“Then let’s lock up and you can be on your way,” Asai told her. “After we eat, we can do a final walk-through and be sure everything is ready for the workers to start. The foreman assured me that everything we had noted on his punch list was finished when he came by this morning. We can check this while we do the rest.” She picked up a sheet of paper from the counter and held it for Koda to see.
“Works for me. Is there anything else on our schedule for today?”
Asai grinned. “I have a bath scheduled from two to four.”
Koda smiled back. “You know, now that you mention it, I think I remember something like that on my calendar, too.”
Asai laughed. “Well, the sooner you go, the sooner that scrumptious burger is in my hands and we can get on to the serious business of the day.”
“Okay, okay. I’m going.” Koda chuckled as she headed out the door.
“Takumi,” Asai called after Koda had left.
“Yes, Asai?”
“Lock it down, please. We’re done seeing people for today.”
As Asai finished the command, most of the lights throughout the building shut off and she heard the distinct sound of the lock sliding into place in the door.
“Level one lockdown initiated. May I be of further assistance?”
“Thank you, Takumi, that will be all for now.”
“Acknowledged.”
Koda squinted as she stepped out into the bright midday sun, her eyes dazzled and spots forming in her vision. She turned and crossed in front of the arcade, heading in the direction Asai had told her to go. Her thoughts focused on the additional ingredients she planned to have on her burger. In her partially blinded and distracted state, she didn’t notice the two rough-looking men watching her intently from the corner across the street.
“Isn’t that one of the girls Sero wanted us to grab, Yasuo?”
“She fits the description closer than any of the others I’ve seen come out of there today.”
As Koda came abreast of them on the opposite side of the street, she stopped for traffic, turning to watch a sleek yellow sports car with two young women as it flashed past.
“Yeah, that’s one of them,” Diago confirmed as he motioned to the driver of a windowless van parked down the street.
Both men cut across the street. Yasou angled to get in front of Koda and Diago moved behind her. When the van screeched to a halt next to the oblivious young woman, Yasou turned and faced her, blocking the sidewalk in front of her.
“Someone wants to talk to you,” he growled when she stopped to avoid running into him.
Koda looked up and saw the scarred face and grim visage of the man blocking her path and some inner voice told her to run. She turned to flee and ran directly into Diago.
“No need to be that way.” He grinned as he caught her by the shoulders. “Nobody’s gonna hurt you, we just want to ask you some questions.”
The side door on the van slid open, and Diago pushed her toward it.
Koda screamed when a dark bag was pulled roughly over her head. She felt herself being picked up and thrown into the open van, where rough hands grabbed her and held her in place.
“Go, go!” Yasou yelled to the driver.
He put the van in gear and cut into traffic. The whole thing took only seconds from the time he stopped until he was moving again. It happened so fast that none of the people in the area noticed anything.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Northern China, Prison Complex
Yuko moved through the dust from the smashed wall with Akio on her heels. A figure appeared at the top of a stairwell and the Jean Dukes pistol in her right hand barked once. The projectile hit the Forsaken in the chest and hurled him back down the stairwell, a hole the size of a grapefruit through his chest.
“Mad, much?” Akio chided.
“These vile creatures need to be eradicated from the face of the earth,” Yuko growled. “To take innocents and turn them into Nosferatu is an abomination.”
“Hai. But remember, kill them calmly,” he warned.
“I am calm,” Yuko told him. “Now, can we finish this? The Forsaken stench is getting in my hair. It takes forever to get it out.”
The yells of the Forsaken below increased when the body landed in their midst. The sound of feet pounding up the stairs heralded the arrival of two more. Yuko aimed her pistols and fired. The one on the right went down, his head a mangled wreck. The other managed to dodge at the last second and Yuko’s round punched through the wall to the outside.
Akio stepped to the left behind Yuko. Before she could reacquire the fast-moving Forsaken in her sights, Akio lashed out with his katana and opened the Forsaken’s throat in a spray of dark blood. Yuko fired again, and the round took him on the bridge of his nose. The body slammed against the wall with a wet splat as the top of his head disintegrated.
Yuko started down the stairs but was stopped short by Akio’s hand on her arm.
“My turn.” He disappeared in a blur down the now empty stairs.
“Eve.”
“Yes, Takumi?”
“I have detected an anomaly outside of the security perimeter.”
“What is it?”
“Video upload commencing.”
Eve waited a few seconds until a video scrolled across the HUD of the Black Eagle. Her eyes widened as she saw the two men accost Koda and throw her into the van.
“Takumi, locate Koda Rii,” Eve commanded.
“Koda Rii’s location found. She is in the closet of her apartment,” Takumi answered. “This is not logical. Locator beacon is active in Koda Rii’s residence, but scans do not detect biomass inside.”
Eve swore under her breath. “She left her communicator at home.”
Akio stopped at the foot of the stairs, appearing in front of the remaining Forsaken as if by magic. They all stopped and stared at the armed stranger dressed in a dark tunic and pants holding a blood-covered sword as he stared at them with bright red eyes.
“Your lives are forfeit, by command of Queen Bethany Anne,” he growled.
