Chapter 29
Better fasten up and hold on tight my dear readers because this is gonna be a one heck of a chapter. Enjoy!
Mikan loaded up a big wooden tray with glasses, a bowl of ice, a sugar pot, spoons and a pitcher of tea – regular tea, not tea punch – and carried it out to the porch. She abandoned the casserole. She wasn't hungry. Whenever she was stressed out, she tackle one of her grandmother's recipes. It wasn't just a comfort food, it was the inevitable images that came with it of her grandmother chopping onions, rolling out biscuit dough, cutting ripe peaches – losing herself, perhaps, in the ordinariness, the simple necessity, of putting a meal on the table.
But Mikan couldn't have concentrated on another recipe. Not now.
Kokoro Yome called from Tokyo. Again, her parents hadn't made their flight. He'd sounded faintly annoyed, as if the Sakuras might be sucking him into some kind of drama unrelated to his investigation. Clearly, he didn't see what role a rich tax evader, even if he was a fugitive, could possibly have played in the shooting in the Central Town.
Despite his obvious doubts, Yome had assured Mikan that the FBI was leaving no stone unturned and promised to call the minute he heard anything.
Before his call, she'd found an inscription in her mother's freshman yearbook from Shiki Masachika, telling her he would miss her and appreciated her for being his friend. Mikan looked up on the internet and found the same picture that Reo Mouri had – a wanted poster on the FBI website. But Masachika was just a tax evader, a very wealthy one. He'd made his money in real estate and had homes in America. He was divorced with no children, the only child of a northern Nagoya pharmacist and a homemaker. He was just eighteen when his father died - it was the reason why he'd had to drop out of college.
Mikan doubted her mother had done anything illegal in talking with this guy at the Musée du Louvre. That he also knew Narumi had set off alarm bells, but northing explained what had happened to her parents.
Where were they?
Natsume came out onto the front porch. He'd taken a call on the living room phone. Mikan knew he was doing his own checking, with sources he had within the Alice. That was where he got his sketchy information on Tsubasa. But he'd just finished with another call, and from his obvious impatience, she suspected the news wasn't good.
"Your pal Mouri needs to answer some questions. Looks like he might not be who he says he is. There's a real reporter named Reo Mouri and just retired to Osaka."
"Maybe the Mouri we know is his son? Why don't we just go over there and ask him?"
Natsume leaned across the table and filled two glasses with ice, poured the tea, making his own attempt at normalcy, Mikan thought. She could see the butt of his gun under his open jacket. "I'm not leaving you here alone," he said, "and I'm not taking you with me. Hotaru's flight got in almost two hours ago. She'll be here soon."
Having another armed deputy here would give him more room to maneuver. He handed Mikan a glass of tea, but she just stared at it. "I hope this all turns out not having to do with what happened to you and Ruka. It smells like politics and journalistic shenanigans to me. My mother – "
"Don't jump ahead. We have no idea what your mother knew or didn't know about Masachika, why he approached her at the museum."
"Do you think he had anything to do with the murder of Tsubasa's wife?"
"I'm not doing the thinking on this one, Mikan."
Maybe not officially, she thought. She tried the tea. "I looked up Shiki Masachika on the internet. I'm sure you all have a thick file on him, but – " She'd known nothing about her mother's former classmate.
"His mother died over the winter while he was on the lam. It was unexpected – he couldn't go home for her funeral. That had to be hard. I wonder if it's part of the reason he sought out my mother. Maybe he was just lonely."
"People don't think things through when they take off."
"I supposed if he's been in prison serving his sentence – well, it can't be easy to lose a parent under any circumstances." She immediately regretted her words, remembering his own childhood loss of both parents. "Not that I'd know."
But his attention wasn't on her – she wasn't even sure he'd heard her. He set his glass of tea back one the table and started for the steps, drawing his weapon. "Ando! What's going on?"
Mikan dropped her glass on the floor as she jumped up, tea splashing on her feet, ice cubes skittering under the chairs and tables. Natsume charged down the porch steps.
