Tokyo Ink (Gay SF Erotica)

Round and round they went for two hours, like a record on one of those old time phonographs as Tetsu demanded to know whom they were visiting and Gabe stalled and told Tetsu it was his turn to exercise a little trust.
    Easier said than done. Gabe was either a treacherous viper or a gift from the heavens. And no one had ever given Tetsu anything in life -- not out of the blue and for free. Not like this. So chances were he had a viper on his hands.
    Watching Gabe's face as the dancer stopped and stared momentarily up at the buildings to get his bearings, Tetsu's chest constricted around an imaginary knife. When Gabe lowered his gaze and smiled in Tetsu's direction, the knife splayed and curled into little fish hooks. He tried to tell himself that he wasn't a goner -- that he needed to stick with Gabe for at least a while longer to find out how badly the Code had been compromised.
    “We’re close now.”
    Seeing that they were in the business district and only a few blocks from Iyashii, Tetsu dragged Gabe into the closest alley. He pushed the dancer behind a dumpster, shielding them from passerby on the street. Putting his hand on the dancer's cheek, he watched mesmerized as Gabe's long-lashed eyelids fluttered shut.
    It killed him that so simple a gesture set his pulse racing. He was lost, drowning, wanting Gabe's reaction to be real. But the whole thing could be a set up -- from the flirting in the elevator to Ryuu showing up yesterday. It could have been a trap to draw Tetsu out. How else did Gabe know about the Code?
    Tetsu wrapped a hand around the dancer's throat.
    Gabe glanced up, his nostrils flaring gently before he closed his eyes again. "Are we back to this?"
    "Tell me how you know about the Code." When there was nothing but silence from the dancer, Tetsu gave a short jerk of his hand so that Gabe's head lightly bounced against the concrete wall behind him.
    "I keep my ears open."
    "At Iyashii?"
    "No, not there." He sighed and shoved his hands in his pocket like he was ready to wait out the interrogation.
    "No one talks about the Code." Tetsu dropped his hand to the belt of explosives around his waist. Just one twist and a pull and he could stop worrying whether Gabe was lying.
    "You don't. But you're not everyone." Opening his eyes, Gabe stared at Tetsu. "You think I'm an idiot? Two days after my first booking at Iyashii and I just happen to run into a master tattooist who'll do me at half the price and ten times the quality -- not once but whenever I want it?"
    "Tori wouldn't..."
    "When he's seen me pop a couple Purple Rains and stick my ear buds in, when he's twenty feet away and whispering, you think he's worried what a stoned-out danshou hears?"
    "Magnifiers and--"
    "Sugar pills," Gabe finished. He melted into the wall then, an image of transcendent bliss, eyes rolling back in his head as his mouth went slack. His skin rippled and he let out a little moan.
    Tetsu had to give Gabe credit. He could act.
    Gabe shook the illusion away and winked at Tetsu. "When are you going to learn -- I'm the best, baby. Can we go now?"
    Tetsu wasn't ready to relent, not quite. "Not another step until you tell me where."
    “The Valnyk building.” A quick twist and Gabe was out from between Tetsu's body and the wall. "Satisfied?"
    Tetsu shook his head. ValCo was no friend to Iyashii. Each company had areas of interest the other wished to take over. ValCo wanted in on the prisons. Iyashii had petitioned for mineral and water exploitation rights in Canada the last three years straight and would have received the grant if the CBC officers they kept bribing hadn’t wound up dead. That was fair enough considering how many ValCo execs had received involuntary recruiting visits from Obara no Ryuu.
    But who at ValCo would be particularly susceptible to Gabe’s charms. Certainly no Valnyk execs had shown up on the security scan as clients of Gabe. “Tell me who.”
    “The CEO.” Gabe offered Tetsu a flat, wry smile, but his gaze narrowed.
    Magnus Valnyk -- late fifties, second generation Canadian. Ruthless in a way that made him successful and well-respected by his Japanese competitors. His private life was just that -- private. If he’d been doing the dancer on the side, nostalgic perhaps for a homegrown accent, no one would have known. But he wasn’t the kind of man you went to for favors -- or safety.
    Tetsu grabbed Gabe's arm. “We need to go back to the safe house and think this through. Magnus Valnyk isn’t going