by K. T. Tomb
Chapter Fourteen
“Bring in our captive,” Han Ba ordered as she made herself comfortable in the chamber where she conducted the vast majority of her meetings.
Armed with the information her advisers had been able to obtain concerning Nora Kelly, Han Ba was confident that she knew exactly how to turn Nora from a possible rival to a loyal ally. Because she was more or less a “millennial veteran” as an MI and Nora had not even completed a full year, she was pretty certain that the novice who was being brought before her would be no match for her. Nevertheless, she was impressed with Nora Kelly and quite eager to meet her. Though her MI skills were in their infancy, she was certainly capable of defending herself physically. Han Ba had lost almost 100 of hopping jaingshi and half that number of flying jaingshi. That feat was pretty impressive, and it was something she might be able to make use of when the right time arrived. She would need Nora at her side and faithful to her if she hoped to see that time.
Nora was brought into the elegant chamber, still bound with the cords with silver threads woven into them. Han Ba made her first move to lay the foundation of trust she hoped to build up in Nora.
“Why is this precious woman still bound?” she asked. “There is no need for this. We are not enemies. We are friends, almost like family.”
“If this is how you treat your friends, then I do not wish to see what you do to your enemies,” Nora responded. “As for family, you won’t impress me much taking that tack.”
“I apologize for the way in which you were escorted to me,” Han Ba countered. “I had hoped that my associates would invite you to come along, but they made a terrible mess of the whole situation, though I am impressed at how expertly you dispatched so many of them. They deserved it, in my opinion.”
Nora could tell that Han Ba was twisting things to make herself seem more benevolent than she really was, yet something about her manner was drawing her to her. She rejected the idea immediately.
“I don’t believe that you are as innocent in my procural as you pretend to be,” Nora countered.
“Perhaps not,” Han Ba countered. “However, I want you to understand that I do not wish to harm you and that I meant you no harm. It was a test, really, I wanted to see your skills in action. They are quite impressive for a novice.”
“I was well trained,” Nora growled. She was no longer bound, but she could also sense that she was in no danger, so she restrained herself. In fact, now that she was in the presence of the MI she and Liu Lichuan had spoken about before, she was intrigued to find out more about her.
“Indeed you were,” Han Ba replied. It was time to start casting the bait and see if she might set her hook in the young MI. “I have to admit that I’m a bit awe inspired by you and something of a fan.”
“Something of a fan?” Nora questioned. What was Han Ba up to?
“Our world is quite small and people… I refer to them as people, but we both know that they are not people in the strictest sense of the word. Anyway, others in our rather small community have spoken about your skills and I was anxious to meet you.”
“I’m happy that I was able to provide you with entertainment,” Nora groused. She knew that Han Ba was placating her and she remained suspicious.
“Who else, with little more than two months’ training, might have driven a stake into the heart of that arrogant old Impaler, huh?” Han Ba smiled broadly. She started to laugh. “I can only imagine the look on his face. Of course, there was no way of knowing that your efforts only incapacitated him for a while and did not kill him. Nevertheless, perhaps it was a sort of remediation for his arrogance.”
Han Ba was obviously talking about her encounter with the Count Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, who had attempted to seduce her, though he had no idea that she was the one who was the one who was working her magic in an attempt to free her partner, Andrik. There was no point going into that story with Han Ba or revealing her identity and what she was doing in Shanghai. If Han Ba had been able to find her and capture her, then she obviously knew a great deal about her, but there was no point filling in the missing pieces.
“I only wish that it had brought him to his end,” Nora snarled.
“Don’t we all,” Han Ba laughed.
Nora did not join her in her laughter. Her mind was working frantically to figure out what Han Ba was about, what angle she was using and how to get ahead of her.
Han Ba’s laughter stopped suddenly. “I realize that you are not as amused as I am, given the situation, so let me get down to business.”
“Please do,” Nora answered.
“There are two motivations for bringing you to me, besides my admiration of you, of course. The first is one that is related to my loyalty to Hong Xiuquan. You already know that he is the leader of the Heavenly Kingdom.”
“Of course.”
“Well, I was hoping that through your connections, you might help me arrange some sort of alliance with the British government on behalf of Hong.”
“I’m really not in a position to do such a thing,” Nora responded.
“Of course not, but friendships and alliances begin with simple introductions at first, don’t they?”
“I suppose that they do, but I’m not sure that I can even do that.”
“Forgive me for assuming, Nora. I guess I presumed too much concerning your connection to Liu Lichuan. It’s just that…” Han Ba forced her cheeks to turn red and lowered her eyes as though she was chagrined. “It’s embarrassing, really, but, well, there is something of a competition between Liu Lichuan and me to gain favor with Hong and I hoped that I might beat him to securing the alliance. It’s a childish game, of course.”
Nora was pretty sure that she didn’t believe Han Ba’s story, but she wasn’t sure. Han Ba had a charming way about her, which made Nora want to believe her. She forced the idea aside and moved the conversation forward.
“The second motivation?” Nora prompted.
“The second motivation?” Han Ba repeated as though she was confused by the question.
