by Dave Daren
I have no idea how many bullets were fired. The young man bucked as the bullets entered his body, and he slowly sank to the ground. Agent Smart was the first to reach him, while another agent checked on the driver. I looked around, and still couldn’t find Anna. I tried calling her name again, and this time I heard a response from somewhere behind me. I spun around and scrutinized the loading dock. I saw a trail of blood drops leading towards a line of dumpsters, and I bolted across the concrete.
I rounded the corner of the first dumpster and skidded to a halt. Anna was slumped against the second dumpster, her left arm cradled against her body. The agent hadn’t been able to get her back inside, but he had done the next best thing.
“Vince!” she cried out when she saw me. Her face was ashen, and I could see a dark stain spreading across the fabric of her dress. The small droplets of blood that I had followed had become a pool. She held out her right arm and I ran towards her.
“It’s okay,” I said soothingly as I knelt beside her. I peeled back the shoulder of her dress to look at the wound. There was a great deal of blood, and I couldn’t tell for sure where she’d been hit. I took off my jacket and pressed it against the skin.
I could hear sirens approaching now, and court officers were tumbling out of the building. Agent Smart found the two of us crouched behind the dumpster.
“Help is on the way,” she said as she knelt next to us. She lifted the jacket and did a quick survey of Anna. “Looks like it just caught the shoulder.”
“It hurts like hell,” Anna moaned.
Agent Smart stood up as the first emergency vehicle arrived and moved back towards the road. I heard her shout orders, to both the EMT’s and the other agents. Two more ambulances arrived, as well as several squad cars. I looked around the edge of the dumpster and saw one of the FBI agents who had gone down being loaded into the back of the ambulance. The other injured agent was helped onto a stretcher. Agent Smart pointed in our direction, and a pair of EMT’s ran in our direction.
“Over here,” I called out.
The EMT’s trotted over, and set to work on Anna. One cut away the fabric to get a better look at the wound, while the other took Anna’s vitals. Anna fought back her tears and answered their questions as best she could.
“Can you get onto the stretcher?” one of the EMTs asked when they were ready.
“Yes,” Anna replied through gritted teeth. The EMTs helped her stagger the few steps to the stretcher, and then carefully laid her down. They took off at a fast trot back towards their ambulance, and I ran after them.
“Ride with me,” Anna begged as they loaded her inside.
One of the EMT’s started to protest, but Agent Smart arrived.
“Go with them,” she ordered. “You need to have some stitches put in that cheek any way.”
The EMT shrugged, and I climbed inside. We took off, the lumbering ambulance proving surprisingly nimble in the hands of our driver. I had no idea how many red lights we blew through, but we made it to the hospital in record time. I stayed with Anna as long as I could, but she was sent off for x-rays and surgery, while I made do with a resident.
“Some day,” the resident said cheerfully as she cleaned at the wound.
“Some day,” I agreed.
“I’ll just numb that,” she said, “And then we’ll get you stitched up.”
“What about the others?” I asked. “Anna Bernardi came in with me. And there were two agents who were hit.”
“Haven’t heard anything,” the resident replied. Despite the anaesthetic, the stitches still hurt, and I grimaced as she expertly sewed the skin back together. She was nearly done when a cell phone rang.
“You can answer that,” she said after it had rung several times. I looked down and realized I was still gripping my jacket. The EMT who had worked on Anna’s shoulder had tossed it back to me, and I must have held onto it. I found the pocket and dug my phone out.
“Creed,” I said as the resident finished her work and handed me a prescription for pain meds.
“Vince, you’re alive,” Sofia declared.
“I am,” I agreed, “Though I may have a lovely pirate scar.”
“No scar,” the resident assured me. “My work’s too good.”
“How about Anna?” Sofia asked.
“Not sure,” I said. “She was hit in the shoulder. They took her for x-rays and surgery. Two agents got hit as well.”
“They’re just reporting that the gunman and his accomplice were killed,” Sofia informed me. “Others were injured, but no other deaths reported.”
