Hiroko did not go, but came forward. “I have seen you in many ways ever since you were born, Victoria-san. I have seen a happy, shy, and curious child grow up into someone else. But that child is still inside, hoping one day to come alive again.”
Steers looked at Nash and said in an imploring tone, “Will you tell Hiroko-san that she speaks nonsense? I am what I have always been.” When Nash said nothing, Steers screamed, “Tell her.”
“I can tell her but she won’t believe me,” said Nash. “So what’s the point?”
Hiroko walked over to stand next to Steers. She gently took the gun from her and passed it over to Nash.
“You will come with me, Victoria-san. You will sleep in my bed while I watch over you. Like when you were a little girl.”
“I am no longer a little girl,” Steers said dully, all the fight in her now gone.
“In years, what you say is true. But in other ways, we will see. Now come with me. Please.”
Steers allowed herself to be led out of the room by her former nanny, leaving Nash alone and holding the gun that might have been the weapon of both their deaths.
He slumped back in his chair, as spent as if he had run a marathon.
This simple case of revenge and justice had taken on far greater complexities.
And Nash wasn’t sure how much more of this he or Steers could take before they both would become permanently broken.
Or dead.
CHAPTER
45
THE SPACIOUS BOMBARDIER GLOBAL8000 jet lifted off from Hong Kong International at ten p.m. heading east.
On board were Nash, Thura, Hiroko, Masuyo, Victoria Steers, and three personal attendants along with four pilots. There was also a flight attendant on board to cater to their needs.
Steers had immediately gone to her private cabin in the rear of the plane. Masuyo sat up front near the flight attendant. The three personal attendants shared a divan, where they could watch a large-screen TV.
Nash and Thura sat in the middle section close to Hiroko. The elderly woman looked nervously around the cabin, and Nash could understand her anxiety, what with Hiroko having once barely survived a horrific plane crash.
Masuyo made a series of demands to the flight attendant while they were still climbing out of Hong Kong. When the woman rose to respond, Nash stopped her and said, “Stay in your seat until we’ve finished the climb-out.”
He called out to Masuyo, “Ma’am, weallneed to stay seated until it’s safe.”
Masuyo turned in her seat and gave him a glare, but did not dispute his instruction.
Two hours later, after meals and drinks had been consumed, everyone settled in for the rest of the long flight over the Pacific, and then on to Nash’s hometown.
An hour later Thura was snoring lightly and Hiroko also was dozing. Nash looked up at Masuyo and she seemed to be asleep as well. The flight attendant was doing some paperwork in her seat and facing away from Nash.
He rose, went toward the back of the plane, past the sleeping personal attendants on the divan, and tapped lightly on the door to Steers’s cabin.
“Yes?” she said through the door.
“It’s Dillon. Just checking to make sure you’re okay.”
She opened the door, dressed in a long robe. He saw her bare feet poking out from under it.
“Come in,” she said in a monotone.
She shut the door behind him and he looked around the luxurious cabin, which resembled a high-end hotel room, with a club chair and a cabinet with a TV inside, and a private bath with walk-in shower.
She sat on the bed, her legs in a lotus position.
