spurt of Mikio’s cum and Tetsu looked away. He glanced at the other monitors, taking in the executive tea room, the elevator bank and the front security desk.
Dressed all in black leather, with a long duster jacket, a figure flickered past the front desk. A man, his features hard to focus on, their protean nature instantly revealing his identity to Tetsu.
Obara no Ryuu -- Iyahii's top assassin.
“Fuck!” Tetsu hit the one-way speaker to the front desk.
Ryuu nodded at the guard, saying nothing, needing to say nothing. The guard didn't know Ryuu's identity, he just knew Ryuu was the man with a free pass through the building. No questions, no signing in or out.
Tetsu turned the sound in the tea room back up, his mind spinning. It was late Friday. Most of the employees in the building, if they weren’t security, were doing data entry on the eighth floor or cleaning offices. The only obvious targets for Ryuu, other than Tetsu, were the three executives.
Tetsu thought of Youran, pierced and bleeding. So much beautiful collateral damage.
“Do you think we’ll both get a turn before Ryuu shows up?” That was Jun with his high nasal whine. He had his hand in his lap, absentmindedly rubbing at his crotch and leaning toward the suite’s door. “Mikio-san always takes too long.”
Tetsu felt everything slow. Jun and Katashi knew about the assassin. Did that mean the target was Mikio… or the dancer?
He checked the elevator monitors and saw Ryuu pull out a hypopress and load a blue ampoule into it. So the Iyashii enforcer wasn’t there to kill someone -- at least not until the interrogation was over. But why hadn’t anyone said something to Tetsu? Why, as head of security, was he out of the loop on a kidnapping or hit in his home base?
He jumped from his chair, grabbed his jacket and mobile. He slid the jacket on, his thumb working the mobile’s keypad. It took three keys to temporarily shut down the elevators, three more to stop the building's live camera feed and erase the night’s video and two to send a pre-programmed message to the man that had inked Youran’s body.
G2G.
Go to ground.
He pocketed the mobile and opened the top drawer of his filing cabinet. Inside were a can of butane and a lighter. He hesitated reaching in. The dancer’s skin was so exquisite, the designs covering it fleeting works of art replaced every few weeks. His chest tightening at the thought, Tetsu grabbed the accelerant and lighter and tried not to think about what things might come to. Protecting the Code came first. Heading for the stairway, he just prayed he wouldn’t have to kill Youran to do it.
* * *
The suite had two access points, the first through the tea room and the second by a secret hall that ran from the suite to the stairwell. Tetsu went in through the hidden corridor. He unlocked the door to the suite with his pass card then jammed it open. Seeing the dancer still down on his knees, this time with Jun in his mouth, Tetsu hit the suite’s panic button, locking the door to the tea room. At the same time, he lifted his gun, firing off a shot that hit Jun square in the forehead.
Graceful and quick thinking, Youran rolled along the floor and took cover on the other side of the bed. Tetsu leapt onto the mattress and grabbed a fistful of the young man’s long black hair. His mind registered its silkiness even as he jerked the dancer to his feet. He resisted the urge to shove the barrel of his gun against Youran’s face and force immediate compliance.
“I’m here to protect you.” He hoped the full truth didn’t reveal itself in his voice or his eyes. Mikio and Katashi were yelling from the other room, pounding on the door. He pulled one of the crimson silk sheets from the bed and thrust it at the dancer. “There’s a man on his way up -- a killer. Obara no…”
Youran’s gaze widened before Tetsu could finish naming the notorious Iyashii assassin. The dancer glanced down at Jun’s lifeless body and shook
Dressed all in black leather, with a long duster jacket, a figure flickered past the front desk. A man, his features hard to focus on, their protean nature instantly revealing his identity to Tetsu.
Obara no Ryuu -- Iyahii's top assassin.
“Fuck!” Tetsu hit the one-way speaker to the front desk.
Ryuu nodded at the guard, saying nothing, needing to say nothing. The guard didn't know Ryuu's identity, he just knew Ryuu was the man with a free pass through the building. No questions, no signing in or out.
Tetsu turned the sound in the tea room back up, his mind spinning. It was late Friday. Most of the employees in the building, if they weren’t security, were doing data entry on the eighth floor or cleaning offices. The only obvious targets for Ryuu, other than Tetsu, were the three executives.
Tetsu thought of Youran, pierced and bleeding. So much beautiful collateral damage.
“Do you think we’ll both get a turn before Ryuu shows up?” That was Jun with his high nasal whine. He had his hand in his lap, absentmindedly rubbing at his crotch and leaning toward the suite’s door. “Mikio-san always takes too long.”
Tetsu felt everything slow. Jun and Katashi knew about the assassin. Did that mean the target was Mikio… or the dancer?
He checked the elevator monitors and saw Ryuu pull out a hypopress and load a blue ampoule into it. So the Iyashii enforcer wasn’t there to kill someone -- at least not until the interrogation was over. But why hadn’t anyone said something to Tetsu? Why, as head of security, was he out of the loop on a kidnapping or hit in his home base?
He jumped from his chair, grabbed his jacket and mobile. He slid the jacket on, his thumb working the mobile’s keypad. It took three keys to temporarily shut down the elevators, three more to stop the building's live camera feed and erase the night’s video and two to send a pre-programmed message to the man that had inked Youran’s body.
G2G.
Go to ground.
He pocketed the mobile and opened the top drawer of his filing cabinet. Inside were a can of butane and a lighter. He hesitated reaching in. The dancer’s skin was so exquisite, the designs covering it fleeting works of art replaced every few weeks. His chest tightening at the thought, Tetsu grabbed the accelerant and lighter and tried not to think about what things might come to. Protecting the Code came first. Heading for the stairway, he just prayed he wouldn’t have to kill Youran to do it.
* * *
The suite had two access points, the first through the tea room and the second by a secret hall that ran from the suite to the stairwell. Tetsu went in through the hidden corridor. He unlocked the door to the suite with his pass card then jammed it open. Seeing the dancer still down on his knees, this time with Jun in his mouth, Tetsu hit the suite’s panic button, locking the door to the tea room. At the same time, he lifted his gun, firing off a shot that hit Jun square in the forehead.
Graceful and quick thinking, Youran rolled along the floor and took cover on the other side of the bed. Tetsu leapt onto the mattress and grabbed a fistful of the young man’s long black hair. His mind registered its silkiness even as he jerked the dancer to his feet. He resisted the urge to shove the barrel of his gun against Youran’s face and force immediate compliance.
“I’m here to protect you.” He hoped the full truth didn’t reveal itself in his voice or his eyes. Mikio and Katashi were yelling from the other room, pounding on the door. He pulled one of the crimson silk sheets from the bed and thrust it at the dancer. “There’s a man on his way up -- a killer. Obara no…”
Youran’s gaze widened before Tetsu could finish naming the notorious Iyashii assassin. The dancer glanced down at Jun’s lifeless body and shook
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