Project Gemini (Mission 2

by Jill Williamson

  Jun watched her go, praying that had been Keiko, but also wondering why she’d been here at all, since Kozue had told him that Keiko and Bushi had broken up for good.

  “Ikuzo!”

  Bushi waved to Jun and the others to follow, and they walked to the back of the apartment and up a narrow flight of stairs. There was a single door at the top. Bushi went inside without knocking.

  They entered a restaurant of some kind. A bar ran along one wall, and the rest of the room was filled with round tables. Empty. The place was dark, lit by a blue light piped around the edge of the ceiling and candles on the tables. It was also deserted but for a lone figure sitting at a table in the very back.

  They approached the figure, and Jun was surprised to see a Japanese woman at the table, a laptop open before her. Not Kimura-san after all. She looked as old as Jun’s mom, though she was dressed in a fancy suit as if she were very rich.

  Bushi bowed to the woman, then introduced Jun. Her name was Shoko Miyake.

  Shoko closed her laptop and ran her eyes up and down Jun. “You want to earn some money, yes?”

  “So desu ne.” Jun’s family was poor, and Bushi had offered him a job that would change that. Delivering drugs. Toda-san had authorized Jun to accept the job on a temporary basis, though Jun was supposed to turn in to Toda-san any money he made.

  “Do you do drugs, Jun?” Shoko asked.

  “Iie.”

  “Good. I can’t have my delivery boys tempted by the merchandise. I find out you’re stealing from me, you’ll be sorry. Understand?”

  “Hai, waka.”

  “You tell people you deliver flowers. Bushi will set you up with a motor scooter. You get a call. You make the pickup, you make the delivery, you bring the money back to Bushi. You have access to Oroku High School students?”

  “Hai.”

  “Prove you are loyal and reliable, and I might give you the school.”

  Give him the school? Jun didn’t like the idea of his classmates buying drugs. “Arigato.”

  Shoko waved her hand, signaling the end of the meeting. Bushi snapped his fingers and motioned for Jun to follow him out of the restaurant.

  On the stairs, Bushi punched Jun in the arm. “She likes you. If you can get the school, you’ll never be poor again.”

  “Subarashii!” Jun said, more excited about getting a motor scooter to drive than he was about his new “job.” And he couldn’t wait to speak with Toda-san and find out what his sensei knew about Shoko Miyake.

  REPORT NUMBER: 13

  REPORT TITLE: I Go on a Date with an Asian Princess

  SUBMITTED BY: Agent-in-Training Spencer Garmond

  LOCATION: Kimura Fitness Center, 3-18-57 Jinan, Naha, Okinawa, Japan

  DATE AND TIME: Monday, June 15, 4:19 p.m.

  I DITCHED GRACE AFTER MONDAY afternoon’s rec time and went for another spin around Kimura Fitness, trying to figure out my sketch. Jun and the twins and I were going to go see Jolt III: Return of the Daysman today after Jun’s karate practice, and I couldn’t wait. When I gave up trying to figure out the mystery section of the building and came back to the dojo, Jun was still karate chopping with his boys. So I went outside to wait.

  I passed by Grace, who was sitting on the bench out front. Why hadn’t she gotten picked up yet? I plopped down on the grass under the shade of a mangrove tree and hoped she’d leave me alone. Unfortunately she came over and sat beside me on the ground.

  “What have you been doing?” she asked. “Flirting with Keiko?”

  “None of your business,” I said, wondering if Keiko was here somewhere.

  “Hey, isn’t that Beth?”

  I followed Grace’s gaze. Sure enough, Beth was standing with Bushi Kogawa by the side of the building, where one of the back doors to the dojo let out.

  “Ego Boy,” I murmured. A Brittany Holmes rhyme from Jolt II popped into my head. “In my stomach coils of dread. I sense evil up ahead.” I grinned at the idea that Bushi was a demon. But what was Beth doing with him?

  Grace looked from Bushi to me and back and forth. Then she poked my arm. “His arms are massive,” Grace said. “You should lift if you want arms like his.”

  “I do lift, thank you very much. I could bench you.” Okay, that had sounded stupid, but I made fists and flexed a little, wondering why I cared what Grace thought about anything.

  “Well, I think he’s cute,” Grace said.

