by Naomi Aoki
“Brian...”
“What? You think I’m going to swoop in and save you all because we’ve been fucking? Not happening.” He stood, leaned over the bed and whispered, “My family is important. You get that, don’t you... and Ken, you aren’t family.” He tried to ignore the ache slicing its way through his chest, one that dug in deeper with the pained look in Kennosuke’s eyes. Brian straightened up, turned his back on Kennosuke and strode toward the door.
“You know I didn’t go looking for trouble.”
Brain paused and turned back to stare at him. “You didn’t need to play hero either.”
He opened the door and stepped into the hallway, closing it firmly behind him. The constable leaning against the opposite wall straightened as it clicked, her attention focusing on Brian.
“He, awake?”
“Yes. I’ll fetch the doctor, so we can get him released quick and placed into custody.”
He didn’t wait for her reply, disappearing down the corridor out of sight. Making sure there was no one nearby, Brian pulled out a phone and messaged Jamie, He’s awake. The reply came back a few seconds later, Good, followed by another, Now, when are you putting him on a plane home?
“Damn you, Jamie. You don’t ask for much,” he muttered shoving the phone back in his pocket without replying.
“FUCK HIM.” KENNOSUKE threw off the blankets covering him and swung his legs out of bed. The room spun forcing him to pause before he pulled the IV drip from his hand. His feet hit the floor and he glanced about the room realising he had no clothes but the hospital garb he was wearing, making his plans to escape harder. Not that busting out of the room in his weakened state and trying to take out the police officer he assumed stood guard outside would be easy either.
He leaned on the bed, clutching at the sheets as he tried to figure out what to do when his gaze caught on a bag beneath the seat Brian had vacated. Walking around the bed, he grabbed it and opened it to find jeans, tops and underwear. “Fucking bastard,” he muttered, wincing as the bruises on his ribs complained as he rushed to get dressed. “He said he wasn’t going to help and yet, what does he call this?”
It felt good to be in clothes and not the hospital gown, though Kennosuke wished he’d had time to shower, hating the griminess on his skin. He didn’t know how long till someone would arrive to check on him, but the dizziness didn’t make it easy. And would it have hurt Brian to leave him some damned shoes. “Arsehole.”
Kennosuke breathed deep, settled his racing heart and moved toward the door. He leaned against it, listening for the sounds of people approaching and from the small window in it he could make out the cop standing outside. She was about the same size as him, and not armed – though if he recalled something Brian had said before, she might carry pepper spray. Kennosuke dragged a hand over his face, he didn’t want to get sprayed, that stuff stung, but the longer he remained in the room the greater the chance of someone coming and he’d find himself in a jail cell.
He needed to move fast.
Bursting out the door, Kennosuke grabbed a hold of the officer before she had a chance to react and throwing her over his shoulder. He struck out again before she could stumble to her feet, knocking her out and then breaking the police radio attached to her vest. It would slow any response to his having escaped. Racing down the hallway, bare feet slapping on the cold linoleum, Kennosuke had no idea where he was going and wished Brian had shared whatever fucked up plan he had with him rather than let him believe he was on his own. Turning a corner, he was surprised to see a fire exit door wide open and yet no alarm blared. Taking a chance Kennosuke ran out it.
“Took you long enough.” Brian pushed off a nearby wall and approached him, handcuffs dangling from his hand.
“What the hell do you intend to do with those?” Kennosuke could think of a few fun activities they could be used for, but the sneer on Brian’s face said that wasn’t on the cards and he slowed.
“Arrest you of course. It’s not like I didn’t know you’d try to escape.”
“You... you wanted me to escape. You left clothes for me...” What the hell was Brian’s game?
Brian’s shoulders slumped as he stared up at the sky. “Can’t you just play along, Ken? How else am I supposed to get you off hospital grounds... they’ll figure out you’ve escaped, soon enough, and I know you are used to your Uncle throwing money around to get you out of tight situations... but it doesn’t work like that here.”
