Travis Justice

by Colleen Shannon

“But Takeo . . .” Hana protested.

  “He’ll be fine. One of my men is watching out for him.” Kai shoved her harder, so hard she stumbled. “You? Not so much.”

  She glared at him. “If you’d let me go, they wouldn’t have acted. I only wanted to set up our exchange—”

  “You have. I like this better anyway. I’d rather take it from them than you. Let’s see how much your rich pretty boy loves you. You for the sword. I’m itching to try out the katana on a real body, anyway. I’ve seen him. Six feet plus. He’ll make a great target.”

  Hana’s heart flip-flopped as her worst fears seemed to be coming true. She knew what Kai was doing. If the sword was delivered while she was in custody, he’d have no reason to let Takeo go . . . and he wanted to kill Zach as gruesomely as he had the Taylors.

  “But they don’t know where I hid it . . .” was the only protest she could think of.

  “I’ll let you use your phone for one text. Easy.”

  After that, she couldn’t think of any more excuses or delaying tactics.

  Opening the heavy metal door leading below, Kai jerked his head at Ernie to follow. With a worried glance at Takeo’s door, Ernie obeyed, the lump on his cheek beginning to turn blue.

  Hana’s hands were clenched so hard her knuckles were white as she listened to her son’s crying, but then they were climbing down the circular metal stairs into darkness lit only by dim fluorescents, The slam of the heavy metal door muffled all sound from above. Kai heaved a very heavy metal slide over the door. It would take a battering ram to break it, Hana reflected grimly. And so far as she knew, this was the only way into the cavern.

  Then she remembered: What had Kai meant when he mentioned a hatch?

  * * *

  Zach’s second burst of fire smashed the drone into smithereens. Grimly, he handed the machine pistol back. “So much for the element of surprise. I’m sure they got a good view.”

  Ross smiled. “Yeah, of ten men.”

  As he spoke, an armored van pulled up. Heavily fortified officers, some from the Ranger reconnaissance team, others wearing Travis County Sheriff’s Department uniforms, spilled from the side door.

  Ross smiled more widely, his white teeth gleaming as the earliest shimmers of dawn illuminated the horizon. “Make that thirty.”

  The entire team gathered around as the hasty plan Zach, Ross, and John had hashed out a few minutes prior was relayed. As directed, the first order of the day was simple: Get rid of the surveillance as much as possible. Several men went in opposite directions around the fencing, systematically shooting out every camera they spotted.

  * * *

  Down below in the cavern, Kai had a wireless receiver attached to his head as he bent over a laptop one of his tech guys had open on a folding table. For now, he ignored Hana and Ernie, but since AK-47s were pressed against their backs as they were marched down the corridor by two different gang members, they could only obey orders. As instructed, they climbed into the martial-arts ring.

  Hana strained to hear Kai’s muttered imprecations as she passed and she caught the technician saying, “Every one of them. Out. The drone too. We’re blind.”

  Then she was past them and could hear no more. The entire cavern bustled with activity. Boxes and equipment were being ferried out of the chemical room down a long dark corridor. The workers inside followed close behind.

  Black bags went onto carts from another alcove, but this one had a heavy vaulted door. They too were wheeled down the same corridor.

  Kai ’s stash of cash? Hana wondered.

  That’s all Hana had time to see before she and Ernie were handcuffed, back-to-back, and shoved down in the center of the martial-arts ring. Lights illuminated them from every corner, leaving shadows on the edges of the cavern, where Kai’s men lurked. Hana knew why they were put on such public display: They were staked out like bait to draw a tiger. Anyone coming into the cavern from any angle would see them first.

  Inside the martial-arts ring, while Kai was conferring, Hana muttered to Ernie, “Okay, ragin’ Cajun, what now?”

  “Kiddo, I’m fresh out of ideas. Unless you have a knife they missed or something, and even then we might as well be on Broadway with all these lights.”

  Hana whispered, “Just in case, I brought a pick with me. They didn’t find it because it’s in the sole of my boot. Like you taught me, teach.”

  “Be sure you send your brilliant teacher a shiny, gorgeous apple when we get out of here.”

