"When I agreed to accept medical assistance I was expecting maybe a hospital," Samantha groaned through the pain in her abdomen.
Moriarty had taken her through the door he exited and she soon found herself lying on a table in a small room.
"A medic will arrive very shortly to treat you," replied a young Japanese woman who was in the room with them.
"Samantha, this is Rin Tatsumi. This is her establishment," Moriarty provided.
Alarm bells rang in Samantha's head.
"Mr. Moriarty, may I speak with you alone?"
Moriarty and the woman exchanged glances.
"I'll wait outside for the medic," Tatsumi said. She gave Samantha a quick glance before leaving the room. As soon as they were alone, Samantha grabbed Moriarty's tie and pulled him down to her level
"You have just blown my cover!" she hissed.
"Me?" he mewled objectionably, "It looks as though you've achieved that all by yourself. Who did this to you anyway?"
"I don't know! Maybe your Yakuza friend!"
"Don't be silly, she did no such thing. Now let me go, you're getting blood on my suit."
She released his tie which had indeed become stained.
"Ruined," he said with a tut.
Samantha gritted her teeth as a new wave of pain overcame her. She wanted to vomit but was too sore to move.
"Let me have a look," he said then as he tried to peel her hand from the wound she was protecting. She resisted as much as her waning strength would allow her, feeling a new searing pain as any coagulated blood was being torn from her skin. An involuntary cry escaped her as fresh blood rushed to the surface of her laceration.
"Oh it's not so bad," Moriarty said, "Just a shallow gash. It will only need a few stitches."
"Well that's a relief! Maybe I'll just walk it off," Samantha croaked sarcastically.
"You want to tell me what happened?"
"I don't think so."
He pressed on her wound.
"Aaaaughah-I was in the alley-"
"Stalking me."
"Yes. And this guy just…attacked me." Samantha strangled a scream in her throat as the pain shot through her whole body. Her fingers splayed and trembled.
"What guy?"
"I don't know."
He pressed harder.
"I don't know!" she cried, the pain was blinding. "He was…dressed in black…wore a hood. He had a knife."
"What happened?"
Samantha could barely think. Stars flashed before her eyes.
"Come on, come on. The quicker you talk, the quicker this will be over," Moriarty hurried her.
"You.. distracted him…both of us… He got me with the knife… But then he was gone."
"And who would want you dead?" he asked ponderously.
"Nnngggh not sure. I think I'm onto some Yakuza activity. I may have been… compromised."
She looked up at him towering over her. His expression was deadpan, his very being radiated a froideur.
"Did Mycroft send you?" he said.
"You know, this isn't the first time I've been tortured for information."
Moriarty snorted with amusement.
"Fine, I'll make a deduction then, shall I?" he said, "Mycroft sent you because of some British national security thing. I'm gonna guess… oooh… money laundering. And it's happening with one of those big-boy banks which is why it's of national concern. Typical Mycroft stuff really. He wants to test your super-spy chops as this is your first gig since our romp at the lake all that time ago. And you picked up some Yakuza scent which is why you ended up in the Tatsumi suite. Am I right so far?"
Samantha didn't reply. Admitting he was right would make her liable for leaking classified information, but she had already half done that ultimately.
"Of course I'm right. Who are we kidding?" Moriarty scoffed, "What I don't understand is who did this to you and why. It wasn't Tatsumi, she didn't even know about you until just now. This leads me to believe there's a third party that I'm not being told about"
"I...don't understand," Samantha said, "What the hell is going on around here?"
"Tatsumi's father was murdered. Something was taken from him. Perhaps the same people who murdered him are now out to get you."
"Fuck."
Ishikawa had rat her out. That was the only explanation she had right now. Was she on a hit list now? What the hell was she going to do?
She heard the door open behind her just then and felt relief as Moriarty stopped pressing on her wound. Two figures came into her peripheral. She could see that one was Rin Tatsumi and the other was a small elderly woman.
"You've got to be kidding," said Samantha as the old woman perched a large medical bag upon the table and began to root for something inside it.
"This is my aunt Maki," Tatsumi said to her with a hint of scorn in her voice, "She has been providing medical services for this family since before I was born. You will treat her with respect."
Samantha watched with dread as the old lady's shaky hands placed some medical tools next to her.
"Oh please tell me you at least have anesthetic," she begged.
