by Matt Lincoln
“I’m glad it’s empty,” she said as we took our seats in front of a long bar. “Usually, it’s packed at night. It’s hard to find two seats together, let alone four.”
Behind the bar, a single chef was preparing dishes right in front of us. We decided to let Hajime order for us since she seemed to be familiar with the place. The chef prepared each of us a serving of thinly sliced beef cooked more rare than I was used to seeing in the United States.
“This place has the best Wagyu beef in all of Tokyo,” Hajime asserted. “I don’t get a lot of opportunities to eat here, but solving this case is cause for celebration.”
Despite my reservations, I agreed with her. This case had almost killed us, and it felt good knowing that we’d finally stopped the people responsible.
37
Junior
“They found fifty-four women in the brothel,” Fiona read as she shook her head. We were on the train back to the airport, and she was looking over the case files that Hajime had emailed to her. “Twenty-five of them were American. That’s almost half. Most of them were tourists.”
“That makes sense,” I replied. “The United States is extremely strict when it comes to air travel, even with privately owned aircraft. Abducting them when they were already in Japan would have been much easier than trying to snatch them off of the street like they might be able to in other countries. The silver lining in that is that it’ll be easier to prosecute him considering that so many of the victims were American.”
“I’m glad we were able to rescue them,” Fiona sighed. “Can you imagine how worried their friends and families must have been? According to the report, one of the women they found had been there for over a year. That must have been horrible.”
“There might not have been anyone worried about them,” Charlie chimed in. “Ueda said something about how they would try to vet them to see if they were traveling alone and what their home life was. It’s possible no one even realized they were gone.”
“That’s terrible,” Fiona lamented sadly.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Especially for Laura and the other women who died long before MBLIS even became aware of this group.”
“Hey, don’t think like that,” Fiona admonished as she set her laptop aside and came to sit in the seat next to me. She put her hand on my arm gently. “Yes, it’s awful that we didn’t find out sooner, but we can’t focus on the ‘what ifs.’ We rescued over fifty victims, and we put Saito behind bars. Two of the women we found had just been kidnapped a few days before we raided the brothel which means the group had no intention of stopping anytime soon. We made a really huge difference.”
“She’s right,” Charlie agreed. “We stopped them, and if there are any stragglers left, we’ll stop them too. There is one thing that was a little weird, though…”
“What is it?” I asked as I noted the look of concern on Charlie’s face.
“Saito admitted to being the leader of the group,” Charlie replied. “But he seemed genuinely surprised when I brought up the animals in Greece. This is strange because the whole reason we even found out about this case was that Gardner was able to use the flower symbol we found on the crates to find out about the Chicago Jane Doe case.
“That reminds me!” Fiona gasped.
I felt a little disappointed when she moved back to her original seat to pick up her laptop.
“I need to get in touch with the Chicago PD,” she continued. “Since Watanabe confessed that the woman they killed was Laura, they should be given that information, so they can close the case and let the neighbor who reported her missing know.”
“Oh, right,” Charlie blinked. “Anyway, it’s weird, isn’t it? Two different groups, both involved in trafficking, using the exact same symbol, but they seem to be completely unrelated to each other.”
“He might have just been lying,” I responded. “He was in a pretty bad mood by the time you were finished with him. Maybe he was just trying to mess with you by not answering your question.”
“Maybe,” Charlie conceded, but I could tell he wasn’t convinced.
“Hey, no, don’t start that brooding thing,” Fiona snapped. “You were in such a good mood at dinner. Don’t bring grumpy Charlie back.”
I snickered a little at Fiona’s teasing.
We arrived at the airport about an hour later. Weariness hit me the moment I fell back into my seat at the back of the airplane. It felt as though my entire body had been tightly coiled the entire time we were investigating, and now that I knew the threat was gone, I could finally relax.
“Want to watch another movie?” Fiona asked as she suddenly dropped into the seat next to mine.
“Sure,” I shrugged. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, I had a lot of free time,” Fiona smiled as she opened her laptop and started scrolling through her collection. “While I was waiting for you guys to bring me something back from the field, I mean. Anyway, I got bored and started looking through the new releases, and I found a copy of Dark Whispers. It’s a cheesy romantic vampire movie that just came out earlier this year.”
“You just found it?” I teased. “Like, just lying around? You just stumbled upon it for free?”
“Shut up, Junior,” Fiona scoffed as she shoved my shoulder. “Hey Charlie, do you want to watch it too? It’ll be fun.”
“No thanks,” Charlie called from where he was already stretched out across three seats at the front of the plane. “I’ve seen it.”
“You’ve seen Dark Whispers?” Fiona asked. “Seriously? I didn’t know you were into chick flicks, Charlie.”
“I’m not,” he responded. “I was on a date. You two have fun with that. Wake me up when we’re back in Las Vegas.”
“Suit yourself,” Fiona shrugged as she handed me one of the earphones before pressing play on the video.
I felt a little guilty about it, but part of me was glad that Charlie had turned down the offer. Fiona pressed closer against my side so that she could put the laptop between us, and I found myself hoping that Wallace would let her join us on field missions more often.
