Don’t get me wrong. You are arrogant and ungrateful. His eyes met mine and they locked on, shining with love and devotion. But your honor outshines this Empire. When it crumbles to dust your honor will still be there in the echo of what once was.
I blushed and turned back to Jin Ayumi who was trussing Ch’ng up.
“I hate to interrupt this touching moment,” Driscoll said behind me, “but if you are done silently expressing your eternal devotion, then Kitsano and I could use some help with these synthcuffs.”
“I can’t believe he was a spy,” I said, as I freed Driscoll.
“The Emperor has agents everywhere,” Ayumi said. “Do you think you are the first cousin to challenge his rule?”
“I think I will be the last.”
“So. She is what you said she was,” Ayumi said, glancing up from Ch’ng’s hands to Driscoll.
“Every bit of it. Trust her or don’t, but I don’t see any other option.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and looked Ayumi up and down. Choshi had called him a scholar. He looked more like an ancient samurai.
“He doesn’t look much like a relic to me,” I said.
Ayumi huffed, and slapped Ch’ng’s hands, indicating he was finished securing him. He gripped the spy’s bicep and led him over to the settee. Ch’ng watched us with interest.
“Is that what Driscoll said I was?” Ayumi asked, as he pulled out a small cigarette case from his jacket and tapped it open. Inside a tiny injection needle popped out instead of a cigarette, and he deftly stuck it in Ch’ng’s neck and pushed down the plunger.
“It was a joke, Jin,” Driscoll said, rubbing his wrists. “What will you do with the spy? Shall I call in Driscoll’s Own?”
“Driscoll’s Own is no more. You are the last living member. If you had not been off world you would have been purged with the rest, when the Emperor brought down his wrath. He killed them messily. And secretly.”
Driscoll’s face was grey at Ayumi’s words, but he didn’t look surprised. He’d known since the freighter. I felt a trickle of sweat slip down my temple, though. I had been counting on them. Who did I have left if Driscoll’s Own was no more? The Hand?
Ayumi laid the unconscious Ch’ng down on the settee.“I’ll send Falk for him. Some of The Hand were not your people and not swept up in the purge. We could use information about how this one came to be recruited by the Fleet without my knowing.”
“How would you know about who the Fleet recruits as a spy?” Roman asked, his eyes narrow.
Ayumi looked up and met his eyes.
“Because I am the secret Head of Blackwatch Intelligence, Marine. I have been for the last thirty years.”
I barely suppressed a gasp. That’s how he saved Driscoll all those years ago.
“Then why have you waited until now to act?” Roman asked, and in it I heard the unspoken questions. Why had he waited until after a corrupt government killed Roman’s parents? Why had he waited until after that government sent he and I out to fail and die? Why had he waited until after a crisis killed little Ryu’s parents and left him a terrified refugee?
“It was not the right time. We needed to wait for a Matsumoto. The right Matsumoto,” Ayumi said, shooting a glance at me from the side of his hooded eyes.
I kept my face immobile. He’d have to work if he wanted information from me. I had my own set of “whys.”
“I’ve heard that. You don’t want a bloody revolution. But hasn’t the rule of Nigel Matsumoto been just as bloody? Why do you need a Matsumoto?” Roman asked
“There are safeguards. It can only be a Matsumoto.”
“Safeguards? You are afraid of security measures? You couldn’t overwhelm them on your own? Not much of a Head of Blackwatch Intelligence!”
Ayumi compressed his lips and sighed, and I thought he was done with Roman, but after a moment he spoke.
“Do you think you were the only one injected against your will? All of us in useful positions in the Blackwatch hierarchy are injected with tiny computer chips. Not like your implant, but intelligent enough to kill us if we go against the Matsumotos. Maybe I could have acted and died, but then who would take up the revolution? Anyone in the position to know how to stop them would have died, too.”
“I don’t see your head exploding,” Roman said, as he arranged a sleeping Ryu on a chair beside the settee and then joined the rest of us in the tight circle we’d formed.
