Protection for Hire

by Camy Tang

  “Your femininity is inside,” she’d told Tessa, “just like the beautiful pattern is on the inside of this crane. Other people can only see it if they get close enough to touch it and handle it.”

  Then she taught Tessa how to make the cranes herself, with the pattern on the outside, on the expensive imported paper. Tessa worked hard and only went through a couple dozen of the beautiful sheets, and Aunty Kayoko had praised her.

  Tessa had never told her mom or her sister. She hid the inside-out paper crane in her drawer, and when she’d gone to prison, she had asked Aunty Kayoko to find it and mail it to her. The crane had eventually been tucked into her Bible, where it remained even now, with a few tear stains from when she’d taken it out on the day of her aunt’s funeral.

  At hearing Alicia’s words, Elizabeth’s fine dark brows rose as she looked at Tessa’s sister. “What are you talkin’ about?” Her accent had become even thicker and she had slowed down her words, for a change. Her tone made the question sound like a finely veiled insult.

  Alicia drew herself up, raising a pointed chin. “Tessa is a tomboy through and through. You can barely get her to wear makeup to a job interview.”

  “Tessa doesn’t need makeup. She has flawless skin,” Elizabeth fired back.

  Tessa was speechless. She’d never before had a girlfriend stand up for her to her family. When working for Uncle Teruo, and even in prison, she’d always had to fight her own battles. It was what she’d needed to do within the yakuza, where women weren’t often respected, and again in prison. While she’d argued with Alicia countless times, it was completely different to have a stranger tell Alicia about Tessa.

  And Alicia didn’t like it either, apparent from her flushed cheeks and prim mouth. “All I’m saying is that throughout our childhood together, Tessa has never been interested in feminine things.” Meaning, I’ve had many more years of observing my wild woman sister than you have, Scarlett.

  Elizabeth casually looked away with the air of a woman humoring a crazy person. “Well, I’m sure you’d know, since even with your own girly friends, you would have been so close to your tomboy sister. She must have spent so much time with you.”

  Tessa gaped at Elizabeth. She met Mom’s eyes, which were also wide with surprise. Mom strode into the breach. “Er … Tessa, you don’t know how to fold paper cranes, do you? Why don’t we teach you too? It’s a good thing for a Japanese girl to learn.”

  “I already know,” Tessa replied.

  “You do?” Alicia asked. “Who taught you?”

  She hesitated. It would be embarrassing to them, and as much as Alicia criticized her and Mom neglected her, she didn’t want to do that to them, not in front of Elizabeth. “One of the aunties.”

  “Who?” Alicia demanded.

  Well, she asked for it. “Aunty Kayoko.” The yakuza oyabun’s wife. It was like having the First Lady teach a niece how to do laundry — implying something lacking in that niece’s family. And the oyabun would know it.

  Alicia stiffened and her face grew pale, but she shut her mouth and said no more. Mom’s eyes fell to the crane on the table in front of her.

  Oblivious to the embarrassment of Tessa’s family, Elizabeth held up a crane. “This is the most lovely paper. And folding cranes is so soothing.”

  “Japanese believe that if you fold a thousand cranes, your wish will come true,” Tessa said.

  “Sit down and have some tea.” Elizabeth pointed to a teapot on the table. “Unless you’re too girly to sit with us girls.” She slid a pointed glance to Alicia, whose lips disappeared in her face, but didn’t reply. “So what did you do today?” Elizabeth asked.

  Tessa told her about finding out how Heath discovered her, but she didn’t tell them about the disturbing Bible verse Calypso had quoted to her. “I bought a couple Happy Meals for Calpyso, and also some crackers and peanut butter, but when I went back to his street corner to give them to him, he didn’t seem to recognize me, even though he’d beaten a guy up for me only twenty minutes before. But he did thank me.”

  “Disturbed man,” Mom said, shaking her head. “The kind of people you interact with, Tessa.”

  “I didn’t seek him out because I want to marry him, Mom,” Tessa said.

  Mom shuddered at the thought.

  “I also laid a few false trails in San Francisco for you,” Tessa said to Elizabeth.

