You know the drill…disclaimers disclaimers disclaimers…
The office was unusually quiet, absent of the tic-tic-tic sound of Kayla at the keyboard. It was odd just how loud the silence was; I'd once found that sound annoying, but now it was such a part of my everyday life that the absence was startlingly noticeable. I'd told Kayla to take the afternoon off the moment Sage and I had arrived back at the office. We wanted to discuss the news of tonight's bash without her overhearing. She'd undoubtably want to come with us, and we didn't want to chance that. Granted, I was fairly sure I'd get trouble for it later.
Now though, silence had fallen on the tiny office room. I was leaning back in my chair, heels up on my desk absently flipping pencils up to stick point-first into the ceiling. By now, there were about three and a half dozen hanging from their lead in the panel over my head. One loud noise or sharp vibration and they'd all come showering down on me.
"You sure do have a strange way of fighting boredom." Sage murmured from the chair against the wall, raising an eyebrow at the forest of pencils.
"Hey, whatever helps me work." I muttered in response, my eyes still focused on the numerous pink circles that was all I could see of my missiles.
"And poking holes in the ceiling counts as working?"
"I don't see you helping." Needless to say, there wasn't much of an answer to that one.
Sage groaned and got to his feet, and started pacing again. "And we still don't have a plan of attack?"
I glanced at the wall clock, it was exactly 3:42. We'd been at this for nearly four hours, and we still hadn't come up with any way to surmount that one obsticle in our path.
The fact that everyone in the mob thought Sage was dead.
"We can't show up there tonight without them seeing you." I reminded him. "Which means-"
"Which means half the hit men in the city will be on my trail before sun up tomorrow."
"Exactly." I nodded, then leaned forward a little to get a better look at him. "Unless of course, we dye your hair or something."
The withering look he shot me nearly knocked me out of my chair.
"Okay, okay, so that's out." I couldn't help but smirk a little bit. "Maybe we could give you an eye-patch, or false beard!"
"Mia…stop right there. Your ideas are getting worse as you go." He begged, a pained expression on his face.
"Fine, fine." I grinned, and turned my attention back to the ceiling. "So I guess I'm going on my own then."
"No! You can't go in there by yourself." Sage turned and glared at me, crossing his arms stubbornly. "You have no idea what kind of people these are! You've never dealt with them, haven't you admitted as much yourself?"
"True, but I'm also a much better shot than you are." I replied. "And it's not like I'm going in there unarmed you know. And besides, this is at Anubis'! I'll be safe enough."
"But I don't want you going in there unescorted!" He shot back hotly. "Unless you can find somebody to take you in there, there is now way in hell you're going."
I had just opened my mouth for a sharp retort when there came a light knock at the door.
"I thought you gave Kayla the day off." Sage frowned.
"I did! And that can't be her, she wouldn't knock, she's got a key." I stood up and walked over to the door, opening it carefully to keep the many pencils in the ceiling from pouring down onto my desk.
"Hello, can I help-" I stopped when I saw who it was. "Oh! Good afternoon Ryo…come on in." I stepped away from the door and gestured to the office past me.
"Um, thank you." He was still as awkwardly polite as the day before. I closed the door behind him and turned back to face the room, and its occupants.
"Ryo, this is a friend of mine, Sage Date. Sage, Ryo Sanada."
The two men nodded at each other in acknowledgment, and I continued.
"Sage is going to be helping me with this whole case." I cracked a grin. "And don't worry, you won't be paying him, he's in this for personal reasons."
Ryo blinked in surprised before shrugging. "I wouldn't have minded even if I was. I told you before, the rates don't matter." He suddenly turned an anxious gaze on me. "Have you found anything? Anything at all?"
I pursed my lips and frowned slightly. "We do have a lead…I'm assuming Kayla's filled you in on everything we had as of yesterday evening?" Ryo nodded eagerly in response, so I explained about the gathering later on that evening.
"So you see, we may be able to find out the whereabouts of your tiger, if only SOMEBODY would let me check it out." I shot Sage a murderous glare, which was returned icily. Insults just rolled right off him.
"What do you mean?" Ryo demanded. "I thought it was your job to check this sort of thing out."
"HAH!" I shook a finger at my blonde friend. "You see?! I've been telling you, it's my job thank you! I'm getting paid to do this!"
