Lover

by Valerie J. Long

  “Ey, shortie,” the goatee-bearded bouncer addressed me and stepped into my way. “These are not your grounds.”

  “I’m not here to hook but as a client—if Tengu still accepts dollars.” I winked at him. “But for a guy like you, I might consider an exception.”

  “Are you a friend of Tengu?”

  “Let me put it this way—he never had reason to complain.”

  “Does he remember you?”

  “Ask him about Yoshi.”

  “You’re Yoshi? Then go in.”

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Seventeen

  As Yoshi, I had served in this bar, and Tengu had been the barkeeper—that is, he still was, otherwise the goatee surely wouldn’t have let me pass. It was astonishing though, that the guy at the door knew that name. One year ago, there hadn’t been any bouncers.

  One year ago, there hadn’t been the street gangs’ toll stations or public executions, either. With this dark thought, I stepped through the door.

  On first glance, nothing had changed inside. Scantily dressed waitresses dashed back and forth between the counter and the tables, balancing trays with drinks and dodging overly indecent grabs. On the stage, one stripper was just presenting her spread labia, next to her a fellow stripper held his impressively big erection ready. The audience paid little attention to the show. Several men in the audience enjoyed a private full-contact lap dance performance, and others only received a blowjob.

  Even at this time—not yet midnight—the club was chock-full. That was appropriate for a club where many people were quite full of booze. Not all, though—bodyguards usually remained sober, and in exchange enjoyed more of the services. Some had noticed my arrival and were eyeing me with interest.

  My first stop was the counter. All seats were occupied here, too—only at the pickup could I push forward.

  “Staff only,” Tengu snapped.

  “Good evening, Tengu.”

  Only now he gave me a closer look. “Yoshi! Shall the Jelly have me! Little one, what are you doing here? Do you want to join us again? Where have you been so long?”

  Before I could answer, he had jumped over the counter. “Come with me. Or do you want something to eat?”

  I held up five-hundred dollars and winked at him. “I had hoped you’d have a free table for me.”

  “Put your money away. Mo? Mo! Come over, the table for house guests, but quick.”

  “It needn’t be so obvious, Tengu. Or do you want to make me a target?”

  “Well then, Mo, place the table at forty, okay?”

  One wall in my back, close to the kitchen door, with a free line of sight to the entrance and the stage—“Yes, perfect.”

  “Fine. I’ll be with you right away. What would you like?”

  “The menu of the day and a peacekeeper.”

  “Cool choice. Okay, I’ll bring it. That’s on the house, okay?”

  Mo came and brought the table with two chairs, and I sat down. Okay, Tengu had recognized me. That was no big surprise, as I had worked here long enough and had caused good sales. But back then, one year ago, I only had been one of his girls.

  How had I earned the status of honored guest now?

  What was he up to?

  His joy about seeing me again had appeared honest to me. So far, he hadn’t touched a phone to tell someone about my appearance—if he had to do that himself. Instead, he was busy mixing the peacekeeper, the only alcohol-free drink this venue had to offer.

  With the tall tumbler and a small beer, he then arrived at my table again. “Here’s your drink. How are you?”

  “Thanks, fine. And you?”

  “Can’t complain. The shop’s running well, as you can see.”

  “Crowded as always. How come the visit of a former waitress, who’d left you from one day to the next, makes you so happy?”

  “Yoshi, you yourself warned me that you had contact with some ugly people. Then you were suddenly gone. We were worried that something could have happened to you. Well, and then everything changed.” He nodded toward the door. “Without the guards, it wouldn’t work. They’re keeping the small gangs out.”

  “And the big fish?”

  “Are our guests, as always. They may feel on neutral grounds with us. Here they’re welcome, safe, have every wish read from their eyes.”

  With his beer, he saluted me and drank a large draft. I sipped at my cocktail. Everything Tengu had told me so far was the truth, so why did I worry?

  The stripper on the stage was about to reach his climax. One of the waitresses came running with a glass. Ah, okay, so one client had ordered an Orgasm. There might be different recipes for that cocktail, but in this house, the mixed body liquids were always part of it.

  The alcohol- and drugs-laden air seemed to intoxicate me. The banging on the stage appeared blurred. What the—

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Eighteen

  —Detoxication induced.—

  Tengu still smiled at me. I smiled back blissfully. You asshole, I thought, and scanned my surroundings. I wouldn’t easily get out through the main entrance, as the boys with the machine pistols were waiting there. The near kitchen door seemed tempting, so Tengu would have taken precautions—despite the poison.

  “The neuudral grounss naddurally won’d abbly do me,” I babbled.

  Tengu slowly nodded. “My clients are the big fish. Back then, they’d clearly expressed their desire for a meeting with you and offered a generous recognition. Yoshi, personally I quite appreciate you, but you’ll surely understand that I can’t afford to affront my most powerful clients.”

  “Naddurally not.”

  —Detoxication successful.—

  With a sharp, in no way blurred glare, I briefly focused on him. “But that’s what you just did.” I jumped up and sprinted to the stage, mastered the high step in one leap, and dashed through the side stage entrance, pushing the sweaty stripper couple aside.

