Girl Rides the Wind

by Jacques Antoine

  “Don’t you think Li Li would love this?” Andie held a sundress into the light. “Just think how cute she’d look.”

  “We can do all this after,” Emily moaned. “We’re gonna be late. Plus, there’s a Hachiman shrine I want to go see this afternoon.”

  Rumi Kano’s home, a modest row house on three levels, occupied the middle of a residential block whose only distinguishing feature was the red tiled gate of a Buddhist temple at the far end. A pair of large, black SUVs parked out front suggested that she already had company, unless these were just dignitaries visiting the temple – but that seemed unlikely.

  Mrs. Kano greeted them at the door with a bow, and invited them in to her crowded sitting room. Emily didn’t recognize most of the people there, except for a large man in a grey suit, with one arm in a sling, and Takeshi-san, who stood next to him, whispering in the older man’s ear.

  “We are all so grateful to you for Akane-chan,” Mrs. Kano said, after she’d finished welcoming Yuki and Andie to her home.

  Emily smiled nervously. This was not looking to be the cozy occasion she’d hoped for, and she couldn’t quite figure what business so many official–looking types might have in a tiny row house in an unimpressive neighborhood. “I see you have company. Perhaps we should come back later.”

  “No, please, no. You are the reason all these people are here.”

  Kano rushed to his mother’s side, and bowed nervously. A few uncomfortable exchanges later, Ozawa stepped over to see her.

  “Once again, we are all in your debt, Tenno-san,” he said, in his gruffest voice, punctuating his remark with a deep bow.

  “On the contrary, Ozawa-san, I am sorry to have been the source of so much trouble. I fear that I became a pawn of the conspirators.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Kano said. “The prejudices of a few isolated fools are not to be held to your account.”

  “When the Crown Princess asked me to get a message to you, I had no notion things would turn out like this,” his mother said. “You turned out to be the little peach tree that grows larger than anyone could have expected.” She glanced up at Ozawa, who nodded. “Now there is someone who would like to have a word with you.”

  She took Emily by the hand and led her into the kitchen, while Ozawa-san engaged Yuki in conversation. The Crown Princess was already sitting at a table on which a teakettle steamed. Another woman sat next to her, rather older and strangely familiar. Could it really be... the Empress herself? Emily bowed deeply, and whispered, “Your Highness” as loudly as she could manage, but she seemed to have lost her voice. The Dowager Empress smiled back and nodded, but said nothing.

  Meanwhile, the little princess, who’d been fidgeting in a chair between her mother and grandmother until Emily appeared, seized on this opportunity to climb down from her chair and run over, throwing her arms around Emily’s waist. “Ama,” she cried, and Emily hoisted her up so that legs might also wrap themselves around her.

  “I’m so glad you’re safe, little one,” she whispered into Toshi’s ear.

  “Tenno-san,” the Crown Princess said, her face strained and taut. “I hope you can see how much we value your service. The Empress insisted on meeting her granddaughter’s savior, and Kano-san has informed us of the extent of the debt we owe to you.”

  Emily bowed as much as she could without disturbing the little head resting on her shoulder. “I’m sure he has exaggerated, Your Highness.”

  “You will have to let me be the judge of that… and I hope you will understand if we do not honor you publically… yet. Your presence at the enthronement would seem only appropriate, but Ozawa fears that it might embolden certain extreme elements still at large.”

  The Dowager Empress nodded and smiled, and Emily bowed again, this time managing to free herself from Toshi’s grasp. The little girl stood next to her grandmother and waited for the hand that would caress her neck and head.

  “However, I cannot say that you have not caused me some discomfort,” the Crown Princess continued. “It is difficult for me to allow any respect to be paid to the woman who would have killed my daughter. By acting as you did in front of Kano-san, you have bound my hands in this matter. I would very much have preferred to leave Heiji-san to die in shame and misery.”

  “I… I…, your Highness, I am deeply…” Emily stumbled through a few more attempts to find the correct response. The Dowager Empress nodded and smiled again, and Emily found the shine in her eyes strangely comforting.

  “On this subject, the Empress has intervened on your behalf. She is so kind as to remind me that we are not permitted to be guided by a mother’s natural sentiments. We must regulate our feelings to serve the nation.”

  Emily nodded, speechless. The Dowager Empress rose and stepped around the table with her granddaughter in tow, and stood directly opposite Emily. She reached over to touch Emily’s hand and bowed slightly, and said, “Thank you.” The little princess seized Emily’s hand, pressed it against her cheek, and said, “Ama.”

  “Tenno-san,” the Crown Princess said. “We will seek a public occasion to honor you. It is not just out of personal gratitude to you that I would honor your service, but also because it is in the national interest… to remind some of our people of the dangers of foolish and invidious prejudices.”

