30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Leo jumps up from the floor, hauling himself on the table nearby. Before anyone has time to comprehend what's happening, he pulls his gun out and shoots the leg of the guy who shoved us in here, dropkicking the one standing behind us.

"Chai, run!" he screams, grabbing my hand and breaking into a sprint.

I do as he says.

"Shit!" Goro shouts behind us in Japanese. "I want Kwanchai alive! Don't let him get away!"

The room turns into chaos, glass breaking and furniture screeching and people yelling in Thai, Japanese and English. A gunshot hisses past us as Leo and I are just about to reach the door, hitting the porcelain vase to my left. It shatters, sending shards everywhere. Leo veers to the right sharply as a wall of bullets follows the first shot, forcing us to go deeper into the secret part of the building since the way we came has been cut off .

Our pursuers waste no time rushing after us, their shoes squeaking against the linoleum floor. Leo picks up speed, turning back to shoot at them one-handed while not letting go of me. I grab my own gun from the holster under my vest, joining in the effort in hopes my blind shooting might hit. We duck around a corner and use the wall for cover, keeping the men at bay as we try to catch our breath.

It doesn't take long before we both run out of bullets.

"Shit. I'm out." Leo pushes the empty gun back under his vest, his chest rising and falling in quick successions. "Chai, do you have your phone? I lost mine. We need to call the police."

I check my pocket, realizing it's actually there. Heart pounding, I unlock the device and dial the emergency number, only to hear static. "I think they have a jammer in place."

"Kwanchai! Don't make this difficult. Come out and let's talk. I'm sure we can reach an agreement," Goro yells, his voice echoing off the walls.

Leo presses his hand to my chest, keeping me with my back to the wall. "You're not going anywhere. He's obviously not planning to negotiate," he hisses, popping his head around the corner.

The shooting has ceased for now, our enemy probably realizing we are out of bullets and thus not really a threat to them anymore.

"Also, the two Americans. I know them. They are from the gang, but…" He scopes the corridor where we ducked, his eyes squinted and his mouth open to help him get enough oxygen to his lungs. "I don't think they recognized me, or they'd have shot me on sight. "

I'm inclined to agree. Leo cost his former employers thousands of dollars and then just disappeared. They are turning every stone trying to find him, I know that for a fact because Aran is monitoring things in New York. They don't know he's here, and they won't, for as long as I have a say in it. The two men must be here for another reason, and as much as I hate to entertain the possibility that it has something to do with whatever Goro and the Minister are up to, my gut tells me I'm right. One of my father's lieutenants has betrayed us, putting aside everything the Akiyama Group stands for to do business with drug-dealers and human traffickers. How Minister Kesam comes into play exactly is still unknown, but it can't be anything good.

I follow Leo's gaze, realizing that the last door down the corridor where we are hiding is not an office. The sign just above it says emergency exit.

"The blueprints didn't show any emergency stairs on this side of the building," I remind him. But the only way out we know of has been cut off, so it's not like we have much of a choice even if it turns out it's a dead end.

"It's worth a try if there is a chance we can slip out without having to fight through a dozen men."

I nod and push off the wall, leading the way. "You seemed more than eager to do it last time, remember?"

He snorts. "There was, what? Four of them? Five tops. I counted at least twenty in that room, and that's excluding our kingpins. Now, while I am confident in both your and my skills, I think ten each is a bit too much."

The stairwell is dim. The only source of illumination is the green emergency signs on each landing. Approaching the railing, I look up and down. I can't tell if it's a dead end or if the stairs lead somewhere. In either case, this seems to be the only way to move between floors in this part of the building, at least according to the evacuation map hanging by the door. Unfortunately, it looks old and doesn't say if the exit is in use, but chances are it isn't. The patrol teams I assigned would've reported a door if there was one.

I squint at the map, studying it. All the floors above and below have no corridors linking them to the main structure, so it's either fighting our way back to the lounge or risking a dead end at the bottom of the stairs… The exit could be concealed, I suppose. I can't rule out that possibility. Maybe it's only obvious from the inside unless you know to look for it. But is it worth counting on that slim chance?

"Okay. I have a crazy idea," Leo announces. He's still standing in the corridor, holding the door open as he observes the intersection where we came from.

"I'm all ears."

His impish grin hints it's going to be something questionable. "Well…" He retrieves his gun and uses it to smack the emergency sign above the door. It shatters, glass scattering on the floor. "We go up. They'd expect us to go down, looking for a way out, right? So we go up, wait until the floor is clear, and run back the way we came."

