Chapter 18

Hirano just smiled, and took another step forward. Bonnie gently squeezed the trigger of the 9 mm. Hirano had a pleasingly surprised look on his face as he crumpled to the mat.

Bonnie dropped the gun, and ran to where Al was laying on the mat. She pressed a finger to the artery in his neck, feeling for a pulse. The pulse was strong, and regular.

Bonnie went over and checked Hirano. He was dead. Definitely dead. She went back to Al and gently turned him over until he was on his back. He seemed to be breathing easily, so she finally started to relax. It was a then that the shakes hit her. The full realization of what she had done set in, and she lost control of her body for several minutes. Finally her practical side started to take over again. She knew she was in a bind. She had just killed someone, and there were no witnesses to corroborate her story.

Bonnie unclipped her cell-phone from her belt and dialed Lt.Slavens' number. He answered on the first ring. "Art, I'm in serious trouble. Can you talk?"

"Sure, Bonnie, what's wrong?"

"Art, I just killed a Japanese man who was beating Al. I thought Al was dead, then the guy turned and started walking toward me. I used the gun you had given Al."

"Oh my God!" Lt. Slavens exclaimed. "Where are you now?"

Bonnie gave him the address and directions to Hirano's Dojo.

"OK, stay put. Don't talk to anyone. Don't go anywhere. Don't touch anything you haven't touched already. I'll be there within 20 minutes."

Bonnie hung up her phone, and went back to Al. He was starting to move and groan. Bonnie dampened the handkerchief with her saliva, and washed the blood from his eyes. When he saw who was tending to him, he became agitated. "Bonnie, get out of here quickly. Hirano is around here somewhere and he may be back at any minute."

"You don't have to worry about him," she told him ruefully. "He won't bother us anymore."

She held his hand until he fell back into unconsciousness. Then, she picked up the gun and moved to where she could watch the path leading to the Dojo, without being seen herself. She was still standing there when she saw Lt. Slavens coming up the path. She ran to him and threw herself into his arms, sobbing hysterically.

Lt. Slavens held her for a brief period, then pushed her back and looked her up and down. "Are you hurt," he asked?

"No, I'm not hurt, but Al is a mess. He looks as bad or worse then he looked the last time they beat him."

"OK, let's go in and take a look." He took Bonnie's hand and led her back into the building. When they got inside, he went immediately to Hirano and felt for pulse. When he got up again he had a very serious expression.

"Bonnie, I don't know what we're going to do with you. The man doesn't have a weapon, and you're not hurt in any way. A prosecuting attorney will try to convince the jury that you were in no danger from the president of a major corporation. Let me think for a minute. Maybe I can come up with something," he said, shaking his head.

Barney sat beside Al and held his hand while she waited for Lt. Slavens to say something. Slavens, in the meantime, was walking around the room, looking for any evidence he might find.

"Bonnie, I know you did what you had to do. I gave Al the gun, because I knew something like this might happen. Never in my life have I altered the crime scene. If I don't do something, though, two of the people I care about the most are going to be put through a living hell."

Bonnie didn't say anything, she got to her feet, and went to Lt. Slavens and took his hand. She held on to it tightly while she waited for him to say something else.

Slavens finally made his decision. "OK, Bonnie, help me get Al down to my car. We'll put him in the back seat, and get him to the hospital as soon as I finish here."

When they had Al comfortably in the back of the patrol car, Slavens told Bonnie to drive her car to the convenience store that was about two miles down the road, and to wait for him there.

Slavens watched until Bonnie had driven off, then returned up the path to the Dojo. Once inside he was all business. The first thing he did was find the spent cartridge from when Bonnie had fired. He removed a soft handkerchief from his pocket and carefully wiped the spent cartridge. He then dropped it randomly on the mat.

He then removed the clip from the gun, and the cartridge from the chamber. He carefully wiped all of the cartridges clean, and inserted them one by one into the clip. He wiped the clip, and inserted it into the gun. He jacked one round into the chamber, then wiped the outside of the gun.

He took the gun to where Hirano lay, and fitted it into the man's dead fingers. He used Hirano's index finger to fire one round into the mat close to the body. He left the gun clasped in the dead man's hand. He worked several small strips of the matting loose, set them afire with his cigarette lighter, then placed them by the hole the bullet had made in the mat.

Slavens walked to the door, and turned to watch as the dry mats and paper screens burst into it a roaring fire. Soon, the entire room was engulfed in flames. Slavens turned and walked quickly to his car. He didn't look back as he sped off to find Bonnie.