  Excited calls followed me, but I was already on my way to the emergency exit. Without hesitation, I tore the door open and only then noticed that it had actually been locked.

  Instead of storming out and running across the yard, I swung up at the door frame. I landed on the roof top, eye-to-eye with a startled guard who was already waiting for the worthwhile target with his machine pistol.

  “Good night,” I wished him and struck him unconscious.

  With another jump, I got down again, landing next to the switch box for the power supply. Four quick cuts with one claw, and the casing dropped, so the innards were open to me.

  Insulate claws, this will sizzle.

  Right, left, right, left—the first strike already interrupted power for the whole building, the next three tore the switch box’s content to shreds beyond repair.

  You want trouble, Tengu? Is it worth this price?

  The box could be replaced—but not this night. He’d miss these sales. His staff would, too, but I wasn’t in the mood to be considerate.

  Hasty steps on the roof reminded me of the two guards above the main entrance. Yes, it seemed to be time to leave. So my plan to gather food and intel here was busted.

  Why, after all?

  I camouflaged myself and climbed the roof again.

  While the two guards were searching for me, I scurried forward and watched the spectacle. The first guests had found their way out of the dark club and were now forming small groups in the parking lot. Their talks dealt with the power failure, their drinks, the blowjob at the next table, the only just finished stage show, or which venue you could visit next. I memorized the latter names, and the rest wasn’t exciting.

  This instead applied to the hot discussion Tengu was leading with another acquaintance that only just had come outside. Lead Snot!

  It was understandable that the Dragon cultist whose limbs I had broken didn’t like me. But his doctors had stitched him together well if he was able to walk straight again.

  “You have failed,” the cultist accused the bar chef. “She’s gone.�
��

  “The poison has failed!”

  “Then you’ve picked the wrong dose, and your security was insufficient, too.”

  “Perhaps my men at the rear entrance have—”

  “That would surprise me. Where’s your power supply?”

  “At the rear…” Tengu paused when he understood the implication.

  “A pity. You were useful and your venue amusing.”

  “I will compensate—” He fell silent when Lead Snot stabbed the sharp blade into his heart, and then dropped.

  “Hey! This is neutral ground!” one of the other guests promptly protested.

  “This has been neutral ground because we allowed it to be so,” Lead Snot disagreed and pulled his jacket slightly more open to show an amulet. “Now this place is no longer of importance. Go.”

  The protester flinched, made a deep bow, and then hurriedly observed the order. Numerous other guests copied him. Those who only now left the venue were told their own story by Tengu’s corpse, so they didn’t stop to raise unnecessary questions.

  Lead Snot seemed to be willing to wait until all guests had left the venue. That pleased me, as I still planned a visit to the kitchen. After all, I had come for dinner, too.

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Nineteen

  The last sounds in the guest room fell silent, and steps disappeared toward the exit. I swallowed the last bite of fish and waved goodbye myself.

  Outside, before the main entrance, I found Lead Snot seeing the last guests and employees off with a friendly smile. Patiently he waited until they had entered their cars and driven away. Only now, his two fellows showed up. I had been able to hear and smell them in their hiding place, and now I recognized them as his old company.

  “He botched it, right?”

  “She’s here, only that counts,” Lead Snot advised him. “We’ll find her soon. Where should she go, anyway?”

  “Right, where should I go anyway?” I echoed behind the three. They tore around, two were reaching for their shoulder holster, while Lead Snot already attacked me with his knife.

  One kick sufficed to send the knife flying far away—with one hand, I grabbed his arm and tossed him over me. One forward somersault brought my feet into reach of his fellows, one kick each against their chins took them out for the moment.

  Lead Snot wasn’t out of business yet after his hard landing. He was just reaching out with a shuriken when I got back on my feet, and he tossed the sharp throwing star at me.

  In a single flowing motion, I caught the star from the air and sent it back on target. One point drove deep into Lead Snot’s knee and made him scream.

  “Just go on like that.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I’ve been away for a while. Why don’t you bring me up to date?”

  He only made a defiant face and kept his mouth shut.

  Well then. He wanted to play it the hard way, so I stepped close and sent him to sleep. Then I carried him and in turn his two fellows back inside the venue and decorated them on the stage with the aid of some SM requisites.

  One bucket of cold water later, he was awake again. First he shook his head, and then he noticed his clothes missing and the uncomfortable position on the rack to which I had fastened his arms and legs. The shuriken still stuck and had to cause him significant discomfort.

  In the total darkness, he couldn’t see anything, unlike me. Nor could he hear me. That simply had to unsettle him.

  “What’s coming now?” he asked. “Whips? Knives?”

  I didn’t need such. I had learned from a master—Hermann. I hadn’t brought a set of needles, but I had my nano claws, which could be as thin as I needed them. I knew my own anatomy very well, and I was able to transfer this knowledge.

  With Lead Snot, it worked even better. He neither saw nor heard anything until I stabbed.

  In the end, he talked.

  Okay, Jo, and now?