I consider that as he closes the door and joins me by the railing. It could work, but there are two glaring issues with what he is suggesting.

"What makes you think they won't split, sending people up as well?" And two, "Or they won't leave someone here by the door?"

"It crossed my mind. But the thing is that if they do, it makes their numbers easier to manage. "

As reckless as this sounds, it could work. Goro is likely to send the majority downstairs because that makes the most sense. And any extra men would be waiting at the emergency exit if it does exist.

Voices coming from the corridor on the other side of the door tell me we must decide what to do fast. Seeing as we are trapped with no help coming, we can't count on anyone but ourselves.

"It's going to work, trust me. We got this. We just need to dwindle down their numbers a bit," Leo says with conviction.

He's worried and he's scared shitless, but he's also excited. His eyes are burning with a wild spark, determined and willing to do whatever it takes to get us out of here.

It's infectious. Hypnotizing. Elating.

Leo and I are together in this. We are a team. He's not my bodyguard right now, he's my partner. He's got my back, and I got his.

I yank him to me, smacking a kiss on his lips. It's fast and dirty, but enough so his intoxicating taste floods me. "Okay. But if this doesn't work, you're fired and I'm canceling your visa arrangements."

"If this doesn't work, getting fired and deported would be the least of my problems. I'm pretty sure Goro only wants you alive."

We run up the stairs, hiding in the corridor two floors up. "Too bad. We are a package deal."

He bites his bottom lip, flashing me one of those disarmingly sexy smiles that's more than a little inappropriate given our current circumstances. "Oh, yeah? We are, aren't we, boyfriend? I gotta say though, I'm concerned about breaking the news to your dad. "

How can he think about that when there's no guarantee we'll even make it out of here alive?

I open my mouth to point that out, but he lifts two fingers, halting my words. His goofy expression changes to that tantalizing single-minded focus as his entire body tenses up and prepares for action, his attention no longer on me. I take a deep breath and heighten my senses, zeroing in on the faint noise coming from the stairwell.

Then I wait, crouched down by the door just like him.

Minutes pass and at one point I lose track of time, until Leo's eyes cut to mine as he gives me a hand-gesture to get ready. I barely get to nod before the door opens and four men walk into the corridor. Leo charges at them, toppling over the two closest to him. I follow suit, grabbing the gun from the one nearest to me and punching the one next to him in the head with its butt. He crumples to the floor like a dead weight. I consider shooting the remaining guys, but that will only alert the rest to our whereabouts, so instead I swing at the closest, aiming for his face.

He blocks with an elbow, kicking my legs. I lose my footing as I watch Leo connect a nasty uppercut to one of his opponents. He ducks down to avoid a punch to the neck, sliding across the linoleum as he grabs the guy's arm and forces him down, too. He notices me as I brace for an incoming hit in the stomach, my attempt to trip the guy hovering above me thwarted by a well-timed jump.

"Hey, asshole, watch out!" Leo yells, pulling my attacker's attention away from me.

That's all the opening I need. Kicking out with my left leg, I get him this time, his distraction allowing me to target his ankle. He cries out in pain as his knee bucks. Bracing my hands on the floor, I propel myself at him, knocking him down. He manages to dodge my first punch, but I get him in the nose with the second. He groans in pain and jabs me in the flank, his legs trashing and trying to get purchase. I straddle him and squeeze my thighs firmly, limiting his movements. He claws at my legs with one hand, and somehow rolls us over, trying to find an opening while he keeps punching my side. I grit my teeth and grab his hand, twisting his arm as best as I can.

He curses, his entire body spasming. Taking advantage, I roll us until I am on top of him again and wrap my hands around his neck, squeezing as hard as I can. He's out ten seconds later.

"You good?" Leo offers me his hand, panting and heaving as blood drips down his newly cracked lip. It's the same side as the one that got busted in the Arena match.

I let him help me up and then I glance at the men he's left lying around on the floor, realizing there is a third one I didn't even notice.

"Please tell me they didn't get your face," Leo says half-laughing, his voice frantic. "Your dad will kill me if he finds out I let you fight instead of sit in a corner with a bucket of popcorn while I channel my inner Rambo."

I arch an eyebrow at him, picking up one of the guns. Good. It has ammo. "Do you even know who Rambo is?"

Leo wrinkles his nose, snatching two more guns. They are loaded, too. "Everyone knows who Rambo is."

We slip into the stairwell, keeping to the wall. I can hear voices from below and when I look over the railing, beams of light dance left and right as men make their way down. The landing we are after looks clear.

