Ink

Chapter 15

I grabbed Tomohiro’s shoulders and shook them.

“Tomo!” I shrieked, but his head rolled from side to side as I shook. He coughed, and ink spilled out of his mouth.

A meaty pair of hands grabbed me and yanked me backward.

“Forget it!” I heard Ishikawa say. “Let’s just get out of here!”

“Screw you!” yelled Sunglasses. His thick fingers cut into my arms as I struggled. “You gonna let a freak that powerful just walk around? He’s gonna hunt us down. Let’s deal with this now.”

“No Kami, no pay,” said Cigarette. He reached over and pulled Tomohiro off the ground.

“Let go!” I screamed. Cigarette hoisted Tomohiro over his shoulder, bracing himself under the weight. He headed toward the unmarked truck I’d hidden behind, and threw the doors open with a sour metal clang.

Ishikawa got to his feet, his hands squeezed into fists. His face was pale and he stumbled as he moved forward.

“What makes you think we can control him, huh?” Ishikawa said. His eyes were wild and full of fear. I’d seen him scared before, but not like this. I could see his fists shaking as he struggled to keep them balled. “I know Yuuto. He’ll leave us alone if we leave now.” Cigarette slumped Tomohiro across the floor of the truck, then hopped in behind and dragged him by his shoulders into the darkness.

“Tomo!” I yelled. I kicked my shoes into Sunglasses’s legs over and over, but it was like he couldn’t even feel it.

“Having second thoughts, Satoshi?” Sunglasses said. “You know what we think of cowards like you.”

“It’s not like that,” he said. And then Sunglasses yanked me over to the truck. “Shit, man,” Ishikawa said. “Leave Katie here.”

“So she can report us, you mean?” said Cigarette. “She’s the missing piece, if you didn’t notice. She’s the freaking ink magnet. The inkwell.” He emerged from the shadows, lighting a new cigarette and holding it between two fingers.

Fear rattled down my spine and spread its icy grip to every limb. I knew I was kicking, but I couldn’t feel my legs moving anymore. The darkness of the truck loomed closer and closer, until Sunglasses threw me into it. I skidded across the metal floor, cold and studded with metal bolts that caught and sliced across my finger. My shoulder ached, but I sat up as quickly as I could, lunging toward the doors Cigarette was closing.

“Greene!” yelled Ishikawa.

I saw Sunglasses turn around and slug Ishikawa in the jaw, and then the doors slammed in my face.

“Let me out!” I banged my fists on the doors over and over. The sound of a metal bolt sliding into place echoed in the emptiness of the truck. I hit the door again.

Footsteps, the driver’s door opening and banging shut, the engine roaring to life.

“Shit!” I shrieked, hot tears blurring in my eyes. My cut finger burned as I slammed my fists into the metal over and over.

The truck lurched and I tumbled backward, half on top of Tomohiro.

I cried out in panic for a minute, Tomohiro’s limp legs pressed against mine. I screamed at my brain to think.

My keitai.

I grabbed it out of my pocket and f lipped it open, the LCD screen illuminating the darkness of the truck. I dialed 911, pressed the send button and squeezed the phone against my ear.

Come on, come on…

A strange beeping noise and a recorded woman’s voice babbling in Japanese.

What the crap? I dialed again.

How can the number not be in service?

And then it dawned on me. The emergency number in Japan is not 911.

But what the hell is it?

I stared at my phone, willing myself to know the number to call.

But I didn’t.

I stared down at Tomohiro, putting my hand on the small of his back and shaking him gently.

“Tomo?” I said, my voice trembling.

The wings were still there, feathers of ink sprawled over him and draped onto the floor. There was a gaping hole in the wings where my hand touched his back. I lifted my fingers; the ink felt greasy and warm as it dripped down my hand and over the blood from my cut.

“Tomo.” I shook him gently. But he was out cold, and the truck was driving us farther and farther into trouble.

My keitai screen blinked out suddenly, the truck dark except for a faint candlelike glimmer around the ink melting off Tomohiro’s back.

I scrolled through the names in my address book, thinking who else I could call. Diane was in Osaka and I didn’t have a contact number with me. I stared at each name as it illuminated on the screen.

There weren’t many of them to choose from.

Then Tanaka flashed up on the display.

I mashed the buttons and pressed the phone to my ear.

It rang and rang. The truck lurched to the left and picked up speed. The ink and blood dripped off my wrist and onto my keitai. I switched hands and rubbed the gunk off on my jeans, making a big, ugly splotch.

“Moshi moshi?” said the voice on the phone, and I was too shaken up to realize it didn’t sound familiar.

“Tanaka,” I blurted out, “call the police. These Yakuza attacked us and we’re in a truck and I don’t know where they’re taking us.” I choked up and started to cry.

And then I realized from the confusion on the other end that something was wrong.

“Katie?”

It wasn’t Tanaka. It was Takahashi.

I’d hit the wrong button and got the wrong name. But it didn’t matter, because anyone could help us.

“Jun,” I said. “Please help me.”

“Oh god, Katie. Are you okay? Where are you?”

“I don’t know!” I said through tears. My throat felt thick and I could barely get the words out. “We were at Sunpu Park.

I think maybe we’re on a highway. We’re moving really fast.”

“Don’t panic,” Jun said, and I felt like smacking him. Don’t panic? That’s your best advice? “I’ll call the police. Katie, did they say why they took you? Was it that Ishikawa guy again?”

“Tomohiro’s here, too,” I sobbed.

“Yuu’s there?” Silence. “Katie, do you know what they want?”

I opened my mouth but clamped it shut again. I cursed silently. I’d almost given away everything. Did it even matter anymore? They might be able to use Tomohiro, but not me.

They’d— Oh my god. They’d kill me.

“Jun, please help me.”

“Katie, I’m going to hang up so I can call the police. Try to keep your phone with you, okay? Put it in manner mode so they won’t find it. I’m coming for you. Hold tight.”

I didn’t want to hang up, to sever the only link I had to help. But I didn’t have to. Jun hung up first and my LCD

dimmed, leaving me in darkness again.

“Tomo,” I said, flipping my keitai closed and open again, and resting it beside us. The wings had melted, little pools of black trailing away from him, turning to dust and lifting slowly like dull fireflies.

His eyes were closed, his copper hair lined with sweat and clinging to the sides of his face. There was a