  Now I knew almost everything about the organization of the Dragon cult, Tokyo section—their meeting places, their strength, their rituals, and their sometimes extremely unpleasant punishing methods. What I didn’t know were their plans. A guy like Lead Snot seemed to be better suited to spread fear than to implement strategic plans. Accordingly, he wasn’t told the truly important things.

  Moreover, he was no truly tough guy. The third little prick, each after a longer waiting phase in the dark, had broken his resistance. Lucky me, as I was no truly tough girl either, and, most of all, no ice-cold torturer.

  Before I left the venue, I fetched another snack-to-go from the kitchen. The three snots would probably soon have terrible cramps from their racks, if they didn’t go mad in the darkness first. I didn’t have to worry for them to die of thirst, though. At some time during the day, someone would take care of Tengu’s corpse and then surely check the venue, too.

  My next goal was clear—before someone found Lead Snot and before he could report his failure, I had to utilize the gathered intel. The night was still young!

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Twenty

  On the way to my next target, I had to admit to myself that I no longer felt entirely fresh. After all, I had immediately become active after the power-consuming crossing. Meanwhile, I was up for more than twenty-four hours, and even if my nanos could help me to shy the tiredness away with little adrenaline rushes, I was still a human who needed her sleep. Without the necessary break, the risk of making a mistake quickly grew.

  During my studies, I had collected enough experience with this. Still without nanos, but with a nighttime side job, I had performed enough such missions to assess myself. Only it was a big difference between whether I was briefly absent-minded during sex, whether I missed a lecture detail that I had to repeat later, or whether I intruded the headquarter of a criminal organization that wanted to see me dead.

  I set myself a limit. Only tonight, no longer waiting intervals, no observation position hanging from a ceiling somewhere. I wouldn’t stay until the message about Lead Snot’s fate arrived. Perhaps I wouldn’t learn anything then, as criminal gang leaders had to sleep as well sometimes, but according to Lead Snot’s words I might still have good chances before midnight.

  He had only visited the headquarter once—a penthouse in the city, only about half an hour by car away from Tengu’s bar, on the eighteenth floor of a well-protected office building.

  To me, well-protected only meant that I didn’t take the main entrance. Why should I try to cheat the camera surveillance of staircase and floor doors? The outer wall with its dark marble slates offered good support and cover, so that I was upstairs in no time. The conference room’s outer windows weren’t specially secured, only proofed against sound.

  So I drilled a tiny hole into the window seal with one claw and pushed a nanoscope through. Then I added a small membrane to pick up the aerial vibration and observed.

  Five people were assembled, three men and two women. They were obviously in the middle of a heated discussion.

  “…tells us lies when she opens her mouth,” a man with a little beard ranted. “I’m sure she’s already planning how to get rid of us. That’s no basis for collaboration.”

  “You are right, Takumi. This agreement is geared toward treason,” the white-haired man at the table head said. “We’ve already figured that out collectively before entering negotiations. We’ve taken measures to limit the potential risk stemming from it. But we had also agreed that the benefit of such a cooperation would exceed the risk, especially during the first takeover phase. We don’t have access to armor suits and plasma weapons—both will give us a tremendous advantage.”

  “Yes, my Grand Master.”

  “We have three days left. Can the supporters arrive that soon, Sakura?”

  “They shall arrive the day after tomorrow. We only have to make sure that they can land unmolested, and that won’t be a problem. We’ve prepared an incident for distraction, in case it becomes necessary, and we have enough servants on site to take out the secur
ity.”

  “Are there any problems in the government district?”

  “No. There we’re strong enough to deal with everything. We have an authoritative concept for the access road blockades, have our people in key positions to prevent or at least delay a military intervention, and we know all crucial points for the attack.

  “Shinji, what about the palace?”

  “No contacts. The imperial guard remains out of reach for us. As long as we can’t show our strongest trump card, they won’t speak with us. Our plans provide for the respective level of uncertainty, but if we can’t show on the day of decision, we’ll have to count on significant resistance.” The speaker glanced at the second woman at the table, who in turn addressed the chairman directly.

  “Grand Master, I still advise against sending our treasure into a battle with uncertain outcome. He isn’t grown up and not trained for it. It’s too early.”

  “Aoi, your task is to prepare our treasure. Are you able to cope with it?”

  She lowered her head. “Yes, master.”

  “Very good. Our treasure will play his part. Our new allies will offer appropriate protection and at the same time be able to effectively break any resistance in the palace. There’s hardly any risk.” He moved his arm in a circle. “May the Holy Dragon be strong for us and in us. Go.”

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Twenty-One

  I was very tempted to follow Aoi, in order to reach her treasure before the big bang. Of course, Lead Snot hadn’t known his lair. Accordingly, after my descent, I watched the garage exit and the main exit for one hour, but Aoi must have taken a different route, as I didn’t see anything of her.

  A pity.

  So there were only three days left until a concerted double strike against government and imperial family. Only two days until Jana’s suits would arrive. Thereafter, countermeasures were hardly possible. That left me with just two days to find potential allies and warn the targets—if they allowed me to warn them. At the same time, I had to expect numerous people responsible for security standing on the wrong side. That meant I had to start at the very top. On such short notice!