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Toshi cleared his throat. “Cousin?”
“Yes?”
“Do Yakuza generally suffer such an attack unanswered?”
Kurisaka thought for long seconds, understanding dawning in his eyes. “No,” he said. “No, we do not.”
Kurisaka did not see Toshi’s wide, wicked smile.
“Gather the men,” ordered Kurisaka.
Toshi’s smile fell. “They are dead, Cousin. Every last one of them.”
Tyra
In the bathroom’s full-length mirror, she stripped naked and looked at herself. Tyra
She went upstairs, looked at Dan while he slept. His mouth hung open, a little drool on the chin. He appeared comatose and oblivious. She envied him. She went down the hall to her bedroom, took all the black clothing out of her closet, laid it out on the bed. She understood as a matter of course that she was inventing a project for herself, trying to trick her mind into paying attention to trivia, sorting clothes into piles, slacks and blouses and underwear and pajamas.
She put on the black pajamas.
In her bathroom mirror, she studied herself. She looked like a Marilyn Manson fan at a slumber party.
Her image makeover was interesting but not fully distracting. So Tyra
Instead, a windblown news reporter told Pensacola that all hell had broken loose downtown.
“-have responded with fire trucks and ambulances. All off-duty police are asked to report in. The slaughter follows on the heels of a similar incident that happened only a few hours earlier at a downtown gentlemen’s club.” The reporter paused, touched his earpiece, a wire hanging past his shoulder. “I’m being told authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack. Apparently there is a contingent of Japanese dignitaries staying at the hotel. It hasn’t been determined yet if-”
Tyra
The doorbell chimed.
At this hour?
She went to the front door, looked through the peephole. It was too dark to see anything more than a vague shape. Instead of reaching for the light switch, she said, “Who is it?”
“Tyra
“Co
“Jesus, Tyra
She opened her mouth, wanted to tell him to fuck off. Go away. She didn’t want to see him, couldn’t endure any more of his pleas or professions of love. Couldn’t stand breaking his heart, didn’t have the energy to figure out how their lives would fit together or even if they could. It was all too much, and all Tyra
He pounded on the door. “Tyra
“Shit!” She opened the door. “Fine. Get your ass in here. But stop yelling or you’ll wake- Oh my God!”
Co
“Oh, Co
“It’s been a long night,” Co
“Co
Professor Dan walked in, rubbing his eyes. He spotted Tyra
46
Co
He remembered. Tyra
The hazy early-morning light seeped in through the open drapes. Barely after dawn. Clouds on the horizon, thunderstorms later in the afternoon, Co
Tyra
“For what?”
“For not dying in my lap, you asshole. I really didn’t need a funeral with me all sobbing and snotty and red-eyed. Anyway, you were mostly just shocked and exhausted. The cut on your arm isn’t very deep. Dan wanted to call an ambulance. Or the police.”
“You stopped him?”
She nodded.
“Thanks.” Co
“Huh?”
“I dreamed you were a zombie,” Co
“Fuck you.” But there wasn’t much venom in it. She lightly stroked his bandage. “Co
He shook his head. “I don’t have anything to do with terrorists. I… well, I was in on this deal. The details aren’t important.” He sat up in bed, winced at his protesting muscles. “I’m going to have some money.” Without Rocky or Becker, Co
“Would you stop acting like money is such a big deal. Just shut up about it.”
“Why don’t you love me?”
“Idiot!” Tyra
A long silence.
“So I’m just… I’m just…” Co
She shook her head, closed her eyes so tight. “It wasn’t supposed to be like that. In the pool house, I thought…” She exhaled, shoulders and arms going limp, all the coiled anger in her leaking out in a sad puff of defeat. “Did I tell you about when I went to the Louvre in Paris?”
“With Dan?”
“No,” she snapped. “I mean yes, we went together, but that’s not the point. Will you listen and shut the fuck up?”