Chapter Twenty

~ Miko ~

I knew Jos didn't want me to go on this little adventure with him because he wanted me safe, but I wanted the same thing for him and the only way I could ensure that was by sticking to him.

While Jos was busy texting Ken again to let him know we'd found the ranch hands, I carefully opened my kit and pulled out several needles. I stuck them into the fabric of my clothes in different place just to be safe. If I was caught and searched, I still wanted to have a few on me.

When the others came back, they all had guns. I wasn't thrilled with this fact because I didn't want someone to get hurt, but I understood it. There were intruders on the property and we had a duty to protect the ranch and ourselves, or at least hold them off until the police got here.

I was most worried about Mrs. Gibbons and my father. I knew they should be in the main house right now, but I didn't know who was in there with them.

Jos pulled out his cell phone again and began typing away. "Split up into teams of two except you, Declan. I want you to get down to the main gate and wait for the sheriff to arrive. Let him know what happened to you and the others and then tell him we are going to go to the main house."

The men read what Jos had written and then nodded.

"Miko and I will take the kitchen entrance. I need one team to go in the front and another to climb to the second floor balcony and come in from there. Our first priority is finding Monty and Mrs. Gibbons and getting them to safety. Incapacitate if you can, but do what you need to do to keep yourself safe."

Once everyone knew what they were doing, we walked out of the shower room and broke off into teams, going in different directions. I stayed as close to Jos as I could considering his longer legs, and followed him to the kitchen entrance off the back porch.

My heart thundered in my chest as Jos eased the back door open and stepped into the kitchen. I was sure we were going to be caught at any second.

We weren't, and that started worrying me even more. Were the intruders still here? If not, had they taken my father and Mrs. Gibbons or done something worse to them?

Why was there no sound in the entire house?

When we reached the entrance that went from the kitchen to the dining room, Jos stopped and held up his hand. I frowned up at him, wondering what he was doing.

When Jos turned to me, he gestured with his hand and then mouthed, "Stay here."

That didn't seem like a very good idea.

It was all I could do to obey Jos and stay where I was when he walked into the dining room and disappeared into the darkness. I brought my arm up and started nervously chewing on my fingernail. It was a bad habit I'd had most of my life and had yet to break.

I shivered when I felt a breeze of displaced air pass over my skin. I grabbed two of my needles, turned, and threw them at the man coming up behind me. They hit him in the throat, taking him down instantly.

I spun back around and raced after Jos. I had to warn him that there were definitely people inside the house.

The scene I found in the living room just about ripped my heart out of my chest. Jos was kneeling on the floor, his hands clasped together and resting on the top of his head.

I had no idea where his hat was.

My jaw clenched when I saw the bruises on his face. I wasn't sure how they got there considering I hadn't heard any sounds, but they stood out clear as day.

When the light suddenly flipped on, I spotted my father and Mrs. Gibbons sitting on the couch, both of them bound with rope, but at least they didn't have bruises or blood on them. They didn't look to be conscious though, and that worried me.

First Uncle stood in front of the fireplace, a drink in his hand. A guard stood on either side of him. Two more guards stood at the main entrance with third standing over Jos.

"Miko, I told you to stay in the dining room," Jos stated. "Why didn't you listen to me?"

"I had a little trouble in the dining room," I replied. "I thought it might be safer with you, but I see we have company. If I'd known, I would have had Mrs. Gibbons make tea."

Maybe laced with something to knock First Uncle out long enough to get him on a plane headed back to Japan.

"Mitsuaki, we've been waiting for you."

I glanced at First Uncle. "You didn't call, you didn't send an invitation. How was I supposed to know?"

I had no idea where this sudden bravado was coming from. Maybe it was the last couple of months spent with Jos, my father, and the other people on the ranch. They'd taught me that I could stand on my own two feet and make my own decisions.

I was kind of surprised to see the woman here. After my announcement about being gay, I had expected her to catch the first plane back to Japan. Why she was sticking around? There was no way in hell I was marrying her.

First Uncle threw a folder at me. After it bounced off my chest and hit the floor, I made no move to pick it up.

"Sign this," First Uncle snapped.

"No." I didn't care what it was. I wasn't signing it.

First Uncle snapped his fingers and the guard standing over Jos pressed a knife against his throat. A brief second of fear flowed through me, paralyzing me in place.

I couldn't let anything happen to him, but what could I do?

My eyes darted around the room, calculating, formulating, devising, and panicking. There were so many ways this could go wrong and I only had one shot at it.

"Don't sign anything, Miko!" Jos shouted, but he grunted a moment later when the guard punched him.

That decided it for me.

As quickly as I could, I grabbed the needles I had hidden in my clothes and sent them flying. I spun through the room, taking the guards down one by one until I stood in front of First Uncle, my biggest needles held to the underside of his jaw.

"Why do you hate me so much?"

First Uncle's eyes narrowed. "You're the spawn of hell."

"No, I'm my mother's son and my father's son. Hell came afterwards when you crucified my mother until she died giving birth to me. My parents could have lived a healthy, happy life with me if it wasn't for you."

"She brought shame to our family."

"You pretty much did that all on your own. Whipping a five year old child because they snuck a piece of bread because they were starving is shameful. Locking a seven year old child in a room alone for three days with no food or water is shameful. Forcing a nine year old boy to kneel in the snow for two days because you didn't think he was respectful enough is shameful. There are a lot of things you have done that are shameful." I cocked an eyebrow. "Even illegal."