Tsubasa was staggering past his cottage, soaking wet, half-drowned and in obvious pain.
He collapsed onto his knees in the grass.
Natsume got to him first, Mikan just behind him.
Tsubasa was shivering from the chilly water and the cool breeze on his soaked clothes. Blood dripped from a swollen gash on the side of his head. "Mouri's got Imai. The only reason I'm alive is beacause she distracted him." He was breathing hard, a thin stream of blood winding down his left temple and along his jaw. "She fell into me, pretended to faint. I went into the river. He dragged her off. I couldn't -" He tried to get up. "I hit my head on my way over the bluff. There was nothing I could do."
Natsume helped him to his feet. "Did you see which way they went?"
"Into the woods between here and the Anju house."
That left hundreds of acres in which to hide. Mikan pushed back a stab of fear, dread. "It was Mouri? Are you sure?"
Tsubasa brushed angrily at blood that had tricked into his mouth. "The fucker thinks he's the prime minister's brother or something. He killed two of Masachika's men."
Natsume swore under his breath. "Where?"
"Anju house. Maybe an hour ago. Imai and I spotted the bodies – she was on her way back here to make sure you two were okay when Mouri ambushed us." His blue eyes settled on Natsume. "She said they were the men who attacked her this morning.'
Mikan slipped in the grass, heading for the back door to the cottage. "I'll get ice and the phone, call the police."
"Wait," Natsume said.
But she was already inside and grabbed her cellphone, ran for the freezer. Her mind was racing. Masachika's men? What did that mean? She pulled out an ice tray, hit the 9 for 911.
A hand came down hard over her mouth, a gun to her right temple. "Not a sound or I'll kill you here on the spot. Understood?"
She nodded, but the hand and the gun stayed in place. There was nothing charming about Reo Mouri now.
He kept the gun on her and dropped his hand from her mouth, but she didn't scream, believed he'd kill her if she did. He wrapped his free arm around her middle and pushed her out of the front door, moving fast, half dragging, half carrying her into the woods below the cottage, out of sight of Natsume and Tsubasa.
"I warned you. I told you not to tell anyone." Vines and brush slapped her face and legs as he concealed them within the thick undergrowth. "I told you to wait. I told you if I could get to your brother, I could get to you. Did you think I was joking?"
"I – "
"Don't talk! Now people will die because of you."
Her parents. Ruka. Hotaru. Mikan didn't breather. It was as if she were in the treetops, watching what was taking place below her.
"You have one last chance to cooperate." His voice was low, his face close to hers. "Do exactly as I say and your parents might yet live."
Oh, God.
She landed hard back into reality.
Reo Mouri – whoever he was – had her parents.
"Hotaru?"
"They have a chance. If you cooperate."
"What do you want me to do?"
He didn't answer, dragging her deeper into the woods, away from the river. He was obviously familiar with the woods, unintimidated by any thought of snakes, unworried about getting lost, stumbling into a sinkhole. He didn't seem to care if Natsume or Tsubasa followed him. But Mikan knew she had to buy them time to contact the authorities, figure out their options – for them to come after her. They had to know by now that Reo had her.
He drew her down a rocky slope, then into a shallow cave within the hillside. He let her go, keeping the gun on her, and she pulled up her knees and leaned against the cool rock. The cave was head-high but only a few feet deep, damp, smelling of the earth, its limestone sides crumbling in places. Mikan had played here with Ruka as kids.
And Reo – whoever he was – had lived here.
She knew now who he was.
"You want me to help prove who you are," she said.
"Money. I want money. The rest will come out. The truth."
Mikan stared up at him. "You are the boy Himemiya and Shizune talked about. Their Hunk Finn."
"They wouldn't believe me when I told them that my mother was their boy's mother. That we're brothers." He was sweating, panting. "They called her a liar."
She doubted they'd have been so blunt, not to what they'd obviously perceived as a troubled boy. "Times were different then Himemiya and Shizune did what they could to help you. I can, too, but my parents –"
"My man in Paris has them."
