Mark stepped away from the consoles and ambled over to where Jacqueline was sitting on the floor. “I understood that China was like, I dunno...the ass-end of nowhere?”
Yuko nodded. “I know. You get all the rough missions.”
Mark continued to gripe. “While Michael and Akio get to sit around in Luxury World playing mind-games and VR!”
Yuko nodded in agreement and turned to Eve. “I think he was looking forward to getting back to the Tech Palace.”
Eve’s voice was filled with pride when she said, “I think so too.” She called to Mark, “Is it the simulations or the cotton candy you miss most?”
Mark sighed before he chuckled. “All of the above!”
Jacqueline leaned into him and he put his arm around her shoulders. “I hope we get to visit it one more time before we leave Earth,” she mumbled into his t-shirt.
Mark glowed. That meant they were going with them. Off-world. In that moment, he swelled with happiness.
Life really cannot get much better than this, he thought to himself as he gave his girl a squeeze.
CHAPTER TWO
Shimpo-Ra Memorial Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Akio glided quietly back into the room, footsteps whispering over the lacquered floor, and sat behind the desk next to Michael. They were presently waiting for the next candidate in the sports hall Eve had booked for the recruitment drive.
We should have organized an assistant too, he shot to Michael. Walking back and forth to fetch people is tedious.
The ArchAngel smirked. Ah, it’s beyond you now, is it my friend? Now that you’ve faced down the demons of the planet you’re above such things?
Akio’ eyes danced with humor. Not in the slightest. But what is the point in spending a hundred and fifty years honing one’s ability to mind-read and enter buildings like the wind and still be required to perform the mundane tasks?
Michael smirked at Akio as the new candidate, who had just completed his journey across the twenty-yard space between them and the door, sat nervously in the chair across from them.
Akio rearranged his robe as he crossed one leg over the other and both men pursed their lips, saying nothing.
The candidate shifted uncomfortably in the prolonged silence.
“Aren’t you going to ask me any questions?” he asked, pushing his tech-enhanced glasses back onto his nose and fidgeting. His mouth was dry. It didn’t take a Dark Messiah to know he was nervous.
Michael, now deadpan, looked down at his fingers, inspecting the cuticles. I dunno what to ask him. You ask him something.
Akio stifled a chuckle but remained composed—not that the candidate would have noticed. “I read on your resume that you have an interest in experimental technology. Would you like to expand on that a little?”
The candidate, having finally been acknowledged by the strange duo who were supposed to be interviewing him, launched into a discourse on how he’d been involved in helping stabilize the coherence of the qubits in quantum computing and how great strides had been made during his tenure as a volunteer at some center or another.
Michael’s eyes glazed over. He’s clean. We knew he was clean. Why did you have to get him started? Do you secretly hate me? Have I done something to you lately I need to apologize for?
Akio maintained his feigned interest in the candidate. You told me to ask him a question.
Michael audibly sighed. Yeah, something like, “What year did you graduate from school?” Not something he’s obviously not going to stop talking about.
Akio’s mental voice came back laced with humor. Well, how about next time you ask the question?
Ten long minutes later the candidate stopped talking, messed around with his glasses, and looked nervously from one interviewer to the other. He finally rested his eyes on the Stetson on the table.
“Is that—” He stopped himself.
He’s found a spot of blood on my hat.
Akio chuckled mentally at the scientist sitting across from them in the cold, unimpressive hall. Make him an offer. It will distract him.
Michael leaned forward, which pulled the candidate’s gaze from his bespoke Stetson. “We’re impressed with you, and we’d like to offer you a job. We’ll give you a ten percent increase over your existing salary. Job starts tomorrow.” He paused a moment, then verified, “You’re ok with traveling to another location for the assignment?”
The candidate swallowed hard, scrambling to take it all in. “Er, yes, sir.”
Michael smiled. “Good, then. Report back here at ten tomorrow morning. And send the next person in, please. Save this old man from having to get up and walk across the hall,” he added, indicating Akio.
Akio narrowed his eyes at Michael, which caused the candidate to relax a little.
Maybe they are human after all, he thought.
Then he noticed that the two men’s eyes were dancing with amusement.
Can they read my thoughts? he wondered, freaking out as he scrambled back across the expanse of the hall to the safety of the corridor beyond.
The door clunked closed behind him, leaving the two vampires in silence.
Michael broke the silence. “This is turning out to be much more fun that I thought it would be.”
“Hai,” Akio agreed. “Much better.”
Undisclosed location, Tokyo, Japan
Raiden whistled as he sat at his multi-screen computer array.
Kuro strode into the office, his laptop slung over his shoulder. He was carrying a flask of something hot.
Before he even took his jacket off he turned to Raiden, who wasn’t even wearing his headphones. “What’s gotten into you?”
“What do you mean?” Raiden asked.
Kuro eyed him, “You’re decidedly...chirpy.”
“Well, my friend,” Raiden confessed, swiveling around to brag, “you’re looking at the genius who has figured out that not only is there a connection between the ArchAngel our sources had been tracking and the Diplomat, but—”
Raiden turned to the array of monitors when a screen beeped, then back to Kuro once again.