"I am the head of the Kaneko family," the man snarled. "You're a disrespectful little brat. I was disciplining you for your own good. That is not illegal."

"Yes, it kind of is."

My head snapped around and I stared at the woman on the couch in disbelief. I hadn't heard her say a single word since the moment we met and now she decided to speak?

Why?

"There are laws against abuse, Mr. Kaneko, even in Japan." When she stood, she no longer seemed like the timid little woman my uncle had first introduced to me. She had more poise now, more confidence.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name really is Emiko Tanaka," she replied with a smile. "I work for the Ministry of Justice. Before your grandfather died, he sent us a file and asked us to investigate Mr. Kaneko and his abuse of you over the years."

My eyebrows lifted in surprise. "If you're investigating him, how did you end up as my fiancée?"

The woman smirked, which strangely enough was a good look on her. "Can you think of a better way to stay close to him during my investigation?"

Only if she was in bed with him and that was just gross.

"Technically, I am not your fiancée," she continued. "While my family is wealthy and I am sure my father wishes I would retire and provide him with numerous grandchildren, my husband understands that I like my work."

"Husband?" I asked. "You have a husband?"

"He's a section chief at one of our police prefectures. We met on the job."

"She's lying!" First Uncle snapped as he struggle to get past me.

I quickly turned and stabbed my needle into his neck. First Uncle dropped to the floor, unable to move, but his eyes spoke volumes. He wanted me dead and in the most painful way possible.

"Well, that was effective." Emiko laughed. "Maybe you can leave him that way until my people get here? I have a jet on standby to take him and his men back to Japan where they will stand trial for a great many things."

"Miko."

I turned and raced over to Jos, launching myself at him. I knew he was wounded, and I wasn't positive all of the blows had landed on his face, but I needed to feel his heartbeat against mine.

"Are you okay?" I asked after several moments.

"I'm okay, Miko, but I need to call Ken. He's bringing the cavalry, remember?"

I nodded absently. "Make sure he brings medical personnel." I glanced at my father and Mrs. Gibbons. "I don't know how injured they might be."

"Mr. Kaneko had one of his men use chloroform on them when we arrived," Emiko said. "They should be awake soon."

Before anyone could say anything else, the front door slammed open and Wade and Axel came in pushing four bound men in front of them.

"Found some critters outside, Boss." Wade pushed one of them to his knees and then another while Axel did the same for the rest. "Thought you might like have them all in one place."

"There's one in the dining room," I said. "I'd like my needle back."

I wanted all of my needles back.

"Mr. Kaneko originally came with ten men," Emiko stated. "This should be all of them."

"What about Mr. Sato and that other man that came with you the other day?" I asked. "Where are they?"

There was that smirk again. "That other man is actually my father, but he is also an investigator like me. He flew back to Japan with Mr. Sato to depose him. Mr. Sato had built quite the file on Mr. Kaneko over the years. He offered to turn it over to us if we provided safe passage back to Japan for him."

Besides being an asshole, I couldn't think of any laws Mr. Sato had broken, and he had been my grandfather's lawyer for decades. Just because I didn't like him didn't mean he had broken any laws.

"I don't want to lessen what you went through growing up, and those charges will certainly be placed against Mr. Kaneko, but they won't hold nearly as much weight as the other charges against him."

Oh, now my curiosity was peeked. "What other charges?"

"Two counts of murder at least, if not more. Violating international shipping laws, sale of illegal arms to a foreign country, trafficking in illegal goods, including people." She wagged her eyebrows. "And my all time favorite, breaking the morality law by sleeping with no less than four married women and two married men."

Yeah, my jaw dropped.

I wasn't sure what I was more shocked by. "First Uncle slept with two married men?"

"And four married women," Emiko stated. "He's going away for a very, very long time."

I couldn't say I was sad about that fact.

"You can add kidnapping and assault to those charges," Jos stated. "Not sure they will stick if you take him back to Japan, but they can keep him out of the States."

"I can do that," Emiko said. "I have a friend in the State Department. I'll give him a call tomorrow."

"We'd appreciate it. We really don't want him coming back."

"Oh, I can guarantee you he won't see the outside of a prison in his lifetime."

That would be good.

I jumped and darted behind Jos when the front door slammed open and several armed men came rushing in. It took me a second to recognize the man in the front, the one with the big shiny badge.

The sheriff glanced around for a moment and then holstered his gun. "I take it we missed the party?"

"You were a little late," Jos replied, "but maybe you can help us round up some party crashers." He gestured to Emiko. "This little lady here needs to get them to the airport so she can fly them back to Japan and toss their stupid asses in prison."

Ken's eyebrow cocked as he glanced at her. "Oh?"

"I believe we're in the same line of business, Sheriff," the woman said as she held her hand out to shake. "Inspector Emiko Tanaka of the Military of Justice in Okinawa, Japan."

"Uh, hello," Sheriff Ken said as he shook her hand. He frowned as he looked around. "What is going on here?"

Jos chuckled as he wrapped both arms around me and pulled me close. "It's a very long story that will require a very big drink."

"Sounds good to me," Ken replied before directing his men to handcuff those indicated by Emiko. "I'm off duty anyway."

"We need medical to come in and check on my father and Mrs. Gibbons before then. They were knocked out with chloroform."

"Paramedics are waiting at the end of the driveway for my okay to come up," Ken said as he pulled out his cell phone. "I guess we can put off that drink a little longer."

A little longer was going to be forever.

I wanted to go to bed.