"What –"
"He won't hurt them. He's waiting for a word from me."
Mikan forced herself not to leap ahead. "And Hotaru, where is she? Do you have her hidden in another cave?"
"That bitch."
He touched his neck, coughing, and Mikan noticed a swollen, bloody wound, halfway between his jaw and collarbone. "You have been bitten, haven't you? A water snake got you. Reo-"
"Narumi."
"Narumi, I can see the fang marks. You're bleeding. The bite on your neck, above your heart. That's not good if the snake released enough venom to harm you."
"I've been bitten before, lots of times. There's never been a problem."
"There us this time." The snake had released its venom, obviously enough to harm him. Mikan knew the signs. The area around the wound was swelling, his mouth and eyes were twitching visibly, and he was perspiring heavily. "Do your face and scalp tingle, feel numb? Your toes? You're dizzy, aren't you? I'm guessing it's been over an hour since you were bit."
He screwed up his face as if he couldn't think, couldn't control what his body was doing to him. "Don't try to distract me."
"I'm not lying to you. I don't want you to die before you tell me where my parents are, where you stashed Hotaru. Narumi, listen to me. You need to stay still to keep the venom from spreading, and you need to get medical attention."
"I'll find some ice – "
"No. Ice isn't good. Did you cut yourself near the incision?" She squinted up at him and suspected he had. "That's a myth – it only helps the venom spread. I have an antivenom kit at the house. It can suck out the venom."
"No. we're not going back there!"
"It probably wouldn't do you any good, anyway, not at this point. You need medical treatment, a doctor. Your condition is going to get worse with time, not better." She started to get to her feet, but he gave her a menacing look and waved his gun at her. "Please. Let me help you. It's not too late."
"I want you to call the prime minister. My brother. Ask him for a pardon for Shiki Masachika, his old classmate. He'll do it." Reo's eyes seem to bore through her. "He'll do it for you."
"A pardon? My God, is that what this is all about?"
"It's about five million dollars."
And recognition, Mikan thought. He wanted people to know he was the prime minister's brother. "Shiki is going to pay you five million dollars for a pardon?" Mikan was stunned at the insanity of what he wanted. "Reo – Narumi – Narumi would never agree to pardon anyone under these conditions."
"Then your parents die. Hotaru dies. Your brother. I can get to him, too. I'll ruin his reputation, blame his negligence for the shooting."
"Central Town – that was your doing?" She tried to keep him talking, agitated. But not so much that he shot her.
"Your brother had put a call into the publishing house where the real Reo Mouri used to work. I needed more time before he figured out I wasn't who I said I was." He smiled raggedly. "And I know you, Mikan. I've studied you. You wouldn't talk to the prime minister just because I asked nicely. I had to pressure you, scare you badly enough that you'd cooperate."
"The letter. The snake in the kitchen-"
"I'm glad you saved it. I saw you."
His words hit her hard. Ruka was suffering in part because this man wanted to pressure her – wanted her to use her influence with the prime minister. She wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to keep herself from shivering. "You wanted Ruka out of commission and me scared an off balance. Well, you've succeeded. What about Natsume? Kuonji?
"I told Kuonji all he had to do was sit in Central Town park with a gun and then disappear. It was so easy. I knew he'd be spotted, there'd be witnesses."
"What did you do, hide nearby and do the shooting yourself?"
"I was a yard away from Kuonji. He never even saw me. No one did. And I didn't leave a trace for the feds. I'm that good." He tried to catch his breath, but the snake venom was making him pant. He glanced around the small cave. "It's because I grew up here. I know how to hide. People never believed Himemiya and Shizune when they said they saw me out here because I never left a trail. It was like I didn't exist. I've used that to my advantage."
Mikan's teeth were chattering now. Nerves, fear. It was damp in the cacve,, but she wasn't cold. "Did you give Kuonji the drug overdose?"
"That was the easiest part of all. He was an addict."
