Chapter Seven

After entering the gala was, Raizo saw no sign of Shinsuke, thankfully. He figured there was a 50/50 chance of him arriving, whether Atkins was a target or not. He would have to his best to keep an eye for the Red Shuriken. Though, that was easier said than done. But, for now, all seemed to be innocuous, much to Raizo's relief. After being assured Shinsuke wasn't present, Raizo found it hard to focus on anything else but his date for the evening. Mika was always gorgeous but, tonight, she put her best foot forward and she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on. Her dress hugged her curves so well that he couldn't get thoughts of their night of passion out of his head. She was even wearing high heels that made her backside even more prominent.

She glanced over her shoulder, saw his stare, and smiled. "Like what you see?"

The slightest hint of a blush hit his cheeks.

She smiled and saw Tristin Atkins. "We can finish this fast and get out of here."

"Not too quickly. Avoid suspicion."

She stopped and leaned closer to him, leaning her back against him. "The way you're looking at me, you don't seem like you wanna wait."

"I don't. But I have a lot of patience, Mika. Besides," he leaned closer to whisper in her ear, "good things come to those who wait. That was proven the second I met you." He kissed her cheek.

She almost melted immediately. "Who knew you were such a romantic?"

"I didn't… until I met you."

The rest of the evening was lovely. If it wasn't for the fact that they were on a specific assignment, Mika would've considered this to be a very nice date. Raizo was actually enjoying himself as well. He loved being around Mika. But he did know that they had a job to do. He didn't stare at Atkins but he was aware of where he was at all times, admittedly difficult with Mika holding on to his hand. They pretended to flirt with each other while they observed their target, though they weren't pretending after too long.

"How do we get to him?" Mika whispered while Raizo was holding her hand.

"I have a couple of ideas," Raizo whispered back.

"Do any of them involve a sharp metal object?"

"Some. But I don't think that's the correct approach."

"Then what?"

"One idea but it's embarrassing."

"Now, I have to hear it."

"'Clumsy Asian Guy.'"

She stared at him in silence before a giggle worked its way through her throat. "I really hope you're about to say more than that because I'm about to burst out laughing."

He smiled. "Go ahead. I like your laugh."

"Raizo."

"The racial stereotype for anyone of Asian descent is that people expect them to be one of two ways: the most prim and proper person in a room or so clumsy that he trips over his own shoelaces and speaks in complete broken English."

"You're right: that is racist."

"And accurate. There's a fine middle ground to walk, though. Everyone saw us walk and saw how I carry myself."

"So?"

"So… now everyone's thinking I'm either like that all of the time or trying to impress the gorgeous woman I walked in with."

She feigned offense. "You walked in here with another woman?"

He glared at her.

She smiled. "Kidding."

He shook his head, then noticed Atkins standing up. "Better do it now." He started to move.

But Mika stopped him before it was obvious. "I have a better idea."

"And that is?"

She grabbed hold of her purse and took him by the hand. "Just follow my lead and be ready."

"What do you have planned?"

She winked at him and led him up from the table. They got up from the table and walked toward the dance floor, with every intention of cross Atkins's path as they walked. As they got close to Atkins, Mika saw the perfect tool to initiate her plan: a partially exposed chair leg. Covertly and demonstrating impressive acting skills, Mika stumbled over the chair and fell right against Atkins with Raizo gently grabbing her arm and placing his arm around her core for support. In a brilliant move, Mika left her purse partially open and allowed the contents to fall out.

"Oh, goodness!" Mika cried out, subtly. She looked at Atkins. "I am so sorry, sir."

"No, no," Atkins insisted with a smile, "It's fine, it's fine!"

She knelt down, along with Raizo, started to organize the small mess made by her open purse. "I can be such an idiot sometimes! I'm so sorry, mister…"

"Atkins," he introduced as he knelt down to help. "Tristan Atkins."

She looked at him, acting star struck. "From… Abrams Steel?"

He chuckled. "That's right."

"Oh, I bumped into one of the most powerful men in this hemisphere. A lovely maneuver on my part."

"Think nothing of it, dear."

During the conversation and at a level of speed that would leave a supercomputer dazed and confused, Raizo slipped Atkins's wallet out of his pocket and slipped the tracking device into it. He put it back in Atkins's pocket and handed Mika her purse before they all were back fully vertical; no one but himself and Mika were the wiser.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Atkins," Mika said, sweetly, once they were standing up straight.

"Don't worry about it," Atkins waved off her apology.

"I don't even know why I brought my purse with me," Mika feigned disappointment. "I guess I was just so anxious since we haven't been able to go out in months." She looked at Raizo, "Maybe we shouldn't try dancing."

"Nonsense, miss," Atkins said, getting their attention. "One incident shouldn't ruin your evening. Besides, I believe this young man is very lucky to have you on his arm."

