Page 75 of The Art of Dying

“I saw Mason, we traded words. Chairs flew, and people scattered. Mason and Yuri tried to exit out the back, but our guys intercepted them in the kitchen, so they doubled back and ran up the stairs, where I’d directed Genji and Ren to take cover. I caught up with them and held them all at gunpoint. There was a lot of confusion. A lot of words in different languages. Mason was just… smiling. I was looking him straight in the eyes, he was in my sights, and I was about to put a bullet through his head, but that wasn’t the op.”

“No, the op was to protect Matsuda,” he seethed. “So you murdered the husband of Yoshio motherfucking Tarou’s baby sister, Matsuda’s only son, and left Yuri and Mason—the sick fuck who thinks the girl he nearly beat to death still loves him but you stole her—to report back to Tarou? You’ve lost your mind, Kitsch. Are you suicidal? Is that it? By the look on your face, do you even understand what you’ve done? To me? To yourfamily?”

I took another swig of beer. “I have an idea.”

“You realize Yoshio Tarou isn’t your run of the mill gang banger. What happened to Gai’s wife? For Tarou, that was mercy. She still had her eyes, her teeth, her fingernails, her skin.”

“She was fileted,” I said simply.

“It was quick.”

“She was pregnant.”

Tiger stared at me for a moment and then sniffed. “Genji wasn’t just tagging along. He was family. Tarou’s brother-in-law. The father of Tarou’s beloved nephew, David. He worships that fucking kid! And you killed his father so you could save Mason for later!”

“You’re not asking the right questions, Tiger.”

He perched his elbows on the desk, the sleeves of his suit jacket tight around his bulging arms. “If you’d killed Mason—the man you’re doing all of this for—and left Genji alone, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“You’re wrong,” I said. “When the chairs started flying, a photo fell onto the floor, out of Genji’s pocket. It was a family photo. Sedona, Arizona, 2004. Know a family of five who vacationed in Sedona that year, Tiger?”

All the color drained from Tiger’s face, and he swallowed.

“They had someone in place. All Genji had to do was say go, but he made a mistake. He was holding up his phone and told me it had to come straight from him. I didn’t hesitate, Tiger. If I hadn’t put that bullet in his head, if I’d taken out Mason first, Cassie, Krissy, Taylor, and Andy would’ve been face down in their dinner plates two nights ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that when you called it in?”

I made a face. “Why the hell do you think I told you to have your wife and kids bug out?”

He was quiet for a solid minute. “What you’re saying is… I owe you one.”

“One? I gave you four lives. Five if you count that I spared you from having to off yourself after you found out, because we both know that would’ve been the next step for you.”

“I’d have sent you after them.”

“I’m already after them, and you know I already have my reasons not to stop. You wouldn’t stick around.”

Tiger’s eyes glossed over. He breathed out and let his head fall and then he looked up at me from under his brow. “They’re coming after your family, Kitsch.”

“Which is where you owing me big comes in.”

“We’ll have to bury them deep. Twenty-four-seven embedded security, also with airtight covers. I’ll throw everything I’ve got at this. We’ve got Gai’s support?”

I nodded.

“You’re not going with them so you can go after Mason?”

I nodded again.

“You sure?”

“No. But it’s how I keep them safe. After I realized who Mason had fallen in with, I knew it was the only way it could go.”

“How ya think Mack’s going to take it?”

“If she doesn’t divorce me, I’ll be surprised. This is beyond anything I’ve asked her to do.”

Tiger stood. “I’ll make the call.”

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