83 – Joey
I’d been moved.
Taken away from Yuka and bundled into a boat of all things.
We’d set off from the house and I would have screamed, if the gun Reiji had been holding, was pointing anywhere else but my head.
I had argued with Jake about leaving Yuka, but he had pushed me out the door and had stayed back with him and I knew he would be the one to confront Alex when he came looking for me
“You think he’ll come looking for you?”
I looked at Reiji in the subtle light. “Who?
“Alexander. He’ll have the chance to take Yuka safely away or come after you. Which one do you think he will choose?”
I stared at Reiji “I hope he takes Yuka.”
The man in front of me laughed, tipping his head back and I almost leaped up and crashed into him, just to send him over the edge and into the water. I was a good swimmer. Was he?
“Wow. You really have turned clan. More worried about the boss than yourself”
“I’m worried about Yuka because I’m his doctor. Moron‘
How did I once think this idiot was one of the good choices to be looking after me? Maybe I should have chosen Naoki. The kid was sweet, and was like a puppy around me, always wanting to make me happy and I swear if he had a tail, he would have wagged it.
“You should be worried about yourself, Joey. About what happens now.”
Yeah, I was worried about that too. The further away from the house we got, the more frightened I got. Who would they sell
Ikeda!
That slimy lawyer from Eguchi?
“You’re pretty, and you are medically trained. Someone would be bound to pick you up for either one, or both of those traits Regi chuckled and he turned his head, as someone jabbered at him in Japanese. I swear I heard the words ‘It’s done“.
What‘
What was done?
Reiji turned his head back to me and even in the small amount of light given off by the boat’s lights, I could see the sinister grin which started to spread across his face. “Well, Jake is on his way, he’ll decide what’s going to happen to you.”
Jake was onlus way which meant Alex and maybe even Yuka were either gone, or dead; because I knew, Alex wouldn’t have let Jake walk away on his own, without some kind of bargaining chi—
Oh my god
Was that the reason I had been taken? To let Jake get away?
starting to hate my ex–best friend, the longer this night wore on and if I could have choked the life out of him myself, 1 would have.
Reip stood up, and looked past me, and his face started to become clearer, as the night started to give way to early morning. Fork had we been at this shit that long “Get ready, we’re moving from the boat, to the cars and then we’re heading back toward Henderson, then onto Vegas.”
I turned my head and looked to the shore, which was looming. There were at least three cars that I could see, and as the boat reached the edge of the lake, one of the cars opened and a couple of figures stepped out.
The sunrise, while beautiful, also highlighted the horror of who stood next to Jake.
“Auto?”
I stared at the man who I had trusted with my life, who I had stitched up and who had often been the only thing between me
and danger. I’d shared cars and elevators and food with this man…
“Oh yeah,” Reiji chuckled, grabbing the rope around my wrists and dragging me to my feet, as the boat’s bow touched the sand, and some Yakuza soldiers started to drag it up the bank. “You thought it was just me, who was dodgy in the ranks of the Takada clan? Meet our ultimate mole.”
Reiji shoved my hands forward, as Aoto stepped up to me, and grabbed the rope.
There wasn’t an ounce of shame or regret in his features, and I yanked my hands away.
“Get the fuck away from me! You’re a fucking traitor.”
wrists
Aoto rolled his eyes and leaned forward, grabbing the rope and pulling with force. I was yanked off the boat by my and dumped onto the wet sand, where the water of the lake washed against my bare legs, and my hands dug into the sand. Was the reason that Jake got away, because of Aoto? What had he done to Yuka? To Alex?
Rough hands grabbed me by the arm and lifted me and I screamed, flinging the fistful of sand out of my hand, into Aoto’s face and I turned and took off down the beach, running for my life.
“Some moron go and get her.” I heard Jake call out, and before I could get more than a hundred feet away. I was tackled to the ground.
me,
Pinned on the sand, with the side of my face pressed into the sand, I felt pressure on my buttocks, as someone straddled and leaned over, hissing in my ear. “You should know I like the chase, so do that again, and next time, I will make sure you end up as my meal.”
1 bucked under Reiji, and he was gone, and I was yanked to my feet and turned.
Aoto gripped my arm roughly, dragging me toward him “Behave yourself, Jocy.”
Ispat at him, a huge glob of saliva hitting him in the face and he reached up, wiping it away, before he glared at
ΠΕ
“Wrong move.”
I saw his hand lift, and I knew he was g
going to strike me, but I still gave him cheek.
“Thope Alex finds you and skins you alive. Traitor.”
Aoto faltered for a second and he looked to Reiji, who was kicking the sand like a child. Aoto turned back to me and the sudden softness I had always seen in him shone through for a second. He leaned in and whispered to me. “Alex is coming. This is all part of his plan. Please, trust me. I will never let anyone hurt you. But I’m sorry, I have to slap you, to keep up with the trick.
I blinked at him, screwing up my nose, and was about to ask him what the fuck he was carrying on about when his hand swung back again.
“I’m sorry.”
The crack of his palm against my cheek was the last thing I heard as I blacked out.
M