One of the Forsaken noticeably paled as he backed up until he hit a wall. “The Dark One,” he whispered.
Akio nodded in acknowledgment. The others leapt into action as if it was a sign. Six Forsaken armed with swords and machetes rushed him, as did one giant of a man who was built like a sumo wrestler and armed with what looked like a medieval battleax.
As they converged on his location, Akio blurred. When they arrived, he was no longer there. The group milled about, searching for him. As they stared up the dark stairwell, a skinny Forsaken with his hair in a long braid down his back was knocked forcefully back into the giant with the battleax behind him by a round from Yuko’s Jean Dukes Special. The headless body took him down in a tangle of limbs.
Akio moved in from where he had stopped behind the confused group and casually flicked his sword through the throat of one standing to the left of the stairs. Another Forsaken joined the two on the floor.
The remaining Forsaken scattered, seeking whatever shelter they could from the angel of death that was among them.
Yuko emerged from the dark stairwell. Her Jean Dukes barked again, and another Forsaken was thrown across the room. He hit the wall. When his body bounced off, Akio’s sword met it. His head separated from his still-moving body and landed on a table against the wall.
“The head, Yuko. Always aim for the head,” Akio admonished.
Yuko answered with a shot that hit one of the fleeing Forsaken in the back of the neck. The round severed his head from his body and dropped both amid the other dead and dying on the floor.
“Seems to me that the neck works fine, too,” Yuko retorted.
Akio smiled, and then his eyes opened wide as he was pulled to the floor by the huge Forsaken from earlier, who had untangled himself from his dead compatriot and grabbed Akio’s armored leg.
He twisted as he fell and landed hard on the arm that held his katana. The Forsaken rolle
d over on top of him and started to pummel him with his fists.
Akio snatched the tanto from his belt and plunged it repeatedly into the beast’s torso. The Forsaken howled in pain and rage, his shirt turning black as his lifeblood leaked out of multiple wounds. He reared back, preparing to hammer both fists onto Akio’s head. Akio was set to plunge his tanto into a pain-filled eye when the Forsaken’s head exploded, showering him with gore.
He surged to his feet, disgust evident on his face as he wiped the remains from his eyes. “Was that necessary?”
“Oops,” Yuko replied calmly as she sent another Forsaken to hell with a well-placed round to the face.
The last Forsaken, the one who had recognized Akio, was still frozen against the wall. His eyes were round with fear. When Yuko turned her attention on him, he ran toward the door that led to the cells.
“Yuko,” Eve called over the comm.
“A little busy here at the moment, Eve.”
“Koda’s been kidnapped.”
The sound of a rapidly firing Jean Dukes was heard. Dust and concrete flew out from the wall as Yuko shot at the fleeing form.
“Hold still so I can shoot you. Gott verdammt Forsaken,” she grumped. “Ha! Got you!” she exclaimed as the fleeing Forsaken went down in a spray of blood and bone when a round took him in the back of the head.
“What was that again, Eve?”
“Takumi just sent me a video showing Koda being grabbed by two men and thrown into a van on the street in front of the Palace.”
Yuko’s face went pale. “Do you have a location on her?”
“Negative. Her communicator is in her residence.”
“Akio!” Yuko called.
He paused and looked up from a wounded Forsaken, his sword poised to take his head.
“We need to get back to Japan,” Yuko told him. “Koda has been kidnapped.”
Akio’s face flushed with rage as he severed the head from the Forsaken he held and wiped the blood-covered blade on his body. “Eve, bring the Pod to the door,” he commanded.
Akio and Yuko rushed out of the rec room that now resembled a slaughterhouse and boarded the waiting Pod. Akio directed it to a position several hundred meters above and to the left of the complex.
“Level it,” he ordered tersely.
Eve moved the Black Eagle into position away from the end that held the cells. She launched two one-kilogram pucks from the craft. Seconds later, they slammed into the prison complex like the hand of an angry god. A plume of dust and debris shooting five hundred meters into the air. When it settled, nothing remained except a deep rubble-strewn crater where the prison had stood.
Akio looked down from the open door of the Pod, his senses extended as he searched for signs of any Nosferatu or Forsaken still alive. Finding none, he closed the door.
As one, the Pod and Black Eagle shot higher into the sky and headed toward Japan.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Pod, Between China and Japan
“Takumi,” Eve called.
“Yes, Eve?”
“Where’s Asai?”
“She is inside her residence,” Takumi replied. “That has been confirmed by the presence of her communicator and a biomass that matches previous scans.”
“Is anyone else at the Palace complex with her?” Eve asked.
“Negative. Asai Ono initiated level one lockdown when Koda Rii departed.”
“Initiate level three lockdown protocols and contact the police,” Eve commanded. “Send them the video so they can try to find that van.”
“Acknowledged. Level three lockdown is in effect. Contacting Tokyo Police.”
“Yuko, I have ordered Takumi to initiate a level-three lockdown at the Palace and to contact the police. I think you should go there to meet with them as the Vicereine,” Eve advised.
“Where’s Asai? Is she safe?” Yuko queried with worry in her voice.
“She’s in her apartment. Takumi won’t let anything happen to her.”
