Chapter 19
The cold night air did nothing to cool the fire raging behind them. The hideout was gone, reduced to smoldering rubble. If they'd been a second slower, they'd be buried under it.
Toshiro doubled over, coughing from the smoke. Reina kept watch, gun still raised, scanning the shadows for movement. No pursuit. Yet.
Kaito clenched the hard drive in his hand. It wasn't over.
He turned to Toshiro. "Tell me you still have a backup."
Toshiro wiped the sweat off his face. "The drive's intact. But I need a safe place to crack it open."
Reina's voice was low. "There's no 'safe' anymore."
Kaito exhaled. "Then we make our own."
Hunted from All Sides
They didn't go far. Not yet.
Hiding in an abandoned parking garage, Toshiro hooked up the hard drive to a new laptop—one of his emergency backups.
The screen flickered to life.
The same files. The same name.
Yoshinori Kyosei.
Reina crossed her arms. "We're missing something. Kyosei was declared dead three years ago. There's no way a corpse is pulling the strings."
Toshiro scrolled through the files, shaking his head. "That's what's messing with me. There are recent transactions under his name. Real ones. Bank movements. Contracts. If this is fake, it's a perfect forgery."
Kaito's voice was grim. "Or he never died at all."
Toshiro didn't respond. The thought was too big. Too insane.
But Reina had that look in her eyes. Doubt turning into certainty.
Then—
Toshiro froze.
"…Oh, shit."
Kaito's gut twisted. "What?"
Toshiro turned the laptop toward them.
It was a video file.
Dated yesterday.
And in the frame, sitting in a darkened office, was a man they shouldn't be seeing.
Yoshinori Kyosei.
Alive.
Message from the Grave
Toshiro played the video.
Kyosei sat in a chair, hands folded, wearing the same cold, calculating smirk that had made him a legend in the underworld. His voice was smooth, deliberate.
"If you're watching this, it means you've gone too far."
Kaito's pulse pounded in his ears.
"I built an empire from the shadows, but every empire needs ghosts. A sacrifice to keep the wolves from the door."
He leaned forward. His eyes—sharp, alive.
"Did you really think I'd let my own death stop me?"
Toshiro's fingers trembled on the keyboard. "This… this is real."
Kyosei continued.
"I see you, Kaito. I see all of you. And since you've chosen to dig up my grave—"
The video cut to static.
Then—a new voice.
"Code Red. Eliminate them immediately."
The screen glitched out.
Reina cursed. "They just tracked us."
Toshiro slammed the laptop shut. "We have to move. Now."
Nowhere to Run
Tires screeched in the distance.
Then—gunfire.
Bullets shredded through the garage walls, kicking up concrete. Kaito tackled Toshiro down as Reina returned fire.
More assassins. No hesitation. No warning.
Kaito grabbed a fallen pistol, firing blind. They were boxed in.
Toshiro scrambled to his feet. "We're sitting ducks here!"
Reina pulled a flash grenade from her belt. "Cover your eyes."
She tossed it.
BOOM.
Light exploded, blinding their attackers.
Kaito grabbed Toshiro, hauling him toward the fire exit.
The three of them burst onto the streets—and stopped dead.
A black limousine sat idling at the curb. The tinted window rolled down.
Inside, a man in a crisp suit sat with a glass of whiskey in hand.
Not Kyosei. But someone just as dangerous.
He smiled.
"Get in."
To Be Continued…