Chapter 17
"Mmm…" I mumbled as I started to regain consciousness.
"You're awake."
"Sean?" I said as my vision slowly blurred into focus.
My head pounded, I felt like I had the worlds worse hangover.
"I've never seen those drugs knock out a person for 5 hours." He said.
I sat up and looked around, I was tied up on a bed in some kind of hotel room. My hands were chained to the back of the bed.
"Where am I? Let me go!" I shouted and tried to pull my hands out of the chains.
"It's no use, your hands are tied together very tightly. Now you can't run aw-"
With one movement I kicked him hard in the stomach causing him to double over and cough.
"Ohhh. You're a wild one, huh? How dare you kick me."
"Let me go or I'll kick you again!"
"No, I can't let you do that. Because I need you to open your gramps invention for me."
"What? You have it?" I asked.
He smiled "Not yet but I will. It's being sold in auction day after tomorrow so, I need you to stay here till then."
"But how? We thought it was in the old-"
"Ministry defense building? Yes I saw you and that fireman checking out the building. I had my man investigate but unfortunately, someone got there before we did. The blueprints are inside a small box that can only be opened with your fingerprints. So, I will buy it from the auction and use you to open it."
"I will never help you."
He chuckled "Do you really think you have a choice? But if you won't cooperate, I could always just take one of your beautiful fingers instead?"
He then grabbed a knife from a nearby table, pinned my left hand down against the bed and placed the knife against my index finger.
"No! Please don't!" I shouted and tried to push him away.
"Good girl, if you behave you might get out of this alive." He said with an evil grin on his face.
"If it wasn't chained up, I'd kick your ass."
"Hm. I bet you'd at least give it a try." He said as he placed the knife back on the table.
Someone then knocked on the door.
"Ooh, room service already. Just what I'd expect from the Shisei Hotel." He said and walked towards the door.
What was I going to do? I was helpless.
He opened the door and I could hear someone speaking Chinese. Wait, it sounded like Hiro. The person then came inside and I was right! It was Hiro dressed in a hotel costume.
He was mouthing something at me.
(Ken with me)
Kenshi was here to? I sighed with relief, I was getting out of here.
"The fruit has arrived, my beautiful girl. Let's enjoy it together." Sean said.
He sat down next to me and brought over a tray of fruit.
"Come on, open your mouth." He said.
What was he doing? He was the weirdest mobster or whatever I had ever met! But Hiro and Kenshi were here, so I should just play along till they were ready.
"You're going to feed me?" I asked.
"Yes, at least that's what I'm trying to do." He said.
"Not like that…. How about a more…. Direct method… like with your mouth?" I suggested and gave him my best sexiest smile.
Ugh! I think I might be sick.
"Oooh! You're bold, aren't you, my Japanese beauty? I'd be glad to."
He placed a piece of fruit into his mouth and leaned against me. I then saw someone move behind him in the shadows, it was Kenshi. Kenshi jumped out and knocked Sean out with a swift punch to the head, Sean instantly fell to the floor unconscious.
"Hiro, carry him to the bathroom." Kenshi ordered.
"Roger." Hiro said and started to drag Sean into the bathroom.
"I have never been so happy to see you guys in my life!" I said and sighed with relief.
"Are you ok?" Kenshi asked as he started to get the chains off me.
"Yeah thanks."
"Faye, here are your shoes." Hiro said.
"Thanks."
Once the chains were removed, I slipped my shoes one and stood up from the bed.
"Let's head to the balcony." Hiro said.
"What? You're going to make me jump off another balcony?" I asked.
"It's the only way out." Hiro said.
Kenshi then scooped me up and jumped straight off the balcony.
"Ahhh!"
"I really, really, really hate you guys." I said as Kenshi helped me walk into Hiro's apartment.
My whole body was still shaking after they made me jump off another balcony. Kenshi had one arm wrapped around my waist, supporting me as I walked. I had one arm over his shoulders and was using the other to hold onto the banister.
"Haha! At least you didn't cry this time." Kenshi said.
"It's not funny. I don't want to jump off any more high things." I said.
Hiro just laughed as he opened his front door.
"Come in, come in." he said.
Riki, Takuto and Boss were already waiting for us.
"Hey Faye, glad to see you're safe." Riki said.
"Thanks." I said.
Kenshi let me go and I sat down to the sofa. Hiro's place was huge and very bright. There was a kitchen and a living room downstairs and then what looked like an indoor balcony that I assumed led to his bedroom.
"It's a been a long time since I've been here." Riki said.
"This place is stupidly large." Takuto said.
"Whoa, you have a zigzag carpet." Kenshi beamed.
"Kenny, it's zebra. Zebra!"
"Hey everyone." Boss said.
"You're here too Boss?" Hiro asked.
"Yeah, Seiko let me in." Boss said.
He then turned to face me.
"Did Sean hurt you?"
"No."
"Good. What happened?"
