by Carrie Asai
“Hi, Heaven. We really appreciate you helping us out with this.”
“No problem,” I said, with slightly more confidence than I felt. I didn’t feel like I’d done a very good job with the Teddy phone call—at first I’d been so angry, I could barely control my shaking voice. But he’d agreed to meet me immediately. Maybe when I finally saw him, I’d clue him in that drug dealers should really be a bit more selective about these things. Moron.
“Well, we do appreciate it,” Detective Wachter said. “Should we get started?”
“Right,” Detective Martin said, gesturing to a chair by her desk. We sat down, and Detective Wachter perched on the edge of a nearby desk. “As you already know, we’re going to carry out the sting at the planetarium.” I nodded. We were supposed to meet there that night.
“How are you guys going to deal with the crowd?” I asked. “I mean, won’t it be kind of weird to bust in if there are people around?”
Detective Martin smiled. “The planetarium is closed right now for renovations. There may be a few visitors looking at the view, but we’ll send in a team to make sure it’s cleared out beforehand. We’re going to block the road that leads up to the site, so the only people who’ll get through will be us and Teddy.”
“And a lot of cops,” I added. “Right?”
“Right,” Detective Wachter said. “So you’ll have nothing to worry about. We’ll be watching you every step of the way.”
“So the question is—do you want to wear a wire? Like Detective Wachter told you, we don’t need the evidence—we’ve got plenty of that. But if you’re wired, we’ll know immediately if something starts to go wrong.”
“Like what?” I said.
“Well, if Teddy tries to get rough with you, for instance.”
“I don’t think that will happen,” I said wryly. “He likes me in that way, if you know what I mean.”
“Still…,” Detective Wachter said, “it’s something you should think about.”
“No,” I said firmly, “I’ll be fine.” There were a few things I wanted to ask Teddy about. And I certainly didn’t want the police listening in on stuff that had absolutely nothing to do with them.
“But you have to remember,” Detective Martin said, her face serious, “if you’re not going to be wired, we won’t be able to track your conversation. That means that if you’re scared for your safety, we need to have an agreed-upon sign so that we’ll know to come in and stop the sting.”
I had to resist a smile at that one—I certainly couldn’t imagine that a chat with Teddy would end with me fearing for my life. Not unless he tried to kiss me or something.
“Something funny?” Detective Wachter asked.
“No, sorry,” I said, biting my lip. “So what’s the sign?”
“It can be anything you’re comfortable with, really,” Detective Martin said. “But it has to be a broad movement that can be seen by our lookouts—and one that won’t be misunderstood.”
“How about a hat?” I suggested.
“A hat?” Detective Martin said, looking confused for a second.
“Yeah, like a baseball cap,” I said, warming up to the idea. “I’ll wear it to the meeting, and if things get too wiggy, I’ll take it off. It’ll be obvious I’m in trouble.”
The detectives looked at each other. “She’s good,” Detective Wachter said with a grin.
“Agreed,” Detective Martin said. I felt stupidly proud. Maybe in another life I could have been a detective myself. Detective Kogo, keeping the peace in the City of Angels.
But no. In this life I was just a stool pigeon.
“All right,” Detective Martin said, standing up. “I’ll tell the team what we’ve decided about the signal. Other than that, you need to keep Teddy there for about seven and a half minutes—that’s how long we need before we’ll be able to get the teams in sync and go in. Here’s a watch. Make sure you check your time—it can drag.”
“Okay.” I strapped the watch onto my wrist. “No problem.”
“So that’s really it,” Detective Wachter said. “We’ll be ready to go in an hour or so.” He looked down at me. “Do you want to hang out here until then?”
“If you don’t mind,” I said. I didn’t feel like being alone anymore. I was ready to do what I needed to do, and I wanted to stay pumped.
Detective Martin smiled. “I don’t blame you. Do you want a magazine or something?” She opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out a stack of People magazines.
“Oh, awesome,” I breathed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had my fill of celebrity gossip.”
