“An Ulfhednar,” Yasu answered. “The word is German. They were old Norse champions who were part of Odin’s elite forces, kind of like berserkers. They were said to be shapeshifters, which fits.”
“Fits what?”
“They’re humans with bioengineered limbs that have highly explosive chemicals inside.”
“What do the chemicals do?”
“It makes them human suicide bombers. They can avoid detection on regular scans since their arms look like regular body parts unless someone knows exactly what they’re looking for. The people carrying the Ulfhednar parts might not even know they have the explosives wired inside of them.”
“How’s that possible?”
“Say it was stored inside a fake lung or somewhere in the intestines. A person could be carrying the explosives and not know, since their bodily functions would be the same. They’d be walking along and boom! They’re dead and they’ve killed everyone around them.”
“That’s scary.”
“And fascinating. Hold on. Lift up your arms.”
“Why?”
“Let me check you.”
Bishop raised his arms. Yasu used the sensor on his portical and checked Bishop from toe to head. “You’re not an Ulfhednar. But I want a live subject so I can see how Metzger tricked the body into accepting the fake parts.”
Bishop did not think Yasu would catch the irony in his voice, but said, “If I find one, I’ll send it your way.”
“I’m glad you’re so cooperative. We want you to head to Long Beach and search for a Stanley Sugimoto. His name was on the receiving end of the mecha parts. We have contacts there who are looking for him as we speak. If any of them find him, they will notify you.”
“But Akiko-san just told me to stay here and follow up with the Yamamori family.”
“Check your portical for new orders.”
Bishop did and saw that Yasu was right. The assistant director of the Tokko had personally sent him the order to pursue Stanley Sugimoto and capture any Ulfhednar he came across. Bishop was surprised, as he’d never heard from the Tokko’s assistant director before. Why was he contacting him instead of Akiko? Did they know something that went even beyond her clearance level?
“There’s eighteen of them out there, according to Metzger’s lab,” Yasu excitedly informed him.
Bishop thought he heard wrong. “Did you just say there’s eighteen Ulfhednar out there?”
“Yep.”
“Where are they?”
“No idea. But Dr. Metzger was trying to sell them to at least thirty different clients,” Yasu replied. “He had some Ulfhednar on board the cargo plane Bloody Mary seized. One of them was killed by Bloody Mary, which is how I connected everything.”
“So Bloody Mary has them now?”
“Probably,” Yasu replied.
Bishop understood now why the mission was urgent enough to warrant the assistant director’s attention. “Is there any good news?” he asked.
“What was the bad news?” Yasu asked back, and his total sincerity worried Bishop, even if he knew it was just Yasu being Yasu.
* * *
—
Bishop’s flight to Los Angeles was fast. Before he even hit the ground, he received several emergency messages that were sent to all Tokko agents. He felt an anxious knot in his stomach that got worse as he read the report. There’d been a bombing at the Alvarado Sento. Summaries and footage from the scene played. He had a difficult time watching Captain Yokoyama of the Sohei under duress. Even though there was no confirmation, Bishop was certain it had been an Ulfhednar that had caused the blast.
He received a call from Reiko and agreed to meet her at the Sento. The Tokko had a car ready for him, and he input his destination so the car could automatically drive him.
It was a thirty-minute drive from the airport. He noticed his sister-in-law had called back, so he dialed her.
“Hi, Maia. Are you doing okay?”
Video of her face replaced the front window. “I’ve been better. What’s going on with the bombing?”
“I can’t talk about it, but I’m in L.A.”
“Can you come by?” she asked.
“Later in the week,” he replied. “For now, I’d strongly advise you to avoid public places.”
“What about this Bloody Mary that was threatening everyone?”
“We’re investigating,” Bishop said.
“Are we in danger?”
“If you are, I’ll send someone to help. How’s Lena?”
Lena came on the screen and waved.
“Lena!” Bishop said with a smile. “I saw your music video.”
“How was it?”
“Really good. I’ll be by soon, but I have some work to take care of.”
“You’re coming to the concert?” she asked happily.
“I hope to.”
“After the concert, can we go back to the ice-skating rink? I want their shaved ice cream.”
“If you’d like,” Bishop told her. He was going to say more but noticed he had several new emergency reports demanding his attention. He wanted to ignore them but knew the Tokko monitored his portical usage. “I’ve got to get going, but stay indoors for the next day or two and I’ll see you soon.”
Maia came back on. “Before you hang up, I need to talk to you about something.”
“What is it?”
“Lena’s been acting up in school.”
“How?”
“She’s been telling everyone she’s going to join the Tokko and investigate them,” Maia said.
The image of his young niece acting as a Tokko agent brought a chuckle, though Maia did not seem pleased. “I’ll talk to her and let her know it’s no joking matter,” he assured her.
“I hope you can get through to her,” Maia said. “She’s as stubborn as her father was.”