As carefully as we can, we make our way to it. They haven't left even a single guard there, giving us an easy way out. The same is true for the gloomy corridor, though we pause when we reach the corner, crouching down and scoping the hall leading to the lounge and the way out.

Leo gestures forward with his hand. "Clear."

The silence lasts until we approach the room with the bar. The glass above the solid part of the wall near the door lies broken all over the floor. Goro and Minister Kesam are talking heatedly over the radio, demanding updates from the teams. When the guys we took down fail to report, they'll know something is up.

We crawl closer to the door, using the solid bit of wall to remain hidden. I peek inside. Apart from Goro and the Minister, there are four guards. The Americans and the women who were there earlier must've been led out or taken to a different room.

Leo holds up his two guns and looks at me. "What do you want to do?"

I let my eyes bounce from him to the way out. Now is our chance to escape, but if we do, we might not have another chance to get to the bottom of this. I eye the door on the other end of the room. If we mess up here, Goro and the Minister will get away with it.

"I'll distract them. You wait until I'm close to Goro and the Minister. When I say ‘Daichi', take out the guards."

"Ooh, you'll be the bait since they want you alive. Smart. But also? Incredibly stupid. Not a word of that to your dad, got it? He's going to want my head on a stick if he hears I not only let you fight, but used you as bait."

"He better not hear about it then." I peck Leo on the cheek. "You ready?"

He wiggles his eyebrows, hollowing and pushing out one cheek. "Always for you, baby."

Huffing a laugh to myself, I stand up and walk through the door. It takes everyone a heartbeat to notice me, the guards pointing their guns the moment they do. I raise my hands, stopping by the empty plinth where the porcelain vase was.

"I'm here to talk."

Goro waves the guards to lower their guns. They follow his instructions and two of them move behind me while the other two escort me to the bar.

"See, I knew you'd come to your senses," Goro says, crossing his arms as his gaze focuses behind me. "Where's your rabid dog?"

Hopefully being obedient for five minutes.

"Dead."

"Really?" He waves a hand and the two guards by the door run outside, guns pointed where Leo and I were hiding.

My heart lurches, getting stuck in my throat. Breathing suddenly becomes a little difficult and I feel like my lungs are being squeezed by merciless hands. It's okay. Leo isn't stupid; he'd have known they would check.

"Clear!" the two men shout a painfully long second later.

Relief floods me. He's got this. We got this.

"All teams," the Minister says into the radio, "confirm when you locate Leon Caruso. If he's not dead, shoot him."

"You wanted to talk?" I rush out, not giving the two of them the chance to notice one team's lack of response. "What's going on?"

Goro smirks. He picks up his glass and takes a slow sip, savoring the taste of whatever he's drinking. Going off the color and the faint fruity scent, it's sake. "It's a new business venture. A way for the Akiyama Group to expand its horizons and reach its true potential. "

"Who were the Americans?" I stare Minister Kesam down, but his expression remains calm.

"Our new business partner, hopefully. They are… particularly experienced in this line of work," my father's lieutenant says with glee.

"You know my father won't agree to it. Drugs and human-trafficking is off-limits."

"For now, yes. But I was hoping you could help tip the scales to a more favorable outlook. You see, what these guys are offering will triple, no, quadruple our profits. I know the Kumicho is a very traditional man and I respect that, we all do, but when such beliefs start getting in the way of growth, it's time to leave them behind. Don't you think?"

In principle. But I fully support my father's stance on drugs and traffic. The Akiyama Group has grown and will continue to do so without the need to rely on such dirty approaches.

"What is your part in this?" I ask the Minister, still not entirely clear on that.

"That is not important. Let's just say I have friends in the right places who are very invested in the potential of such a deal."

This probably has to do with this new drug he mentioned. It must be worth a lot of money, especially if it's made available on the black market via a controlled supplier. Like the Akiyama Group, for example.

I probe a bit more, but they keep giving me vague answers. It becomes clear I won't get much more out of them.

"You're the one who's been leaking our information to other organizations. Why?" I ask Goro. I don't see how doing so would help with this, so he must've had some other reason.

"Ah, yes. Your little nosy investigation was really annoying, honestly. Couldn't you just let it go? Friction between organizations happens all the time and things get stolen."

"Except they got stolen from within."

Goro places his glass on the counter and shrugs. "Our American associates are very… careful when it comes to new business ventures. And a sign of goodwill here and there goes a long way. I'm sure you understand."