“You said that there were two motivations for bringing me here, besides your admiration of me.”
“The second one you are probably less interested in than the first.”
Nora shrugged.
“Well, I absolutely detest opium. I detest what it does to people. I detest how it destroys people. I detest how it is ripping through our culture and tearing it apart. It sickens me to see the poverty and disease which surrounds the opium dens; poverty and disease caused by those very establishments. If there was some way to be rid of it, if I had an ally in the fight against it, if… oh, it’s probably nothing more than a silly dream…”
Chapter Fifteen
“I know that I was not to come to you unless there was a desperate situation,” Andrik said.
He had been given the identity of a particular MI who was friendly to the realm and lived in the British concession. This particular MI was a contact with some clout and the ability to help them out in an emergency, but Andrik had been sternly warned that the emergency had to be very real because MI-6 was still a bit wary of involving Hadrian in its affairs. Andrik determined that the situation involving Nora constituted an emergency situation.
“The Duke is a bit fastidious about certain things,” Hadrian laughed. “I am always happy to help out those who serve Her Majesty any time. I just wish that they would call upon me more often. What is it that you need?”
“Well,” Andrik began, encouraged by Hadrian’s response. “We’ve run into a problem. My partner has gone missing and I suspect it is the work of another MI in this region, one who goes by the name of—”
“Han Ba,” Hadrian broke in, completing Andrik’s sentence.
“You are aware of this, then?” Andrik asked.
“Not aware of the actual event, but aware of Han Ba and her duplicitous ways,” he replied. “It concerns me a great deal that she has snatched up our dear Nora.”
As far as Andrik knew, Nora h
ad never been introduced to Hadrian. He had never been introduced to Hadrian, only given instructions by Alfred where he might be found. He wrinkled his brow as he tried to understand why Hadrian had referred to Nora in that manner.
“You appear to be surprised,” Hadrian laughed again. “I am well informed about you and your partner, Andrik. In fact, whether you know it or not, Nora is talked about a great deal among our kind. They are quite impressed with her, though perhaps they should be impressed with how well you have trained her.”
“Some of her skills I can take no credit for,” Andrik replied humbly.
“I’m aware of that as well,” Hadrian responded. “Nevertheless, the Duke has obtained an extremely valuable asset in Nora Kelly and we must remedy this issue with all due haste.”
“What resources do you have at your disposal?” Andrik asked.
“Communication, dear Andrik,” Hadrian smiled. “And perhaps a bit of advice.”
“Communication and advice?” The expression on Andrik’s did not hide his disappointment with the response. He had hoped that Hadrian would have access to a vast, well-trained force of MIs who might lead an assault on Han Ba so that he could rescue her.
“Dear boy,” Hadrian responded, recognizing Andrik’s disappointment. “I am a very private man who is among a vast number of unfriendly MIs. I can hardly afford to expose myself in this region. I am certain that you were hoping for a force of MIs to assist you in rescuing your coppery-haired beauty. And you will have that force, provided your colleague Miko is willing and able to provide such a force to assist you.”
Andrik considered the suggestion. He didn’t doubt that Miko would be able to provide the necessary numbers from the New Age MIs located in and around the Crimea. He did not doubt that Miko himself would come. What bothered him most is that Miko might sweep in and act as the dashing rescuer and endear himself a great deal more to Nora. This is not the time to be jealous, he told himself. The other issue was the Duke and Alfred. Could they afford—or would they agree—to remove Miko and friendly MIs from an area which was still in great turmoil? He voiced his concern to Hadrian.
“Such a maneuver would require the approval of the Duke, perhaps Her Majesty even. If that was not enough, communication would take more than a week and require yet another week for Miko and those with him to get here.”
“Communicating with Miko will require less than a day,” Hadrian announced with a great deal of pride. “The slow part of the process will be his communication with London. No doubt your help can be here inside the space of a week.”
“That might not be soon enough,” Andrik replied.
“Don’t underestimate Nora’s capabilities, Andrik,” Hadrian responded. “She can probably hold out against Han Ba for a week, perhaps more. Not to mention that Han Ba will probably toy with her for a very long time before actually doing her any harm.”
“How do you know that?”
“Have you ever watched a cat with a mouse?”
“Yes,” Andrik responded. He’d seen cats kill mice. In fact, a great fear that often struck him whenever he took on the form of a rat or a moth was that he might run into a particularly aggressive cat.
“Han Ba is like a cat. She likes to bat her prey around for a long time before doing any actual harm,” Hadrian answered.
“But sometimes it is the batting and playing which actually kills the mouse,” Andrik answered.
“I will communicate with Miko and we can hope for the best. But in the meantime,” Hadrian smiled, “I would advise that you assemble a few locals to assist you.”
“Locals?” Andrik asked.
“Sailors, merchants and soldiers in the British and American concessions,” he responded. “I wouldn’t bother with the French concessions, though.”
“What are sailors and soldiers going to be able to do against an ancient MI like Han Ba, especially if she has a considerable force of MIs at her command?”
“Do you truly believe that all who appear to be mortals are merely mortals and not MIs like you and me?”
