The Lost Kingdom

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Chika Kitano was a survivor, a fighter. Though young, she still remembered the day the bad men took her sister, the agony etched in her parents’ faces and eyes, the way they aged ten years overnight. Though far wiser now, she still felt a touch of hatred for them. Growing up hadn’t been easy for her — she had waged a constant war against hunger, poverty and perverted old men. She had resisted education until she finally realized it was her way out — not the only way but the best way.

Finally, settling into her life as well as a hand fits into a glove, reunited with her sister and not knowing nor caring where her parents were, the older Chika Kitano had landed a great job. Then Dmitry Kovalenko struck, the Blood King kidnapping her and forcing Mai to hand over some dusty old relic for her return, which even then was achieved only by Mai’s abilities. Another month, another job, and her résumé was starting to look like a scribble pad. Though Kovalenko’s men had treated her fine she still harbored the fears the episode had given rise to. But fear could be overcome and Chika had not forgotten her roots, nor the trials she overcame there.

Always, a fighter.

Then Dai Hibiki entered her life and, though some part of her craved the security such a man offered, she initially pushed him away, fearing she would lose her own fighter’s instinct by depending on another. But, through tentative months, she came to understand that together the two of them strengthened each other. Their relationship shored up their inner drive and together made them incredibly durable.

Chika thought there might be nothing on earth that could defeat the two of them.

But when Dai Hibiki came through the door the look on his face instantly told her that there was.

Torn again, shredded, she listened to his story; to the consequences of Mai’s old actions, her new activities in murdering Hayami, humiliating Hikaru, the Yakuza and even helping to prevent the Pythians from unleashing the Pandora plague. Though a fighter, Chika found herself almost defeated. Mai? Oh, Mai…

Unable to speak, battling her inner fears, doubts and old memories, she knew that there was only one way to get through this. To be as one. Both her and Hibiki. Together.

“SPEAR are in Kobe,” Hibiki was saying. “But the Yakuza have taken Mai to their HQ, not the compound. And the HQ,” he shook his head. “It’s pretty much impregnable.”

Chika felt a bolt of fire. “What are you saying?”

“That this is going to take all of us, working together, and that the risk… is high. Higher than high, it’s off the scale.”

“Of course it is.” Chika said. “This is the Yakuza in their own city.”

Hibiki spun on the spot and walked over to a window. Beyond the lawn and the road outside, the city of Tokyo sprawled, a forty minute plane ride from Kobe. Chika walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“What is it? Is this story the only reason you pulled me out of work?”

Chika had recently landed a job with a video games designer, one of the biggest in the world. Working her way up to chief publicist would be tough, but it was her ultimate goal. Somehow, she loved the idea of being the spearhead for a new game, the public image, the influence and drip-feed behind a new release and the person who stoked and watched the hype intensify.

“No,” Hibiki said softly. “You’re going to have to take some time off.”

Chika sat down as Dai explained his plan, that she gain access to the Yakuza headquarters alone by posing as a… as a what?

“Are you saying you want me to be a Geisha?”

Hibiki wouldn’t look at her. “Something like that.”

Chika tried to adjust. “Because… because it’s the only way in?”

“No. Because it’s Mai and she will be safely locked away somewhere. We can’t make our move until we know where she’s being held.”

“But how would I… where would I… what—”

Hibiki still didn’t turn around. “The girls stay for the night. There are so many of them, you should be able to wander a little. They change the girls every day. And you have an excuse if you are seen. We believe Mai’s trial is tomorrow, so…”

Chika fended off a dagger of ice that threatened to split her heart. “Tonight? You’re telling me I have to go in tonight?”

“Nobody wants this—”

“Oh. Do you think?” Chika shouted at her boyfriend and then felt instantly sickened. Not because of what she was being asked to do but because she hadn’t agreed immediately. This is Mai. My sister. She’s already gone through Hell a dozen times for me.

Hibiki’s head fell. “I’m sorry I’m asking, Chika.”

She turned his face around so that their eyes finally met. “Do you know what you’re asking? I mean, forget about Mai for just one second, but… do you know?”

Hibiki tried to turn away but she held on. “Of course,” he hissed. “Of course I fucking know what could happen in there.”

“I have to ask, since you’re a policeman, is it because you don’t want the force involved that you haven’t found someone else?”

“Not only that,” Hibiki said. “Yes, the force all the way from Tokyo to Kobe and way beyond are probably compromised in some way, but even with the best intentions word of our operation could get back to the Yakuza bosses. And it’s also because I don’t trust them with Mai’s life. I don’t trust them to put everything on the line for her. I don’t trust them to push and push and search every square meter.” He licked his lips. “That’s it.”

Chika’s own mouth was dry. She poured them both a glass of fresh mango. “SPEAR don’t have a contact?”

“They have Lauren Fox, but she’s too far away and an American. It’s you or we go in blind, Chika, and we are going in. But you don’t have to do this. Nobody is forcing you.”

Chika set her glass down hard. “Mai is as much my responsibility as I am hers. And we’re more important to each other than even you could imagine. You really think there’s a choice? That I want a choice?”

“I—”

“Just get me on the damn plane. We’ll talk tactics on the way.”

Chika turned away before Hibiki saw the fear in her eyes, the twitch in her grim smile. She turned away before she started to cry. She turned away to let the fighter live once more.