“That’s good,” I sighed. “How are you? Are you safe?”
“I’m fine,” she assured me. “Apparently, paralegals aren’t important enough to shoot at.”
“Or your brothers just scared them all away,” I teased.
“They can be pretty intimidating,” Sofia agreed. “Where are you? I’ll come get you and check on Anna.”
“We’re at USC Med,” I said. “I’m heading over to the waiting room to see if there’s any news on Anna.”
“We’re on our way,” Sofia announced.
“We?” I asked.
“Theo and my mom,” she replied, and then hung up.
The cheery resident gave me the all clear to leave, then told me there was an easy way to get over to the surgical wing that all the staff used. She then rattled off a complicated list of twists, turns, and specific elevators, before checking her pager, and jogging away with a quick, “You’ll be fine.”
I tried to follow the directions the resident gave me and ended up in the laundry room. One of the older ladies took pity on me and walked me most of the way. She pointed towards a set of elevators, and told me to make sure that I used the doors at the front of the elevator when I got off, not the ones at the back.
Eventually, I ended up in the proper waiting room. Anna was still in surgery, but the nurse agreed to let me know as soon as she was done. Sofia, Theo, and Mrs. Calderon all arrived while I was nursing a cup of lukewarm coffee. I received a handshake from Theo, a hug from Sofia, and a stern lecture in Spanish from Mrs. Calderon, which Sofia translated. When she was satisfied that I was properly chastised, Mrs. Calderon then produced a stack of sandwiches from her bag, and passed one to each of us.
I’d eaten two of the sandwiches and a bag of chips from the vending machine, and started a debate with Theo on our favorite bar-b-que spots, when the nurse called my name.
“They’re moving her upstairs to Room 415,” she announced. “I would give them a few minutes to get her settled in.”
“Thank you,” I said sincerely.
We took our time heading to Room 415. Sofia went into the gift shop and picked up a few basics, like a hairbrush and a small bag of M & M’s. I found a plush toy that looked a lot like Heath and decided Anna might enjoy the company. By the time we made it to the room, Anna was settled into the bed, and drifting in and out of sleep.
“It may be awhile before the anaesthesia wears off,” the nurse warned when we appeared in the doorway.
“We’ll wait,” I replied.
The nurse sniffed and then left us with the patient. Theo ‘borrowed’ a chair from the room next to ours so that we all had some place to sit. Mrs. Calderon pulled a skein of yarn and a set of needles from her bag and started knitting. Sofia, Theo, and I talked quietly, mostly about the case. Agent Smart stepped into the room as I was telling Theo the story of Masao and Keiko.
“Agent Smart,” I greeted as I stood up. “How are the agents?”
“Nothing fatal,” she replied. “Though Agent Markowitz will be out for several weeks.”
“Thank goodness,” Mrs. Calderon replied.
Agent Smart tipped her head towards the people gathered in the room and raised an inquiring eyebrow.
“Sofia Calderon, my paralegal,” I said.
“We’ve talked on the phone,” Sofia added as she took the agent’s hand.
“This is Sofia’s brother, Theo,” I added. “
And her mother.”
“What happened at the courthouse?” Sofia asked.
When Agent Smart didn’t respond right away, Theo tugged at his mother’s elbow.
“Come on, ma,” he urged, “let’s go find Mrs. Peña. Didn’t you say we should visit her while we were here?”
Mrs. Calderon gave her son a surly look, which she then turned on Agent Smart. Agent Smart didn’t flinch, and eventually, Mrs. Calderon heaved herself to her feet with a massive sigh, and let her son guide her from the room. Sofia and I waited, but still Agent Smart refused to speak. Sofia gave up, and trailed after her brother and mother, muttering in Spanish.
“This can’t be good,” I observed after everyone else had left. “Did you find the rest of the board members?”
“All but one,” Agent Smart replied.
“Genji,” I guessed.