“Enjoy,” Detective Wachter said as he walked away. But I was already lost in the sordid tale of Ben and J.Lo’s latest breakup…other people’s lives were always so much easier to think about.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this, Heaven?”
“Fine,” I said shortly, propping my foot against the backseat and tying my shoelace. Now I just wanted the whole thing to be over. Back at the precinct, it had all seemed like some bizarre game. Now the reality of what I was about to do was sinking in. I dropped my foot and toyed nervously with the bill of the baseball cap they’d given me. Teddy deserves it, I told myself, and tried to access the anger I’d felt when I’d realized how he’d abandoned me. But I was having trouble getting there.
“Now, listen, if anything seems strange to you—anything—I want you to get out of there as fast as you can. Like I said, we need seven and a half minutes to get prepared—but you have to trust your instincts. If something seems off, we’ll send an officer in solo.” Detective Wachter seemed way more nervous than I was. I had the feeling he had a lot riding on being able to nab Teddy, maybe a promotion or something. He piloted the car toward the planetarium. Fifteen minutes to go before my scheduled eight o’clock rendezvous with Teddy.
From the conversations we’d had on the way over, I’d gotten the impression that the detective thought Teddy was a lot more dangerous than he was. He didn’t realize that the only scary thing about Teddy was that if you put a gun in his hand, he might fire it the wrong way and blow his own foot off—or your foot. The Mexico thing was typical Teddy—I should have known he’d chicken out when it came down to it. It was just like at the wedding. When the ninja had dropped in through the skylight, Teddy had first hidden behind me, then bolted, leaving me stranded right in the ninja’s path before Ohiko had burst out of the wings and taken him on.
We pulled into the parking lot. A sign said Griffith Planetarium and Observatory: Closed Until 2005.
“Are you positive you don’t want to wear a wire, Heaven?” Detective Martin turned around in her seat, frowning. “There’s still time to get one of the guys to set you up with one.”
“No, thanks,” I said, looking out my window at the large domes of the building. It was exciting to finally see it. Rebel Without a Cause was one of my favorite movies, and I’d always dreamed of coming to see the planetarium where they’d filmed some of the best scenes—the class field trip, where James Dean meets Natalie Wood…and the final, tragic denouement…. It was so romantic. I almost wished it wasn’t closed so I could go watch the planet show inside. I’d always wanted to see one of those.
“We’ll wait here until we get the word that everyone’s in place,” Detective Wachter said, pulling a can of Coke from a bag at his side.
The plan was so simple. I was the bait, Teddy was the fish. I could walk in, walk out, and tomorrow I’d be on a flight to Japan, leaving this life behind.
“It’s time,” Detective Martin said, ruffling her fingers in her short dark hair. “You set?”
“Ten-four,” I said, trying to smile.
“All right, kiddo, go for it,” Detective Wachter said, chucking his empty Coke can out the window into a trash can. “We’re right here. Remember that.”
I stepped out of the unmarked police car and slammed the door behind me. I adjusted the white L.A. Dodgers cap on my head and regretted for a moment that I’d sugges
ted the hat thing. It felt a little silly, but it really was the easiest thing for me to remember. Not that I thought I’d need to give “the sign.” The idea was absurd.
It was dark, and the place was deserted. The police had seen to that earlier. I felt a little exposed as I climbed the steps to the outlook by myself. The lights of the city were on, and I wandered toward the edge of the little plaza to take it all in. Teddy would be here any minute, and I wanted to think.
Was I betraying Teddy? That was really the question. Of course I was. But he had betrayed me. One way or another, everyone had betrayed me. Cheryl, Teddy…even Hiro. Detective Wachter had told me that he was still staying in the motel—but that he wanted to see me. Whether or not I wanted to see him was a question I was still not able to answer.
“Heaven, whassup?” Teddy wrapped his arms around my waist. I was enveloped in the smell of hair gel and new leather.
I stepped away. “Hi, Teddy,” I said, trying to control my shaking voice. “Where have you been?” I gritted my teeth, swallowing the stream of insults I wanted to shout at him. You stupid loser! You idiot! How could you let me think you’d been killed? Do you even know what that feels like?
