Diane Taylor - [The Montegard Files]

by Shadow Demon (lit)

  “Of course, Tanaka-san I‘d be delighted.” Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum’s eyes burned holes in my back when I turned to follow Tanaka into the back. “I hope this works.”

  As soon as we were out of sight of the two men, he quickly handed me the food, which went into my backpack. In addition, he held out a wide brimmed hat to me. “You be careful.” he scolded lightly, “These guys are bad karma. I know it in my heart.”

  “You’re preaching to the converted, Tanaka-sama.” I smiled and adjusted the hat, shouldering my bag. “Just get me out the back door and I’ll take care of the rest.”

  He unlocked the back door and peeked out, then shouted at me. “Get that delivery made to Yamahito’s or else you won’t be paid!“ He aimed a cuff upside my head, knocking the hat further down on my face.

  I hunched my shoulders a bit more, then bowed and scraped appropriately, keeping with the role of delivery wretch. “Yes, Tanaka-Sama. Right away!” And started shuffling off into setting sunlight, almost losing it when two more Ken doll clones stepped into the shade of the alley.

  Thankfully, my hunched body, silhouetted by the late afternoon sun, became no more than a glare in their squinting eyes. They took one look at me and let me pass with a muttered insult in English. I managed to make it to the fire station, about two hundred yards away, before they actually woke up. One of them shouted, pointing at my retreating form. Once the alarm sounded, I took the hat off and my feet pounded along the pavement like an Olympic runner. Turning right and then diving into the bushes, I began to quickly and quietly make my way towards the stairs to the shrine. The thick ferns and soft loam muffled my passage though the forest. Fear sharpened my hearing to the point that, if a mouse squeaked on the far side of the Temple above me, I’d hear it. Suddenly, footsteps crunched the gravel that marked the pathway up to the stairs. The sounds were too close together to be only one person. My suspicions were verified when one of them started bellowing loud enough to wake the spirits.

  “Where the hell did she go?”

  “I don’t know, Carter. She just disappeared!” The response was from a different location.

  The one called Carter yelled, “Mike, what can you see?”

  A new voice, presumably Mike’s, “I don’t know, let me get up this tree and find out.”

  That made me nervous. I moved faster through the brush, trying not to give myself away. Finding an old hollow log big enough for me to squirm into, my lips formed a prayer that nothing in there would be offended by my little invasion. Unfortunately, I had to leave my backpack outside because it didn‘t fit into the small space with me. Thankfully, the color blended in with the dead foliage that camouflaged my hiding place. No sooner had I squirmed into the log, than a pair of army boots appeared in my line of sight, freezing me in place. Even my breath froze in my lungs while my body tried to become one with the log. I’m not here. Go away, my silent prayer went to the heavens, You can’t see me, I’m invisible. Go away. Like a silent chant, it kept me from trying something stupid, like breaking the guy‘s ankle and giving away my position.

  Carter’s voice echoed in the stillness of the forest, “Mike, you better be telling me something soon, or I’ll get Sikes to shove a knife up your ass.”

  A cracking of a branch breaking, followed by a yelp of pain as the one called Mike hit solid ground with a solid thump. I hoped he broke something permanent. My eyes locked on the pair of boots in front of the log, wishing they would go away. Instead, they stayed put, though they turned in the direction of the painful sounds. The rest of the group began arguing amongst themselves as to the responsibility of Mike’s untimely fall from the tree. Each voice tried to drown out the other with sheer volume. Mentally, I shook my head. If they were the prey instead of the predator, they’d have been killed off by now. These were rank amateurs. My dad would call them worse. Nogura would just give them a look of disgust. Not many people could be this stupid.

  The whole thing threatened to become one big brawl when, suddenly, a voice of authority sliced through the threats. “Shut up, all of you. You’ve probably just ruined our chances of getting her and the film! The boss isn’t that forgiving, as you three well know! Now let’s get the heck out of here and go search the house. Maybe she’ll show up unexpectedly. Then we can get her safely out of this godforsaken country. The boss wants to know what she knows about Mr. Mentari’s business dealings.”