“Genji,” Agent Smart confirmed. “We found the rest dead in their homes. They all had their throats slit, like Watts. First indications are that it was the same weapon. We also found this at each scene.”
She handed her phone to me, and the image was a familiar one. It was a playing card, with the king of diamonds on one side, and the dragon wrapped around a sword on the other.
“That’s like the one I found at our office,” I said.
“He wiped out the ArDex board, and most of the trucking company management,” she continued. “We found Masao and Keiko as well.”
“His own sister,” I murmured, though I wasn’t surprised.
“Not exactly,” she said. “But I think they believed he was coming. Keiko called the agency a few days back to say that they were heading to Seattle to participate in a new study, so not to send any health aids. Then she wrote a note, saying that she and Masao refused to lie for her brother any more. She said that two of Hoshu’s operatives had buried the body of a young girl in their garden several months ago. They didn’t know anything about the girl, but hoped we would be able to identify her. Then Keiko and Masao went into their garden and drank poisoned tea. The coroner believes they died about two days ago.”
At least it had been in the garden, I decided. Not locked in one of those dark, dreary rooms.
“Who was the girl?” I wondered. “And why did they kill her?”
“We believe she was a student from Sapporo,” Agent Smart replied. “She once dated a low-level member of the gang, and may still have had ties to them.”
“What was her name?” I asked as I felt a sliver of ice along my spine.
“Miyo Tatsuda,” Agent Smart answered. She was giving me an odd look, and I realized that I must have paled.
“They needed her identity,” I said quietly.
“What do you mean?” Agent Smart pressed.
“Someone calling herself Miyo Tatsuda came to my office and hired me to help with a wage case,” I explained. “But the real Miyo Tatsuda would have been dead by then.”
“So a yakuza operative,” Agent Smart added. “Probably hoping to track where you were on the case, and who you were talking to.”
“I’m not sure,” I shook my head. “She never asked directly about Anna’s case.”
“She was after something,” Agent Smart pondered. “Can you come into the office tomorrow? We need to talk, and I’d like you to work on an artist’s rendering of this woman.”
“That would be fine,” I agreed.
Agent Smart took her leave then, and Sofia returned. I stayed for another hour, until Anna was fully awake. We shared some M & M’s and filled Sofia in on what we could remember about the attack. I told Anna and Sofia about the deaths at ArDex and the Daigos’ suicides, but I didn’t mention anything about Miyo Tatsuda. When Anna started to drift, Sofia pushed me from the room.
“Go home, get cleaned up,” she encouraged me. “You can come back tomorrow. She’ll still be here.”
I left, reluctantly. When I reached the parking lot, I realized that I didn’t have my car. I started to call for a car service, but Theo appeared then. We walked to his car, and he drove me back to the lot where I’d left my Honda. He had the music cranked up this time, and he hummed along. He seemed to understand that I was talked out.
I managed to drive back to the apartment without causing any serious accidents, though I was barely aware of the world around me. I was still trying to understand who Miyo really was, and I replayed every encounter we had, even as I darted through a red light.
When I finally made it to the apartment, I stripped off my clothing as soon as I was in the door and left it puddled on the floor. I stood in the shower until the water started to cool and forced myself to relax. Whatever Miyo’s plan had been, she hadn’t succeeded.
I turned on the TV but the local channels were still showing scenes from the shooting outside the courthouse. I found an old rerun of ‘Parks and Recreation’ instead and settled in for some mindless humor. I answered phone calls from Ari, Mr. Cerillo, and even Heath’s owner, Denice. I had to reassure everyone that I was fine, that Anna was fine, that the world was fine. At some point, I put the phone down and decided to ignore it.
The phone finally stopped ringing after the last of the late-night talk shows wrapped up, and I made my way to bed. It felt like I’d barely been asleep when the phone started ringing again. I realized I’d left it in the TV room, and I decided that was where it would stay. I pulled the blanket over my head and tried to go back to sleep.
