AYLA

 

The Next Day

 

Sensei’s running through my mind this morning as I dress ready for work. To be honest, he ran through my mind all night. I thought about heading over to the club halfway through the evening, but I thought better of it. I don’t want to appear needy.

I was in the shower when his call came through and didn’t see it until I went to bed hours later. Then when I tried to call back, he didn’t answer. I’m not sure if something’s wrong or if he’s just busy, but he’s never not replied to me before. So, it has me worried. I knew I couldn’t go running over to the club in the middle of the night. Especially if something has gone wrong, he wouldn’t want that. So I have to wait until he calls me, which I’m hoping he does soon because I’m worrying myself sick.

As I slide into my truck to make my way to work, I try to focus on the short drive to the garage. I have work to do, and I need to focus. So I start up my truck and pull out of the drive and head out onto the road. Heath and Bowie left before me, so I know I need to fix my shit up when I’m the late one.

As I turn the radio up to the deep voice of Jared Leto singing about being closer to the edge, I bop my head, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel as I look into the rearview mirror seeing a pick-up truck driving really close on my tail. I narrow my eyes and accelerate a little faster trying to pull away from him, but he speeds up. So instead, I gently tap on the brake to let him know he’s too close, but in reply, he speeds up getting way too close, revving his engine and bumping into the back of my truck making me jolt forward slightly.

“Fuck!” I blurt out as I grip on the steering wheel harder trying to steady my truck as I look around seeing we’re pretty much the only two people on the road at the moment. I groan loudly as I throw my hand in the air looking in the rearview mirror at him.

“What the fuck, asshole?” I yell even though he can’t hear me. I can’t see who he is, but he’s fucking pissing me off that’s for sure.

Suddenly, he pulls out from behind me, to the side and speeds up coming in beside my truck. My heart rate spikes as I watch his truck move alongside mine, and I try to keep my eyes on the road ahead as my breathing quickens.

“What the hell?” I murmur, under my breath as he turns his wheel rapidly, his truck veering into mine, the side of his slamming hard making me swerve to the right dramatically almost driving off the road onto the sidewalk.

“Holy fucking shit!” I yell, my heart leaping into my throat as I speed up trying to get away from this fucking maniac. My tires pound on the asphalt as I accelerate to crazy speeds trying to outrun him, but his truck’s as fast as mine as he sideswipes me again. My truck jars hard to the right, and I lose control of the steering wheel pushing up onto the sidewalk, the steering wheel spinning and wrenching my wrists and then rotating out of control as I attempt to slam on the breaks. I let out a loud scream as I look up just in time to see a pole coming into view.

I hear the sounds before I feel it—the smashing of the glass, the crunching of the metal. The sudden impact of the truck crashing into the cement pole. My head flies forward as the airbag doesn’t deploy properly, and for some reason, my head hits the steering wheel with the force of the impact. The front of the truck crumpling as I let out an almighty scream in agony.

My head rests on the steering wheel as it pounds furiously. Warmth runs down my temple as I pant for breath, pain ripping through my arm. I open and close my eyes a couple of times to try and fight the fogginess in my brain.

Suddenly, the door of my truck flies open, and I’m yanked back from the steering wheel. I scream out as searing pain ripples through my shoulder.

“Shut up!” A familiar voice pierces through my ears, and as I turn, his face comes into view letting me get a good look at him.

“You! What the hell are you doing here?” I mumble, his foul smell assaults my senses as he leans in too close for comfort, unbuckling my seatbelt. After the last time I saw him, any closeness is too intimate for me.

“Shut up! You’re coming with me.”

 

SENSEI

 

I have no idea what the hell time it is, but all I know is my head is pounding. We tied one on last night and I, for one, am suffering from a fucking hangover of epic proportions. Rolling over in bed, I grab my cell and glance at it, my eyes are foggy as I squint to see three missed calls from Sass. “Shit,” I murmur seeing them coming in at all different times. I must have been so fucking drunk I didn’t hear my cell ringing.

Glancing to the time, I notice it’s nearly midday and realize she’ll be at work. I don’t want to bother her now, plus, I need some fucking grease and a vat of coffee before I can function, then I’ll call her. So I stand up and put on some clothes trying to gather myself in preparation for the day.

I head toward the clubroom to see everyone’s in a state of disarray. Brothers sitting around holding their heads much the same as me, and I grin knowing everyone had a great time last night in celebration of our win.

Unexpectedly, a cop siren sounds, and I glance at Torque who looks about as good as I feel. Slowly, I trudge over to him, he looks at Ace who wanders over to us and raises his brow.

“Might be Brody?” Ace queries, and we both nod as we head to the gate to welcome our friendly neighborhood cop.

The gate opens. It’s Brody and Grier who take one look at the three of us and both smile.

“Looks like you all could do with a gallon of coffee,” Brody suggests as we walk back inside the clubhouse.

“You’re telling me. We had a bit of a celebration last night after the news came in,” Torque relays to Brody, but he lets out a heavy sigh.

