Jade War

CHAPTER 37 Threats and Schemes

A large insulated shipping container marked to the attention of the No Peak clan was discovered in a boathouse in the Docks on the basis of an anonymous tip. The box, normally used to transport frozen seafood, contained the dismembered body of an Uwiwan man—arms, legs, hands, feet, cock, torso, head. One of the Fingers, Heike, leaned over the water and lost his latest meal; Lott kept his gorge down as he peered at the grisly sight before taking a hasty step back. “Who was it, Maik-jen?”

Kehn closed the lid on the body; it seemed indecent to look at the parts for long, particularly as he thought it likely the man had been alive for at least part of the time that they were being separated. “One of our rats in Tialuhiya,” Kehn said. “My guess is the one who tipped us off on the Amaric Pride.” Kehn was not the sort of person to openly show the full extent of his disappointment or anger; it had been his habit since he was a boy to be the calm one, to keep Tar out of trouble, or if they were already in trouble, to get them out. Now, however, he stormed out of the boathouse under a dark cloud. Establishing and maintaining informers in the Uwiwa Islands was painstaking work and a significant investment of time and money on the part of the Horn’s side of the clan. In Kekon, No Peak had ample resources and influence, but it was not easy to recruit, control, and protect White Rats in other countries. When, despite all efforts, some of them were discovered by Ti Pasuiga and grotesquely punished, it scared all the others, and No Peak could not effectively retaliate.

Kehn stewed on these troubles and thought about how to bring them to the attention of the Pillar. “We’ve lost rats before,” he explained the following day over lunch in the Twice Lucky, “but they just disappear. This is the first time Zapunyo’s rubbed our face in it, sending us a body in pieces like that. Smugglers used to be mostly a nuisance, but Ti Pasuiga is well organized and feared in those islands, and now it’s not afraid to offend us directly. That Uwiwan cur has gotten too bold.”

“He’s frustrated,” Hilo said, passing the plate of duck skewers to Tar. “Zapunyo has plenty of dirty money and cheap lives, but if he can’t get jade out of Kekon and move it to buyers, he doesn’t have a business. The Ygutanians, the Oortokon rebels, and the barukan who’re supporting the rebellion because they hate the Shotarian government—those are his biggest customers, and with the heat you’ve put on his routes through the Origas Gulf and East Amaric, he’s stuck.”

The Pillar seemed less upset about the slain rat than Kehn had expected, or perhaps he was simply preoccupied, thinking about his upcoming trip to Espenia. While he was gone, the Weather Man would be in charge of No Peak, and although Kehn liked Kaul Shae well enough, she worked behind a desk and had no real understanding of the military side of the clan. He was accustomed to being able to consult with Hilo-jen about every aspect of the Horn’s responsibilities. “Zapunyo’s starting to look to other markets,” he said. “He already brews SN1 to keep his scrap pickers and rockfish and polishers from getting the Itches; it’s natural that he’s also making it to sell for profit, especially now that the Mountain’s factories in Ygutan are gone. We’ve heard he’s trying to partner with other groups—drug cartels, arms dealers, prostitution rings—to distribute jade and shine in other parts of the world.”

“Why can’t the Espenians get the Uwiwan government to deal with Zapunyo?” Tar asked. “They know where his mansion is; why not just kill him?”

“The Uwiwan government is a corrupt black hole,” Hilo said. “Parts of that country are lawless, and half of the foreign aid that goes into that place disappears.”

“Ti Pasuiga pays the police more than the government does,” Kehn said. “And Zapunyo makes himself out to be a generous man, giving money to the local towns to build roads and schools and temples. He’s practically untouchable in that country. We may be harming his business, but as long as he’s alive, he’ll keep being a problem for us.” Kehn scratched his jaw. “Hilo-jen, we have to think of how to whisper his name.”

Hilo barely reacted to his Horn’s pronouncement. Kehn expected the Pillar had already thought about this but not come to any satisfactory conclusions. “We have enemies here at home that we’ve been trying to put into the ground for years. We can only handle so many things at one time,” Hilo said.

Two weeks ago, on the Pillar’s discreet instructions, the Janloon city police had arrested and interrogated the shine dealer Shae had spoken of and Kehn’s Fingers had quietly tracked down. The man cut a deal by naming several high-profile Green Bone clients, including immediate relatives of Iwe Kalundo, the Mountain clan’s Weather Man. No Peak made sure that news of both the arrest and the clients who’d been named was leaked to the press. Ayt Mada was not the only one who could use the media to paint her rivals in an unflattering light. The story had reignited a public debate about the evils of SN1, but more importantly, renewed concerns about the leadership of the Mountain clan possibly falling to the Iwe family.

Meanwhile, No Peak had solved some of the problems it was having on Poor Man’s Road by offloading it onto their rivals. On Hilo’s orders, Kehn’s Green Bones had shut down prostitution in the gambling triangle of the Armpit district; pimps were forcefully run out and warned not to be caught anywhere near the casinos. Instead, the No Peak chance houses put up posters and distributed leaflets advertising the strip clubs and brothels in the nearby Mountain-controlled districts of Dog’s Head and Spearpoint. Rowdy Espenian servicemen were migrating their money and troublesome disorderliness into Mountain territory; recently a group of three drunken foreign sailors had gotten into an altercation with some Green Bones of the Koben family and wound up in the hospital, which forced Ayt Mada into the humiliating position of having to publicly support the imprudent Kobens while quietly paying off the Espenians.

