The Ghost Ships of Arizona

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Mai Kitano struggled to remain conscious. The battle with the devil, Aoki, had robbed her of more than just strength. It had taken her last shred of mental energy along with her blood, her flesh, her will and her clothes. Only Dai Hibiki was present to help her. The Japanese cop rushed to her side, covering her as best he could and tearing off his own shirt to help staunch the flow of blood that came from the gash across her face. When he saw the Yakuza step toward them he reached into the back of his waistband for a gun.

The older man held up a hand. “It is finished,” he said. “Mai Kitano defeated our best in fair combat. She is absolved of her sins against the Yakuza. Let this be an end to it.”

Hibiki nodded; Mai barely registered any of it. All she knew was that Dai and she were soon alone and he was struggling to lift her, to maintain her dignity, and curtail her blood loss all at the same time.

“Not far,” he whispered, most likely reassurance for himself. “Come on.”

He carried her back to their car, laid her in the back seat and then bent over her for a while. Mai faded in and out, unsure what he was doing. The shirt pressed hard against her face. The next thing she knew they were driving for a time and then screeching to a halt. Hibiki ran around the car, hefted her and carried her up a path. Mai felt nothing but a sense of numbness, not entirely unpleasant.

It was Chika’s voice that pierced her cloudiness and then the resounding slap that stopped Hibiki in his tracks.

“You both left it this long to tell me! Neither of you is going to get away with that.”

Hibiki grunted. Mai attempted to speak but couldn’t seem to make the connection between mouth and brain.

“Shit, and she’s almost naked. What the hell have you been doing to my sister?”

Hibiki pushed past Chika, then knelt and deposited Mai very gently on the couch. “She fought as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen,” he said. “And she won. The threat is lifted. Now, I need to grab my kit. Wait here with her.”

Mai tried to focus, but the room swam so much it made her feel nauseous. Chika’s voice kept her grounded, kept her tied down to this place. When Hibiki returned she felt the shirt being gently removed from her face and knew there was more pain soon to come.

Why?

You are dying.

She knew the best way to stitch a facial wound as well as Hibiki, and now that she knew what was happening she was better able to focus. The longer the wound stayed open the greater the chance of infection. Hibiki could have taken her to a hospital but how many questions would that have raised? It was better this way. Hibiki would use skin adhesive or liquid stitches on her. He lowered his face to hers now, washed the wound and then pinched both sides of it together. Mai struggled, the pain almost impossible to bear. As Hibiki pinched even harder she sent her mind away, back into her consciousness and searched for a subject to consider. How about Hayami? The deadly, tragic issue that had started all this. In an odd way the forgiveness of the Yakuza had eased her inner burden, and the pain in her face made a great escape channel for the pain in her soul. She guided it out. Hibiki applied the liquid stitches, keeping the surrounding area clean and directing Chika to hold Mai as still as she possibly could. Mai didn’t feel the pain anymore. Part of this demon had already been laid to rest.

Where was Grace?

Mai flicked her eyes to and fro. As if by sisterly telepathy Chika appeared to understand exactly what she was thinking. With a dip of her head she whispered into Mai’s ear.

“Upstairs. Asleep. She knows nothing of your return.”

Additional good fortune. Grace had already suffered more than enough. No need to extend that suffering now that she was well and truly on the mend. Hibiki then entered Mai’s field of vision, his face staring critically at hers.

“It’s gonna scar.”

No shit, it was a fucking sword not a tenderizer.

But the scar… it was fitting. She would wear it as a tribute to the man she killed and the family he lost, the daughter who was still missing. She deserved lasting damage of some sort. Chika then held a bottle of water to her lips and Mai regained presence of mind enough to drink.

Already, a semblance of energy was starting to return. Hibiki and Chika were fussing over her other wounds, the sister firmly telling the boyfriend to attend to matters above the waist, not below. Mai felt the slightest of smiles curl her lips.

Life goes on. And people go on. And their mannerisms, quirks and personalities are the true heart that keeps the world beating.