  “OK, new MacBook Pro my treat, but we have to take Takeo with us.”

  “Deal,” Ernie shot back.

  “Problem is, with my hands behind me I can’t reach it. If I can turn sideways a bit, do you think you can reach my boot? The heel snaps off.”

  Ernie glanced into the shadows. “Sure. But they’ll see.”

  Indeed, Hana’s skin crawled from the feel of the scopes sighted on them from so many different quarters. She gnawed so hard at her lip that she drew blood. For the first time, she wished she’d taken a moment to confer with Zach about what she was doing. She’d confirmed Takeo was okay, and whether Zach realized it or not, she’d also tried to abort the very raid that was about to happen because she feared what Kai would do to him. But at what cost? Ernie would have been discovered eventually anyway, but Kai had been better organized than she’d expected.

  If the Rangers didn’t come soon, there wouldn’t be any evidence left.

  Even worse, Hana suspected the minute Kai heard any sounds of a raid, she and Ernie were dead.

  * * *

  Outside, each man had an assigned task. They’d come fully armed, including a cutting torch. The man who wielded it was standing over the exposed main power line while Zach assisted. His phone rang when they were about to cut the main power line. He almost jumped out of his skin because he’d turned off every call but Hana’s.

  John, standing next to him, saw his reaction and raised his hand to indicate a halt. The man with the torch shut it off. Every tense eye fixated on Zach’s face, dimly lit in the growing dawn.

  “Hana. Why the—” Zach choked back his question, his expression going cold and fixed. “How nice to chat with you too, Kai. Why don’t you simplify things and put out the welcome mat? We won’t stay . . . long.” Zach put his phone on speaker so they could all hear.

  On the other end, Kai’s very slightly accented voice said, “I usually don’t invite breakfast guests who have armored trucks and automatic weapons . . . but in your case I might make an exception. Still, twenty to thirty men are a lot to feed.”

  John and Ross exchanged a grim look. So much for the element of surprise.

  Kai continued as casually as if he really were inviting them to breakfast. “Just know the price of entry: If you force your way in, Hana and Ernie will be the first casualties. Bring me the sword, Zachary, and I’ll let you, and you alone, in.” Click.

  Zach’s gaze was unfocused with rage when he rammed the phone back in his pocket.

  John asked, “Did Hana tell you where she left the blade?”

  Zach was shaking his head when, a minute or so later, a text buzzed in his phone. He pulled it out and read the message aloud: “Hana’s phone again. She says: katana in Ernie’s secret safe room at his place, a false panel in his living room bookcase opens.” He read off the combination. “That’s it.”

  Zach sliced his finger across the phone as if he wished it were Kai’s throat, shutting off the text. “If we delay long enough to get the sword, he’ll be long gone,” he said grimly.

  “Bull,” Ross protested. “We have every entrance and exit under observation. Even if we have to delay the assault, they’ll never be able to shut down an operation this complex without leaving something behind.” He added morosely, “Besides, we don’t have a choice but to get it because now he knows where it is.”

  John nodded agreement and reached for the radio at his belt. “One of my guys still has the key Hana gave him. I’ll tell him to bring it to us.”


  Unable to be still, Zach had taken to pacing. He was on the edge of the clearing when his father spoke quietly into the radio, so he saw the small jeep first. Driving it was Abigail Doyle, her tall, slim figure imposing even in jeans and T-shirt. And when she got out of the car, she carried with her a long, red silk-wrapped object: the katana.

  * * *

  Inside the cavern, Hana could only watch as Kai had lifted her cell phone to his ear. She knew from his expression he was taunting Zach. When Kai climbed into the ring, he’d shoved the cell phone in her face. “Tell me where the sword is.”

  It was her only leverage, and she used it. “Uncuff me. How do I type?”

  “You can talk, can’t you?”

  Hana had only looked up at him, mute. When he’d drawn his hand back as if to strike her, she never broke her gaze from his: Fearless and unafraid—ironically, because he’d helped her mature. She’d gone to him an unfocussed, undisciplined, and impetuous teenager. By the time she had Takeo and they split, she was sober, resolved, and systematic in proving to him and everyone else that she was both a worthy Nakatomi heir and a good mother.