The call ended. Bishop had seen how stubborn his niece could be. As a baby, if she didn’t like certain foods, she refused to eat and cried until she got what she wanted, which was usually what the adults were eating. “You’re spoiling her,” his brother complained lightheartedly.
“Life is too short for bad food,” Bishop had replied jokingly as he mashed up food for his niece (his brother was one to talk, since he was always sneaking bites of ice cream for Lena!).
Bishop focused on the report on his portical. The casualties from Alvarado numbered in the hundreds, and they were still finding bodies. Emergency services had spent the entire evening trying to put out the fire.
He flipped the orbit to photos from his past. Saw the one of himself and his ex-wife on a trip with his late brother, Maia, and Lena when she was just a baby. He marveled at how fast she grew every time he went to see her, from being completely dependent to crawling, standing on her own, then walking. He still remembered the first time she’d yelled “Uncle Bishop!” and feeling strange to be called “uncle.”
Bishop met Reiko near the Alvarado Sento as two new emergency mechas arrived to assist with the fire. They gazed at the bomb site, both at a loss for words.
“The Tokko screwed up,” Bishop finally said.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because we didn’t catch Bloody Mary before she did this.”
“This wasn’t on you,” Reiko said.
“This is the Tokko’s job, right? Track all internal threats. Some of our agents are so busy tracking petty thought crimes, they let the big one go by.”
“Petty thought crimes can lead to serious thought crimes,” Reiko said.
“Don’t tell me the company line. Nazis have officially denied the bombing,” Bishop said. “They’ve even passed on their condolences. But our forces on the Quiet Border are on high alert.”
“They should be. The Nazis are the ones who’ll gain most from this.”
“No.”
“She might have left.”
“I hope so,” Reiko answered.
“Where’s the governor right now?” Bishop asked.
“He’s in hiding. But I don’t know how much good that’ll do since even the Sohei got wiped out by Bloody Mary.”
Bishop knew Bloody Mary was deadly, but the ease with which she’d dispatched the Sohei, the elite of the elite, was disconcerting. “You think Bloody Mary has someone on the governor’s team?”
“Could be. The Alvarado Sento had tight security. It’s not like just anyone can get inside. And the Sons of War were the target,” Reiko revealed.
“How do you know?”
She explained about General Kondo.
“I’ve asked for security footage from inside the Sento,” Bishop said. “It’ll take them a few hours to extract it if it survived. We’re trying to get a log on everyone who was there.”
“Whoever did it had to have known when and where the Sons of War members were meeting.”
Bishop looked at one of the S&R mechas as it elongated its arms to spray water at a new fire that had broken out. He told Reiko about the Ulfhednar.
Reiko looked at the charred remains of the Sento. “Do you think an Ulfhednar was involved here?”
“I do. We’ll have to wait to get the forensics report for Yasu to confirm it.”
“So it’s a good bet Bloody Mary has more of these Ulfhednar and a whole bunch of mecha too,” Reiko said as she began connecting the dots. “Do you know what the public’s reaction was to Bloody Mary’s threat?”
“According to my feeds from infrastructure and transportation, people are fleeing the city. Fortunately, traffic should be going away from Long Beach, which is my destination.”
“Why Long Beach?”
Bishop explained about Stanley Sugimoto.
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
“Would love your help.”
“There’s something else.”
“What?” Bishop asked.
“The tracker I put on the assassin’s tiltrotor is only forty kilometers away.”
Bishop checked Reiko’s portical and it pointed east, the opposite direction from Long Beach. Cossack’s assassin was nearby.
“They’re from Los Angeles?” Bishop asked.
“Looks like it.”
“Which do you want to do first?”
“You’re under orders for Sugimoto, right?”
Bishop nodded. “The contacts I was given are still on the lookout for Sugimoto, but they’ll let me know as soon as they spot him.” He could feel something was off in Reiko’s stiff, almost deadpan tone. “Where exactly did the assassin land?”
“According to official maps, it’s abandoned government property.”
“You don’t think it is?”
“I don’t know. I’ve tried asking, but I’ve been told there isn’t anything out there.”
“You don’t believe them?”
“If it wasn’t only forty kilometers away, I might have.”
“Do you mind if I try finding out?” Bishop asked.
“You can do that?”
“I can try,” Bishop replied.
Reiko relayed the tracking coordinates to Bishop’s portical. Bishop forwarded them to the Tokko operators, who’d in turn investigate. To his surprise, he received a call from Akiko-san almost immediately.
“Are you in Los Angeles?” she asked.
“I am. I received new orders to follow up in Long Beach with a Stanley Sugimoto.”
“I see. Why are you asking about these coordinates?” Akiko asked over the portical.
“The assassin’s getaway aircraft landed there.”
“It’s a secret training station for the Sohei,” Akiko replied. “I’d advise you to stay away. I’ll have agents from the Los Angeles office investigate. I’ll be arriving in Los Angeles shortly as well.”
“Thank you, Akiko-san. One other thing. My niece is in the city.”
“I’ll send agents to take her to safety.”
“Thank you, Akiko-san.”
