Read Online The Miko - 02 by Eric Van Lustbader - Free Book Online Page A

“But he ought to know, all right. He’s writing a book called Fifteen Ways to a Migraine-Free Life. He thinks it’s going to be a bestseller. ‘Everyone gets migraines these days,’ he says. ‘God bless stress.’”
    Tomkin went and sat down on the edge of the plush sofa. He opened the small refrigerator just beyond, poured himself a drink. “What’ve you got there?”
    “It’s a hand-delivered invitation. I got one as well.”
    Tomkin put down his drink. “Let’s see it.” He tore open the flap, pulled out a stiff, engraved card. “It’s in goddamned kanji ,” he said angrily, pushing it back at Nicholas. “What’s it say?”
    “You and I, it seems, are invited to Sato’s wedding. It’s on Saturday.”
    Tomkin grunted, downed the remainder of his drink in one gulp. “Christ,” he murmured, “just what we need now.” He looked up as he poured himself another. “How about you?”
    Nicholas shook his head and Tomkin shrugged. “Just trying to get your liver in shape. These sonsabitches drink their Suntory Scotch like it was water. You go out with them of an evening, you’d better be prepared for the onslaught.”
    “I wouldn’t worry about that,” Nicholas said coldly. “I’m well aware of their habits.”
    “Sure, sure,” Tomkin said. “Just trying to be friendly. You did all right on the battlefield with those two jokers.” He gestured with his glass. “You speak to Justine yet?”
    Nicholas shook his head. “She didn’t want me to take this trip at all.”
    “Well, that’s only natural. I’m sure she’s missing you.”
    Nicholas watched Tomkin wade through his second Scotch on the rocks and wondered if that was an antidote to his migraines. “It’s more than that,” he said slowly. “When Saigō got to her he used saiminjutsu on her, a little-known art even among ninja.”
    “A kind of hypnosis, wasn’t it?”
    “In a way, in Western terms. But it went way beyond that.” He sat down next to Tomkin. “She tried to kill me. It was the hypnotic suggestion Saigō planted within her, but still.” He shook his head. “My healing broke the saiminjutsu spell, but the deep remorse she feels…I was not able to erase.”
    “She blames herself? But it’s not her fault!”
    “How many times have I assured her of that.”
    Tomkin swirled the dregs of his drink around and around. “She’s a tough one. Take it from me, I know. She’ll get over it.”
    Nicholas was thinking of how badly Justine had taken his decision to work for her father. Her bitterness toward what she saw as her father’s manipulation of her life up until just several years ago was understandable to him. They were, he felt, two people unable to communicate with each other. Tomkin had expected certain things from her and, not finding them, had reacted in his typical overbearing manner. Justine simply could not forgive him for his various intrusions into her life.
    Repeatedly he had used bribes or threats to discourage a succession of boyfriends. “My father’s a master manipulator, Nick,” she had told him over and over again. “He’s a bastard without a heart or a conscience. He’s never cared about anyone but himself, not me, certainly not Gelda; not even my mother.”
    Yet, Nicholas knew, Justine was blind to the kind of men she had been attracted to. They had been manipulators all—far worse than her father ever had been. No wonder Tomkin had been so hostile toward him when they had first met. He naturally assumed that Nicholas was another in the long line bent on using his daughter.
    It was impossible to make Justine see that it was his very love for her that obliged him to interfere in an area that, up until now, she had been unable to handle. This did not absolve Tomkin, but it seemed a realistic starting point for the two of them to come together and possibly understand each other.
    The tirade that had followed Nicholas’ announcement of his going to work for Tomkin Industries, if only