Ratio(76)

That’s never a good sign.

June crawled out from her hiding place and got to her feet. Another scent hit her nostrils, something musky with a metallic edge to it. Like steak gone bad. Her eyes drifted down to the bed.

Holy shit.

The bedsheets had been ripped to pieces, throwing up stuffing and feathers. Where the intruder had been propped up, just a twisted mess of tangled flesh remained. Slick and red, what was left of the sheets was stained crimson and black. The explosion must have ripped him in half; his legs were still intact, his feet still tied to the bedposts, but the rest of him…

June glanced around the room. The walls were coated in blood, stains covering the bedroom from floor to ceiling. It wasn’t like anything she’d seen before. No delicate spatter patterns or arterial spray; it looked as though someone had thrown an entire bucket of red paint against the walls, then tossed a tub of fish guts around for good measure.

The intruder looked up at her from the bathroom. At least, his head did. Eyes wide and glazed, mouth hanging open slightly, the spinal column had been completely severed, the skin blackened at the base of the neck. June wondered whether she should go pick him up. Maybe put the head back where it belonged. Or at least, near enough to where the rest of his body should have been.

She considered her options for a moment. On the plus side, the sprinklers hadn’t gone off, so at least she wasn’t soaked to the bone. The heat of the blast must have been contained to a small radius, helped in no small part by her uninvited guest’s body getting in the way. June was lucky to be alive, but she sure didn’t feel it. Looking down, she noticed her clothes were covered in bits of bone and flesh. Blood splatter covered her face and arms. She squinted at something protruding from the skin of her forearm. Grabbing it with her fingertips, she pulled it free; a piece of bone. Must have struck her in the blast. She flicked it away, but couldn’t control what happened next.

Before she could take a step toward the bathroom, June bent forward and emptied her stomach onto the carpet.





Chapter 55





KANEZAKI FROZE AS a deep rumbling noise filled the stairwell. A split second later, alarm bells sounded, a high-pitched wailing noise that seemed to fill every inch of the hotel. He checked his watch. Three-fifty-seven and change. No way Yamada’s pathetic attempts would have done the job, but at least it provided a temporary distraction. Only a few minutes until the gas would be released, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it now. Even if they found the detonator, no way anyone would figure out the code. A shame, all things considered. Kanezaki had been looking forward to playing a few mind games, make the Kato bitch suffer a little before she choked to death. It had all seemed so poetic, but no matter. Results were results.

He increased his pace a little, heading back toward the ground floor. While the remainder of the hotel guests crushed their way through the main doors, Kanezaki would head for the loading bay. The ventilation system didn’t feed that part of the building, which would buy him some time while he figured out how to get the doors open. With all eyes on the lobby, nobody would notice him slipping out. Isa and Kimura would pick him up as planned and then they’d wait for Yamada. Assuming he made it out alive. Death by poisonous gas was probably preferable to the alternative methods of dispatch Kanezaki had in mind. But definitely not as much fun.

Voices ahead, and Kanezaki slowed. There was someone coming toward him up the stairs. Sounded like two pairs of footsteps, just about audible over the alarm system. Both falling heavy, the sound echoing through the stairwell. Kanezaki turned and headed back up, feeling his pulse quicken. He slipped one hand into his jeans, wrapped it around the handle of the knife. The footsteps grew louder. He could make out what the voices were saying.

“…Seventh floor,” one voice said.

“Less than five minutes to get her out,” another, much deeper, voice replied.

Kanezaki sped up, taking the stairs two at a time. He didn’t seem to be pulling ahead. The footsteps were getting closer.

“Elevators locked out. We’re going to have to use the stairwell.”

“If the lobby isn’t cleared, we’re all screwed.”

“Doesn’t mean we don’t –” The deeper voice paused mid-sentence.

Kanezaki gripped the knife a little harder. Kept moving.

“Who’s up there?” the other voice shouted.

The footsteps seemed to speed up again, breaking into what sounded like a run. Kanezaki resisted the urge to turn around, heading for the fifth floor and, hopefully, an empty room to hide in. He reached the top of the next flight and ducked to the side, pushing through the heavy door into the fifth floor hallway. His pursuers followed close behind, crashing through the door just as Kanezaki reached one of the rooms.