“Matsumoto,” Ayumi said, gesturing at me. “Therefore, no messy death. She’s one of the family, so I’m safe.”
“Driscoll wasn’t injected, though, was he?” I said.
“No,” Driscoll said, looking up at me, “but when I raised that point with the Hand they made…compelling…arguments.”
His expression hardened and I didn’t push him, but I wondered who they had blackmailed him with to get him to go along with their reasoning. Zeta? Me? Or maybe he hadn’t needed external motivation. He was at heart a revolutionary. If there had been nothing to rebel against he would have found something – maybe even himself.
Speaking of Zeta, I needed a moment alone soon so I could go give her a piece of my mind.
“So you’ve been waiting all this time for a likely Matsumoto to come into your hands and then, what…you let her be your pawn as you reform Blackwatch?” Roman asked, his face turning red and his words getting choppy.
“Not exactly,” Jin Ayumi said. “We learned a long time ago that Matsumotos make poor pawns. We aren’t looking for a pawn. We’re looking for an Emperor. A real Emperor, worthy of admiration, respect and loyalty.”
Behind his eyes was a weighing look, like he was trying to determine if I fit the bill, and beside him Driscoll’s face was lit up 1000 lumens bright and even Kitsano had that glowy look that made me feel very worried.
“But we were wrong to look for a worthy Emperor,” Ayumi said, and my eyes widened with surprise. He paused and coughed, as a strange expression played over his face. “We should have been looking for an Empress.”
I cleared my throat.
“So now we know what you want from me. Let’s talk about what I want from you,” I said.
“What good is an octogenarian with a single set of pistols?” Roman asked
“That’s what he’s going to tell us.”
Ayumi frowned, but if he knew Matsumotos then he must know to expect a backbone.
“I have contacts. Admiral Tagawa, for instance, could prove very helpful.”
I smiled. “I’m sure she will prove helpful. The military will need to choose a side, and I assume that if you’ve mentioned her then she is either with The Hand or her loyalty is negotiable.”
Ayumi shook his head.
“Admiral Tagawa is extremely trustworthy, but she will ask you a question and if your answer is not correct then the Blackwatch military will not take your side.”
My eyebrows rose.
“You’ve tried this before.”
His face remained carefully blank, and I noticed that everyone else around us drew in closer as if they would be able to hear something imperceptible otherwise.
“Hiro Matsumoto was also a troubling Emperor before his assassination. We tried to replace him, but our choice of Emperor…failed.”
“Zeta,” Driscoll breathed.
I thought about Zeta, so bent on the destruction of the Emperor. What could she possibly have lacked that I might have? In every way possible she made a more authoritative figure than I ever could, and she was older than I am now when she was exiled to Baldric.
We were so intent on his revelations that no one turned around when Ryu shuffled in his sleep.
“Well, that’s something I will think on, but military introductions will not be your only task,” I said. “You are the Head of Intelligence. That means you know people not just in Blackwatch, but in other nations, too. You will get me a secret meeting with the decision makers of The People’s Freehold in the next forty-eight hours or you can forget making me anything.”<
br />
“That is impossible!” Ayumi said, shoving his pistols into holsters under his flowing jacket.
“Nevertheless,” I said, “You will do the impossible. People don’t remain spies for as long as you clearly have without finding ways to achieve what no one else can.”
Driscoll and Ayumi shared a commiserating look over my head, and I gritted my teeth. I was not a child. I was a woman who they wanted to make Empress.
“I will not fight my own battles without also fighting for the citizens of Blackwatch. I want an end to this needless death. Too many innocents have died already.”
They smiled tight-lipped at me, and Roman rolled his eyes.
Watch out. They think that you sneeze and gold dust flies out. People like that will get you killed.
Tell me about it. Their death count is already epic.
Look at us, Vera, he said, shooting me one of his bone-melting smiles, marriage suits us. We were always better as a team.
Always, I agreed.