She could live now.

A croak escaped her throat, low at first but then gaining in volume. “Ce… celebrate.”

Chika looked up at her. “What?”

“We should celebrate.”

“Give us chance to put you back together,” Hibiki said. “And we’ll do a Godzilla on Tokyo, believe me.”

“And we’ll take Grace.” Chika smiled, again reading Mai’s thoughts before she even uttered them.

Mai smiled. The world had turned and it was good. Who could have guessed she might come out on the other side with a chance at a real future?

Matt Drake, probably. And before the guilt of leaving him began to eat at her she buried it hard, covered it with a sense of achievement. Tomorrow was always uncertain and anything beyond that could wait.

Anything.

As Mai relaxed, allowing the painkillers and her friends to do all the work, she saw movement in the hallway. It was a fleeting shadow, possibly less — the mere suggestion of an outline, but it was most certainly there. Her eyes refocused and her wits returned instantly. Mai had been trained hard to be the best and not pain, nor stitches, nor a mix of alcohol and Tylenol was ever going to dull her responses. She knew where the closest weapon was, where the best cover was, how to save Chika from harm. She knew the fastest escape route, the lay of the land outside both ways, the time she could expect to pass before her opponent acted.

She braced herself.

But then the shadow moved and Mai saw by its very outline that it was Grace. My Grace. A moment later and she caught the girl’s breathing, the nasally rasp she had developed from a slight head cold. She relaxed.

Grace popped her head around the corner. “Guys?”

Still wary, still unsure of herself, Grace was well on the way to a wonderful emotional comeback. The horrors of her childhood were receding; the worst of the returning memories mostly dealt with and compartmentalized. They would never pass away, but they could at least be managed. Grace’s way of managing them involved copious amounts of fun, food, laughter and shopping, much of it at the same time. If Mai had thought it wasn’t helping Grace she would have gently eased her in another direction, but the young girl seemed to be flourishing. The next step would be a more stable environment and Mai began to think for the first time about heading back to the US, maybe sending her to a DC school…

“Come here,” she said, and Grace did. Mai explained everything, sensing that she needed full disclosure. At first Chika and Hibiki winced a little — their synchronized shying away actually a little comical — but as they read Grace’s understanding they soon warmed up.

“It is over,” Hibiki said. “We can all return to our lives again. Or start new ones.”

Grace snuggled into Mai. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much.”

Mai tried not to gasp as movement tended to elevate her pain levels. “Together, we will make it work.”

“Oh, sorry!” Now Grace pulled away, realizing that her friend was still in pain. “Hey, that’s a mega scar!”

Hibiki grimaced. “Maybe it’s best not to—”

“No, no! It’s a warrior’s scar. A sign of victory in battle. And well earned.”

Mai grunted. “Whatever happens don’t ever tell me you want one.”

“Jeez, you kidding? Imagine what the boys would say.”

“Thanks,” Mai said drily, then: “What boys?”

“Umm, nothing.”

“Believe me, boys are bad for you. They stink, they scratch, they drive too fast. They forget, they develop hormones and they don’t shower properly. They’re pack animals, always—”

“Excuse me,” Hibiki said a little huffily.

Mai laughed. “Oh, you’re okay. I don’t class you as a boy.”

Now Chika laughed. “Really? What is he then?”

“More a big sister.” Mai leaned into Chika and they smiled at each other. Grace bounded in between them, right across their knees. Hibiki finished cleaning Mai’s cheek, now eyeing the liquid stitches.

“I’m no doctor, of course, but I think that will be a warrior’s scar of major import, a talking point.”

It was good that they could make light of it, Mai thought. Being dejected would not change anything.

“Wait until Drake sees you,” Grace said. “He won’t be able to keep his hands off you. Not that he ever could anyway.”

Mai felt her face soften. “Ah, well, I don’t really know how things stand there.” She knew she should at least have kept in touch with the SPEAR team. “Maybe he has a new girlfriend,” she added lightly.