  Emily pulled her hand free and bowed. “Your Highness, if you will permit me, and this is, I’m sure, not the proper moment… and I am almost ashamed to bring it up… but there is a difficulty I need your assistance with.”

  “How could I refuse you, especially when you begin so graciously?”

  “It’s about one of the Chinese prisoners…”

  “You are referring to Lieutenant Yan Hui. I presume.

  “Yes, Your Highness. I am worried that if he is sent back to China, he will be killed.”

  “It is more likely that he will have to face our own justice first. Ozawa has informed me that your State Department has already made a request concerning him. Is that your doing as well?”

  “No, Your Highness, but it is an outcome I would prefer.”

  “You ask a lot, Tenno-san. Why are you interested in his fate?”

  She’d resisted explaining this very thing, when Michael had asked, but he didn’t possess nearly the influence over her heart that the Crown Princess did. “Lieutenant Yan helped me… without him, I would… he protected me, so that I could get…” Emily glanced at the little princess, who stood next to her, pressing her face under her grandmother’s arm.

  “I see,” the Crown Princess said. “My husband has no role in judicial decisions, or matters of state security.”

  “But behind the scenes? Surely the Prime Minister would be moved…” She let that sentence drift off, in the realization that she had pushed as hard as was appropriate. The Crown Princess smiled and said nothing for a moment, as her eyes searched Emily’s face.

  “Why don’t we see who may be waiting for us in the other room.” The Princess rose and Toshi instinctively reached for Emily’s hand, but the Dowager Empress remained in the kitchen, still preserving her retirement from public view. Everyone stood the instant the Crown Princess stepped through the kitchen door into the front room.

  “Oh my god,” Andie said through a gasp.

  “Your Imperial Highness,” Yuki said with a deep bow, and as soon as she noticed, Andie did the same. “We did not expect to see you when we came… or we would have…”

  “I am pleased to see you, Kagami-san, and once again it is because of your daughter’s service. We do not yet know how to honor her. Will you introduce me?”

  “Oh… forgive me, Your Highness. This is our very good friend, Andrea Cardano. Michiko-san grew up in her house.”

  Ozawa whispered into the Princess’s ear. “I am pleased to meet you, Cardano-san,” the Princess said, speaking now in impeccable English. “I have heard your name, and that of your husband. I regret not having the pleasure of meeting him today as well.”

  “You are too ki
nd, Your Highness,” Andie said. “He will be disappointed to have missed his chance to meet you.”

  “Kano-san, I am full of regret to learn that you did not serve as kaishakunin for Heiji Gyoshin.” The Princess had turned to face him, and spoke softly, as if she wanted to limit the impact of her words. “You have misunderstood my wishes. Hers was a noble heart, and I would have my people remember how to appreciate such a spirit. The nation has lost something with her passing, and the ritual of seppuku is intended to mark that loss.”

  Kano grunted and lowered his head.

  “Tenno-san has already done much for the Japanese people, and I am relieved she was present to take up the sword then, too, even if I regret imposing on her once again.”

  Yuki’s face turned pale at these words and she clutched at Andie’s arm. Emily bowed her head toward the Princess.

  “In recompense for your error, Kano-san,” the Princess continued, “each week I will ask you about the young lady, Heiji Gyoshin’s niece, Okamoto Haru. She is now your special charge. I expect to hear that she is doing well, as she is all that remains of the Heiji clan, and must not be allowed to fade into obscurity and poverty. Also, please inform her grandfather that I wish her to take up the Heiji name.”

  Later, as they walked through the streets Andie bubbled over with excitement. “Is that what she’s always like… you know, the Crown Princess? Is she always so gracious… so forceful? She dresses so elegantly, and her daughter…”

  Yuki heard nothing of Andie’s chatter, not even minding her own steps, and nearly stepped off the sidewalk into traffic. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she said, when Emily pulled her back.

  “I didn’t think it was important.”

  “Not important… you cut that woman’s head off.”

  “It wasn’t the first time,” Emily muttered.

  “You did what?” Andie had stopped in her tracks.

  “I assisted at a suicide.” Emily wished they would let it drop, but knew they couldn’t. “That’s why I need new dress whites. There was some spray.”

  “Oh my lord,” Andie said, her face beginning to turn green. Yuki took her hand and guided her to a kneeling wall on the edge of a nearby park, in case she felt unsteady… or queasy. After a moment, her head seemed to clear, and she regained the power of speech. “What woman?”

  “Gyoshin Heiji.”

  “The coup plotter? How did you even find her… I mean, if the police couldn’t?”

  “It’s a long story, but somehow I think the Princess had a hand in it all.”

  “The Princess is right,” Yuki said. “She has relied on you too much.”

