by Gary Jonas
He rose and got a cup of water. As the water trickled into the paper cup, Amanda wriggled in her seat.
“Great,” she said. “Now I have to pee.”
She took the journal with her, but as she left the room, she jumped back into the office.
“Whoa!” she said. “You really scared me.”
Victor Pavlenco stepped into the office. “The door was unlocked,” he said, “and lights were on.”
“Come on in, Victor,” I said.
Amanda slipped by him and headed off toward the restroom, but tossed a quick look at his ass before leaving. Victor nodded to me then looked at Colin. I made introductions and told Victor to sit down in Amanda’s vacated chair.
“No, thank you,” he said. “I won’t be staying.”
“So what brings you over here?”
“I’ve been thinking about what you said.”
“About Jonathan?”
He shook his head. “About the werewolf problem.”
“What about it?”
“Should you require my assistance, I shall volunteer.”
“Can you track a werewolf with those heightened vampire senses?” I asked.
“I suppose that depends upon where I’m to begin.”
“We can go back to Ichiro’s place.”
“Will he be nearby?”
“Some guys took him away in a car.”
“So he could be anywhere.”
“Pretty much.”
He laughed and started for the door. “When you narrow it down to something less than the entire front range, let me know.”
“And you’re just going to leave?” I asked.
“You may call me,” he said.
“I’m not buying it,” I said. “Why did you really come over here?”
He raised an eyebrow. “It is as I told you. I bid you farewell for now.” He stepped into a shadow and disappeared.
“What the hell?” I said.
“Was that a real vampire?”
I nodded.
Colin grinned. “I’m so glad I met you. By the way, I think he likes you.”
“Be serious,” I said.
“He came by, saw the lights on, and stopped in to see if you were here. He looked disappointed when he saw me and Amanda.”
“Nonsense,” I said.
“Makes a lot of sense to me,” he said.
“What makes a lot of sense?” Amanda asked as she returned.
“Nothing,” I said. “Did you learn anything?”
She handed the journal back to Colin. “We can’t cure him exactly. There’s a spell in the book, but it’s more of a transference spell. If Ichiro was cursed rather than bitten, I can take the curse from him and give it to someone else.”
“How is that going to help? Doesn’t that violate your witch’s ethics?”
She shrugged. “It’s a bit into the shades of gray area. If we can get him to come with us to a hospice center, I can transfer the curse to someone who’s dying. No harm, no foul. Greater good and all that jazz. What do you think? Pushing it?”
“And if he was bitten?”
“Get those silver bullets ready. One thing about the cure that I should probably mention here, though.”
“Am I going to want to hear this?”
Amanda shook her head.
“Well, don’t keep me waiting,” I said.
“For the transfer to work, he’ll need to be wolfed out at the time.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
When we entered the hospital, I got that sensation of being watched again. It wasn’t Nori because this was far too obvious, and it felt like more than one person. Without drawing attention to what I was doing, I glanced this way and that, but I didn’t see anyone. Amanda and Colin had no idea that I’d been checking around us.
One thing that concerned me was that after the excitement here earlier, security might want to detain me and call the police for me to answer questions. So far, so good. Security wasn’t paying any attention to me.
“I don’t see why I had to come along,” Amanda said. “I’d rather go home and read this journal.”
“The journal belongs to me,” Colin said. “It must remain with me, and I want to stay with Kelly. This is the most exciting day I’ve ever had.”
Amanda shook her head and hit the button for the elevator. I leaned against the wall as we waited for the car so I could check down the hallways. Nothing out of place. No odd characters hanging about. The woman at the front desk was no longer in sight, and she was a middle-aged black woman and hadn’t paid us any attention. Could they be watching through the security cameras? I always note cameras, but it’s not something where I can tell if anyone’s watching. This felt different. Maybe I was being paranoid.
“You’re awfully quiet about this,” Amanda said. “Earth to Kelly.”
The elevator doors swished open and I motioned her and Colin inside. “You’re along for the ride because the full moon is out and I might need a magical distraction.”
“What kind? I’ll need to prepare something.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “You were a Girl Scout back in the day so be prepared.”
Inside the elevator, the feeling of being watched disappeared. Definitely not cameras then because there was a camera in the car. When the doors opened and we stepped into the fourth floor hallway, the feeling returned. Again, I looked around without seeming to, and spotted nothing out of place. The antiseptic hallways stretched along the building with rooms on either side, while the center was broken up by a nurse’s station. A few carts with medical supplies stood against the wall between rooms, and a janitor with a bucket mopped the floor. He had his back to us, and I got the impression he didn’t know we were here, so if he was watching us using a camera, he was very good. The far end of the hall held a large window with the lights of Denver glowing beyond the glare of the fluorescents. Two women sat at the nurse’s station, but nobody else was in sight. Monitors beeped, machines hummed, televisions blared. But nothing seemed off kilter.
Except for that feeling.
“Something wrong?” Colin asked.
I shook my head. “The room should be this way.” I pointed down the hall toward the janitor. He didn’t pay any attention to us as we moved to Wakumi’s room.
