by Ada Haynes
They soon found themselves around a table in one of numerous rooms in Watanabe’s house. Ekbeth, Sarah-Lysliana, As’leandra, Najeb, Kalem, Lyrian. Watanabe and Matheson. This time, Maire Kincaid was there as well.
Watanabe was frowning. “What’s this that you told Jeffrey? You think Shona is alive? I saw her dead body before you took her away to cremate her, Ekbeth.”
Ekbeth nodded. “I know how it sounds. I set fire to her funeral pyre myself. Still there are some signs…”
Ekbeth let As’leandra tell their hosts the latest news. The reaction was the same as in the Council. Consternation.
Watanabe was the first to get over it. “So you think she’s alive because a stone with her name carved on it appeared on a lake shore? Is this a joke?” All the As’mirin present around the table shook their head.
Watanabe growled, “Please, how naïve do you take me for?”
As’leandra said, “We don’t have an explanation for this yet, Toshio, but you have to believe us. She is alive, somewhere, until we can prove it’s not the case.”
Matheson shook his head. “I can’t believe it. She would have contacted us if this was true. She would have told us.”
Watanabe looked grim. “But she didn’t. I can only say this… is… not… a good sign!”
The two men had had a much longer history of knowing Kimiel than the rest of the people present in the room, but Watanabe had expressed the general feeling.
Ekbeth asked, “What do you think she’s up to, this time?”
Watanabe answered with another question. “Did you have time to look into the accounts we gave you? The ones where we have no transaction statements? She may have used them recently.”
Ekbeth looked at Lyrian, who shook his head. “I’m still going through the paperwork for most of them. I did look into the ones at our own bank. No movement there, but I was not expecting otherwise. If she’s using her own money, and doesn’t want us to know she’s alive, she certainly won’t be using those accounts!”
Matheson said, “I think she’s in Germany. In Hamburg. And she’s just waiting for the perfect moment to kill Kellerman.”
Everyone looked at Matheson. Watanabe thought about this for a moment. “She had almost four months to kill him, Jeffrey. To my knowledge, he’s still very much alive. That does not sound like Shona. At all.”
“Unless…”
Watanabe glared at Matheson. “Care to elaborate, Jeffrey?”
“You remember what she did to the Triad lord who had threatened Yeshe?”
Both Watanabe and his wife blanched. Maire Kincaid whispered, “She can’t do that! Not to his office! It’s a huge building! I’ve seen pictures of it on… Oh, my!”
Matheson nodded quietly. “On our network! Shona has been collecting information on Kellerman for months. It was quite an obsession for her at one point, but I don’t think she had been contemplating repeating her worst ever exploit prior to Kellerman hiring someone to kill her. It is a huge building indeed. You need preparation, careful calculation, money, material. Hence the four months.”
Watanabe shook his head. “She would at least need the structural plans to do this.”
“We had the building schematics as well. Yes, we all know how useless she was with computer software, but she had the passwords to log in remotely. She just needed to find someone to explain to her how this works. I need to check the log. It might be a more solid proof of her existence, if we find something in them.”
Ekbeth asked, “Can you tell us what you are talking about, gentlemen? What did Kimiel do to that Triad Lord?”
Jeffrey gritted his teeth. “She asked someone to put a bomb in his office. The whole building blew up. She got fifty persons killed in that explosion.”
Watanabe made a face. “It certainly made the other Triad heads think twice about continuing the war. They offered a truce not long after. But she killed a lot of innocent people in that act. She never asked me if I agreed with it either. She just did it.”
Watanabe shook his head. “We need to warn them, Jeffrey!”
“I can’t just call the building security and tell them to check for a bomb or explosives, Toshio! They will never believe me! Even with the schematics, how would she manage to find the quantity of plastic needed? And to put it in place? We are talking of a skyscraper here!”
Ekbeth had an answer to this. “She’s been training with our Caller since after her Trial. I don’t think that positioning plastic would be a great difficulty for her, if she has the building plans. I’m not even sure she’d need to spend money on it, if she knows where to find explosives.”
Kalem intervened for the first time since his arrival. “I know someone in Hamburg. Not working for Kellerman’s company, but at the head of an important security firm. He’ll believe me if I tell him I’ve heard rumors. He’ll warn Kellerman’s security.”
Ekbeth nodded. “Do it then. Now.”
Kalem left the room. Watanabe took over the conversation. “If those men find explosives in Kellerman’s building, this will be the final proof we needed that Kimiel is alive, but she’s going to be mad when she sees her plan falling apart and she’ll resort to a more direct solution. Kill Kellerman, preferably in a very public place. She’ll want everyone to know the reason behind her act!”
Ekbeth could imagine the scene. The chance that she would survive was very narrow. The chance that he would be able to help her out of the situation if she survived was nil. Except if he transferred her out of jail, but he would need to approach her to do that, he or another As’mir, and he would not be able to do it discreetly. He certainly did not want his name associated to a suicidal killer, even if she was the Aramalinyia.
Kalem came back. “My contact promised to call back within an hour with news.”
“Good. So, the question is, how can we prevent her from committing public suicide?”