  I shook my head. Big mistake, the voice in my mind whispered. Talking out loud when someone might hear you. Especially the person you’re looking for. Unfortunately, the Imp of the Perverse had something in mind for me in the way of mistakes. A sharp piece of wood cut into my side just below the ribcage, causing exquisite pain shooting through my nervous system. Moving slightly to ease the pressure, my hands slipped and the wood broke off, digging deeper into my flesh. The resulting snap of wood breaking sounded like a gunshot in the silence. I froze and sank my teeth into my hand, breaking the skin to keep from making any more noise, hoping against hope the boots, less than six inches from my face, would not turn.

  “What was that?” A sibilant voice came from somewhere just above my head. Soft, yet coldly impersonal.

  Footsteps entered the brush ten yards away, “I don’t know, but someone’s out here.” Carter replied. “Twenty bucks and a night in a nip whorehouse to whoever finds that bitch!”

  Mike and the anonymous person muttered in satisfaction, making my skin crawl. Like a rabbit who tries to blend in with the scenery, hoping the fox would pass by, my eyes lowered slowly to hide every piece of me that might possibly give me away. My heartbeat alone, sounded like a herd of mustangs on a stampede. I turned my head slightly to peer through the undergrowth, just in time to see a second pair of booted feet emerge through the undergrowth next to the edge of the log. So much for trying to remain calm. My body screamed at me to run like hell while my mind fought for dominance, forcing me to stay absolutely still. If they found me now, the resulting consequences were not something I wanted to think about.

  Suddenly, a loud snap and some underbrush rustled, like someone running away in the opposite direction. “There she is!” shouted Mike. “Halt! Miss Montegard. Stop!”

  Both sets of feet turned and ran in the direction of the rest of the group. Backing out of the log and into the dense foliage covering the floor of the forest, I rolled over onto my back to stare at the canopy above me. Mentally, I thanked whatever guardian decided to take an interest in watching over me. A sharp pain in my side reminded me of something in dire need of attention before anything else happened. Feeling around, my hands encountered the piece of wood. Just touching it told me not much had imbedded itself in my side, thank the deity of your choice. I wrapped a hand around the sliver and gave a yank. Glancing at it as the pain subsided to a manageable ache, made me wonder why something so small could hurt so much.

  Suddenly, a quiet rustling came from behind me. Tensing, I glanced down at the small splinter of wood in my right hand. A small weapon, but it would have to do. Allowing my body to relax slightly and waited for my chance, ignoring the slick wetness forming on my t-shirt, trickling down my stomach to join the moss covered ground. Tense moments ticked by. The silence almost convinced me that my imagination had conjured the sounds when a calloused hand clamped itself over my mouth and another placed over the wound in my side. The swiftness of the maneuver surprised me into paralysis, giving him the time to roll me onto my stomach. Only for a moment, though. Angry, I stabbed backwards over my head, hoping to cut something. A splash of thick, red, blood on my hand told me that my piece of wood did something, at least.

  My attack was short lived, however, as he shifted his weight around and captured my left hand with his own, squeezing the tendons so the weapon dropped. He moved back to his original position on top of me, roughly maneuvering my hands to completely immobilize me. It’s frustrating when you can’t move or do much else but lay there quietly. The hand at my mouth, turned my head to one side to view the danger, missed in m
y struggle. A shadow, furtive and seeking, moving from tree to tree. Then he moved my head to the other side, lifting my face slightly to give me a limited view of the area there, holding my head there long enough for the camouflaged mound to be recognized for what it really was. Danger, if I made any more noise. Freezing in place, I nodded my head a tiny fraction of an inch.

  A voice, extremely close to my ear said, “I’m going to remove my hand now. If you value your life, and that pretty face of yours, you will remain absolutely still and don’t scream.”