He was not walking out of here in cuffs. Kennosuke folded his arms across his chest prepared to argue. It had only been a few minutes since he’d left the hospital room and he doubted the alarm would have been raised yet. His defiance coming to a screeching halt at the crackle of Brian’s radio.
“Cooper, where are you?”
“I’m on my way back to the room now.”
“The bastard has escaped, we have an officer down and I need you to keep an eye out for him. He can’t have got far.”
“Hey, Sinclair... the fire exit about... hundred metres maybe from your position is open... don’t know why the alarm hasn’t gone off. I’m going to head out and see if I can find him.”
“Okay. I will wait with Walker until back up arrives.”
The radio fell silent and Brian gestured at him, holding out the cuffs once more.
“Fine. But this kind of role play is not my scene.”
“Nor mine either. But this isn’t the bedroom and my job, is on the line as much as your ability to get back to Japan.”
Brain slapped the cuffs on his wrists as he pulled Kennosuke’s hands behind him and then shoved him forward. Kennosuke stumbled, the stone pathway digging into the soles of his feet. “You don’t have shoes with you by chance?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Parking in the carpark closest to the ward Kennosuke was admitted to had been a no brainer, even though Brian had no idea how long he’d be unconscious for. A long twenty-four hours spent gritting his teeth as Kennosuke drifted in and out, muttering thankfully in Japanese each time and not mentioning his or Jamie’s names. Hurt like fuck too that Kennosuke’s concussion addled mind didn’t drift to him at all.
Convincing his bosses to let him stay here, guarding their ‘unknown prisoner’ hadn’t come easy nor had sneaking in the clothes Kennosuke now wore. Brian owed his sister big, sneaking in the clothes under the guise of bringing him a clean uniform and being well-known amongst his colleagues no one had given her presence a second thought.
No, he’d owed her even more than that, as did Jamie. Well, Jamie had already promised her an all expenses trip to Japan after expediating his escape from the country, organising tickets from Queenstown to Auckland and then on to Kyoto as Jamie speed toward the airport. Safer to fly out from there than to head back through Invercargill while the police were on high-alert. And from what she’d said, everything belonging to Jamie and Kennosuke had been packed up from Brian’s place too.
The need to get Kennosuke out of the country quickly even greater than it was for Jamie, despite the police having no name for him. It wouldn’t take long for the pictures taken of Kennosuke, documenting his injuries were circulated once his escape had been confirmed. Instead of flying to Auckland, Brian had gotten Marie to book the first international flight out of Queenstown and they now had five hours to get there. He hoped only the one ticket would be needed, despite knowing two had been purchased, yet Brian couldn’t see how his career could survive the suspicion once the connection between Kennosuke and his father was made.
“Stop pushing so hard. Some of us aren’t wearing shoes,” Kennosuke grumbled. “How much further?”
“Not far.”
As they approached the carpark, Brian breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed no uniformed cars had been parked back here. He prayed they were all out the front of the hospital. Brian stopped in front of a blue sedan, unlocked it and shoved Kennosuke into the backseat before jumping behind the wheel. He shoved the key into the ignition and threw the key to the handcuffs onto
the backseat next to Kennosuke.
“There should be shoes in a bag somewhere back there.”
“Anything to eat?”
“No. I’d stop at Maccas if I didn’t think we’d draw the wrong attention.” Especially when the closest one was only blocks away from the hospital.
“No thanks. I’d rather starve.”
Brian snorted. “For a man who can’t even cook noodles... are takeaways beneath you or something?”
“Just don’t like Maccas. Next time you come to Japan I’ll take you to a real burger joint.”
He gripped the wheel tight. There might not be a next time if this played out wrong. “I look forward to it.”
Brian fastened his seatbelt and revved the engine desperate to put distance between them and his colleagues still at the hospital before his deception was discovered. He slammed his hand the wheel and turned the engine off as his radio crackled.
“Cooper.”
“Sergeant, a question. Do you have any idea why your father would be consorting with overseas organised crime groups?”
