Shiro went into the bathroom and once more splashed water on his face in an attempt to clear his mind. As he was drying himself, a light knock on the door made him jump. He went over to the door, and standing to one side least he be shot through the door, asked, “Who is it?”
“Your friend from the bar, open up,” came the response.
Shiro cracked the door and when he saw Kono’s handsome face, he opened it fully and motioned for him to come inside. Shiro couldn’t help himself. He was smiling from ear to ear.
“What the hell are you smiling about?” Kono asked.
“Nothing, just glad you’re here, that’s all. How did you get into the hotel, front door?”
“No. I climbed the back fire escape and came through an open window on the fourth floor and walked up one flight. Okay, let’s talk, I’ve got more questions.”
He slid a phone towards him.
“Here. Same number, different phone. It’s clean.”
“It is?”
“Sure.”
“That’s amazing.”
Kono shrugged as Shiro flipped it open and examined the call log. It was a different phone, but everything looked to be in place.
Kono looked at the bed, then at Shiro. He saw a chair, took it and sat down. Shiro sat down on the bed after locking the door.
“I’d run the serial number on that gun to find its history, but someone filed it off. That’s an additional crime to just possessing the gun. By the way, the Feds could also get a crack at you since it violates Federal law to possess a firearm with an obliterated serial number. You say that the Yaks supplied it to you?”
“Yes, sir. I was given the location and I picked it up. I only carried it tonight because I didn’t wanna leave it in this dump. I’m sure it would be real easy to pick that lock.”
“Back to Tokyo, what did Nobuo tell you about me if anything?”
“He told me you were a traitor and that he was further disgusted by you because he said you are gay, although he used a nasty word to describe that. He said you were there for a year, is that right?”
“Yeah, about that, until my cover was blown. I barely got out of Tokyo alive. How did he let you get away unpunished?”
“He didn’t.” Even now Shiro felt the terror of his torture.
“How did he question you?” Kono’s tone was gentle.
“Very painfully. He made me take off my shirt and then before I realised it, he pierced my chest with these long silver needles.”
“How many did he use on you?”
“One for every week I was working for them without telling them I was looking for Siono—that would be four. He almost severed my one nipple and it was stapled back on! It still hurts like hell.”
“Have you seen a doctor here?”
“No, it’s been hell since I landed at JFK.”
“Let me see the marks on your chest,” Kono said as he shifted in the uncomfortable chair.
Shiro got up and began to take off his shirt when his hormones kicked up once more. He began to get aroused standing in front of Kono and taking off his clothing. He looked down at the floor as he removed the T-shirt he was wearing.
Kono got up and walked over, examining the clearly visible piercings and the badly damaged nipple. He was thorough. After the rough treatment back in Tokyo, it felt nice to have Kono’s gentle touch on his battered body.
“I’m looking for anything else that shows evidence of his particular pattern of torture,” Kono said. “I saw him do this once, but that poor bastard suffered with seven needles and passed out three times. A day later, they shot him.”
“What the hell did he do?”
“He stole from Nobuo and no one does that and lives. He made an example of the guy and I had a hard time keeping my dinner where it was as I was forced to watch that poor guy suffer. Shooting him was a blessing in disguise.”
“Did you shoot the guy?”
“No. But I would have just to end the guy’s suffering. He would have done far worse to me if I had been prevented from getting away. He liked to use those needles to pierce a guy through the shaft multiple times and then the testicles. Nobuo is a full out sadist and he loves every whimper from his victims.”
“Yeah, that’s what the guy who tended to my wounds said, too. He urged me not to cry out because Nobuo would get off on it.”
“Ahh, that guy. Yeah, he could be nice, but he also was brought in to do the heavy torture on their victims, too. He’s actually a doctor. You’re one lucky son of a bitch that you got away with just that.”
“I guess so, but like I said, it still hurts. I’m also worried about infection.”
“If we can, we’ll get you seen by a doctor here,” Kono said as he ran a finger over Shiro’s chest making Shiro take a quick deep breath.
“Did that hurt?”
“No, actually it felt good. You see I’m gay, too, and I think you’re one very hot man. I’m glad you escaped from Tokyo. But you gotta realise when they see that I haven’t killed you, they’re just going to send someone else. If it gets close to your testimony time, they’ll have the locals do it regardless of the consequences on their operation here.”
“I realise that. It was the reason I went undercover in the first place. The Yakuza have a stranglehold on Chinatown and other parts of the city. They almost went to war with the Mafia for control of Brooklyn, which would have been a real blood bath. We arrested a couple of key suspects and that defused the situation for the time being. But this is a problem that has to be dealt with once and for all.”
“When are you supposed to testify?”
“Within the month.”
“We’ve got to come up with something. Do you have any ideas?”
“Just one. I’ve got to talk to the department but I’m thinking we fake my death. That way I won’t be a target for the time being, and you’ll be off the hook. You can’t go back to Japan though, because when I pop up, they’ll kill you for sure along with the two women. We’d be buying time, nothing more.”
“Do you think I’m safe here until we bring that off?”
