I Parker - The Fires of the Gods

‘Perhaps, but even if you find him, what makes you think he’ll talk to you after you tried to have him arrested?’

Tora grinned. ‘I know where his girlfriend works.’

Akitada decided to leave matters to him. ‘Very well, but no violence and be careful. If you’re right about the fires, you could find yourself in some real trouble.’

Tora thought of the knife attack in the dark alley. ‘I’ll watch myself.’

His heart beating madly, Jirokichi practically vaulted over the outside wall of the merchant’s property and came down on the other side so carelessly that he twisted his ankle on the uneven ground. Muttering a curse, he hobbled away, down the alley between property walls and out into the side street. His mind on his painful leg and on getting as far away from the house as he could, he did not notice his danger until it was too late.

No more than fifty feet away from the mouth of the alley stood the two louts, engaged in an altercation. They saw Jirokichi the moment he saw them.

‘Hey! What’s he been doing back there?’

Jirokichi gasped, turned, and started running.

Almost immediately a sharp pain shot up his leg and he stumbled. He heard their steps behind him. One of them shouted, ‘Grab him!’

They dragged him up by the collar and saw who he was.

‘It’s the Rat,’ cried the leader, astonished and pleased. ‘This time, shitface,’ he told Jirokichi, shaking him like rag, ‘you’re not getting away.’

Jirokichi believed him.

‘Been spying on us?’

Jirokichi shook his head.

‘Let me search him,’ said the other lout. ‘I bet he’s just robbed some rich bastard.’ He started feeling Jirokichi’s body.

‘Wait. Not here,’ said the tall one. ‘Someone may come. We can have some fun with him at our place.’

Jirokichi risked a loud yell for help. He got a fist in his mouth and nose and spit out a tooth in a gush of blood. The pain and the blood shut him up, but his tormentors were not satisfied. While the big lout held the limp Jirokichi, his companion tore strips off Jirokichi’s shirt and gagged him. Then they set off, dragging him between them like a bag of garbage.

They went quite a long way. Jirokichi choked on blood and convulsed a couple of times, but was shaken into proper compliance. It was late, and they kept to side streets until they reached the poorer part of the city and entered an abandoned warehouse. There they dropped Jirokichi while one of them struck a flint and lit an oil lantern. Jirokichi was again choking badly. The blood had closed his nose and the gag allowed very little air into his lungs. He twisted his head, trying to loosen the gag a little. They kicked him, then dragged him upright and ripped off the gag.

‘Go ahead and cry your head off, turd,’ said the leader, grinning. ‘Nobody’11 hear you.’

They searched him more carefully, but found no gold on him. Disappointed, they took turns pummeling him and laughing. Jirokichi accepted that he was about to die and passed out.

He woke to even greater misery, thereby proving that life was worthless, as the monks had taught him in his youth.

He was hanging from his arms. His feet barely touched the ground, and the pain in his arms and shoulders was so agonizing that he did not feel his other wounds. He had no idea how long he had been hanging like this, but his nose and mouth had bled freely down the front of his torn shirt and made a puddle on the floor that had mixed with piss when he had lost control of his bladder.

In a corner nearby, his two tormentors sat together with some other louts. They perched on sake barrels, discussing the events of the night.

‘So,’ the leader’s skinny companion was asking, ‘do we kill the Rat and tell the fat slug that he’s been spying on him? Or will the slug get mad that we touched the saintly little bastard?’

‘Kill him,’ cried two of the newcomers. The third turned to look where Jirokichi was swaying in the semi-darkness.

‘Hey,’ he said, ‘His eyes are open. He’s been listening.’

Instantly, they were on their feet and around him. Jirokichi cursed himself. He closed his eyes and pretended to be unconscious, but they weren’t fooled. A hard slap across the face made Jirokichi’s eyes pop open again. Their eyes gleamed with anticipation.

One of them gave Jirokichi a push in the chest that sent him swinging and twisting like a pendulum. They laughed and spent some time pushing him back and forth on his rope, harder and harder. Jirokichi shrieked when his shoulder separated.

‘Stop that noise,’ snapped the leader, halting the human pendulum, ‘or I’ll do it again. Now talk. You were coming from that alley. What were you doing back there?’

Jirokichi blubbered, ‘N-nothing.’

Instantly, he got another push and shrieked again. This amused the others, who hopped around, laughing.

Their leader steadied Jirokichi’s body and brought his face closer. He was not laughing. ‘You were down that alley spying on us, right? I want to know what you saw and heard.’

But Jirokichi knew that the truth would mean certain death. A lie had to be good, and even then they would probably kill him eventually – after lots of torment. He pretended to faint again.

Immediately, blows rained down on him, into his belly, face, groin, and back. He shrieked again and again. Hot pain exploded everywhere in his body, and he passed out for good.

Before Tora left on his new assignment, he lectured Hanae about watching the baby and not wandering about town alone. He was so firm about this that Hanae got frightened.

‘What have you done now?’ she demanded, her eyes flashing. ‘You and your master are getting to be more and more alike. You care for nothing but your work. I cannot imagine what makes foolish women agree to marry men like you.’

This caused a delay, as Tora had to reassure his wife he had done nothing and that she and Yuki were the treasures of his life. He was afraid to tell her what Lady Aoi had said. Hanae forgave him eventually, sealing his pardon with a kiss that he took such pleasure in returning that one thing led to another.

When Tora finally set out, it was nearly the hour of the midday rice. He walked quickly to the Western Market. He meant to visit the Fragrant Peach again. With luck, he would find Tojiro with his girlfriend; if not, the young waitress could be made to talk.

He skirted Hoshina’s place at the market corner and was about to pass through the market gate into Nishi-Horikawa Avenue when he heard a female voice shouting his name. He turned his head, and there was Hoshina herself, galloping after him. She cried, ‘Wait, Tora. Please!’

Please? Her eagerness astonished him. He waited. She came to a halt before him and caught her breath.

‘It’s Jirokichi,’ she gasped. ‘He didn’t come home last night.’

Tora raised his brows. ‘So?’ He was still resentful about the tricks she had played on him. ‘Is he your husband, then? And has he run off with another woman?’

She flushed. ‘Shut up. It’s serious.’ She glanced around, but they were alone for the moment. ‘He went out on a job last night,’ she said in a low voice, ‘and didn’t come back.’

Tora snorted. ‘In his business, that probably means he got caught. Check the jails.’

Hoshina burst into tears. ‘I did, and he isn’t there. I think those bastards got hold of him again. I think he’s lying somewhere, bleeding to death. Oh please, Tora, help us. Find him. I’ll do anything. I can pay you.’

Tora’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t trying to seduce him this time. She looked really desperate. But the old anger at Jirokichi welled up again. ‘I don’t want your money,’ he said coldly and shook off her hand.