  “Cute?” I glared at her. “That guy tried to break my arm! I thought he was banned from the dojo.”

  “Maybe hanging around outside doesn’t count.”

  “But why is Beth talking to him?” I scowled further as Beth’s hearty chuckle floated to my ears. Maybe she was on a mission. But why her? Why would Mr. S or Prière assign any of the girls to track that maniac? At least put Jake on him.

  “She’s flirting,” Grace said.

  “She is not!”

  The volume of my voice caused Beth and Bushi too look over to our tree. Recognition crossed Bushi’s face, and he clutched his arm as if it was hurt and staggered around. Nice. He took a step toward me, but Beth grabbed his hand and pulled him around the corner of the building out of sight.

  I felt like I’d been hit again. I didn’t like Beth hanging out with that animal. Touching him. Flirting? I suddenly realized that my breath sounded like a bull about to charge. I swallowed and looked away.

  “You like her,” Grace said, an evil grin growing on her face, like the Grinch when he got his wonderful, awful idea.

  I clenched my teeth. “Liked, Miss Thang. Past tense.” This trip just kept getting better and better. I certainly didn’t need another reason for Grace to antagonize me.

  Jun’s honking laugh turned my head. He and the twins came out of the front entrance. Oh, man! If I’d known the girls had been inside, I never would have come out here. I scrambled to my feet and walked toward the building.

  Grace got up and followed me. “I don’t trust them,” she said. “The twins.”

  Yeah, yeah. “Because of the lunch money thing?”

  “That’s part of it, but there are other things. Trust me: They’re no good.”

  Trust her? I barked a laugh and met Jun out front. His hair was wet and flat—he must have showered after practice. I looked from one twin to the other, trying to guess which was Keiko. Jun wasn’t touching either of them.

  But one had a small mole on her left cheek. I pointed at her. “Keiko?”

  She grinned. “Sugoi! How you guess?”

  I touched my cheek. “Your mole,” I said.

  “So smart, Pensa-san.” She took hold of my arm. Her hands were warm, and I stiffened at her touch, scared I’d do something to make her let go. “You want to see Brittany Holmes, yo?”

  “Yes, I do. Totemo.” I couldn’t wait to see this movie.

  “Totemo …” Keiko laughed. “Gureisu-chan, ikuwayo.” Keiko pulled me toward the street after Jun and Kozue.

  I glanced over my shoulder at Grace, who was trailing along behind us. “Wait, Grace is coming too?”

  “She is host sister to me and Kozue,” Keiko said.

  Great. But I wasn’t going to let Tinkerbell ruin my date with the Asian princess. So I ignored her. I mean, I had a mission to accomplish, work to be done. I couldn’t be bothered to worry about Grace and her “dark eyes.”

  We walked through the muggy streets of Naha, Jun and Kozue leading the way. I followed like a puppy, spending my time memorizing every millimeter of Keiko’s face. Did I mention that she was gorgeous? She was wearing a tank top with skinny straps and jean shorts that left lots of skin out to the sun and my eyes. And she kept touching me. A shoulder nudge here, a hand on my elbow there. If Jun and Kozue had been bad guy spies, they could have led me right into the enemy camp, and I wouldn’t have known until I was shackled to a chair.

  It occurred to me then that I should pay attention to my surroundings. I did have to write this up in my weekly report. I glanced around me, ignored Grace’s disparaging st
are, and noticed that we were walking down a wide street in some sort of shopping district. There were people everywhere, as if there’d just been a parade. My guess was there were always this many people out and about in this part of Naha. Across the street, I noticed a huge sign that said OKINAWA with a 3-D white cat sticking out of the sign. On the street beside the entrance, a life-sized Buzz Lightyear stood guard. Good. Physical landmarks like those would help me map my route out later.

  “What street are we on?” I asked Keiko.

  “Kokusai Dori,” she said.

  Coke side Dori. Got it. I could remember that. Now back to more important things … I smiled at Keiko.

  It was one thing to go on a date with a pretty girl, something I’d done only once in my life so far. But it was another thing to go with a friend whose date looked identical to yours. Every time I caught sight of Jun and Kozue holding hands or standing too close, I did a double take. My head knew there were two girls, but my instincts didn’t seem to be getting the message.

