Ministry Protocol: Thrilling Tales of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences

by Tee Morris

  *****

  Beverly was waiting outside, tendrils of blonde hair escaping from tight braids to cascade along the pale white of her neck. Campbell’s height and muscular girth loomed large over them both. His eyes immediately fell to the expanse of flesh from her collarbone to her corset. “Well, hell—”

  “Can it, Agent Outback,” she said, her voice taut.

  Puzzlement mingled with his charm. “Have we met?”

  “Yes, two years ago in Arizona, on my uncle’s train. The day he was killed. Walk.” The three of them began down the staircase nearest the study.

  “No, miss, begging your pardon, I’d have noticed you.”

  “You did. You shook my hand.”

  Campbell’s mouth hung agape now. “Cor, I do recall now. Blimey! From gentlewoman to hired muscle, how did that happen?” He looked at them both a moment, and his mouth dropped again. “And wait, you’re with the little guy here? My lord, really?”

  Kuro blushed, but otherwise betrayed no reaction.

  “Keep walking, Outback,” Beverly said. To his surprise, she looked equally flustered. “If you give us information on Amboy, you might just survive this.”

  “What’s to tell that you don’t know? Retired from service a few years ago for unknown reasons, left Arizona for a little island off of Vancouver. He’s madder than a croc dentist. The O.S.M. must miss his inventions, though; I’ll give him that. As clever a clankerton as the Ministry’s wanker of an archivist. Zachary’s wagon ornithopter was a pretty amazing piece of work, before your ninja boy here and his mate blew it up on their kidnapping mission. But you should see what he’s done to his little gunboat. Hell of a ship.”

  “Which would be a problem if we fought him at sea, or on his island,” Beverly said. “You’ll notice that our fortress here is five miles inland.”

  “Be that as it may, you’re fools to provoke that lunatic. Especially with no government agency to leash him.”

  Bruce then looked around. “Speaking of your rice-powered help here, where’s the other one?”

  Kuro glanced at Beverly. After holding her gaze for a moment, he looked forward. “Enough chatter, Outback,” she said. He raised his hands in mock surrender.

  They continued in silence across the compound, into a gas lit hallway lined with closed doors beneath another monastery building. The samurai’s thoughts went to Hideo’s burial mound, on the nearby hilltop where he’d taken his own life.

  “All right, I can’t hold it back any longer,” Campbell said, staring at Kuro’s brass right forearm. “What happened here? Did your hand go bad?”

  Kuro replied in English, without hesitation, “There was an incident in my homeland. Your Ministry colleague, Kitty O’Toole, was there when it happened. You should ask her about it.”

  Bruce moved quickly, grabbed the metal hand, held it up to his face. Kuro’s left hand went to his sword grip, Beverly drew her pistol; but Campbell only gave the glove an inquisitive look.

  “I will, mate,” Bruce replied. “I’ll also ask her about the English teachers in the Land of the Rising Sun. You got a real command of the language there.”

  Now it was Kuro’s turn to arch a brow. This one was far more clever than he led others to believe.

  “The rubber grooves on the fingers give me a secure grip,” Kuro said, snatching his hand back from Campbell. He unlocked the third cell door and held it for him, thankful that Amboy’s son in the next room made no noise.

  “That arm chugs louder than a locomotive, mate.” Bruce snorted as he stepped into his cell. “I guess you Japanese will never be known for your technological devices.”

  “Our koala guest is quite impressed with himself,” Beverly said. “Is he a worthy opponent?”

  Kuro looked Campbell from head to toe. “Agent Campbell carries himself like a true warrior. But I don’t think there’d be any honour in dying by his hand. He’s too—”

  “Foul? Uncouth?” she suggested.

  “Crude.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Bruce said, beaming.

  Miss Beverly’s smile was colder. “We’ll meet again, Mr Campbell.”

  The agent stepped into the cell. “Planning to keep me company tonight?” He winked at Beverly as the door shut in his face.

  They nodded to the guard on watch and ascended the basement steps. Kuro walked in silence, his thoughts returning to the bombastic adventurer locked away in the depths of the Fortress. The man cast a shadow across his duty that unsettled him.

  “What do you think about his warning?” she asked, snapping him out of his reflection.

  Kuro paused, squinted in the grey twilight. “I fear that we have woken a sleeping giant.”