Chapter 8
By
Lily of Trust
The following morning dawned bright and fair, if one ignored the fact that the sunlight was somewhat dimmed down by the smog. I groped blindly for my alarm-clock to silence the shrill shrieking. It figured that one of the few unbroken items I owned was that damned annoying piece of machinery.
I uncurled from my twisted blankets and looked around the debris filling my room. After returning home the night before, neither Sage nor I had been in much of a mood for cleaning. So we did the next best thing and shoved it all down to the floor. I picked my way carefully over to a pile of clothes that had been torn from my closet, and sorted through them for something suitable to wear on a business outing. There were a few things that I wanted to accomplish today, and time certainly wasn't going to run backwards for me to finish them.
A few minutes later, after running a brush through my hair and twisting it up into a bun, I dressed in a mint-green pantsuit and cream colored blouse. After all, we were going to see a multi-billionaire, and it would undoubtedly seem odd for us to do so in jeans and a T-shirt.
"I see you figured out the dress code as well." I said to Sage as I entered the livingroom, a slight smile tugging at my lips at the sight of the khakis and dress shirt.
He just shrugged in response. "No point in attracting any attention. I'm not so sure this is a very good idea. If the Mob knows who we are now, and they see us speaking to Rowen, it could mean trouble for his family."
I nodded absently, grabbing my purse from the hook on the mudroom wall. "Yeah, I know. That's why I called ahead and made an appointment with the head of the accounting department. Anyone tracing the calls thinks I've taken up a new embezzlement case."
"Very sneaky." Sage chucked admiringly, one golden eyebrow arched. "I didn't know you were so devious."
"When it suits me to be." I replied, shrugging. I wasn't in much of a mood for conversation at this point. To put it quite bluntly: I. Needed. Sleep. A hell of a lot more than I'd been getting lately. It took more make-up than I was comfortable with to hide those darkening circles under my eyes.
Kayla was right; I really did need a vacation.
Just thinking of her made my heart squeeze. I reaffirmed my promise to shut down this branch of the crime-scene in my city.
"So let me get this straight." Sage began as we hailed a taxi and gave the cabbie the directions. "First thing on the agenda is a conference with Hashiba, which we hope nobody notices." I nodded mutely, keeping my eyes focussed on the back of the seat before me. "Second item…? Is there a second item?"
"Sure there is." I replied without turning to look at him. "I'm just not telling you what it is right now, that's all."
The next thing I knew, he had my shoulder in an iron grip and twisted me around to face him. His other hand caught my chin and forced my eyes up to lock onto his. I saw a cold anger there that, to be quite honest, scared the living daylights out of me.
"Mia." He said quietly, as if not wanted to alert the cabbie. No real problem there; the guy probably overheard more incriminating news in a day than any espionage specialist. "I know how upset you are over last night, but if you keep on like this, you're going to get us all killed. It's important that we all know whatever plans you might have, so nothing goes wrong!"
"I know this isn't some game." I shot back. "I just can't tell you what we're doing, because you'd try to talk me out of it, and its necessary. Have a little faith, would you?"
"I could ask the same of you." He murmured softly before releasing me. I resisted the urge to rub at my shoulder and turned my gaze back out the window, running the conversation I'd had on the phone last night through my head. Sage had been out cold on the couch when I'd called the second person on Kayura's list. Just thinking about the place he'd requested to meet gave me the chills. The less my blonde friend knew at the moment, the better. I did feel a brief pang of guilt at keeping these things from him, but he probably would suspect a trap…
My thoughts hit a brick wall and splatted into nothingness as we stopped right outside the high-rise office building that housed Rowen's corporation. Forty-five stories of steel, concrete, and plate glass. Whoa.
"If you keep staring like that you'll get a crick in your neck." I could tell from the tone of Sage's voice that he was grinning.
"You are not funny this early in the morning." I muttered, my voice slightly off key due to the fact that my neck was bent nearly at a 90 degree angle.
"How were you planning on getting in to see Rowen? After all, you don't exactly know which office is his."
"We'll just ask around a bit." I replied. I hated having to fly by the seat of my pants, but the chances that the phone in Rowen's office was bugged were just too high.
One of the several receptionists checked through the appointment listings for that day and gave me the room number for the head of the accounting department. I thanked her with a smile and headed for one of the large elevators off to the right. We got lucky in that there was very little traffic going through the building at the moment, and the one we entered was absent of other people.
Inspection of the buttons along the elevator's inside wall showed that each floor was labeled with the name of the department located upon it. I scowled at the little slot next to the button designated with 'Coorperate level' as the doors thumped shut behind us. Apparently, we needed some kind of…access card.
"Well that's just great…" I humphed, not noticing that Sage had pulled something from his pocket and was inspecting the button panel intently. The movement caught my attention, and I stared at him curiously.