  The voice sounded strangely familiar to me. Relaxing into the loam, I inhaled through my nose, blinking in surprise. Sandalwood. Great. Just great. First, the bad guys, and now this. Not in any position to argue, my head lowered a fraction of an inch. The hand slowly left my mouth. My imagination must have been on overdrive, feeling the man’s fingertips caressing my lips, then along my cheekbone. Then again, maybe not. The harsh breathing next to my ear and the hands moving down my body told me this was no dream. More like a molten fire that ignited the heat my blood. It was a hard won battle not to shiver as his hands found the sensitive area below my ear. Tiny electrical shocks zapped my nerve endings while he caressed and felt my skin. I buried my head in the fabric of my shirt to stifle a moan of pure lust. The danger we were in, and the primal sensuality of the moment made everything seem more excruciating.

  Once I had myself under control, I licked my lips and whispered softly. “Why?”

  He didn’t answer me at all. Instead, he forced my face into the dirt and tucked his head into my neck. Not a moment too soon, because footsteps came perilously close. Close enough to make me break out in a cold sweat. My mystery man’s lips began moving along the line of my neck, causing my blood to go from volcanic to nuclear meltdown in zero seconds. Whether deliberate or not, his lips, combined with the fear of discovery, sent my hormones into overdrive. Those same lips moved, placing tiny kisses, nipping and tasting my flesh as they burned their way closer to my ear. A small shift in his weight brought hard evidence of his arousal pressing against my backside. Slowly, his hips began to move in minute ways, as if to ease the pressure. It was so erotic, I had to bite my lip until it bled to keep from making any noise that would alert whoever was out there.

  As if my actions had alerted him, his lips murmured against my ear. “Stay very still and do not move. When I leave, count to one hundred, then get out of here.”

  I nodded slightly, feeling the moss shift under my cheek. The weight quickly left my back, allowing a sudden rush of air, which cooled my body that gave it a welcome reprieve from the heated torment it just received. Slowly, my mind worked its way up the numbers, while my body tried to reign in my galloping heartbeat. Not a sound reached my ears after he left. Nothing. Not even a whisper of cloth catching on plants. By the time I reached a hundred, the birds had resumed their evening song and the crickets began to sing. Everything had returned to normal, except my hormones. Turning over onto my uninjured side, I counted slowly to one hundred one more time before moving. I dusted myself off then looked around. No bodies, no one moving in the distance, absolute normalcy. Muttering darkly to myself, I grabbed the backpack. A glance at the sky and my watch told me the cat and mouse game had gone on for little more than half an hour, yet the closely grouped trees made it appear as if the true shadows of night had fallen on paradise. With one last look around, I made my way up the path to the house, bypassing the stairs to the temple.

  There, at the edge of the clearing near to the cottage I stopped and paused. The lights were on inside and there was at least one person sitting in a chair, a shadowy figure backlit by one of the lamps in the room. Working my way, silently, through the underbrush around the house, my efforts told me no one waited to ambush me. Coming back to the shoji screen behind the cottage, I used a stick to slide it open in case there were trip wires. Paranoia can be a good thing after what had happened down the hill.

  Nogura dispelled my fears. “It’s okay, Terri. You’re safe now. Get in here and shut the screen.” He used a soft tone of voice, but one that held concern as well as a hint of something else.

  Having no choice, I walked in the door holding the stick and the backpack full of food. “Do you want to tell me what the hell is going on? I had four guys on my ass down the hill. I never made it to the shrine because they spotted me.” I didn’t mention the mysterious stranger or what else happened down the hill. Tossing the stick back outside on the way to the bathroom, I gathered the things needed to take care of my side. Namely, washcloth and bandages. On my way back to the main room, the adrenaline crashed out of my system, causing me to almost collapse into the closest chair, physically and emotionally drained.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know what is going on. All I know is that someone is out to get you.” He took everything out of my hands, and the backpack from my shoulder. “Why is that?” He knelt, moved my t-shirt out of the way cleaned and put a bandage over the wound with gentle hands. More bandages appeared on my hand where the bite marks were.

