[Thomas Caine #1] Tokyo Black by Andrew Warren Read Free Book Online Page A

he had stationed outside to stand guard. Both dripped blood onto the scattered papers and debris strewn across the floor of the tattoo shop.
    “Look man, I can help you! I’ve got people, I’m senpai….” Sonny didn’t even care that his voice quaked. All pretense of courage and defiance drained from his features. He knew the man could see the fear in his eyes. There was no hiding it.
    Bobu laughed. The sound was deep and guttural, like wind blowing through a dark, wet cavern.
    “You are a weak, insolent child, a parasite who dreams only of sucking the blood of a diseased, cancerous host. You wish to be yakuza? I was once yakuza. And I tell you, they have lost their way. They flaunt their tattoos and cheap suits and gold-plated sports cars. They squabble over money and territory. Meanwhile, all around them, Japan is dying. The real enemy grows stronger and stronger.”
    Sonny struggled, but Bobu squeezed his throat tighter. “Let me see the picture…. I … I think I know her. I can help!”
    Bobu reached his free hand over to a tattoo needle on the counter next to him. He held it up, staring at it, fascinated.
    “This instrument … this is not even the proper tool for a yakuza to receive his tattoos. It should be irezumi, the traditional way. Done by hand, using needle and chisel. The time, the pain … that is the price you pay for the beauty. The honor of proving your conviction.”
    The big man shook his head and laughed again, looking back at Sonny. “The honor of strutting around like a peacock in heat. Bah! I was yakuza once, but as you can see, I have renounced those convictions. Our scars mark us now. They show that our devotion is to a higher cause. And make no mistake. We will restore Nihon to its rightful place in the world. We will flush out the weakness, just as I had to flush the poison from my veins. But first, we must find this girl. She was working as a hostess at a club in Roppongi. Tiger Velvet. The other girls there say you were her client. They saw her leave with you.”
    Sonny nodded. “Yeah, yeah, some bitch at some club. Let me see. I’ll help you find her.”
    “I gave you one chance. You refused. Now, you say you want to help us? Like a true yakuza, you must prove your convictions. I have no more time to waste.”
    Bobu plunged the tattoo needle into Sonny’s right eye. A brief spurt of clear fluid burst from the wound, followed by a stream of crimson blood.
    Sonny’s shriek echoed through the room. Bobu and his men stared as his cry of pain turned to a pathetic sob.
    “Said I’d help, man. I’ll help! I’ll do anything.”
    Bobu raised the needle again. “I am glad. You have one more chance. And one more eye.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Rebecca wiped her brow as she paced back and forth in front of the iron fence. The plants and flowers of the garden before her filled the hot air with a sweet scent, but they couldn’t mask the stench of sweat and sewage. The combination was nauseating, like rotten fruit.
    The garden occupied a tiny strip of land, no more than a meter across, before it was cut off by another set of bars. It was a tiny sliver of beauty trapped in a filthy metal cage. A private little paradise for no one’s eyes.
    Normally, neither visitors nor prisoners were allowed here. But Rebecca’s visit was abnormal in every way.
    The guards who had escorted her hurried away as quickly as possible. She felt like a witch, or some kind of boogeyman. And that was fine by her. Whatever works….
    The muted shriek of metal grating against metal came from deep within the bowels of the hellish prison. Then footsteps. Distant at first, they grew louder along with another sound: the jingling of a chain dragging along concrete.
    And then he was there, standing in front of her, on the other side of the far fence. He was little more than a meter away, but ages of unanswered questions stretched between them.
    He stared, unblinking, body perfectly still. She remembered how sometimes his