Kuro’s face was expressionless. He would reserve his judgment while he heard the update.
“I have also found an ‘in,’” Raiden finished.
There was a slight tick in the corner of Kuro’s right eye when he replied a moment later, “An in?”
“Hai.” Raiden nodded. “Exactly. It looks like the Diplomat is recruiting specialists in experimental tech. Sound interesting?”
Kuro’s eyes narrowed. “She’s looking for people who can help her put it all together, which means—"
Raiden waved his hand. “Which means she probably also has the map...and that’s ok. We can insert our scientists and engineers into the operation to keep an eye on things as they develop...and swoop in when the time comes.”
Kuro leaned his backside against the window ledge, quietly putting his laptop on the ground by his feet. He didn’t have a desk in this empty apartment they were using. “But what about the locations? Your plan is only good if we don’t intercept the packages first.”
Raiden sat back in his seat, grinning confidently. “I also have that one handled. This is my sneaky backup plan, since Plan A is already in play.”
Kuro was reluctant to let Raiden take the lead on this, but he kept it to himself. It might be useful to let him handle things and limit his own exposure...as long as it wasn’t at the expense of the ultimate goal.
“Tell me about your Plan A, then,” Kuro urged his partner.
“Well, we have the locations and we can pretty much guess that they’re going to show up at the sixteen spots, so I had your guy Benjiro station one man at each location. When we have a sighting, Benjiro will swoop in and take them out.”
Kuro slowly spoke once Raiden was done. “In which case your resident spies are useless.”
Raiden nodded, still smiling confidently. “Agreed, but this wouldn’t be the first time the Diplomat has taken out a whole team
of assets.”
Kuro bobbed his head, his eyes drifting to a spot on the floor in front of him. “So your plan is to...what, just take them out, then have the remaining team members go dig up the other fifteen locations?”
Raiden nodded. “Exactly.”
Kuro’s face showed visible expression now…perhaps deliberately.
“And Benjiro knows your plan?” he asked.
“Of course,” Raiden answered. “He had to know everything to make the best decisions, right?”
Kuro sighed, more to himself than anything. “If you were Benjiro, when do you think you’d take the Diplomat out?”
Raiden thought about this a moment before shaking his head. “I’m not following.”
Kuro spoke slowly. “Well, if you knew that you had to take the Diplomat and her team out and once you had accomplished this your team would have to do all the work to acquire the treasures, when would it be best to take them out?”
The question confused Raiden.
Kuro shook his head. “What I’m trying to get at is that if I were Benjiro, I would wait until the Diplomat has retrieved all the boxes and then take her out.”
Raiden’s eyes widened. “At which point, if Benjiro fails we have little opportunity to correct the problem—and she potentially gets away with all the pieces.”
Kuro pursed his lips, still nodding.
Raiden smacked his palm against his head. “Dammit,” he spat, scrambling for his keyboard. “I’ll have him make a move as soon as possible. Tell him we have a deadline in the next twenty hours.”
Kuro picked up his laptop case and wandered over to the sofa where Orochi normally sat. “Sounds like a plan,” he agreed, mulling the impact of Raiden’s actions on his personal plans.
“Incidentally,” Kuro called across the room, “who are you using for the China op?”
Raiden stopped what he was doing again and turned around again. “Feng’s old team,” he said brightly. “Figured they were qualified and motivated, and since Orochi took him out there were whole squadrons without a mission, just waiting to be bought off.”
Kuro maintained his composure. “With my money?”
Raiden looked flustered. “Our money,” he corrected. “The money we agreed to collectively allocate to this...investment.”
Kuro nodded. “Yes, of course.”
“Thought you liked it when people showed initiative,” Raiden muttered as he turned back to his screens.
Kuro didn’t answer, just sat down on the couch and opened his laptop.
CHAPTER THREE
Site One, China
Mark straightened and wiped his brow. The sun was high in the sky. They had started at first light, and it was now too hot to be doing such physical work.
“My idea of physical labor is replacing the hard drive in an old computer,” he muttered.
He dropped his shovel and pulled his t-shirt over his head. It was already damp with sweat, but at least it wouldn’t be clinging to him.
He felt eyes on his naked back, and when he turned Jacqueline was enjoying his vampire musculature. He grinned at her, and she smiled back and continued to dig.
Sabine was working next to her. They’d been bonding over girl talk, speaking of things which Mark had no reference points from which to add to the conversation.
Sabine sighed as she looked at the pile of dirt she and Jacqueline had cleared, then scanned the landscape while allowing the faint breeze to cool her.
“You ok?” Jacqueline asked.
“Yeah,” Sabine said. “Just promised myself that I’d take more time to appreciate this place.”
“On account of you nearly dying?” Jacqueline ventured.
Sabine nodded. “That too. But also... Well, if we do leave, we’ll probably never see these lands again.”
Jacqueline jammed her shovel into the soil upright and turned to take in the view with Sabine. “That is a very good point. Hard to imagine, though. I mean, even after everything we’ve seen and how far we’ve come with Michael—the different countries and monsters—the thought of leaving this planet…” Her voice trailed off. “Mind-blowing,” she added after a moment.
