by Lasky, Jesse
But right now his mission is to keep Jane safe.
It’s a mission that’s compromised when she walks out of her bedroom and heads apprehensively toward Reinhardt’s master suite.
She’s going to see her father.
But Jon can’t let that happen. Not yet. Not tonight.
He removes a small cloth and a tiny vial of chloroform from his jacket, offering Jane a silent apology for what he’s about to do.
Then he rushes toward her, grabbing her from behind and covering her mouth with the rag as she moves to open the door to Reinhardt’s bedroom.
Moments later, she slumps against him. He flings her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and steps into the linen closet, closing them off, keeping Jane out of harm’s way.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
The team raced through the vineyard toward Marie’s parked car, trying to stay in the shadows just in case Reinhardt and Wells had a change of heart.
“Where have you been?” Reena asked Jon as they ran down the grassy hill leading to the road.
It was a question Ava had planned to ask, but now that it was out, she had another one. “Are you the one who killed Cain?”
“There’ll be time for that later,” Shay said as they hit the road. His knowing glance at Jon wasn’t lost on Ava.
“Wait… Shay, you knew Jon was alive? You knew where he was the whole time?”
Shay reached in his pocket for the keys to the car. “I’ll explain everything later.”
The group piled into the car, Shay driving, Jane in the passenger seat. Ava slid in the backseat between Reena and Jon.
As Shay started the car, Ava looked up at Jon.
He held her gaze, his eyes burning into hers through the darkness. He took her face in his hands and kissed her.
The plane was already waiting when they arrived at the isolated field sheltered by towering oaks. They weren’t done. That would come later, the next time they returned to Napa Valley.
Now it was time to go back to the only place they had left to call home.
Rebun Island.
Ava looked up at Jon. “The kiss was a nice touch, but you still have a lot of explaining to do.”
He sighed, giving her a weary smile. “It’s a long flight. And we have all the time in the world.”
They stood there, looking at each other in the light from the plane, newly hesitant. Despite their moment in the car, the night had done nothing if not prove how dangerous revenge can be. A lot went right, but almost everything that went wrong did so because emotion got in the way.
Still, there would be plenty of time for thinking. Plenty of time for reason.
Now was not that time, Ava decided, putting her arms on Jon’s strong shoulders and pulling him in for an embrace. She buried her face in his neck.
“I missed you,” she whispered.
He leaned back, looking at her with tenderness as he brushed the hair from her face.
“So come on, let’s hear it. Where have you been?” Reena demanded as they marched toward the plane.
Before he could answer, a Lincoln Town Car pulled into the field, screeching to a halt in front of them.
They turned as one, immediately on guard, prepared to fight as a team.
A sharply dressed man emerged from the car, tall and proud.
“Deshis.”
“Takeda?” Reena said.
He walked slowly toward them. “I hear you have had an eventful night,” he said. “I hope you have learned that you still have some distance to travel to master the art of revenge.”
“Yes, Sensei,” Ava said as the others nodded.
“I’m sorry, Sensei,” Reena added.
Ava had to a stifle a laugh at Reena’s newly submissive tone.
Takeda studied them quietly. “Training commences first thing tomorrow,” he said, turning for the plane.
Ava looked from Jon to Takeda and back to Jon again.
“Is that whom you’ve been with all along?” she asked Jon. “Takeda?”
Jon nodded.
“Seriously, Jon,” Reena says as they boarded the plane. “What happened to you?”
Jon looked at them. Then he took a deep breath and started talking.
Jon bursts into the alley behind Tavern Red, surrounded by a Dumpster and cheap fencing. He looks around, the air still and murky, but he doesn’t see Cain anywhere.
He does feel something, however: a gun, pressed forcefully against the back of his head.
“Don’t shoot,” he says. This is not the way he wants to go out.
“It’s too late for that,” Cain responds, pushing the gun’s barrel harder against Jon’s head. “You came here looking for this, didn’t you? Wanting to die.”
“What are you talking about?” Jon asks, trying to formulate a plan for overtaking him.
“That’s the only explanation,” Cain says. “Because coming here was suicide.”
“Actually, that wasn’t the idea,” Jon says as a few stray cats scatter from under the Dumpster.
“It’s okay,” Cain says. “I understand more than you think. As long as you kill me it doesn’t matter what happens to you, am I right? Because at least then you’ll be free from the pain of having put her in harm’s way. Must be tough, living with that guilt.” Cain cocks the trigger behind him. “At least you won’t have to for much longer.”
Jon braces himself, prepares to die. Maybe in the next life he’ll be able to do things differently.
Maybe.
A moment later, thunder cracks through the air as a bullet is fired. Jon prepares to feel the impact, prepares for darkness. But all he hears is a thump in the ensuing silence.
He opens his eyes in time to see Cain stagger, holding a hand to a gushing wound in his chest. Jon barely has time to register the strange turn of events before Cain topples over, falling onto the concrete with a dull thud.
Jon turns around, expecting to see one of his revenge partners. The person standing there shocks him to the core.
“Takeda?”
