Sweet Seduction Sayonara (8 page)

J
ason doesn’t say
anything as he leads me down the hallways of ASI. Rounding corners and back tracking, in the rabbit warren that is this building. It’s all been designed with purpose. Fallback positions on top of fallback positions, cut-off points, strategic alcoves for cover. As if Nick Anscombe expects to be invaded at any moment and he intends to hold the upper ground.

Domed covered security camera lenses spy on us as we walk toward Nick’s office. Amber and Eric probably tracking our progress and placing bets with Adam and Charlie about why I might be here.

Nick hasn’t bought any more property lately, so they’d know it’s not for legal advice. And he and Eva sure as hell aren’t gonna get a divorce.

And when Jason knocks on Nick’s door and a muffled reply to “Hold on a minute” comes through the wood, we both know there’s no chance of it ever happening.

Especially when the door opens and a decidedly rumpled looking cowgirl stares out at us from the other side.

“Perfect timing,” she says, slipping her hat on her head and giving Nick a sultry wink over her shoulder. And then she slips past, singing softly to herself in the sweetest, sexiest voice I’ve ever heard.

“Finn,” Nick says. “This is a surprise.”

Is it? I don’t often come here, but I have been here before. Many times. Granted it’s usually for a piss-up or something special, like Charlie getting initiated into the fold. But me being here now is a surprise?

I guess it is, really.

I nod my head at Jason, who hesitates, his eyes darting to Nick. They share a look. Fuck knows what that’s about. And then Jason slaps me on the back and retreats. Job done.

I stand there for a moment like a fucking idiot, until Nick finally says, “Have a seat, Drake. I don’t bite.”

I let out a breath of air, shut the door behind me, and walk toward a seat opposite his desk. There’s a whole lot of shit on the floor, papers, pens, stapler, calculator, and I stare at it for a moment and then at the top of the desk. Nick smiles.

I know that smile. Dom was wearing one when I walked into his office yesterday. What is it with these Anscombe men? I vow not to touch Nick’s desk.

“What can I do for you?” Nick asks.

“I need some security for my place,” I say, getting right to the point.

“You don’t have an alarm?” It’s an old house in a good neighbourhood and so I’ve never thought about it.

I shake my head.

“OK, I can have Eric hook you up with something simple.”

“I don’t want simple,” I say.

“Oh? And why not?”

Nick is not stupid. In fact, his mind is as sharp as his brother’s. He sees everything just like Dom.

“I want cameras and full monitoring. Here,” I clarify, as if ASI outsources their work.

Nick watches me for a moment and then rocks back in his seat, crossing his ankle to his knee.

“What’s going on, Finn?”

I concentrate on breathing normally for a moment and then notice I’ve clenched my fists. I don’t think Nick can see them, in his current pretend-to-be-relaxed stance. But I force myself to release them before I speak.

“My house was broken into last night.”

“Anything taken?” Nick asks.

“No. Not a thing.”

“Damage?”

I wince. “My office was trashed and um, my bedroom was…”

“Was what?” Nick demands and he’s no longer sitting back in his chair, he’s forward, elbows to desk top, eyes locked on my face.

“Someone left a gift on my bed. Shit,” I add. “They shat on my bed.” As if I need to say the last.

Nick stares at me for a long moment and then says, “Anything else?” As if leaving shit on someone’s bedspread isn’t bad enough.

“A message was carved into my desk in hanzi.”

“You need Charlie to translate it?”

“No, it’s a pretty common one. A proverb.”

Nick arches his brow. “A proverb?”

“Yeah. ‘If you walk on snow, you cannot hide your footprints.’”

“Fuck,” he says.

“That mean anything to you?” I ask, surprised at his reaction.

“Not a fucking thing. But what the hell, Finn? Who have you pissed off?”

I close my eyes. This is going to get complicated.

“I might have had a run in with some of the 14K.”

Silence. I open my eyes.

“Do you want this kept confidential?” Nick asks. “As in just you and me?”

I go to nod my head and then stop myself.

“Who were you thinking of bringing in?”

“Charlie.” Of course. Not only does Charlie speak Mandarin, but she was a former Major in a highly specialised arm of the Secret Service simply called The Department. She’d know all about the 14K Triads.