"You're going to be walking into a lion's den!" He said with the air of one delivering an unshakable argument. "They'll recognize me, so I can't go with you. I'll say this one last time: You. Are. Not. Going. Alone." He spat out each word.
"So I'll take Ryo with me!" I grinned in triumph and grabbed the young man's wrist.
"What?!" Sage gaped at me.
"Actually," Ryo admitted, "I was going to ask to come along anyway."
"What makes you think they won't recognize you?" Sage raised an eyebrow at my client. "After all, you ARE the heir to the Shakujo fortune."
Ryo shot me a look. "Just how much have you told this guy?"
"Everything." I shrugged. "Leaving out details can be fatal in this business."
"If they see you with him, that could make you a target as well!" Sage continued
Don't worry about it!" I was quickly tiring of this argument. "I don't intend to be constantly at his side, so they may or may not link us. And they wouldn't dare make a move in such a public place…there's a coffee shop down the street that always has at least one policeman in it." I'd been doing my homework. "YOU on the other hand, are a different matter. They think you're dead, and we want to make sure they go on thinking that."
"Dead!?" The black haired boy stared at Sage. "Why would they think that?!"
"Long story." I waved his question aside. "And it has little to nothing to do with you, but because of that, he can't come with me to the shindig tonight." I grinned wickedly and continued. "So would you be so kind as to be my escort this evening?"
"I'd be delighted." He responded with a grin.
"That leaves me to do what?" Sage asked, a dubious expression on his face. "Twiddle my thumbs?"
"Somebody has to keep an eye on things outside." I pointed out, "You know faces better than I do, so if someone notorious heads in, call the bar and let me know." I paused for a moment to think. "I'll let Anubis in on this, I'm sure he'll only want to help."
"You trust him that much?" Ryo frowned.
"More." I replied. "He's helped me out before, and he knows how to keep his mouth shut. Don't worry about it." I headed back over to my desk to take my seat again. "Besides, he won't be at all happy about our friends deciding to drop by unannounced." I resumed tossing pencils up into the ceiling panel again.
"So…umm…I'll meet you here then?" Ryo inquired, casting a puzzled glance upward.
I nodded in response. "Right, sometime around 9:00." I eyed his attire and cleared my throat. "Keep in mind, this is a ritzy sort of place…we don't want to be conspicuous."
He just grinned and nodded, apparently not offended at all by my comment. A few moments later, after pounding out a few details (such as the location of the club, etc) the office was once again occupied only by myself and Sage.
"I hope this is a good idea…" I mused under my breath, suddenly concerned by the fact that I was involving a civilian in this matter.
"Trust me, I think you have yourself a bodyguard." Sage replied. "He knows his way around a fist fight, believe you me."
I raised an eyebrow in question. "What makes you say that?"
"The way he moves. Anyone who's ever had any combat training would be able to recognize it." My friend answered. "It's sort of an unconscious wariness, or grace." He turned his one-eyed gaze on me. "You have it too you know, whether or not you realize it."
"Hmmm…" I blinked in mild surprise, maybe he had a point. I'd have to work on that, I didn't want to come across as dangerous this evening. My intention was quite the opposite in fact.
"We'd better go." Sage beckoned me after him as he headed for the door. I stood up and followed, shutting the door behind me with a slam. The sound of the pencils falling from the ceiling and clattering down to my desk caused me to have a sudden coughing fit.br
~
"Well, how do I look? Impressive? Innocent? Sexy? What?!" I emerged from my room and confronted Sage. My hands were on my hips and I cocked my head to one side in question.
"Let me get a look." He stood from his position on the couch. He wasn't dressed in anything more formal than a clean pair of jeans, button down shirt and jacket. But then again, he wasn't going to be socializing either.
I spun around once for his benefit and waited for the verdict.
I didn't exactly own many dresses, and I tended to go for tasteful rather than stylish. I was clad now in a black, backless, spaghetti strap dress; the hemline of which swirled just above my knees. Black pumps and opaque hose covered my legs and feet, and a black knit cashmere shawl covered my shoulders. It was autumn after all. Part of my hair was pulled into a loose knot at the nape of my neck, and the rest poured down my back.
"Both the former and the latter." Sage decided. "Scratch the inbetween."