“I will find a way,” Ayumi said. “But you must meet Admiral Tagawa immediately. I came here to find Driscoll and bring you to her. She has only a few hours to spare before she must meet with the Emperor, and what report she gives will be based on what she sees in you.”
“Didn’t you just kill her men?” I asked, gesturing.
“These weren’t hers.”
“But they followed us from Nightshade, and that is where she began to track us.”
“Replacements brought in by the Emperor’s Hound.”
“Who is the Emperor’s Hound?” Roman asked.
“His personal clerk and spy. I have thought for some time that he is the son of Prime Minister Everard Oshiro,” he said as if we were fools who should know immediately who he was talking about. He gestured towards the settee, “You’ve been referring to him as ‘Ch’ng.’”
We all looked where he pointed, but the settee was empty.
“Ryu!” Roman gasped.
The chair was empty, too.
THE MATSUMOTO: 32
I HADN’T EVEN PROCESSED WHAT had happened before Roman sprinted out the front door, leaving it open behind him. Snow blew across the hall and Driscoll cursed loudly. My pulse was even louder in my throat. I shoved past Driscoll, ignored Ayumi’s shout, and followed Roman out into the dark and the swirling snow.
The snow descended so thickly that Roman’s tracks were almost completely covered in the thumb-sized flakes. There were no other tracks to be seen. I circled the house, and in the deadly stillness of the snowy night the only sound was my pounding heart. What would become of Roman if anything happened to that little boy? I could hear his thoughts slipping into our channel, frantic and distraught.
My fault, my fault…Ryu!..helpless, terrified…he trusted me. Ryu!
There was no sign of anyone around the house and no sign of movement in the streets around us. When I came around to the front again I made out the sound of footsteps squeaking in the snow. Roman emerged from the thick gusts at a full run.
He seized me by the biceps, almost lifting me up in shaking hands.
“I can’t let him disappear into the night, Vera!” His breath gusted hot into the cold.
“You saw no sign of them?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Then how can you hope to find him?”
“It doesn’t matter how. I have to go,” his eyes were wild, skating over everything around, but he pulled them down to find my own and managed to focus for a moment. “I can’t leave him when he needs me. You must understand.”
He kissed me once, frantically, intensely, and then after one heart-wrenching look he dashed off into the swirling snow.
Should I go with him? What was wrong with me that I didn’t? Leave the old men to their silly thoughts of Empire and save what matters to you, I urged myself, but instead I stood there with empty arms and an aching heart.
I understand, I said, and I straightened my shoulders, took in a deep breath and trotted up the steps to the house.
I opened the door to the stomach-twisting smell of death. Ayumi and Driscoll were arguing where I left them and Kitsano was off to the side shaking like a leaf. What had gotten into that girl? She was a lot tougher on Baldric.
“You’re back,” Driscoll said, sagging slightly.
“I have an Admiral to meet,” I said. “What’s the hold up?”
“No hold up,” Ayumi said, spreading his hands wide. “I’ll call my driver.”
Driscoll shot him a murderous look. What had they been fighting about?
“Is this going to be a problem?” I asked Driscoll, gesturing between him and Ayumi.
“Not at all, my liege,” he said with a half bow.
My eyebrows shot up before I could stop them. Well, that was a nice change.
“In that case,” I said, turning to Ayumi, “Should I ask why we’re using private transport? Won’t we stand out?”
“We’re going to the Callaway Mountains,” Ayumi said. “I’m sure you know that there are no public routes there.”
“That’s a terrible idea. Anyone would be curious about a hovercar headed there, and if someone is looking we will stand out.”
“No one is looking. Besides, the Admiral is staying at her house there, and as you know it is close to the Winter Palace, and her audience with the Emperor is there very soon. She cannot leave, but we can go to her.”
Like supplicants. I didn’t like it.
“What do you mean that no one is looking?”
I was surprised when Driscoll answered, his voice thick and halting.
“The People’s Freehold Officially declared war on us one hour ago. It’s all over the newfeeds. These may be the last days of our Empire.”