Cho’s eyes lit up when I stepped inside. She smiled, yelled, “Kelly!” then rushed over to me and threw her arms around my waist.
I ran my hands down her hair. “Hi, Cho. How are you tonight?”
Cho gave me a shrug. I took that to mean, as well as can be expected under the circumstances.
Wakumi was still out. Tubes connected, machines humming. The window shade was open, but a glance toward it simply showed city lights off in the distance and a slight reflection of the room.
Jennifer rose from her chair and stretched. “Any luck with Ichiro?”
“Not yet,” I said, keeping my eye on the window. I introduced her to Colin.
They did the nice-to-meet-you routine while I stood with one arm around Cho and turned to look at Wakumi.
“No change,” Jennifer said.
“I don’t want to leave her here,” I said. “I’m getting a bad feeling.”
“Are you psychic too?” Colin asked.
“No,” I said. “Haven’t you ever looked at something and you just knew something was wrong without being able to say what it was?”
“You’re straying into Malcolm Gladwell Blink territory,” Colin said.
While I hadn’t read the book, I was familiar with it so I nodded.
“Amanda, do you know any healers?”
“Sure, but most of them work for DGI, and the freelance healers are expensive.”
“Pardon me for a moment,” Colin said. “But did you say healers?”
“Low level wizards who can heal injuries with magic,” Amanda said.
Colin nodded toward Wakumi. “You’re thinking a healer can take care of her injuries?”
“They could,” I said, “but
it’s out of my price range, so we’ll need to find Ichiro. He can afford it.”
“Probably cost less than the hospital bill,” Amanda said.
“Yeah, but I’m not paying that either,” I said.
Colin frowned. “For the sake of argument, aside from the obvious benefit of healing her wounds quickly, why would you ask about bringing in a healer now? Do you fear for her safety?”
“Someone is watching us,” I said. “If they’re watching me, that’s one thing, but if they’re watching Wakumi that’s totally different.”
“Why would they be watching an injured woman?” Colin asked.
“Her tires were slashed yesterday,” I said. “She didn’t do it, and Ichiro said he didn’t do it. Nori didn’t get there in time to do it.”
“Nori?” Amanda asked.
“I think someone else is involved here because the watchful eyes weren’t on us until we got here.”
Amanda grinned. “Good thing you’re here then.”
“And when I go home?”
“Well, whoever you’re sensing hasn’t done anything so far.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way.”
“Will you watch something with me?” Cho asked.
I looked at Jennifer, but she gave me a shrug.
“What do you want to show me?” I asked.
Cho took me by the hand and led me to a chair where she had an iPad. “I miss my daddy,” she said.
“I know, sweetie.”
“He reads me a story every night,” she said.
“Except for nights like this,” I said. “I’m sorry about that, Cho.”
“No,” Cho said, tapping away on the iPad. “He reads to me every night. Look.” She sat down, and tugged at me to sit, too. She turned the iPad. A YouTube video filled the screen.
It was Ichiro. “Hello, sweet cheeks,” Ichiro said. “Tonight is one of the nights I can not be with you in person, but I do not ever want to miss a night with you, and I am still right there with you in my heart. Tonight I will read you one of my all-time favorite books.” He held up a worn hardcover copy of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
“See,” Cho said. “He reads to me every night.”
She smiled and watched the video.
Movement outside the window.
A man crashed through dressed in a tight navy blue outfit with the only skin visible around his eyes.
“Ninja,” I said and launched myself at him.
Cho screamed.
The ninja tried to defend himself, but I kicked him out the broken window. He shot outward, started to drop, then swung back toward me. I noticed the dark bungee ropes just as he crashed into me and knocked me backward. As I’d seen him coming back, I was able to take the hit and slide with it, but he jerked backward before I could grab hold of him.
He caught himself in the window, stepped down and drew a short sword as two more ninja darted in from the sides of the window. The main ninja sliced the bungee rope and stepped toward me as the other two stood back. They each had bungee ropes and wore both ashiko foot spikes and shuko hand spikes for easy climbing. They also made great weapons.
The room wasn’t big enough for them to spread out.
“Colin, get Cho out of here!” I said. “Amanda, I hope you have something ready.”
Jennifer tried to flatten herself into her chair. Her eyes were wide, but she didn’t scream. She waited for the ninja to pass then rushed over by Wakumi’s bed.
The janitor rushed over, took one look, and ran back toward the nurse’s station.
One of the ninja slammed a smoke bomb onto the floor. I held my breath as the room clouded. I couldn’t see, but I could hear and sense movement. I whipped my arms around in a form I learned from a silat master. As the ninja advancing toward me had a sword and I was empty handed, I knew I was going to get cut. The key here was to make sure any cuts were superficial, so my arm movements kept my outer arms forward. I began by holding my left arm in front of me at gut level palm down. I placed my right elbow on top of my fingers and my right hand open and flat as though I were holding a plate like a waiter.