  Something had flickered in his eyes and she’d realized he was remembering too. His hand fell. He’d taken a key from his pocket and uncuffed her, pulling her to her feet and handing her the phone. She’d typed rapidly, revealing the location of the katana. Kai looked over her shoulder to read. When she was done, he’d snatched the phone back and typed something she couldn’t see, then stuck it in his pocket.

  He lifted the cuffs, indicating that she turn around, but she said, “Lock me in with Takeo. At least allow me to protect my son.”

  “You’ll take him the first chance you get.”

  He walked around her and roughly looped her wrists together.

  “I won’t,” Hana lied.

  But he snapped the handcuffs back in place, hands behind her back. He shoved her roughly down next to Ernie, but at least they weren’t back-to-back this time.

  He was climbing out of the ring when Hana’s phone rang. Kai looked at the name, smiling in satisfaction as he answered. “You are timely.” He listened. “Very well, you’ll be met at the door. And escorted to me. Do as you’re told or Hana won’t live to see your shining face.” He hung up. “They had the sword all along. Your lover is bringing it to me, just as I predicted.”

  Hana stared over his head into space, not allowing him the satisfaction of reacting.

  Kai shook his head, but there was an angry look about his mouth when he mocked, “The poor sucker really loves you, doesn’t he? Daddy must be upset to know his son loves a woman wanted for murder. He’s about to discover just how dangerous you really are.” He ducked out of the ring and hurried back to his logistics.

  Hana took advantage of his departure, knowing his men would be watching him for any new orders, and stomped her right heel into the mat, as if frustrated. Her heel came off. Immediately, she went still. Ernie shifted, as if uncomfortable with his hands behind his back. He managed to move sideways enough that he could reach her heel. He fumbled behind his back while Hana did her best to shield him with her body.

  His satisfied little grunt told her he’d found the pick. Swinging around, they went back-to-back again, but this time Hana felt Ernie inserting the pick into her handcuffs. Shielded from view by their position, his hands were not visible at any angle.

  * * *

  Inside his room, Takeo had dried his tears on his sleeve, but his face was sullen. When his mother left, the house grew uncannily silent and Takeo knew his mother must be in the cavern. The man tasked to guard him obviously didn’t like his job because he paced up and down, occasionally glaring at his charge. Takeo scooted off his bed. The man caught his arm, but Takeo only glared back at the man’s face far above him.

  “I need to pee,” he said bluntly.

  The man moved aside, allowing Takeo into the bathroom. Takeo locked the door and without missing a beat, he climbed on top of the bathroom vanity, on tiptoes to reach for the tiny window above the bathtub-shower combo. The half window was meant for ventilation and had been designed too small for a man to breach, so it wasn’t covered by a heavy metal shutter.

  It wasn’t designed to stop a child.

  Takeo reached and reached, but he had to move his feet to the very corner of the vanity to bridge the short gap. If he stood on the tub he wouldn’t be tall enough. His wooden clogs were slippery, so he kicked them off. They hit the floor with a clatter.

  Immediately there was a bang on the door and a query from the guard in Japanese.

  Takeo’s chubby little right hand reached the small ledge beneath the window as the first blow came at the door.

  Using the new upper-body strength his training had bestowed on him, he dangled from the ledge on one hand until he could plant his feet against the wall and brace himself. He levered himself up enough on a precarious knee to support his weight so he could open the window.

  The window latch was new and it opened smoothly. Takeo pushed the screen out and scooted out, back-end first. He heard the door crunch as it was forced from its hinges. For an instant he was stuck, but he inhaled deeply and wriggled, and then he was falling for what felt like forever, to the ground.

  His teeth jarred in his mouth, biting his lip as he landed, but he’d taken enough falls in the ring to know to land with his knees bent. The scrubby ground was hurtful, but then he was up and running, ignoring the jabs of pain on the tender pads of his feet.

  If something bad was happening, Takeo instinctively knew his mother was in the thick of it. He was pretty sure his daddy was really mad at his mother and he’d seen how his daddy acted when he was in a temper. Takeo also instinctively understood that his presence acted like a brake on his father’s worst inclinations. If he could make his way into the cavern, his father would not hurt his mother in front of him.

