What Men Want - Chapter 36

Ryo braked in front of the Shinjkuku Police Station, sighed, and climbed out of the Mini. When he’d called her earlier, Saeko, instead of yelling at him for losing the principal or ordering him to look for Hitotsugi’s widow, had instead instructed him to come immediately to the station. What kind of information did Saeko have that warranted him being welcome at the police station?

He frowned as he saw Mick saunter around the corner of the building, lifting a hand in greeting. What was the man doing there?

As if reading his mind, Mick shrugged. “Saeko called me, told me to get here.” When he neared, his steps faltered slightly, and then he grinned, his eyes twinkling. “Never mind that...you and Kaori talked, huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s written all over your face, man,” Mick chuckled. “And by the look of it, it went very well.”

For the first time in his life, Ryo felt the tips of his ears heat. Shit, he was blushing. He loved it. “Shut up, Angel.”

Mick elbowed him, his eyebrows dancing up and down. “Come on, spill.”

Ryo shoved him away. He had no intention of discussing him and Kaori with Mick. Or with anybody else, for that matter. He just wanted this, whatever this was over with, so he could go back home to Kaori. “Shut up!”

“Understood.” Mick nodded, all traces of the annoying grin gone. “Just one more thing, did she tell you about...you know?” He tapped his index finger against his temple.

“Yeah, she told me.”

Mick slapped him on the shoulder. “Good. Let’s go in.”

And that was it.

“The sooner Saeko spills the beans,” Mick said over his shoulder, “the sooner you can go back home to do...you know...whatever you were doing last night that prevented you from sensing someone was in your house.”

Ryo kicked him, and Mick cackled all the way to the elevator.

X Y Z

Kaori had scrubbed and cleaned, threw the torn drapes and remnants of her favorite two lamps in the bin, and was contemplating what to do with the blood-spattered coverlet when the phone rang.

Hoping it was Ryo calling to tell her they found Amaya and he was on his way home, she quickly answered.

“Saeba residence?”

“Ka-kaori?” Amaya’s voice was trembling.

“Amaya! Are you okay? What happened?”

There was a whimper on the other side of the line. “Two men attacked me last night. They hit me and dragged me with them.” Her breath caught in her throat, and she sobbed. “I tried to fight them, scream, but they hit me again.”

Kaori’s stomach churned with guilt. If Ryo hadn’t been distracted, all this could’ve been avoided. She might not be Amaya’s biggest fan, but she didn’t want the woman hurt either.

“How did you get to a phone?”

Amaya continued to sob softly. “I woke up. They probably thought they hit me stronger because they didn’t tie me up too tightly.” She sniffled. “I got out and found an open office with the phone. I didn’t know who else to call.” She sobbed again. “Please, help me, Kaori.”

“Where are you? Is anything around you familiar?”

Another sniffle, some rustling of papers. “This is the office of an Igarashi-san in warehouse #38 in the Lumber Terminal...Maybe.” Her voice shook even more. “I don’t know. I’m so scared.”

Kaori closed her eyes. Figures Ryo would be out of the house when she needed him. “Okay, calm down. We’ll come get you.”

“Please, hurry. I’m so scared.” An intake of breath, then silence.

“Amaya?” Kaori went cold. “Amaya?!”

“Someone is coming...Help me.” And the line went dead.

Staring at the receiver in her hand, Kaori dialed Cat’s Eye. Mick was somewhere with Ryo, Saeko was probably in the field, and Umibozu was her best bet.

Yet no one answered, not even Miki, and Kaori sighed, hanging up. She had a decision to make. Actually, the decision has been made for her. With everybody MIA, Kaori was the only one who could help Amaya. If the woman ran and hid, all she had to do was pick her up and bring her back. And let Ryo deal with the rest.

X Y Z

Ryo sat, spread-legged in the large conference room, the corner of his mouth curled up in a smirk, him and Mick at the receiving end of frowns and glares from Tokyo’s finest. They were looking at them as if they were two flies in the ointment. And Saeba Ryo loved nothing more than being the fly in the ointment.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Mick whispered, leaning closer, his expression and demeanor mirroring Ryo’s.

