slammed into him hard, too busy looking behind her to notice his sudden appearance in front of her. He caught her arms and shoved her out of the way, behind him, and she fell, momentarily dazed. She didn’t need to look through the shadowed alleyway to know who had turned up at the last minute to save her. Summer scrambled back against the brick wall, watching through the pouring rain with frozen fear as the three burly men converged on slender, elegant Takashi O’Brien.
And then she closed her eyes, horrified. Violence was one thing on television and in the movies—it had nothing to do with real life. In person, the slow motion, macabre dance of it made her feel dizzy, and she couldn’t, wouldn’t watch. The sounds were bad enough.
If she had any sense, she would get up and run—there were three against one, and she only trusted the one slightly more than the very dangerous three. They would make short work of him, and she needed to use this chance to get away.
And then the noises stopped, leaving just the sounds of the heavy rain and traffic in the street beyond. She opened her eyes, to see Takashi O’Brien standing over her, and she glanced past him to discover two white-clad bodies lying in mud and rain and blood, and no sign of the third.
He held out his hand and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet. His cool, beautiful face was expressionless—no hint of censure or emotion at all. “Don’t run away again,” he said. “Or next time I’ll let them have you.”
And she didn’t doubt him for a minute.
6
If there was any chance the Shirosama’s goons would have simply killed her, then Takashi O’Brien would have let her go and good riddance. He was pissed. As far as she knew he’d nobly saved her life, twice, and she’d thanked him by taking off when his back was turned.
In fact it was himself he was mad at. Normally he wouldn’t have made the mistake of leaving her long enough to switch cars. Normally he wouldn’t have had to factor her in at all—she wouldn’t be alive.
He couldn’t afford to make mistakes, not if he wanted to live. And he did—he’d fought hard when that madman had finished with him, survived when other men wouldn’t.
The icy Madame Lambert was probably wondering what the hell was going on. During the night Taka had come up with a simple enough plan—switch to a less conspicuous car, find out where Summer had stashed the real Hayashi Urn and retrieve that, and see if he could figure out exactly what else she knew.
That had been his original mission. Keep the urn out of the brethrens’ hands, find the missing piece of the puzzle and then wipe out any trace of his presence. But Summer Hawthorne didn’t appear to be any more forgetful than she was compliant, and she wasn’t about to ignore the events of the last twenty-four hours. He had his orders about her, whether he liked them or not. He couldn’t waste any more time trying to circumvent them—the Shirosama and his followers were upping the ante, the lunar year was approaching and a mistake could be disastrous.
He stared at her, not bothering to hide his annoyance. She looked like a drowned rat again, but he was getting used to it. He actually preferred her that way; he had an annoying weakness for blond hair, and when she was drenched her hair looked brown as it snaked over her shoulders in sopping tendrils, not its usual sunlit gold. Hair color aside, he’d never once been interested in a woman with freckles.
She wouldn’t look at the men in the alleyway, which was probably just as well. One was already dead—from a broken neck when he’d thrown him against a wall, and the other would soon be gone, too, hemorrhaging from the knife he’d tried to draw on Taka. The third had gotten away, another mistake, because Taka had recognized him. Heinrich Muehler was one of the Shirosama’s better known followers—and one of his most dangerous weapons. If Taka had recognized the murdering German punk in time he would have concentrated on taking him out first.
Except if he had, Summer Hawthorne would already be dead. Instead he’d gone for the one who’d been coming at her with a knife, and by the time Taka had gotten around to baby-faced Heinrich it was too late. Taka had acted on instinct, and by doing so complicated his life yet again.
He took her arm and started toward the back of the alley. It was a good thing for her she didn’t say anything, not even when saw the huge black luxury SUV he’d traded for. She winced when she climbed up into the passenger’s seat, and he wondered if he’d gotten to her before too much damage had been done. At least she was still in one piece … and any pain she was feeling was her own damn fault.
He pulled out into the rainy night, not looking at her, keeping his expression absolutely blank. He didn’t often lose his temper, particularly in a situation like this one, but right now he was having a hard time not lashing out at her. He knew he was being ridiculous—no matter how polite he’d been, her instincts probably told her he was as dangerous as the men who were after her in the first place. He’d flat out told her as much.
And her instincts were right.
“Where are you taking me?” She was looking for something as they drove down the crowded street, far more alert than she had been before. “Are we going back to the hotel?”
“No. And don’t think you can jump out the next time I come to a stop. You really wouldn’t want to see me any angrier than I am already.” His tone was calm, almost contemplative, but she had the sense to be afraid.
She hadn’t fastened her seat belt, but at his pointed look she did, grimacing slightly. There were red splotches on her hands, and her pant legs were soaked by more than the rain. He couldn’t deal with patching her up now. It was more important that they get as far away from Little Tokyo as they could.
“I don’t see why you’re angry,” she said after a moment. “You aren’t responsible for me. I can take care of myself …” Her voice trailed off as she realized how patently absurd that was. She tried again. “You could just drop me at a friend’s house and not have to bother yourself—”
“I’m not dropping you anywhere. You’d just be drawing your friend into danger, too.”
“I would?” She sounded distressed at the idea.
Shit. “What have you done?” Taka asked.
Summer was silent for a moment, and he wondered if he was going to have to hurt her. After a moment she spoke. “I asked my friend Micah to bring me my car and some things from my desk at work.”
“Shit.” He said it aloud this time.
“It’s not like anyone could trace me. I used a public phone.”
“And where was this friend supposed to meet you?”
“Outside the noodle shop.”
“The same noodle shop where the True Realization Brotherhood found you? Don’t you have any idea what kind of danger you’re in? This isn’t a movie, and it isn’t a game. These people are dangerous, and they’ll stop at nothing to get what they want.”
She looked shaken. “I think you’re exaggerating …”
“Did you see what just happened in the alley?”
“I didn’t look.”
He shook his head, giving up, and punched a few numbers into his