"And Natsume –"
"I mean to kill him. My aim was off. It would have been an easier shot if they'd stayed on the street. Your brother –" He shrugged, wiping his palm over his swollen, bloody snakebite. "I didn't care one way or the other if he lived or died, so long as he wasn't asking questions for a while. Dead or alive, I knew I could use him to motivate you to help me."
"Did Shiki Masachika send you?"
He scoffed. "No, he thinks he can get a pardon on his own by manipulating your mother. Fool. He wants to come ho to northern Nagoya to visit his mother's grave. He's pathetic."
"He's men – why did you kill them? Aren't they om your side?" Mikan dropped her hands to her sides, leaning back against the cave wall, slowly edging to her feet. "Oh, I get it. Shiki didn't know what you were up to. When he found out, he didn't like it. Five million's a lot of money if he thinks he can get a pardon free from my mother. You're both crazy."
"Masachika wants a pardon more than anything, but he put the hounds on me."
"And when his hounds found out you were shooting federal officers in Central Town park –" Mikan shook her head. "Your guy Shiki wouldn't want that pinned on him. It's a much worse crime than federal tax evasion."
"His men would have killed you, too. Don't think Shiki Masachika is just your garden variety tax evader. He'll pay me. I'll blame your gardener for his men's death – Shiki will have Tsubasa killed before the week's out. He should have done it weeks ago." Reo was panting, sweating from the snake venom coursing through his bloodstream. "The big dope wants to find his wife's murderer."
"How did you get mixed up with Masachika?"
"You," he said simply. "I looked you up in Scotland to fin recognition I deserve. Then I went to Paris. Your parents were there – I saw your mother meet with Shiki Masachika. I saw her meet with Misaki Ando. I put it all together."
Mikan's stomach twisted. "But –"
"Your mother's old friend from college had Captain Ando murdered because she was getting too close to uncovering his real crimes."
Mikan couldn't speak. She watched Mouri unraveling before her, sweating slurring his words. If he'd just keep talking long enough, he'd weaken, and she could do something – get his gun, tie him up. Or Natsume could find her. They could get him medical attention and keep him alive so he could tell them where he had her parents stashed in Paris.
"Talk to the prime minister," Reo said weakly, passionately. "He'll do anything for you. You know he will. No one can undo a presidential pardon. He has the sole right. It's in the Constitution. He knows."
"There's a procedure."
"He doesn't have to follow it. Prime ministers and presidents pardon hundreds of people."
"Reo – Narumi, there's no way he'd pardon Shiki Masachika just because I ask him."
"Yes. He will. I know he will. So do you."
She stood upright, the top of her head grazing the dirt and limestone ceiling of the cave. She couldn't breathe. "You were there that day. With the snake. You saw."
"Everything. You saved him, Mikan. You saved his life. He didn't save you."
"It's not that simple."
"It is simple. What happened that day isn't what people believe happened." Some of the friendly charm had returned to his voice, but he toppled back slightly, dizzy, undoubtedly, from the snakebite. He managed to keep his gun pointed at her. "Tell him about me. Tell him he has a brother. Once news of the pardon gets out, the press will be all over it. They'll find out about me. I'll be long gone, living in luxury, but the world will know who I am."
Mikan forced herself not to let her thoughts leap ahead. "I'll do as you ask. Just don't harm Hotaru or my parents."
He seemed relieved. "All right, then Go. Call the president. You have one hour."
"What? Reo – Narumi, I don't even know if I'll be able to reach him in an hour!"
"Am hour. If my man in Paris doesn't hear from me, he kills your parents and disappears."
"You're asking the impossible!"
"I'll contact you. I'll know when it's done." He smiled at her, as if she were a student he believed in who was having a crisis of confidence. "Trust me. Prime minister Anju will grant the pardon if you ask him. Don't delay. Deputy Imai won't last more than an hour where she is"
Without warning, he bolted, disappearing around the far edge of the cave. He was agile, fit, and he knew the land.
Mikan crept gingerly out of the cave. She couldn't hear him moving through the woods. A squirrel chattered at her from the branch of a cedar tree.