"And if I don't?"

"I wouldn't recommend that." He tips his chin at the guards.

"You won't get away with something like this."

"I will. I've been telling your father that the gaijin is no good as a bodyguard. It will be unfortunate, but no surprise if he failed to do his job and got you both killed while on the way to the airport."

With how resourceful Goro has been so far, I have no doubt he could make it work. He's one of my father's first lieutenants, but his ideas never really saw the light of day no matter how hard he lobbied for us to expand into drugs and prostitution. I wonder if that's what drove him to do this. He should've been let go a long time ago, but my father is a stubborn mule where loyalty and tenure are concerned.

I do hope he'll listen more to what I have to say from now on.

"Dai—"

I don't even get to finish before Leo busts in, guns blazing. He shoots the four guards down as I lunge for Goro. He tries to dodge me, but he's too slow, so I pin him against the counter. The Minister darts for the door, so I take out my gun and send a bullet to his leg, preventing him from escaping.

Leo rushes over and secures him, taunting and making fun of him like some anime villain. I chuckle at how dramatic he's being, smiling as I point my gun to Goro's head.

"Order your men to standby at the emergency stairs."

"You will regre—"

" Do it ." Goro winces as I press the barrel to his skull, but complies. "Now tell me where the jamming device is."

"Ah. Chai, don't worry about that. I slipped out real quick and let the guys in the control room know. Sent Aran a message, too," Leo says, bunching his eyebrows. "He sounded extremely pissed off when he called."

I'm never going to hear the end of it. "What did he say?"

"Not much other than he's on the way here. I had to hang up because you chose that moment to summon me to save you from the bad guys."

"You are ridiculous. I didn't need saving."

"I mean, if you didn't need saving, you wouldn't have said the special word… You had enough bullets."

Minister Kesam mumbles something, getting a kick to his wounded leg for his troubles. "Shut it, asshole. I'm still mad you had your hands on my man."

"Kwanchai. You are making a mistake. You've let your father tell you what to do for too long. An opportunity like this won't come again!" Goro whines, glaring daggers at Leo, who's doing the same.

"Can I punch him, please?" Leo chirps, giving me the puppy eyes .

I fight off a smile and gesture him over with my chin. He's just too irresistible when he's trying to be cute. The thwack sends Goro to sleep.

"Satisfied?" I preen, happy that I've given him what he wants.

Leo flashes me a sheepish smile. "Almost." He leans in, kissing me deep and dirty. "Adrenaline rush makes me horny. I really wanna bang on top of the pool table. You up for a quickie?"

"As much as I'd love to say yes, I think we missed our chance," I point out as some of our men enter the lounge. The techies must've summoned them back. "There are about a dozen men waiting at the emergency stairs down the right corridor," I instruct the security personnel.

The team leader sends a group to handle Goro's men and jogs over to me, taking over my father's lieutenant who's still passed out. A few more instructions back and forth, and I let my men handle the rest.

"Did you find the Americans?" Leo asks, hoisting himself on one of the stools. He places the two guns on the counter and snatches a bottle of water from the tray sitting there.

I sit next to him and lace our fingers together, nudging him with my shoulder. "I sent teams to all emergency exits. There have been no signs of anyone."

"Shit. They must've slipped away."

I bring his hand to my lips. "They weren't here for you."

"Yeah, I kinda got that part. But it worries me that they want to do business here, Chai. They deal with some real nasty stuff."

"You mean the drugs? "

He nods and relaxes against me, letting me support his weight. "I was a nobody, so I didn't really get involved with the serious stuff, but Cindy had a few friends who got hooked on it. They were super weird once they started taking it. Like completely different people. You really don't want to mess with that stuff."

That must be the real reason why he screwed his former gang over that last job and ran here to Japan. "When they hear about Goro, they'll stay away. At least for a while. That should give us enough time to figure out how to keep them off this part of the world."

After my men have swept the place and taken our prisoners away, Leo and I go back to the hotel. He seems a little out of it and I have a pretty good idea why, considering this is his first time killing someone. I remember mine and no matter how ready I was for it, it still hit me hard once the adrenaline wore off.

But I'm here for him, just like Aran was there for me.

"You did what you had to," I speak into his messy blond curls, pressing a kiss to the side of his head as I wrap him in a tight hug.

He trembles, burying his face in my neck. I feel him inhaling deeply, but even though sparks prick my skin all over, I don't act on them. I just hold him and let him find solace in my embrace until the small shivers racking his body stop and he drifts off to sleep.