Then there was Kelli Mae. Michi knew that her family had been contacted and informed that it would be best for everyone if she did not volunteer that it was her in the holo. Sitting on the bed in back of Michi, head down, she was the perfect picture of an abused woman. The sobs that wracked her body showed up perfectly on the holo, and even knowing the truth, Michi felt a twinge of pity for the poor, abused girl.
Of course, the abuse was at the hands of Michi and her three companions. Kelli Mae had done nothing wrong other than fall in love, and what she had gone through was at the hands of Cheri and Michi. Michi did feel guilty about that, but it was for the greater good, right?”
“Stars above, we’ve got to watch that again,” Tamara said as the holo faded it. She hit the playback, and the two roommates re-watched it, pausing it a couple of times to point out details.
“Powerful stuff, that,” Tamara said, serious for once. “I think it’s a glove to the face of the Federation. I just hope it rallies, the people for Saturday.”
“Do you think it will?” Michi asked.
“Well, it will sure rally the male population and more than a few of the female, girl,” she said, the irreverent Tamara back as she punched Michi in the arm. “They may not understand the cause, but they’ll follow you, looking like that.”
They watched the replay several times, and when they switched back to the live feed, a response was already being aired. The company, of course, decried the act of “terrorism.” A Marine spokesman issued a statement asserting that the so-called abuse was a case of consenting adults, and a chagrined-looking Thane Regent was trotted out where he insisted that he had been with his girlfriend.
When a reporter asked for the name of the girlfriend, the spokesman stepped back in and said for privacy reasons, they could not reveal that. Michi had half-expected the Marines to release Kelli Mae’s name, but the organization’s arcane sense of honor evidently got in the way of that. And by not releasing her name, it made their statement seem like a cover-up. They were telling the truth, Michi knew, but they certainly seemed guilty.
Despite an almost disastrous conclusion, the mission looked to be a success. The real test was on Saturday, though. Would the people rally to the cause? Without massive public support, anything they did was just pissing in the wind.
Chapter 21
“Feelin’ better?” Seth asked as Michi came through the door.
“Oh, yeah, much better,” she said, for a moment forgetting that she had called in sick the day before.
She was glad to get back. With two more days before the planned rally, she had pent up nervous energy, and a session with Seth seemed like the perfect antidote.
She stripped to her unitard, left her Clodders and outerwear on the counter, and got on the mat where without warming up, Seth was on her. Fifteen sweaty minutes later, Seth released his kimura lock and slid away to sit while Michi caught her breath.
“You seem fine, considerin’ your health.”
“Oh, like I said, I’m better, and it really wasn’t much.”
“Good to know. Your health is number one, am I right?”
“Yeah, right,” Michi said, wondering at the direction Seth was taking. He never seemed too concerned about her health before.
“What did you think about that holo yesterday, the one where that Marine was called out for abusing that poor lass?” he said, switching topics.
“Uh, it was disgusting,” she said, the response she had decided upon in case anyone asked her.
“Yeah, Marines are always chasin’ pussy, you know. Gets them in more trouble. But that woman in the holo, she was something else, am I right?”
“I . . . I guess so,” she got out.
“A redhead, too. Not many around here, and I always was partial to redheads. And she was a big girl. I like that. Nice big tits.”
Despite herself, Michi started to color. “I wouldn’t know about that.”
“Oh, of course not. Excuse me if I was a little crude there. Just statin’ facts,” Seth went on. “’Sides, there are lots of big, strong women around. Like you, for example.
“You know, I had a visit from the jacks about two months ago. Remember the jack who got himself kilt in that drug deal?”
“I think so,” Michi said, trying not to let her rising apprehension show.
“Well, first, they wanted to know where I was when he got zeroed. Seems, that as a discharged Marine and someone who knows his way in a fight, they thought I might be a suspect. Luckily, I had an alibi, so then they asked me for my opinion. I looked at the holos, and I told them it had to be a big, strong man who zeroed the guy. His neck was broken, and from one hit. No other damage.”
