of the jeep, the cigar in his hand burned down to the butt, but he did not throw it away. The window was cracked open, and the cold wind carried rain into the car, striking his shiny bald head and running down the arms of his sunglasses.
The adjutant sat in front with his neck hunched, clutching the vehicle radio handset in his sweaty palm.
"Sir, Chuan River Bridge is up ahead." The adjutant's voice trembled slightly. "Captain Zhang is guarding it. He's a stubborn samurai with three hundred elite armored warriors under his command."
General Quan flicked the cigar butt out the window. The ember flashed in the rain before going out.
"Captain Zhang." General Quan leaned back as though recalling an old friend. "I bought him drinks just last month. He was a lousy drunk. Whenever he had too much, he loved babbling about 'bushido' and how 'loyalty to the daimyō outweighed mountains.'"
"Then... should we take a detour?"
"A detour?" General Quan removed his sunglasses and leisurely wiped them with a white handkerchief. "There's no such word in my dictionary. The Arsenal's trucks cross this bridge every day. If I don't cross it, how will the goods be delivered? If the goods aren't delivered, who pays the brothers? Who fulfills His Majesty Naruto's orders?"
He put his sunglasses back on and patted the back of the driver's seat.
"Drive through. Tell the brothers to strip off all the gun covers."
The convoy rumbled over the waterlogged road. This was not a covert operation. This was an armed parade. Twelve heavily modified White Horse infantry fighting vehicles led the way, followed by an entire regiment of One Mind, One Body Society soldiers.
At the bridgehead, the barricades had already been deployed.