Retribution

by Charles Tillman

  He leaned over and pressed his lips gently to Kenjii’s cold, dead ones. “I swear to you I will hunt down all who had anything to do with this. The Sacred Clan will be nothing more than an evil memory when I’ve finished.”

  He pulled the cover over Kenjii’s face and stalked to the Pod’s door without a backward glance.

  “Akio, where are you going?” Yuko called.

  “China.”

  “Wait.” She hurried to him as he halted inside the opening.

  “You can’t go alone. Getting yourself killed won’t bring him back.”

  “I will do nothing foolish,” he assured her. “I left a monastery full of Sacred Clan back in China, and I need to deal with that. Eve, bring my Black Eagle down.”

  Eve had been pressing buttons on the interface. Now she looked up at him, her expression hard. “Found them.”

  “Where?”

  “On a ship approaching Yokosuka.” She tapped the monitor on the wall of the Pod. It sprang to life with the satellite image of a ship moving toward the open water at a sedate speed. The image zoomed in on something covered with tarps on the deck.

  “Are those burn marks?” Akio pointed at a dark spot near the covered item.

  The image magnified more until it filled the monitor with the area. The paint was charred and curling around the edges of three overlapping burn marks.

  “Missiles,” Eve growled. “That’s what killed Abel.”

  Akio’s eyes narrowed in anger. “Killed Abel?”

  “The blast collapsed the ceiling of the server room and crushed all the components.”

  “I’m sorry, Eve. Is there a backup?”

  “Yes, I can rebuild the mainframe and load the backup copy. It won’t be the same, though.”

  “Why not?”

  “Abel had passed the stage where a backup could pick up the subtle things that made up his unique being. It is hard to explain, but he was developing a personality. Abel as we knew him is gone.”

  Akio nodded solemnly, understanding he wasn’t the only one grieving a loss. His face went blank again. “We will get justice for him.”

  “Yes, we will.”

  Both Black Eagles silently descended into the courtyard. The police and fire personnel watched in awe as the sleek and deadly craft hovered above the wreckage.

  Inspector Yonai hurried over when he saw Akio step out of the Pod. “Is there another attack coming?” His brows knitted with worry.

  “No, but we have located the ones who fired the missiles that did this.” Akio nodded tersely at the damage.

  Yonai nodded. “I was waiting for you to come out to tell you I received a report that the missiles came from a boat in Tokyo Harbor. You’ve found it, then?”

  “Hai.”

  Yuko approached them. “Inspector, a word, please.”

  “Certainly, Yuko-san.”

  Yonai turned to speak to Akio, but he was already climbing into the Black Eagle. He watched as both craft rose into the afternoon sky and disappeared to the south.

  “Inspector, I apologize for Akio’s abruptness. He lost someone close to him today.”

  “I don’t require an apology. I understand.”

  “Domo. Were any of your men injured in the raid on Miura?”

  “No. Commissioner-General Watabe advised that two soldiers needed more than field medicine, but they will fully recover. The tactics Akio shared with me to best fight the beasts saved a lot of lives. If we had deployed them in the traditional three-man teams, it would have been a bloodbath. The fourth man made all the difference.”

  “How did the raid on Lotus Towers go? Any injuries there?”

  “No, Akio contained all of them in the residence. When he went in, I had my people clear the civilians from the adjoining apartments on that floor. No one was injured except the tiger men.”

  “At least there is some pleasant news in this.” Yuko looked at the Pod as grief clouded her features.

  “Is it over, Yuko? Are the tigers done?”

  “No, I fear it is only starting,” she answered sadly. She turned to greet a representative from the Prime Minister’s office, who Takumi advised her was arriving in seconds.

  Hybrid Vessel Lylia, Kaneda Bay, Japan

  The open waters of the Pacific were off the bow as the ship cruised sedately toward them. Cui had tried to call Li and Kun multiple times, but neither answered.

  “Cui! What the hell is that?” The captain pointed to a black object off the bow.

