“Now you look at yourself in the mirror, Mommy!”
She gave him a big hug. “Looks like we match, Adrian.”
“I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you too, Adrian.”
His hand brushed over Elisa’s. She reached out one finger to stroke his cheek, and when she drew back, a single teardrop glistened on her fingertip.
Ben
“You’re a cop!”
“Not so loud!” Keisha said. “Principal Robson was the only one who knew, up until yesterday. Now it’s just you and Adrian Salas.”
Ben’s face darkened. “Salas? Why him?”
“He’s an intern at Schwartz Pharmaceuticals, so he could be helpful. Besides, it’s obvious he’s not a gang member.”
“How is it obvious? It’s not obvious to me.” Ben crossed his arms and resumed walking.
Keisha rolled her eyes, so exactly like a high school student that Ben almost laughed. “Oh, please. He’s a complete nerd, Ben. Besides, Robson vouches for him.”
He made a sarcastic grimace. “Yeah, he must be okay if Robson says so.” He took her by the arm. “Keisha, Salas is one of the people I’ve been suspicious of for months.”
Keisha pulled away from him. “And Robson was suspicious of you. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else in this school.”
“But listen, Keisha. Mario is involved for sure. I know he’s a member of Tenebras. I suspect he’s one of their leaders, one of the Blades. He may even be their Captain. I spotted Cesar Peralta, who doesn’t sneeze unless Salas gives him permission, talking secretly with Mario in a back corridor, and passing him something.”
“So?”
“Don’t you see, that must mean Salas is involved with Tenebras.”
She shook her head. “Ben, that’s the weakest chain of supposition I’ve ever heard.”
“But—”
“Listen to me. Tenebras has been flooding the neighborhood with false rumors. If I were to listen to every single hot tip, I’d be busy for the next five years, and guess what? I wouldn’t get anywhere.” She tightened her lips. “We already made one big misstep. We’ve got to start moving on this case.”
“Listen—”
“No, you listen to me. We’re going after Schwartz Pharmaceuticals and for that we need Adrian’s help. I don’t want you bad-mouthing him. Now as for you, I need you to help me gain entrance into Tenebras.”
Ben’s jaw dropped. “You—want to become a member of the gang?”
“It’s the only way to find out what’s going on.”
“But it’s dangerous! You’ve heard the rumors about kids going missing, right?” He snorted. “Well, I suppose you could ask Mario.”
“No. I have a plan for that. But yeah, it’ll involve Mario—and you.”
“Me?” asked Ben, eyebrows climbing his forehead. “You are totally out of your mind. There’s no way I can help you get membership in Tenebras.”
“Wait till you hear my plan.”
Rory
Rory moved silently down the hall toward the corner where he heard a murmured conversation. Mario Fonseca and Ron Hundley were speaking together, their voices low.
“My, my,” he said. They guiltily jumped apart. “What’re you two talking about, hmmm?”
Mario scowled. “Just the next shipment, Fong. What’s it to you?” He stuck out his chin.
“Oh, nothing,” Rory lowered his voice. “I was just thinking that it was too bad the Captain chose to go on a luxury tropical vacation for the weekend. Especially when there’s so much going on right here.” He watched their faces closely.
Hundley scratched his crotch and frowned. “Yeah, so what? Captain does whatever he wants, doesn’t he?”
“Didn’t you hear the news last night about Lindley and Washington?”
“What?” Mario pretended disinterest.
Rory examined his fingernails. “You know they were guarding the Twenty-Second Street warehouse, right? It seems they were ambushed by some of our rivals from Eastside.”
Ron and Mario exchanged glances. Then Ron snarled, “So? They were careless. They blew it. What’s that to us?”
Rory lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “So you don’t think it’s a problem that he’s off fooling around with his little piece while we’re all risking our lives for him here?”
Mario growled, “That almost sounds like insubordination, Fong.”
