Silence reigned at the bombshell.
But for Riki, everything suddenly clicked. The Consortium, her father’s death, Kai’s relentless search for General Yamashita’s many hidden caches of treasure. Sakura had been behind it all.
A sudden flare of rage burned through every cell in her body and, without a second thought, she took a step forward, hand going for the blade at her waist. Dallas grabbed her, wrapped his arms around her and yanked her back against him.
“Not now,” he said harshly against her ear.
She stilled and took a deep, shuddering breath. Those damn drugs had wrecked her judgment. She needed to think, to regain discipline and calculate her moves. The worst thing she can do is strike out in a blaze of anger.
“We’ve help outside,” Dallas whispered. “Wait for it.”
Some of the tension left her body, and he loosened his hold but didn’t let go. For now, she accepted his handling, her faith in his judgment stronger than her own.
But her mind raced. It all boiled down to Phantom Pearl. Kai’s obsession. Sakura sending every weapon under his power to collect it. Why? She glanced at the custom case that Kai still held. There was something more than met the eye about that artifact, and her father had paid for it with his life.
“Imperial Guard?” Kai asked, his expression one of shock or dismay. “That’s not possible. The Guard is about honor and integrity.”
Sakura shook his head. “I will overlook your insult under the circumstances.”
“For twenty years, you have been Yakuza.” Kai sounded almost dazed. “You’ve controlled my life, threatened me, forced me to betray friends.”
“As Yakuza, I can do much more than the Guard allows.”
Things were rapidly beginning to make sense for Riki. Sakura had worked to reclaim Yamashita’s treasure, piece by piece. They were all victims of his game. Her father, Kai, everyone in this room.
Even Ken Cho, who stood rigid, his face a mask of fury. “Six years I’ve been your second-in-command,” he snarled. He still gripped his gun, but it rested at his side, barrel aimed at the floor. “I’ve trained an elite army of warriors for you, run countless operations, all under strict secrecy. You couldn’t have trusted me with this information?”
He was angry. Probably felt betrayed. She knew what that was like.
“Imperial business does not trust.” Just like that, Cho was dismissed. Sakura turned to Kai. “I will take Phantom Pearl now.”
“You created Shimshi,” Cho interrupted, refusing to let it go. “You claimed we would be the new Samurai, an elite force to rebuild nobility and glory for Japan.”
“What I did was create a team of soldiers to carry out my orders.” Sakura turned to one of his men and pointed to Kai. “Collect the artifact.”
The chosen bodyguard had taken barely three steps when the metallic click of a pistol echoed in the huge bay. The man froze.
“Why does the Imperial Guard want that thing so badly?” Cho asked, his weapon trained on the bodyguard, but his eyes on Sakura.
The old man stood calmly with both hands on his cane, but Riki wasn’t fooled. His stance was fight ready—feet shoulder width apart, balanced, ready to spring. Guns were trained on either side. It would be a bloodbath. She wanted answers first.
“Excuse me,” Riki spoke up, loud and clear, “I have a question.”
“For the love of God,” Dallas muttered under his breath.
Now that she had everyone’s attention, she was done biding her time, searching for the truth. She intended to get answers.
And she’d start back where this all began.
“What happened fourteen years ago in northern Luzon?” she asked.
Chapter 36
Kai’s face drained of color, while Sakura merely looked amused. Cho frowned, but still had his gun aimed at Sakura’s man.
“What?” she asked. “No one remembers?”
Dallas understood she needed answers, but this would only escalate the hostility. He couldn’t protect her if she placed herself smack on the front line.
“Let me refresh your memory.” Anger sharpened her words. “It’s 1998 and archeologists working for the Consortium are excavating a tunnel in the Philippines at Ilocos Norte, Luzon.”
“Do not do this, Reika,” Kai pleaded.
“Why not? Let’s clear the air, shall we?” She marched over to Kai and took the case from him. He didn’t protest.