“As long as it’s not that Alicia!” Grace burst out. “Blond bimbo said she’d give me a lesson in the birds and the bees when I’m ready. I don’t even know what she means!”

Mai gulped slightly. “Yeah, avoid that one at all costs.” But she wasn’t entirely sure Matt Drake would. They had been the original couple, the original team, and Alicia had come a long way back to normal over the last few years.

Chika drew their attention to the clock. “It’s beyond late, my friends. Maybe we should call this morning and breakfast time. I’m certainly famished.”

Grace nodded eagerly. “Me too!”

Mai couldn’t keep the smile off her face, despite the pain that it caused. Grace was perpetually hungry and could eat at any time of the day or night, even minutes after declaring herself “full to the brim”. Hibiki caught her eye and shared the joy of it and then grinned as there came a quick knock at the door.

“Postman’s right on time,” he said. “We ordered Grace something.”

Postman’s early, Mai almost said but didn’t want to disturb the playful atmosphere. There was a time when a ninja soldier should remain dormant, if only to promote peace and happiness, and this was it. Hibiki walked over to the front door. Chika paused and waited and Grace stared between them with wide eyes.

“What is it?”

“Wait and see.”

Grace pouted on hearing the time-honored parental phrase.

Hibiki swung the door wide open, smiling. “What do you have for us?”

It was all so easy in the end. She had planned and planned. She had waited and waited. She had run away and stayed quiet. She had known this day would come from the moment she received news about her poor father. She had eaten garbage from the street and evaded tramps and sex-slavers. She had gotten lucky more than once, but then she deserved that kind of good fortune didn’t she? Her name was not known to those people. Her name was no longer important to anyone, for she had no family. Her name was mere fresh air, a lifelong gift of pure nothingness.

And the moment, quite suddenly, was here. Right on this doorstep. Her name did matter for this passing of a few seconds. It did. They did not see the danger. They were all so blind and uncaring. But she cared, and she would prove it right now. The cop, Hibiki, was even smiling as he stared at her. The sister, Chika, seemed so happy and secure. Mai herself, the great ninja warrior, would never be a threat.

Not to her.

Emiko was totally sure of that.

The gun, an enormous Magnum, raised and the deadly barrel pointed unwaveringly at Mai Kitano, the woman who had murdered her father on his yacht and then sent the Yakuza after the rest of her family. Mai Kitano would not evade the bullet, Emiko knew, she would welcome the absolution of it.

Hibiki was still smiling — in that split second — for he recognized the girl and probably believed she had found her way back to the light. But his features began to falter as his instincts registered the gun. Chika’s eyes were widening, her mouth turning into a huge ‘O’. There was only one who reacted.

Mai screamed as she recognized Emiko and the huge gun she held in her right hand. There was no evading it and, even now after everything she had won back, she believed this was her fate. It had been all along.

But nobody factored in the streak that suddenly intervened. Nobody banked on Grace reading the situation perfectly — even before the door opened she had realized the hour was too early — and throwing herself at Mai to try and make her move.

The gun boomed, deafening and deadly. Hibiki screamed. Chika screamed. The bullet flew straight, unerring and fatally.

Mai flew back with the impact, staggering to her knees. Hibiki drew the gun he always carried and shot Emiko dead on the doorstep before she could squeeze off any more shots, even as Emiko staggered back from the initial recoil. Chika turned toward Mai, shrieking.

“No!”

Mai cradled Grace’s dead body, the blood already blooming from the bullet hole in her back, soaking through her clothes and staining Mai’s shaking hands. Staring down into Grace’s lifeless, unmoving beautiful eyes she felt her body clutch so tightly she could not breathe. Shock destroyed her. In less than a minute a bright new world had turned to ashes.

“What… what has she done? Oh no, oh, no.” Chika scrambled over on her knees, distraught. She clutched Grace’s shoulders and laid her head down and began to sob.

Finally Mai found her voice. “My beautiful… my… beautiful…”

The word daughter was spoken in her mind only.