The Shadow Circle

Chapter-33

"He killed Kai's mother, you know. Then he abandoned him. He wanted to cover up his existence. When Kai was seven, Nozava had his men drown him."

I gasped.

"And he nearly died, had I not interfered. See, Kai had Nozava's blood through him. That made him the rightful heir."

"And your key to power," I snarled. Seven! Kai was only seven years old!

He shrugged. "Now he's gone and fucked it up."

"Help him," I snapped.

"Why should I?"

The rage made me lightheaded. Kai was a human being and this guy was treating him like a chess piece.

I was calm as the ocean as I took another bite of my rice and smiled.

"Because you helped him before. To kill Talaq."

I waited for the double meaning of those words to register before I elaborated.

"Kai has a friend, Julian Moreno. Do you know of him?"

Shah's grip tightened on his fork.

"I see. So he's sort of like, this computer genius. So while we were going through Kai's phone, I found some important information. Information that he used to kill Talaq. Information that you gave him."

"What are you saying?" He demanded in a deathly calm voice.

I blew over my spoon and swallowed another bite of that rice.

"I'm saying the Circle doesn't handle loose ends and liabilities very well. And now you're one."

"You can't—"

"Already have. Julian sent that information to the Circle. If anything happens to any one of us, you're screwed as well. Julian is the only one who knows how to retrieve the information. You told Kai to get help from Cavilleri. You gave him the layouts of Talaq's home. You know it. I know it. And soon, the whole Circle will."

"What do you want from me?" He gritted out.

"You're going to keep me and Arianna safe till tomorrow—"

"You come into my home and blackmail me?!"

"I want to protect the people I love," I shot back. "I'll blackmail or even kill if I have to so don't bother with the guilt trip attempts."

"Is there a way out of this?" He asked instead.

"Yep."

"And?"

"And," I said, purposely making him wait by gulping down another spoonful of rice. "You have to help protect Kai."

"Elaborate."

"Kai's in danger. If the Circle finds him, there will be an investigation anyways. You won't get time to cover up because Julian has already given the Circle what they need to connect you, even if they don't know it yet."

"They don't know it?"

"It's encrypted for now."

"Okay."

"So the way I see it. You have two options. Either we all fall or the Nakamura's fall."

"And what guarantee do I have that you won't leak the information anyways?"

"I don't want to drag Kai in danger."

"Fair enough. I assume you have a plan as well."

"That depends, do I have your support? You help us and we all get out of it alive?"

"You haven't really given me many options, Ms. Seran."

Oh, so it's Miss Seran now.

"Yep," I said. I dug through my backpack and took out a glass vial. "This is a mild poison. You'll be out for a while but it won't kill you."

"You want me to drink that?!"

"As radical as it sounds, yes. Don't worry. My initial plan involved killing you but Kai objected."

"What's going on?"

"You'll be poisoned," I said. "The Circle will assume whoever killed Talaq will have poisoned you too."

"But Kai isn't here to poison me..."

"Tochio is."

He sat back and stared at me.

"Blame the poisoning on Tochio. The Circle will start investigating him. I called  Cavilleri and asked him to exchange Kai's name with Tochio."

"Your sister will be held responsible for misleading the Circle."

"My sister and I will be long gone by the time the Circle wants to find us. And Kai will protect us."

"So this is your plan? Make Tochio the Circle's mystery killer to protect Kai?"

"Yes. I never liked that guy anyways," I said, raising my finger. Shah raised an eyebrow.

"Whoops, wrong finger!" I showed him the heavily bandaged one. "He tried to chop off my finger, you know."

"How very rude of him," Shah replied in a monotone.

"It was."

"Who bandaged it?"

"The FBI," I said.

"Where did the FBI come from now?"

"Long story short, they bandaged my finger and I gave them some pictures," I smiled.

"What pictures?"

I scrolled through the photographs and handed them to Shah.

He cursed softly.

"You could say, Nakamura is going to get arrested after he crosses into India. Provided you don't interfere."

"I won't intervene."

"And if he's with the Indian authority, you shouldn't get him out—"

"I'll say I can't get him out," he agreed.

"And when he's with the Indian authorities, he'll be grilled for information. Sounds like a loose end and a big liability for the Circle..."

"A loose end." Shah said. "The Circle will have to kill him."

"Yep!"

"Then how do I protect Kai? The Circle will be apprehensive about that."

"Nakamura will be gone and so will his son. One seat is empty," I said.

"You want to make him a board member."

"For now."

"And then?"

"And then, King."

Shah studied me for a while and then burst out laughing. Did he find a loophole?

"You're good, Kestrel. Maybe when this is over you can stay back and I'll teach you a thing or two about strategy."

"So whats it going to be?" I asked, referring to my plan.

"I'll do as you ask because I don't want to have the Circle after me. In the meantime, consider my offer."

"I will," I lied before getting up and leaving the table.