We were all silent for a moment, fear and horror filling us, but then I rallied.
“Like hell they are,” I said. “Call your car, Ayumi.”
If force of will alone could stop an interplanetary war and topple an Empire, then I was the one for the job.
Ayumi retreated to the side, flicking on his ring phone and making his call. Driscoll shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot.
“Did you want to say something?” I asked.
“We thought we were taking on a real down and dirty dog-fight, and that’s scary enough, but now it looks like you’re going to take on a neo-puma at the same time. Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Shut up Driscoll,” I said, but I said it kindly. “The time for self-doubt is passed. Now is the time to make our foreheads like flint and our intestines like iron.”
“Meaning?”
“Now is the time for courage. Of the many things you are, Patrick Driscoll, a coward is not one of them.”
He smiled at me and said, “Well then I suppose that is something we share.”
“Two minute ETA,” Ayumi said, “Let’s get to the roof.”
“Roof?” Kitsano said, looking up finally.
“I’ve called my skystrider. We need to make up the time we’ve lost.”
Always. We always needed to make up time. I was living my whole life in 24x speed.
We followed Ayumi to the wide stone stairs and corkscrewed upwards to the roof.
“How many of my relatives are still living, Ayumi?” I asked, as we climbed.
“I wouldn’t fret about that now, Vera,” he said.
“I’m not fretting. I’m asking.”
“Your cousin Nigel brought your cousin Albert back from assignment last week.”
Two. Maybe.
“I’m not sure that is an answer, Jin Ayumi,” I said.
Ayumi was huffing a little as we finally reached the top of the stairs. Driscoll pushed a door open and we walked out onto a flat, well-lit roof just as the whisper-silent skystrider settled on it. The driver threw open the door and Driscoll took Kitsano’s arm and the two raced towards it, ducking under the directional drives as they ran. Ayumi took a step forward but I seized his arm.
“I’m still asking,” I said,
my lips forming a hard line.
“I think you know how many Matsumotos are still alive, Vera,” Ayumi said.
I released his sleeve and he ran to the skystrider with me close on his heels. I guess, when I thought about it, the answer had been obvious all along.
We strapped into the skystrider and I battled images of my relatives that could not be kept from bubbling up out of my memories. Aunt Elnore brushing my hair. Albert asking for help on a political science assignment. Uncle Svend teaching me to snowshoe. I bit my lip and focussed on not remembering. There would be a time for remembering later.
“How many of The Hand are left?” I asked.
Ayumi and glanced at Driscoll as he buckled in, and Driscoll refused to meet his gaze. Was this what they had been fighting about.
“Everyone in this skystrider serves The Hand faithfully,” he said.
“We have no allies left, except for those present and Roman?” I asked, feeling a thrill of fear almost as strong as the one I’d felt at the announcement of war.
No one wanted to answer me as the skystrider set off into the snowy night. Ayumi sat in the co-pilot’s chair and did not bother with introductions. Driscoll and Kitsano sat next to each other along one side of the chopper and clasped hands.
“No one but us, Vera,” Driscoll said, before closing his eyes.
I took the opportunity to commune with my spirits.
Zeta? Are you still in there?
Where else would we be?
Well, they were talking to me. I closed my eyes and sank into the shadows in my head. Zeta materialized before me instantly, arms crossed over her chest and eyes blazing. Behind her the Elders were arrayed, and for once, the buzz of the other souls was low enough that I didn’t need to block them out. We had an audience.
“You did not come when I called you. You did not aid me in battle,” I said.
“We are losing confidence in you,” Zeta said. “Your choice to marry was selfish and ill-advised.”
“Marriage was not part of the terms we negotiated.”
“It is time to re-negotiate,” Zeta said.
“No. You gave your word. You must uphold your end of the bargain or-”
“Or what? You have nothing to threaten us with! Your path to overthrow the Matsumoto Emperor is set. You can’t turn back now.”
The Matsumoto Trilogy: Omnibus Edition Page 66