"More than you know, sir," Raizo replied.

"Then, no harm, no injury. No need to spoil a perfectly lovely evening. You two should enjoy yourselves."

Mika gave a false smile of renewed hope. "We will. Thank you."

"Thank you," Raizo gave a slight bow.

"Have a good evening." Atkins walked his own way and Raizo and Mika went back to the table to leave her purse there then proceeded to the dance floor of the ballroom and began to waltz to light atmospheric music in the room.

"You are… a genius," Raizo said to her.

Mika smiled and gave a small shrug, "Figured it looked less suspicious that way. People may fall for the 'Clumsy Asian Guy' but a gorgeous, British black woman? She can get away with just about anything."

"She most certainly can with me."

She giggled, softly, then stared into his eyes, "Besides… you don't have to do everything alone anymore. You're not alone."

"Thank you." He smiled. "Glad to hear you call yourself 'gorgeous'."

"You look at me like I am. Might as well claim it."

"You are gorgeous."

She placed her hand behind his head and brought him for a kiss. The tenderness of the kiss, again, reminded them of what they now shared with each other. They separated a bit.

"Job well done?" he asked.

She nodded.

They danced on, letting the music carry them away to take a few precious moments to themselves.

A couple hours later, in his office, Maslow paced while talking on the phone, "No sign of 'im, then, eh?" He nodded. "Alright. You two get some rest. Good job, Mika." He was quiet for another second. "Right. See you in the morning." He hung up and looked at Kahler. "They did it."

"You're surprised they did?" the elder detective asked.

"Of course not."

"And no sign of Shinsuke?"

"No," Maslow sat down, leaning back in his chair. "But that doesn't mean anything."

Kahler leaned back as well. "Sad but true. Problem I always had with following the bastard: he doesn't follow a pattern. He attacks when he sees the opportunity or when he's ready."

"You thinking he was there?"

"I honestly have no idea."

Maslow checked his phone when his text alert went off. "Message from the team following Atkins. The wire's working. He's headed home."

"What's the furthest they can be out of range for the wire to work?"

"15 miles."

"Tell them to stay that far back." Kahler scoffed. "Still might not be enough."

"All we can hope for." He got on his computer. "I have another team going through all of Atkins's records, trial summaries, and the like. Looking anything suspi…" Maslow jerked his neck back slightly. "…cious."

Kahler looked at him, concerned. "What?"

His question was met with silence and Maslow's hard stare at the computer screen.

"What is it? What?"

"Uh… not sure." Maslow pointed at the screen, "Email just came in."

"Alright, well, drop the suspense, then. What's it say?"

"'If you want to know the truth about Tristin Atkins, I have it.'"

Kahler waited for more. "And?"

"And nothing. That's all it says." He examined it. "There some numbers here." He moved the screen so Kahler could read the email.

"Longitude and latitude." He looked at the last numbers. "And this looks like a time and date at the end." He checked his watch. "That's 3:15 PM. Tomorrow."

Maslow typed in the coordinates. "That's Greenwich Park."

"Are we going through with this?"

"Are you a cop?"

"Retired."

"Is that your serious answer?"

"No."

Maslow chuckled. "We'll take care of it. I'll send Mika and Raizo to handle it."

"Are you going to tell them tonight?"

"Nah. Let 'em have the night off."

Kahler smirked. "Good. I'm sure they'll make… good use of that."

Maslow gave a quick smirk. "Go ta bed, ya old geezer."

"Not a chance." He motioned for a file, "Let me look those over again."

"For what?"

"See if we can find out who's sending mysterious emails."

"You think Shinsuke will know about it?"

"I think it's a damn good idea that you'll send Raizo to the meeting."

"I was thinking the same thing."

An hour later, Mika and Raizo walked back into their hotel room, not too tuckered out from the evening but grateful to be back in the room all the same.

"Well," Mika put her purse on the nightstand. "All in all, that worked pretty well." She looked at him, "What do you…"

She stopped when she saw that Raizo was standing with centimeters of her, he leaned in and kissed her. She lost all of the words the second his lips touched hers.

She came out of her haze after he broke the kiss and stared at him. "I did make you wait a while, didn't I?"

"Three hours, thirty-seven minutes."

"We were gone that long?" She thought again, "You were counting?"

"Are you not wearing this dress?"

A playful, dangerous look entered her eyes. "I can confidently tell you that I'm not about to be."

"I didn't know you could read my mind."

"I wasn't." She took his hand put it on her back, putting his hand on her zipper. Her eyes never left his during the motion. "I'm telling you what's going to happen."

Raizo stared into her eyes and could see all of the desire in her that mirrored his own. He smirked. Then slowly pulled the zipper down.

Getting home from the party, Atkins walked into his study, heading straight for his alcohol case. He opened it to find his bourbon gone.

