The Lost Kingdom

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

In the aftermath, Drake found the Z-box in the motor launch whilst Dahl and the others trussed up the surviving Irishmen, an insane, spirited gift for the Hong Kong authorities. It was true the 27-Club had crimes to answer for back in the States, but the team were realistic enough to know they would never get them out of the country — or even away from the yacht club — unseen. It was a quick job, they had to be out of the area before the police arrived, and their legs were aching as if they’d all run a marathon, but slipping along in the shadows had never been a problem for a Special Forces team. No words were exchanged as they retraced their steps back to the alleyway where their comrade had fallen.

And met their friends, gathered around the body.

“He goes home,” Hayden said. “Whatever the cost.”

Drake took his turn beside the body, remembering all that Komodo had gone through and what he’d done not only for his country and the team, but for Karin and himself too. They’d first met the man back when the Blood King was discovering the gates of hell, such a long time ago now. And though they faced danger every day, ate it for breakfast and then went even harder into lunch, the loss of a true comrade was always surprising, always soul-destroying and never simple.

Drake finally looked up to see Mai kneeling beside him. “The Yakuza?”

“We allowed the three survivors to leave. They’re soldiers, just like us. Hikaru got his just desserts. Honor was maintained. There is a chance they may call the debt paid.”

“Somebody had to die?” Dahl breathed. “As my sleeping friend here would say — life sucks.”

Alicia found herself thinking of her kids — Russo, Healey and Caitlyn, Crouch too — and hoping they were safe and secure. The losses she experienced in her life never prepared her for the next. Her eyes found Drake’s in the semi-darkness and she wondered if one of them would be next.

One life, she thought. Live it.

“Do you have the box?” Hayden pressed gently after a while.

Drake handed it over.

“There’s something else you guys need to know.”

As they waited for transport, just minutes away, she explained more of Tyler Webb’s little side venture — the stalking of Lauren and the invasion of their house, other small, psychologically scarring incidents that had occurred. Drake stared down at Komodo as he listened, taking it in but unable to get the thought of poor Karin out of his head.

First Ben and her parents. Now this. How will she cope…?

Dahl picked up immediately on the personal side of it all. “This bastard has been stalking my wife? My girls?”

“No clear evidence on your side,” Hayden admitted. “But we believe so.”

Mai took hold of Drake’s arm and motioned that they should move away from the group. Drake sensed trouble. Already the lights of their transport van were visible at the end of the alley, approaching slowly.

“What is it?”

Mai moved easier now that Kinimaka had bandaged her up. “I have to return to Japan for a while,” she said. “With Grace. Her parents died there. We have to find them. And with Chika and Hibiki. There’s a lot to talk about. And also I have to come to terms with what I did to Hayami, how I killed him just to locate my parents.”

Drake imagined that she was absolutely right. Grace’s sojourn went without saying, and Mai would be the best one to accompany her. The relationship between Chika and Hibiki and Mai had also been tested beyond natural limits during this exploit — much of it would need repairing. He also knew that the Yakuza had murdered all of Hayami’s family with the exception of one young girl — Emiko.

“Take as much time as you need,” he said.

The Japanese woman hugged him long and hard, and to Drake it felt like the hug of companions together for the very last time. “It’s not goodbye,” she said.

It bloody well feels that way. “I know, Mai. We’ll see each other again soon.”

In another life, if not this one.

They were all merely flesh and blood, prone to dying and leaving loved ones behind. As good as the SPEAR team were they could never change fate.

By now the transport had parked up. Kinimaka, Smyth and Dahl lifted Komodo and carefully placed his body inside the black van. Then they hopped up. Everyone followed, and soon there was nobody left in the dark, lonely alley.

Just the ghost of a great man, the last deeds of his life, and the remnants of the fallen tears of his very best friends.