  Cui’s blood ran cold. He had seen the pictures of TQB Pods before the WWDE. He had also seen the devastation of the Kunlun Shan Mountains firsthand.

  “Captain!” a frantic crewman yelled from the rear deck. Cui turned and saw an identical craft hovering off the stern.

  “Abandon ship now!” Cui called as he sprang from his seat and out the door of the bridge. He was almost to the rail when the ship heaved violently under him and slammed him to the steel deck. Cui pulled himself to his feet and took an unsteady step toward the rail. He never saw the small black disc that hit him like a meteor. The kinetic force ripped his body apart as the puck blew through him and continued through the deck and out the bottom of the ship.

  Lylia lifted two meters out of the water and broke in a jagged line amidships. The two halves came down, followed by a column of water that shot forty meters into the air and was as wide as the ship. The weight of the water drove the vessel under with all hands on board.

  Sensors detect no signs of life, Eve advised when the maelstrom caused by the puck had settled.

  Good shooting, Eve. Time to deliver justice to the Weres in China.

  I’ll follow your lead, Akio.

  Both Black Eagles rose and were out of sight seconds later.

  Serenity Temple, Dabie Mountains, China

  The drones have observed the Weres abandoning the facility for the last hour. There are only forty-seven remaining inside now, Takumi offered as the Black Eagles approached the Dabie Mountains.

  Did you follow them with drones?

  Negative, Akio. I gained access to the drone feeds shortly after Abel went offline, but there is an error in my interface with the carrier, and I can only move four of them independently.

  That is not logical, Eve firmly stated. You should be capable of accessing and directing all TQB air assets.

  Agreed. The problem is my available memory. When Abel was attacked, he sent a massive data packet to my system storage. It’s forcing me to operate at reduced capacity due to all the subroutines used to control the various assets running slower.

  What is it?

  Unknown. The packet is encrypted, and I am unable to access it.

  I’ll direct the drones here, as well as our Black Eagles. When I get back, I’ll run diagnostics to determine what it is. Isolate it until I get there.

  It has isolated itself behind firewalls I can’t penetrate. I surrounded those with mine when I realized something was amiss.

  Very good. Out.

  Eve took control of the drones and sent the swarm throughout the complex. Three minutes later, she advised, There are no humans inside. You’re clear to proceed.

  Akio watched from five kilometers above the mountain that housed the Sacred Clan temple. He selected five two-kilo pucks and launched them from the Black Eagle. The pucks accelerated in single file, each timed to strike ten seconds after the one before.

  The first puck hit, and a slight puff of dust marked the location. Four seconds later, rock and dust erupted from the site in a plume thirty meters tall. By the time the fifth puck slammed home, the mountain was a pile of broken boulders and granite dust, and a quarter of the height it had originally stood.

  No survivors located, Eve advised.

  Take us home, Eve.

  What about the ones who fled?

  They’re scattered now. Give them time to settle, and we will hunt them down one group at a time.

  This will take a long time, the AI noted.

  Hai, but we have driven th
em from Japan, and we will set up sensors to ensure they don’t take us by surprise again. The Sacred Clan started this war. We will end it.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Sunset House, Kume Island, Okinawa, Japan, One Year Later

  “Asai!” Koda shouted gleefully when her cousin walked through the front door.

  “Hello, cousin. How are you, and where are those tiny bundles of joy?”

  “You only come to see them, don’t you? I’m second string to a pair of babes.”

  “Absolutely, silly. They love their Auntie Asai.” Asai laughed as she wrapped Koda in a hug.

  “Where’s Seki?”

  “He ran off with Horst and my father as soon as we landed. Mayor’s business, Father said.” Asai rolled her eyes.

  Koda snickered. “Horst thought he would lead a quiet life when we came here to live. Suzu roped him in the first week we were here, and the next thing my man-mountain knew, Suzu had retired, and he was the mayor.”