"Impressive and sexy, huh?" I mused, deciding I could live with that. "Okay, that'll work." I grabbed up my handbag and double checked to make sure the small handgun was still safely tucked away inside it. Sage chuckled and shook his head.
"I can't believe you're taking that in there with you." He said. "If anyone in there finds it, there could be hell to pay.
"Oh don't tell me you're not packing one!" I scoffed.
"I didn't say that!" He lifted the left side of his jacket, revealing a pistol. "But I'm not the one stupid enough to dive straight into that tiger's den….no pun intended."
"Of course not." I replied sweetly. "And you just called me stupid…do you realize that?"
"If I don't tell you, then who will?"
Our verbal spar was abruptly interrupted as the timer on the microwave went off. I glanced at the wall clock and winced.
"Quarter to nine, and time to get moving." I smiled nervously and crossed my fingers. "You ready?"
"Very ready." Sage nodded. "I'll meet you there."
"Right, but for chrissake, don't let yourself be noticed!" I reached over and squeezed his shoulder briefly before turning to head out the door. "And don't be late either!"
The second part of our plan went off without a glitch. Ryo and I met up at the office, exactly as scheduled. My escort for the evening had either rented a tux or actually owned one; which, I had no way of knowing.
"Should we walk?" He asked, obviously just as nervous as I was. "It's not too far."
"Ah, but we don't want to be conspicuous!" I grinned, hoping to put him at ease. "Most people will be arriving by limo I suspect, so even a taxi cab is going to look a little out of place, but we don't have a choice."
"I see." Ryo mused that over for a moment before noticing the time. It's all very well and good to be fashionably late, but we didn't want to miss anything important. With an ironic little bow, he offered me his arm. "My Lady?"
"Hardly." I snorted wryly, but accepted. We'd called the cab company ahead of time and scheduled two, one for Ryo and myself, and one for Sage. The cabbie was waiting impatiently at the curb, and took off for Anubis' the second we had stepped into the car and given him our destination.
"Cross your fingers and pray they don't recognize you." I murmured under my breath to Ryo. "And unless something big comes up, do not talk to me that often. The longer I stay unknown to them, the better it will be for all of us." My client nodded his understanding and we both stepped out of the cab. It was, after all, a very short drive.
The inside of the club was even more packed than usual, except this time, at least ninety percent of the patronage were people of dubious backgrounds. The air was choked with the scents of cigarette and cigar smoke, perfume (both cheap and expensive) and food. Strains of music from the small stage barely reached my ears, and I noted absently that Kayura was not performing tonight. That was probably a very wise decision on her part. I readjusted my shawl and peered around for any familiar (or infamous) faces.
"Here's where we go our separate ways." I said in a normal tone, not too worried about being overheard in the cacophony.
"Good Luck." Ryo grinned and disappeared into the crowd.
"Yeah, you too." I whispered, knowing he couldn't hear me. "We're going to need it."
"Right Mia!" I told myself. "It's time to go to work and earn the rent." The first order of business was to speak with Anubis.
Fighting my way through the crowd was no mean feat. It reminded me forcibly of attempting to walk down the halls in high school after the dismissal bell. People were talking all around me, shouting to be heard over the conversations of others. I pressed my hands to my ears and tried to ignore it.
The bar had seemed such a distant goal, but eventually I made it. To my immense relief I discovered that there were less people here, the main contingent seemed to be concentrated on the dance floor and around the tables. Anubis was down at the far end of the mahogany bar, and I mentally cursed him for that. Why was he being so difficult to get a hold of?!
I don't know if I made a movement that caught his attention, or if it was just a coincidence, but my quarry turned at that exact moment and noticed me. His eyebrows shot towards his hairline in surprise, and he made a small beckoning motion with his hand. I sighed inwardly; he didn't need to tell me twice.
"I can't believe you're going through with this." He muttered. I'd called him earlier that day and explained that we'd be dropping by that evening. "This is without a doubt one of your stupider escapades."
"That's the second time tonight I've been called stupid." I chuckled. "I take it you're not too pleased about all this."
Anubis glared out at the gathering, cold rage in his eyes. "It's good for business, I suppose, but I half expect one of these scum to draw a gun at any second."