  “False trails?” She rubbed the top of Daniel’s head, and he jerked his head to get her to stop.

  “It was actually kind of fun.” Tessa ticked them off on her fingers. “I opened an account for you with Wide World Travel Agency, and gave them your information so they could pull up all your frequent flyer points for all the different airlines you’ve flown. I gave them a bogus address at a motel in San Francisco.”

  “But Heath will go to that motel like last time, ding dong,” Alicia said.

  “The clerk will have no idea what he’s talking about, and Heath will either think the guy’s clueless or well bribed. He can’t bust down every door in the motel, ding dong.”

  Alicia made a conceding gesture.

  “I also called Pacific Real Estate to get them to run credit checks on you in Canada and Mexico.”

  “But I don’t want to go to Canada or Mexico.”

  “But Heath doesn’t know that. I started processes to open a bank account for you in Vancouver, and I got the Barnes and Noble cashier to pull up your membership card number for me when I was at the store today and bought a book on living in Canada.”

  “They just did it for you?” Alicia was appalled. “You didn’t have to show any ID?”

  “I was very charming to the cashier, and made a big deal of searching through my wallet for my card and not being able to find it, and he was happy to search on the computer for me when I gave him ‘my’ name. Oh, and I also bought a DVD on Canada too.”

  “With what money?” Mom demanded.

  Tessa felt her face flame. “Sorry, Mom, I’ll pay you back as soon as I get in touch with Ichiro.”

  “No, I’ll pay you back,” Elizabeth insisted, “as soon as Charles gets my money for me.”

  Mom gave Elizabeth a warm smile. “Oh, no, don’t worry about it. I don’t mind at all.”

  Tessa actually felt like the color green — a slimy, scaly, sickly green. Mom was just being hospitable, teaching Elizabeth to fold paper cranes and not begrudging her the money Tessa had spent. She gave herself a shake both mentally and physically to get it to go away, but a sharp talon still pierced something soft in her chest.

  “So now, if Heath searches for you or hires a P.I., they’ll find you planning to jump ship to Canada. They’ll keep their eyes on World Wide Travel, waiting for you to make your plane ticket.”

  “While I’m holed up here in San Jose,” Elizabeth said. “You’re so clever!”

  While doing all this, Tessa had thought to herself that she was being rather clever, but now, with Alicia and Mom barely looking up at her, it didn’t seem as brilliant as she’d first thought. “Well, it’ll buy you a few days. I’m going to be looking for a safe house for you.”

  “Oh, you can stay as long as you like,” Mom gushed to Elizabeth.

  “You’re so kind to us,” Elizabeth said.

  That green, nasty feeling washed over Tessa again.

  “I’m sorry the sunroom is so small and so bright in the mornings,” Mom said. “I thought about taking the room-darkening shades from Tessa’s room, but it wouldn’t be enough to cover all the windows.”

  She should be used to this, being last in her mother’s thoughts. She had caused her mother a world of pain and humiliation when she went to prison. She had embarrassed her sister and caused a tarnish on her niece’s reputation at school to have a convict for an aunt.

  But it still didn’t make it hurt less.

  “If Tessa moved out, we could put you in her room,” Alicia said.

  “If Tessa moved out,” Tessa snapped, “it would be because Elizabeth didn’t need a bodyguard
anymore, which also means she wouldn’t need to hide here with the three of you.”

  As soon as she said it, she heard how petulant and ugly it sounded, but she couldn’t take the words back.

  Alicia didn’t notice — obviously because anyone living with her would have no cause for complaint. Mom looked vaguely sad, maybe at the prospect of losing such a nice houseguest.

  But Paisley flinched and looked back down at the crane she was folding.

  Tessa felt contaminated. She needed to get away from her sister, from her mom, from the patterns of behavior she had with them that she still fell into even though she was supposed to be a new creation in Christ. They would all be better off without each other.

  If she was supposed to be so different, why was it more and more apparent that she was still the same person?

  The irony was killing her.

  An ex-convict — no, even better, an ex-yakuza, asking a lawyer for money.