“Might have been a little premature,” Brody grits through his teeth.

We all stop as my stomach sinks through the floor. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Let’s have a seat,” Brody offers.

“No. What the fuck? Tell us right here,” Torque deflects.

Grier and Brody both crack their neck like they’re in sync with each other as Brody exhales. “Okay… seems like even though we found some officials who weren’t in line with the Ishikawa Yakuza, they still have some pull in the system.”

That typhoon is sweeping through my body making anger build inside of me. My hands ball into fists, and I grit my teeth preparing for what he’s about to say.

“Even though the sanctions are going through, even though they can’t work as Yakuza in America anymore…” he pauses making my heart race, “… they made bail.”

“What? What do you mean? They’re not in custody?”

He shakes his head. “No, I don’t know how. I don’t even think it should be possible, but somehow, someone’s pulled strings high up, and all of them are free until they’re to be deported back to Japan. It’s got to be a legacy issue from when the sanctions were first brought in. Obviously, they still have men in the system.”

My muscles tense, and I look to Torque while shaking my head as he rubs the back of his neck knowing we’re in deep shit. We’re the ones who caused their annihilation in America.

They’re going to come after us.

It’s only a matter of how and when.

“Fuck,” Torque murmurs and Brody nods.

“Exactly! Thing is… they’ve gone to the wind. I tried to have men I could trust follow them, but they’ve just vanished. I’m sorry, Torque. You need to be prepared. I don’t know when deportation papers will come through… it could take a while depending on where the legacy Yakuza men are positioned in the system.”

 Breathing hard, I turn and start to pace as I feel the anger burning inside of me. I have no idea what the hell this is going to bring down on us. All I know is that something’s going to happen. Somehow or someway, we’re going to pay for this, and it’s not going to be pretty.

“Thanks for letting us know, Brody,” Torque offers. Brody nods. “Now, you should go. You shouldn’t be here. They could come at any second, and you don’t wanna be in the middle of whatever fuckin’ shit’s about to rain down on us.”

Brody grimaces. “One more thing you should know…” He looks at me. “We handled the case at Smokin’ Joe’s Garage where Vince attacked Ayla. We know she’s in deep with you guys. I’m heading over to tell the workers at the garage now, but I thought you’d like to know first…” He pauses like he doesn’t want to continue. “Vince was let off with community service and a substantial fine. He also has to do court-appointed anger management classes. Guy got it easy if you ask me.”

Torque glances to me as an insatiable anger surges through every fiber of my being. Fucker should be locked up for what he did to my Sass, but I grit my teeth and simply nod. “Thank you for letting us know.”

He dips his head. “Good luck with the Yakuza. If you need back-up, call me.” Torque nods and Brody and Grier walk out of the clubhouse.

Torque looks at me subtly with a raised brow as if he wonders if I’m about to explode. I center myself taking a deep breath and nod to him, my face stern and posed. He understands, turning with a loud whistle. “Right, everyone listen up… as of now, we’re on lockdown. Shit’s gonna come knocking. We don’t know when. We don’t know how. So have a weapon with you at all times. Call your families, get them in here. No one’s safe as of this moment. Once everyone’s in… no one comes in, no one goes out. No fuckin’ exceptions. Disperse.” He lets out a heavy sigh as everyone starts frantically rushing about, and I push my hands through my hair looking to him.

“Torque, this is going to be hell.”

He nods, gritting his teeth. “Call Sass, get her here. I gotta call Foxy and Kline. Get them here, and we’re gonna have to move Ruby.”

Ace steps up to us, his eyes are open wide as he holds his tablet in his hands, and he shakes his head. “Ahh… Pres, I think you’re gonna wanna see this,” he almost shouts over the noise.

We both turn to look at him as he swings the tablet around to face us.

It’s a simple message, ‘We have something of yours. Do you want to know who it is?’ Next to the message is two boxes, one marked ‘yes’ the other ‘no.’

My muscles tense as I turn to Torque, and we both look at each other.

“Who it is?” I repeat the words.

Torque grits his teeth. “Fuck! So it begins,” he sneers and clicks on the ‘yes’ button.

A video begins playing. It’s definitely a warehouse, and in the warehouse there’s a woman tied to a chair, a rag in her mouth, her head is bleeding, and it takes me all but a second to register—the blue coveralls, her red hair—and my stomach falls through the floor as I grab the tablet and zoom in with my fingers.

It’s Ayla.

My Sass.

I let out a muffled gasp as I grind my teeth. Torque lets out a groan while I start to breathe harshly out of my nose.

“Fuck! Torque… fuck,” is all I can say.

Ace turns to see what’s going on, and he slumps his body as Trax walks up to see what’s happening. When he witnesses what’s on the screen he tenses.

“Is that… Sass?” he blurts out.

I nod slowly.

“You have twenty minutes. The club comes to the meeting point. Bring with you Shinobu Maki. This is a non-negotiable. Hiro Maki does not come. This too is a non-negotiable. If any of these demands are not met, the girl dies… slowly,” the digital voice echoes over the video then the image of Sass cuts off, and an address comes up on the screen.