Matheson looked at Watanabe. “We should kill Kellerman ourselves.”
Watanabe shook his head. “I can’t do anything without serious evidence, Jeffrey. I already explained this to you. Kellerman has some very close high-level friends in the Triads, among others. Killing him out of the blue would make them very angry. We don’t want to get into another survival war.”
Both Matheson and Maire Kincaid shook their head.
As’leandra spoke. “We need to find her.”
Kalem snarled at her, “Of course we need to find her, Akeneires’eli. Last time, we managed because she made a mistake. A mistake she won’t make again. And you’ve just heard her best friends saying they had no clue she was still alive. That means no known mobile phone number, no email address, not even an address. Yes, we may have a location, but Hamburg is a big city. We’ll never find her, or at least not fast enough. We can’t Call her either. So how do you propose that we find her exactly?”
As’leandra was taken aback by his reaction, but Sarah-Lysliana snapped back. “No need to be so aggressive, Kalem. True, we have no clue where she is. Why don’t we try to solve the problem for the opposite side? She knows where we are! Can we get her attention? Tell her to contact us?”
Watanabe shook his head. “She’s not really responsive to messages when she’s in such a murderous mood, Sally. I’m sorry.”
She showed her stubborn side and continued arguing. “There must be something to which she would react for sure!”
Maire nodded. “Her son, Toshio! We have to tell her we’ve found Sonam.”
That bit of news did not surprise Sarah-Lysliana apparently. Interesting how that woman seemed informed of all the important events. She shook her head. “Too personal. We need something we can put in the news. In the papers, on TV, everywhere.”
Maire Kincaid suddenly jumped out of her seat. “I know! I know!” She certainly had everyone’s attention now. “We are going to put the White Lady on sale, Toshio! At Sotheby’s, or Christies. They’ll inform Kellerman! I’m certain Shona is keeping track of his activities! She’ll hear of it!”
Matheson nodded. “There’s also the risk that she’ll just come to the house and take the sculpture from the safe.”
Ekbeth was glad that he could at least help with that bit. “You remember that message I gave you when you brought me back to the airport, Matheson? We could use the same trick on the sculpture.”
Matheson smiled. “Of course!”
Ekbeth was glad the situation was growing less grim. All this talk of explosives, murder and suicide had made him fear the worst for a while.
He still had to get over the idea that she was still alive, but damn if he was going to lose her a second time in such a short time.
They had a good plan.
First Kimiel.
He would arrange Kellerman’s punishment himself. Watanabe was apparently afraid of going after the man. Understandably, if they had no proof to bring him to court. At least not one on this side. Ekbeth did not have such restrictions.
Kalem’s phone rang. This time he did not leave the room. It was a very short conversation, and most of the talk was from the other end of the line.
Kalem was grim when he finally hung up. “My friend wants to know how I’ve come by my information. The security found some plastic in the walls. Not the inoffensive kind, and not a small amount of it. They are evacuating the building. Seems our timing was perfect. The bomb was in place and just needed a fuse.”
“In the walls? How did she manage to put it there?” asked Watanabe. Then he looked at the As’mirin present around the table and sighed. “Of course. Nothing worse than opening a safe or walking through the walls for you, I suppose. I’m glad we’ve found her before it was too late. We have to act quickly. I’d say we have three days. Maire. Call your friends at Sotheby’s. Ask them to make a special sale. I’m going to put a few extra things in the lot to convince them it’s worth their effort. And insist they have to shut up about the previous owner’s name.”
“They’ll ask for more commission.”
“Fine with me. If they link this to us, Kellerman won’t bite.”
67
Maire’s contacts at Sotheby’s were eager to help when she told them they would get fifty percent of the sale price as commission if they managed to organize the sale before the end of the week. They asked when they could see the goods so that they could start preparing the catalogue.
Kalem brought the auction items, with Matheson and a few other security members of Watanabe’s team providing additional protection. Just to reinforce the importance of what was entrusted to the auction house.
The experts were certainly impressed by the objects. Though all their interest quickly went to the White Lady.
Ekbeth understood it perfectly. He had had plenty of time to admire the little white jade sculpture. It was perfect. It was unique. It was priceless. Only, it was not his.
Matheson told the expert the sculpture story—how it had been made by Yeshe, the famous Bhutanese jade sculptor, for his wife, and so on. The enthusiasm only grew. They had just the perfect customer in mind, they told Matheson. A big collector of Yeshe’s work. With any luck, the artifact would hit the million pound mark.
They took all the pictures they needed, and then the collection left Sotheby’s, back to Watanabe’s house. They could not take the risk that Kimiel would try to steal the White Lady from the auction house. It was just impossible to keep an eye on the sculpture from inside Sotheby’s. Kalem and Najeb took turns next to the safe.
Ekbeth tried to concentrate on the decoration of his new house. He had signed the contract that morning while Kalem was in London.
Luckily, Alyasini offered her help. She was a much better interior decorator than him, anyway.
*
Kimiel did not try to steal the sculpture from the safe. No, she entered the house in the middle of the night and pointed a gun at Watanabe’s head, demanding to know what he thought he was doing?
Watanabe, calmly, pressed the alarm button on the small device he had been given by Kalem. Twice to signal she was armed.