“Has she been told about Koda, yet?”
“That was my next question,” Eve admitted. “How do you want to handle it? She’s going to panic and want to run out and save Koda, but Takumi won’t allow that. She’s going to be angry and upset when you arrive. She’s calling me now.”
Asai was hanging the brown skirt and white blouse she had worn for the interviews in her closet when Takumi’s voice came over the intercom and her communicator simultaneously. “Attention, please. Level three lockdown protocols are in effect. All defensive measures are authorized and engaged. Please remain in place and await further instructions.”
She looked up in surprise since she’d never heard that message before. “Takumi, what’s the matter?”
“Eve has initiated a level three lockdown of the complex,” Takumi informed her. “I have been authorized to repel any unauthorized personnel attempting to gain entry with extreme prejudice. That is all of the information I am permitted to divulge at this time.”
Asai pulled the communicator Eve had given her from the pocket of the skirt and pressed the center. “Eve?”
“One moment, Asai,” Eve answered.
Seconds later, Yuko responded instead. “Asai.”
“Yuko, what’s wrong? What is this level three lockdown Eve has ordered, and why is Takumi not permitted to tell me more?” The young woman’s voice showed hints of strain.
Yuko drew a deep breath. “Eve ordered the level three lockdown because we believe that you and the complex may be under attack.”
Asai panicked. “Attack! Who? What? Oh, my God. I sent Koda out for burgers. Is she okay?”
“I’m on my way there now,” Yuko assured her. “Remain calm. I will explain everything when I arrive.”
“Yuko, Koda’s outside! I have to warn her!”
Yuko sighed, wishing the Pod would go faster as it streaked through the stratosphere toward Tokyo. “Asai, please remain calm. Akio and I will be landing in a few minutes.”
“Yuko, you’re scaring me. Is Koda okay?”
“One moment please, Asai.”
Yuko switched her comm and called Eve. “Eve, can you get into the video feeds around the complex and try to see if you can find where they took Koda?”
“I’ve had access to them since before we bought the site,” Eve informed her. “I need to get closer to do any real-time tracking, though. The signal is too slow for the number of feeds I need to review from this distance. I already sent a command to Abel. He is compiling and sorting the video as we speak. If they took her on a route with any public or private surveillance, traffic, or other security cameras in use, he should have an answer soon.”
“Thank you,” Yuko told her before switching channel again. “Asai, I’m sorry for the delay. I am handling multiple issues right now. To answer your question, we believe Koda was kidnapped by two men when she left the complex. Eve has Abel trying to track her location using the cameras in the area.”
“Why the cameras?” Asai exclaimed. “Can’t you track her communicator? Eve told us they were designed for that.”
“Koda doesn’t have it with her. Takumi located it inside her apartment after he witnessed the kidnapping on his external security system.”
“NO!” Asai yelled. “She knows not to go out without it. I had to let her in yesterday—she promised me she wouldn’t forget it again.”
“We will find her, Asai. Akio and I will be landing in a few moments.”
Takumi interrupted. “There is a Tokyo policeman approaching the front of the complex. Instructions?”
Akio had been sitting quietly, watching something on his pad while Yuko and Eve talked to Asai. “Takumi, advise the officer to contact his superiors and notify them that I am invoking the Bitch Protocol and will speak to him in a moment.”
“Acknowledged, Bitch Protocol invoked on Akio’s authority.”
Yuko looked up, startled. “Do you think this is related to the UnknownWorld, and not simply a random thing?”
“Hai. The arrival of the Were from China and Koda’s kidnapping are connected. I should have intercepted and dealt with him last night instead of continuing the surveillance,” he spat. “I just reviewed audio data from the drone Eve tagged him with before he left China, and I have a location to start asking questions.”
Yuko saw a faint flash of red in his eyes, but even without that small clue, she knew from his cold and deadly tone that Akio was willing to kill to get the answers he required.
The Pod touched down in front of the entrance, startling the policeman who was speaking into his radio. Akio stepped out of the open door. The officer’s eyes widened in surprise as he took in the grim visage of the heavily-armed and blood-covered figure approaching him. He backed up in fear, drawing his sidearm and shakily pointing it at Akio. “Stop! Don’t come any closer!” he ordered.
Akio stopped, his hands held out in a non-threatening manner. “I am Akio. Please contact your superiors. They will advise you further.”
The officer keyed his radio and stammered, “Sir, ah, uh, sir, there is a man here who says his name is Akio. He just came down from the sky. He is heavily armed and covered in what looks like blood.”
The reply came back instantly from a different voice that carried the force of a command. “This is Commissioner General Watabe. Assist him in any way he requests and advise him that I am on my way. Whatever you do, do not make him angry!”
The officer turned pale as the blood drained from his face. He lowered his weapon and managed to get it back into his holster after three attempts. “Understood, Inspector General, but I think it might already be too late for that.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Tokyo
Koda landed hard, the breath knocked out of her as she was thrown into the van. Rough hands grabbed her and shoved her against the floor before she could catch her breath.
“Hold still, sweet thing,” a harsh voice said from above her. “We won’t hurt you—much.”
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