“But I’m already halfway there, I could—”
“Turn around. You can grind your ax against Satoshi later. But time is of the essence here, as our backers have pushed up the schedule. Besides, the more we delay on this, the better the chance they’ll realize their mistake and correct it. This comes first.”
Masa was about to protest but decided against it. He had just delivered a devastating blow to his former friend and partner. He could hold off on destroying him completely a little while longer. Besides, spacing the blows out would make them hurt more. Sure, he had technically just gotten even with Satoshi. But things were far from over between them.
“Alright, Osammy. I’ll do the job first.”
“That’s a good boy. Keep me updated.”
“Will do.”
Oh well. His little jaunt away from the pollution of Tokyo was nice and all. But now it was time to head somewhere even worse. He walked back to the bike. Sachiko was seated on the rear of the seat, watching the traffic zip by on the freeway. She turned to him, a look of concern on her face.
“You’re walking funny. Like you’re holding yourself really stiffly.”
“I took a little damage back at the club.”
“How bad?”
“Some buckshot to the shoulder. Nothing serious.”
“Let me see.”
Wincing, he opened up his overcoat a little so she could see. It pained him more than he wanted to admit. Sachiko winced harder, though. She began shaking her head.
“No, I don’t like that. You need to get it checked out.”
“I bandaged it, should be fine.”
“If it gets infected …”
“Well … if we see a place to stop, we will. But just to pick up something to clean it with. I don’t have time for doctors. Because now we’ve got to get going.”
“How soon till we get to Hiroshima?”
“Slight change of plans. I’ve got to go to Fukushima first.”
“You said we’d take some time off out west.”
“Oh, we will. We’ll make it there. But I’ve got to do this job up north first.”
“Like, in Fukushima Fukushima? By the nuclear plant?”
“Into the power plant. Or what’s left of it.”
“Isn’t that dangerous? I heard that whole area is just radioactive wasteland.”
“Won’t be there long. Plus it shouldn’t be that bad with our Demron overcoats.”
“I’m not worried about me.”
“True. You can hang back, stay in the safe zone in Iwaki.”
“Is it even really a safe zone?”
“Where is anymore?”
Sachiko gave him a look. “That’s not really an answer.”
“Well, it’s probably safe from radiation, relatively. But yeah, I hear it can be a bit rough.”
Sachiko didn’t answer.
“You’ll be fine though. I’ll be there with you to look after you.”
With that, Masa slid onto the bike in front of her. He started the engine and drove around the parking lot. Then he eased them onto the highway, headed back the way they had come, and began to accelerate.
“You might want to hold on!” he shouted back. “It’s gonna be a hell of a ride!”
Sachiko didn’t answer. That was alright. He needed time to think anyway.
He needed a strategy if he was going to pull this off.
He took the next off-ramp heading north.
Towards the rotting corpse of the Fukushima nuclear plant.
And the secrets that lay buried within.
From the hospital, Satoshi took a cab to his bike. Then he hurried through traffic back to his apartment. He was dialing his phone as he fumbled the key in the lock.
“Hello?”
“Akari? It’s Satoshi. I need you to do something for me.”
The door opened. He closed it again and went into the bedroom, doing his best not to look at Hisoka’s remains in the center of the room.
“What’s up?”
“I need you to get out of there. You and your boyfriend. I need you—”
“Wait, what’s going on?”
“Look, I can’t explain everything, I just need you to trust me on this.”
As he spoke, he frantically dashed around the room gathering the things he’d need. He went to his stash and began tossing handguns, magazines, and shotgun shells on top of the bed with a metallic clatter.
“You’ve got to tell me what this is about, Satoshi. We can't just uproot ourselves because you asked us to.”
At that, Satoshi couldn’t help but look into the next room. Dark blood still covered the walls and floor.
“It’s Masa. I think he might be coming for you.”
“Masa? Coming for what?”
“To hurt you. He … he …”
“Masa wouldn’t hurt me. He’s always been kinda sweet towards me.”