Ace takes a screen snapshot of the address while I tense up knowing he wants my mother.

This is obviously Aiko Ishikawa. He knows my mother’s here. Whether he knows about me or not is yet to be seen, but the fact he knows about my parents is deeply disturbing to the point of terrifying.

Does he plan to kill her? I have no idea.

I turn to Torque, my face contorts in anguish. “I can’t let Sass die. I have to go. I have to fight, Torque. I can’t let them take Sass and my mother.”

Torque nods. “We won’t let them. But this needs to be your mother’s decision. We can’t force her, Sensei. We can’t exchange one life for another. But make no mistake, all of us are fuckin’ going. It’ll be us against them. We will do everything in our power for your woman, and your mother. I’ll round up the men and tell them we’re gonna have a fuckin’ fight on our hands.”

“I have to talk to my mother, I have no idea what the fuck I’m going to do.” Anxiety swarms inside of me. Never before have I been placed in this kind of predicament.

Torque places his hand on my shoulder and nods. “Good luck.”

As I turn the corner to the hall, I’m met by the concerned faces of my parents. Mother looks stoic, but Father looks petrified. I bet they fucking heard everything.

Mother steps forward embracing me tightly. “Son… do you care for Ayla?”

I jolt my head back. This isn’t what I was expecting her to ask right now. “Yes, mother I—”

“Then we will not argue over this. The demand is for me, then we shall go and make sure Ayla is returned to you.”

Father scoffs turning up his nose as he pulls Mother to him.

“I don’t think you are understanding the big picture here, Mother.”

Father stands taller with a low grunt. “If she goes, I go, too.”

Sighing, I tilt my head. “They knew you would do so. The demand stipulated you are not to go…” I pause. “I fear, Mother, if you go, you would be running straight into the arms of the man you ran from.”

They both gasp as Mother’s hand shoots to her mouth and Father’s face hardens. “You believe the man holding Alya to be Aiko?”

I nod, and Mother’s eyes glisten as she turns to my father and looks into his eyes with a sniff. “Then it is even more imperative I go, Hiro. I cannot let Raiden go alone. I also cannot let Ayla be harmed by that man… you know if you come, you will only aggravate his temper. If I go, if Raiden goes, along with the club, we will find a way out of this. Of that I am sure.” She turns to look at me raising her brow in question. “Correct, son?”

My stomach falls as I think about Sass. I need to get her out of this, but if I don’t come baring my mother as the prize, I won’t get Sass back. Trading my mother for Sass doesn’t feel right. But with my brothers by my side, I’m sure we can leave with both of them.

Even if it means I don’t get to come out of it.

At least they will be safe.

I nod. “The entire club is going to be there. We will not let them take you, nor harm you. You have my word.”

Tears fill her eyes as she looks into the eyes of my father, her bottom lip trembling as she rushes into his arms embracing him. “I know what I must do, Hiro. It pains me. But I must go. If something happens, tell the girls I love them. I love you, my dearest, do know that,” she gushes, and I look away from them as she leans in kissing my father hard on his lips. A sense of guilt washes over me, and I hate that this is happening. It’s abhorrent to me that I have to be the one to do this to my family.

My father breaks apart from my mother and places his hand on my arm. “Bring her back to me.”

I nod as he looks into my eyes. “You come back to me, too, son.”

Taking Mother’s hand, I nod again and pull her with me out into the clubhouse, not looking back at my father for fear of changing my mind. Leaving him behind after all the training and everything he’s put me through, after him raising me, feels like he should be here in this fight with us. Him, sitting this out feels so wrong.

Once we step into the clubroom from the hall, I notice everyone’s ready. Trax walks over and hands me a Glock as Mother’s eyes open wide, hers still full of tears as we all head for the vehicles. I’ll be in the van with Mother and Vibe while everyone else rides. We need to be a club in this, we must ride as one.

Together.

A brotherhood.

A family united.

We slide into the van, and I look at Mother. She looks pale like she’s about to fall apart at any second. I reach out grabbing her hand and look into her glistening eyes. The weight of this situation weighing heavy on us both as Vibe drives.

“Mother, I just want you to know, I love you. Everything you did for me, to make my life better. I will never forget that.”

She weakly smiles and shakes her head. “It is like you are saying your goodbyes, Raiden.”

“No, we will make it through this. I just want you to know that you are the best mother I could have asked for. And Father, he was the best man you could have possibly picked to raise me.”

She sniffs while tightening her hand in mine, a tear running down her face as she smiles at me. “Hiro lives up to his name. He truly is a hero. He saved me in so many ways. From Aiko and from myself when the memories took over. He raised you and your sisters in the best possible way. I love that man more than life itself.”

I smile. “And you can tell him that when we get back.”

She nods looking like she doesn’t believe me. I’m not sure if I believe me. I have no idea what we will be walking into when we get there. All I know is I’m going to be protecting my mother and Sass with my life if it comes down to it.