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“What do you want here?”
“Don’t fuck around, man. You know I’m here to see Blackburn.”
He looks me and the bike over.
“I couldn’t help noticing you weren’t wearing a helmet when you drove up. You’re aware that the state of California has clearly spelled out helmet laws, aren’t you?”
He takes a couple of steps back and spreads his arms wide.
“And there’s no way this, whatever the hell this thing is, is street legal. It doesn’t even have a license plate.”
“So, write me a ticket, Eliot Ness. Just get out of my way.”
Ishii holds up a finger.
“Before I maybe let you in, I’m going to have to search you for weapons.”
“Try it and the last thing you’ll see is me pulling your skull out by the eye sockets.”
That does it. Ishii’s goons go on high alert, guns, hexes, and potions at the ready. It’s kind of fun really. Like a scene from some kind of hobo Power Rangers movie.
“Not smart,” says Ishii. “You know I can have you arrested this fast for making a terrorist threat.”
He snaps his fingers like maybe I don’t get it.
He says, “All Mr. Blackburn has to do is nod and you’ll be buried so far underground you’ll be sleeping on lava.”
“Yeah, but you still won’t have a skull. Your head’s going to look like a jack-o’-lantern a week after Halloween.”
He shakes his head in mock sorrow.
“I’m afraid under the circumstances I can’t allow you to see the Augur. And I’m forwarding your name to the local police watch list.”
“Do it. What are there, like a hundred cops left in L.A.? And they don’t want to be out in the rain any more than you do.”
“Maybe I won’t have to do anything if you turn this circus act of yours around and go home.”
“I’d love to, but I have an invitation from Blackburn himself.”
I reach into my pocket and Ishii’s crew goes rigid. With my fingertips, I slowly pull out Blackburn’s note and hand it to Ishii. He looks it over and crumples it up. Tosses it into a puddle.
“With your criminal associations it’s probably a forgery. Go home, Stark, before you fall on a bullet.”
Ishii’s phone rings. He has to fumble under his trash bag to pull it from inside his tattered coat. He puts it to his ear and listens intently for a few seconds.
“Yes, sir. He’s here now, but he’s not behaving rationally. He’s made threats.”
Ishii listens.
“No. Not to you personally, but this is a highly unstable individual, with a history of violence. As head of security, I have to take these things seriously.”
He abruptly stops talking.
“Yes, sir. No, sir. I understand.”
He purses his lips as he fumbles the phone back into his coat. Waves his arm in my direction.
“Let him through, boys.”