38
Fiona
“Please don’t be burnt,” I yelped as I rushed through the kitchen to the oven.
I’d sat down just for a minute while the cookies were baking, and the next moment I’d bolted awake, unsure when I had fallen asleep, to begin with. We’d gotten back to Las Vegas in the early hours of the morning, and the jetlag was still affecting me. I pulled the tray out of the oven and sighed in relief when I saw that the cookies were fine.
“A little darker than I’d like, but still edible,” I muttered to myself.
I checked the time on my phone. If I left in the next ten minutes, I’d still be able to get to work before anyone else did. Usually, I’d prepare snacks for everyone the day before they were due to come back from a mission. I’d actually been on the mission this time, though, so I hadn’t been able to bake. As a result, I hadn’t actually slept since getting back home. I was too shy to give everyone the treats directly, so I preferred to get to the office early to set them out before anyone else came in. I couldn’t handle people fawning over me or thanking me. It was easier to just leave them and then retreat to my office.
I put the cookies in the freezer to cool them down faster, then walked over to the small couch in the center of the room. As soon as we’d moved in, Beau had decided that the couch was his new home, and he slept there every night. He jumped up as I sat at the end of the couch and crawled into my lap.
“What a good boy,” I cooed as I stroked his fur.
I looked around the small room we’d be calling home for a while. The extended-stay hotel wasn’t as cozy as the little house we’d once had, but it was better than nothing. I had air conditioning and a roof over my head, and I wasn’t staying with Nelson anymore. As kind and accommodating as he’d been while I was staying with him, it had been nerve-wracking not knowing how I should act while in his home. I much preferred the pri
vacy of having my own space. All I really needed was a computer, and my precious dog, Beau, and I could live comfortably pretty much anywhere.
I gave Beau one last pat before I stood back up and moved to the little kitchenette at the end of the room. I took the cookies out of the freezer and stacked them on top of the other pastries I’d prepared that night. I wrapped them all with plastic food wrap before placing them delicately onto a large serving tray. I made my way through the hotel room and out the door slowly, careful not to drop the snacks.
The night air was cool, and I enjoyed the silence as I made my way to my car. I put the pastries into the back seat before climbing into the front. I hadn’t accounted for the extra time it would take me if I drove slowly to not jostle the pastries, but I was hopeful I’d still make it in time. After me, Nelson and Naomi were usually the first ones to get to the office, and even they wouldn’t be in until around seven in the morning.
Wallace had rented us a temporary office space while our building was being repaired. I ended up getting lost after making a wrong turn, and by the time I got to the new building, the sun was starting to come up. Unlike our original office, which was located on the strip and surrounded by towering skyscrapers, this office was located in a small building in an office park on the outskirts of Las Vegas.
There weren’t any other cars in the parking lot yet, so I grabbed one of the spots closest to the door. I got out before carefully taking the pastries out of the back seat. I walked up to the front door and punched the code that Wallace had given us to get inside.
The inside of the building was dark and a little spooky. Even though dawn was breaking and little rays of sunlight were beginning to filter through the windows, it still seemed eerie to me to see a building full of desks and tables and signs of human life but completely devoid of people. I rushed to the elevator on the right side of the room. Once I was inside, I pushed the button for the third floor, which was where Wallace had said our office was.
When the elevator doors opened, I was greeted by darkness. This floor was mostly empty aside from a couple of desks and some chairs. On the edges of the room were office spaces that were separated from the rest of the room by glass dividers. It was still dark enough that I could see my reflection in the glass, and I felt a shudder run down my spine as I looked at the dark, blurred image of myself.
“This is super creepy,” I mumbled to myself as I moved toward one of the tables to set the baked goods down. I looked around the entrance to the room but couldn’t find anything that resembled a light switch. Not wanting to just stand around in the dark by myself, I decided to go get some coffee. It would give me a reason to get out of this office, and it would probably help wake me up.
The elevator doors slid open just as I was about to press the call button, and I shrieked as something barreled into me.
“Fiona!” Miranda yelled in surprise as she jumped away from me. “Are you okay? Why are you screaming?”
“Sorry,” I answered sheepishly. “I was about to get on the elevator, and it surprised me when you suddenly appeared and bumped into me.”
“Oh, sorry about that,” Miranda grinned. “I was so excited to see the new office that I just waltzed right in.”
“It’s fine,” I insisted. “Anyway, nevermind that. I’m so glad to see you! I didn’t know they cleared you to leave the hospital so soon.”
“I wasn’t, actually,” Miranda shrugged. “I kind of snuck out. The doctor said that everything looked good, but that they wanted to keep me a few days for observation. I didn’t have time for that.”
“Miranda!” I admonished.
“The doctor said everything looked good,” she repeated. “Nothing hurts. I’m totally back to normal, see?” She hopped from leg to leg to prove her point.
“Well, just be careful, okay?” I pleaded.
