Daughter of the Sword Read Online Free PDF Page B

unfolded the sheaf of papers and looked over the cover sheet.
    “Better,” said Mariko. “Here’s the rules. One, you ever sell meth again, we prosecute to the full extent of the law. Okay?”
    Bumps sighed. “Okay.”
    “Two, you provide a steady stream of information leading to arrests. You’re going to buy the dope, we’re going to set up stings on the guys you buy from. It’ll look like it’s unrelated to you, so no one’s going to put a target on your head. Okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “Three, you ever so much as look at my sister again and you’re never going to have the luxury of seeing a prison cell. I will personally see to it that every arrest we make knows you’re the shithead who dimed him out. From there it’s just a matter of who gets lucky in the office pool: do we find your body floating in the harbor or splattered all over the subway? Are we clear?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Good.” Mariko stood in front of the interrogation room’s mirror and primped her jacket and hair. “On that coke thing,” she said, leaving the room, “have a name for me next time or it’s your ass.”
    “All righty.”
    Mariko left him looking like a kid who’d just found out he wouldn’t be getting a puppy after all. But for her part, she couldn’t restrain a smile. Cocaine. From the Kamaguchi-gumi. This was huge—terrible, yes, but huge. The first words her new lieutenant would hear from her would be about what promised to be the biggest drug bust of the year. Perhaps he’d take her more seriously. He might even give this the funding and manpower it deserved. She had two months to close this case—two months before her probation was up and they’d decide whether to accept her application to Narcotics. Two months wasn’t a lot of time, but with the right commanding officer and the right backing, Mariko knew she could make it happen.
    “Hey, Mishima,” she said. “Is Lieutenant Ko in tonight?”
    “Nah. I think he pulled a double shift this morning. I wouldn’t call him if I were you; I never met an LT yet who wasn’t pissy after pulling a double.”
    “No problem. I’ll find him tomorrow.”
    Mariko left the precinct house with a bounce in her step. Tomorrow was going to be a good day.

5
    “Come in, Oshiro. Come in.”
    Lieutenant Ko had an overlarge mouth flanked by deep creases like gills. What hair he had left was graying, and clutching only to the sides of his head. His black eyes were barely visible behind large square glasses, and the word around the precinct was that no one had ever seen him without a cigarette in his mouth. He sat behind his desk, his smoky office oppressively hot and lined with beige steel filing cabinets. Papers were stacked on top of them here and there, with more stacks decorating his desk as well, though there was a clear space in the middle for him to work and to park his ashtray.
    It had taken Mariko three days to get an appointment with him—an appointment in the ass end of the morning, no less; the sky was still dark when Mariko’s alarm went off. Ko was new to the station and surely had a great deal of catching up to do, but even so, Mariko felt three days was excessive. Her new lead was too important.
    “Be a dear,” Ko said through his cigarette, “and get me a cup of coffee before we get started, would you?”
    “No, sir,” said Mariko.
    His big fish mouth frowned, cigarette hanging down from his broad lips. “Excuse me?”
    “It’s not in the job description, sir. I’m a detective, not an OL.”
    The frown deepened, as did the deep wrinkles framing it. “Close the door, Oshiro.”
    She did so, then resumed her attention stance, hands clasped behind her back.
    “We’re new to each other,” Ko said, tapping ashes into the glass ashtray. “It’s to be expected that we’ll all have a breaking-in period around here. That’s all right. I just want to make sure everyone understands which way the wind’s going to blow.”
    Mariko nodded. Ko sucked on his