Andrik knew that things were not always as they appeared and an MI could easily hide among mortals without mortals or fellow MIs being the wiser. Were there, indeed, MIs scattered throughout the sailors, merchants and soldiers in the concessions? If he searched diligently, he would probably be able to recognize them. The challenge he faced was that discovering who might help him and assemble them together might take more time than he had available.
“It would take me a great deal of time to flesh them out,” Andrik said.
“That was a clever way of putting it,” Hadrian chuckled. “Anyway, here is where you receive the advice I have to give.”
“Okay.”
“Go to a man in the American concession who goes by the name of George Emery. He can help you with that problem.”
“Who is this George Emery?”
“He is sort of like your Alfred Covington,” Hadrian responded.
“A hunter?” Andrik objected. “That would be pure suicide, don’t you think?”
“George Emery is of the more open-minded sort, like Covington; he’s not a killer, but more like a constable. You understand, of course.”
“Of course,” Andrik responded in a dry tone.
Chapter Sixteen
“There have been secret societies all over China since the weakening of the Ming Dynasty,” Liu Lichuan explained.
Andrik listened to him intently as the Small Sword Society leader worked at laying out a plan for rescuing Nora. In spite of the fact that he was aware that he had been taken advantage of by the MI agent, Liu Lichuan was still quite smitten with Nora. He had a hard time judging the man on that account since he too had been smitten from the first moment he’d met her. A tingling of jealousy was in him still, knowing how well Nora had played her role as the seductress and knowing all too well how efficient she was at pleasing a man. He forced both thoughts out of his head with a stern reminder. Focus on the mission.
“Many of these secret societies have a private agenda that has very little to do with the governance of China at any level, though most of them do assert regional influence over the area where they are based. When Hong launched his rebellion, he already had several of these secret societies, like the Small Sword Society, as allies.”
“It was very insightful of him to make such a move,” Andrik commented.
“Hong is a blessed man and extremely intelligent. He is, after all, the brother of Jesus Christ,” Lichuan responded. “The leaders of these secret organizations were greatly drawn to him in the same manner I was.”
“And Han Ba?” Andrik asked, hoping to move the conversation along a bit. He had a very uncomfortable meeting to attend when he had finished speaking with Lichuan. Though he was dreading it, it was a meeting for which he did not want to be late.
“Han Ba is the leader of a secret society that exercises some considerable strength in the Zhejiang province for quite some time. She has sworn her allegiance and loyalty to Hong, but, as I mentioned, many distrust her, though I suppose they have little firm evidence that there is any reason to. To be entirely truthful, I cannot confirm with certainty that she is an immortal dead—I’m sorry, MI. It is just a great suspicion among many within the Society and the Heavenly Kingdom as well. Many suspect that she was responsible for the removal of Yang in order to strengthen her position with Hong. If that is the case, then I do not doubt that she is planning to do the same with me and the Society. Consequently, I think it is to the Society’s advantage to confront her on the matter and I believe that our alliance will send her a very distinct message.”
It was exactly what Andrik was hoping to hear. “I believe it too. What do you propose?”
“My proposal is to take two dozen of my most trusted men and assist you in an assault on Han Ba’s base in Ningpo. Our objective will be to send Han Ba a message that the Small Sword Society is not to be toyed with and to help you rescue Nora. It is a mutually beneficial action, yes?”
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“It is indeed,” Andrik agreed. “How soon can you be ready to move?”
“As soon as you are ready, you only have to tell me and we will move.”
“That is good to hear,” Andrik smiled. “Be prepared to move by sunrise. I am going to meet with my forces as soon as I finish this meeting.”
Andrik was a great deal less optimistic than what he portrayed to Lichuan concerning the sort of force he would be bringing, their loyalties and their capabilities, but he kept a stiff upper lip an unspoken rule of being born a Brit.
“We will be ready,” Lichuan replied.
Andrik dismissed himself from the meeting with Lichuan in an entirely different manner than before. He walked out in the exact same manner that he had walked in. After all, he and Lichuan were allies and there was no longer any need for sneaking into his chambers. He was well away from the palace when he located a discreet location to transform into a bat and make his way to the second meeting of the night; another meeting with George Emery.
The first meeting with George Emery was a difficult one. Trusting a man who, presumably, had the power to eliminate him was nerve-wracking, to say the least. Though he had a great deal of trust and respect for Alfred Covington, he was well aware of his instincts and skills when it came to terminating MIs. If George Emery possessed the same skills, then it was quite likely that he had made a meeting with his own death. Though nothing amiss had occurred during their first meeting and Andrik had found Emery to be agreeable to his request, and quite eager to send a message of his own to Han Ba, their second meeting was no less nerve-wracking for Andrik.
Andrik landed in a secluded place not far from Emery’s home and approached the house as a regular mortal would. He pulled the cord connected to the bell inside the house and waited to be let in by the plump, Chinese man who served as Emery’s butler. He was ushered into the same study where he had met Emery before.
“Have a seat, Andrik,” George Emery ordered as he was brought into the room. He was well aware of Andrik’s trepidation and did little to put him at ease. He wanted Andrik to continue to respect the position which he held in the region.