She had to find Natsume, Tsubasa, get the police here, sort out what of Reo's story and demands was real, what was bluff – what was pure fantasy. She made her way through the woods toward the river and the path that led between her family home and the Anju house. Reo – Narumi – hadn't shot her. He hadn't beaten her up. Physically, she was fine.
You can do this.
She didn't dare call out and risk Reo hearing her, deciding she wasn't cooperating. How could he have her parents? He was a loner -that was what had so worried Himemiya and Shizune, the idea of a teenage boy out here living on his own, alone. Who could he have working for him in Paris? Was he bluffing about her parents?
Mikan stumbled on an exposed tree root but managed to keep her footing.
The snakebite would kill Reo. She wasn't sure if he had an hour. He had to get medical attention.
She pushed back the thoughts and kept moving toward the river, finally reaching the main path. She felt burst of relief and started to run.
But she heard something and stopped, listening.
A mockingbird. More squirrels.
And something else. A muffled cry – or her imagination, turning the normal sounds of the woods into a human cry.
She was at a junction of the main trail that ran along the top of the bluff and a steep, narrow path, barely a foot wide, that curved down to a cave worn into the limestone above the river.
It had to be where Reo had stashed Hotaru.
Without hesitation, Mikan veered off onto the narrow path. One wrong move, and she'd be in the river. It was a vertical drop into the water, no real riverbank here. The path deteriorated into a foot-wide limestone ledge where she'd come across the bluff to the cave, the same ledge where she'd come across Narumi Anju that day with the snake.
The main path was twenty feet above her, the river twenty feet below her. If she fell, she didn't know if she'd fare as well as Tsubasa had.
As she reached the mouth of the cave she heard the muffled yell again. The cave was only about four feet high and twelve feet wide, a dark, dank claustrophobic slit in the limestone bluff. She and Ruka used to like to sit on the edge and throw stones into the river, catch the occasional snake off guard and released unharmed. But caves weren't her favorite places.
With a quick intake of breath, she ducked and hurled herself inside.
Hotaru Imai lay fat on the dirt and rock, in the shadows, her mouth gagged, her hands and feet bound.
Mikan scooted toward her. "You don't have a bomb or something tied to you that'll go off if I untie you?"
She shook her head.
The bastard had used one of Tsubasa's bandanna to gag her, so tightly the fabric cut into the sides of her mouth. Mikan carefully eased the gag down to her chin, until it hung loosely around Hotaru's neck.
"Fucking snakes." She spat. "Goddamn. There were two in here the size of Godzilla. I hate snakes. That bastard's been bit. I hope it was poisonous snake."
"It was. I saw the bite. Are you okay? Were you bit?"
"I'm fine. Get these damn ropes off me, okay? Where's Natsume? He send you in here alone? What the hell's the matter with him –"
"He's with Tsubasa Ando."
"The gardener," Hotaru said sarcastically.
Mikan worked on the tight knots that bound Hotaru's wrist behind her. "Reo thinks he's the prime minister's brother. He used to live out here – he must have been a teenager at that time."
"What, you two sit and chat awhile?"
The knots loosened slightly, but Mikan realized she wasn't going to get them undone. She pulled and pushed on the rope, stretching it, noticing the marks on Hotaru's wrists that indicated she'd done the same. "He says he has my parents. He said you wouldn't last here another – hour -"
"I wouldn't if another freaking snake slithered in here. Look, don't be gentle, okay? Just get the fucking rope off me so I can go after this bastard."
Using all her strength, Mikan clawed at the rope, felt it and her fingers digging into Hotaru's skin, but, finally managed to get it below her thumb joints.
Hotaru shook the last of the rope off and tackled the one on her feet. She was deathly pale, her lip swollen and bloody, her entire body shaking from pain and exertion. "What does this son of a bitch want?"
Mikan stemmed her rising sense of panic. "He wants to get Shiki Maasachika a presidential pardon. He thinks Shiki will pay him five million dollars and the world will find out that he's really the president's brother."
