Of Cinder and Bone

by Kyoko M

  “That sounds lovely. Let’s make a play-date for later tonight when I kick in your doors and mess up that pretty face of yours. Now, call him off or I’ll take the shot.”

  She hung up and gauntleted the gun with her left hand, staring coldly down at the wide windows to Okegawa’s suite. “Dr. Anjali?”

  “He’s calling someone,” Kamala said. A pause. “There. He hung up.”

  Fujioka picked up her own binoculars and aimed them at the rooftop where the spotter had been. A man in a ski mask and all black flipped her off and then turned, walking away from the ledge.

  She bared her teeth in a vicious grin. “That’s better. Is Okegawa still there?”

  “No.”

  “Then we have to follow him. Let’s move.”

  They had barely taken a few steps when Fujioka happened to glance upward to see a small cylindrical object sailing towards them.

  “Down!” she shouted, tackling Kamala flat to the rooftop and covering her.

  The flash bang grenade exploded and then the world became screaming white noise.

  Kamala’s eyes had closed upon impact when she hit the ground, but that was the only good fortune to report. She gasped for air, the wind knocked out of her after being tackled, and her ears throbbed and stung as if someone had jammed an ice pick into them. A piercing ringing filled her head and she dug her fingertips into the gravel beneath her, panicking as the whole world slid from beneath her and started to spin. She gritted her teeth and forced air into her lungs, coughing and sputtering a few times, and then wriggled from underneath Fujioka.

  The bodyguard hadn’t fared much better. She pushed up on her hands and moaned at the teeth-clench wretched screech in her ears, swaying to one side as she tried to keep her balance. She opened her eyes to check the rooftop where the spotter had been, but the sky and the buildings were currently doing the tango, whirling in circles. Nausea rolled up through her torso and she shut her eyes tightly, suppressing the urge to vomit. She flopped down on her forearms and counted to thirty, slowing her breathing until she felt steadier. By the time she could stand, she knew that it had been several minutes, and Okegawa was long gone.

  “Son of a bitch!” Fujioka slammed her fist into the door leading back down into the apartment building. “I have had it with these fucking bastards. If that’s the way they want to play it, fine. No more tip-toeing around.”

  She offered Kamala her arm and tugged the scientist to her feet, steadying her and peering into her face. “Can you hear me?”

  “Not well,” Kamala said. “But yes.”

  “Pull yourself together. We’re heading into the dragon’s lair.”

  “What?”

  “We’re going to see Keiko Sugimoto.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  DIANE YOUNG

  From what Jack had seen so far, nearly every square inch of Sugimoto Pharmaceutical’s R&D facility was sterile, spotless, and cold, and the office where Watsuki and Minako brought him to was no different. The walls were a blinding white, like a flash of lightning smeared everywhere, and the tile floor so shiny he could see the bags under his eyes in the reflection. It also had no signs of comfort, like a love seat, personal knick knacks, or photos; just bookcases, a large desk, three straight-backed wooden chairs, and one window facing an open field of vibrant green grass.

  Dr. Yagami Sugimoto sat at the desk, his thin fingers flying across the keyboard of his laptop, his reading glasses perched on his nose. He didn’t glance up as the trio walked in. Minako had to clear her throat to get his attention.

  “Yagami-san?”

  He peeled his gaze from the computer. Something flickered across his face. Jack tried to identify it. Disgust. Anger. Exhaustion. Regret. He couldn’t tell.

  “Thank you, Minako-san. Please return to the lab. I’ll be down there shortly.”

  She nodded, bowed her head, and left.

  Yagami gestured to Jack. “Would you take the zip-ties off him? They aren’t necessary, for God’s sake.”

  Watsuki blinked rapidly. “Yagami-san? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, yes, I can handle it. Please wait outside the door.”

  The big man took a deep breath and seemed as if he was going to disobey him, but a moment later, he withdrew a stiletto blade from his pocket and snipped off Jack’s restraints. He bowed to Yagami briefly, sent a harrowing glare at Jack in warning, and then left.

  Yagami pushed the chair back and stood, rubbing his sinuses. “He means well, but he’s a bit thick sometimes. You’ll have to excuse him.” He set his glasses down on the desk and sighed. “I suppose you have a lot to say to me.”

  “Where do I even start?” Jack said quietly; the kind of quiet that usually preceded someone loading ammo into a gun and then taking aim. “Where…the fuck…do you get off stealing my work, threatening me and my best friend, forcing us to fly halfway around the world to get our dragon back from the criminal who stole her from us, and then kidnapping me to help you save her after you realized you don’t know jack-shit about her? Do you even understand what I’ve been through since the unveiling? Okegawa’s men murdered a detective in broad daylight. They broke into my apartment and stole all my data, as well as Kamala’s. And to top it off, your fucking lackey shot me in the arm. I worked beside you for nearly three years, Yagami. I know we aren’t exactly friends, but there is absolutely nothing you can say to justify what you’ve done. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t rip your goddamn head off.”