Takeda tucks the gun into his dark blue suit jacket and steps over Cain’s body, which is seeping blood like a leaky faucet. Jon can’t believe he’s actually gone.
And his sensei is actually here.
“I don’t understand.”
“And you don’t have to,” Takeda tells him. “All you need to do is trust me. Something you didn’t do when deciding to come here. Now come.”
“I just wanted to make them pay,” Jon explains as Takeda leads him to the black Lincoln.
Takeda stops at the vehicle. “There is a difference between revenge and redemption.”
“What’s the difference?”
Takeda opens the door for him. “Revenge is an act. Redemption lives solely in the heart. Only when you forgive yourself for what happened will you be able to truly focus.”
Jon nods. “What do I do until then?”
“Get in the car and I’ll show you,” Takeda says.
Jon looks around. The alley is barren and still, but inside the pub, Jon knows a war is raging, the sounds of fighting and breaking glass making their way outside. He imagines Ava, inside and in need of help, and wants to be the one to protect her.
He shakes his head, moving toward the back entrance to Tavern Red. “We have to help them.”
Takeda grabs his arm. “Your assistance is not necessary. Another version of you is inside. He will help them.” Takeda gets in the car, looking up at Jon. “We have a new mission now.”
CHAPTER SIXTY
The scorched sun rose dutifully over Napa valley as the small propeller plane took off, this time in the capable hands of Takeda’s personal pilot.
The vast estates and châteaus below became glittery specks as the plane ascended, the green fields and purple vineyards fading into a quiltlike blanket.
Ava watched it all with a mixture of relief and sadness. Napa would always have part of her heart, but this good-bye was different from the last one.
Bet
ter.
Maybe Emily Thorne was right. Maybe Ava would sleep more soundly now.
She felt the warm clasp of fingers and looked down to see Jon’s hand entwined with hers. They exchanged a smile.
He might help her sleep better, too.
There was still so much about him that she didn’t know, but right now, she was just glad he was there.
“So what happened after you left with Takeda?” she asked. “What was the mission?”
“And why are we going back to Japan instead of going to Sacramento to relocate Marcus?” Reena chimed in.
Jon glanced at Takeda, sitting serenely in his seat. Their sensei nodded, giving Jon permission to disclose the truth.
The run-down Thai restaurant sporting the words LU’S PALACE on a faded yellow awning sits on a seedy street near downtown Sacramento. Above the eatery, a beleaguered gentleman who’s seen and done too much eats beans from a can as he sits on a springy Murphy bed inside a tight studio apartment.
Looking around, he realizes again that he picked the wrong time to grow a conscience.
He watches wavy television on an old set, waiting for the day to turn to night, the night to turn to day. It’s a terrible way to exist, but it’s all he can manage while looking over his shoulder every minute of every day, a habit he’d love to break if only he could afford to.
A knock at the door causes him to jump. It’s the kind of knock that has intent behind it, something he knows from personal experience.
Except that when he was the one knocking, it meant the person who answered the door wouldn’t live to open another.
The man stands, readying himself for what’s to come. He could hide, but that would only delay the inevitable. Maybe it’s time to let go.
He opens the door, unsurprised to see Jon, one of Cain’s hired guns. The man is surprised, however, to see that Jon is accompanied by an older Asian gentleman.
“Darren Marcus?” Jon asks.
The man nods. “I recognize you. Worked for Cain a couple years back, right?”
Jon was too low on the totem pole to remember the man. That’s one of the ways Cain kept his hold over you. Kept you awake.
Marcus, feeble and anxious, just needs to know. “Are you here to kill me?”
Jon looks at Takeda, who briefed him on the ride over. “No. We’re here to save you.”
“So then you already moved Marcus?” Ava shook her head. “That means you knew where he was all along. You didn’t need Reena to infiltrate that meeting at all.”
Another test. Like the thief on Rebun Island, but on a much grander scale.
“I don’t believe it,” Ava murmured.
“So Cruz died for a test?” Reena interrupted, cold fury written on her face.
“It wasn’t all a test,” Shay explained. “We needed to shake Reinhardt and Wells’s foundation by ruining Charlie, by severing their relationship. Now it’s each man for himself, and that makes them all much more vulnerable.”
Takeda moved into the seat next to Reena.
“It is true that I knew of your plans. And true as well that Shay was told you were coming.” He paused. “But in revenge, things can be messy. Chaotic. Lethal. You—all of you—must be prepared for that. It is possible to blame me for Cruz’s death, if blame is what you seek. But it is also possible that had you finished your training, Cruz would still be alive. As for me, I choose to believe that regret is a waste of energy when one has done one’s best. This was the life Cruz chose. And he died the way he wanted to, protecting the woman he loved.”
Reena nodded, surprisingly humble. “How long have you known?” she asked. “Did you leave the door to the secret room open to see if we would take our files? Was that part of the test as well?”
Takeda gave her a small smile. “I’ll leave that up to you to decide.”
The trainees stand in the meditation room, poring over the information on their enemies. The bulky antique mirror hangs on the wall, large enough to see everything yet not imposing enough to be an eyesore.