  Well, technically it was his client asking for the money, but since Elizabeth was pretty much under house arrest, it would be Tessa spending all of Charles Britton’s borrowed cash.

  They took light-rail to the train station and headed to San Francisco. While they were on the train, Tessa remembered the Toyota Corolla. Karissa had texted her to tell her she got a ride home that Sunday, but the car was still parked outside Wings.

  They got off at the San Francisco train station and Tessa called her cousin Ichiro at a pay phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Itchy, it’s Tessa.”

  “Are you done with my car?”

  “Like you’re even using it. I need another favor.”

  “Oh, so paying insurance on a car I’m not even driving so that my cousin can ride around the Bay Area isn’t enough?”

  “Do you have another set of keys for the car?”

  “No. Aw, man, did you lock yourself out?”

  “No, I didn’t. It’s good you don’t have a spare set of keys because I want you to break into the car.”

  “What?”

  “Pretend like you’re casing the cars on the street and then steal your car. It’s being watched and I want it to seem like a random theft.”

  “Like anybody’s going to believe I’m going to voluntarily steal a 1981 Toyota Corolla?”

  “Well … pretend like you’re a vintage car buff.”

  “If I’m a vintage car buff, I would have enough money not to need to steal a car.”

  Itchy was being unreasonably logical. “I don’t care what you do, just steal the car. And if you’re followed, lose them. Don’t let them track you back to your house.”

  “Tessa, who did you tick off?”

  “Nobody —”

  “’Cause I kind of like my head where it is, you know?”

  “They’re not going to chop off your head —”

  “And I like having all my fingers and toes.”

  “They won’t cut off your fingers —”

  “If they’re not dangerous, then why do I need to steal my own car?”

  “It’s a guy who beat up his wife, and I kind of helped her, and so he might be watching my car.”

  “My car.”

  “Your car. Whatever. Can you do it for me?”

  He sighed. “What if I get caught?”

  “Your name’s on the vehicle registration and insurance, so how is that a problem?”

  “Oh.”

  Tessa could almost hear Itchy thinking.

  “Okay, fine,” he said. “You better hope I even remember how to boost a car.”

  “Like you didn’t just do it last week.”

  “Hey, how did you know about that?”

  She hadn’t, but knowing her cousin, it wasn’t hard to guess. “The Corolla’s parked somewhere near this address.” She gave him directions to Wings, then hung up.

  Next, she dialed Charles Britton’s assistant and handed the phone to Elizabeth. “Hello, Abby, this is Elizabeth St. Amant. How are you doing?” The Southern charm poured off of her like fairy dust.

  “Oh my, and she’s only nine years old? She’s as sharp as her mama … You better watch it, in five or six years, you’ll have to beat the boys off with a stick … I would love to talk to Charles if it’s not too much trouble.”

  Most of Charles’s clients would have to leave a message, but for Elizabeth St. Amant, Charles’s legal secretary gave her an, “Oh let me patch you right through.”

  “I think I need to go to charm school,” Tessa said.

  “Honey, all they do is make you walk around with a book on your head,” Elizabeth said. “Oh, hello, Charles…. Oh, he’s fine. I’ll have to have you meet him sometime, right now he’s with —” She cut off as Tessa made a slicing motion with her hand across her throat. “Oh, I think I’m not supposed to say who Daniel’s with. Anyway, I have an eensy teensy problem. I need some cash, but I promise I’ll pay you back when I get my money back.” She named the sum Tessa told her she needed, and Tessa could hear Charles’s “What?!” through the earpiece of the phone.

  “Really, Charles, there’s no need to yell…. No, I’m not going on a shopping spree, I need it for …” Her eyes silently questioned Tessa.

  “Disposable cell phone,” Tessa said.

  “Disposable cell phone,” Elizabeth chirped into the phone.

  “Paying for your current safe house.”

  “Paying for my current safe house.” She whispered to Tessa, “Good idea, your mom will appreciate the extra cash.”