  Jun bought five movie tickets and we entered the theater. I wondered where he got the money to pay for us all. The theater wasn’t that different from any other I’d been in, except for the katakana and kanji signage everywhere. We got good seats in the middle of the theater about ten seconds before the lights went down. We were sitting in one long line: Kozue, Jun, me, Keiko, and Grace. I felt good about the seating arrangement.

  Two things instantly surprised me. First, the movie was in English with Japanese subtitles. Second, it seemed to be some kind of romantic comedy about a musician and his female manager. What happened to Brittany Holmes? I leaned over to Jun and pointed at the screen. “Brittany?”

  Jun gave me the thumbs up and a wide grin that bared his chipped-tooth smile. “Buritani Holumusu. Much beautiful lady.”

  I glanced past Keiko to Grace, who just shrugged. Well, at least I wasn’t the only one who was confused. I leaned back in my seat, bewildered. Much beautiful lady or not, the girl in this movie was not Brittany Holmes. It was that Amy Melinda chick who’d starred in that musical that had been nominated for an Oscar. I don’t do musicals.

  So I paid more attention to Keiko than the movie. Her wide-eyed expression was locked on the screen, and when she laughed, she leaned against me and touched my arm or leg.

  I wanted to say something to her, make her laugh, but my mind was a void of static. I decided to stay quiet. I couldn’t afford to mess this one up, assignment and all, so I focused back on the screen, where Amy Melinda was giving her guy the doe eyes.

  Bo-ring. And sappy. Jun and Kozue must have thought so too, because they started making out, which put a lot of ideas into my head that I wasn’t brave enough to act on, especially not with Grace here. So I slouched down in my seat and felt awkward and dumb. Yay.

  Finally the credits rolled. I popped to my feet, eager to get out of here, find Arianna, and ask how my saying, “Let’s go see Brittany Holmes in Jolt III ” had gotten translated into “Let’s go see an Amy Melinda chick flick.” But Keiko tugged on my arm and said something.

  I looked down on those Anime eyes and sort of forgot where I was. “Huh?”

  “You want Brittany? Light Goddess?”

  Music boomed in the theater. I twisted to see the screen just as the name Brittany Holmes flashed across the image of a high school football field.

  Double feature? Apparently they still had those in the world. Who knew?

  I plopped back into my seat as Jolt III started to roll. Keiko nestled close, so I put my arm around her. My gut clenched knowing that Grace would have seen that move and would say something nasty about it later.

  Let her. I wasn’t doing anything wrong.

  The film opened with an attractive blond high school student—the very popular Shantell Mason, played by some chick I didn’t recognize. She looked like a Playboy model more than a high school student. Naturally, her boyfriend was the star of the football team.

  Figures. Football always got more attention than basketball. So unfair.

  Enter the revving Harley and new guy at school, Bret, who’d just moved to town. He was Hollywood’s typical twenty-five-year-old high schooler with a two-day beard and a couple of tattoos. In his first class he got sent to the office for talking back to a teacher. He even picked a fight with Shantell’s football star boyfriend. Gutsy.

  Shantell, of course, thought this was awesome. She followed Bret around and flirted with him, even with her football man standing beside her. The Harley made Shantell all weak in the knees. She said her boyfriend was boring and hopped on the back of Bret’s hog for a ride.

  I rolled my eyes. Puh-lease. The girl was hot and all, but where was my Brittany? Hadn’t I suffered enough through the Amy Melinda chick flick?

  Then things started to get weird. Shantell took Bret back to her place. She lived in a mansion of a house with no parents. They had died, and she had been raised by two butlers. Mr. Screem looked like a creepy doctor in a white suit. Mr. Keel was built like a heavyweight boxer with a black T-shirt that was two sizes too small.

  Shantell and Bret made out for a bit, which must have inspired Jun and Kozue because they started sucking face again. I forced myself to concentrate on the movie and not my amorous neighbors, but Jun’s elbow kept spearing my side. And here I thought I’d gotten away from Kip and Megan.

  On screen, Shantell pulled away for some air and put her hand on Bret’s bare and psychotically muscular chest, tracing one of his tattoos with her fingernail. “Did you know everyone has untapped power inside them?” she said in a breathy voice. “I can teach you to find it—to achieve connection.”

