Cold Cuts

Ivo had no memory of the helicopter ride to Sashimi. He spent the entire flight with his eyes closed tight to stave off vertigo. He had the impression he'd been falling from great heights ever since Davi and Alina got him out of that box,

The pilot was a gruff man with a bald head and two clunky optics that made him look like he had a microwave display sticking out of his face. "I don't want to know," he said, as soon as they stepped in.

The flight was blessedly short, and moments later they were landing in the helipad above Sashimi, the opulent lounge bar where the lux's most sick and twisted fantasies came true. Or one of them at least. According to Davi there were plenty more just like it strewn all over the city.

Of the three of them Davi had undergone the least dramatic change. He wore dark, wrap-around sunglasses, black jeans, black shirt, a black blazer over it and two visible shoulder holsters under it. He looked as non-descript as every bodyguard should.

But he too looked nothing like himself. Ivo knew well how much he favoured sportswear that hung loose from his tall frame, the kind of clothes that let him move freely. The blazer stretching across his shoulders made him look like a caged animal.

Blank-faced servants waited for them just outside the helipad. Alina walked towards them with the confidence of someone who had done it a thousand times before.

She told them her name for the night, "Aliette Menier," with a bored sigh. Ivo wasn't introduced, and just followed behind her with downcast eyes. Davi wasn't introduced either, but the servants asked to inspect his weapons before letting him in.

They walked through a glass corridor in silence, Alina leading their silent procession like the haughty lux tourist she was supposed to be.

Only their ears were filled with Yunmi's sweet voice, giving them rapid-fire warnings.

"There are surveillance cameras ahead. No, Ivo, don't look at them, that looks suspicious, you aren't supposed to notice, keep your head down. I'm just saying, you guys won't be able to leave through this corridor, too many eyes."

Privately Ivo thought it didn't help that it was entirely made of glass.

"The goons through that door are Parallax security contractors," Yunmi said.

Alina's step almost faltered. Ivo could see her shadow wavering.

"They'll never recognise you," Yunmi hurried to add, detecting Alina's anxiety. "Not just because of the obvious, but because no one pays them to look at the patrons. It's private security like Davi, and the staff, that they'll be keeping an eye on."

The truth of her words was obvious as soon as they stepped through the opaque glass doors and into the sleek interior of Sashimi.

Even with his meekly downcast eyes, Ivo could feel the shift in pressure as soon as Davi walked in. Not only from the aforementioned goons but from all the other private security escorting their employers. It was their job after all.

Alina cut through the sleek white floors as if she didn't notice any of that.

"Kuroda is sitting at that open booth in front of the girl hanging from the meat hooks, take a seat in the booth across the floor."

Those words sent a shiver down Ivo's spine, who kept his gaze studiously lowered to avoid having to look in the direction of Kuroda's booth.

Alina took her seat, crossing her legs at the ankle while throwing one arm over the back of the sofa with a bored sigh. Ivo knelt demurely at her feet, while Davi stood behind the sofa, right wrist clasped in his left hand in a loose hold.

In the back of his mind Ivo had expected Sashimi to have a sombre Japanese decor, or perhaps a hodgepodge of Asian influences. He hadn't considered it might look like a hospital -- clean and aseptic. And perhaps more importantly: easy to clean.

Everywhere his downcast gaze swept he found metal tables and implements. White plastic sofas, huge white slabs of flooring, and almost blindingly bright overhead lights. Like an overexposed photograph. Everything was so bright it made his eyes hurts.

There was nowhere to hide from the blood.

Even without ever raising his eyes, Ivo couldn't avoid seeing the pool of blood dripping down the table below the girl hanging suspended from the meat hooks.

The girl's quiet, pained groans disturbed the melodic sound of water hitting the stone fountain that took up the centre of the bar.

"You have to get his attention somehow," Yunmi said.

Ivo flinched. He didn't want to have anyone's attention right now. Kuroda's booth wasn't the only one in use. From the corner of his eye, Ivo would catch unwanted glimpses of the one to their right where three men were taking turns around a guy whose limbs had all been cut down to stumps.

There was a distinct possibility that he would end up retching if he let himself linger on his tortured gasps.

He hadn't realised he was shivering until Alina dug her heel into his bare back. "Why are you so scared? You wouldn't be here if you had behaved," she said raising her voice.

Some of the patrons wandering around the club looked towards Ivo in amusement, some even smirked in anticipation of Alina putting on a show for them.

Ivo hoped it wouldn't come to that.

He chanced a brief glance towards Kuroda. A pretty waitress wearing a qipao that barely covered her ass was holding out a wooden tray of fresh cuts of fish towards him. Kuroda picked a fat, glossy slice of salmon with a pair of chopsticks and dipped it liberally in the blood coating the table under the suspended girl.

Kuroda ate the sashimi with obvious pleasure.

Ivo got a feeling that more than the fish what he really enjoyed was cold cuts. Seeing flesh turn into meat. It made bile sizzle up his throat.

"Guys, do something, we don't know how long he'll stay here..." Yunmi sounded worried, her voice rushed.

Ivo felt the sharp sting of the slap so keenly that it took him a moment to realise Alina was screaming down at him. "You worthless piece of shit, I don't know why the fuck I even bothered with you. They told me you were inexperienced but maybe that was just code for stupid."

Now more people were looking at them, and when Ivo briefly raised his eyes, he found Kuroda's gold gaze among them.