Rory said, grinning, “Don’t trip over the big words, Mario. I’m just saying while he’s gone anything could happen. And I might suggest that you two think about where that would leave you.”
Mario hesitated. “So… what are you suggesting?”
The wind had died down, but a leaden sky capped the thin layer of snow that had fallen overnight. The sun had barely risen, but in one of the asphalt yards in back of the school, Cesar Peralta was moving through an intricate martial-arts dance.
Rory watched silently as he went through his moves. Only Cesar would be practicing tai chi outside on such a cold and miserable day. The kid was insanely self-disciplined, and never seemed to need any fun to lighten up his life.
He waited until Cesar had completed his routine, and walked over as he began his post-workout stretching.
“Hey, Cesar, how’s it going?”
Cesar only grunted in response. Rory knew Cesar despised him, but that just added to his amusement. He had learned long ago from Adrian that hatred was one of the most easily manipulated emotions.
“Have you gotten the reports on the weekend activity yet?” He knew that Cesar already had the reports, but he wanted to see how he’d react.
“Of course, Fong.” Cesar’s voice was clipped with annoyance. “What do you want?” He communicated with Rory as little as possible, exchanging only information that was necessary. Rory knew that he would be irritated by being sought out like this, outside of regular channels, and he grinned.
“I was just noticing that there’s been a significant drop in revenue over the weekend since the Captain’s been gone.”
“So?” Cesar bent to stretch over his left leg.
“Ever since he’s been… distracted… by this woman, there’s been a downward trend.” Rory waited as Cesar deepened his stretch. “You’ve got to have seen it.”
“Your point being?” Cesar snapped.
“I was just thinking that she hasn’t really been good for the organization. Don’t you agree?”
Cesar straightened. “I see where you’re going with this, Fong, and it’s not going to work. You’re trying to manipulate me into doing something about this woman.”
Rory backed away in mock surprise, raising his hands. “Oh, no, I never said anything like that.”
“He would know. He always knows.”
“No, no.” Rory’s smile grew. “I was thinking about something more subtle. Something no one could object to. Or trace back to us.”
23
Elisa
ELISA WALKED TO SCHOOL singing. Some days the cold bothered her, but not today. It was a brilliantly clear winter day, shards of sunlight glinting off icicles on the eaves of the buildings. It had snowed over the weekend, and although the streets were already cleared and cars rushed by, spattering dirty brine on the sidewalks, the city still appeared white and clean.
Sumiko greeted her at the school entrance. “Hey, Elisa! How was your weekend? Tell me what happened!” She linked arms with Elisa as they walked up the stairs to their lockers.
“What’s to tell?” Elisa said, suddenly cautious. “We had a good time together. We talked a lot.”
Sumiko gave her a once-over. “You can’t have spent much time indoors. Your face looks tanned.”
“Tanned?” Elisa put her hands to her cheeks. “Why, that’s strange.”
“How can you get tanned on a camping trip in the winter?”
She frantically cast around for a plausible story. “We were out in the snow! The sun must have reflected off the snow and given me a bit of a burn. I should have used more s
unscreen, but who would have thought that you need sunscreen in the winter?” She burst into a high-pitched laugh that sounded extremely artificial to her own ears.
Sumiko scratched her chin. “You went hiking in the snow?”
“That’s right. It was fun!”
“I heard there was nearly a foot of snow in the mountains. Didn’t that make hiking difficult?” Sumiko cocked her head.
Elisa twisted her combination lock. “Right—we didn’t just go hiking. We went—snowshoeing!” She grinned suddenly at her idea. “We walked around all day in snowshoes, and it was really hard to get used to them, so it was difficult to get back to the camper at the end of the day.” She laughed. “So that’s why we were out so long in the snow, and why I got burned!”
Sumiko gave her a strange look, but shrugged.
“Elisa! How was the big weekend?” Chloe came up from behind and threw her arms around Elisa. She yelped.