"Which would be bad for business." I said blandly. The entire conversation had gone on most innocuously. Any observer would have assumed I was ordering a drink. Anubis slid a Shirly Temple towards me, which I sipped at between questions. We'd decided earlier that it was better for all involved if we kept up that pretense.
"That's putting it quite mildly." He murmured, spritzing some beverage or other out of one of those soda guns.
"See any faces you think I should know about?" I inquired, covering the question by sipping at my drink.
"There are a few I've never seen before…" Anubis frowned, carefully facing away from me. "And quite a lot of wanted men as well. Of course, I'm not going to be doing anything about it."
"Of course not…" I sighed sympathetically. "If any police made a raid here, your place would be either shut down by them, or put out by them." I flicked a finger towards the crowd.
"Exactly." He barely nodded. "Now if you'll ever-so-casually look off to your right, you'll see one of those new faces I mentioned."
Keeping my drink in my left hand, I crossed my legs at the knee and spun the bar stool around slowly so I was facing the direction he'd indicated. Almost immediately, I picked out the man he meant from those I'd seen before on 'wanted' posters. He kind of stood out in the crowd, with that shock of wild azure hair. The young man in question couldn't have been much older than Ryo, and he seemed ill at ease amongst the throng of criminals. Something in his eyes sent a shiver up my spine. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul; if this is true, then this man had a very troubled soul.
"Who is he?" I asked, once against disguising the movement of my lips with the rim of the glass.
"Would you believe that's Mr. Rowen Hashiba?" Anubis' voice was just at my elbow.
I had to fight very hard not to go into a coughing fit. I nearly inhaled some of the carbonation from my drink.
"Y…you're kidding me!" I strangled out.
"Actually, I'm not." I could tell from his tone that my friend was fighting back a smirk. And no wonder! Rowen Hashiba was one of New York's most wealthy tycoons. He'd made a fortune on computer software and engineering, and was the co-chairman of his own company. And he was younger than I was!
"Ooookaaaay…" I nibbled at the inside of my lower lip for a moment. "Now what would a multi-millionaire be doing in your nightclub on an evening when half the God-forsaken Mob chooses to frequent the place? Especially when he undoubtedly knows who most of these men are and wouldn't want to be seen dead with them? This is a little too coincidental."
"Don't I know it." Anubis muttered. "And if you will kindly look to your left please miss?" He put on his best tour guide voice. "You'll see face number two. This time though, we're not talking about one of the good guys."
Again, just as casually as before, I slowly turned the chair and nearly fell off it.
"What do you mean not one of the good guys? Am I looking at the right person?!"
"If you mean that kid who looks fresh out of college, then yeah, I believe you are."
It didn't seem to me that Anubis was exaggerating at all. The young man I scrutinized now didn't look as though he'd been out of school for very many years. Longish auburn hair framed an innocent face, the type that most people would trust instinctively. But there was something shadowy in those sea green eyes…I had no trouble reading the fact that he had secrets.
I probably would never have picked this guy as a possible foe, if not for the fact that he was currently caught up in a conversation with a fairly prominent Mob member by the name of Daala; whose nasal voice I could hear loud and clear over the crowd.
Anubis had moved down the bar to serve another patron, so I waited for him to return before broaching my next question.
"So, do you have a name to put with this face?" I nonchalantly swirled the ice around in my glass, even as my mind raced for some kind of common link to all this.
"Just a last name." He replied, shrugging. "Mouri. They're calling him 'The Shark'. From what I've been able to gather, this kid survived the cement shoe treatment."
I let out a long, low whistle of incredulity, and quirked an eyebrow upwards. "That's certainly saying something. How long was he under?"
"About seven minutes, to hear the rumors."
So. Seven minutes with one's feet strapped to two heavy cement blocks, at the bottom of the river had taken care of plenty unwanted members. So how had this kid managed to live through it?
"Well that's certainly something to chew on." I placed my glass back down on the bar with a soft 'clink', and flashed Anubis a smile before continuing. "I think I'll go circulate a bit. I want to have a few words with Mr. Hashiba over there. Give Kayura my thanks, will you?"
"I will." He nodded. "If you found out about this whole bash through her contacts, I wish you give me their numbers. I hate unexpected guests."
"You'll have to talk to her about that." I don't know if he heard my answer, swallowed up as it was by the crowd.
