Fire and Ice (Ice 5)

10

Takashi O’Brien had his choice of two options. He could either go back to the tiny island off Hokkaido, find his furious wife and tell her that the one person she loved most in this world, besides him, had been murdered. Or he could find out what the hell had happened to his sister-in-law, and why Reno hadn’t been able to keep her alive.

He was used to lying, used to living in a shadow world. He just wasn’t used to lying to Summer anymore.

Something was up with his great-uncle, as well. Usually he could go to the old man to find out what was happening, but his instincts, which had saved his life countless times, told him to keep away. The office in London didn’t know shit, except that Jilly had been killed, and until he found out who, and why, and how and made them pay, he couldn’t face his wife with the truth.

In the meantime, all he could do was keep his head down, and find the man who should have been trusted to keep her safe. Reno. And then beat the hell out of him.

Jilly waited as long as she possibly could. People came and went, the baby-light voices of young Japanese women filling the tiled room and then leaving it in silence again. There was no sound of chaos from the main part of the terminal—whatever had gone down out there was over and done with. And she couldn’t spend the rest of her life in a Japanese toilet.

She emerged from the stall, cautiously, but the room was finally empty. She was planning to open the main door just a crack, to see whether it looked safe, but just the moment she reached it, it slammed open as a group of chattering women pushed inside. They stopped talking when they saw her, an uneasy silence in the room.

“Sumimasen,” she murmured, slipping past them.

She’d been in the bathroom for at least a couple of hours. Unfortunately it looked as if it wasn’t always rush hour in Tokyo. The main hall of the train station was almost empty, just a few random people at the vending machines.

The first place she looked was where she had last seen Reno, with Kobayashi looming down on him. The center of the hall was empty, and there was no blood on the floor. That proved nothing—the Japanese would clean everything quickly so there’d be no trace to offend the travelers. For all she knew Reno was in pieces somewhere, never to be found again….

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

She couldn’t help it. She flung her arms around him, holding him so tight it was a wonder he could breathe. Oddly enough he didn’t complain, he just stood there, putting up with it.

She finally let go, pulling back. He looked in reasonably good shape—a cut across one cheekbone, just under the teardrops, and he’d lost his sunglasses, but he was in one, glorious, bad-boy piece.

“Never mind,” he said in a resigned voice. “I knew you weren’t going to do what I told you to. Let’s get out of here.”

“We’re going to Osaka?” Her voice sounded husky with unshed tears, and she quickly cleared her throat.

He shook his head. “No. They’ll be watching the trains now. We’re not going anywhere. But you’re going to have to do what I tell you or I’ll tie you up and put you there.”

“Promises, promises,” she said, feeling absurdly lighthearted. It didn’t matter that he was a son of a bitch who found her a royal pain in the ass. He was alive, and she was staying with him. At least for now.

He just looked at her, and then suddenly she thought better of being playful. Better not pull the lion’s tail. Reno was just a little too dangerous, even to her. She needed to remember who he was and what he was capable of.

“Did you kill them?” she said.

Reno didn’t answer at first. “Who do you mean?” he said finally. “Kobayashi and his buddies? No. I just caused enough of a distraction to get the hell out of here. You’re lucky I didn’t trust you, or you’d be stuck here alone.”

“I count my blessings,” she muttered.

“You can count them later. Let’s get out of here before someone else decides to come looking.” He held out his hand, and she took it. Strange, the warmth and strength of it, his long fingers wrapping around hers. He didn’t seem to notice.

He stole another car, of course. This time she watched him do it, aghast at how easy he made it seem, and a few minutes later they were careening through the nighttime traffic at horrifying speeds, and all she could do was hold on, since the seat belt wasn’t working.

“Where are we going?” she managed to ask as he rounded one corner on what seemed like two wheels.

“I’m taking you to a friend’s apartment where you can shower, change your clothes and sleep in a decent bed while I go talk to my grandfather again. He needs to know that Kobayashi is in on it. Maybe this time he won’t treat me like an idiot. Though, knowing my grandfather, I’m not going to hold out hope.”

“And what’s your friend going to think?”

“He won’t be there. It’s the safest place I can think of—the only person who knows of its existence is Taka.” He sped up, narrowly missing a small delivery truck, and took another sharp right. She closed her eyes and prayed, not opening them till he slammed to an abrupt stop.

She staggered out of the car, sank to her knees on the sidewalk and flung her arms out, crying, “Land!”

Reno was not amused, coming up behind her and hauling her up. “I know how to drive.”

“You and Dale Earnhardt.”