Page 147 of Mercy Written in Blood

Renji felt his own composure slip for a moment. Haruki saw it.

"There."

"Do not."

"You smiled."

"I did not."

"You're a terrible liar."

"That is demonstrably false."

Haruki laughed. The sound filled the apartment differently now. Nothing had changed. Everything had.

Renji removed his hand. Not because he wanted to. Because leaving it there was becoming a decision. Haruki did not appear offended. He looked towards the chair holding his coat. Neither man moved towards it.

The clock sounded softly from the shelf. One chime. Half past midnight.

"You should go," Renji said again.

"Yes."

Haruki remained beside the window. Renji remained beside him. After a moment, Haruki asked, "Do you want me to?"

Renji could have answered safely. It would take one word. Yes. Distance restored. Trust limited to what had already been exchanged. The evening preserved as an anomaly rather than a beginning.

Renji looked at the bowls on the table. At the record waiting to be turned over. At Haruki's coat still resting over the chair.

"No," he said.

Haruki's breathing changed. Only slightly. Renji heard it.

"All right," Haruki replied.

Neither man moved to leave.

Chapter Thirteen

The Warehouse

The address arrived at 6:12 in the morning. No sender. No message. Only a set of coordinates and a photograph of a warehouse door marked with a faded blue number nine.

Haruki read it twice before calling Ken. By 6:19, the image had been traced to an abandoned freight district near the eastern river. By 6:24, Ken had found the building listed under a dissolved logistics company with three former directors, all dead. By 6:31, the Accord knew.

Haruki had not told them. That was the first problem. The second was that Kael called before Ken finished assembling the team.

"Do not approach the site."

Haruki stood at the window of his office, one hand holding the phone, the other braced against the desk. Morning had not yet fully reached the city. Takamori remained silver beneath low cloud, streets wet from the rain that had continued through the night.

"I haven't told you which site," Haruki said.

"You received coordinates eleven minutes ago."

Haruki looked towards Ken. He stood across the room with a laptop open, one hand frozen above the keyboard. Reina stopped fastening the holster beneath her jacket. No one spoke.

Kael continued.