part0018

The narrow corridor ahead of me is lit by crimson bulbs, stationed intermittently along the walls behind a thin glass shade. The walls, along with the floor and the ceiling, are all dark. Perhaps not black but close to it in this low light. It’s like whoever designed this place went through the checklist of requirements for a stereotypical lap-dancing bar and made sure they ticked every box.

There are three doors along each side, with a set of double doors at the far end, barely visible in the ambience. I doubt I’ll be lucky enough to find Ruby in one of these rooms near the exit, but you never know. My gut says I need the doors at the end, but I’ll check each of these rooms as I pass anyway.

I take slow, cautious steps down the corridor, my gun held low and ready. I approach the first door on my left and wrap my hand gently around the handle, listening for any movement inside.

I hear… I don’t know. I hear something . Not voices but muffled sounds.

This place can’t still be open, surely?

I hear something else too. Movement. Delicate footsteps. I can’t tell if it’s from inside the room, or…

I spin around, levelling my gun so it’s aiming right between the eyes of—

My mouth drops open slightly. Mia’s standing in front of me, close to the wall, with an expression on her face like a puppy standing next to a freshly chewed shoe.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I hiss.

She looks away momentarily. “I… ah… I followed you. I’m so sorry!”

“Because! I… I want to be a journalist, remember? My instincts were telling me you were caught up in something. When your old friend came to your apartment, I saw the change in you. Like something was wrong. I was… I dunno—curious, I guess.”

I lower my gun, suddenly aware I’m still aiming it at her.

“Mia… you need to leave, okay? Right now. This isn’t the type of place you should be in. And I’m not the type of guy you should be following.”

“Yeah, I… I see that.” She swallows hard. Her eyes are focused on anything except me. “Why do you have a gun?”

I hesitate, frustrated that I failed to hide this part of me from her.

“Look, I guess I do owe you some kind of explanation, but now isn’t the time, all right? You remember Ruby, my friend?”

“Well, she’s in trouble. I’m here to make sure she’s okay.”

Mia frowns. “What kind of trouble?”

“The worst kind.”

“But… this is just some crappy nightclub. How much trouble can she—”

“This crappy nightclub is owned by the Yakuza. And the bit of it we’re in right now isn’t where you come to drink and dance with your friends. This is where rich, powerful assholes come to do horrible things to innocent people. And someone brought Ruby here.”

She puts her hands to her mouth and gasps. “Oh my God! Shouldn’t we call the police or something?”

I shake my head. “The police won’t care. Chances are, the people who own this place have paid them off anyway.”

I look back at the way I came in. Thinking about it, I can’t send her out there on her own. There’s no way whoever’s here doesn’t know someone’s coming. There could be anyone waiting out there. I hate to admit it, but right now, she’s probably safer with me.

I put my hand on her shoulder. She flinches for a second but soon relaxes.

“Mia, it’ll be okay, I promise. But now you’re here, it’s too dangerous to send you away on your own, and I can’t leave until I have Ruby. So, you’re gonna have to stick with me.”

She nods hurriedly. “O-o-okay.”

“You’ve gotta stay quiet, stay behind me, and do exactly what I say.”

“And…” I let out a heavy breath. “You might see me do things that aren’t very nice. But I swear to you, I’m not a bad guy, okay?”

She looks away, then puts her hand on my arm. “I know. You’re a good person, Adrian. You saved me the other night. Now you’re going to save your friend. Whatever you do, it’s okay. I understand. You’re a… hero.”

She smiles innocently.

I smile back, uncomfortable and embarrassed.

“I’m… ah… I’m a lot of things, Mia. But I’m not a hero. Now come on. The sooner we find Ruby, the sooner we can get out of here.”

I move to the door and slowly turn the handle, not wanting to startle whoever might be on the other side of it. My grip tightens around the butt of my gun. I glance down at it for reassurance. The suppressor’s in place. I know it’s still holding five rounds.

I don’t know why I’m so hesitant to push the door open. I guess I don’t want to find Ruby in a bad way. Or worse. That said, from what Ichiro told me about this place, who knows what I’ll find in here. I don’t want to expose Mia to anything too…

I let out a short breath.

Come on, Adrian. Man the hell up already.

“Wait here,” I whisper to Mia. “Don’t make a sound.”

I slowly push the door open and step inside.

There’s a bed in the left corner, nearest the door. There’s some kind of weird… I don’t know what it is—a structure in the opposite right corner. It’s wooden, with leather restraints in various positions.