She moved back to the wooden chair and carefully set the case on the seat. All eyes watched her every move as she unlatched each of the three locks. But she only teased them. Rather than lift the lid, she turned to face the crowd.
“Who wants to go next?” She looked to Kai, but he only closed his eyes in defeat. She then moved her gaze to Sakura. “Anything to say?”
“Join my team.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh. My. God. Are you seriously trying to recruit me?”
This is it, Dallas thought. She was going to lose it right here. He tapped the comm. “Professor?” he whispered.
“Almost there, give me five, and I’ll have one hell of surprise for everyone. Stay away from the door.”
“Join my team, and I will make you a Shimshi general.”
Ken Cho made a choking sound, but she ignored it. “You have no honor, Junto Sakura.” She looked him straight in the eye when she said it. “I refuse to work for someone who holds no regard for life or loyalty.”
God in heaven. The woman had a death wish. At this rate, they didn’t have five minutes.
“Paoay Church,” she continued. “You were there.”
“No, my dear.” Sakura shook his head. “But a hungry young man determined to prove himself worthy of imperial favor was there. He was brash and reckless back then, made mistakes.”
“It was no mistake,” Cho snarled. “I was acting on your orders.”
Riki went dangerously still, and Dallas tensed. He’d seen that look before, right before she went on the attack.
“You killed Charles Maddox?” she asked Cho.
“If he was the sniveling archeologist who threatened to expose the Consortium, then yes, on Sakura’s orders, I put an end to the threat.”
She staggered, but quickly recovered. “Is that why you sent my father to that church, Kai?”
Dallas swore Menita had aged in the last few hours, buckling under the weight of the burden he’d carried for years. But he answered her question truthfully.
“There was little choice, Reika.” His expression begged her understanding. “The search for Phantom Pearl precedes me. Sakura controlled my father, an archivist in the Imperial Library.”
“A most resourceful man,” Sakura acknowledged. “But reluctant to play. I’m afraid he had to be encouraged.”
“You mean tortured.” Resentment sharpened Menita’s tone.
“Much was at stake.” Sakura caressed the dragon head on his cane, a simple move that somehow conveyed a threat. “Then, as now, I did not trust you to carry out my orders.”
“Are you telling me you traded my father for yours?” Riki asked incredulously.
“No, Reika.” Menita closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “When I sent Charles into that church, I thought I could protect him.”
“I don’t know why you thought he could read the map,” Cho snarled. “He was useless, a dead weight that needed to be eliminated. I did us all a favor.”
Riki moved so fast that Dallas barely saw it coming. In one fluid motion, she whipped out the dagger and threw it, sinking it into Cho’s chest inches below his left shoulder.
Shock registered on the man’s face as he looked down at the blade, at the crimson stain beginning to spread on his shirt. In a slow-motion move, he lifted his head, his face contorted in fury, and raised his gun.
Kai threw himself in front of Ken Cho just
as Dallas slammed into Riki, taking her down the very second Cho’s gun fired.
Dallas took the brunt of the fall.
Riki landed on top of him, but immediately struggled to get to her feet. Dallas held her down as all hell broke loose around them.
“Let me go!” She fought against him. “Kai is hurt!”
Cho’s Shimshi warriors were trying to back away from the wall of Sakura fighters. They aimed for the door but were outnumbered and outgunned. Gangster warfare ensued. Bullets assailed from both sides as all weapons fired. The noise was deafening, and the stench of gunpowder burned in the air.
“Now, Professor!” Dallas yelled.
A loud groan of stressed metal reverberated inside the giant warehouse. Dallas jumped to his feet, dragging Riki with him, and hurtled them as far from the door as possible. Sakura dove for the Pearl’s case, twisted the locks closed, and clutched it to his chest as the business end of a ship’s loading crane crashed through the ceiling.