"Looking for this?" Shinsuke asked, holding the bourbon bottle by the neck.

Atkins jumped back in fear at Shinsuke's voice, slamming back against the cabinet.

The Red Shuriken chuckled. "Jumpy, are we not?"

"Considering how we know each other, can you blame me?"

He laughed. "Actually, no." He swung the bottle back and forth. "Not my particular brand but it'll do in a pinch."

Atkins steadied his pulse. "Quite."

Shinsuke stood up, retrieved two glasses, set them on the desk, and poured the bourbon. He presented one glass to his client. "How was your evening?"

Atkins took the glass and sipped the bourbon. "Good. Very good. I have a new name for you. It's an old friend I was hoping was smart enough to not get involved in this."

"Who?"

"George Jung. But… he may be expecting you. Apparently, the deaths of the other partners have sent him into hiding. He may have hired security. I'll find out what I can."

"So will I." Shinsuke smiled. "That is fantastic. More excitement to this. It feels like Christmas."

"You are a strange man, Mr. Shinsuke."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Mr. Atkins."

Atkins took another sip. "What was so important that you came here?"

"Ah, yes!" Shinsuke finished his glass before pouring another. "We have some… new players in this game."

Atkins was stunned at that. "What do you mean, 'new players'?"

"Just an old detective who hunted me before," Shinsuke said. "Though he does have help this time around… of the most unexpected variety. A very talented opponent who will really put my skills to the test. Makes it all rather exciting!"

"Exciting?! What?! What does that mean?!"

"It's nothing to get worked up over. They'll be making attempts to stop me, of course, but nothing I can't handle."

"'They'?! What? Did they see your face?"

"Of course."

"How many people saw?!"

"Just three."

"THREE!"

Shinsuke smirked. "It's hardly a crowd."

Atkins found it hard to breathe. "Who are these people? What are their names?"

"That's for me to know."

"You know them. You can warn me about who they are."

"No. That's not in our contract."

"What?!"

"Our contract states that I kill all of those on your list. A list, by the way, you haven't confirmed is complete or not, I can't help but notice."

"And you just made it so much harder to work!"

"Oh, my work is just fine."

"No! It's not! I hired you for your inconspicuousness! You're supposed to be invisible! You're supposed to be anonymous!"

"I am," Shinsuke, calmly, shrugged.

"THREE PEOPLE KNOW YOUR FACE!"

"Believe me: you have so little to fear."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! I need this to go off without any problems! And you're putting all of that in jeopardy with your showboating, you damned son of a…"

Atkins shut up, quickly, when he felt the cold metal barrel of a pistol against his forehead. Shinsuke's gun was drawn and aimed before the word "son" left Atkins's mouth. He just didn't realize it.

"Tread lightly, Mr. Atkins," Shinsuke warned, in a very calm voice.

Atkins's mouth went dry and he was starting to shake a little bit. He was trying to steady his trembling, as he didn't think it best to move right now.

"I should charge you extra for the man hunting me now. But, out of the pure thrill of having one of my own kind tracking me, I'll wave that fee, especially when it's this particular hunter."

Atkins was too afraid to speak.

Shinsuke smiled. He removed the gun. "Keep your calm about you, Mr. Atkins. I will handle George Jung and all will be well."

Atkins exhaled and adjusted his tie.

"Speaking of the list, aside from Jung, is there anyone else that requires my attention?"

"Uh… yes, yes. There is. I hate to have to do this but… it must be done."

"Who?"

"Debra Hollis. Unfortunately."

"Such is life. And when you have the location of Jung…"

"I should know soon and you'll be the first person I call. We're, uh… monitoring all of his communications and we should get a location soon."

"See that you do. I hate to keep my pursuers waiting." He checked his watch. "My goodness, look at the time! I'll have to deal with Ms. Hollis tomorrow." He looked back at him. "I must be going now. I require my beauty sleep. With this damned scar, it's hard to keep this face so defiantly handsome."

Atkins had no idea how to respond to that.

Shinsuke laughed. "You really must not take everything so seriously, Mr. Atkins. Relax. Have some more bourbon. Play some music. I find this Gavin DeGraw fellow, from America, most enjoyable. A very melodic and soothing voice, he has."

Atkins nodded, "I'll… give him a listen."

"Good!" Shinsuke patted Atkins on the shoulder. "You have a pleasant evening, Mr. Atkins."

"You, as well."

Shinsuke gave a small bow. "Thank you." He proceeded out of the door of the office, leaving Atkins to slowly sit down and rub his forehead and wonder if all of this was worth it.

A/N: Alright, so, now we know who hired Shinsuke and now we have someone who may know the way. Sorry about no action in this chapter. The next chapter will include some, I promise. Also, yes, I am Gavin DeGraw fan. You guys should listen to his music. See you soon!