  Sighing, I stood and unpacked the food, offering him some. “Well, according to the four imbeciles chasing me, there’s something in those pictures someone doesn’t want people to see. Apparently, they seem to think I know all about Cosar’s…,” I frowned and looked at Nogura, “business deals.”

  He shook his head, “The moment you called me at my office, I have been trying to find out what is going on. I am not without my own resources.” He looked at me, taking in my face, searching for

  something. “This has its roots in Seattle, not here. Whoever is after you is there.”

  I swallowed a piece of sushi and sipped some tea while he continued to speak.

  “They knew I had the film, Nogura. They knew I had been taking pictures of Cosar and the people he had been meeting.” I thought for a few moments, letting my mind go back over what the idiots had let drop into my lap. “They have a boss that is pretty ruthless, from what I heard. Not to mention they seemed to think I was worth less than a night at a brothel in Tokyo.”

  His face clouded with anger, “Interesting.”

  That word made me feel almost sorry for my assailants. But not enough to even think about finding them or warning them. “Father, I need to get back to Seattle.” My brain started to tick off every possibility. “I need to get with my boss on some of these photos and then try and find out what in hell is going on. A month ago, I was just a simple photographer with a good reputation. Now, it seems, someone thinks I have something that they want.” I scratched at the scarring underneath the eye patch.

  Ashi Nogura nodded at me. “I can have a private jet fueled and ready to go whenever you want to leave.” He adjusted his shirt cuffs, “And a bodyguard to protect you on your way.”

  I looked at him and finally spoke. I needed get everything out in the open for my own peace of mind. “Forgive me if I’m being a little straightforward at this point, but I have to know. Before all this happened, you and I barely acknowledged each other as nothing more than acquaintances through my mother. Now, however, we seem to be rebuilding bridges that each of us thought we had burned. Are you involved in this in some way or am I just being paranoid?” I bit my lip and tried to put on a brave face. “Not that I am not grateful for having at least someone I can talk to and let down my guard with.”

  He held up his hand to stop the flow of words, smiling quietly, dropping the authoritative and domineering mask most people see. “There is no need to apologize. We have always had our differences in the past. The way your mother spoke of you, I expected a rebellious and bigoted little brat the first time we met, and acted accordingly. Now, however, there is a chance to finally meet you on your own terms. To know you for yourself without any hindrances. With the death of my daughter due to suspicious circumstances, I find myself wanting to get to know you better. If only to prove to myself that what my wife said about you is false.” He looked away from me. “Your mother never liked you because you were who you are. Even though she lav
ished you with gifts and made sure you had enough of an income to give you your freedom. She still did not like you. According to her, you were stubborn, willful, difficult. The only reason she kept tabs with your father was because I insisted that family ties are not ones easily broken, no matter what. And the only reason you came here for your visits is because you got along so well with Sara.” He sighed and continued, “Now that she’s dead and you injured. I wanted to try and do something right and maybe, as you are so fond of saying, mend broken fences.” He came forward and ran a hand over my cheek, then gathered me into his arms for a very rare hug, taking me completely by surprise. “I will do my best by you, Terri Montegard. My daughter. You just need to stay alive,” came the rough voice above my head. I smiled softly to myself and gave in. Wrapping my arms around his powerful frame, I hugged back.

  A few moments later we stepped apart so I could finish my food and pack stuff into my backpack, carefully wrapping up the photos and disks while he watched. The medallion went into the bag with the thread and beads. As I turned my head to look at him, it happened. A clicking and beeping noise coming from somewhere in the room. Nogura grabbed and bodily tossed me though the front shoji screen with my backpack. He flew out the door to land on top of me seconds before the whole building lifted itself several feet up in the air, then come back down on it’s foundations. The force of the blast cracked the wood and bamboo foundations, collapsing everything in on itself in a plume of smoke, splinters and debris. Most of which rained down on Nogura and myself while we lay on the ground.

  “That does it!” His angry voice sounded harsh in my ear, “I’m going to get that jet fueled and you out of here before someone actually wins this game of cat and mouse!” He rolled away and pulled out his phone.