Mark’s voice broke their rapport. “Hey, you two! I know I have vamp-strength and all, but if I’m the only one digging this is gonna take a hell of a lot longer. And we’re only on the first one. After this we’ve got another ten to go!”
Yuko and Eve were working on the other side of the nine-foot circle they’d traced around where the loot was.
Yuko called to Mark, “Remember what I explained about just digging one hole?”
“Yeah,” he groaned, picking up his shovel again.
Eve chuckled. “You’re trying to teach a tech-head vampire about Zen presence.”
Yuko sniggered and replied in a hushed voice, “I thought it might help.”
Eve continued digging, chuckling quietly. “You thought you’d amuse yourself.”
Yuko put on her best earnest expression. “No, truly. I mean, it’s how I get through mundane stuff, and it’s good practice—to get really present and just work on the one thing you’re doing right now. See?” She exaggerated her movement with the shovel. “I’m pulling out this one shovelful now.” She tipped it onto the pile and turned back to the hole. “And this one, right now.”
Eve did her best simulation of an eye roll.
“Presence!” Yuko declared.
Eve’s chuckles subsided. “I suppose that’s one way to keep your mind off Inspector Hottie.”
Yuko’s humor dissipated.
Eve noticed the change. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Yuko shook her head. “You didn’t. It’s fine.”
The two dug in silence for a few minutes.
“You know, if we end up getting this ship together and leaving you should probably at least let him know…so he doesn’t wait his whole life for you.”
Yuko didn’t respond.
“Or you could see if Michael will let you bring him with you,” she added.
Yuko flushed and wiped her face with the back of one hand. “I’ll think about it,” she muttered.
The humor returned to Eve’s voice. “I’m sure he’d be very pleased to hear from you!” she added, almost teasing Yuko now.
Yuko’s complexion was redder than the exertion could explain. “Stop it!” she said, trying to withhold a smile.
Eve changed the subject, glad she had at least made her point.
“Do you feel that?” Jacqueline asked as quietly as she could. She knew everyone with enhancements would hear her.
Yuko stopped digging suddenly, her eyes darting around them.
Mark stilled too, and Sabine’s right hand hovered over her sidearm, although her left hand remained on the shovel.
Jacqueline sniffed the air. “I don’t think we’re alone.”
The party stilled, scanning the area for any signs of movement.
There was nothing.
A few minutes later Sabine started digging again. “Probably just coyotes,” she muttered.
Jacqueline returned to digging, too. “Yeah. Probably,” she agreed, but she kept her senses tuned to their surroundings...just in case.
Near Site One, China
“Shit! Falling back, sir!” the soldier hissed into his comm unit as he elbow-crawled backward from the mound, keeping out of sight.
Once he reached the rest of the platoon, he slotted in next to their team leader.
“There are five,” he reported. “Likely all enhanced, the way they’re moving that earth.”
The team leader nodded, his eyes fixed to his binoculars, scanning the summit of the mound for any signs they had been followed.
“They must have caught a whiff of me or something,” the soldier continued. “They’re alert now. They know we’re here.”
The team leader sighed, lowering the binoculars. He scratched his face as he thought, and a moment later he made a decision.
He gave the hand signa
l for them to fall back. If they knew they were coming, they’d lost their advantage.
And if they were indeed enhanced, they’d need more than just the ten men he had right now.
He tapped a message to his commanding officer.
TARGETS AT LOCATION. THEY WON’T BE HERE MUCH LONGER. NEED REINFORCEMENTS AT NEXT LOCATION. ALL FIVE ENHANCED.
He punched SEND.
Quickly and quietly he followed his team, secretly relieved he had a legitimate reason to back away for now. After all, he’d heard stories about the monsters his comrades had fought over the years under Feng Cheng in defense of the crates, and while he wanted to perform his duty, he really didn’t want to die.
Lanzhou Region, China
Commander Benjiro sat quietly in his makeshift office somewhere in the Chinese countryside. His satellite connection had gone silent for a few moments as the last dish slipped out of range and the replacement came online. His screens fuzzed with the black and white snow of an untended feed.
He used these moment to contemplate the details of the mission, weigh the odds, and ensure they were fulfilling their key outcomes. His success, he often told his trainees, was due to these moments of reflection.
The screens spluttered as they came back online. He could see the helmet cams of his team at the active location. Nothing exciting...just more movement than before from the camera end, and a different horizon.
A message popped across the screen.
TARGETS AT LOCATION. THEY WON’T BE HERE MUCH LONGER. NEED REINFORCEMENTS AT NEXT LOCATION. ALL FIVE ENHANCED.
He paused, taking his hand away from his mouse.
This was not good.
He had expected one enhanced—the Diplomat—and maybe the android, but five?
This wasn’t the deal.
He thought hard before he made a move. He was going to have to consult with Raiden on this.
And then there was the question of reinforcements. That was an accurate assessment on behalf of the team leader, Jon-joe. A good man. He cared about his men and about the job. He’d known him since even before this had become Chang Feng’s operation.
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