“It was fine.” Sliding out of Chloe’s grasp, Elisa picked up her math book from the bottom of the locker.
Chloe waggled her eyebrows at Elisa. “You look like you’ve had some sun! Where did you say you went for the weekend?”
“She went snowshoeing,” Sumiko said. She gave Elisa a sidelong glance. “Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah! We went snowshoeing in the mountains on our camping trip.” Elisa put a hand behind her head and laughed again, shrilly. Her face flushed with embarrassment.
“Snowshoeing?” Chloe’s mouth hung open. “Where did you go?”
Elisa bit her lip. This lie was getting way too complicated. She cast about desperately for help, and spotted Adrian at the end of the hall, coming up the stairs with Rory Fong. Rory had an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face.
She waved wildly. “Good morning, Adrian!”
His head came up, and Elisa could feel the warmth of his smile all the way across the hall. It sparked an answering heat in her, a ripple like light passing through water, and her knees weakened. He walked away from Rory without a backward glance, leaving him staring, lips pressed together tightly.
“Good morning.” His eyes focused on Elisa.
“I hear you introduced Elisa to a new sport,” Sumiko said.
Adrian glanced at her, his face as unruffled as usual.
Elisa shook herself mentally and jumped in. “I was just telling them that we went snowshoeing in the mountains on our camping trip this weekend.”
He picked up the thread effortlessly, without even a flicker of surprise in his expression. “Yes, Elisa did very well for her first time on snowshoes.” He smiled at her with just a hint of pride on his face. Once again, she marveled at how smoothly he lied.
“Where did you go?” asked Chloe again.
“Past the river and into the wilderness area at the east end of the national park.” Adrian bent forward, eyes focused on Sumiko’s face. “What happened to you, Sumiko?”
“Me?” asked Sumiko. “What do you mean?”
Adrian traced her cheek with a finger. “You have a bruise here; what happened?”
She put her hand up to her face. “I was sparring in karate practice and one of my opponents got past my guard, that’s all. He wasn’t able to pull his punch in time.”
“I wouldn’t have thought there was anyone who could get past your guard at this point.”
Sumiko shrugged. “It happens. I messed up this time. I—”
Chloe interrupted. “You don’t look tanned, Adrian.”
“Tanned?” He lifted one eyebrow.
“From the snow,” she said. “From being out in the snow all weekend, like Elisa here.”
“She does look a little rosy from all that healthy outdoor activity.” He tapped his binder. “By the way, Elisa, did you do problem seventeen on the calculus homework due today? I had a question about what the teacher was asking us.” He pulled Elisa aside and she gratefully dug in her backpack for her math notebook. When he touched her arm, her unease about lying to her friends was completely forgotten.
The crowded, noisy hall faded away, and she could see nothing but his eyes, feel nothing but his touch, knew only the two of them together.
Then the bell rang, and Elisa hurried off to class. She had gotten away with another lie. But how long, she wondered, until Sumiko or Chloe caught her out? What would she do then?
Adrian
That night, Adrian gazed into the fire in his study. Returning to his organization after only three days away had been, in some ways, entertaining. In other ways—not so much. It had all begun to seem a little tedious.
A piece of the log glowed, dropped off a larger block of wood, and fell through the grate to the stone hearth beneath.
It used to be that every time he had a spare moment, he would ponder his latest plans, contemplate new schemes, and work out little details on existing operations. But now, all those spare moments went to thinking about Elisa. The hours he used to spend scheming about new ways to increase his power and wealth now went to reminiscing about time spent in her company or planning how to make their next date even more spectacular.
It was hard to sit here, alone in his study, when he knew she was only five minutes away, in her apartment, also alone. He rose, paced to the back of the room, returned.
He had grown unaccustomed to denying himself anything. He wanted her, now. He wanted to breathe in the scent of her, to feel her long hair trailing over his bare skin, to take her under his hands, overcome her stammered resistance, and drive her to shattering pleasure.