"What are you doing?"
"Just hush for a moment." He said absently, and began to unscrew the metal plate. I wondered why he'd had a screwdriver in his pocket…
The panel fell outward, hanging to the wall by an intricate mass of tangled and intertwined wires. Red, blue, green, and yellow, they were just a mess to me. But it seemed my blonde companion knew exactly what he was doing. He pulled the pane gently, tugging it loose so that it now dangled above the carpeted floor. Handling the screwdriver with deft efficiency, Sage prodded amongst the wires, searching for the one connected to the back of the button which led to the floor we needed. After a few moments, he triumphantly pried it loose from amongst its fellows, and went in search of another wire.
I could only watch in confused fascination as he carefully rerouted several different circuits using a set of wire cutters he must have had in his jacket. A few sparks crackled between the lines as he screwed the panel back into place. Replacing the screwdriver and cutters in his pocket, he punched the button for the floor we needed. The elevator complied with the request by jerking to life and beginning it's move upward.
Sage hummed idly along with that monotonous elevator music through the entire ascension. I just stared at him in complete surprise.
"Did you just…hotwire the elevator?" I asked carefully
"Is that what it looked like to you?" He replied, his voice almost unbearably smug. I narrowed my eyes at him, but couldn't keep the grin from pulling at my lips.
"I'm not even going to ask where you learned how to do that."
"Very wise of you."
The elevator ground to a halt, and the doors dinged open. Acting as if we had every reason to be on the floor, Sage and I stepped out into the hallway.
"Now I suppose we just search around until we find a sign?" He muttered sardonically. I did a double take as I realized that he hadn't even moved his lips when he'd asked me that! He did ventriloquism too?! Geez, how much about him didn't I know?!
"Well we can't ask anyone." I hissed back, trying to emulate his talent. "They might remember we came searching for Rowen and tell that to somebody we don't want finding out. Besides, we're supposed to know our way around. We belong here, remember?"
"Then what do you suggest?"
"Uhm…search the nameplates on the doors?" I ventured weakly. Maybe he was right. Maybe I should have thought this through a little more completely.
Sage rolled his eyes, and I sensed a feeling of exasperation. "Mia, don't you ever watch the news?"
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"A few weeks ago, there was a bomb threat on this building, in Hashiba's office. I remember seeing it. They were saying that the office was the large one on the northwest corner. Therefore, that's where we go."
"Where would I be without you?" I asked quietly, smiling in spite of myself. I'd had my reservations about taking a partner in this case, but they had been erased now.
"Wandering in circles, obviously."
"No need to be snide about it." I chided him, taking a right turn at the next intersection of hallways. This place was like a multi floor maze. We passed several suited employees, but bluffed out our right to be there. Within a relatively short span of time, we stood before the antechamber of Hashiba's office.
"Small problem." Sage murmured, jerking his chin slightly in the direction of the receptionist sitting behind a desk. I narrowed my eyes and peered closely at the nameplate on the oaken wood. A grin appeared on my face.
"Sage, run back down to the ground floor and ask the front desk to page Ms. McPhearson, would you?"
An echoing smile pulled at his lips as he nodded. "I'll be right back."
I leaned back against the wall, making a show of checking my watch in exasperation as if waiting for someone. Those employees who did give me a glance generally smiled sympathetically and continued on their way.
Ten minutes later, the exasperation was anything but feigned. It hadn't taken us that long to get in! I was all set to go searching the immense building for him, when Ms. McPhearson strode past me, down towards the lobby. I looked around anxiously, waiting perhaps another five minutes before Sage came back into view.
"What kept you?!" I hissed. He shrugged apologetically.
"Someone noticed that we messed with the elevator." He explained. "I had to re-wire one of the others. I can only hope they don't connect it to us."
"They wouldn't have any valid reason to..." I mused, frowning slightly. Damn, but I hated loose ends. Shaking my head dismissively, I turned and beckoned Sage to follow. "Come on, we have a job to do, remember?" Though my back was turned to him, I could practically feel him rolling his eyes.
We strode confidently towards the large double doors. Sage and I exchanged a glance and a shrug, and he raised his fist to rap politely on the door three times.
There was no response from inside, which meant either Hashiba wasn't there, was too engrossed in his work to notice the paltry sound, or people generally entered after knocking anyway. I dreaded the first, could readily believe the second, and suspected it to be the third. Deciding not to wait for a reply, I pushed down on the door handle and stepped inside the room.
The corner office was large, and extremely well lit. The two walls which faced outward into the city were mostly window, and let in large amounts of the autumn sunlight from outside. This high up, the view was above most of the smog and accumulated car exhaust, and though all you really saw was the glittering expanse of metal, chrome and glass that was New York City, it was still a spectacularly breathtaking view. The entire office was more or less plushly furnished, deep pile carpeting, elegant looking leather upholstered chairs, and a huge mahogany desk. Behind which sat the man we sought.