"Jesus Christ. The bite will slow him down." Hotaru freed her feet and gave a small involuntary moan, then took a breath and turned to Mikan. "I'll get him. I thought he was going to throw me in the river after he tied me up. I swear, I'd just as soon he did as be in here with the snakes."
"Water snake don't nest the way you see in movies. When they're born, they scatter. They're very solitary."
"Yeah." She grinned feebly. "A solitary snake is plenty for me. Look, Mouri let you go, right? He thinks you're doing his bidding. You're safe out there. So you go on, get to Natsume, and fill him in. Otherwise, I'd have to stay her and protect you, and think we'll all be better off I go find this bastard."
Mikan shook her head. "Hotaru, listen to me. You're in no condition -"
She crawled toward the mouth of the cave. "I'm never living this down. The guy at my apartment, this Ando character, tied up and left to die in a goddamn cave." She stuck her head out of the cave, into the sunlight, then rolled back. "Crap."
"Is it Reo?" Mikan asked, reaching for a loose rock, anything.
Hotaru shook her head just as Tsubasa squatted at the mouth of the cave. "Nice little tea party you ladies are having, huh?"
"Oh, for God's sake," Hotaru said. "Tsubasa, I've got a job to do. How did you get here? Why aren't you drowned?"
"I'm a good swimmer. I picked up Mikan's trail. The law's right behind me."
"I am the law."
"You don't look it. You look like a pretty lady who's had the shit kicked out of her."
She groaned in disgust.
"Hotaru, Tsubasa's right." Crouching under the cave's low ceiling, Mikan crept toward them. "Not about patronizing you, but about your condition. Tsubasa, tell me you have a SWAT team out there and not just –"
"No SWAT guys yet. Just Hyuuga." He settled back against the cave wall, his eyes glassy in the dim light. He had to be in almost as much pain as Hotaru.
"I'm not going to be much good to him with my head beat in. It wasn't one of my smoother dives into the damn river." He managed a grin. "Guess I'll stay here and keep you womenfolk safe."
Mikan suspected he was deliberately annoying them to cut through the tension, but Hotaru gritted her teeth.
"God, you're even more obnoxious when you're injured." But some of her initial energy surge was going out of her. "Concussion?"
He shrugged. "Probably. I hit my head when you pushed me off the cliff."
"I didn't push you. I should have."
Natsume peered into the cave. "Hotaru, Mikan – you two okay?"
Hotaru nodded, but Mikan scooted to the edge of the cave. "Mouri has my parents. He'll tell me where they are if I get Shiki Masachika a presidential pardon. If I don't – if he doesn't get a word to his guy in a hour – my parents will be killed. I have an hour."
Natsume touched her hand. "We'll get him, Mikan. Just hold on."
She ducked out of the cave and stood up on the narrow ledge, pushing back a wave of vertigo at the steep drop to the river. "Reo's been bitten by a water snake. He's not going to last long." She could feel her heart racing. "He might not even last an hour."
"Listen to me -"
"I have to find him before he dies and try to get through to him that I -" She placed a hand on the limestone layers to help keep her balance. "What he's asking me can't be done. It's impossible."
"He could be bluffing," Hotaru said from within the cave.
But Mikan couldn't wait any longer and moved as quickly as she could along the ledge. Natsume could do what he wanted. Knock her into the river, follow her or stay put. It didn't matter. She was going after Reo Mouri, aka Narumi Anju.
She heard Natsume behind her and thought, he could also shoot her.
"Keep going," he said close to her ear. "I don't want to end up in the damn river."
"I know you're worried Reo's hidden somewhere with a sniper rifle, but he's in no condition and he want my cooperation."
"Mikan."
She nodded. "I'm going."
Hotaru figured that every nerve, muscle, vein and artery – every damn cell in her body – had been stripped raw. "If I don't get out of this cave," she told Tsubasa, "I'm going to go buggy. I have a cellphone in my coat pocket. My hands are too numb – can you get it?"
"No problem, Deputy."
