Page 20 of Soldier, Tailor, Spy

If the pieces they had were correct in the timeline of things leading up to Oscar being killed and Jake being shot, Mr. Yamamoto was approached after his wife’s death and was given a deal. Of everything Jake knew about Mr. Yamamoto, the man wasn’t Yakuza—not fully, anyway. No, the person fully immersed in the gang was Kiyoshi. Those bastards found an easy fucking target when they picked a kid who lost his mom and was starting over in a country he and his father didn’t know and spoke only limited English.

“Wonder how your mother would feel if she knew the truth...” Drew flipped the page on the file and continue reading.

Kiyoshi lifted his head and spat, “Damare konoyarou. Okaasan iyaya hanashi jibun!”

Drew didn’t respond, even though he’d obviously hit a nerve. Every so often, he’d switch between reading whatever was on the page in front of him and drinking his coffee, as though he tuned the man out.

“You think you’re so smart, chikushou,” Kiyoshi snarled, then laughed. “You know nothing.”

Drew laughed, closing the file as he turned to the man. “Yatsu—” The smugness in his tone didn’t surprise Jake one bit, “Nani. Anata ni kono gemu?” Drew’s slick, cool tone added to the tension building between both men. “Now, if we’re done with our dick measuring competition, can we talk?”

Kiyoshi stared at Drew for a long minute, then nodded. From everything Ginger told Jake, the son wasn’t exactly a bad guy. She trusted him with Fawn, which meant either the father and son duo were superb at hiding who they were, or they’d never harm a hair on his family’s head—even though they were Yakuza. If Jake believed what Ginger said—which he did—the family got caught up in a mess after Mr. Yamamoto’s wife passed away. Had their lives not taken such a drastic turn of events, he suspected there wouldn’t be a hint of organized crime in their lives.

However, it didn’t negate the fact the Yamamoto Syndicate dealt in sex trafficking women and young men.

“I’m going to get to the meat of the issue, set aside the sex trafficking for a second.” Drew sat up and faced Kiyoshi. “Who blew Oscar’s cover?”

Jake crossed his arms. It would be easy to say Oscar tripped himself up, and that’s how everyone found out the truth, but if there was a possibility someone else did it, well, that made everything else dirtier, too. The intricacies were a tangled mess of lies and subterfuge. Ginger’s recollections of how they met cemented the fact Oscar set up a fake company with fake bosses and employees. Whether those people were actual FBI agents or staff, he suspected Thomas was working on that angle.

Kiyoshi kept his head down. Not uncommon when the team interrogated someone, except for Franks, that man sung like a little bird. He was the exception. “You have my phone?”

“Yes,” Drew replied. “What will I find on it?”

“A text from an unknown number. It said Oscar is an FBI plant.” He lifted his head then and stared at the two-way glass. “Ginger was never in danger.”

“Bullshit,” Jake muttered. “If that was true, why did his man stand over her with a gun in her and the kids’ faces?”

“She thought at the time you meant to kill her too, though she couldn’t see your faces.” Drew flipped to another page. “Appears she’s been a valued employee for years. Won awards and prestige for your father’s shop. Why not wait for Oscar to be out of the house to take him down?”

Again, Kiyoshi went silent. When he lifted his head, his penetrating ebon eyes locked on Jake, even though Kiyoshi couldn’t know, he stood behind the two-way mirror. “He was leaving. According to the text messages, he would be gone within a day or two at most.”

Did that mean?

Jake blinked several times.

“Tell me Ginger didn’t have a clue,” Asher muttered beside Jake.

“None. None at all.” Their conversation from the night before replayed in his head. She’d wanted to leave him. She got pregnant with Declan under the damnedest of circumstances. Oscar became withdrawn. What were they missing? “I need to go talk to Rae for a second. It’s tied to the case. Keep me posted here.”

“You okay?” Archer cocked a brow.

“Physically, I’m fine, but it’s something Ginger told me last night that’s gnawing at the back of my head. She won’t ask anyone about it, but Rae has the answer. I know it.” Jake started for the door. “For what it’s worth, Ginger trusted Mr. Yamamoto and Kiyoshi with her life and the kids’ lives. I believe him. Doesn’t make this any less of a shit storm, though.”

Asher grunted. “I’m of the same thought pattern. I’m not sure I want to turn him or his father over to the FBI just yet.”

Jake nodded. “Good plan.” He exited the interrogation chamber and headed for the elevator. Since he’d been given his position within the team back, he had his comms as well. Tapping the device in his ear, he asked, when the line opened, “Is Rae in her office right now?”

“Yes, she is,” one of the new members of the team, he didn’t know by name, stated. “Should be there for another hour. Would you like me to inform her you’re on the way, O’Malley?”

“Please,” he replied. “Let her know the conversation might take a while, so if she has anything important to do, I might need to schedule an appointment instead.”

“Roger that.” The comm went silent as he pressed the button to the elevator. When the car arrived he stepped inside, just as the person manning comms got back to him. “She said she is wide open. Meet her in her office.”

“On my way.” The doors closed behind him, leaving Jake to his thoughts. They were missing something. The knot in his gut tightened, and it hadn’t gone away since the moment he found Ginger cowering outside her home. What hell had Oscar truly brought down on his ex-wife? When the doors slid open, Rae stood before him, a pensive look on her face. Yeah, he owed her an apology.

Big time.

They left things on a sour note. He accused her and Mateo of some horrible things because he’d been an asshole and took his frustrations and problems out on them. They didn’t deserve the vile, hatefulness he spewed at them. “Hey, Doc. I’m glad you have time for me.”

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