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“Ironclad and on video, too. Great work all around today, Kiyoshi. You are the best. We can discuss any future contracts, Kat, but any and all up to this point, including this one, are mine alone.”
“Blondie!” the man Sonomi called Kat says. I don’t even look at him as I'm entranced by this Blondie character. I can’t believe it’s him! What the heck is he doing here?
"Did you bring my clothes?" I ask out loud when my mouth decides to start moving again. Everyone except Kat stops and stares at me for a second. Mercifully, they all look over at Kat when he continues, nearly shouting at Blondie.
“Let's go!”
Then Blondie looks at me.
“I’m Josef,” he says in an oddly calm tone, “We’ll be talking to each other soon, Marika.”
“I’m Mari,” I say. There’s a second of silence until a flutter of paper can be heard. Kiyoshi is holding my contract up at eye level.
“Not for at least six years. Or even as many as nine, she won’t be talking to you," he says, now sounding confident with the two scary men on either side of him.
I look into the gorgeous man’s face and don’t understand what the hell is going on here. Was all this craziness about me? And what the hell is Kiyoshi talking about, six or nine years? The contract is for only three years, isn’t it? And Kiyoshi said I can’t even talk to Blondie. I look around, my heart pounding fast in my chest now. I think I might have just made a big mistake. Why didn’t I listen to Uncle Suki? Kat and Blondie, or Josef, start to leave, but he stops in the doorway and looks around. His beautiful blue eyes that look like the sky from earlier today sparkle as he gazes at me.
“Mari,” he says softly, then storms off.
4
JOSEF
“Blondie!" Katana says, not quite yelling but speaking loudly enough to get my attention.
Marika mentions something about clothes, and it reminds me of something, but I need to stop thinking about her and follow Katana’s lead right now. I’m usually more professional than this, but it’s hard for me to take my eyes off Marika. Her almond-shaped eyes are amber with golden specks. They look like the forest at twilight when the sun’s rays peek through the trees and everything sparkles.
I want to kill everyone in this room except Marika and maybe Katana. I probably could. They wouldn’t expect it as long as I took out the two thugs first. Kiyoshi seems useless, but he’s presumably armed as well. He’d go third. Sonomi is the boss of Katana’s rival Japanese crime faction within the Yakuza and, by all accounts, doesn’t get her own hands dirty. She’d be last.
It might almost be worth it to see Katana’s reaction. But I wouldn’t want Marika to see it. She’s a civilian and would probably be quite upset with me. There is also a camera on the ceiling. It would require a lot of work to find the camera room and get the footage. And then, if there’s some poor slob watching the footage, he’d have to go as well. If by some chance I ever get to spend time with this beautiful woman in the future, it might not be one of those fun first meeting moments we would look back on.
“How did the two of you meet?”a friend would ask.
“It’s a funny story. He killed the music producer I was meeting with, and he also killed her secretary and two other men. Then he asked me out.”
“Aww, how sweet! He sounds perfect.”I don’t think it would go like that. I take a step toward Marika. She even smells sweet, with just the right amount of perfume.
“I’m Josef. We’ll be talking to each other soon, Marika,” I tell her.
“I’m Mari,” she says. I swear she’s looking into my eyes the same way I’m looking into hers.
Kiyoshi, the secretary, holds up her contract and says she’s not allowed to talk to me for six to nine years like it’s some fucking jail sentence. I wish I could kill just him right now, but that won’t work either.
“Let’s go!” Katana says loudly with a bit of frustration in his voice.
“Mari,” I say before storming out with Kat.
Our cars are parked next to each other in the public parking lot across the road. I’m waiting for Katana to say something as we walk. I’m just hoping, with everything going on, that my intrigue with Marika Yumiko wasn’t too obvious.
“Thank you,” Katana says, “Sonomi will have to work with us now that she knows our organizations are partnered up.”
“Glad to help. I hope everything works out,” I say sincerely.
“The girl. She is beautiful. And your interest did not go unnoticed. Sonomi the Siren will try to use her in negotiations now, I fear,” he says but doesn’t sound annoyed. He’s a professional like I am, most of the time.
“The girl was hot, is all. Any cost associated with her will come from our end,” I assure him.
He just nods as we start to get in our cars.
