Oh fuck.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
The Minister seems to recuperate the quickest, masking his shock with a fake smile as he lets go of the woman and faces us. The two Americans glare at Chai, then at me, their blue eyes mostly disinterested.
Hold on. Do they not recognize me? Aren’t they here looking for me so they can drag my sorry ass back to American and off me?
“Mr. Akiyama, what are you doing lurking around in the building like some hungry rat?” the Minister chides, tapping two fingers against his chin.
I do not like his tone. At all. And if anything, he needs to work on his comparisons. I’m the one who’s like a pest. I mean, has he seen the way Chai moves? It’s all elegance and fluidity. He is more like a cat stalking around in the shadows than a rat.
At any rate, and as much as I’d love to hear Chai’s response to the shitty comment, I don’t give him the chance to say anything. Nah, that’s kind of beyond me right nowas a single imperative displaces all other thoughts in my head and springs my body into action.
I need to get us both out of here or we’ll end up in body bags.
Chapter 30
Leo jumps up fromthe 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, thisseems 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?