A commercial fishing trawler dangled from its hook as the crane’s arm sliced its way through an exterior wall with a horrendous scream of tearing metal and shattering glass. Wreckage rained down all around them as Riki and Dallas raced for the safety of a heavy wooden table piled high with core sample tubes.
They slid beneath, barely finding enough cover to protect them from flying debris. The building creaked and shuddered from the impact. Crashing support poles and collapsing roof beams added to the chaos. Along with screams of those still caught in the destruction.
“Are you okay?” Dallas asked Riki for the second time that night. Only it was morning, and light now streamed in from a massive hole in the roof.
She shook her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again.”
Catastrophic destruction settled into the aftermath, and his arms tightened around her. “Yes, you will. I’ll make sure of it.” He meant it. Even if it cost him his job, he’d see to it that she walked away free.
She brushed the palm of her hand against the side of his face. “You came for me.”
“I had to,” he said with a grin. “I made a promise on a chocolate chip cookie.”
A soft laugh escaped her, but then a shout of fury interrupted them, and she gasped. “We have to find Kai.”
She scrambled out from under the table and picked her way around the splintered remains of the fiberglass trawler. Dallas followed as Layla, Professor, and the two defense guys were entering the warehouse through a jagged opening the crane carved out of the wall.
He didn’t see anyone else stirring.
“Kai!” Riki dropped to the ground beside the fallen man and tried to shove a metal bar off his body.
“Reika,” Menita said, his voice faint. “I’m sorry.”
Dallas helped remove debris from the badly injured man. He had betrayed her, then saved her life. Dallas wouldn’t call it even, but it was a start. Karma wasn’t done, however, and she had finally caught up with Menita. He had multiple cuts and bruises, but the gunshot wound to his stomach clearly said he’d pay the ultimate price.
Sirens sounded in the distance. They’d soon have company.
“Help is coming, Kai.” Riki grabbed his hand and held it to her. “Hold on, do you hear me?”
“I tried to make up for it, Reika,” Menita wheezed. “I didn’t know how….”
Riki’s eyes were full of tears. Dallas wished he could offer words of comfort, but there were none. This was destiny come full circle.
“You saved her life,” he told Menita.
The old man coughed, then took a jagged breath. “No, she saved mine.”
Curses and shouts of anger sounded behind them, but Riki ignored it, her focus on the dying man.
“Your father loved you,” he rasped. “His last words…were for you, not himself.”
Her eyes closed against the pain that brought. Dallas placed his hand over hers and squeezed.
“Please,” Menita said to him. “Do not blame her. My fault….”
“There is no blame,” Dallas replied. “She is safe with me.”
Menita didn’t respond. No rise and fall of breath, no mortal struggle. Just acceptance. He’d found the courage to do what needed to be done in the end.
“No!” Riki’s hands covered her face on a sob and Dallas pulled her tightly to him. He held her, rocking them gently back and forth as she cried against his chest, letting her have the release she desperately needed.
The professor interrupted. “Look, I’m sorry. But I need to know what should be handled before the locals arrive.”
Riki took a steadying breath, straightened her spine and wiped away the tears. Dallas helped her stand, and together they took in the devastation around them. Sirens were getting louder. Two of Sakura’s men were alive, the defense guys working to secure them for local police.
“Over here,” Layla shouted.
She had the dual leader of Koyo and Shimshi at gunpoint. Not that it mattered. He wasn’t going anywhere. Not with his legs tangled beneath the weight of a fallen roof support and twisted aluminum rafters.
“Why don’t you be a dear and hand that over,” Layla said to Sakura.
Dallas spotted the Pearl’s hard case behind the old man, as though he could prevent them from taking it from him.
“The Phantom…belongs to me,” he panted out in a strained voice.
Riki stared down at the man ultimately responsible for her father’s death. “No, it doesn’t. It never did. Phantom Pearl belongs to Cambodia and that’s where she’s going.”
“I’ve spent a lifetime in search of her,” he snarled in defiance. “I’ve earned the right to take her.”
