The doors of the lift slid open and Oroshi drove in. It had been a while since his father had told him to meet at home. He’d been genuinely shocked to hear of Kaori’s survival, but recovered quickly and invited him to his residence. It made sense though, given the urgency of the situation. The merger would be signed tomorrow and he expected Daisuke to resign as chairman shortly afterwards. If Kaori were to reappear now, it would be a disaster!

  At the 46th floor, Oroshi stepped out of the car and entered the security capsule. It locked him in. Standing in front of the camera, he placed his hands on the scanners. A large detector gate came down from the ceiling and whirled around him before clearing him and opening the bullet proof door leading to the apartment. As he exited, a lightly scented spray covered him from head to toe. Officially, this was meant to accommodate Masamune’s sensitive nose, but Oroshi suspected the real reason was different.

  Behind him, his Jaguar was being stored in one of the vertical slots by the mechanical arm, an elegant solution to the space constraints… as long as your car was clean and contained no loose objects.

  He walked to the security guards waiting for him and allowed himself to be escorted in after a good, old fashioned pat down. Masamune was a careful man. The guards bowed respectfully. Oroshi’s status had improved considerably over the last few days and they finally treated him as a superior.

  He gave them a benevolent smile and stepped in the apartment proper where his father sat waiting. The room was fully equipped control room, with several aides manning the computers.

  Masamune invited him to seat directly in front of him, a rare privilege.

  Oroshi bowed and complied. A woman brought him a drink. He accepted with a bow, but placed the drink on the table. Poison, he assumed. Not that Masamune wanted to kill him, but anyone stupid enough to accept drinks from the Hebikage himself deserved to die. The serpent’s shadow, Hebikage, was a befitting moniker for the cold blooded Masamune.

  “Tell me.” Masamune said. He valued his words and did not grant them carelessly.

  Oroshi proceeded to explain the situation in every detail.

  “Good work. Call Nut, their plane landed a while ago. I want to know where they are.”

  Oroshi picked up his phone.

  “Oroshi-sama?”

  “Yes. Did you see them?”

  “They arrived on time, like you said. I followed them through the hall to the AIS booth. They bought SIM cards…”

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  “Did you get their numbers?”

  Nut paused. He should have bribed the booth girl, but he didn’t think of it.

  “No Sir, I couldn’t see it from where I was, and I didn’t want to lose them as they started walking back to the lift….”

  “Spare me the details. Just tell me where they are now.”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “WHAT?”

  “They walked in the police station at the second floor, and they haven’t come out since. It’s been… 83 minutes, sir.”

  “Are you sure they didn’t leave?”

  “Yes sir. I’m sitting not far from the door, and I haven’t looked away. They are still in there for sure.”

  “I see. Anything else to report?”

  “No, Sir.”

  “Got it. Keep watching the door until further instructions. They are going to have to come out at some point.”

  Oroshi hanged up and turned to his father who had listened in the conversation.

  “What do you think, Oroshi?”

  “I’m not sure, sir. It’s strange for them to go to the police in Thailand after avoiding it here. Maybe a report about lost luggage, I don’t know.”

  “Don’t be stupid. It’s obvious they know someone there.” Masamune answered rolling his eyes. This was supposed to become his heir? He turned to his secretary.

  “Get me the head of our trafficking division. They have men in the airport’s police force in Bangkok. Tell them to go in that office and find out what’s happening with Kaori—she probably goes by the name of Aoki.”

  “Kashiko Marimashita, Masamune-sama!” she answered with a bow, and she rushed out of the room.

  Masamune turned his attention back to his son. He’d come to him again, shared his intel and asked for help. That was good. Declaring Kaori dead without full evidence was an unconscionable mistake on his part, and if Oroshi had tried to fix things behind his back, it could have been a disaster. Instead he had come here and deferred to his authority. Was the boy finally learning his place? It was about time!

  “You’ve done well coming to me. My men will take care of the tracking. We, we need to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow!”

  Oroshi bowed and prepared to leave, but Masamune stopped him.

  “No need for that. You’ll stay in the guest room tonight and we will meet with Daisuke together. After everything is wrapped up here, you can go to Bangkok. Your flight plans are approved, unless something comes up, you’ll be on the ground soon.”

  Oroshi’s face remained impassive but he boiled internally. It was all so easy for Daisuke. He didn’t even bother with a phone call, he just asked his secretary and that was that. He knew about his preparations to fly to Thailand less than an hour after he made them and now he was… sending him to bed?