“Maybe for the moment, but you can’t stay here. I’ll talk to the department about putting you in a safe house, especially after the supposed hit. Who knows you’re here?”
“No one but the guy at the front desk. I tried to get him to tell me if anyone comes around asking questions about me and not to tell anyone anything, but it only got him worked up and he almost threw me out on the street. He’s worried about you guys busting the hotel for hookers.”
“If we raided every hotel in New York City that had a hooker clientele, we’d need a couple hundred cops just doing that along with a massive jail to house all the arrests in. We know where the action is and frankly, as long as they keep it out of the alley and don’t roll their tricks, we turn a blind eye to it. There’s a reason it’s called the oldest profession. No other police department in history has been able to stamp it out.”
“Are there male hookers, too?”
“Of course. If there’s a buck to be made doing it, there are men willing to sell themselves just like the women.”
“I could use a male hooker right about now to help me relax,” Shiro said with a smile.
“You’re a nice-looking guy. You should be able to pick up a guy in the bar. Although I wouldn’t bring him here because the entrance is rather public and if they’re cruising the streets looking for you, you don’t want some trick who just wants to get his rocks off dying because of who you are and why you’re staying here.”
“Maybe going home with him would be the best thing I could do. Talk about a really random place to spend the night!”
“First of all genius, you’re more than likely to end up on the street once the deed is done. Guys don’t spend the night afterwards much anymore, at least that’s my experience.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Shiro asked.
“No. Being a cop has advantages but many disadvantages…one being boyfriends.
They tend to constantly nag about the danger of the job.”
“But that shows he loves you,” Shiro observed.
“Maybe so, but it’s not like I’m gonna leave the job in order to satisfy his insecurities about what I do for a living. Do you have someone?”
“No, not…really.”
Kono looked at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I broke up with a guy about nine months ago and I really haven’t had any time to date since then. I met an incredible guy in Tokyo though…I had the most mind-blowing sex I’ve ever had in my life.”
Kono’s mouth quirked into a grin. “Really.”
“Yeah, really.” Shiro felt his cheeks flame just remembering the artist’s brushes on his skin…God. And in his ass.
“Wow…this guy might be a hard act to follow.”
Shiro detected a note of what…jealousy?
“It was nice. The nicest thing that happened to me there.”
“Better than the parasite museum.”
Shiro laughed then, his first belly laugh for weeks.
Kono’s hands moved to Shiro’s face. Shiro stopped laughing.
“I’d like to…hear about your experience sometime.”
Shiro stared hard into the man’s eyes.
“I believe in show, don’t tell.”
Kono dropped his hands. “You like to play with fire,” he said. He moved to the window, peering around the curtain’s edge.
“You still have plenty of spunk in you. I can’t believe, good looking as you are, that you went nine months without getting laid.”
“It’s true. I’m doing my Master’s. It’s been a labour of love. Then my mom disappeared. The past several weeks, I’ve been planning what I’d do in Japan and getting that all set up through contacts. I guess maybe that’s why I’m so horny now that I think about it. It’s been a while with the exception of the guy in Tokyo right before the shit hit the fan. I’ll never experience the randomness of colours again.”
“Huh? You talk in riddles sometimes, you know that?”
“Oh, it’s not important. You know you’re a damn hot man, Kono. When he showed me your pictures in Tokyo, I had to work to conceal my reaction to your face. As far as Nobuo knew, I was straight and he thought that Miki was my girlfriend, which is why he snatched her and is holding her.”
“Yeah, well the talk was that while tormenting some bastard, he had him stripped naked and he fucked the guy in the ass without lube to really make it hurt. No one dared say a thing about it.”
“Nice. What a piece of shit that guy is…”
“Okay, I need to bring my superiors in on all this and get permission to arrange the show. The hit will be in the media, which is what’ll convince the Yaks that I’m dead. Get your things, you’re coming with me now.”
“Where am I going?”
“I’m taking you out to Long Island tonight to some out-of-the-way motel. You’ll be safe there and I’ll be able to concentrate on arranging what has to be done. Get your shit and go down the escape with me.”
“I shouldn’t even check out of the hotel?”
“Nope, fuck that.”
Shiro put what little he had into the gym bag, and left the room key on the dresser. They went down the stairs one floor, then out onto the fire escape and down to the street. They made their way to Kono’s car and were gone. Kono pointed the car towards four-ninety-five.
“We’re heading back to Queens?” Shiro asked.
“The place we’re going, Hicksville, is on Long Island.”
Kono had an idea. He would stash Shiro at an old Howard Johnson’s that he had once taken a date to…well, more than once. Yes, it was perfect. His mind raced as he drove.
They stopped for gas at a Shell station that boasted a convenience store. Shiro picked up some antibiotic cream, gauze and sticky bandages and when Kono came looking for him, he suggested food to tide him over until the next day.
“How about some fruit?” he suggested.
Shiro picked up some fruit roll-ups.
“Don’t you know that stuff’s full of chemicals? That shit’ll kill you,” Kono said.
“Dude…I could get shot anytime, if the holes in my chest don’t get me first.” As an afterthought, he picked up some aspirin and bags of dried fruit and nuts.
“You take me to all the elegant places,” Shiro deadpanned.