Kehn admired Hilo-jen’s tactical cunning, though he could not help but think that the Pillar’s preoccupation with destabilizing the Mountain was like trying to light wet grass on fire: They were making a lot of sparks and smoke, but so far no roaring flames had erupted.

Perhaps Hilo was thinking the same thing because he pushed his plate of remaining food aside and said to Tar, “Have someone in the Koben family killed. Not the kid or his mother, but a Green Bone man, someone close to them. Not by you or any of your men; the job has to be hired out, and it can’t be traced back to No Peak in any way. Make it an obvious thing, not an accident.”

“The kid’s ma has a brother who wears jade, and an uncle,” Tar said.

“That’s good,” said Hilo. “Either of them would do. It’s better if he dies, but even if he doesn’t, it’s okay. So long as they don’t know who to blame.” The Maiks nodded; the Kobens were numerous but not very clever; now that they seemed to be ahead of the Iwes, perhaps they could be provoked into useful violence, as they had been against the drunk foreigners. Tar began to ask a question, but Mr. Une, the Lantern Man owner of the Twice Lucky, came around to pay his respects and they chatted with him pleasantly for a few minutes. After the smiling restaurateur saluted and withdrew, Hilo answered his Pillarman. “No rush on killing one of the Kobens; sometime after we get back from Espenia is fine.”

As they got up to leave, Hilo put a hand on Kehn’s shoulder. “I haven’t forgotten what you said about Zapunyo. Losing some rats is expected, but you’re right to be angry and offended by this. We have a lot of things going on right now, but I agree we have to move stronger on Ti Pasuiga. We’ll think about it some more, when I get back.”

Tau Maro returned from a lunch-hour meeting with the board of directors of Four Virtues International feeling both cautiously optimistic and deeply frustrated. The grassroots charitable organization was only a year old but had already exceeded its initial public fundraising goals and was getting considerable positive press; on the other hand, efforts to lobby Wisdom Hall on key issues such as refugees were meeting with little success. When it came to business and politics, it was still exceedingly difficult to accomplish anything in a timely manner without clan support. There ought to be a word, Maro mused, for the particular combination of persistent hope and inescapable difficulty that seemed to prevail in all aspects of his life—from climbing the academic ladder, to policy and nonprofit work, to matters of the heart.

He walked into his office to find three men waiting for him. Two of them were young enough to be undergraduates, but he did not recognize them as students in any of his classes. The third man, sitting in Maro’s desk chair and swiveling it around slowly, had a jade aura but was not wearing any of his jade in plain sight. In Janloon, that was the equivalent of showing off the jacket bulge of an illegal pistol; it could only mean that he was not entitled to his green and was a criminal of some sort.

Maro stood in the doorway of his office, tamping down suspicion and alarm. “I’m sorry, this isn’t your office,” he said.

“We’re looking for Dr. Tau Marosun,” said the man in his chair.

“Who are you?” Maro asked, keeping his voice even.

“A half-shottie bastard,” said the man, speaking in perfect Shotarian. “Just like you.” Maro tensed as the uninvited guest rose from behind the desk and walked up to Maro with a partial smile on his narrow, tanned face. There was no menace in his manner or hostility in his aura, but Maro took an involuntary step back as the man gently closed the office door and said, “It’s okay, Dr. Tau. I’m not trying to offend you. I know how prejudiced the Kekonese can be, and I understand you don’t want your colleagues to know the real reason you make so many trips to Leyolo City.” The man hadn’t given a name. He looked like a villain straight out of a Shotarian crime movie, Maro thought. Lumpy knuckles and a cruel mouth. Maro stared at him with a rising sense of disbelief, and despite himself, a frisson of fear.

The stranger said, “You have to look out for yourself, after all. It’s not easy to get ahead in this city unless you’re a stooge of one of the big Green Bone clans. Men like yourself don’t get the consideration they deserve.” He noticed Maro glancing at the two younger intruders and said, “Don’t worry about them; they can’t understand Shotarian. Say, Dr. Tau: Are you still fucking the Kaul woman, or are things over between you two?”

Maro’s head jerked around to stare; his unease took a sharp turn into anger. “If you people think you can bribe or blackmail me, you’re wrong,” he said. “I don’t have any special knowledge of the No Peak clan, and even if I did, I wouldn’t give it to you for any price or threat. Go ahead, tell everyone I’m of mixed blood. Start a xenophobic scandal, like you did with Kaul Shae. I’m not afraid to lose my job; I’ll let my work speak for itself.”

The narrow-faced man raised his hands in a mock placating gesture. “Relax. Do I look like I’m from the Mountain clan? My friends and I had nothing to do with those nasty accusations against your girlfriend. We don’t want any information from you.”

“Then what do you want?” Maro demanded.

“An introduction,” said the stranger. “That’s all. Like I said, we’re not from the Mountain. You know the Kaul family personally. We would like to set up a meeting.”

A chill traveled through Maro’s body. He yanked open his office door. “Get out,” he said, trying and failing to keep his voice from trembling. “And don’t ever come back.”

The man replied, with sudden ice in his voice, “You’re not being reasonable. What do you owe to No Peak, that’s worth refusing our request so rudely? Think about it.” With a jerk of his head, the man motioned to the two teenage thugs he’d brought along with him. They shrugged and moved away from the wall they’d been leaning against. The leader said, in an offhanded way, still speaking in Shotarian, “Remember that we know a lot more about you than you know about us, Dr. Tau. Consider that before you do or say anything else hasty.”

The men left unhurriedly. Maro shut his office door and fell into his chair. He shuddered, unnerved, to find the leather still warm from the stranger’s body heat.