“The Masa you know is dead. He’s … changed.”
He went over to the drawer where he kept his other stash. He began counting out Dextro-MXE pills, but then poured them back in the bottle. He threw the entire, half-empty pill bottle onto the bed along with his arsenal. It worried him that there weren’t many left, but he didn’t have time to think about that now.
“Have you tried—”
“He killed Hisoka.”
“What? Hisoka is—”
“Dead.”
He closed his eyes. There, he said it.
“Look, I don’t want to frighten you, because I need you calm and level-headed. But he’s heading your way, and I need you to get out of there. I can’t lose you too.”
“What do we …? I mean how should …?”
Panic was starting to creep into her voice. Good. She needed to be scared, at least a little.
“Get a lot of cash out. Go to a hotel, somewhere across town. Better yet, get out of town until I can handle this.”
“You don’t mean …”
“I do. Get to safety. Take time off work and get out of your house. I’m on my way.”
He hung up the phone. Then he threw his luggage into a duffel bag with shoulder straps. Almost as an afterthought, he grabbed some clothes and stuffed them over top of his arsenal.
He closed his eyes and walked to the front door, feeling along the wall until he found the knob. He turned the knob and walked out, slamming the door shut and never looking back.
It was rush hour, and he had trouble maneuvering through the city as fast as before. A darkening haze hung low over the city, reminding him that the hour was growing late. Frustrated with his slow progress, he began taking any street that was somewhat clear, trying to find a faster route out of the city. He was losing time with each moment stuck breathing in exhaust fumes from the idling vehicles choking the roads. The strategy worked, but ended up taking him somewhat out of his way.
When he was on the outskirts of Tokyo, he stopped to check the tracker’s location again. He tapped his phone, which was anchored to the dashboard with a special mount, to bring up Masa’s position. Damn. Masa had gained ground while Satoshi was tied up in traffic. Not only that, but Satoshi’s navigation through the city had put him much farther north than he needed to be. He plugged Masa’s general coordinates into his map, which reset his route.
Then he took off again. The highway he was on now was largely deserted. He urged his bike forward as fast as possible. Not only to catch up with Masa, but to outrun the death and destruction behind him. Hisoka was dead, maybe Vasili too. It was as if everything from the life he had known was gone.
Behind him was nothing but a black, gaping void that would swallow him whole if he looked back. Ahead was the focal point of his burning, white-hot rage for the man responsible. Now there was no going back.
But no matter how fast he shot down the road ahead, he couldn’t keep ahead of the grief and regret choking him. Not entirely. Soon it began to feel as if Hisoka was right behind him. He felt her head against his back, and her arms wrapped tightly
around him. The way she always sat when she rode with him. Tears blurred his vision, and he tried to outrace the phantom sensation.
But the embrace only seemed to grow stronger, as if Hisoka was holding on tighter to stay with him.
We’re finally going on a trip.
The thought suddenly flashed through his mind. It almost sounded like Hisoka whispering in his ear.
Anyone watching him from afar would have seen him almost lose control of the bike. They would have seen it fishtail across two lanes of the empty highway before coming to a stop off to the side of the road. They would have seen Satoshi slump forward over the handlebars, his back wracked with sobs.
But there was no one around to see.
Satoshi was alone on the empty road, with the way ahead too dark to see.
Chapter Twenty-Three
They wheeled Vasili’s unconscious body out of the trauma center and into the intensive care unit later that evening.
“How is he?” Mei asked one of the attending doctors.
“He’s still alive. Which is better than any of us would have expected a few hours ago.”
“Will he make it?”
“Hard to say. He’s suffered extensive internal injuries. These next few hours will be critical.”
They moved him into a room on the ICU and began plugging him into the machines surrounding the bed. To her, Vasili had always seemed larger than life and tougher than death. Now, he couldn’t even breathe without a tube down his throat and a machine to artificially respirate for him.
When the nurses finished hooking him up to the machinery, one of them saw Mei standing in the room and ushered her out.