On the other side of the mirror, Takeda stands, watching his disobedient apprentices intently, none of them the wiser.
Ava approaches her side of the mirror, staring at her reflection. After a moment of soulful silence, she speaks a single word.
No, not a word. A declaration.
“Fukushuu.”
Takeda smiles, noting the conviction in her stare, the desire for vengeance etched in her large, angry eyes.
He smiles slightly to himself. She may not be ready yet, but Takeda can see that when she is, nothing—and no one—will be able to get in Ava Winters’s way.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Jane stirred awake, grasping Shay’s hand as the plane bounced over a pocket of air.
For a moment, she didn’t know where she was or what was happening, still swimming up from the oblivion of sleep. But when her gaze came to rest on Shay, she somehow knew she was safe.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “We’re heading back.”
Her eyes traveled to the welt on his head. “Oh God,” she says softly. “Does it hurt? I’m sorry, Shay, I just—”
He stopped her. “I get it, Jane. You needed to figure out who you were. Who you are.”
She nodded, looking into his eyes. “Did you really hold my hand while I was unconscious last year?”
He looked away, as if the weight of her stare was too much for him to bear. “Every day.”
Jane smiled.
He glanced back at her and grinned. “If I’d known you were going to knock me unconscious, I might have reconsidered.”
She laughed a little, gently touching the skin around his wound. “I am sorry for this.” She blushed. “But I’m also sorry for ruining… well, you know.”
She had a flash of her hands in his hair, pulling his lips onto hers in the darkened car, an untapped well of emotion and desire rising in the heat of their kiss.
“I thought it was just a distraction,” he said.
Jane gave him a knowing smile. “I had to go into the estate. But I didn’t want to.”
He held her gaze until she could hardly breathe, the promise of a new beginning in his eyes.
She gestured to the aisle of the plane. “I’m going to…?”
He nodded, standing to let her pass.
She stepped into the aisle and sat next to Takeda. “Sensei,” she said, feeling an unexpected rush of affection for the man who had become like a father to her. “I’ve learned so much. About my identity. My past.”
Takeda nodded, looking intently at her.
“It’s just…” She hesitated. Did she really want the answer to her question? Could she survive it?
“Yes?”
“Was my father involved in my accident?”
Takeda’s stare tells her all she needs to know.
She exhales, her heart wrapped in a vise. “So he was in the car that pummeled me. My own father…” She turned her eyes on Takeda. “Why would he do that to me?”
“You will learn more in the next phase of your training, Mira.”
“No,” she protested vehemently. “Mira Reinhardt is dead.”
She stood, walking to an empty row of seats to sit by herself. She knew the answer to her question now. She wanted answers. She could survive them.
More than that, she could embrace them. And she would.
Seventeen-year-old Mira Reinhardt lies in a hospital room, unconscious atop the white sheets. Her face and body are covered in massive bruises and layers of bandages. Where her scar will someday reside sits a particularly ghastly and grotesque set of staples, holding her face together while it heals. She’s in terrible shape, but the young doctor explains that there is always hope.
He stands next to Takeda, who looks over the young woman struggling to avoid stepping onto the welcome mat of death’s door.
“She’s certainly a fighter,” the doctor says.
“She will be,” Takeda says with certainty.
The doctor shake
s his head. “Tragic. Especially since they still haven’t found out who did it.”
“There were no witnesses?” Takeda asks, already knowing the answer.
According to the police reports, the girl was walking home from an art class when the car slammed into her from behind.
Standard, random hit-and-run.
But Takeda knows that when it comes to the people surrounding William Reinhardt, nothing is random.
It’s calculated. Coordinated.
The doctor is surprised Takeda is asking these questions. From the way he’s dressed, the doctor assumes Takeda is one of the detectives who have been in and out of the room since they brought the girl in.
“I’m a friend,” Takeda says, fixated on Mira’s still-beating heart, illustrated in green peaks and valleys on the EKG machine by her bed.
“What kind of friend?” the doctor asks.
Takeda reaches into his pocket and withdraws an envelope. He hands it to the doctor.
“What is this?” The doctor bends his head, opening it.
“Does it still matter who I am?” Takeda asks.
The doctor stares at the money inside the envelope before stuffing it into his pocket.
“What do you want?” he asks Takeda.
“Tell the girl’s father that she’s dead,” Takeda instructs. “That she never woke up.”
The doctor is clearly perplexed. “Why would you want me to do that?”
“Because in doing so, you’ll be saving her life,” Takeda says, knowing that Reinhardt won’t stop until his daughter is dead.
And Takeda won’t let that happen.
The girl still has so much to live for. And so much to avenge.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
“How did it feel to finally face the one who wronged you?” Takeda asked Ava.
They were halfway home, halfway to Rebun Island. Ava was tired but grateful for the long flight. It was a comforting kind of limbo between Napa and Japan. Between what had happened and what was to come. Who they were and who they would be.
“It felt right,” Ava said after thinking about it. “Like I was restoring balance.”
Takeda nodded. “Exactly as it should.”