“Still non-responsive,” Jiro replied through gritted teeth, going around to the other side of the bed, ostensibly so he could look directly at his brother, but also getting closer to Aurora.“The doctors can give us no prognosis at the moment.They surmise he was probably in that freezing cold cabin for at least six hours.”Which might be the only thing that would save him.For some reason, it seemed as if the kidnappers had kept Kenichi somewhere else when they’d first taken him, then transferred him to the cabin around midnight, after the snow had stopped falling.Almost as if they were leaving a trail for Jiro to follow.“He’d been drugged so that he wouldn’t escape,” Jiro continued.“He’s suffering severe hypothermia, and he went into cardiac arrest just as we got him into the hospital.Luckily, they were able to resuscitate him, but they’re not sure if there’s any brain damage.”
“Fuuuuck.”Taro breathed the word on a long exhale.“I’m so sorry, Papa,” he whispered, leaning over the bed.Then, as if his knees might buckle, Taro groped for the chair beside the bed, sitting down heavily.All his bluster and bluff seemed to drain right out of him.“This is all my fault.”Taro put his head in his hands, much like Jiro had done moments earlier.
“What’s going on?”Jiro hunkered down next to his brother, his voice soft, pleading.“I need to know.”
“I know you do,” Taro relented, lifting his head, features now pale and drawn.Jiro didn’t think he’d ever seen his brother look more defeated.“But you have to get rid of her first.”
Jiro hesitated.He wanted to hear what Taro had to say, but Aurora had been through everything so far with him, and part of him wanted to demand that she stay.And depending on what Taro told them, she might even be able to help.But he could tell by the grim set of Taro’s mouth that he wouldn’t speak unless Aurora left the room.If he sent Aurora away, she might never trust him again.But he wasn’t sure he had a choice.
Aurora made the choice for him.“It’s okay, I was just leaving anyway.”She made for the door, but as her fingers reached for the handle, she turned and said, “I hope you’re not getting in too deep here.”Her words were meant for Jiro alone, and he knew it.Flicking her gaze toward Taro, she narrowed her eyes, but said nothing more as she slipped through the doorway.
Jiro had to stop himself from going after her.Had to remind himself that this was his family, his mess to sort out, and the last thing he needed was to be airing his dirty laundry in front of a Swedish police officer.But he knew she was more than just a police officer.She’d risked his life for him and for his father.Risked her career as well, most likely.And he still wondered why she’d done that.It was hard for him to disentangle all the emotions that floated around them like a tangled spiderweb.He liked her.A lot.Yet if Taro was to be believed, he needed to have nothing to do with her.And what was the point in liking a woman who lived so far away from where he’d settled his home and carer?It made no sense.
“Have you finished ogling that copper’s backside yet?”Taro’s voice broke into his musings.He chose not to react to his brother’s jibe.He did agree on one thing, however, it was a very shapely backside, made even more shapely by the tight, dark-blue uniform.
Refocusing his energy, he turned around and fixed his brother with a steely stare.“Right, let’s get into it.”He leaned a hip against the hospital bed, choosing to stand so that he had a height advantage over his brother.“Tell me everything.”
Taro grimaced and shot a quick look at their father.“Are you sure Papa can’t hear us?
Jiro just nodded.He had no idea whether Kenichi could hear what was being said, and even if he could, would he remember it?But that wasn’t going to stop him from asking the questions.It was time everything came out into the open.
“Why was Papa kidnapped?I’m assuming that’s what happened, because there is no way he drove himself to that cabin, drugged himself so that he passed out, and then nearly died of hypothermia.And how did you know where to find him?What the fuck is going on, Taro?”
“It’s complicated,” his brother replied, but Jiro merely leveled a hard stare at him until he shrugged and said, “You have to believe me.I was trying to get out.I told them I’d had enough.But they didn’t agree.”Taro hung his head again.
“Who arethey?”Jiro prompted.
Taro sighed again and rubbed his lips together.“You have to understand how difficult this is for me.”
“I’m trying to understand, but all this talking in circles is doing my head in.Just start at the beginning, Taro.”Jiro hoped he’d moderated his tone so that his frustration didn’t show, but he wasn’t sure it was working.Drawing in a couple of deep breaths, Jiro tried to calm himself.They were going to get nowhere if this descended into a shouting match, so he pursed his lips and waited for his brother to speak.
As he waited, he took his first really good look at Taro, and what he saw shocked him.Taro was still wearing the casual clothes he’d traveled in, which were rumpled and creased.That was highly unusual, as his brother was usually immaculately dressed; some might even call him vain.Even when he traveled, he always made sure he looked perfect, not a hair out of place when he arrived at his destination.He was also sporting a five o’clock shadow.His luxurious hair, normally slicked back and styled flawlessly, was wildly tousled as if he’d been running his hands through it all night.Jiro knew the trip would’ve been taxing—it was a twelve-hour flight to Stockholm, and then another two-hour hop by plane up to Luleå, with at least a couple of hours’ layover at the airport.