  Tessa thought about what else she needed. “Bribes — no, don’t tell him that. Um …”

  “Brib — er, I mean …”

  Tessa could hear Charles demand, “Is that your bodyguard? Let me talk to her.”

  Elizabeth handed the phone to Tessa with an apologetic expression.

  “What do you need bribe money for? And what do you mean, ‘safe house’? Isn’t she at Wings?”

  “No, Heath found out she was there. And I borrowed money so that I could lay down $40.75 to get that information, thank you very much. Hence, bribes.”

  “So where is she now?”

  “Now, we’re at the train station. And do you really think I’m going to tell you over the phone where she is?”

  “Paranoid much?”

  “I think we were followed. Twice.”

  “Like I said, paran —”

  “The first time was after we’d met with you. They had followed us from Wings. I made four right turns in a row and was followed by the same gray Nissan Sentra.”

  A short pause, then a conceding grunt.

  “Then I was accosted outside of Wings on Sunday morning. Heath wanted me to give Elizabeth a message.”

  “What did he want?”

  “His words were remorseful but his body language wasn’t. Then he tried to grab me, and his goons tried to attack me.”

  “Elizabeth’s okay?”

  Elizabeth? “She wasn’t with me, but yes, I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

  “Considering who you are, I pretty much assumed you’d be okay, Xena.”

  The remark should have annoyed her, but there was a thread of humor in his voice that made her almost crack a smile. And yet, his comment also told her that he respected her abilities. It reminded her of how Kenta had made her feel. She shook off the old memory.

  “When we left Wings, we were followed by two, maybe three cars. I had a friend drive my car back to Wings while I took Elizabeth and Daniel on BART.”

  “You’re pretty sure you lost them?”

  “Yes.”

  “I guess you’re not paranoid then.”

  “With flattery like that, I’m surprised the girls aren’t all stalking you on Twitter.”

  A pause, then he said, “I’m sorry I called you paranoid. I should have known that with your skills, you wouldn’t cry wolf.”

  His apology paralyzed her. In the world she had lived in, no one apologized. Men never apologized to women. Her mother or sister had never apologized to her. No one a
pologized for anything in prison.

  But this man — this stranger — had apologized. For not trusting in her judgment. She didn’t know how to react. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to feel.

  So she ignored it. She coughed, then said, “So can you get us the cash? We’ll pay you back once Elizabeth gets her money.”

  “Sure.” Suddenly he was all business too. “Since I’m her lawyer, she’ll have to promise in writing that she’ll repay, but it’ll be fine. How do you want to get the money?”

  “An ideal place would be a restaurant where you can get a table in the back. I know they followed me and Elizabeth, but I don’t know if they saw you with us and followed you too. If they did, they might be watching you. I want to meet in a place where they can’t see you meeting us.”

  “There’s a restaurant a few blocks from my law firm that will give me a private room in the back. I’ve done that for some high-profile clients.” He gave her the name and address.

  As she hung up the phone, a thought came to her — would Heath have bugged Charles’s phone? Would he have the means to do that? Was he desperate enough to get Elizabeth and Daniel back that he’d hire someone to do that?

  She could only hope they weren’t walking into a trap.

  Chapter 11

  This lunch at Lorianne’s Café was going to cost him more than normal.

  With an obscene stack of cash in an envelope in his pocket, Charles entered the first floor portal to the restaurant, which was just a small foyer with an elevator. Lorianne’s, an upscale restaurant serving California fusion cuisine, was on the second and third floors of the building, which suited the understated entrance, adorned only by valets in black suits.

  He got off on the second floor and it was only a few feet to the reception desk. “Charles Britton, party of three,” he said.

  “Two of your party are already here,” the hostess said. “Follow me, please.” She led him up a short flight of stairs to the third floor, which was entirely composed of private dining rooms. They passed two walnut-paneled doors and entered the third door on the right.

  Tessa and Elizabeth sat at the small table, but Elizabeth was looking forlornly at her glass of amber-colored ice cubes. Tessa had a mischievous gleam in her eye which transformed her — she reminded him of a woodland sprite in the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that he’d seen at the Curran Theater a few months ago — graceful, saucy, sexy.