Fire and Ice (Ice 5)

It was growing dark, the bright neon flowers lighting up the city, but she was too impatient to admire anything. She just had to get someplace and stay put for a while. She needed her sister’s calm wisdom, and a decent bed and time to figure out what she was going to do. About everything.

It took the cab forever, and by the time the driver pulled to a stop in the residential area in the southern part of the city, she’d almost fallen asleep.

“Arigato gozaimasu,” she said, shoving half of her yen into his white-gloved hand. She scrambled out of the taxi, dragging her backpack with her, and looked at the one-story building.

The taxi hadn’t moved. A moment later the driver emerged, a troubled expression on his face. “No one appears to be home, miss. Perhaps I should take you to one of the big hotels in the city?” Except he spoke in Japanese, and clearly had no hope of her understanding.

But she’d been working toward this from the moment she met her Japanese brother-in-law. And his mysterious cousin. “I’ll be fine. My sister knows I’m coming, and I have a key.” Which was a lie on both counts, but she had no doubt she’d find a way in.

The taxi driver politely hid his surprise, either at her command of the language or her god-awful accent, and returned to his cab, relieved to have done his duty to the hapless gaijin. He took off into the darkened street, leaving Jilly alone to make her way into her sister’s walled fortress.

She checked the iron gate, just in case they’d left it unlocked, but it held firm. She sighed. Climbing, it is. She headed around the side of the building, hoping for a tree or a trellis or something to give her a leg up. Not on Taka’s watch—there’d be little chance to break in when your brother-in-law was some kind of uber-spy cum gangster.

The residential street was dark and deserted. If she’d thought of it in time, she could have gotten the taxi driver to give her a boost over the wall. He probably would have—he’d tried so hard to be helpful.

There were trees inside the compound, just out of reach. “Okay,” she said under her breath. “I can handle this.” She pulled her belt free from her jeans, refastened it into a loop and tossed it toward the branch.

On the third try the belt caught, and she was able to drag it down far enough to hold on to. Tossing her knapsack over the wall, she followed, using the tree branch to scale the boundary, dropping over onto the other side, feeling ridiculously proud of herself. Ninja Warrior, here I come.

She half expected sirens and bright lights, but the tiny house was dark. Summer and Taka picked a rotten time to go on vacation, she thought, grabbing her bag and shoving her belt inside it as she walked through the tiny, winter-dead garden. The house was so small it would fit inside her mother’s bedroom suite, but Lianne was nothing if not pampered, and given Tokyo real estate this was probably considered palatial.

The last thing she wanted to do was break a window, but the inner door was unlocked. Probably because no one would dare mess with the grandson of a Yakuza leader. She kicked off her shoes and went in. Alice through the looking glass, she thought.

Where the hell was Summer?

It wasn’t like Reno was trying to sneak into Japan. If anyone, in particular, his very annoyed grandfather, bothered to check, they’d know the moment he landed at Narita airport. He was hoping Ojiisan wasn’t going to notice. If he had to choose between duty to his grandfather and saving Taka’s sister-in-law from blundering her way into trouble, his choice was clear. Even his grandfather, if asked, would agree. He wasn’t about to ask.

His name was powerful enough to get him through Customs quickly, and he rented a motorcycle and rode fast and hard toward the city, but he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. By the time he reached Chiba City it was getting dark, and he knew he wasn’t alone—he’d been a fool to underestimate his grandfather’s influence. He should probably let the two men following him herd him straight to his grandfather’s compound. If Oj

iisan knew when he landed, he could also know where Taka’s sister-in-law was. His grandfather might have even taken care of the problem, which would make life a lot easier. Reno had made a promise, and he wasn’t in the habit of breaking promises to family members, even if they were only his cousin’s wife.

He didn’t need to be the one to rescue Jilly—he’d only seen her once in his life. He probably wouldn’t even recognize her.

That was bullshit—he’d know her if he was blindfolded. He’d taken one look at her and felt his world begin to crumble away.

And he liked his world. He liked the variety of women, he liked making his own rules, he liked answering to no one if he could help it, his grandfather and his cousin if he must.

The men following him, his grandfather’s men, were some of the best. Grandfather would tolerate nothing less. It was going to be too bad that they lost him, and if he were a better person, he’d let them catch up with him. Mistakes weren’t tolerated.

But he hadn’t spent enough time in England to become sentimental. He took the last turn heading into the heart of the city, slowing down just enough to lull his followers, and then took a sharp left, disappearing down an alleyway too narrow for his grandfather’s cars. The air was crisp and cold, and he threw back his head and laughed from the sheer exhilaration of the day. He was back home, he’d managed to lose his grandfather’s men and he was riding a Harley-Davidson. What more could he ask?

He took another left down the next alleyway, leaning into it, and then came to an abrupt halt. There was no mistaking the white stretch limousine that blocked his way. No mistaking the two black cars that pulled up on either side of it, effectively cutting off any escape. The headlights glared from both sides, filling the trap with an unearthly light.

He climbed off the motorcycle, pulled off the helmet he’d worn more for disguise than safety, shook out his hair and waited.

He recognized the driver of the limo as he lumbered his way out of the front seat. Kobayashi was a former sumo wrestler and his grandfather’s personal bodyguard. He was huge, powerful, but not very fast, and Reno figured he stood a good chance of taking him in a fight. He wasn’t about to disgrace his grandfather, however, and he simply stood still, waiting for Kobayashi to open the limo door and his grandfather to emerge.

Reno bowed low, and his long tail of hair swung forward, hitting the street. Unfortunate—Grandfather disapproved of the dyed hair and the tattoos almost as much as he disapproved of Reno’s new name.

“Hiromasa-chan,” he said sternly, merely dipping his head in return. He had always been a small man, but he looked even more frail in the cold winter light. He was getting old. “What are you doing here? Have your new employers dispensed with your services?”

Belatedly, Reno whipped off the sunglasses his grandfather despised, knowing the tattooed, blood-red tears on his cheekbones would be almost as offensive to the old man’s sense of what was proper as the heir. “I’ve come back for a reason.”

“I had no doubt you would have thought of some excuse. I wonder why you didn’t think it was necessary to inform your grandfather that you’d decided to disobey his orders and return home.”

“It concerns the sister of Taka-chan’s wife.”

“And you didn’t think your grandfather was capable of seeing to the family honor?” His grandfather’s voice was soft, deadly.