"Aunt Maki does not speak English," said Tatsumi and she then repeated Samantha's request in Japanese.
"Hai, hai," the old woman replied, waving her hands dismissively. She gave the air of someone who had seen everything and was entirely done with it all.
She adjusted her thick glasses as she inspected Samantha's abdomen.
"Hmm….too much blood" she grumbled. She grabbed a pair of trauma shears and tore open the fabric of Samantha's t-shirt.
"I don't think that was entirely necessary," Samantha said as she winced with the renewed pain.
Maki fumbled about with her equipment and held a syringe before Samantha's face. She said something in Japanese, pronouncing it slowly and clearly. Samantha's vocabulary didn't quite extend to medical terms but she got the gist from what she knew: anesthetic. The syringe went into her arm before Samantha realised it was happening. There was more fumbling before the old woman produced a second syringe, again pronouncing a foreign word. Antibiotic, perhaps? This too was swiftly slipped into her arm with surprising precision. Samantha lay her head back and stared at the ceiling. She was not looking forward to writing up her mission report after all this. Beyond her peripheral, she could hear Moriarty and Tatsumi murmuring to each other. Why was Moriarty in cahoots with a Yakuza gang anyway? It seemed like something that was beneath him. Better yet, how was he even a free man? Her attempt to confront him tonight didn't quite go as she had planned. She wondered what would have happened to her had he not found her in that alley.
She looked down at Maki who was gathering bloodied gauze and stuffing them into a small bin. Her wound had been cleaned and she could see it clearly for the first time. It gaped a fair few inches across her abdomen, but Moriarty had been right in saying it wasn't so deep. Not so bad. Maybe recovery time wouldn't be as long as she would have expected.
She was feeling more relaxed now. Her vision blurred slightly and she no longer felt that searing pain across her stomach. Whatever the old woman had given her was working quickly.
The room was silent as Maki began suturing the wound. Despite the effect of the anesthetic, Samantha could still feel the needle pierce and the thread being dragged through her skin. It didn't hurt per se, but it felt unpleasant, unnatural and intrusive. Then her thoughts started to drift as the medicine took hold of her.
Moriarty watched as Maki worked away on Samantha. He was surprised at the efficiency and skill a woman her age displayed. Samantha had stopped speaking and her breathing slowed and deepened.
None of this was part of his plan and he spent the last half hour thinking and rethinking up a new one.
"I'll need a safe house," he said to Rin.
"You think you're in danger?" Rin enquired. She seemed surprised but also something close to excited.
"Not me. Her." Moriarty nodded to Samantha.
"Oh." Rin gave a knowing smile. "This is the ex I can ruin you with?"
"It's not like that," he chided petulantly, "Someone's out to get her. Whoever it is could probably bring us to your father's killer. Keeping her alive would be in your best interest right now."
"Yes, perhaps you're right," Rin replied thoughtfully.
Something occurred to him then.
"Do you have any enemies, Ms. Tatsumi?"
"Many."
"I mean specifically. Any competition I should know about?"
"Well…there is another Yakuza gang in Osaka but my father arranged peace with them a long time ago."
"Think you could organise a meeting between myself and the oyabun?"
"With Saito?" she laughed, "I could but he's in jail. He has been for a long time. I can't see how he could be behind any of this."
"Interesting," he muttered, adding this to his mental corkboard.
"You should wash up," said Rin, gesturing to his bloodstained hands, "I'll see if I can find you a safe house and arrange transport."
Moriarty glanced at Samantha. She looked, for all the world, as if she were sleeping peacefully.
"I'll do that," he said, "And thanks. It's good to have friends in low places."
He left the room and began to making his way to the bathroom. He was caught off-guard by Nika who almost ran into him on her way out of a cubicle. Moriarty immediately noticed her red glassy eyes and red nose. She looked as though she had been crying but she by no means seemed depressed.
"Are you high?" Moriarty asked before the deduction barely formed in his brain.
At that moment, a second person emerged from the cubicle. Jirou was mid-buttoning his shirt when he saw Moriarty and froze. The smell of sex was apparent on both of them. Moriarty's jaw dropped as he glanced from Jirou to Nika and back.
"You were right about him," Nika said with a wry shrug, "Eager to please."
"Oh for god sake." Moriarty turned to the sink to wash his hands. "I can't even look at you right now."