“Only medical personnel in here. You’ll have to wait outside.”
“You’ve seen a lot of these situations?”
The nurse nodded.
“What do you think are his chances? Honestly?”
“Honestly? I think you should hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.”
“That’s not a satisfying answer.”
“It’s the best I’ve got. Now let’s go.”
Mei walked out of the hospital. She needed to get some air, clear her head. When she went outside, she saw Kameko standing by the front entrance. She approached and put a hand on her shoulder.
“How are you doing?”
Kameko didn’t look her way. She just kept scanning the parking lot in front of the building and the street beyond.
Mei tried again. “How are—”
“How do you think?”
“Look, I know—”
“They’ll come for him tonight,” Kameko said. “If not tonight, then tomorrow.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s what I would do. While he’s weak, immobilized.”
“Who’s still after him? I thought you said all of Chobei’s people are dead, aside from the one.”
“They are. But they weren’t his only enemies. Yoshii will come after him. He still owes him for Matsuo. Hell, the Dark Army or the Taira-kai might take a shot. Golden opportunity opportunity now that we’re leaderless and down a few bosses.”
“Taira-kai, I can see. But why would the Dark Army go after him?” Even as she asked the question, though, the possibility didn’t seem too remote.
“Tengu found out they were behind the explosives being packed into our shipments.”
“From China?”
“Yeah. That’s what got them their enhanced abilities through that stupid law they just passed. Pretty brilliant, really. They damage us while expanding their own mandate at the same time. Now they know he’s vulnerable.”
“What about Masa? He’s still out there.”
Kameko nodded. “Satoshi’s tracking him. Masa killed his girlfriend, now he’s going after his sister.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah, he sounded like a mess last time I talked to him. I just hope he doesn’t do something stupid and get himself killed.”
“How about you? How are you doing?” Mei asked again.
Kameko sighed, but relented. “I’m worried, of course. I honestly don’t know if he’ll last the night.” Kameko looked at her for the first time. “Congratulations on your arrest today. Must be a big moment for you.”
“I guess. The asshole who gave the press conference called me ‘Kitamura.’”
“Kimura, Kitamura, whoever. It was good work.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you. I wanted to thank you for that.”
Kameko shrugged and went back to scanning the approach to the hospital.
“We do what we have to. I should go back up. Take care.”
Kameko turned and walked back into the building.
Mei watched her go, then turned back around and looked out into the gloom. She couldn’t see the invisible enemies that Kameko spoke of, but she knew they were out there. Vasili was vulnerable now, and any number of them could try to take advantage of that.
And right now only two people stood between Vasili and the forces lining up against him.
Mei’s footfalls squeaked off the polished linoleum floor, which reflected the glow from the long row of fluorescent lights above. She felt dazed with lack of sleep, her head fuzzy from the exhaustion. Yet a sense of clarity cut through the fatigue, one so crystal clear that it melted all doubt away.
As she approached the room, its two sentinels looked up at her. Kameko regarded her with a look of surprise, a question mark etched into her expression.
“We do what we have to,” Mei said.
Kameko bit her lip and quickly looked away. Mei still wasn’t used to seeing her display emotion. It seemed oddly disconcerting.
On the near side of the door stood Jun. There was no emotion on his face. Just a defiant sort of resolution. The look of a man who would hold the door, or die trying. Gently, Mei put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He looked at her, then away. He nodded, as if vigorously agreeing with something she had said.
Mei took her place on the opposite side of the door, facing it.
The three of them stood there, silent and stock-still, none of them knowing if they would last the night. Yet none of them were willing to abandon their vigil in front of that thin wooden barrier.
Because just beyond that door Vasili Loginovski—the beating heart of the machine—lay dying.
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J. Scott Matthews
Coming Soon
New episodes of Tokyo Noir arrive Jan. 1, 2018
New episodes of Tokyo Noir begin January 1, 2018, with a new episode every week for four weeks.
Tokyo Noir: The Complete First Season Page 80