I honestly don’t want to know.

The noise I heard is coming from a large flat-screen TV mounted on the opposite wall, playing an X-rated movie. I stare at it a moment, frowning.

What is that woman doing? What’s that she’s…

My eyes snap wide as I realize what I’m looking at. I quickly turn around and leave, closing the door behind me.

I’m pretty sure that was a horse.

I’m not going to un-see that image for a while!

“Are you okay?” asks Mia.

I nod. “Yeah. Don’t go in there.”

Her expression changes. She looks bemused. “Okay…”

I open the next four doors, alternating right, then left. Each one is as empty as the first, with similar devices set up in them. One even had a video camera on a tripod aimed at a bed.

I’m outside the last room on the left before the end of the corridor.

I feel an involuntary shudder travel along my spine.

Seriously, this place is fucking weird.

There’s still no sign of life. More importantly, there’s still no sign of any heavily-armed Yakuza foot soldiers trying to kill me. Maybe I was worrying about nothing, and nobody was monitoring the security cameras?

I grab the handle and push open the sixth door. At least I haven’t seen—

“What the fuck?”

Did I say that out loud? I definitely thought it.

In front of me is a man and a woman on a bed. Both turn and look over.

Yeah… I said that out loud.

The man is short, overweight, and naked. He’s wearing a leather balaclava that obscures everything except his eyes and nose. He’s on his knees, holding what looks to be some kind of whip with a purposely frayed end. The woman is also naked, with a gag ball strapped around her head, resting in her mouth. She’s on all fours in front of him. I hear her whimpering. To my left is a computer with a webcam set up, aimed at the couple.

I step inside the room. Now I’m nearer to them, I can see the woman’s body more clearly. She’s very petite, probably mid-thirties, with long dark hair.

Her back is shredded. Flesh has been stripped away, and thin streams of blood flow freely from the open wounds.

I glance at the man, then at the computer, quickly putting two and two together in my head. My guess is people are paying to watch this guy flay this poor woman alive. For a very brief moment, I consider the possibility that this is staged in some way. That the woman is a willing participant. That perhaps this is all an act designed to con sick bastards out of the fortunes they likely don’t deserve.

But one look at the woman’s face tells me that’s not the case. The tears are real, and the fear and defeat in her eyes tells me she most certainly isn’t willing.

I look at my gun again. Then back at the man. Then at the gun once more.

I should save the bullets.

I tuck it behind me and stride over to the bed. Without slowing, I step and thrust my right boot as hard as I can into the side of the guy’s head. He flies into the wall, grunting and moaning from the impact.

I move quickly, aware that everything that’s happening is probably being streamed live across the internet. I yank the bedsheet off and throw it over the woman. I remove the gag and take a moment to wrap the blanket properly around her. She’s shaking, terrified.

“It’s over now,” I say, letting my Ili do the work as I try to offer some comfort. “Get out of here, okay? Fast as you can.”

She scurries off the bed and huddles in the far corner, staring at me through tear-filled eyes.

I look over at the man, who’s just starting to move again.

“And you, you twisted sonofabitch…” I rip the mask from his head, revealing his sweaty, ugly face, and grab the whip he dropped when I hit him. “Let’s see how you like it!”

I wind up and smash the whip across his face. The leather is tough and thick. The crack echoes around the room. I hear the instant tearing sound as the flesh on his face splits in multiple places. He goes to scream but passes out before the sound can pass his lips. He falls backward on the bed, lying sprawled out and unconscious on the blood-stained sheets.

There are five long, deep horizontal slices across it. It looks as if he’s been mauled by a tiger. The skin is shredded and covered in thick blood. His brow is split open, and his left eye is bulging unnaturally—stained red from, I’m guessing, a burst blood vessel.

Don’t think I’d be very good at this bondage thing. I hit people way too hard.

I regard him for a moment, giving myself a chance to find an ounce of humanity inside me to perhaps feel some compassion for him.

Nope. The piece of shit deserved it.

I hear a loud gasp behind me. I turn to see Mia standing in the doorway, her eyes wide with shock. A hand clasped to her mouth.

That isn’t ideal, but there’s little I can do about it now. I don’t know how much she saw. I’m guessing enough, judging by her reaction.

I walk over to the computer. I lean forward and flip both middle fingers at the camera. “Get off on that , you sick bastards.”