He crept toward her, his clothes soaked, his head swollen and bruised. He had to a concussion. But she could see the ripple of muscles in his arms, sensed his overwhelming masculinity and felt an urge to carve out her own authority. He reached into her pocket and retrieved her cellphone.
She licked her cut lip. "I should be pissed at you for being such a retro chauvinist, but right now, I feel like crap that I'm going to let the 'pretty lady' stuff go."
He grinned at her, not moving back from her as quickly as he could have. "That was worrying me, you know," he said lightly, clicking on her cellphone. "Battery looks good."
"Any service out here?"
"There should be."
She eyed him. "What are you, some kind of spook? Secret Service?"
But he didn't answer, just handed her back her cellphone. She crawled out of the cave onto the narrow ledge, managing to sit with her legs dangling over the side. She stared at the screen but couldn't make out the dial numbers. "My eyes aren't working right. That bastard Mouri -" She licked her lips again. "He smacked me on the back of the head before he left me in the cave. I think he knocked my eyeballs loose or something."
Tsubasa moved in next to her. "What number you are calling?"
Her head was throbbing. She struggled to remember the number Kokoro Yome had given her in the E.R., the recited it to Tsubasa. He dialed without a word and handed the phone back to her. "Hyuuga talked to some FBI type on our way over here. He's sending in the cavalry."
Hotraru had expected as much. One of the FBI agent's flunkies answered. She told him to put on the big guy. She'd been smacked around one too many times today for anything approaching niceties.
Yome came on. "Where are you?"
"In a cave with snakes and some kind of spook who's been playing the Sakura gardener. Listen to me. This Reo Mouri character had someone snatch the Sakuras in Paris. He says they're his hostages."
"We're on it. We've got a team on the way to your location. Sit tight, will you?"
"I don't have much choice. Natsume and Mikan -"
Yome cut in again. "Hyuuga says you found the guys who ambushed you this morning – dead."
Hotaru paused. "Don't start with me, okay? I didn't kill those men. Look, get a word to the SWAT guys that Mouri thinks he's the prime minister's brother."
"Jesus Christ." Yome breathed.
"And he's been bit by a water snake. It's bad. Mikan Sakura wants to find him before he dies."
"Hyuuga's with her?"
"Yes."
"Alright. You know what to do."
"Yeah. I'm getting out of this goddamn cave. Tell your guys I'll meet them at the Anju house. That's where the bodies are."
She hung up and glanced at Tsubasa. "You're armed?"
"Nine-millimeter Browning."
"Not going to share, are you?"
He grinned. "Not a chance."
She'd figured as much. "Well, are you game for getting out of here?"
"I had my fill of caves in Afghanistan. Let's go."
She grimaced at the river below her. "Mouri told me the water's forty feet deep here. Strong current. I'm not the best swimmer."
"Relax." Tsubasa grasped the rock at the top of the cave and pulled himself to his feet, glancing down at her with a wink. "It doesn't matter if it's forty feet deep. You can drown in six feet of water."
What do you think of this chapter? Lousy, good enough, love it or hate it? Please leave any comments, opinions, suggestions or violent reaction. Write it in the review section below, and let me know.
As a treat, here's a Sneak Peek:
"You're not responsible for me. It's my decision to go after Mouri."
"You have your own way of looking at things."
"That's right, I do."
As promised here's a quick shout outs!