Then, as instructed, he tried to talk to her. This time, Kalem took no risk. He was lucky enough that Nukri transferred him to the perfect position for a hit, but the rest was all his doing. He hit Kimiel on the back of her head, hard. She collapsed on the bed. Thankfully, without any shots involved.
That’s how Watanabe related it to Ekbeth afterwards. Kalem’s version concurred.
Ekbeth was impressed that Watanabe had managed to stay so cool under the threat.
He was not sure he would have been.
“Where is she, now?”
Kalem shrugged. “Watanabe decided to trust your talent as a negotiator. He just warned me to allow her to cool down her wrath first. So I’ve asked Nukri to send her back into the cistern under the city and given her some of that drug to prevent her from calling herself out of the situation.”
“Nukri’s going to tell everyone we’ve found her.”
“No. I’ve explained the situation, Ekbeth. He owes you for having solved Akalabeth’s problems to everyone satisfaction. He’s going to keep it quiet. She can shout all she wants in the cistern—no one will hear her!”
“Good. How long do you think we should wait?”
“Watanabe advised at least six hours.”
“That much?”
Kalem nodded. “She had never pointed a gun at him before, he told me. Even in her worst moments.”
“Fair enough. So let’s wait, then I’ll ask Nukri to transfer me in the cistern.”
“Ekbeth! It’s not the best place to have a friendly discussion. It’s humid, dark and small.”
“I can bring some light. Think for a second! I have no place where I can discreetly talk to her. Because I’m pretty sure she’s going to scream at me!”
Kalem finally nodded. “We’ve taken care of the gun, but she’s still dangerous without it. I want you to stay in contact with Nukri at all times. And please take some time to talk to Watanabe before you go and meet her. He has experience in dealing with the effects of her crisis, as he calls it.”
Ekbeth nodded grimly. “I certainly will.”
*
He waited a full day before he asked Nukri to transfer him inside the cistern.
Discussion with Watanabe had been helpful, if not reassuring. It had mainly confirmed that he had to be cautious around her.
The cistern was a really dark place, damp and smelly. He was glad he had thought of bringing a lamp. He could not see her at first, so he raised the lamp above his head and slowly turned around in the cramped space, cursing silently about the layer of filth his feet were currently in.
She moaned and covered her face with her hands when he finally discovered her, curled up against the wall. Kimiel was not a pretty sight. Wild chopped hair. Blood on her face, blood on her hands. She had probably spent some time hitting the stone wall. Still, it was her all right.
His first reaction was to drop the light and take her in his arms.
First, check her state of mind, Watanabe had said.
He crossed his arms, thinking furiously, but could only say, lamely, “I’m still not sure I’m glad you’re alive after all, Kimiel. What were you thinking? Pointing a gun at your best friend? A man that has saved your ass twice at least?”
She spit on the ground. “Go to hell, Ekbeth! This is not your problem! Why are you bothering?”
So, still pretty mad. He took a few steps back, until his spine hit the other side of the cistern wall.
“Your friend Matheson made very clear to me that you were my responsibility from now on. So here I am, trying to prevent you from doing something you’ll regret later.”
She hissed, “Toshio has no right to sell the White Lady! Yeshe sacrificed his life for it! Doesn’t that count?”
“Look at me, Kimiel!”
>
She was used to the light by now. She lowered her hand. Her face was really not a pretty sight. Covered with blood, mud and dried tears. But her eyes were blazing.
He talked to her sternly. “Did it enter your mind, Kimiel, that Toshio may have announced he was selling the White Lady to get a reaction from you? To hear from you? You, who kept quiet for four months—four months—that you were still alive? We’ve been grieving for you, Kimiel! We missed you! Why didn’t you tell us?”
It slowly dawned on her. He could see it. She hit the ground with both fists. The smelly muck splattered on her face but she did not seem to notice. “I hate you all! A trap! This was a trap!”
“True, but we were a bit desperate to get your attention before you did something stupid. Even more stupid than trying to blow up Kellerman’s main office!”
She hit the wall with one hand. Hard. Fresh blood started oozing from her palm.
“You! You were the one who called security! I was almost ready! It took me weeks of preparation!”
She threw a ball of mud at him. He was glad it was only mud.
This was not going well. There was no point in discussing this with her as long as she was still so mad at him.
“Maybe I should leave you here to reflect on your crimes a few more hours, Kimiel. I am not your enemy. Neither is Toshio. We are trying to help.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. That man is evil. He kills to get what he wants! He killed everything I held dear. He killed my husband. He killed my daughters. All this for a little piece of jade! He had no right. I hate him! I want him dead!”
Daughters? He was fairly certain the use of the plural has not been a mistake.
He tried a different approach. “You’ve killed your fair share of people as well, Shona.”
“It’s not the same! It was never the same.”
He could see tears on her face. Fresh ones. Almost there.
“Daughters, Kimiel? I’m only aware of one daughter, and that’s ours. I’ve discovered a lot about your past recently but Watanabe only told me of your son, Sonam. Who Watanabe found, by the way.”
She remained silent for a moment. Probably registering that bit of news.