The phone rang again. And again. I wondered if Kurzak’s ghost was up to his old tricks. With a groan, I pulled myself out of my cocoon and went in search of the phone, if for no other reason than to put it on silent mode. I didn’t recognize the number when I found the phone, so I turned it to silent and set it back down on the table. It rang again, as if the person on the other end knew I was awake and by the phone.
“Hello?” I mumbled when I finally answered.
“Sorry to call so late,” a woman’s voice purred. “But I felt that a phone call was the least I could do.”
“Who is this?” I asked.
“You don’t recognize me?” That was followed by a throaty laugh, and then a very familiar voice said, “I’m disappointed, Vince. I thought you knew me.”
“Miyo,” I replied, suddenly awake. “Or whatever your real name is.”
“Miyo will serve,” she said. She slipped back into the less girlish, more mysterious voice. “Though she could be cloying at times.”
“Who are you, really?” I demanded.
“A loyal soldier,” she said.
“Of the Mizuchi,” I added.
“He has been my mentor,” she agreed. “I serve him proudly.”
“You’re more than a soldier,” I suddenly declared. “You’re his lieutenant. The one no one can identify.”
“Ahhh,” she drawled, then followed with another laugh. “I knew you were clever, Vince. But I will neither confirm nor deny, as you lawyers like to say.”
“Where are you now?” I asked.
“Moving on,” she sighed. “We have matters to attend to.”
“Your empire is collapsing,” I pointed out. “There doesn’t seem to be much point.”
“That business in Japan?” she commented. “It’s barely a blip. It will make the governments of Japan and America feel good, and it will look like something important has taken place. But that’s not where the real power of the Mizuchi lies. There is a darker world than you know about, Vincent Creed. One which the Mizuchi still rules.”
“What was your plan?” I sighed. “Why go to all the trouble of assuming Miyo’s identity?”
“I wanted information from you, obviously,” she replied. “I thought it would be easy enough that first night, but you surprised me. Your pillow talk had nothing to do with you or bragging about your cases, and you refused to divulge anything. I think you’re the first man I’ve slept with that's ever managed that.”
“Huh,” I huffed. ‘Thank you’ seemed too awkward.
“If it had gone the way I planned, I would have killed
you that night,” she sighed. “And I could have left the Miyo identity behind. But, I was forced to carry on the charade. I really should have killed you the second time.”
“But you didn’t,” I pointed out. “Why?”
There was a long pause, but before I could ask if she was still there, she spoke.
“I like you,” she purred. “As I said, I am loyal, and my job was to kill you, but something… well. The sex was great, but it was more than that.”
“Am I supposed to thank you?” I asked.
“No,” she laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far. I don’t think I can spare you again, even if I might want to. Stay away from the Mizuchi, Vince. You won’t survive another meeting.”
She hung up, and I sat staring at the phone. It was three a.m., and I suddenly had an archenemy. Too bad I felt more like Clark Kent than Superman right then.
But life moved on, and so did I. I’d won the biggest case of my career, and the office phone wouldn’t stop ringing. Sandwiched in between the calls from potential clients were interview requests, invitations to speak at various panels and ceremonies, and even a call from a cable channel interested in turning Anna’s case into a movie.
ArDex survived. With the board wiped out, and no one to sign on behalf of the company, Judge Luca appointed a receiver to handle the legal affairs of the corporation. The receiver was a furry little man, whose hands were always moving. Anna nicknamed him the squirrel, and it was hard not to use that name to his face. The squirrel knew his business, though, and Anna became the majority shareholder of the company before a month had passed. We celebrated with dinner and champagne, and a quiet night together.
I was happy in a way I hadn’t felt since my parents’ deaths, though Miyo’s warning still lingered at the back of my mind. I had a feeling that life was going to get a lot more interesting, in ways that I couldn’t even begin to predict, and I couldn’t wait.
End of book 2
Author notes
Thank you for reading my novel! If you enjoyed it, and you’d like to read another story about Vince, please leave a quick review by clicking on this link.