And it was a “him.” Taller than she was, and much, much stronger. Any attempt she made to struggle was swiftly countered. She kicked her long legs back, and one leather-clad leg caught hers as he pulled her back into the bedroom with rough hands, closing the door, trapping them in there.
“Hold still!” a voice hissed in her ear. She didn’t know the voice—she’d barely heard him speak in the past, and then it had been in Japanese. But she knew who it was, with an instinct just as powerful as the ones that told her she was in danger.
She immediately stopped struggling. He had one arm wrapped around her waist, like an iron bar, pressing against her ribs. He loosened the pressure slightly as he felt her stillness.
“If you make a sound, you’ll die. Do you understand?” he whispered in her ear, so quietly it was almost soundless. For a moment Jilly wondered who was the threat—the men beyond the closed door or the one holding her clamped against him?
She nodded, as much as his smothering hand would let her, and he slowly began to release her.
She wondered what would happen if she screamed. Would he snap her neck and leave her for his cousin to find?
He stepped back, soundlessly, and she turned to look at him. Her eyes had started to grow accustomed to the inky blackness. It was Reno, all right, closer than she’d ever been to him. In the darkness she could see the glitter in his eyes and not much more.
“Stay here,” he whispered.
She didn’t have a choice. He pushed her out of the way, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind him.
For half a minute she was tempted to try to escape. There was noise now—thuds and bumps and a sound, almost like a cry, cut off before it even began. And then silence.
He was dead, and there was nothing she could do but wait there until they found her. The only thing she had to defend herself was her backpack, heavy with books, and she picked it up, ready to fling it at the head of the first man who came through her door.
The footfalls were loud as they approached the bedroom, and she knew she was screwed. Reno had been silent as a ghost, and no Japanese would enter a house with his shoes on.
The door opened, and she slammed the backpack toward his head with all her strength.
“Holy motherfucker,” Reno said in a disgruntled voice. “What are you doing?”
He switched on the light, and for a moment she was blinded. He closed the door, shutting them in, shutting whatever it was out.
She blinked. How could she have forgotten? The flame-red hair, the tattooed cheekbones, the faint sneer on his admittedly beautiful mouth.
“You probably don’t remember me,” she said, nervous. He was taller than she remembered, older than she remembered, wilder than she remembered. As dangerous, as exotic, as mesmerizing as her embarrassingly adolescent fantasies, and she faced the truth. She hadn’t come here for her sister’s comfort or for a look at the Heian-era pottery. She’d come back for him. And it had been a mistake.
“I know who you are,” he said, his voice cool and emotionless, his English perfect. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“Visiting Taka and Summer?” she said.
“Taka and Su-chan are in hiding where no one can get to them.”
“Why? Are they in danger?”
He looked even more irritated. “Everyone who works for the Committee is in danger. Do you usually show up uninvited? Because I know Taka would never have forgotten to warn you.”
Now that her initial fear had faded, she was starting to get pissed off. Whatever had been threatening her was gone, fairy tales were over, and she wasn’t about to let this almost-stranger bully her. “I am always welcome at my sister’s house,” she said in a frosty voice. “She’s been wanting me to come.”
“I don’t think so. She wanted you as far from Japan as she could get you.”
“Why?”
Reno blinked, his f
ace giving nothing away. “Ask her when you see her. In the meantime we have to get you out of here before the Russians send someone else.”
“Russians? What are you talking about? What Russians?” she demanded.
“Paid mercenaries,” he said briefly. “It doesn’t concern you—you just got in the line of fire. I’ll put you in a taxi to the airport and you won’t have to worry about it—”
“Oh, hell, no. I’m not getting back on a plane.”