In quick movements, I moved to block, sweeping down with my right hand while sweeping up with my left beneath my right forearm, then sweeping back again the opposite way. This quick movement was designed to block an incoming attack while always keeping the meaty part of my arms safe from the blade. It was possible to take multiple cuts on the bony side of the arm without incapacitating damage. Take them to the inner arm and you’re done. Granted, I could heal quickly, but why take more damage than necessary?
I backed away sweeping my arms in the defensive form and took only a minor cut to my right arm. Once I felt the blade, I didn’t need to see the ninja. As I pushed the blade down and away, I bolted forward and in a flurry of savage blows and kicks, stunned my attacker. One of the hits knocked the sword from his hand. I followed that with an uppercut that snapped his head back and a throat punch dropped him like a sack of potatoes. I crushed his neck with my boot and gave a bone crunching twist to make sure he’d never cut anyone again.
Over the intercom I heard, “Code Gray, fourth floor. Code Gray, fourth floor.”
Great. We were going to have more company.
I still couldn’t see anything. I wanted to call out to Amanda, but I needed my breath for battle. My ears told me what my sight could not. The ninja were going after Wakumi. I hurried to the window to block their exit and gulped a breath of fresh air once I moved through the smoke.
Unfortunately, as soon as I turned to deal with the approaching ninja, another kicked me in the back as he swung through the window. I staggered forward and they all darted outside and climbed toward the roof.
“Oh no you don’t,” I whispered, and rushed back to the body. I yanked his hand and foot spikes from his corpse and slipped them on. Then I raced out the window, and climbed to the roof.
Two ninja carried Wakumi between them, and another ninja stood at the edge of the roof waiting.
I pulled off the foot spikes and threw them. One smacked a ninja in the shoulder, but it didn’t stick. The other ninja managed to dodge the final ashiko. He passed Wakumi to his brother, drew his short sword and strode toward me. To draw the sword, he removed his spiked climbing gloves, but I kept mine on. The rooftop gave us room to maneuver, but neither of us cared about that.
He walked right at me, so I smiled and headed straight for him, too.
Short story long, I left one of the spiked gloves embedded in his head, and caught his short sword before it hit the roof tiles.
He died in less time than it takes to tell you about it.
Ninja, meet Sekutar warrior.
The ninja in charge stepped forward, touched his underling, and pointed at me.
He said something in Japanese and the underling nodded.
I kept walking toward them, purposeful and ready to dispatch them in order to rescue Wakumi.
He spoke to me in Chinese, but I shook my head.
He switched to English. “You killed two of my men.”
“And you two are next,” I said, closing on them.
He shook his head. “I have no quarrel with you. You may take Mrs. Himura. Before you do, I’d like to talk with you. No tricks.” He held his hands up to show he didn’t hold a weapon.
I stopped seven feet away.
“I am impressed,” he said. “I apologize for the misunderstanding. I know you have only Mrs. Himura’s safety in mind, and I most certainly respect that.” He patted his underling on the shoulder. “Saburo, please return Mrs. Himura to the young woman.”
Saburo gave him a silent nod and carried Wakumi to me.
“This is merely a business deal gone bad,” the man said. “I offer my humble apologies for the inconvenience.”
As I reached to accept Wakumi, someone thrust a sword through my back. I turned my head and saw two more ninja, and before I could turn back to the speaking man, I found myself airborne.
The sons of b
itches threw me off the roof.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I hit the pavement hard, breaking my collarbone. My head smacked the sidewalk and the impact sent white flashes through my vision.
A woman screamed.
Footsteps sounded on the pavement.
Two deep breaths and I managed to roll onto my hands and knees. I pushed myself to my feet. Police sirens sounded in the distance, and I just knew they were coming because of the Code Gray.
The same valet who’d helped me with Wakumi rushed over.
“Holy shit!” he said.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” I said.
“Holy shit!” he said again.
The ninja team was long gone, so I turned my back to the valet.
“Could you be a dear and pull this sword out of my back?”
“But … but … but…”
“I don’t have all night.”
“Maybe I should call one of the doctors.”
I turned, grabbed him by both arms, and gave him my commanding voice. “Just grab the handle and pull.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
When I turned around again, he yanked the blade from my body.
“Thank you,” I said.
He stared at the bloody blade. I took it from his hands, and he gazed at me in wide-eyed wonder. The sirens were closer.
“Will there be anything else?” he asked.
“Can you set a collarbone?”
His eyes grew even wider.
I patted him on the shoulder. “It’s all right, I’ll get someone else to do it.”
And I walked away.
I tossed a glance back his way. He still stood in the same spot staring at his hands as police cars screeched into the lot. I avoided them and maneuvered my collarbone into place as best I could. It felt right, and inside fifteen minutes it would be healed. If I had it wrong, I’d need to break it again and have it properly set. Fortunately, I’ve always been good at this sort of thing.
***
It was phone call time. Amanda called first. “You might want to make yourself scarce,” she said. “Colin and I barely got to the elevator before security swarmed Wakumi’s floor. Jennifer didn’t get out, so I suspect she and Cho will be there for a long while.”
“I’ll meet you at the Blue Bonnet over on Broadway,” I said. “Oops, Jennifer is calling. Gotta go.”