He closed his eyes.
In the early days, he had spent long periods of time denying himself, waiting, planning. He had waited for years: a very long portion of his life. Patience was his strong suit. He reminded himself of that, took a series of deep breaths.
It was vital that he focus. He had to admit it: she was a distraction, a dangerous distraction from the many critical and sensitive operations he was running, ventures that all needed his adroit handling. It was ironic that he had held Rory’s own secret attachment over his head.
Of course, even Rory and Cesar didn’t know the true extent of the risk. He was keeping Schwartz at bay for now by stepping up Rapture distribution, but it was becoming more and more disturbing that he was responsible for so much addiction and suffering.
He had to stop.
But as soon as Schwartz got even a hint that he was planning to leave the gang, what would happen to Elisa? Adrian lowered himself into the armchair, lifted the glass of brandy on the end table and took a long, slow sip.
“Snowshoes.” He had to laugh at her bizarre imagination. It was quite clear that Elisa Gallardo was not merely a weakness or a liability. She was a great big hole in his security. A major risk to his careful plans. She could not lie to save her life; it was only a matter of time before her friends—and Ben Lancaster and Keisha Huston—figured out exactly what was going on.
What was he going to do about her?
He had been deluding himself in Nassau. When he was far from his day-to-day operations, it had been easier to imagine that a normal life with Elisa was possible. But it couldn’t be.
He set down the glass. A chunk fell off the log in the fireplace and the flames abruptly faded. His skin chilled.
Mario
The spot between Mario’s shoulder blades prickled. Cesar Peralta was right behind him on the stairs. When they reached the top floor, Cesar ushered him into a small room, where Adrian Salas sat behind a desk, working on a tablet computer.
“Hello, Mario,” Adrian said very softly. Mario sat down, swallowing. What was all this about? Had Adrian finally figured it out? Was he pretending not to know to amuse himself before he ordered Cesar to bury his knife in his back? “Thank you for coming.”
Mario growled to himself, but made sure to keep quiet. Why was Salas always so freaking polite? Mario preferred straight shooters, even if they hated you. Salas could talk like you were his best friend and stab you a moment later. At least with Ben Lancaster, you al
ways knew where you stood. He saw amusement in Salas’s eyes and tried not to squirm. Salas’s amusement was never a good thing.
“Cesar. Play the recording.”
The voice of Ben Lancaster burst from a small speaker in the center of the desk, unexpectedly loud. “Why are we meeting in a supply closet? This is ridiculous, Keisha.”
Cesar adjusted the volume. Adrian leaned back in his chair, watching Mario’s reactions.
“No, it’s good security,” came a sharp rejoinder. “What I have to say to you is highly sensitive, not to be discussed outside this room.”
“What’s so special about this closet?”
“This room has been swept for bugs and is secured. We don’t know who might be a spy for Tenebras.”
“I’m not used to all this cloak and dagger crap.”
“Do you want to stop Tenebras or not?” Mario pictured her standing up and placing her fists on her hips.
“Hey, chill out. Tell me what your big plan is.”
Papers shuffled.
“The best strategy is for me to try to infiltrate Tenebras itself.”
“How the hell do you expect to get in? Half the school wants to join that damn gang.” Ben’s voice swelled with outrage.
Mario sniggered. “Hell, even Lancaster is lusting after us.” He reclined in the seat and grinned widely. Cesar frowned and motioned for him to be quiet.
Ben continued, “They’ve got some kind of initiation rite you want to stay the hell away from.”
“Will you be quiet and let me explain?”
A pen scratched on paper.
“Here. This is the second floor of the east wing. During third period, Mario has class here. You’ve got class here.”
“Right, so what’s the point?”
“I’m getting to it, so shut up. Tomorrow after third period, after the bell rings, I want you in this corridor, where I’ll be waiting.”
Ben gave a muffled snort of laughter. “What are you drawing there?”
Play at Soul's Edge Page 20