“OK,” I say. “But no one else.”

Nick gives me that Anscombe stare, the one that says he’s seeing more than he’s saying. I pretend I’m all about the innocence. I sure as hell don’t want him calling Koki in here.

And then I have a thought. Koki hasn’t told Nick about his sister and what happened on High Street. Otherwise Nick wouldn’t have reacted that way.

What is Tanaka thinking? You don’t keep that kind of thing from your securities expert boss.

Nick picks up the phone off the floor, as if it being on the floor is perfectly reasonable, and presses a button. He holds the hand-piece to his ear and watches me. Sometimes being the sole focus of that icy stare can be unnerving. But then he says, “Charlie, I need you,” clearly proving he’s able to stare me down and demand an audience with one of his subordinates at the same time.

He hangs up the phone and holds up a finger to me, as if I was about to say something. I’m not at all sure what to say next, so I just nod my head.

Charlie walks in without knocking a few seconds later, Adam is with her. I stiffen in my seat. It’s not that I don’t trust Adam Savill, but the less people who know about this, the better. Adam has been a friend to Koki for years. Maybe he even knows Momoko.

“You need us, boss?” Adam says.

“I need Charlie.”

Both Charlie and Adam flick their gazes off Nick and then look at me. Yeah, not like this is uncomfortable or anything.

“OK,” Adam says. I can’t tell if that’s suspicious or just his usual over the top drawl.

“I’ll catch up with you,” Charlie says to her husband.

“There’s no way you’ll catch up with me if I leave now,” Adam counters.

“Have you seen me on the Ducati?” she challenges.

“Every time I close my eyes and dream, firecracker.”

She snorts. “Get out of here. I’ll catch up.”

Adam chuckles, but turns to leave. Before he makes the door, Nick says, “Tell Eric I want Hi-Spec at Finn’s address.”

“Hi-Spec?” I query.

“The full works,” Nick says. “Cameras, locks, sensors, tripwires.”

“Is that necessary?” I ask, a little alarmed he’s not mucking around with this.

Nick just stares at me and then nods his head toward Adam. “Today,” he says, not taking his eyes off me.

Adam whistles low and leaves the room, silence follows in his wake.

After a few stretched seconds, Charlie moves forward and sits gracefully into the spare armchair beside me. She doesn’t stare at me like Nick does, but I’m sure the ex-spy sees everything.

“This might be overkill,” I feel obliged to say.

“You think it’s the 14K that broke into your place or not?” Nick demands. Charlie doesn’t even flinch at the direction of the conversation.

I rub the back of my neck, uncomfortable. It’s either them or Momoko’s father. No, it’s them. Why else the hanzi characters?

“It’s them,” I say.

“Wanna take us through from the beginning?” Nick suggests.

What else can I do? I’m the one who came here. I’m the one asking for help. No one could be better than ASI.

But Koki works here and their loyalties will be with him, no matter what. And suddenly I’m second guessing my decisions this morning. Second guessing all of my choices over the past few days.

To tell them about the Triads, I’m going to have to tell them about Momoko.

And I can’t.

I put my head in the centre of my palm and try to think.

No one says a thing while I do this, and I’m not sure if I’m alarmed at their nonchalance or relieved. But even with the silence, I can’t think.

“Finn,” Charlie says. I turn and look at her. “There’s a strong chapter of the 14K in Auckland. It’s the Triads’ main representation here in the South Pacific. If you’ve had a run in with them, it won’t go away. They pride themselves on finishing business. Once something is started, it always gets finished. One way or the other.”

“What does that mean?” I demand.

“If you’re on their radar, you won’t get back off. Unless someone does something about it.”

“Like you?”

She shrugs her shoulder, blonde, tousled hair falling down around a pretty, but hard face. Charlie’s seen it all. And sometimes it shows. Even if she is the most beautiful spy I’ve ever seen.

Not that I meet spies all the time or anything.

I close my eyes and let out a defeated breath of air.

“Can I have you sign a confidentiality agreement?” I find myself blurting.

“Jesus, Finn,” Nick exclaims. “You don’t need that. You’re family.”

I appreciate the sentiment. But Koki is more family than me.

“I just need to know this won’t leave this office,” I explain.