But the long hours of traveling weren’t the only thing showing on Taro’s face.Jiro had never seen his older brother look so haggard, so stressed.He was always so sure of himself.Always larger than life.Nothing seemed to faze Taro; no problem was too hard or too big to overcome.He was always animated and full of energy.He also had a quick temper, which’d caused more than a few problems between the two brothers.But none of those attributes were apparent right now.
“At the beginning, huh?”Taro finally said, furrowing his brow.He sat a little straighter in the chair, shaking his arms out as if lifting an invisible blanket from his shoulders.“I guess I may as well tell you everything if you’re going to help me protect Papa.Protect us all.”That sounded a little ominous, but Jiro kept his mouth shut and listened.“Okay.”Taro paused as if still unsure how to start.“As you probably know, Japan has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world.”
“Yep.”This was a very random place to start a conversation, but his guts began to roil at the mention of guns.
“And the rigorous government rules are an attempt to try and control the deadly Yakuza gangs, I’m sure you’ve heard of all that too,” Taro continued.
Of course he had.While he and his brother had never lived in Japan, both of them being born in America, they’d heard snippets and rumors from their father and other Japanese relatives about certain underground illegal activities, as well as what they saw in the media.Contrary to popular belief, the Yakuza was not one large entity, but rather a conglomeration of smaller criminal gangs, each with their own agenda and principles, coming together under the umbrella of the Yakuza, much like the American Mafia, who operated within different families.
“What does that have to do with anything?”Jiro asked, but he had a sneaking suspicion he knew.He’d suspected Taro was up to something illegal all along.But the Yakuza… well, that was just a different league altogether.
“A man named Hiroshi Kiyota approached me one night about four years ago while I was sitting at my local bar enjoying a quiet drink.He said he knew I’d started up a new business, and he was impressed with how quickly I’d turned it into a profitable enterprise.He said he knew a way in which I could increase my profit, double or triple it with no extra work on my part.At first, I told him to take a hike.I wanted to have nothing to do with him, because what he was saying was obviously too good to be true.But he kept talking, and he was very persuasive.”Taro looked up at Jiro, meeting his gaze for the first time since he’d started speaking, his gaze pleading for understanding.Jiro knew it’d been the money that’d been the persuasive factor, because Taro had always been driven by money.Always needing more, always wanting better, bigger, having to keep up with the Joneses.
Was that flaw in Taro’s character in part their father’s fault?He’d definitely instilled in both of them a drive to succeed, to excel.Status was important to Kenichi, and in his mind, the best way to achieve status was by increasing his wealth.If you were rich, you were important.Kenichi’s second-hand furniture business had always done very well, and their family had never wanted for anything.A lot of people would’ve considered them rich.But in the end, Jiro had rejected that way of life as being too shallow.He valued intrinsic things more, wanting to help save the planet, not destroy it with greed and avarice.But Taro had followed his father’s teachings, deciding that money was definitely the key to happiness.But had his quest for endless happiness in fact been the harbinger of his downfall?
“The long and the short of it is that Hiroshi had ties to a group called the Kyodo-kai.I later found out that this is a splinter Yakuza group situated in Hiroshima.They are warring with the Yamaguchi Federation, one of the bigger groups, and so needed guns to help fight their war.Which is where I came in.”
“So you’re smuggling guns into Japan for a Yakuza group?”Jiro could barely believe the words that came out of his mouth.
Taro had the grace to hang his head.“In a nutshell, I guess so.At first, it was good, exactly as Hiroshi explained.One small crate of handguns stashed in the back of an empty sea container now and then—I usually send them empty over to Japan and bring them back full.It wasn’t every shipment, and I had nothing to do with any of the illegal parts.Hiroshi carried out all the dirty work.They paid extremely well.It was like taking candy from a baby.”He lifted his head and stared out the window, his knee beginning to jiggle up and down in agitation.“Soon it was two crates, this time guns and ammunition.Then it became four.”Taro shrugged.“You can guess how it went from there.After a couple of years, they were asking for more and more.Now, every shipment I made contained something illegal.I think recently they were also shipping drugs, but I can’t confirm that.”
Jiro was almost speechless.When he finally found his voice, he asked, “Weren’t you ever worried you were going to get caught by the police?”He was flabbergasted at how easy it all seemed.And perhaps that was why Taro had become complacent about the whole thing.
“At first, yes.But Hiroshi made it sound so commonplace, as if I were doing nothing wrong.I was shipping empty containers to Japan so I could fill them with antiques and bring them back to my stores here in America.What was the problem if one or two of those containers had a bit of extra cargo in them?It was no skin off my nose.I never touched one of the guns, never even saw them.Hiroshi saw to everything, including paying off the dock security to make sure nothing untoward was ever found.”
