by Ada Haynes
With As’leandra at her side, Kimiel looked out of the limousine window. Beijing was so different than Shanghai or Hong Kong. Less glamorous, certainly dull in comparison, but it certainly had charms of its own. That applied particularly to the city main attraction, the Forbidden City. She had visited the place a few times earlier, but it looked as if the ancient buildings had recently received a new layer of paint and that, this time, the gold leaf had not been spared. Perhaps it was just an effect of the lighting surrounding the building.
Whatever. It felt as if the old Imperial Palace had recovered its ancient glory, and were it not for the clothes worn by its visitors, you might well have imagined being in the distant past, waiting patiently for the Emperor to show up. All the courtyards were jam-packed with important people.
She had a short moment of panic. Too many people. The noise was so overwhelming she could not hear what Najeb was telling her. The heavy incense the party organization had cleverly burned to cover the food smell made her sneeze.
Toshio offered her his handkerchief. “Are you all right?”
She nodded and looked around her. People were looking at them with curiosity. Toshio was a known figure in this crowd, and their arrival with no less than ten bodyguards had been anything but discreet.
She had a mission to fulfill. She was not alone. No time to panic.
“Look at them, Toshio. They probably all think I’m your mistress!”
“Not all of them, Shona. Some know exactly who you are!”
She played the role that was expected of her. Let Toshio show her around the place, and introduce her to some of his acquaintances. She laughed politely at jokes, and accepted toasts, though she was very careful with the quantity of alcohol she drank. Her role tonight was primarily silent, but they would never get the desired reaction if Toshio or Najeb had to carry her away.
All in all, it was just a game.
Toshio managed to locate one of their potential candidates by himself, but had to ask around for the other two. It took some time, but at least he had been right. All three of them were present tonight.
As’leandra casually approached each of them, then turned her attention elsewhere. Or so it seemed. The younger woman had explained to Shona how the mind reading worked. According to her it was just a bit like a Caller’s work. She had to create a mental link to the person whose thoughts she wanted to read. She did that simply by touching them. Afterwards, it was just a question of staying focused. She had learned to manage that in a crowd when necessary, she told Shona. Shona hoped it was not all banter from the girl’s side. They would not have such an ideal occasion a second time.
When Shona was certain As’leandra had linked to the three men, the next step was hers. She needed them to notice her. Recognize her. If they had not already.
In the end, it proved easier than she had thought. There were few foreigners at the party. They were quite easy to notice, with their lighter skin and hair, even among the tall Chinese.
Toshio was accompanying her towards the end of the second internal courtyard when he suddenly stopped, and changed direction.
“What’s happening, Toshio?”
“Nothing.”
It was so unlike him, she glanced behind her, trying to discover what had provoked his reaction.
It was not a what. It was a who.
She recognized the man and resisted Toshio’s hold on her with all her might.
“Shona! Ignore him! Damn it! I would never have asked you to come, had I known he would be here as well! Najeb! We have to take her out of this place! Quickly!”
She was seeing only the man. The man who had provoked so much suffering!
She hissed, “Toshio, let go of me! Don’t you see it’s the perfect opportunity! Our three suspects are in this courtyard right now. If they are such good friends of Kellerman, they will notice our discussion. Kellerman will be surprised to discover I’m still alive, I’m sure. That will attract their attention. They will recognize me! At least the one who sold me will! And if not, I’m certain Kellerman will try to discuss this nasty surprise with him later.”
Toshio stopped pulling her away. He thought for a moment and shook his head.
“You’re not up to this, Shona. You’re doing your best to hide it, but I know you. You want Kellerman dead. I can’t trust you near him.”
She managed a smile, with difficulty. “Have a little faith in me, Toshio. I promise I’ll behave. I swear I’ll behave.”
Toshio was still hesitating. Thankfully for her plan, Kellerman had apparently seen them and had decided to come over to them by himself.