I had to elbow my way through the mass of people, but you don't live in New York for as long as me and NOT learn how to deal with crowds. I slipped through it like a fish fighting its way upstream; it was difficult, but by no means impossible.
By the time I reached my 'quarry' I had come up with a few questions I wanted to ask him, but I wouldn't be able to if I scared him away. I was going to have to be careful not to alarm him. Then again, alarm could be a good thing if used sparingly…"Mr. Rowen Hashiba, I presume?" I asked quietly. The blue haired young man jumped in surprise at the sound of my voice, whipping his head around to regard me. He frowned thoughtfully, and I got the feeling he was appraising me much the way I had him earlier.
"Yeeees….." He drawled warily, clearly unsure of who I was. His accent marked him clearly as a NY native. "Can Ah help ya Ms.-" He left the end of the sentence dangling, an invitation for me to fill in the blank.
I ignored the opening, and continued on blithely. "So, what brings you here? I would never have connected a business man like yourself to the Mob."
The young man's eyes narrowed, and he regarded me sharply, obviously I wasn't what he had expected.
"Who ah you?" He asked, overtones of suspicion and caution in his voice. His face a mask of quiet rage. "Haven't Ah already given you guys enough?"
Hmmm, this was an interesting turn of the conversation. It almost sounded as if he definitely wasn't here of his own free will. I decided on a leap of faith, trusting my instincts and praying that this guy wasn't really linked to the Mob…if he was, and I went and dropped my name, we would all be in deep kimchee.
"I'm not sure who you think I am," I said with a small smile. "But I'm sure that you have it all wrong."
"If yah're gonna be all cryptic, then ya can jest leave naow." Mr. Hashiba said shortly, appearing to be very angry.
"Very well." I allowed my features to take on a neutral expression. "My name's Mia Koji. I'm a private investigator."
"Working fah who?" If anything, the suspicious look oh his face became even sharper.
"I'm afraid my…client, is better left nameless." I said regretfully. "It's in his interests that I came here this evening, just to get a look at things." I gestured around me at the gathering. "As you can see, there seems to be plenty of opportunities to gather information." I shot him a pointed glance. "I recognized you from several news broadcasts, and thought it rather odd to find you in a place full of so many distasteful characters."
"So yah're not working fah them?" Rowen jerked his head out at a table crowded with many infamous people. Coincidentally, it happened to be the one that 'Shark' person was at.
"Hell no!" I snorted. "My client is anything but linked with them. They caused him a personal loss, and I'm under contract to help him." I was walking a thin line here, unsure just what to tell him. "I don't suppose I could ask you a few things?"
"Ya cahn, but that doesn't mean Ah'll answer ya." The expression on his face was almost smug.
"And why not?"
"Ah'm not too sure Ah believe ya." He admitted, still giving me a wary look. "Around hea, it's not too smaht ta trust anybody."
"I'm beginning to discover that." I replied. This kid was very good at the game of twenty questions. "But if I may ask…why are you here if you aren't connected with our friends out there?"
"As ya said earliah Ms. Koji, personal reahsons." Came the bland reply.
"Hmmmm…" I watched the crowd spin for a moment, quietly mulling this over. I could tell he knew something, and I was dying to figure out what it was. Ah well, time to drop the bomb and really pray my woman's intuition wasn't on the fritz.
"Look Mr. Hashiba." I turned fully to him, letting my emotions show. "I'll let you know right now that I can tell you're somehow linked with these guys." I jerked my head at the table and saw him wince. "Maybe I can help you somehow, but I'd appreciate it if you'd answer a few things for me."
The mask on his face slipped for a brief moment, and I saw a horrible raw pain there. "Ah don't think ya could help me Miss." Hashiba said in a voice barely above a whisper.
"And why's that?" I crossed my arms, aware that I was about to do something very stupid. "I'll be perfectly honest with you. What I want to know is going to sound nuts. I'm looking for a large White Tiger that was abducted by the mob. Supposedly, Arago's behind the entire caper, for reasons I don't think I should disclose."
At the mention of Arago's name, the expression on the younger man's face switched from anguish to a burning hatred. I raised an internal eyebrow, surprised by the reaction.
"Have I touched a nerve?" I asked quietly.
"That and more." I could tell he was clenching his teeth. "Ah don't know anything 'bout a tiger abduction m'am." He shook his head. "And what Ah do know 'bout Arago isn't fit fah polite convahsahtion."