  Yagami picked up the small pack of cigarettes on the desk and tapped it against his palm until one popped out, nodding. “Yes. Sounds about right. That famous Rhett Jackson temper.”

  “Oh,” Jack laughed. “You haven’t even begun to see my temper.”

  Yagami lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply before replying. “I suppose this is the part where I explain that the end justify the means, and that any harm I’ve done to you has been in service to the scientific agenda that I have ahead of me. I could tell you that I never wanted any of this, and that it happened too quickly to comprehend and make logical decisions. I could tell you that I am ashamed of what I had to do in order to make certain things happen, in order to save my own ass, as well as that of someone I care for very deeply.”

  He blew out the smoke. “But I’m not going to say that. It would be patronizing, and if I’m being honest, it would also be untrue.”

  “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Jack said. “I saw the snake in you the second you walked into the lab and refused to shake my hand the day we met. Kamala only sees the best in people, but I think you knew from the get-go that something this fucked up was in your future. Especially if you’ve been running with Okegawa since you were a kid, like the rumors say.”

  “Rhett,” Yagami said lowly. “I’m only going to say this once. Don’t talk about Kazuma as if you know anything about him. You don’t.”

  Jack laughed again. “You know, my painkillers are wearing off, but I think I have just enough strength in this arm to crush your fucking windpipe.” He marched towards him, his fingers curling into fists.

  Yagami didn’t move. “If you kill me, it won’t change anything.”

  Jack grabbed two handfuls of his lab coat. “No, but I’ll feel a hell of a lot better.”

  He slammed him into the wall behind them. The bookcase nearby thudded and several books slid off, clattering onto the floor. “Why did you do this? Is it really just to save your own ass because your project went down in flames? Or are you really so goddamn petty that you wanted to ruin everything I’ve done just because you don’t like me? Go ahead. Tell me. Then, I’ll beat you to death and see you in hell when I’m done.”

  “What does it matter, Rhett?” Yagami said tiredly. “What’s done is done. Will you find satisfaction in anything that I tell you?”

  “We’re both men of science. You know damn well that the why means everything.”

  Yagami stared
up at him for a long moment and then exhaled, as if defeated. “It wasn’t my idea. Kazu and I had dinner that night, like we planned, and he told me that we could just take the dragon and figure everything out in the aftermath. I told him not to do it. I knew what would happen if he did, but he disobeyed me and put the wheels in motion on his own. After I found out the dragons were poisoned, I went looking for him. I didn’t catch up to him until after he’d set the fire at the veterinary hospital and took the dragon. I had a choice to make. I could turn him in and suffer the consequences of our association, or I leave Cambridge and start from scratch. At the time, it seemed easier to just vanish and hope that in all the confusion, everything would work itself out.”

  He snorted. “I suppose that was naïve of me, but it sounded good at the time. I didn’t find out about the death of Detective Stubbs until after I’d landed in Tokyo. Believe whatever you want, but I regret that most of all. Kazu’s men don’t understand restraint. They just act. Taking his life meant nothing to them, and that’s why I have taken care to keep Pete out of their reach. The yakuza have no say in what happens to her, and I will keep it that way.”

  “That is not your call to make,” Jack snarled. “It was never your call to make.”

  Yagami shook his head. “I told Kamala that this is why you are doomed to fail. You are so narrow-minded. You can’t see past your own little world, can you? This is bigger than you, Rhett. You reached into the abyss and pulled out something powerful that this world hasn’t seen for centuries. What makes you think the dragon is yours and yours alone? That there aren’t other interested parties that span the length of decades? That this isn’t part of something far greater than either one of us? You changed the world. The results aren’t always what you want them to be. You altered the course of history with this discovery, and there are consequences.”

  “So, that’s how you see it, huh? All from the distant perspective of a god? That you aren’t directly responsible for the murder of Detective Stubbs because you didn’t pull the trigger? That this hole in my arm wasn’t your fault because you weren’t there? Maybe you can rationalize what you’ve done, but we both know the truth. You want the glory. Whatever you and your scientists do from this point on with my work will bring you everything your selfish little heart desires, and you’ll rub that in your daddy’s face before he dies. Congratulations, Yagami. You finally got one over on the old man.”

  Yagami’s face twisted with anger. “This is not about my father.”

  “Sure it isn’t. It’s not like he recently wrote you out of his will and your reputation is in tatters because your project imploded and you were seconds away from crawling back to lick his boots and beg for forgiveness.”

  Yagami shoved Jack away from him.

  Jack snorted. “Wow. All this time I thought about tearing your throat out and I’d be committing infanticide. I hope it was worth it, throwing your life away for some punk yakuza who will probably roll on you the second they slap the cuffs on him. What do you even owe this guy? Can you look me in the eyes and tell me that everything that’s happened since Pete was born was worth this shit we’re in now?”