“None. I don’t speak with him. Like at all, Sir.” His grip tightened on the wheel and he could see Kennosuke tense in the rear-view mirror. “Why?”
“We’ve identified the two Koreans found at the building site. They are Japanese nationals with connections to a Tokyo based Yakuza group and the building site has links to a Japanese business in Kyoto-” Fuck! They were digging up information faster than Brian expected, but at least John had managed to destroy Jamie’s connection to it all. “-and we are going to need you to, assist us in the matter.”
Or maybe John hadn’t destroyed it fast enough. “What do you mean by assist you? It sounds like you suspect I’m hiding information on this?”
“No. Not at all. But we do expect you to answer some questions once you are finished shift.” But the threat of a charges hung heavy in the car even once the radio had fallen silent.
“Shit! Fuck!”
Brian turned to stare at Kennosuke, the mans’ face reddened by fury. “Ya think?” Everything had gone to hell, this was not the plan Brian had expected to need. “There should be a cell phone in the bag, grab it out and ring the number on it. You should get Maree. Tell her... tell her we’re going with plan get-the-fuck-out.”
“I’m guessing that’s worse than Plan B.”
“Just... just a little.”
Brian ached; his mind panicking as it tried to think over everything that needed to be organised. Get-the-fuck-out was never meant to be enacted, and yet here Brian was about to uproot his whole damned life because of Kennosuke. They’d plans in place, his father and him, to protect Brian’s career with the police if the deal with Gou had gone south – for whatever reason – but it hadn’t included fleeing the country. He could have just left Kennosuke to take the fall, watch him languish in the prison system until he was deported back to Japan. But he couldn’t do it. Brian couldn’t pretend that he didn’t give a shit whether Kennosuke made it out of the country or not.
He wasn’t sure how he’d cope in a country where he didn’t speak the language but at least Jamie and most of Kennosuke’s family could speak English. God, he hoped they wouldn’t put him to work teaching English, shuddering at the thought of standing in front of a class full of students, that was more Jamie’s thing than his. Surely, they could find him a job better suited to his skill set.
But first he needed to cash up all his assets. Switch ownership of the house to Riley and Maree for them to sell later; pack up his house and dispose of his cache of weapons – preferably before someone at the station decided to search his place and sort out what to do with his bike. Brian wondered how easy it would be to ship it to Japan, and whether he could get Kennosuke to pay for it. If he was lucky, his father would have already begun the process, foreseeing this eventuality.
“Brian, I’m putting it on speaker, Maree wants to speak with you.”
“Brian?” His sisters voice echoed through the car, worry straining each syllable of his name.
“Yeah, sis.”
“Are you sure about this? It’s pretty final, you’ll never be able to return.”
Brian stared ahead, staying focused on the road and resisting the urge to glance at Kennosuke in the mirror. “I know. But I don’t have much choice.”
Paper rustled, scraping across the phone as his sister moved it about and he winced at the jarring sound. “Okay, so I’ve organised the change of ownership on the house and backdated it three weeks, John will file it today. Dad has already moved your bike and the ownership will be changed on it too. I’m guessing you’ll want it shipped to Japan?”
“Yes...eventually. But my bank accounts, they’ll need to be cleaned out, though it’s going to raise flags and draw suspicion to me... on everyone. Not sure where the money can be sent.”
“Don’t worry I can funnel it into some accounts here, before organising transfer to an account in Japan Jamie’s given us.”
“Good. Then, plane tickets, passports for both of us and Ken’s stuff that’s still at the house-”
“Murray cleared Ken’s stuff out with Jamie before he took off and Jamie gave him passports for both of you as well. Oh, and Dad took all your ‘toys’ too.” He noticed her breathing was rushed as though she was moving, quick. Heard the sharp inhale of breath and then a door click shut. “And Brian... Riley is pissed with you.”
“Why the fuck is he pissed with me? It’s Jamie’s damned fault not mine.” Silence greeted him and knew exactly what expression his sister was making. “Fine. Fine I had a hand in it too, but still-”
“Okay, plane tickets we already sorted. Emailing them too you now. You fly out of Queenstown to Brisbane in five hours. Dad will meet you at the usual place and handover the passports, Ken’s bags and switch cars.”