He hung up and told Reiko that it was a Sohei training station.
“What the hell?” was Reiko’s reaction.
“Does that mean the Sohei executed those eight political targets?” Bishop asked, confused as to why their own special forces would be involved.
Reiko did not answer.
“Who’s controlling the Sohei?” Bishop asked.
Reiko again hesitated to answer. Bishop figured it out himself.
“It’s Governor Yamaoka and the Sons of War, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“But that makes no sense,” Bishop said. “If the Sons of War deliberately sent special forces to kill Nazis, that’d be a direct provocation for war.”
“Maybe that’s what they want,” she said.
“Then why send them while we were there unless—” and he connected the dots. “Your Sons of War wanted to blame us.”
“It’s hard for me to believe. There’s other explanations for this,” Reiko stated.
“Like what?” Bishop asked, dubious.
“Like the Sohei acted on their own, or they had another agenda, or it’s not even the Sohei. We can’t assume anything until we get the facts, but we can only be in so many places at once.”
“What reason would the Sohei have to act independently without orders?”
Reiko mulled on the question. “I don’t know. But we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”
Bishop nodded. “My boss will follow up. We can focus on tracking down Sugimoto and, through him, Watanabe and Bloody Mary.”
Reiko nodded without much conviction. Bishop recognized that despite her strong front, doubt had crept in.
He empathized with her, and even though they were short on time, he felt a short break was necessary for them to recharge. “When’s the last time you ate?” he asked.
“I’m not hungry.”
“I’m starving. Let’s just get something quick. Do you know anything good nearby?”
“We can grab a burger to go.”
“I don’t eat meat, so anything else?” Bishop replied.
“Really? I remember we went to Shanghai for burgers, didn’t we?” Reiko checked with him.
“I used to eat meat then.”
“What converted you to the dark side?”
There was a part of Bishop’s life he never spoke about. But he understood what Reiko was going through and thought it might be helpful to share. “During Texarkana, I was captured by the Nazis thanks to shitty commands from my superiors.”
“I read about it in your profile.”
“The Nazis tortured me, burned me. Even now, whenever I smell meat getting cooked, I feel nauseous.”
“I’m sorry,” Reiko said.
“I’m sorry for bringing it up. But whenever I think about those officers who sent me, I get pissed off.”
“I’d be too,” she replied.
There was an uncomfortable silence which Bishop broke by asking, “Do you know any good noodle places?”
“I do. But don’t you feel bad for plants? They’re conscious too.”
“Do you feel bad?”
“Horrible. C’mon, I know just the place.”
Unlike downtown, large areas of West Los Angeles were flat in comparison. Miracle Mile and Beverly Hills were booming commercial and residential strips, though Rodeo Drive was a street full of shops selling cheap wares made overseas. The rest of the way to the restaurant was filled in by phalanxes of apartment buildings sprawling down La Brea, Wilshire, and Fairfax.
The noodle shop Reiko wanted to go to was one stre
et over from them on La Cienega, which was home to restaurant row.
“This place has the best Ise udon. Their noodles are perfectly thick and chewy, and their black sauce is exquisite,” Reiko said, hoping good food would help make both of them feel better.
“I don’t know,” Bishop replied dubiously. “There’s only a few places in Ise-Shima that do it right. I’m very skeptical about Ise udon outside of the main island.”
“There’s a really good tiger blowfish restaurant right next door if you’re feeling a little more daring.”
“I’ll give the udon a try.”
“You’re making me nervous.”
Bishop chuckled. “Don’t be.”
The inside of the restaurant was smoky and damp. The inner chamber had a bright red light, and the lack of an air conditioner was making both of them sweat. But the smell of the udon conquered all hesitation.
The space where they could sit was tight, and Reiko ordered the Ise udon.
When it arrived, Reiko watched Bishop’s reaction. He took a bite, was about to say something when a call came.
“I’ll be back.”
He stepped outside.
Yasu went on a long diatribe about how frustrated he was with the agent who’d collected the samples from the Alvarado Sento. “‘Terrible amateur’ would be a compliment for his incompetence,” Yasu complained.
“Were you able to determine what caused the explosion?” Bishop asked.
“It’s an Ulfhednar,” Yasu said, and gave him more details, including that about a meeting between the suspect and Reiko’s friend Daniela Takemi.
Bishop was perturbed by the rest of the call.
“I’m heading to the Nakahara Unity to investigate further,” Yasu said. “After you find Sugimoto, stop by.”
Bishop came back inside, ready to tell Reiko about it. But she stopped him and said, “Finish the food first and we’ll talk outside.”
He worked on his food.
“Were you always left-handed?” Bishop asked Reiko as he noticed her eating with her left hand. “Or ambidextrous?”
“Why do you ask?”
“It’s a weird thing, but I always remember what hand people use to eat,” Bishop said. “You always ate my sushi with your right hand.”
“I used to be right-handed until Kansas.”
Cyber Shogun Revolution Page 16
