Sign of the Dragon (Tatsu Yamada Book 1) by Niall Teasdale (e reader TXT) 📕

material of a kimono would have been stifling, but it still seemed odd to see a modern woman wearing such a garment at home on a Friday evening.

‘We’re here for Kaede, Shiratori,’ Tatsu said. ‘We have no business with you. We have authorisation to search her rooms, but that has been rather carefully phrased to stop us looking wider afield.’

‘No,’ Shiratori said, ‘your business is with me. You wish to charge my daughter with the murder of Anastas Zima and others, correct?’

‘The initial questioning will be concerning the murder of Grigory Anatoliy Vasilev, but we are linking his death to that of Zima and a number of other members of his gang.’

‘Plus Yong Pan, Ariella Ray, and a number of other civilians,’ Nakano added.

‘I killed them,’ Shiratori stated flatly. ‘Working alone. Kaede had nothing to do with it.’

‘We have her print on one of the robots the killer has been using to assist in the murders,’ Tatsu said.

‘I amend my statement slightly. It is true that Kaede constructed those machines for me. However, she knew nothing about what I planned to use them for and cannot be held accountable. I committed the murders alone. She knows nothing about them.’

Tatsu stared at the yakuza boss for a couple of seconds. ‘You’re not helping her. You’re not protecting her. Stop this, Shiratori.’

‘I am the murderer, Sergeant. I will not allow my daughter to be punished in my stead.’ Shiratori held out her arms, wrists together, asking to be cuffed.

Nakano stepped forward, reaching into his pocket. Tatsu stopped him. ‘There’s no point, Nakano, she isn’t going to run.’

Shiratori lowered her arms. ‘Thank you, Sergeant, for preserving some element of my dignity.’

‘My pleasure.’

~~~

With Shiratori safely in the back of the car, Nakano turned to Tatsu. ‘If she’s lying, she’s good at it.’

‘She’s lying,’ Tatsu replied. ‘These murders don’t fit with her as the killer. It’s… not her style. But I can’t tell she’s lying either. If we could get a lie detector on her…’

‘She’ll refuse and, with her confessing, we probably can’t force her.’

‘Yeah.’

‘You said she wasn’t protecting Kaede.’

Tatsu shook her head. ‘Kaede likes what she’s been doing. Even if her mother has taken responsibility, Kaede’s going to be unable to stop herself from doing it again.’

‘But the Funabashi gang are pretty much finished, right? If her aim was to destroy them–’

‘They’re not all dead and that gives her an excuse. Not that she’ll need one. Not really. I’ve seen this before, in the war. Men who got to like the killing. Some who started out liking it. One thing about war: there’s always another enemy. She’s not finished yet, and nothing Yukiko can do is going to stop her killing again.’

Part Six: Killer

Chiba Refugee Zone, Japan, 14th September 2099.

‘It seems to have gone pretty quiet,’ Sachiko said.

Tatsu shifted her head so that she could look up at the dancer’s face. It was not especially easy, given her position lying in the crook of Sachiko’s arm. ‘Well, yes. I stopped sucking on your–’

‘I mean the fighting.’

‘Oh. Right. Yes, because they ran out of energy. There have been a few incidents over the weekend, but nothing big. It won’t last.’

Sachiko frowned. ‘The Hole just reopened. Are you saying I’ll be out of work again soon?’

‘No… No, I don’t think so, but the Funabashi mafia is basically gone. There’s a power vacuum. That means new groups forming or the existing ones pushing in to fill the space. The dust hasn’t settled yet, and I expect that dust to be getting blown up into the air and left to settle again for months.’

‘That sounds like, um, fun.’

‘No, what we’ve been doing for the last four hours is fun. The best we can hope for in Chiba is that it isn’t not fun in a big way.’

‘Well, that’s what Chiba’s like at the best of times.’

‘True enough.’ There were a few seconds of silence and Sachiko’s breathing started to even out. ‘I think I want to hear you screaming one more time before bed.’

‘Huh? Did you say- Eeee!’

‘Yeah, just like that.’

Tokyo.

‘I assume you’re still sticking to your ludicrous story?’ Tatsu said.

Across the interview room table, Yukiko Shiratori did not raise her eyes. ‘I killed Zima and the others. Kaede’s only involvement was in building the support drones. She did not know their purpose.’

Tatsu sighed. She had hoped that a weekend in a holding cell would persuade Shiratori to give up the pretext. It had not been a strong hope and it seemed that it was a forlorn one. ‘You’re not helping her.’

‘So you have said.’

‘You think she’ll stop. You think she’s rational, that she’ll understand your sacrifice and stop killing. The Funabashi gang is in ruins, she got what she wanted, so why should she need to go on. But she’s not rational and there are still some of the gang’s members out there she can use as an excuse. She likes killing, Shiratori. Every attack has been more violent than the last. She won’t stop because she can’t stop.’

‘I killed Zima and the others,’ Shiratori said, her voice flat. ‘Kaede’s only involvement was in building the support–’

‘Yeah, sure. She’s going to kill again, Shiratori, and the next time she does, I’ll be there. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to take her down without killing her.’

Now Shiratori’s eyes lifted to look into Tatsu’s. There was fire in them. ‘If you hurt her…’

‘That’s the problem. I don’t think she’s going to give me any choice.’

~~~

‘You really think the kid is going to kill again?’ Nakano asked. He was in observation, watching Shiratori being taken back to her cell. Tatsu was standing beside him, doing the same.

‘Yes,’ Tatsu replied flatly. ‘I’m going to see