"Ash! Fuck. Ash, wake up!"
I'm trying. Ash tried to say. His muscles twitched as he tried to force his arms to move but he couldn't even open his eyes. The poison had frozen his body but it did nothing to slow his mind.
Eiji had left him, and now all he could do was lay there as the scene played over and over on a loop inside his head.
A sharp smell entered his nostrils and flooded his lungs with a burning vapor. Ash jerked back, coughing, the muscles in his body starting to loosen as it seeped into him.
Shorter pulled the smelling salts away from his nose.
"Ash, come on," Shorter said, pulling on Ash's arm. "We've got to hurry. They took Eiji."
"They didn't," Ash croaked, his throat constricted like all the other muscles in his body. "He left with them."
Shorter stopped and stared at Ash. "What? No... Yut-Lung escaped. He poisoned us…"
Ash shook his head. "It was Eiji. He let them go."
Shorter gaped, "What? Why?"
A piece of paper crinkled beneath him and Ash looked down and stared at the white envelope that had been placed under his hand. Inside was a letter, the words written Eiji's smooth, flowing hand.
Ash —
I'm worried to death because I'm pulling you down this path. And I know you would willingly follow, but to what end?
We live in different worlds. We have different colored skin and eyes. We were born in different countries.
But none of that would have mattered. We're so different but you made me feel like I belonged. Like I had a family again. Like I was whole again. Isn't that what counts?
Even with everything else that happened, I'm glad I came to America. I'm glad I met you.
You used to ask me what scared me when I would wake up from those nightmares. But the only thing I fear now is losing you.
It's funny… You're smarter, bigger, and stronger than me. But I feel like I have to protect you. I want to protect you from fate.
What scares me is not what waits at the end of the road, it's that you would follow me there.
I can't lose you. I won't go back to being alone.
Remember that book you gave me all those months ago about the leopard? In it, the prince saw that death doesn't just happen to individuals, it happens to entire ways of life, and once it's gone there's no going back.
This thing will destroy all of us. It will destroy you and the way of life you gave back to me. Even if I die, that's what I have to protect.
I carry your love with me and I know I'm not alone.
My soul is always with you.
— Eiji Okumura
The words swam before Ash's eyes, distorted by the tears that streamed down his face. He staggered to his feet and began to run, Shorter following quickly behind him.
"We have to go after him," Ash said. "Eiji's going to go after Golzine alone."
"What?" Shorter cried, running behind him as they burst out of the house and ran to the driveway. "That's suicide!"
Ash looked around but the car was gone. He ran to a vehicle parked on the edge of the road and busted the window with his elbow.
Shorter pushed past him and yanked the side panel off the steering wheel and pulled out the mess of wires inside.
"We have to help him," Shorter said, his practiced hands snapped the wires and pulled back the plastic coating to expose the bare metal. "Where would he go?"
The wires touched with a crackling spark and the engine roared to life. Shorter slid into the passenger seat as Ash took the wheel. The tires squealed as his foot slammed on the gas.
"42 Westwood," Ash said. "That's where Dawson lives. He'd go there first."
The car whipped around curves, weaving in and out of traffic as they streaked down the highway like a bolt of lightning.
Ash's eyes flickered to the letter, clamped against the steering wheel under his hand. Eiji's words haunted him. Haunted him like the memory of Eiji leaving. The look in his eyes. Their last kiss.
Ash should have known. He should have picked up on what Eiji was going to do. If he had known that that night was going to their last together, he never would have let Eiji go.
Ash blinked away tears and shook his head fiercely. He couldn't think like that. He would find Eiji. He would save him or die trying.
Ash's fists curled and he pushed the gas pedal flat against the floor and the engine roared.
They couldn't get near the house on Westwood. Fire trucks, ambulances, and cop cars swarmed the street, forming an impassable barricade of flashing lights and urgent, running bodies. There was yellow police tape marking off the lawn. Smoke billowed from the house as it burned to the ground.
Ash and Shorter stood aside as a team of EMTs carried a body away from the scene. Shorter clutched at Ash's arm in fear but Ash kept his eyes cold and hard as they watched.
The lead EMT checked the body and shook his head. As they moved to cover the body, Ash and Shorter caught sight of the dead face before they zipped up the body bag. It wasn't Eiji. Shorter breathed a sigh of relief but Ash said nothing. The man had been shot through the heart. He would have died before he hit the ground. A clean death, quick and painless, but it was still murder.
"Who was that?" Shorter whispered. "Did you recognize him?"
"Alexis Dawson," Ash answered. "He and his brother created Banana Fish by accident. Alexis recognized the danger in it, but his brother Abraham sold it to Dino before he could stop him."
"So why's he dead?" Shorter asked.
Ash turned away. "Because he knew."
Shorter looked at the body and then ran to catch up with Ash.
"Ash, you don't think Eiji…?"
Ash didn't answer.
Blanca would have shot through the head. If it had been Yut-Lung there would be no outward trace of what had killed him.
Shorter glanced at the burning house behind them, the fires staining the clear, blue sky with billowing black smoke. Ash couldn't look back at the destruction. He had to keep moving forward.
If Eiji had freed Blanca and Yut-Lung he must have trusted them, at least to an extent. But even if they didn't turn on Eiji , they couldn't be trusted to save him. Eiji was going down a path darker than Ash could have imagined him capable of. Ash had to find him before it was too late.
Yut-Lung stood in his brother's office, his hands pressed neatly against his sides.
His brother sat behind the heavy, wooden desk, his fingers folded together under his chin, his eyes dark with displeasure. "Banana Fish is destroyed?"
Yut-Lung nodded quietly. "But it meant nothing to us. It was an alkaloid-based compound that paralyzes the autonomic nerves, causing heart failure-like symptoms without leaving a trace. Perfect for assassinations, but not of any interest to us."
Lee stood and Yut-Lung's eyes went wide and he gasped as Lee shoved him back against the desk, his hand clamped against Yut-Lung's throat.
"Why didn't you obtain the data?" Lee growled. "That is why I sent you. Yet you come back, a failure full of excuses."
"I never got the chance," Yut-Lung gasped out. "Golzine made Eiji an enemy a long time ago. Now he's bent on destroying Golzine's entire empire, starting with Banana Fish. He'll see it all burn, even if it kills him."
Yut-Lung gasped as the grip on his throat tightened.
"You better not be lying," Lee growled.
Lee released him and Yut-Lung fell to the ground. He got shakily to his feet. "Why would I lie?"
Lee sat back down at his desk. "This boy… Do you think he can really bring Dino down?"
Yut-Lung nodded. "He knows Dino and his complex inside and out."
Lee nodded and sat quietly for a moment. "We'll have to stop him."
Yut-Lung blinked in surprise but he hid his emotions quickly. "Why? Dino is our rival. Why not let this boy do our dirty work for us?"
Lee sighed. "You may have your mothers' beauty but you have no mind for strategy. Banana Fish was meant to be our bargaining chip. Now that it's gone we'll have to find another."
He leaned back in his chair and smiled. "Let the boy do some damage, make Dino really hurt. Then take him. We'll sell him back to his master. Golzine will be too focused on licking his wounds and beheading his traitor to notice our claws sinking into him."
He looked at Yut-Lung and studied his beautiful, carefully impassive face.
"This is your chance to redeem yourself for your failure, Yut-Lung. Do not fail me again."