“Of course it won’t,” Nick snaps. “ASI is more than capable of keeping it in house. And quite frankly, I resent the implication that we wouldn’t.”

“Not in house,” I say, meeting his eye. “In here. In this office. Between just us three.”

Nick is motionless, no expression on his face. But I see the cogs turning behind that frosty stare.

His eyes finally flick to Charlie. She nods her head at his silent question.

“We’ll sign whatever you want,” Nick says.

I feel like an absolute chump.

“Just give me your word,” I say, my voice a rasp.

“You have it,” Nick offers immediately.

“Same here,” Charlie adds beside me.

I believe them. I trust them. I should never have asked for a signature on a legally binding document. Even if it is my go-to option when backed into a corner. Fuck the Triads.

“OK,” I say, rolling my shoulders. “I helped someone out on Friday night in High Street.”

“Outside Sweet Seduction?” Nick prompts.

“Yeah.”

“Should we know who?”

I’d like to think it wouldn’t make a difference. But knowing why the Triads are after me is really the key to finding a way to stop them. I’ve come this far. I trust them. I have to do this.

“Momoko Tanaka.”

I swear the temperature in the room plummets several degrees. Or it could be my overtaxed imagination.

“In what way did you help Koki’s sister out?” Nick says, letting me know he’s aware of who exactly Momoko is.

“Two guys with Triad tattoos tried to stuff her into the back of a black van. I intervened.”

“You intervened?” Charlie asks. “How?”

“Car door to the head, baseball bat to the other.”

She smiles. I think she might be impressed.

“And Momoko?” Nick asks. “What was she doing while this was happening?”

I wonder if he knows she’s martially trained. Then I see the glint in his eyes and I get my answer.

He’s not sure whether to believe me.

“She was in hand to hand with one guy while I dealt with the other. Then I saw the opportunity to assist her when I was done. So, took out hers as well.”

“Took out?” Charlie says, and this time it’s accompanied by a snort.

I raise my eyebrows at her. “Yeah, took out.”

Nick doesn’t say anything for a moment, and then asks, “Who got rid of the guys and the van afterwards.”

And this is where it gets messy.

“Koki.”

I’m not too sure of every tick Nick Anscombe has, but I’m pretty sure the face that stares across the desk at me is riled. Severely riled. Koki is keeping things from his boss.

“Go to work, Finn,” he says. “Act as if nothing has happened. Charlie will investigate the Triads, see what’s got them hot right now. I’ll look into the Tanakas. Quietly,” he adds. Whether for my benefit or his, I’m unsure. “Eric will have your house wired and watched by the time you get home tonight. We’ll deal with this one step at a time. But for now, just go back to work and act as if you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Have I done something wrong?” I ask, dreading the answer.

Nick shrugs. I glance at Charlie. She’s unreadable. I’ve got a very bad feeling about all of this.

I want answers, but Nick doesn’t have them. There’s nothing for me to do, but do what he says. I nod my head, shake his and Charlie’s hands, and then walk out of the building. I don’t get that creepy feeling when I cross to my car from the back door of ASI, but then Jason is standing in the doorway watching my back. He doesn’t retreat inside until I’ve started the engine and driven off down the drive. I come out on Remuera Road beside the railway tracks and turn left instead of right.

I turn for home. I can’t face work right now. I flick a message off to my secretary and one to Dom and Drew, letting them know I’m not well and taking the day off. I never take the day off, so the phone lights up immediately with Dom’s name on the screen.

I send it to voicemail.

I’m not sure what I’m feeling. Scared. Yes, I’ll admit it. Confused. Definitely. But there’s something else there and I can’t get a bead on it. I’m too imbalanced to know what it is.

I reach across the car to the glove compartment and search around while driving for a spare pack of cigarettes. I never smoke in the car. I always park up and get out if I feel the need for a quick one. But I’m not unlocking this fucking door. So I shake out a smoke, light it while I’m driving, and crack the window enough for me to exhale.

The drive home passes by in a mix of dread, angst, anger and contemplation. I’m so fucking pissed at the Triads, that I’m almost convinced I should find their address and turn up at their door. But I’m also not suicidal.

And it’s not until I pull into my driveway and see someone sitting on my front step that I realise what’s really motivating me right now.

I’m worried. I’m out of my mind worried for Momoko.