The Stein & Candle Detective Agency, Vol. 3: Red Reunion (The Stein & Candle Detective Agency #3) Read Free Page B

several crates in the back, stuffed with weapons and ammunition for his arms-dealing business. I had a feeling they’d come in handy.

    Tiny was staying in a run-down hotel, not far from the crowded Tokyo bay. Foghorns woke me up, and I stumbled up from the couch where I was sleeping to the bathroom. After putting a couple bandages over my growing bruises, I grabbed the telephone and dialed up Lieutenant Sakai. Weatherby and Tiny made breakfast while I filled him in on what was going on.
    “Ninjas?” he asked, a hint of skepticism in his calm voice. “Are you sure?”
    “You know any other type of button man that can fly through the air like a plane in black and hits like a truck?” I rubbed my sore chin and continued. “The fellow we captured talked about some place called the ruins, before he killed himself. That ring any bells?”
    Sakai considered the question. “There is one section of Tokyo that remains in ruins, following the bombings during the war. The government has not yet gotten around to rebuilding. It is a paradise for squatters, the homeless, and the other refuse of society. If a powerful force of men wished to remain hidden in the city, then perhaps they would go there.”
    “Sure. You got a location?” He gave me the address and I said goodbye and set down the phone, then joined Tiny and Weatherby for breakfast. Tiny was a decent cook. During the War, he had made even a K Ration taste decent. Now he was slapping down eggs over easy and sizzling bacon on our plates. I thanked him and started eating.
    We looked outside the window, as Tokyo came alive. The street below us was soon choked with traffic. New skyscrapers were growing up, and their steel skeletons reached out to pierce the heavens, getting bigger and bigger every day. The neon glow continued in daylight, providing a second sun for the city.
    I pointed at the skyscraper with my fork. “They’re rebuilding pretty quickly.”
    “Everyone is, sergeant,” Tiny said. “I been to London, recently, doing business with the Kray Bros. You remember how it was all blown to Hell by the Blitz? They’re putting it back together, building it up even bigger than before. Same with Berlin, Stalingrad, and all them cities on the continent. They’re repairing them, covering them the scars that the war made.” Tiny paused. “People are moving on too. Sometimes I think the only thing not getting rebuilt is me.”
    I looked up at him. “Yeah,” I muttered. “I know what you mean. All too well.” We had lived in the War, we had fought together and died together and did things no man should. And when it was all over, maybe we weren’t quite ready to go home and forget about it.
    The War had even affected Weatherby, and thousands like him, for the indiscriminate cruelty touched unlucky civilians as well as soldiers. But the kid looked up at Tiny and me as he finished his eggs. “That might be so,” he said. “But all we can do is attempt to live with it, and do some good in this fragile, unfortunate world.” He turned to me, pushing his glasses up on his nose, like he was trying to seem older than he was. “What did Lieutenant Sakai say?”
    “The ninjas may be hiding in a bombed-out section of Tokyo. I suggest we have a look, after this wonderful meal.” I had another bite.
    We finished quickly, and headed downstairs to Tiny’s pick-up. He hadn’t bothered to unload the guns from the back. I didn’t really want him to. Tiny started the engine and we rumbled off, heading to the last ruined section of Tokyo, in search of a group that wanted to set the whole city on fire again. The journey wasn’t too long, as the traffic thinned out before we reached our destination. Nobody else was going to the ruins.
    It was easy to see why when we entered the ruined section of the city. The few structures that stood were burned out skeletons, the wood and steel still charred by Allied firebombing. Piles of rubble, not yet shoveled away, lay in the street and