Dallas wanted to correct him, but he held back, knowing Riki needed this moment to close the door on a painful past.
“You have lost, Sakura.” She yanked the case from behind him. The handle had broken in two, and a deep gash ran the length of one side. “Know this—Phantom Pearl will go back where she belongs. Along with every last piece of Yamashita’s treasure I can lay my hands on. Your reign of terror is over.”
Sakura’s bark of laughter turned into a grimace. “I am but one man in a sea of many. Another will take my place.”
“Perhaps,” Riki agreed. “But I will fight them, too. The important thing here is that your time is over.”
Sirens blared. The locals were arriving.
Layla nudged Dallas. “You two need to take the Pearl and go,” she said. “We will handle the rest.”
“No.” Riki shook her head adamantly. “I’m staying to see this murderer arrested.”
“Dallas, make her go,” Layla demanded.
“She’s right, Riki.” He turned her to face him. “You’ve done what you set out to do. It’s over. Let’s get us and the Pearl to safety.”
For a brief moment, her eyes reflected indecision. Then she turned to stare down at Sakura. “I’ll be watching your trial. And I’ll cheer when you are put behind bars for the rest of your miserable life.”
Sakura said nothing, only glared with hatred and a promise of retribution that Dallas didn’t believe he’d ever live to fulfill.
The professor stepped over. “Hurry up and leave, will you?”
“I can’t thank you two enough,” Riki said to Layla and Adam.
“You’re welcome,” Layla replied. “Now go!”
With one last look at the wreckage, Dallas ushered them out the ragged opening and into the daylight.
Chapter 37
After the sweltering equatorial heat of Singapore, May in Lake Tahoe felt downright chilly. Riki loved everything about it. Perfect weather to curl up by the fireplace, stare out at shimmering cobalt water rimmed by snowcapped mountains, and contemplate a future she never dreamed possible.
It had been a week since she and Dallas landed at LAX, took a puddle jumper to Reno, then rent
ed a Jeep for the hour-long drive to Tahoe City where they’d booked a remote slice of heaven for two solid weeks. The plan was to find common ground on the fate of Phantom Pearl, but they weren’t in a hurry. First priority had been isolation, time to decompress, to enjoy life free of the stress and intensity of the past few days.
Their cabin turned out to be a pleasing blend of stone and log, a luxury hideaway that sat on a small bluff at the edge of the lake. They were surrounded by alpine vistas and a dense forest of pine, cedar, aspen, and black oak. A healing abundance of nature that, for her, began to fill the cracks caused by an avalanche of grief and a relentless thirst to settle a score.
The crisp, clean mountain air had been the very thing she needed to clear her head and begin the process of discovering the real Riki Maddox. She and Dallas spent their time on leisurely strolls along the shoreline, hiking wooded trails, or boating the inlets and coves in the small cabin cruiser moored at the dock. Evenings they spent at the cabin, sitting out on the deck, drinking fine wine as the sun faded behind the California side of the Sierra Nevada’s.
But it was the nights that Riki enjoyed the most. Long and languid and filled with sensual exploration. She learned how to let go, to trust enough to allow another in. And how comforting it was to fall asleep in the arms of a man she loved.
Dallas Landry, the agent, had been strong, smart, and challenging. In the past week, she’d learned another side, a casual and relaxed version that was even more enticing. She enjoyed their long conversations, the teasing and playful side that melted her heart and warmed a part of her that had been cold far too long.
She fervently wished to spend eternity right here, blissfully tucked away from the real world. But the realist in her said differently. She’d already battled curiosity for the past two days. She had chosen to ignore it, reluctant to break through their temporary sanctuary, but it was growing stronger. It would soon be time to face the future.
She rose from her favorite comfy spot on the couch and added another log to the fire. The dry wood crackled and popped as flames danced around the aromatic cedar. She found it soothing. An apt symbol of the end of her old life, making room for the new to rise from the ashes.
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