“My, if it’s not Shona McLeod! It’s been a long time! Almost thought you dead. Have you decided to re-associate yourself with Toshio? What has happened to your gifted husband, Yeshe? Did the isolated life get to you, and you decided to leave him?”
Shona almost lost it when he referred to Yeshe so casually. As if he did not know what had happened to the love of her life.
But then she met Toshio’s stare, and managed a thin smile. She turned towards Kellerman. The man had not changed much in the past years. Same sandy hair, same clear blue eyes. Average build, strong face, and as suave as ever.
“Herr Kellerman! What a surprise! I was not expecting to meet you here tonight.”
His face did not reveal anything. Yes, he had always been good at hiding his emotions. “Neither was I expecting to see you, Shona.”
Shona forced herself not to clench her fists. “My husband is dead, Herr Kellerman. My friend Toshio has been most supportive through this difficult time, and indeed we are thinking of restarting our association. What better occasion than tonight’s party to reacquaint myself with some of our customers?”
He looked sincerely surprised. “Dead? My, I’m so sorry for your loss. And to think the last time I met him we parted on such bad terms because of that little jade sculpture! My condolences, Shona.”
Shona wished she could erase that insincere expression from his face. With acid.
Instead, she bowed her head slightly. “Thank you. I’ll certainly be glad to work for you again, Herr Kellerman. You’ve always been one of our best customers. And you always have the most interesting orders.”
There it was! Just a small tic at the corner of his mouth. Careful Shona! He was getting suspicious.
Toshio put a hand on her arm. “Nice to see you, Kellerman. I would have preferred to keep the news a secret a bit longer, but Shona insisted on coming here tonight.”
Kellerman relaxed a bit, turned his attention to Toshio.
“And you? I thought you were serving a sentence somewhere in Europe at the moment.”
Toshio nodded curtly. “That difficulty has been solved. I’m now ready to start my business again, though I actually never really stopped it. If you’ll excuse us, I still have to present Shona to a few of my other customers.”
This time, Shona let Toshio take her away. When they were at a good distance, he let go of her arm. “Phew, I must admit I would never have thought you could control yourself so well, Shona.”
She shrugged. “I’m not using anymore, Toshio. Makes a big difference, as far as temper is concerned. Though I really feel like screaming and hitting someone right now! What a piece of shit! How can he lie with such a straight face?”
“Experience! And remember, we have no proof he’s behind the sad business, Shona. He might be sincere.”
She did not react. They had argued too many times on this already.
“Kimiel! I know who did it!”
Forgetting Kellerman for now, Shona turned towards As’leandra. “Who?”
Toshio put himself between the two women. “Don’t tell her. Sorry Shona, but I think it’s better that you go back to the hotel now. Let us handle the rest.”
Shona could not believe her ears.
“You can’t do that to me, Toshio. We are talking of the man who sold me to people who tortured me! I want to know!”
“Not while you’re still full of murderous
thoughts, as you yourself just admitted. Yes, you did impress me with Kellerman. But this is different. We need our main suspect to answer questions—not dead. Please, be reasonable. Go back to the hotel and let us handle the rest.”
Shona refused.
He had to have expected that reaction, she later realized, because suddenly everything went black around her.
*
When she regained consciousness, she was lying on Ekbeth’s bed in Kse’Annilis, her head hurting. Najeb was sitting beside the bed.
“Did you hit me, Najeb?”
He did not even try to lie. “For your own security, Kimiel. Toshio was right. It was time for you to leave.”
“And you left As’leandra alone at the party?”
“Watanabe swore nothing would happen to her. You are my priority, Kimiel. Above all else.”
“Nice way to show it. My head is hurting.”
“I know. Sorry about that. Who is this Kellerman, Kimiel?”
She let her head fall back on the pillows and closed her eyes. If she was not moving, the pain was a bit more bearable. “You were there during that part of the first meeting with Toshio. We mentioned Kellerman’s name a few times.”
