Linnear 03 - White Ninja by Eric Van Lustbader Read Free Book Online Page B

surgeon, Dr Hanami. Nicholas saw the doctor, who had removed the tumour, once every two weeks, and he assured her that there was nothing organically wrong. 'Your husband has sustained a major trauma, Mrs
    Linnear,' Dr Hanami had said with the surety of God. 'Nothing permanent, I assure you. It is not caused by his anti-seizure medication. Whatever your husband is going through is temporary and purely psychological. His powers of recuperation are quite remarkable. Whatever this minor problem is it will pass in a matter of time.'
    But Justine knew better. She knew how much psychological stress Nicholas could take since she had been with him through the time Saigo had stalked them both. She knew how well-prepared Nicholas had been for that stalking and assault, and how cleverly he had managed to outmanoeuvre Akiko, Saigo's former lover. An operation was hardly enough to cause this reaction in him.
    Justine slit open the envelope, unfolded the typewritten letter. It was from Croaker, Nicholas's best friend. Lew Croaker had been a detective lieutenant in the NYPD when Justine met him. He had been assigned to the mysterious murders that Saigo had been committing. A year after Nicholas had killed Saigo, Croaker had come to Japan to help his best friend Nicholas in apprehending a Soviet agent who was after Tenchi, Tanzan Nangi's ultra-secret oil-drilling project with the Japanese government. In fierce combat with a particularly powerful agent, Croaker's left hand had been severed. Since that time, Nicholas had been racked by guilt, feeling that Croaker would never have been there except for him. Justine knew better, just as she knew that Croaker did not blame Nicholas for what had happened. Nicholas, so Eastern in so many ways was, in this instance, terribly Western.
    ' "Dear Nick and Justine," ' she read. ' "Greetings from Marco Island. I suppose you're wondering why we're not still in Key West. Well, the simple truth is that I got bored at the End of the Line. That's what the natives call Key West. It's a strange place, even for Florida, which is a goddamn weird state any way you slice
    it. You've got to be a serious drunkard or a real dropout to stay there. So, we left.
    ' "Here on Marco Island, the fishing's fine and Alix is becoming an expert with marlin. I've bought a little boat, and we've been chartering it out. Making a living at it, too, though I doubt I'll ever get rich. On the other hand, I've busted so many boats out here trying to smuggle coke into the country, the Coast Guard's given me honorary commander status. Once a cop, always a cop, I guess.
    ' "I keep waiting for Alix to tell me she misses New York and the modeling scene, but she hasn't - at least up till now.
    ' "Nick, my new hand works! That doctor you set me up with at Todai Med Center in Tokyo was a wiz. I don't really know what it is on the end of my left wrist, but it's amazing! It works so well, in fact, that Alix has taken to calling me Captain Sumo.
    ' "The strength in this new hand is awesome! It took me nearly two months before I could control the power in it. Another four months and I got dexterity. It seems to be made of a composite of titanium, graphite and some kind of polycarbonate, all wrapped up in an airtight sheath. I'm only sorry you and Justine were away when I was in Tokyo getting it put on." '
    Justine paused here, risking a glance at Nicholas. When they had got back from their trip to Bangkok, where several of the Sphynx components were being manufactured by a Sato International subsidiary, she was furious that they had missed Croaker's visit. Hadn't Nicholas known, she wondered, when his friend would arrive? After all, Nicholas had been the one to set Croaker up with the surgeon at Todai. Then she had wondered whether Nicholas had purposely taken them on the Bangkok trip at just that time. She had begun to suspect that he did not want to see his friend, and
    certainly had no desire to look at some prosthetic that would remind him of his