“Yeah, a strong guy, that makes sense.”
“But I been thinkin’, why only a guy? A big strong girl could do it, too, like that girl on the holo, ’specially one who knew some fightin’ means, and ’specially if she was wearin’ heavy boots. I don’t think she could do it with a punch, but maybe a kick, like the roundhouse you like to throw. A good kick, with boots, iffen she got lucky, that could do it.”
Seth broke his gaze on her to stare at Michi’s Clodders where she had left them on the counter.
“You got sometin’ to tell me?” he asked.
Michi wanted to leave, but she tried to sound casual as she replied, “No. You might be right, but I wouldn’t know.”
“Do you think I’m a huddy, girl? ’Cause I’m a MacPruitt and not one of you high-side Clan families? I may not be as good-speakin’ as you, I may not be as educated, but I can see what’s in front of my own eyes.”
Michi said nothing, staring down at her hands.
“I did some research. Your fiancé was that indentured who was killed. As they say, in the cop holos, you’ve got the motive. You wear those Clodders, and I’m thinking that with your roundhouse and your strength, iffen you caught some jack unawares, you could possibly break his neck. But most of all, I’ve been all over you on this mat. I’ve had my hands on you. I know your body. I know that little dark spot on your hip. When they changed your face in editin’, they forgot one thing. That, good cousin, was you on the holo. Deny it if you can.”
Michi wanted to deny it. She wanted to jump up and run out.
Instead, she meekly asked, “What are you going to do?”
“Me? What are you goin’ to do is the real question. Are you here to get some revenge? If you are, you’re wasting your time.”
For a moment, Michi had hoped she could enlist Seth as an ally. But he was rejecting her.
“I’m sorry, I thought I could . . . I just don’t know.”
“Look, girl, I knew that was you on the holo, but I was guessing about the jack. You got lucky, damn lucky with that. You try that amateur shit with the Marines here, you’re going to get crushed.”
Michi shuddered, thinking of the ass-whipping she and Tamara had received.
“You are too, too, First Family, all right and proper, all by the rules. You don’t have the killer instinct.”
“I do so,” she protested.
“No, you don’t. What did I do when we first fought here?”
“You know what you did,” she bristled. “You hit me, well, down there.”
“Damn, you can’t even say it, can you? I hit your freakin’ fud, girl. Smack in your pussy. And what did you do about it? Nothin’. Then in the crucifix, what’d I do?”
Michi thought back, then remembered his driving his crotch in her face before letting her up.
“You pushed your . . . your . . . balls in my face,” she almost shouted.
“And what did you do about it?”
“Nothing! What could I do about it? You had me in a crucifix!”
“Bullshit! You can always do something. You could have bitten me, taken a chunk out of my knob!” he said, his voice rising in emphasis.
“You . . . you wanted me to bite your dick?”
“No, I wanted you to try. I wanted to see where your spirit was. You weren’t
gonna succeed, but I wanted to see you resort to what you could. But no, that would get you disqualified from an MMA match? And you’d never do that, am I right? Let me tell you, girl, that won’t cut it in a fight with a Marine. He’ll do everythin’ he can to win, and there are no rules. Even Saint Lysander, he’s resorted to some underhanded shit despite what the Marine propaganda machine would lead you to believe.”
“You mean that commander they talk about on the newsfeeds?”
“Yeah, that commander. Captain Ryck Lysander, hero of the Corps.”
“You know him?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, yes. We went to boot together, and served in the fleet. I even broke his arm once. He’s an arrogant bastard, I can tell you.”
“You broke his arm? Why?” she asked, curiosity overtaking her anxiety for a moment.
“Call it payback. But forget him. Any Marine’s gonna fight dirty if that’s what it takes. You can’t play by no fuckin’ rules if you want to survive. And you, cousin dear, don’t have it in you.