Najeb had probably heard most of her story from Toshio or Jeffrey, or he had deduced it from what he had overheard, because he asked, “You really think he’s the one responsible for the murder of your husband and his family?”
“I don’t think he is, Najeb. I’m a hundred percent certain. But he has covered his tracks cleverly. I can’t prove anything and he has a lot of power. Much more than Ekbeth. Kellerman’s at the head of one of the biggest world consortiums. Untouchable —or so he thinks.”
She tried to quiet down. Speak calmly. “I don’t care about his power. I want him dead. If not for Toshio, he’d already be dead.”
“I see.”
She gritted her teeth. “Indeed. When Toshio forbids me to do something, I obey. At least I try. Kellerman has been one of Toshio’s best customers for a long time. Toshio is reluctant to lose his orders.”
Najeb was silent for a time before he again spoke. “I don’t get it, Kimiel. I believe your story, of course, but it sounds so fantastic. I’ve seen the White Lady at the Castle. Why would Kellerman go to such an extent for a little jade statue? To hire Chinese soldiers or mercenaries, get them into a closed country as Bhutan, track you and kill so many people? Besides the human aspect, it must have cost him far more than the statue’s value. Isn’t that a bit extreme?”
“I know how it sounds. But you’ve never interacted with the man. Kellerman is a bastard who thinks everything he lusts after belongs to him. I was there when Yeshe said “no” to Kellerman. The amount offered was very substantial, and Yeshe still refused, and explained why. You should have seen Kellerman’s face, Najeb. This is a man who does not take “no” for answer. And he would go as far as needed to get what he wants. This does not only apply to his art collection. He’s just as ruthless in business.”
“Still, Toshio is not convinced?”
“No, but I hope whatever he is doing tonight to this intermediary is going to change his point of view.”
54
Ekbeth was attending another family council and doing his best not to yawn. He was just having too little sleep lately. Too little sleep and far too much on his agenda. He sometimes sincerely regretted his decision to involve himself more in the Na Duibhnes’ daily life. He had never expected this would be so time-consuming.
Family councils were the worst. They could take hours, without any concrete decisions being made in the end. After the crisis with the McLeans’ house, Ekbeth had hoped the mood would change and the council members would be a bit more proactive. After all, the event had allowed him to get rid of three of his worst opponents within the family.
Sadly, it had been wishful thinking. Every single little change he was trying to make in their habits brought an avalanche of protests. Even when he was not proposing changes, they still found something to complain about. His uncle Es’ael, especially, was very creative when it came to complaining. This time it was about the ice quota that Ekbeth had imposed on the cooks last week. At the previous council, it had been all about the insolence the older man had had to suffer from a mere servant.
All the while, as he listened to the nonsense, Ekbeth worried about what was happening at his bank on the Other Side. The stock exchange fluctuations were worrying lately. Of course, he had people who were as able as he was to interpret the tendencies on the Other Side. Lyrian, for example. But he wanted to be there.
The slightest mistake and there would be more spending restrictions in the Valley. He could only imagine what Es’ael’s reaction would be if Ekbeth told him that. He was fed up with the constant whining of his family. It was such a waste of time! But what could he do about it? He hated to admit it, but Kimiel was right. He just could not go on like this for ever.
Thinking of her reminded him of her advice about giving the job to the biggest complainer. The thought brought a small smile to his lips. Well, why not, after all? He suddenly realized Es’ael had stopped talking. The old man was frowning at him.
“Do you find this important matter amusing, Akeneires’el?”
Ekbeth shook his head, and tried to control the sarcasm in his voice. “I would not dare. I already told you, I’m afraid the decision was not only mine, but of the Akeneires’elin council. So there’s not a lot I can do to change it.”
“Have you told them that we, as the most important family of Kse’Annilis, have rights to derogation?”
Ekbeth smiled sweetly. “No, I haven’t, because we haven’t.” He paused for a minute, and then asked, “Do you think you could do a better job than me, Uncle?”