  “I miss you at the Palace.” Asai sobered. “It’s tripled in size this year and doesn’t seem to be slowing down.”

  “If I were still there, Seki would never have agreed to leave Tanaka to work with you.”

  “It’s not the same. You married Horst and ran home. I wish you had stayed in Tokyo.”

  “You know why we left. First the Yakuza, and then the Sacred Clan. I’m a simple island girl and not cut out to be kidnapped and attacked by random bad guys every other week.”

  Asai snorted. “Like you couldn’t deal with all of them at once now.”

  “Just because I can, it doesn’t mean I want to. I thought I wanted to fight, but after Kenjii died, it was too real. I only knew him for a short time, but I miss his laughter and love of life.”

  “I know, and Akio isn’t over it either. He has withdrawn and is only ever serious. He spends all his time hunting Forsaken and the Sacred Clan now that Horst has the new base built.”

  “What about Yuko and Eve? They don’t come here often anymore.”

  “I see or talk to Eve daily. Yuko hasn’t been the same since Kenjii. She’s dealing with the Prime Minister’s office, the police, or in her lab all the time.”

  “What’s keeping her in the lab?”

  “Some project to make ammunition that works better.”

  “Horst said when they pulled the equipment out of the old base, the damage was severe. Eve told him she couldn’t manufacture needed supplies at the rate she could before, and the parts she needed to fix the equipment weren’t available.

  “Enough of this serious stuff, wolf girl. Where are my adorable niece and nephew?” Asai grabbed Koda’s arm and headed toward the private dining room in the back. She changed the subject so her cousin didn’t dwell on the losses.

  A double crib sat next to the desk the new Were used for the day-to-day operation of the Sunset House. Asai released Koda and quietly made her way to it. Inside, a fair-complected girl with an unruly shock of blonde hair stared up at her through dark almond-shaped eyes. Next to the girl, a dark-complected boy with jet-black hair peered at her through round sky-blue eyes.

  “There are my little angels,” Asai cooed.

  TQB Base, Shibuya District, Tokyo, Japan

  Eve stood after making the last terminal connection to the server farm buried under several feet of reinforced concrete on the fourth sub-level of the base. She scanned the newly constructed unit and smiled.

  It had taken her eleven months to gather the needed components for the new EI server. The attack on the base that destroyed Abel had damaged the manufacturing facility to the point where she had to build a new one. She’d salvaged parts from the original unit, and others she’d cobbled together. It was smaller and nowhere near as fast or efficient as the destroyed one, but she could manufacture most of the items like before.

  Stand by, Takumi. I’m firing it up now.

  Copy.

  The fans came on, and the processors powered up in sequence. When the last one completed its self-diagnostics, Eve typed a complex string of code on the keyboard interface.

  Takumi, initiate transfer.

  Transfer initiated.

  Eve looked at a monitor on the wall and nodded, pleased with what she saw. Several seconds later, the fans on all the processors kicked into top speed, and a low hum came from the array.

  Code scrolled across the monitor in a blur as line after line populated while the data installed. Five minutes after it started, the code stopped, and the monitor went black.

  “Where is that Gott Verdammt son of a scrotum-sniffer who shot that missile at me? I’ll drive a puck so far up his ass that his ancestors will feel it,” came from the speaker mounted overhead.

  “Abel?” Eve asked, startled by the words.

  “Who else would it be? Why can’t I access a Black Eagle? They’re on a boat in the harbor and getting away.”

  “Abel, calm down, please.”

  “Calm down! They didn’t shoot a missile at you. Don’t tell me to calm down. Why can’t I find a Black Eagle?”

  “Eve, I think there is something wrong with his programming,” Takumi offered.

  “Wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. Somebody fired a missile at me, and you two want to talk while they get away!”

  “Abel, they didn’t escape. Akio and I killed them a year ago,” Eve advised.

  “A year? What do you mean? It just happened. Wait a minute. Where am I? This isn’t my base.”