No. I was supposed to make chitchat—that was my job. And I wasn’t going to find out just what had happened to Teddy down in Mexico if I started cursing him out. I glanced down at my watch—8:01. I had to make it to 8:09, more or less.
“Oh, man, Heaven. It was so crazy.” Teddy plopped himself down on the low wall and motioned for me to take a seat next to him, which I did. “Hey! Your hair!” Teddy reached over and grabbed the bill of my hat.
“No!” I yelped as he tried to take it off. I took out some of my aggression by slapping his hand away as hard as I could.
“Ow!” Teddy rubbed his hand. “You don’t want to show me?” He looked hurt.
“Um…no, it’s just—bad hair day. I’m still getting used to it. I’ll show you later, okay?”
“All right,” Teddy said, grinning. “I know how that goes. I’ll have plenty of time to get used to it later.”
“Uh-huh,” I said, my heart pounding in my chest. What a disaster that would have been if he’d managed to tip my cap off.
“It’s pretty short, though, huh?” Teddy said, trying to peek around the cap.
“Yeah, no kidding,” I said sarcastically. But my anger was dissolving. Teddy was just so…Teddy. Whatever his flaws, it was nice that you always knew what to expect with him. “I had to go undercover. You don’t like it?” I asked, striking a pose. “I mean, don’t you think the hat thing is kind of fly?”
“No, man, that’s not what I meant. It’s cool, it’s cool. It’s kind of like, hot anime chick, you know? You’re like, Princess Mononoke. I mean, that’s what I think it would look like—I mean, if I could see it, I bet it would be like that. Or something.”
“Thanks, Teddy.” I cut him off before he could come up with more cartoon characters to compare me to. “Now where the hell have you been?”
“Oh, Heaven,” Teddy pleaded, rubbing my back, “I’m so sorry I left you in Mexico—but I knew they wouldn’t hurt you. Me, on the other hand—those guys wanted me D-E-A-D.”
“Why?” I asked, moving out of his range. “I mean, where did everything go wrong? One minute you were off picking up the passports and the next you were bursting into the hotel room with those thugs. Were they drug dealers or what?” I checked my watch—only a few more minutes to go. I needed to find out what had really happened down in Tijuana—and fast.
“They weren’t drug dealers, Heaven.” Teddy shook his head. “That’s a whole different bag of tricks. I’ve got those guys under my thumb. The guys with me that day were Yukemura men.”
“What?” I gasped. “Teddy, how could you do such a thing? You traitor!” I yelled, standing up before I remembered that might freak out the cops. I sat down again.
“But—but don’t you see?” Teddy stammered. “I had to! I knew they wouldn’t hurt you or I wouldn’t have showed them where you and Hiro were staying. My pops told me if I didn’t deliver you, he’d have us all killed.”
“Your father said that?” I asked, unbelieving.
“Yep. So I figured, ‘Hey, I know he’s not going to kill my Heaven, so I’ll just let this go down, get the passports, and catch up with my baby later.’ And see,” Teddy continued, draping an arm around my shoulders, “it all worked out for the best.”
“Your father lied to me. He told me he didn’t know who was after me.” I pushed Teddy’s arm off me. He had a lot of nerve being all lovey-dovey with me while basically admitting that he’d screwed me over big time. And Yoji—he hadn’t become oyabun of the Yukemuras for nothing. So slippery—he’d fooled Hiro and me completely.
Teddy shrugged. “He lies all the time. What else is new?”
I stared at Teddy and it struck me all over again. We were both being used. No matter what we did, they always found a way to trap us.
“Here’s what, though,” Teddy continued. “Me and you are finished with this bullshit, baby. I’ve got your ticket to Pa-ree right here, a passport, and some cash. You can go shopping. I’ll be there in a few days—name of the hotel’s in here.” He fished in his oversized leather coat emblazoned with the number 310—the Beverly Hills area code, cheesily enough—and pulled out a thick brown envelope.
I stared at it.
“Go on, girl, take it,” Teddy cajoled, rubbing my shoulder. “Don’t be shy. Here.” He pushed the envelope into my hands.