I told them everything, except for my lunch with Tatsuro.
"And what about your detective friend?" Riki asked.
"Huh?"
"Kenshi said you had lunch with him before you were kidnapped."
"Oh um… He asked me some questions about you guys but I didn't say anything." I said.
"He suspects us?" Kenshi asked.
"Kind of but he doesn't have an evidence so we're fine."
"Does he suspect you?" Boss asked.
"I don't know…"
"You're not a good liar Faye." Riki stated.
"If things really start to get bad, we'll take care of it." Boss said.
"Take care of it?!"
"He's a sharp detective, I'll see what I can do about getting him sent back to America." Boss said.
"No wait. I don't want that." I said.
"We're not trying to punish you here." Riki stated.
"That's right, he's in the middle of training with the FBI anyway, isn't he? He was just forced to come back to Japan because of the extortion case and because they needed more men on our case. So no matter what the circumstances, won't he be happy to return to his training?" Boss said.
"It's going to be important for his career going forward, after all." Riki said.
"That's true but… promise you won't hurt him." I said.
"We won't, at least not for the moment." Boss said.
"Listen, you don't have any room to be worrying about Togoshi. You're the one who might be arrested here." Riki said.
I wondered if they actually cared about me being arrested or if they were worried that I'd give them away?
"It doesn't matter. Because once we've got all of Gramps stuff back and we finish this mission, things will go back too normal and problem solved." I said.
"Do you want things to go back too normal?" Takuto asked.
"Um…." I hadn't really thought about it but I promised Tatsuro so there was no going back.
"Anyway, let's start the meeting. We need to review the mission." Riki said.
"So, Faye's great-grandfather's invention was already stolen from the building?" Boss said.
"Yes, Sean said it was already gone by the time he got there and that it was being sold at an auction day after tomorrow." I said.
"It has to be the Silver dogs. And if Sean is involved, then there's no doubt in my mind that it's them." Riki said.
"Silver dogs?" I asked.
"It's a name of a group of thieves, Sean works with them." Boss said.
"They're scum. The steal valuable works of art and then sell it for profit on the black market. They're on the international most wanted list." Kenshi said.
"Lately, they've been trying to interfere with us." Boss said.
"Like that bomb that went off on one of our missions." Kenshi said.
I remember that vividly.
"Takuto, can you try and locate the auction"? Riki said.
Takuto had already gotten out his laptop and was typing away.
"Got it, there's going to be a black market auction held on a yacht anchored at the south pier." He said and got up a map. "It's going to be held in two days."
"We'll have to do the mission the day before the auction. We want to be sure to get the blueprints first." Riki said.
"Will the target be there the day before?" Kenshi asked.
"From the looks of it, they keep all the auction items on the yacht days in advance of the auction." Takuto said.
"How do you know?" Riki asked.
"The security cameras on the yacht." Takuto said and showed us his computer screen.
"Hiro, you will do a recon tomorrow. Determined the target will be on the yacht, get as much info as we need and then we'll move tomorrow night." Riki said.
"So we're going up against the silver dogs?" Hiro asked.
"We don't have a choice." Riki said.
"Who's going to partner up with Faye?" Kenshi asked.
"I'll take her. You, Hiro and Takuto will stop the guards and the silver dogs." Riki said.
"All three of us? Then who will be backup?" Hiro asked.
"I'll do it this time." Boss said. "Besides the first gate, the security isn't tight on the yacht."
"Yep, the security is ridiculously light. Kinda boring." Takuto said.
"The rest is up to Faye. We won't go easy on anyone who interrupts the mission. Even if that person is your detective friend. Is that ok with you Faye?" Riki said.
Did I have a choice?
"Yes." I answered.
"Then all that's left to do is pray." Boss said.
"Pray?"
"Just pray that he doesn't show up. The gods are kind to cute girls like you. Let's just focus on trying to have as uneventful of a mission as possible. Ok?"
"Ok."
"All right, now we'll get into the specifics of the mission. The entrance is here…"
After the meeting was over, it was decided that I stay over at Hiro's house.
"You must be tired. Well, do you have everything you need?" he asked.
"Yes, the bedroom is huge and it has everything." I said.
He was being really nice and was letting me stay in his room.
"Haha. If you're bored, you should look through my collection in the closet. I have all my disguises in there. If you want, I could lend you my panda costume…"
"Why would I want a panda costume? By the way, thank you for saving me."
"Your welcome! Your one of us, we wouldn't let anyone steal you away." He said and winked at me.
I smiled "That's good to know."
"Anyway, I'm going out for a while."
"Ok, see you later. Be careful."
He waved before he left.
I couldn't believe that I let Sean kidnap me, how stupid could I get? But I had to focus on the mission, once we finished it I could go back to my old life. I should be happy but… I felt kind of sad. The Black Foxes were my friends and we had been through so much and I was one of them. I felt like I belonged here.