  I perked up. Power inside? Connection? Wasn’t that pretty much the same words Dmitri Berkovich and his Bratva peeps had used when they offered me drugs in Moscow?

  REPORT NUMBER: 14

  REPORT TITLE: I Figure Out Some Berry Important Things

  SUBMITTED BY: Agent-in-Training Spencer Garmond

  LOCATION: Q Cinemas, Naha Main Place, Naha, Okinawa, Japan

  DATE AND TIME: Monday, June 15, 8:04 p.m.

  “SURE, BABY,” BRET CHORTLED, PULLING in for another kiss. “Let’s connect.”

  “It’s not what you think.” Shantell’s hand slid down Bret’s leg, along his leather pants, inching toward a knife holster that was strapped to his shin. “We need to harness the power inside you, and to do that we must ask for help.”

  Again a dopey laugh from Bret-the-moron, who was likely about to die. “You wanna call some friends?”

  She chuckled, low and throaty, and pulled a knife from Bret’s leg holster.

  Keiko grabbed my arm.

  It was Brittany’s knife! The one that had been stolen in the last movie. How had this Bret guy gotten it? And he’d better hop on his hog and hightail it out of there or he was shredded pork.

  Shantell held the knife to Bret’s throat. “In my stomach coils of dread. I sense evil in my bed.”

  No way! Only the Light Goddess spoke in sexy rhymes. Who was this chick? Was Shantell the Light Goddess in disguise?

  “Please, don’t kill me!” Bret pleaded. “It’s not what you think!”

  Shantell’s creepster butlers appeared as if from nowhere and held Bret down. What? Had they been behind the curtains this whole time?

  Shantell slid down Bret’s body, off the foot of the bed, and backed across the room. “Oh, it’s always exactly what I think. I’m a demon hunter. And you are the worst kind of evil scum.”

  She didn’t kill Bret, though. The butlers carried him out to a huge stone table in the back yard, strapped him to it, and left him there. Shantell came outside wearing a gauzy red dress that was blowing around in a sudden hurricane force wind. Dozens of people followed her. I had no idea where they’d all come from. Maybe they’d been hiding in the curtains too.

  Shantell climbed onto the table, lifted the knife above her head over Bret’s body, and chanted some foreign words. She transformed then. Pale skin and blond hair darkening. Even the red dre
ss morphed into that signature slinky black outfit the Light Goddess always wore.

  Brittany Holmes, baby! Aww yeah. Some of the audience started clapping. I wolf-whistled. Take ’em down, girl.

  Mr. Screem put a syringe to Bret’s arm and injected him with something. I shuddered as the image of the kid shooting up in Moscow flitted through my memory.

  Brittany walked along the stone table and stood over Bret’s head. “One light. One mind. Darkness I will bind.”

  She chanted her rhymes and swayed in a rhythmic dance. Her spectators mimicked her, chanting and swaying. Bret seemed to pass out. Then his body started convulsing. His mouth opened way too wide in a bad special effect that still looked awesome. A demon flew out of his mouth. Bret pulled against the leather straps that held him. Brittany reached down and used her knife to cut the straps. Bret sat, spun around on the stone table, and looked up at Brittany and the black creature that hovered in the air above the table.

  “Be gone, you fell beast.” Brittany sprayed her can of holy water, which soaked the black demon. It screamed and wailed and disintegrated in the air. Lightning lit the sky over the scene.

  My mouth was parched. It had been hanging open far too long.

  “O Daysman, master of the light,” Brittany said, “we present to you a new follower. Come into his life and unleash for him that which he seeks: the power within!”

  Bret pushed to his knees on the table and bowed at her feet. “Goddess of Light, I pledge my service to you.”

  “Speak it, all of you,” she said, waving the knife at the crowd.

  Bret and the others spoke in unison. “Light, stream to my mind, descend down to earth, give power to my heart, and give my life worth. Light, guide my will. Goddess, show the way to harness power for myself and live the Daysman way.”

  “To the Daysman!” someone shouted.

  “The Daysman!” the crowd echoed, going to their knees. Brittany took hold of Bret’s hand and he rose. Then she kissed him, which made me blush for some reason. And when she pulled away, she said, “Let’s go hunt some demons.”