  * * *

  “Does this island even have a name?” Connie had to shout to be heard over the engine noise and the spray.

  “Not really,” Danko said. “I like to call it ‘Tammy’s Island’, but Hsu Qi has another name for it.”

  Given the cost of renting the fishing boat, Connie had seriously considered whether she shouldn’t just buy it outright… if only there were any of Michael’s cash left. All the same, she felt an obligation to bring him home, especially given what Emily had told him back on the Blue Ridge: “My friends call me Em.” She took that to be tantamount to a command, and made her plans accordingly.

  “You’re sure she’s George’s daughter?”

  “Will you just give it a rest, Danko?” Connie glowered at him, and then sat on the vinyl-covered bench behind the flying bridge. “You are obsessed with Walker, and personally, I’d rather forget about him.”

  “Now that sentiment I can understand, though one might wonder how you got involved with him at all.”

  “Give me a break. It was orders… at first. There I was, fresh out of the Academy, and some shadowy type from ONI tells me I’ve been assigned to an operative from NSA. What was I supposed to do?”

  “But it didn’t end there, did it?”

  “No.” Connie scowled, and stared at the worn out teak slats under her shoes. “I was young and foolish, and Walker was charming.”

  Danko snorted at that remark. “He was a total psycho.”

  “Yeah, that too. What you have to understand is how boring my previous assignment had become. At least following him around provided some excitement.”

  “… not to mention all the killing.”

  “Let me guess, you and George were a pair of boy scouts?”

  “Fair enough. We got into our fair share of mischief.” Connie laughed at this bit of understatement. “But George was nothing like his cousin. Walker killed for pleasure. We never did that.”

  “There’s a fine distinction.”

  “Okay, okay, but explain to me where she falls on the spectrum between George and Walker?”

  “When I met her, she was a lost lamb… well, maybe not quite a lamb…”

  “… more like a lion cub, I’m guessing.”

  “Whatever she was, one thing was clear: she was confused and alone, an innocent caught in a very adult game. Meacham was hunting her mother, and Burzynski got into the act after George was killed. He even sent an assassin to her high school graduation, a sniper.”

  “That’s cold.”

  “A week later, Walker led a team of mercs to take her out.”

  “She eluded them somehow, I suppose.”

  “Nope. That’s not her way. She faced them head on.”

  “Now that sounds more like George.”

  “And here’s the best part. As we’re getting ready… me and her uncle Theo…”

  “You mean the SEAL from the BHR?”

  “Yup. It’s just the two of us and a handful of security guards, with small arms and one sniper rifle, and Walker’s assembled two dozen black-ops specialists… he’s even got a damn gunship with him… and at the last minute, she tells us leg-wounds only.”

  “Okay, fine. I’m beginning to get the picture.”

  Two hours out of Pulau, the saddleback silhouette of Tammy’s Island emerged over the horizon, bright under the early afternoon sun, and Connie remembered the uncanny sensation of seeing it the first time, almost three decades ago. George and Danko had persuaded her to fly them down from Manila, chatting her up to get her to do something outside regs. She’d seen through Danko’s smooth line, but didn’t care, or perhaps merely felt like having an adventure.

  As they approached in the fading light of the afternoon, George had asked her to drop to a hundred feet and circle the eastern edge. He’d wanted to recon the overall shape, and their current vector created a similar view. Not much had changed, as far as her memory served, including the unsettling feeling produced by the very landmass itself. Is this how Emily feels when she goes into one of her reveries?

  Since the dock had been dismantled, they had to anchor offshore, and paddle in on the dingy.

  “Something’s not right here.” Danko pointed up at a camera secreted high up a palm tree. Connie would never have spotted it by herself, but this was his island. “It’s not operating. The power must have been cut.”

  “What’s the power source?”

  “Solar arrays on the southern slope of the saddleback. A few were damaged in a storm, but that wouldn’t account for this. Come, this way.”

  Danko set off at a run, cutting through the jungle to find a side entrance to the underground complex. He pulled aside the overgrown foliage that masked it, and Connie helped him pull open an iron door.

  “The lights aren’t working.”

  “Is there a back-up generator?”

  “No, but there are lots of torches.”

  They hurried along both main corridors, peering into every room, but the complex was deserted. Here and there, they noticed signs of a hasty departure, but no clear indications of violence.

  “Where is everyone?” Connie asked.

  “They’re gone,” Danko said, once they re-emerged into the late afternoon sun. “Shit, I need to get to Davao. There’s no time.”

  The End

  Also By Jacques Antoine

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  And look for these other titles from The Emily Kane Stories:

  Girl Fights Back

  Girl Punches Out

  Girl Takes Up Her Sword

  Girl Takes The Oath

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