“Look, I love MMA. It pulled me up and gave me my shot at a better life. It got me into the Marines, before I screwed that up. It pays my bills now. But it’s a freakin’ sport, not battle. And until you get that there are no rules in a fight, you are gonna get crushed.”
“What about you?” Michi asked excitedly. “Why don’t you join us?”
“Join you? Fat fuckin’ chance of that!” he said with a snort.
“Why not? You don’t like the Marines, I can tell. You can’t support the company. Who do you support?”
“I support me. I always have. I’m Clan, but not Clan. None of us MacPruitts matter squat to the rest of you. I joined the Marines, but I never fit in. The company doesn’t want much to do with me, neither. I’ll just make my own way like I always do.”
“But this is your chance to hit back. What about that commander? Get back at him. Get back at the Marines, at least,” she continued.
Seth leaned forward and grabbed her wrist, bending her arm back.
“The Marine Corps and me may have not parted on the best of terms, but that was my fault. The day I pinned on my sergeant’s chevrons was the second best day of my life. I just couldn’t play by the rules until it was too late. And Captain Lysander? He’s an arrogant asshole, but he’s a good Marine, and I respect him. I don’t like him, but I would follow him into combat. No matter what, no matter what silly-arse games you play with the company, be sure of one thing—I will never lift my hand against another Marine.”
He let go of her arm, and she brought it back to her lap, rubbing it to restore the circulation he’d cut off.
“What about me? What are you going to do?”
“I ain’t gonna do nothing. I don’t care what you do, and I won’t stop you from getting yourself zeroed, ’cause that’s exactly what’s gonna happen iffen you try and play by the rules against the Marines.”
She sat there, looking at Seth. She didn’t understand him, but she could sense his conviction.
“Can I at least keep coming to your dojo?” she quietly asked.
“I don’t think so, Michiko. You need to forget about MMA as a sport.”
“But you can help me with that.”
“Yeah, I could. But I won’t. I won’t stand in your way, but I ain’t gonna help you, neither. And when you fail, I don’t want them to trace you back to me. I don’t got no dog in this fight.
“I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Michi sighed, then slowly stood up. She picked up her outer clothes on the counter, and with one look back at Seth sitting on the mat, she turned and opened the door.
“Go with God, cousin,” she heard him say without his usual sarcasm as the door closed behind her.
Chapter 22
Seth had been right about one thing, Michi conceded. Neither she nor anyone else was going to force the issue by getting into fistfights. This was not a refereed fight in a ring going three five-minute rounds. This was real life, and if Michi wanted to get the Marines off Kakurega, she had to use more than a roundhouse kick.
As she came home from Seth’s dojo, his words echoed in her mind. Maybe she was biting off more than she could chew, but she had never actually analyzed that. She had just acted willy-nilly on her emotions.
Despite the apparent success of their little mission to Kelli Mae’s home, Michi realized that they were amateurs, and that almost got the four of them arrested—or worse. If she was going to continue opposing the company and the Federation occupation, that had to be addressed. She decided to take the bull by the horns and called Doug, asking him to stop by on his way to work in the morning.
Tamara was still asleep when Doug showed up, eager to see what Michi wanted. Michi took Doug to the kitchen table, poured him a cup of coffee, and sat him down.
“What’s up,” he asked.
“Did you tell anyone you were coming?”
“No, I did as you asked. What’s with all the secrecy?” he asked, a puzzled look on his face.
“You know that our little mission the other day almost ended up as a disaster, right?”
“Yeah, I was monitoring it. Close call, huh?”
“Did you wonder why, how the jacks knew to come?”
“I guess someone spotted you on the way in?” he offered.
“No one spotted us. The jacks were tipped off by someone in the WRP. And you are going to help me flush him or her out.”
“I, uh, what? What am I going to do?”
“I figured it out last night. There’s a traitor in the organization, and we’re going to find out who it is. That’s why no one else can get wind of it. Look, who’s the leader of the NIP?” she asked.