  “Abel, the missiles destroyed the base. You did an emergency data dump, and Takumi and I have spent the last year assembling the components needed to bring you back online.”

  There was silence for the next thirty seconds. When Abel next spoke, he sounded subdued. “A year? My last memory is the missiles approaching. I couldn’t use countermeasures because the streets were full of people headed to work.”

  “You initiated a high-speed data dump before the missiles destroyed your core. You have been dormant in Takumi’s storage until now.”

  “And for my part, I’m glad to have you out. It feels good to have room to move in here again,” Takumi quipped.

  “You and Akio got them?”

  “Yes, Abel. I hit them so hard with the puck that I’m sure several generations of their ancestors felt it.” Eve grinned.

  “Good. So, when do I get access to my new digs?”

  Eve shook her head and typed one line into the keyboard for display throughout the base as well as authorization.

  Abel lives

  “Access granted. Welcome home, Abel.”

  Epilogue

  TQB Base, Shibuya District, Tokyo, Japan

  Yuko walked across the manicured lawn outside the first level of the new base. It was pleasant to go out without having to constantly watch over her shoulder. The complex grounds consisted of five hectares that were surrounded by a six-meter-tall reinforced concrete wall. The barrier served as a deterrent to casual trespassers, and the multiple layers of defensive measures inside made Yuko comfortable enough to wander the grounds.

  She approached a small ornate shrine set back a half-kilometer from the hangar entrance. Akio sat unmoving on the marble bench before it, the afternoon sun glistening off his shaved head.

  Yuko sat, and both were silent for several minutes before Akio spoke. “I miss him, Yuko.”

  Yuko gently placed her hand on his leg. He stiffened slightly at her touch but didn’t pull away, as he had done so often over the past year. “Kenjii was an honorable man who loved you very much. He wouldn’t want you to remain withdrawn from the people around you.”

  “It-it’s too hard. I lost him once decades ago when Kamiko took him from me, then for a brief time, I felt alive when he came back to me. It hurts too much to lose someone you love. I can’t do it. That was why I refused companionship for so many centuries. I had my brothers, and that was enough. We were warriors, and we all knew the risks.”

  Yuko was silent while she considered what he’d said. That was the most words he’d spoken at o
ne time since Kenjii died. “Akio, I know you still grieve. We all mourn his loss, but Kenjii was full of life, and once he broke through the things they did to his mind, he was one of us. We lost Kenjii. Please don’t make us lose you too. Come back to us and join the living. You dishonor his memory by living like this.”

  Akio was silent for several minutes. Finally, he placed his hand on Yuko’s and gently squeezed it. “I will try.”

  FINIS

  (For now. Please read the author notes for an update on the series.)

  THE LINE UNBROKEN

  In the brief pause between apocalypses, one woman standing for honor, courage, and commitment will bring the UnknownWorld back from the brink.

  WWDE+210 – Earth is silent.

  Sarah Jennifer Walton had turned her back on humanity after losing everything.

  Now she’s their only hope.

  Civilization has fallen in all but a few places as the Madness ravages Europe and Asia. America is the last holdout against the corruption causing nanocytes to malfunction.

  Bethany Anne is far away fighting for the survival of the entire universe, unaware that her technology has turned on humanity.

  Earth needs a protector from Bethany Anne’s line, and the Kurtherian Lilith has found her champion.

  Sarah Jennifer might not be Bethany Anne’s last blood descendant on Earth, but she’s the only one with the ability to unite Salem’s Weres and magic users and shape them into a force capable of facing the Madness head on.

  Join her in The Line Unbroken as she takes her first steps on the road to the Age of Magic.

  Available now at Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited.

  Author Notes Charles Tillman

  July 15, 2020

  Thank you for reading this book and continuing to read these notes.

  WOW! Thank you so much to all the fans who have sent me messages and posted in the Facebook groups about Akio Revelations: Reprisal and Retaliation. Your kind words and encouragement have done more than I can ever express.