“Yes, mom,” Miranda replied. “Anyway, tell me about Japan! I am so mad that Charlie and Junior got to go. I wish I could have gotten a piece of that jerk who bombed the office, too.”
“It was really fun,” I answered as we moved over to one of the tables to sit down. “It was dangerous, too, of course. I almost got gunned down in our hotel room.”
“You what?” Miranda interrupted.
“No one told you?” I asked. “Nelson and Wallace had to contact the NCB because it turned out that the cop we were working with was actually a double agent for the trafficking group. Even Naomi knew about it since she had to deal with one of the members going after a civilian in California.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Miranda exclaimed. “No, nobody told me anything. Every time Naomi came to visit, she just said that I needed to focus on my recovery. I assumed the case must have been a breeze. I can’t believe she didn’t tell me anything!”
“She probably thought you’d try to leave the hospital early,” I teased.
Miranda smiled impishly.
“Well, I guess she had a point,” she conceded. “Anyway, are those cookies I see?”
“Go ahead,” I smiled.
Miranda made a high-pitched noise of excitement before tearing the plastic wrap off of the snacks.
“What are you even doing here this early, anyway?” I asked as I watched her bite into a cookie.
“I wanted to head Wallace and Nelson off,” Miranda replied after swallowing a bite of her cookie. “I thought it might be harder for them to send me home if I was already here than if I tried showing up after them.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I laughed.
“Listen, Fi, I’ve been in the hospital for over a week,” Miranda whined. “A lot of things stop making sense if you go long enough without doing anything.”
We spent the rest of the morning talking while we waited for the rest of the office to show up. Now that the sun was higher in the sky, the office was more brightly lit and didn’t seem as insidious. Through the large windows on the far side of the room, I could see the warm glow of the desert. Beyond that, I could see the Spring Mountain Range. It was a wildly different view than the one we’d had in our old office, but it was stunning in a totally different way.
“What a strange sight,” a voice called from the entrance of the room half an hour later. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at the office this early, Miranda. I’m impressed. And I’m so glad you’re back, Fiona! How did everything go on your first field mission?”
“Wow, what a difference in greeting,” Miranda scoffed as Naomi pulled me into a hug. “She gets hugs and a warm welcome back, and I get a backhanded compliment? Nice.”
“Oh, hush,” Naomi brushed her off as she took a seat next to us at the table. “Fiona was off dealing with human traffickers trying to track her down and assassinate her. You were in bed watching that terrible crime drama you’re always on about.”
“I wasn’t just in bed,” Miranda protested. “I was in the hospital recovering from having my femoral artery severed.”
“Yes, you were,” Naomi smirked as she narrowed her eyes at Miranda. “And if I recall correctly, you weren’t meant to be discharged for another three days.”
“Hey, how about we change the subject?” I interjected awkwardly. “Do you guys want to hear about what I did in Japan?”
It relieved me when they both let the matter drop, and they enthusiastically agreed to hear about my adventure. I knew that Fiona and Naomi were probably just teasing each other, but they were both hard-headed, and I knew how easily they’d become irritated with one another, so I decided it would be best to change the subject. Even so, I knew they were fiercely loyal to one another and to me. I felt extremely grateful to have such good friends.
39
Charlie
I was a little disoriented when I first woke up. The sun was shining in my eyes, which was unusual because one of the first things I’d done after moving into my apartment was to install a thick, heavy set of blackout curtains. I was not a morning person, and I hated waking up to the light of the sun bearing down on me. The bl
anket I was lying on was unfamiliar too. It wasn’t the plush, silky comforter I’d purchased, but rather a thick, scratchy, heavy thing that felt like knitted wool.
It took me a moment to remember that I wasn’t in my apartment, but Esther’s. She’d offered to make me dinner the night after I returned from Japan, and we’d ended up staying half the night catching up on everything we’d both done while I was away. Her hair wasn’t green anymore. She’d had it fixed the day after she’d told me about her mishap over the phone, and it was now a bright strawberry blonde. Her change in appearance had surprised me, but I was not as disappointed as I thought I’d be. She still looked beautiful, and her look wasn't what had drawn me to her in the first place.
I ran my hand through her hair before rolling away from her and sitting up to stretch. I checked my phone and discovered that it was already ten in the morning. The jet lag and late-night must have caused me to oversleep. I had made plans to go visit Harry today, and I’d need to leave soon if I wanted to get there before noon. Esther’s house was about half an hour outside of Las Vegas, so it would take me longer to drive there than it usually would.
I got out of bed slowly and quietly to not wake her up, and then I walked into the bathroom to shower and get dressed. One of the things I’d ended up missing most about home while I was in Japan was, curiously, the bathrooms here. The hotel room that Nelson had booked for the three of us had been insanely cramped, and the bathroom even more so. It had only been slightly bigger than the bathroom one might find on an airplane, so taking showers and getting changed had been uncomfortable affairs. It was a relief to be able to walk around without bumping into the sink, or toilet, or door.
“Good morning,” Esther yawned when I stepped out of the bathroom twenty minutes later.