I upturn the desk, sending the equipment crashing to the floor. I stamp down hard on the camera as I make my way out of the room, ushering Mia out ahead of me.

“I told you to stay out here,” I say to her, my hands on her shoulders.

Her eyes are still wide and watering. “I wanted to see… you just… what was that man doing?”

“Nothing you should concern yourself with. Now look—this isn’t a nice place, and to make sure I find Ruby and get all three of us out of here safely, you gotta do what I say. If I ask you to stay outside the room, stay outside the goddamn room. Okay?”

I feel bad being so firm, but it’s for her own good. I can concern myself with the repercussions of her seeing this side of me later. Right now, I just need to keep her safe.

She nods silently. Her face relaxes. She blinks rapidly and stares at the floor.

I look over at the poor woman in the corner and gesture to the door with a nod. “Go. Get out of here.”

She scrambles to her feet and runs past us, through the door and back along the corridor. I watch her until she disappears outside.

Satisfied she’s safe, I look back at Mia. “Now come on.”

We approach the double doors at the end of the corridor. Seeing that back there has put me in a real bad mood. The kind of bad mood that silences the sensible part of my brain. The kind of bad mood that uses ammunition to make a point.

An image of that woman flashes into my mind. I see her huddled beneath the blanket, broken and defeated, her body torn and vulnerable. Then I see Ruby, and I’m forced to picture her the same way.

I take out my 1911 again. I grip it so tightly that I feel the color pulse from my knuckles.

No voice of reason is going to stop me now. The time for strategy and diplomacy is over.

“Keep behind me,” I say without looking around. “Once we’re through these doors, find something to hide behind and stay there.”

I don’t wait for a response. I kick the double doors in front of me, sending them flying open. They both slam against the walls on either side. I step over the threshold and quickly take in the layout of the inner sanctum. It’s a large, open space, almost circular, with doors on all four compass points. I’m standing in the south doorway. At the center is a raised oval platform, possibly used as a stage. There’s a pole in the middle of it.

The walls are adorned with a host of… equipment. Everything from sex toys to power drills, baseball bats with nails through the end to flamethrowers, swords to screwdrivers… all on display like some sadistic museum.

Ichiro wasn’t kidding about this place.

The north and west doors are closed. The east doors are open, and a man in a suit is standing by them, just inside this room. He’s staring right at me, frozen to the spot with a look of confusion and fear on his face. He appears young. His skin is unblemished, his dark hair styled, his suit freshly pressed. Perhaps a new member of the family, eager to make a good impression.

His body language suggests he just spun around, alerted by my indiscreet entrance. The fact he’s guarding those doors suggests that’s probably the way I need to go.

Sucks to be him right now.

I snap my arm level and squeeze the trigger, aiming on instinct. The bullet finds its mark, as I knew it would. It burrows its way into his forehead and explodes out the other side, splashing a cocktail of gray matter, thick crimson, and bone fragments across the wall. His body falls backward almost instantly, landing just out of my line of sight behind some seating near the open doors.

I glance behind me. Mia is ducked behind a booth, shaking quietly.

I make my way across the room, moving counterclockwise around the oval stage, toward the east doors. I turn to head through them and see light shining through a crack in the door ahead, at the end of another, much shorter corridor.

Let’s just hope I—

There’s movement behind me. Multiple pairs of footsteps rush into position. I hear the mechanical sound of weapons being primed.

—didn’t attract any attention.

I turn around slowly.

Many years ago, I acquired the ability to absorb huge amounts of information from a split-second look. I have a highly functional short-term memory, which is very useful in situations such as this one. I knew there were guns before I turned around because I heard them. Therefore, I know I have no more than a couple of seconds to run through potential scenarios and make decisions that will determine whether or not I’m alive at lunchtime.

In the first second, I count eight hostiles—four from the north doorway to my right, and four from the west doorway straight ahead of me. They’re all wearing matching suits, identical to the one on the dead body at my feet. Some of them have ties, others have an open neck. Best guess, they work at the club.

I also count eight handguns. Now, I’m no mathematician, but given I have four bullets in my gun, some would argue the odds aren’t exactly in my favor.

The final second was spent planning my attack. I see no option for defense here. There’s no cover except where Mia is, and I don’t want to attract attention to her. The corridor behind me has no doors besides the one at the end, so I can’t turn tail and run down there—I wouldn’t make it three feet. My only option is to attack. I consider maybe five alternatives before settling on what I’m going to do.