“What do we do in Brisbane?”
“Wait. You can’t go through customs.”
“No, shit!”
Maree ignored his snappiness and continued. “I’ll have flights to Japan organised by the time you meet up with Dad.”
“Thanks, Sis.”
“Just... just take care Brian.”
“I will. Hell, I’ll make Jamie pay for tickets so you, Riley and the kids can visit.” He heard his sister laugh and then the line went dead.
This had been the only place he’d wanted to live, the only place that had felt like home and now he was being forced from it. He should hate Jamie, his father, hell even Kennosuke for putting him in this position, but he couldn’t. Brian was just as involved in creating this turn of events. It did mean he no longer needed to worry about how to proceed with his relationship with Kennosuke. Distance would no longer be an issue.
“So,” Kennosuke spoke softly and Brian could have sworn it shook. “You’re coming back to Japan then?”
“Not many places I can go... so, I hope you’ve got a few job vacancies, because I’m going to need one.”
THE MEETING PLACE WAS thirty minutes out of Invercargill in the middle of fucking nowhere. A barren rural road; no traffic but plenty of sheep in the paddocks flanking it. Two cars and a couple of bikes were parked on the side of the road, blocking some unlucky farmer’s gate while several leather jacket clad men loitered about. Men who glared intimidatingly at the car as it pulled up next to them, before breaking into smiles as they recognised Brian.
Kennosuke climbed out of the backseat and stretched, standing back as Brian strode over to his father. He watched the worried smile Mr Cooper gave Brian while handing over a bag of clothes grow into something personal and intimate. Averting his gaze Kennosuke stared at the two other vehicles and wondered which one they’d be taking, hoping like hell it wasn’t the old beat up one.
He flicked his gaze back to Brian and watched as he stripped off his uniform, changing it for the clothes his father had brought him. Tight jeans; a shirt that showed off the tattoos curling around his upper arm and a heavier jacket. His chest clenched at Brian’s hesitation to handover his now
useless uniform and car keys – the last links to the life he was leaving behind. It dawned on Kennosuke how much Brian was being forced to give up because of him: his career and his family. And what had he sacrificed in return? Nothing.
Mr Cooper opened the boot of the second car, the newer car and pulled out the suitcase stowed inside - Kennosuke’s. “Jamie packed this up before he took off, and these as well-” handing over two passports, Kennosuke’s and another Japanese passport that Kennosuke then passed to Brian.
Kennosuke watched Brian carefully as he stared at the passport and waited for the reaction when he opened it.
“What the fuck?” Brian’s voice cut through the air as he stood there staring at the passport in his hand. “Why the hell does it say Brian Kitayama? Is this your doing, Kennosuke? No. Of course it isn’t-” Brian continued not even waiting for Kennosuke to answer. “I’m going to kill Jamie. Presumptuous twat.”
THE KEYS TO THE UNMARKED police car were thrown to an eager young recruit who stared at the vehicle like it was an early Christmas present. In away Brian supposed it was. Not often you got to drive a vehicle that you’re most likely to be a passenger in while wearing handcuffs. He tried not to wince as the wheels spun before it took off down the road at speed before remembering it was no longer any of his concern. His career as a police officer had ended the moment Brian decided to help Kennosuke escape. Turning back to Kennosuke, he sniggered at the man’s unamused face as he stared at the beat-up car they’d be travelling to Queenstown in.
“Are you sure that thing – I don’t dare call it car-” Kennosuke kicked the wheel and jumped back as though expected the hub cap to fall off. “-will get us there in one piece? Will it even make it there in one piece?”
“It’s in better condition than Jamie’s car.” Brian grabbed the keys from his father and walked over to it, opening the driver’s door. “Are you getting in or not? It only needs to make it to Queenstown and that’s it. But we need to leave now, they’ll have figured out I’ve helped you escape by now or at least strongly suspect it.”