That question certainly got everyone’s attention. This was obviously not the reaction they had been expecting. Until now, Ekbeth had either flatly refused to agree to Es’ael’s requests, or, at best, promised to maybe look into them.
Ekbeth elaborated on his question. “At administration, I mean. I must admit it’s not my strongest point. I don’t have time for it. If you think you can do better than me—and obviously you do, otherwise you wouldn’t complain about my poor judgment—I’m more than ready to delegate the responsibility to you. And by this, I also mean that I’ll allow you to attend the High Councils when the distribution of our resources comes up for discussion.”
Ekbeth had a hard time not grinning when the older man realized what Ekbeth was offering him. The old man stuttered, “You are mocking me!”
“No, I’m not. I’ll be honest. Being Akeneires’el and bank manager is a bit too much for me. I don’t intend to give away any of the responsibilities, but I’d really like to delegate some of them. Administration, for example. I can give you a budget and we could meet a few hours per month to discuss what your needs are for the coming period.”
Es’ael pouted. “A budget! Money! Money is not important!”
Ekbeth reduced him to silence with a stare. “Money is everything, Uncle. It’s not because we’re not using money within the Valley that we don’t need it. No one will deliver food or anything else without a payment for it. You have really no clue how much we are spending per year to feed the community. I can tell you that some cities ten times our size on the Other Side would be happy to have our budget! And sometimes, the prices are ridiculously high, because our suppliers know we are not producing anything here. So we have to either stop or at least strongly reduce our consumption to show them we won’t accept their blackmail. Those ice blocks are a perfect example.”
“Buying the goods is the work of the Na Dearghs! We just have to make a list of what we need!”
“Wrong! The Na Dearghs are buying goods with the money I allow them to spend. Not from your wish list. I work very closely with them. But to come back to my offer, I’m not asking to replace me and go negotiate prices with the Na Dearghs outside of the Valley. Though I’d really like to get rid of that job as well! No, I just expect you to ma
ke realistic lists of goods needed within the family. And check whether we can afford them. Simple arithmetic. Something I’ve always heard you are very good at, Uncle.”
A bit of flattery was never wasted on his relatives. At least it made Es’ael think, instead of arguing with him. After some time, the old man asked, “Can I think about your offer?”
“Of course!”
Then Ekbeth looked at the other Council members. “And I’d be very glad to hear whether any of you wants to help me with some tasks. Any task. I just can’t be everywhere at the same time.”
They were suddenly all avoiding meeting his eyes. Not that it meant they would not think about it. He sighed. “Good. Any other item to discuss today? No! Then I think it’s time to go and enjoy our lunch. Good day to you.”
He left his chair. Kalem was immediately at his side. They walked out of the council room toward his rooms on the upper floor.
“That was clever, Akeneires’el”
“What is the saying, Kalem? Necessity is the mother of invention. I was not lying, I can’t go on like this for ever.”
He looked at his agenda. “Let’s grab some lunch. I have another meeting planned in Moscow in an hour.”
“Akeneires’el! Father!”
Both men turned to Najeb, who had apparently been waiting for the Council to end to talk to Ekbeth. The young man bowed to him, then to his father.
“Father! I have to ask you a favor. Can you find someone to guard Kimiel Keh Niriel for a little while?”
Kalem frowned. “That’s your job.”
Najeb produced an unhappy smile. “Correct. But I can’t do it, at least not for the coming days.”
“Why? I warn you, if that has anything to do with that hobby of yours…”
Najeb interrupted his father. “No. Don’t ask details, but Kimiel is on a mission again. A mission involving a lot of travel and dangerous meetings. Yesterday, her boss Watanabe discovered she was pregnant, and he wants her out of the way. He promised he’d take the mission over, but you know her, she’s not willing to accept his decision. She does not trust his motivation. So I promised I would keep an eye on Watanabe. That was the only way I could think of preventing her from playing her nasty tricks on me again to evade my surveillance. So, I’m going. In the meantime, someone needs to keep an eye on her.”