Rowen looked up from his paperwork and blinked almost owlishly at us. A pair of wire rimmed glasses perched on the end of his nose, and his hair straggled down over the tops of them. Dark circles smudged the skin beneath his eyes. He looked pretty much the way I felt, hassled, harried, and in need of sleep not induced by exhaustion or Nyquil(TM).
His blue eyes widened at the site of us, and he glanced beyond us to the reception area.
"How didja...."
"Get in?" I fought back a grin. "Trade secret."
"You might want to have someone check out the elevator." Sage said with a perfectly straight face. "At the moment, it's something of a security risk."
Rowen sat back in his seat and tugged the glasses loose. He tossed them onto his desk and looked up at us both with a slight smile.
"So, y'all got up here 'thout clearance? Why does this not sahprise me?"
I pulled up one of the high-backed leather chairs and sat down, crossing my legs at the knee and settling my elbows on my thighs.
"We didn't want to take the chance of anyone tracing our visit here to seeing you," I explained. "Especially after last night."
"Why did ya call me and cancel our meetin'?" Rowen raised an eyebrow questioningly.
Sage sighed. "After we returned home, we found that Mia's apartment had been ransacked. Someone broke in as a warning." He too claimed a chair. "However, they also found her secretary's address..."
Rowen gaped. "Is she alright?!"
I nodded. "The doctors said she'd be fine. Her arm is fractured in two places, but she'll recover." Somehow, I managed to say it with a minimum of emotion. Rowen nodded his understanding; maybe he'd read something in my expression that I'd missed.
"We didn't want to take the chance of them noticing you coming to see me, since it seems we're under surveillance now as well." I continued. "This way's slightly safer."
Rowen nodded again. "What're you plannin' on doin' next?"
Sage crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side. "Yes Mia, do enlighten us."
Oh I hated it when he got all self righteous. I tossed my hair over my shoulder and sat up a little straighter.
"Last night, while at the Police Station, I contacted the next name on the list." I reached into my purse and withdrew the scrap of paper Kayura had given to me. It was a little tattered now, but still legible.
"How did you find the number?" Sage asked, looking slightly surprised.
"This is HQ we're talking about." I sniffed. "They have some pretty extensive records. I figured the phones there would be safe enough, since the police are undoubtedly rather paranoid about phone calls being overheard."
"Why didn't you want to tell me that we were going to be seeing this man later today?" Sage asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
I fidgeted in my chair a bit. "Because he's currently in a home for the mentally unstable."
"WHAT!?" Both of the men in the room were up and out of their chairs and shouting at me. I clamped my hands over my ears and waited for the storm to pass.
"Mia, you're going to speak to a psychopath?!" Sage demanded in disbelief. "Have you lost your mind?!"
"Ms. Koji, Ah hate ta point it out...but he's got a point." Rowen acknowledged. "Besides, if he's in a nuthouse, how reliable is the info likely ta be?"
I sighed. "I admit, it's a pretty sketchy lead, but at the moment we're at a dead end! The doctor I spoke with told me that our man is coherent most of the time, and doesn't even need the straight jacket....often."
Neither of them looked very reassured.
"You don't have to come." I said, getting to my feet. I felt so much better that way, as I topped them both by an inch or so. "I can take care of myself perfectly well. Who's going to hurt me in a mental ward?"
"You most certainly are not going by yourself." The glare Sage directed towards me had effectively silenced stronger souls.
I sighed and rolled by eyes heavenward. "Fine then. Though you obviously can't come with us, Hashiba."
Rowen smiled ruefully. "Oh Ah know. Too much work ta get done." He waved a hand at the massive stacks of paperwork. "Ah appreciate y'all droppin' by and bringin' me up ta date though." He ran a hand back through his disheveled hair. "Anythin' that gets us closah to takin' down the Mob is alright by me."
Sage nodded reluctantly. "I suppose that is the correct outlook..."
I smiled at them both. This had been so much easier than I'd expected. But then, I hadn't counted on Rowen being the voice of reason.
"I called Ryo and Kento earlier, and they agreed to meet us there around one." I informed them. "They weren't too happy about it either, but I suppose they see the need for it."
"It's a quarter to noon at the moment." Sage murmured, tugging his sleeve back and glancing down at his watch. "Do you have the address for this...place?"
"Mmhmm....Shikaisen's Home For The Clinically Insane. It's outside the city limits, on the New Jersey side."
Rowen and Sage stared at me for a moment. I shrugged abashedly and coughed.
"Well I didn't make up the name!" I said defensively.