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Chapter 26
Vongola Princessa, Kiran Nanami, Guest, riaanaa, sme1228 and SunBabyBoss
Chapter 27
Wtf man and animelovermayc
Followers
pennYnnep, ayamagotchi, Vongola Princessa, bemorereal, tharooo, Kiran Nanami, Seraina-chan, animelovermayc, yash, thewolfgirl334, N.U. Sakura Yukihime, masterlysheep, Hana Marie -chan, HaCel, ChocoStar, sme1228, Moonlit Crossroads, Diabula-Rasa, paopao1127, xazur3x, jesusismysavior29, CupcakeGoodness101, Heartless Effervescence, Snezhinka01, MinaAllora, MoMo235, Kisaragi Shiki, Carla260799, sakura183, Kenny-Kai, bookworm2499, KimicoSakura, Mystique0831, FeatherPrincess18208, Coco Goode, MjaoCait, I am a Coward, marshmallow-chan35, Ai Blossum Sakura, Belle Duchannes, xMikanNatsumex, violetwingsxoxo, wirdin, EverlastingShadow, ren007, Xim-no-writerX, .Leo, AkumaRinee, supermintberry, Acedia-et-Avaritia, jyre alcon, 101 dalmation x, foureyesfreak27, Midnight-angel1022, Catalina Luna Moon, AnimeMango, Yamapix3, swimgirlie1, BlossomCutie, ChubbyMushroom, ficlover08, XxFlip-FlopxX, xxxStarlightAngel, love crimson red ray88, Chibi-Ichigoo, Kitsune Odin, Sujene, tweetybird53, lXMidnightxMoonXl, ya girl joyce, yumyumann, tatums, twilightlover2990, Mysticchowz, xiiaoICEangel, Dream girl675, rafaela louise, 1, MitsukaiYuki, OoO-Ashee-OoO, Sekaira, SunBabyBoss, pwenie, RockingAngels, Errant Ember, Bleu Canari, Aritella, 15, ninjagrl55, Dia07, squareecircleee, Shinagi, Shingamigirl, pikacheery14, Honki no Shika, Ryo-Ohki fan, oOBookBunnyOo, saphiremarietheangel, Usagiii, Sawada Yuki, SincetheEleven, simply-cheeby, shinhwa27, sarah0203, Octaves, inSummer15, nevertheless27, whileitlast, ChicCuteness, rosbaten, sophie-wind, LoveUJo, Serenity67, Haruhi-chan131, JVark, NatsumeD, ShindaSekai7, crimsontouches, NiaTheAnimeFreak, Pumax29, decentkat, riaanaa, Frankenstein007, gabsterela, Cassie Sharpie, Enilezah, LittleLiar666, MizuKaze53, Meocaroba, bottled happiness, spica14, April Twelving, Miss Evana, quitelame and xxxxAnGeL54xxxx
Favorites
kaWaii LiL GRL, Vongola Princessa, Kiran Nanami, Seraina-chan, animelovermayc, yash, thewolfgirl334, N.U. Sakura Yukihime, masterlysheep, ecjapson, sme1228, Moonlit Crossroads, paopao1127, yumyumann, SapphireNova24, jesusismysavior29, Hana Marie -chan, Snezhinka01, MinaAllora, ericaeunice, kristie123, MoMo235, Kisaragi Shiki, Psycho Chunnibyou, sakura183, Mystique0831, Coco Goode, Oliviaaaox101, Ai Blossum Sakura, Yamapix3, xMikanNatsumex, violetwingsxoxo, wirdin, ren007, supermintberry, 101 dalmation x, Catalina Luna Moon, Lovelyend, ChubbyMushroom, ficlover08, cryswes, xxxStarlightAngel, ninastylee, Chibi-Ichigoo, tweetybird53, lXMidnightxMoonXl, Chamomile Young, CrimsonPrincess14, twilightlover2990, xiiaoICEangel, rafaela louise, adrienna22, Midnight Fyreglow, Sekaira, pwenie, RockingAngels, Aritella, ashtii, ninjagrl55, Goddess Cure Mystic, Dia07, Haruhi-chan131, Shingamigirl, sakuratearz, Honki no Shika, Ryo-Ohki fan, me enamore de ti, saphiremarietheangel, Sawada Yuki, SincetheEleven, Eka19, shinhwa27, sarah0203, Usagiii, inSummer15, Banana998, Serenity67, scarlette11011, ChicCuteness, Ziella, Iceprincess22454, NatsumeD, ShindaSekai7, Cassie Sharpie, meLOVES'NATSUME, MizuKaze53, Fantasychick13 and xxxxAnGeL54xxxx
I would like to say a massive thank you to all of you. Till the next chapter.
Lots Of Love XOXO,
Claire-chan143