"This is hardly polite." I replied dryly. "Anything you can tell me would be appreciated." My voice dropped to a hushed thread of sound. "If I can get to the bottom of this case, the cops can put that bastard away for good."
Rowen stared at me in shock for a moment, eyes searching mine to see if I was lying to him in any way. Whatever he found there satisfied him.
"Ah'll answer whateva Ah can." His voice was just as quiet as mine.
I studied his face for a moment, but I found nothing to lead me to believe he was being anything other than honest. "Hmmm, first off, what the hell are you doing here with these cretins?"
"That's a long story." He pushed cerulean bangs from his eyes, staring at some point on the floor. "In short, the bastahds are blackmailin' me."
"WHAT?!" I gasped. "But…what do they have on you? Some kind of shadowy business deal?"
"Hahdly." He replied wryly. "Ya see-"
Whatever he was going to say was cut short as someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned around, horribly certain that we'd been overheard and some thug was about to fill us both full of several rounds of lead.
Instead, my eyes met a very familiar, and welcome, pair of tiger blue ones.
"Ryo!" I placed a hand over my heart and sighed in relief. "Don't DO that to me!"
"Sorry Mia." He looked very sheepish for a moment before sobering up. "There's a call at the bar for you from you-know-who."
I cursed under my breath. Sage's timing couldn't have been worse! I was about to uncover something, I felt it!
"Alright, I'm going." I turned back to Rowen. "Mr. Hashiba, would you wait here for me for a moment?"
He nodded once, and I took off for the bar, where I could see Anubis waiting impatiently. When I was within arm's reach, he handed me the phone, which I placed against my ear.
"Dammit Sage! What's so important? I'm on to something here!" I hissed.
"Mia, you have got to get out of there! And I mean now!" My friend's voice was very urgent.
"Why? What's going on?"
"First of all, you've got incoming!" Sage warned me.
"Incoming? Who?!" I gripped the receiver tighter in anxiety.
"Go figure. Arago's second in command. Badamon."
My stomach dropped to somewhere around my ankles, as it seemed to be doing often enough lately. A chorus of 'why me?' rang in my head for a brief moment before I got control of myself again.
"You mean that creepy, sickly little---"
"Yeah, one and the same." Sage sounded very grim. "There's something else too. I overheard him talking with someone else about a 'shipment' down at the docks tonight."
I gulped. "…Drugs…."
"That's what I'm going to assume."
"Call the cops and wait for me at the bus-stop around the corner. I'll be right there." I hung up then and turned around. I had to find Ryo and get the hell outta Anubis'. This could be big. If we could manage to foil this 'shipment', then that would mean more money lost for Arago. And I wanted to make things as uncomfortable as possible for that piece of slime.
Once again, I nearly walked right into Ryo, he had been behind me the whole time.
"Didn't I just tell you not to do that!?" I snapped, unusually irritable with nerves.
"Mia? What's wrong?" He asked me, a worried expression on his face.
"Something big's going down at the docks soon." I replied tightly. "We have to move and get down there…and by 'we' I mean me and Sage. You are going home right now."
"I'm not a kid!" He argued indignantly. "I'm coming along. If this is as urgent as you say, you're probably going to need my help."
"And Ah'm coming along as well." Rowen spoke up from just behind him. I cast a despairing look at the business man, wondering why I kept getting stuck with these wet-behind-the-ears little….
The thought trailed off as I noticed something. When Sage had mentioned looking dangerous, I hadn't quite understood. But looking at these two young men, I realized that they both had that determined, and confident look on their faces.
"All right, I won't try and stop you, just don't do anything stupid!" I shook a finger in Rowen's face. "Besides, you and I have a conversation to finish."
He grinned, losing some of the haunted look in his eyes. "Right."
With a tremendous sigh, I waved thanks and goodbye to Anubis, silently wishing him luck with this crowd, and then left the club with my two companions in tow.
Have any of you ever tried to type Rowen's voice in a New York accent?! It's BLOODY HARD!!!! Anywho, I finally finished chapter four. And now things get interesting! What's going on at the docks? What's Rowen's secret? Is Cye a bad guy or what? What role will Kento be taking when he enters the scene? And will I ever get the hang of this accent?!!!