But I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t like him. Wasn’t like the rest of them, taking the money, taking the deal, sucking it up. In all of this…this wretchedness, I’d almost managed to forget that I was a warrior, a samurai. I had something that none of these people had—honor. And if I gave that up, then I might as well die myself. Because I’d be just as bad as they were.
“No, no!” I said, suddenly springing to life and pushing the envelope back at him. “Listen to me, Teddy.” I grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him toward me, knowing that at any minute Detective Wachter and his crew would be swarming all over the place. “It’s a setup. They’re using me to get to you. The police caught me—two days ago. I told them everything—I thought you were dead. And now they’re trying to arrest you for a drug deal.”
“What?” Teddy scanned the pavilion. “I don’t see anyone. I don’t get it.”
“Please, Teddy,” I begged, pushing the envelope back toward him. “You have to get out of here. In a minute they’ll be everywhere.”
“Are you playin’?” Teddy asked.
Come on, Teddy, I thought. Get a grip. Don’t be such a moron for once in your life.
“I am so not playing, Teddy,” I said, tears coming to my eyes when I thought about what I’d been about to do. “Get out of here. I’m sorry—go, go!” I hissed.
Teddy stood up, looking like he was in shock. “But what about Paris? When will I see you again?”
I shook my head. “Get out of here!”
Teddy stumbled toward me and grabbed my hand. “I’m sorry about Mexico, Heaven,” he said.
“I know,” I answered, looking desperately around me. “I know. Leave!” Teddy grabbed my head and kissed me on the cheek, knocking my cap off before he bolted across the pavilion. I scrabbled around on the ground and crushed the cap back on my head, praying that he’d make it back to his car before the police team came in.
And then suddenly—a figure in black, flying down as if from the sky.
Teddy was knocked to the ground.
“Go, go!” I heard the sound of doors slamming and footsteps and stood, mesmerized, as the figure in black approached me.
Ninja.
Not again, I thought. Not now.
But it was now. It was right now. The black-clad figure bounded toward me, and I assumed the ready position. The first contact was a flying kick to my ribs, which I easily blocked with a downward thrust. I cartwheeled out of the ninja’s path, feeling the cap leave my head again
and knowing it didn’t matter a damn bit if it did—not anymore. I pressed forward with a two-pointed attack, my arms flying. The ninja blocked me. I was vaguely aware that the pavilion was filling up with people—the police team moving in. They could have been a bunch of schoolkids for all the difference it made to me. If I let my attention waver from the ninja for one second, I was a goner.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Teddy’s crumpled body lying on the cement. “Get up, Teddy!” I shrieked. “Run, run!”
I saw him stir but couldn’t wait around to see what he’d do next. Dust rose into the streetlit sky as the ninja pressed me back across the pavilion toward the wall. Block, block—kick, kick. I somersaulted off to the side to keep him (I assumed it was a him) from driving me toward the low wall—beyond it was a steep incline I didn’t much feel like exploring. If only I’d had the Whisper of Death.
“Heaven, get out of the way!” I heard Detective Wachter’s voice calling to me. But I was too deep in the zone. The ninja and I were close now. I could see his eyes, smell his sweat as he moved in closer. I slipped one fist through his defenses and bashed his windpipe. He back-flipped a few feet away and huffed behind his mask, eyes wild, frozen for a moment.
A shot rang out, and he was flying toward me through the air again. Stupid, I thought, the cops are shooting at him. I prayed their aim was good. I ducked under the ninja’s legs, hurling myself to the pavement to avoid his landing. Pain ripped through my knee as I hit the ground with a crunch, paying for my move, and I rolled over just in time to block a dagger the ninja had drawn from the folds of his black gi. I grabbed his wrists, struggling to keep the blade away from me. I knew the ninja was desperate, or he would never have spent so long in one position—that was the rule. If you didn’t hit your mark, you kept moving until you did. Stalling in one place only made it easier for your opponent to defeat you—that wasn’t martial arts, it was street fighting.