Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
I looked back at Toma. “My brother has a plan to get the Fox on the island.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know yet, but I trust him.” I took in all of their faces. “We trust him.”
They all nodded.
I cleared my throat. “We will figure out where Akiro is during the battle. Until then, we stay in the shadows of the forest and come out when it's time to deal with the true threat."
Movement came behind Toma's shoulder. Right in the doorway to the war room stood a woman in a leather kimono with a whip coiled at her hip.
Hiroko, I was wondering when you would start haunting me.
The ghost’s eyes found mine and she smiled. A bullet hole sat at the center of her forehead. Blood spilled out.
"Hiro?"
I snapped my eyes to Kaede. “Yes?”
"You stopped talking."
"Sorry. I was thinking." I cleared my throat again. The sugar from the lollipop coated my tongue. "Spread your men. But I want coverage in two places specifically."
Aki crossed his arms over his chest. “Ours are armed and ready. Where do you want our people?”
I tapped the table. "The clinic. Akiro will think it's important. He'll think we have doctors and medical staff there ready to heal the wounded. Put some of your people outside and make it look guarded. Have others hidden to bombard them.”
Yuki smiled. "A decoy?"
"A decoy that bleeds his men." I tapped a second spot on the table.
Behind Daisuke, another ghost appeared. This one was a young Scale who stood with half his face missing.
Riku.
The Yoshiwara blast had taken everything from Riku’s cheekbone up on the left side. His right eye—the only one—remained focused on me. He’d been a fisherman before Reo grabbed and trained him to be a top Scale. He’d come to Kaoru and me days before Yoshiwara and asked for advice on proposing to his girlfriend.
I’d shrugged and given no answer.
Kaoru had smirked and provided way too much advice.
I still never knew if he asked her to marry him or not. I just knew that Reo had personally gone to her in their small villa on the island and delivered the sad news of his death.
Ignoring the ghost, I swallowed. "Toma, your people will be hidden around the bamboo garden. . ."
Riku disappeared.
“That's where the medical staff is now. The basement also holds the sick and elders that couldn’t race for the evacuation." I held up one finger. “Just be mindful that Rin's poisons are already in the ground around the sides. Keep your people wide on the perimeter. Pick your best four. Make sure they are patient ones that can sit still for hours and shoot without missing."
Toma nodded. "Done."
In the corner of my vision, at the edge of the ammunition crate Toma had just opened, lay another ghost—a pregnant woman on her side. One arm flung forward across the floor of the war room. The other arm twisted wrong beneath her shoulder. A knife in her round belly. The fabric of her scrub top torn around the handle.
Nao.
Sora's pregnant wife. She was part of the new crop of ghosts suddenly coming to haunt me. Slowly, she turned to me and smiled.
My vision swam.
I gripped the edge of the table.
"Hiro?"
I blinked and turned toward the voice. “Yeah.”
It was Aki. "Take a break."
“I’m not done.”
Aki gave me a sad smile. "We have the brief. We know what to do."
Yuki picked it up. "Take five minutes while you can."
Then, the other Claws jumped in.
Kaede shrugged. "Get some air."
Toma nodded. "We'll keep prepping."
Daisuke frowned. “And don’t take out another lollipop.”
Nao disappeared.
I nodded once and could not trust my voice.
Maybe. . .I should get some air. . .
Sighing, I walked away and did not look at the corridor where Hiroko had stood.
I have to clear my mind. This can’t happen to me during the battle.
I walked past my brother's table.
Kenji looked up.
For one second, his face was bare. The Dragon was gone. The hardness was gone. Whatever he had become over the years had slipped off his face and what was left was the brother who had carried me on his back when I was five.
The brother who had decided that he would always love and protect me.
Kenji leaned his head to the side. “Are you okay?”
“Of course.”
“Good.”
I paused. “And you?”
“I’ve got a call to make.”
“Hard one?”
“Yes.”
“To our Tiger.”
“I already called my Tiger.”
“Then, who will you call now?”
The Dragon mask came back, and he looked down at the phone again. “A monster.”
“A big one?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We need all the monsters we can get tonight.” I left the war room and stepped onto its rarely used balcony.
Cool air brushed over my skin, grounding me. The full moon hung high above the trees, silver-white and patient. Beyond the terrace railing, the island still moved.
A truck rumbled past on the gravel road below with men in the back loading magazines. A voice shouted in Japanese about ammunition counts. A child cried in a corridor far below. A woman screamed something that broke off mid-syllable.