  Yagami stormed over to the window, lighting another cigarette on the way. Jack watched his back, contemplating how hard he’d have to throw him to shatter the glass and send him sailing four floors down to his death.

  “He saved my life.”

  Jack stilled. “What?”

  “I was thirteen years old. My father had picked me up from my mother’s house and stopped along the way to meet with the oyabun. At that time, the yakuza in Tokyo were still feared and ran the streets, unafraid of police involvement. The Inagawa-kai clan had been trying to muscle in on the Yamaguchi-gumi’s relationship with Sugimoto Pharmaceuticals, so they took it upon themselves to come up with a plan: kidnap me and force my father to cut ties with the Yamaguchi clan and work with them instead on the drug trade in Tokyo. They shot the driver, but I managed to escape out the back and run. They caught up to me in an alley. There was this homeless kid there. Scrappy little thing. Couldn’t have been more than ten years old. He ambushed one of them with a broken bottle and got his gun away from him. Shot the other two dead. My father and the oyabun’s men found us a little while later. I told them what happened. The oyabun inducted Kazuma on the spot. We became inseparable from that day forward, in secret. He’s my blood brother. If I had to be immolated in his stead, then so be it. I owe him a debt that I can never repay, not even with what I did to save him after he stole your dragon.”

  Yagami faced him. “Tell me you wouldn’t do the same for Kamala.”

  Jack swallowed thickly. “She wouldn’t want me to do that for her.”

  “Is that not what you’re doing now? I assume Kazu used her and the bodyguard to blackmail you into coming here. How is that any different? Sacrifice is sacrifice. Love is love.”

  “If you compare that scum Okegawa to Kamala again, I’ll break both your legs.”

  Yagami offered him a thin smile. “Looks like I was right all along. You do love her.”

  “My personal life is none of your business.”

  “Maybe not, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t part of my motivation to open your eyes.”

  “To what? More bullshit? Because trust me, we’re good in that department.”

  “You’re holding her back, Rhett. You’re a stone around her neck, dragging her to the bottom of the ocean. Tell me you’ve realized that by now.”

  “Go to hell.”

  “Think about it. Do you believe you would have made the deadline without her, even after all your research? Have you seen the news lately? How her reputation has been thrown in fire along with yours? Only, the problem now is that they’ve dropped into the ‘foreigner’ category. The news has been pointing in random directions trying to attribute the blame for the theft of the dragon, and even though the project’s success was a direct result of Dr. Anjali’s input, they haven’t even ruled her out as a suspect yet. Whereas you’ve been painted as the long-suffering victim because of your skin color and social status. Even now she’s searching this city for you, putting her life on the line, risking everything to help you. And what have you done for her, Rhett? She has given you everything. Without her… what are you? Just a man with a lot of anger and questions that he doesn’t have the answers to.”

  Yagami snuffed out the cigarette butt. Jack listened to the faint sizzling of the lit end going out. Something vast and terrified opened up inside him. Without her. He hadn’t even considered that a possibility in the last year, not when they’d spent nearly every waking second together. Kamala’s father had told her she was throwing her future away by being with him. He’d thought it was nothing more than close-minded protectiveness, but the fact of the matter was that his actions, his ambition, had dragged her into the crossfire of things he’d never dreamt of. Was she better off without him? More than that, was it even his right to make that decision? To cut ties with the one person who knew him inside and out?

  Jack took a long, slow breath. “Whatever happens after today… you don’t touch her. Not you, not Okegawa, not Watsuki, not your father, not the yakuza, no one. I don’t care if I make it out of this alive. Just her. If you give me that, I’ll listen to whatever God-forsaken horseshit you have planned for Pete.”

  Yagami blew out the last mouthful of smoke. “You have my word.”

  Jack stepped in close, his voice nothing more than a murmur. “If you break your word… I’ll kill you. Do you understand me?”

  “Hai.”

  “Don’t think that our account is settled. I promised Evelyn Stubbs that I would bring the men who killed her husband to justice, whatever it takes. You are on that list.”

  “Do what you must,” Yagami said rather softly. “So shall I.”

  “Take me down to the lab.”

  They returned to the elevator and rode down to the basement levels. Yagami took his paperwo
rk and laptop with him, passively watching the numbers click down one by one. “I take it Minako-san showed you the dragon’s physical exam?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Well, that’s not the entire file.” He handed him a manila folder. “The main reason you were called in is that we can’t identify why or how Pete has been able to resist every single form of sedative we’ve administered to her. In order to isolate the problem, we need to be able to monitor her vital signs, but any time we’ve tried to put her to sleep, she doesn’t go under. I’ve never seen anything like it. When she was still the size you last saw her, we managed to sedate her with a powerful combination of agents, and now it has no effect.”

  Jack studied the paperwork. “Captain America.”

  Yagami lifted an eyebrow. “What?”

  “Did you ever see that movie? The Chris Evans one, not Reb Brown or Matt Salinger.”