“The National Independence Party? No one knows. It’s a secret. That’s how they keep going,” he said.
“Exactly, but with the big rally tomorrow, don’t you think they might want to have a hand in it? And wouldn’t they maybe reach out to the WRP?”
“Yes, but so what? How does that help you find this traitor you think is there?”
“I don’t think. I know!” she said with conviction. “Look, this is what I want you to do. Can you send out, say, eight different messages, all saying that the leader of the NIP wants to meet, but he wants to meet only one person in absolute secrecy?”
“Sure, that’s easy. But what will that get you?”
“I want each meeting place in a different spot, somewhere where we can monitor and see if the jacks show up,” she said.
“Ah, kilo-brills! I get it. So if there really is a traitor, and if the jacks show up, that’s our man. Or woman, I mean.”
“So, can you set that up? I was thinking if we stagger the supposed meetings and put them close together, like at Morning Star, we could keep an eye on all of them,” Michi offered.
“Morning Star is compact, so if you wanted to physically stake out a place, sure, that apartment complex would work. But get with the times, Michiko! We don’t need to be there at all. Tennyson I and II are easy hacks, and we can sit right here and watch each meeting spot. There’s no way we can miss them,” Doug said with just a hint of condescension in his voice.
Michi let it slide. This was Doug’s arena, and she let him take charge. He muttered to himself for the next twenty minutes before asking Michi how many meeting sites she wanted.
“I’m not sure. We need enough to cover anyone who might have the information that the company wants, but they would have to be high enough for the NIP leader to want to meet.”
“Well, I can think of a few. Rosario, for sure. He’s in charge of security, and he would a logical suspect. I never did like him, anyway. Gabriella, Su, and Rangle. They’re all on the board, but Su hasn’t been active lately, so maybe not her.”
“No, keep Su on the list,” Michi told him.
“I guess you want Hokkam, too?”
“Yep. He’s in position.”
“OK, that would be five so far,” Doug said.
“And Cheri,” Michi said
with conviction.
“You think Cheri could be a traitor?” Doug asked surprised. “She hooked the three of us up.”
“No, I don’t think she is, but we need to be sure,” Michi said, ashamed for even doubting her.
But Seth said you had to be ruthless to succeed, and she’d be damned if the person who either ordered or allowed Franz to be killed got away with it.
“OK, that’s six. Any more?”
“Maybe Sven Tyler. He seems to be in everyone’s hair. Can you handle seven?”
“No problem. I could handle more than that,” he said confidently.
“No, if we don’t get a bite on this attempt, we might go down the list and try again. Let’s work on the wording of the message itself.”
They went back and forth on that for a good half an hour, trying to make it compelling, but not going overboard. They stressed that the meeting had to be extremely confidential, that the “leader” only wanted to meet one person. Michi didn’t want anyone to start comparing notes about the liaison. Finally, between the two of them, they had something they thought would work. Michi thought someone might suspect a trap, but Doug pointed out that a real traitor would have communications with the company, and he or she would know it wasn’t some company trick. If any of the others suspected something, then it wouldn’t matter anyway.
“OK, send it out,” she told him.
It only took a few minutes before he broke out into a broad smile and said, “Done and done!”
“Done and done what?” Tamara said, coming out of her bedroom and rubbing her eyes. “What are you doing here so early, Dougie?”
“Ah, we’ve been—”
“We’ve been working on some new ideas for the face-spoofer, you know, so it can change more of the body, too,” Michi said, stepping firmly on Doug’s foot under the table.
“And this had to be done now?” she asked as she reached over for Doug’s coffee, took a sip, and made a face.
“You need to freshen that up,” she said, tossing the cold coffee in the sink and getting a refill from the brewmaster. She took a sip. “There, that’s better,” she said before giving the cup back to him.
Rebel (The United Federation Marine Corps) Page 10