The other corner of his mouth curled up. “Aren’t you?”

“Rubbing shoulders with the police, showing them how much more superior we shady types are?” Mick rubbed his palms together. “Hell, yeah.”

A young officer lifted himself from where he was leaning against the windowsill, his stern features arranged in a frown, and Ryo lifted an eyebrow in warning. He had no intention of participating in any dick-measuring contest. He’d win, anyway.

The boy’s intent withered when Nogami Saeko strode into the conference room, and every male in the room puffed up their chests, Mick included.

Except for Ryo, who simply remained where he was, half-sprawled on his chair, the smirk firmly in place. The only person he’d preen and puff his chest for from now on was waiting for him at home.

“At ease, gentlemen,” Saeko snapped with a strange look in his direction.

He didn’t know if it was because of the sprawl or because she didn’t consider him a gentleman, and he frankly didn’t give a fuck. He winked at her.

She cleared her throat and picked up the projector clicker. “This morning we received outside information that proved our intelligence has been faulty in the Hitotsugi case.” Her glare promised that whoever provided the faulty intelligence wouldn’t be on the force for much longer. There was a click, and Amaya’s image filled the white wall. “It turns out Hitotsugi Amaya intends to take over her husband’s business.”

Everything inside Ryo coiled as Mick swore softly beside him.

Saeko sent him a contrite look—as well she should, she installed a would-be Yakuza boss under their roof!—before she continued. “She had all the competition in the Hitotsugi syndicate eliminated; all that remain are faithful and indebted to her.” Another click revealed an image of a man in his thirties. “This is Hitotsugi Takahito, Hitotsugi Takeru’s younger brother and right hand, and Hitotsugi Amaya’s brother-in-law. He is also her lover.”

The conference room was suddenly filled with a cacophony of curse words.

“We know this man as Sergeant Fujioka Kento of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department,” Saeko explained for Ryo and Mick’s benefit.

That explained the cursing. And the faulty intelligence. They had a rat in their mist.

“Sergeant Fujioka,” Saeko continued, “was the one who provided intel on Hitotsugi’s whereabouts and schedule on the day he was shot.”

Preparing the field for his lover’s takeover.

“He was also primary in the Hitotsugi case, privy to all intelligence.” She met Ryo’s gaze squarely. “He had access to top-secret information.”

Which included the name of the asset who killed the Yakuza boss. Sprawl and irreverent smirk forgotten, Ryo straightened fully, fists clenched, jaw flexing. “She wants revenge,” he said darkly, the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes making sweat pop on the foreheads of men in his vicinity.

Saeko nodded, her gaze apologetic.

An officer found the courage to speak. “Why revenge if she wanted him dead?”

“Because she’s crazy,” Ryo supplied, standing. It all made sense. His strange reaction to Amaya, her fevered attempt at seduction, the ransacked guest bedroom...His insides had been screaming because it was staged. It had all been staged.

And if Amaya knew who pulled the trigger, she also knew who stood beside him on that rooftop. Hence the animosity towards Kaori, the barbs, the carefully banked rage in her eyes. He might’ve been the one to kill her husband, but he was last on her list. Her next target was—

Blood roaring in his ears, he left without another word. He needed to get to Kaori. In the hallway, he collided with someone running toward the conference room clutching a piece of paper, but he didn’t stop as he heard the thud of a body falling to the floor.

He couldn’t afford to stop. Kaori was in danger.

 

“Ryo! Wait!” Saeko and Mick reached him as he opened the door to the Mini.

“It can wait!” he snarled.

Saeko grabbed his arm. “No, it can’t.”

He glared down at her, and he probably looked as murderous as he felt because she let go of him as if scalded and shoved a piece of paper at him.

“The man you knocked down earlier was bringing me this.”

Ryo took the paper...and his blood turned to ice.

He was looking at a black-and-white surveillance photo, date-stamped less than an hour earlier. In the photo, there was a warehouse in the harbor.

And in front of the warehouse, her face in sharp focus, was Kaori.