  Besides, he didn’t like it here anymore anyway. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see Jiji.

  But it would be difficult to reach his mother if he tried going through the house. There were too many guards for him to slip into the cavern unseen.

  However, his father had shown him his greatest secret one day when he was pleased with his son’s performance: the secret entrance and exit from the basement.

  To reach his mother in the cavern, Takeo knew he had to go up to go down.

  Chapter 15

  In the makeshift base of operations John had set up outside the fence perimeter, Abby hefted the wrapped katana. John Travis looked at her in amazement, accepting it. “I knew you were good, but not this good. How the hell did you know to bring it to us?”

  “Hana texted me hours ago and asked me to. She told me where to find it. The office gave me your GPS coordinates and I came straight here.”

  “What time did she text you?” Zach demanded.

  She glanced at her phone and gave him the exact time. Right around the time they’d entered the van for their trip, he realized. Her body was still warm with his lovemaking when she’d decided he was too weak to face Kai. . . .

  Zach’s drawn look went positively grim. She’d planned this, just like she’d told his mother. She was going to risk her life against Kai, both to protect the blade and her son. And, Zach knew in a deep part of himself that he refused to acknowledge, to protect him too.

  Fury at her lack of faith in him made his hands shake as he snatched the sword from his father. “I’m going in.”

  John bit off, “Negative. That’s exactly what the bastard wants.”

  “Give me thirty minutes and blow the power,” Zach said as if his father hadn’t spoken. “I’m taking some flash bangs and tear gas with me. I’ll deploy them at the appointed time, so wear your masks.” Sticking the sword into the side strap of the knife harness on his back, Zach turned to shimmy up the big oak tree so he could drop down into the pasture past the fence.

  His father stepped in front of him. “I forbid you to do this. It’s suicide.”

  “I won’t let Hana fi
ght him alone. You can fire me for insubordination if I live long enough.” Zach moved to step around his father, but John only sidestepped too, still blocking him.

  In the glow of the rising dawn, two remarkably similar faces squared off in the exact same posture: mouths set with resolution, cleft chins stubbornly slanted. In that moment, father and son uncannily resembled one another.

  * * *

  Inside the martial-arts ring, Hana felt her cuffs go slack with a very slight click. All she had to do was twist her wrists to be free, and the knowledge that Zach was coming gave her even more urgency. She had to be free before Kai saw him. She knew his tactics: He’d be sure Zach saw her staked out like a prized goat, then Kai’s little war of words would escalate to global violence....

  Takeo? Locked in his room, guarded, he should be safe enough from all the turmoil. He certainly had nothing to fear from the Rangers and it was obvious all the action would take place down here. If she could get him free, Ernie could protect Takeo.

  However, no matter how she fumbled, Hana didn’t have Ernie’s skills with the pick. She looked around furtively, trying to spot Kai, but he wasn’t hunkered over the laptop anymore. She also noted that several of their guards had disappeared. She suspected someone still watched them, but didn’t know from which quarter. However, she was out of options.

  Ernie sensed her frustration. “Go on. Arm yourself. You and Takeo get the hell away.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Ernie. Takeo should be fine upstairs; Zach knows about the subbasement and the fight will happen here. But I can’t . . .” Her frustrated whisper trailed off as she dropped the pick. “I’ll get the key somehow and come back.”

  Flicking the cuffs off her wrists, Hana stood and ducked out of the ring. She held her breath as she did so, but no one stopped her. She heard voices coming down a corridor she’d never ventured into and realized Kai was probably deploying his forces. No doubt he’d called everyone to a meeting to plan the next hour.

  Her urgency and fear for Zach increased. She searched the perimeter of the main cavern.

  Hana found a nylon jacket over a chair, but it didn’t have a key in the pocket as she hoped. Her frantic gaze settled on the clean room where Kai’s worker bees made his wonder drug. She ducked inside the gaping door. She was glad to see it had been cleared of all personnel, so at least no workers would be hurt. However, all the proof of his operation was gone too.