“Animals have good instincts,” Jason said.
“They do,” Ari agreed. “But the thing is, this man does not just scare my dogs. He scares my people and he scares me. I feel no shame in admitting it. This man, Vermillion, is the boogie man. Isn’t that right, Hiro?”
“It is,” Hiro said. He was clearly unhappy at the turn the conversation was taking, but Ari paid it no mind, keeping his gaze locked on Jason.
“Now my dogs are scared,” Ari continued, “but this man isn’t here. You are. Are you a boogie man too, Jason Asano?”
“Yes,” Jason said softly.
Ari grinned, letting out a chuckle as he turned away.
“I didn’t know what to make of it,” he said. “Hiro calls me up and says he wants to move some gold. Obviously, I want to do my due diligence, and what do I find? Hiro’s dead nephew, mysteriously returned to life and wandering about with a giant gold bar. You understand why this raises a lot of questions.”
“I do,” Jason said. “But since I’m here, I’m assuming you’re satisfied with the product.”
“I am so long as no one is going to come looking for it. You know that if they do, I’m going to come looking for you.”
“I believe you,” Jason said. “No one will come looking for it. Where I got it from, gold isn’t valued very highly. That’s how I picked up so much for a relatively small cost.”
“And where did you get it from?”
“You believe a magical alternate reality?”
Ari snorted a laugh.
“You have more of these bars?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Enough that I’m not willing to pull them out until I get a better deal and a good money launderer.”
Ari laughed.
“The thing about this man who scares my dogs,” Ari said, veering the conversation back to the previous topic, “is that it isn’t just my dogs that get scared. I told you this, but I don’t think you understand. This man is a predator. You can feel it in your bones, like something crawling under your skin. Just being near him is like being a mouse under the gaze of an owl.”
Ari’s eyes were locked on Jason’s.
“My dogs might be scared, but is it really of you?”
Ari stepped right into Jason’s personal space, looking down at the shorter man.
“You don’t scare me, Jason Asano.”
Jason gave Ari a slight smile.
“Would you like me to?”
Ari took a step back and laughed, the tense atmosphere breaking.
“Would you like me to?” he repeated, still laughing. “You know, Hiro, you said your nephew wasn’t in the game. He’s into something, though, yes? He’s got the stuff.”
“He doesn’t like to talk about his time away,” Hiro said.
“But I do want to talk about it,” Ari said. “Are you EOA, Jason Asano?”
“If I told you no, would you believe me?”
“If I asked you hard enough, I’d be confident you were telling the truth,” Ari said.
“I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that,” Jason said.
“Then you will need to answer my questions,” Ari said, his mirth dropping like a mask. “You’re going to assuage my curiosity, one way or the other.”
“Ari,” Hiro said. “This isn’t what we agreed.”
“We’ve got EOA pushing in and your boy turning up with the word ‘suspicious’ tattooed across his face. Mr Tollman told me personally to get some answers, Hiro.”
Hiro blanched.
“I’m sorry, Jason,” Hiro said. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but you need to answer Ari’s questions.”
There was a shift in the room. No one moved, but everyone felt it as Jason slowly unleashed his aura. Normal humans couldn’t detect auras unless they were projected in a specific way. It was a simple use of basic projection control, one of the first things Farrah had taught him. It was a tool that essence users employed to intimidate normals—exactly what Jason was doing now.
With his well-trained aura manipulation skills, Jason could expertly express his power slowly and deliberately, allowing the same domineering force that intimidated the dogs to press down on the men in the room. Only Taika and his uncle were exempted, but they couldn’t miss the growing dread on the faces around them.
“Is this what you were talking about when you said that man scared you?” Jason asked. He spoke quietly but his words reverberated with aura. The beleaguered criminals felt them hammer into their very souls. Jason was the smallest person in the room, yet to everyone in it, he felt larger than Taika. The room was silent, everyone transfixed by Jason’s suddenly tyrannical presence.
Jason stepped into Ari’s space, the way Ari had to him. His aura settled on Ari’s soul like a knife at his throat.
“Is this how your boogie man makes you feel, Ari? Do you still have any questions for me?”
Ari wordlessly shook his head in short, scared jerks.
“That’s what I thought. Give my uncle the money for the gold; I’ll see myself out.”
Jason turned to his uncle.
“You’ll probably want to chat with Ari once I’m gone,” Jason said. “I’ll make my own way back. Taika can give me the money later.”
“You don’t have a car,” Hiro said.
“I’ll make do,” Jason said. “I’m sorry for this, Uncle. I’ve caused you trouble.”
Jason walked out. Hiro nodded at Taika to follow, but Jason was already closing the door behind him. When Taika opened it, Jason was nowhere to be seen.
8
MORE PLAUSIBLE THAN THE REALITY
Hiro returned home to his penthouse apartment. He owned the entire building and, it being where he lived, he kept it legitimate. He had places enough to launder money without making a mess in his own house. He accessed the penthouse level through his private elevator. It could also be reached via the normal elevator, but only with an access key. Aside from himself and Taika, only the carefully selected and very well-paid security staff had keys, and the security staff kept it in a safe even they couldn’t open without calling Taika or Hiro for a rotating access code.
Slipping out of his jacket and dropping it over a chair, Hiro walked through the open-plan space, went behind the bar, and poured himself a stiff drink. He was used to getting home in the early hours, but it had been a strange night.
The entire north face of the apartment was made up of uninterrupted windows that could be opened up to allow balcony access. Just as he was about to sit, Hiro spotted a silhouette on the balcony, easy to miss on a moonless night. He hurried back towards his jacket and the security alarm signal in the pocket, looking back warily at the figure outside the window. He stopped, recognising Jason’s figure on a second glance. Hiro’s nephew was leaning on the railing, his back to the apartment as he looked out over the city. Hiro slipped his jacket back on and walked over to the balcony doors, adrenaline still rushing through him.
“How did you get up here?” Hiro asked.
“You’ve been nothing but generous, Uncle Hiro,” Jason said, neither answering the question nor turning around. “All I’ve brought you in return is trouble.”
Hiro moved forward and leaned next to Jason on the railing.