“I’ll make it up to you.”
“Yeah, you will.”
“Why do you make everything you say sound sexual?” Kono asked.
“Because it is. Hey, they have hamburgers.” Shiro grabbed a couple, and some bottled water.
“All done?”
“For now.”
Kono paid for everything, and they pressed on to the hotel. As he drove, he thought about his sojourn in Tokyo. He’d seen the misery on Shiro’s face. He’d called his ordeal a nightmare. That, it was. Kono knew that Shiro was telling the truth now because he’d felt the same way himself. The Harada clan members were like the asters in the garden of life, choking off everything else in order to thrive.
“So, I know that Harada murdered his own dentist…tried to make it look like an accident or something…my details are sketchy…but you really think the Harada clan will turn over my mother and Miki once I er…kill you?”
“No.” Kono sighed. “Look, my involvement isn’t pretty. There was a dental surgeon here in New York, Sam Fried, who…well, he was highly regarded in his field. He was as forensic dentist who specialised in altering people’s teeth for the witness protection programme. He was a genius and worked a lot of cases for this state…and many others. Unfortunately, some high-level criminals have also sought his services, one of them being Shun’ichi Harada.
“Harada is pretty high on the watch list for federal aviation authorities. The FBI had been trying to grab him for years. He has a trail of bodies behind him. Anyway, he wanted his original dental records back, but Fried was reluctant to turn them over. He wanted some kind of insurance if anything happened to him, plus he felt he should retain them in case Harada wanted work done in the future.”
Shiro was agog. “Did he give him the records?”
“Yes, finally. But even then Harada shot the man. They found Fried floating in the Hudson River. Normally, a regular dentist’s death wouldn’t be such a big thing, but…”
“He worked on all those witness protection programme cases, right?”
“All those records went missing. A lot of people’s lives were hanging in the balance with a maniac like Harada having such damaging material in his hands.”
“Holy crap! Is this going to come out in court?”
“If I live long enough to tell the tale.”
“So it all depends on you?”
Kono shrugged. “I brought the records home. I found them.”
“Oh, my God…you are so my hero.”
“Tell me that when we get through this.”
They arrived at the hotel on Oyster Bay Road. Shiro had mowed through the burgers and most of his snacks. He looked woebegone.
“You’re not gonna just…just leave me here, are you?”
“I’ll be back,” Kono said, feeling like a cut-rate Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“But…it’s horrible here. It’s flat and creepy.”
Kono feared the kid would do a runner. He wasn’t kidding. The area was so rural and desolate. A bunch of Yak goons would be easy to spot. He realised that Shiro really was no professional assassin. He sighed.
“Okay.”
He walked inside with him, checked him in with a cash deposit and even took a look around the room.
“It’s awful,” Shiro said.
“Yeah. It ain’t Shangri-la.”
Shiro suddenly hurled himself into Kono’s arms. Kono hugged him, in spite of himself.
“Listen, kid.”
“I’m not a kid.”
Kono felt Shiro pushing away from him.
“You’re right. You’re not that much youn
ger than me. Listen, I’ll be back and you can always call me now you’ve got no tracer on your phone.”
“I feel like crap. I’m really scared. I called my grandma when I got into town, but she hasn’t called me back. That shit’s really weird. It’s just not like her.”
“Give me her number. I can have someone do a welfare check on her.”
Shiro’s face brightened. “You can?”
“Sure. I’m a cop.”
Shiro threw himself back in Kono’s arms. Man, he felt good, even though Kono resisted the urge to let Shiro kiss him. They stared at each other a moment.
“Please,” Shiro said.
Kono shook his head but unbuttoned Shiro’s shirt long enough to take another look at his chest wounds. They were no better, but on the plus side, they weren’t any worse. Shiro made a soft, whimpering sound. Jesus. I can’t fall for this guy. He’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. Stop. Stop it right now. Kono tried to convince himself he was just taking care of a guy who’d been badly wounded. He put antibiotic cream on Shiro’s chest, the softness of the guy’s skin making him feel jumpy. He covered it with gauze and tape.
Shiro made another little sigh and Kono felt the man’s breath on his face as Shiro kissed along his jawline. Their mouths met in a frenzied kiss.
Sweet fucking Jesus! What am I doing?
Shiro’s mouth moved over his, their mutual need undeniable. Kono was shocked when Shiro’s determined hand ran across Kono’s crotch. He felt his cock hardening, Shiro crooning softly as he awakened the sleeping dragon.
Kono no longer resisted. Shiro was too persuasive. Damn. He was kneeling before Kono now, taking Kono’s cock out and licking it.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Kono muttered, but still he didn’t pull away. The sight of that beautiful mouth on him made his cock harden.
Shiro moaned, then pulled off him. “You’re right. Let’s stop.”
Kono gasped and held Shiro’s head. No way. He knew Shiro was playing, but it was too late for that. Shiro’s gaze flew up and met his. He sucked and tongued on Kono’s cock in a delicious swirl of sensations that rivaled the best blowjob Kono had ever been given. He was on his toes when he came, his whole body melting with relief.
My Yakuza Page 8
