“A woman.” Gyuki put two fingers to his lips and blew a kiss. “Sugary sweet, with a voice I’d like to fuck. That is all I know.”
A shot rang out in the square behind Mai. Her attention was diverted, now fearing for Hibiki and his men. Gyuki used the distraction to fly at her. She dodged, spinning twice, but missed with her follow-up. Gyuki crouched with one hand on the ground, a black viper sizing her up and waiting to strike.
Mai advanced. The roped girl, Grace, moaned as Gyuki’s eyes passed over her. It was only now that Mai noticed her bare legs and midriff. She shuddered, hoping she had made it in time.
“What do you say, Mai?” Gyuki hissed. “I’ll fight you for your body, and hers. Winner takes all.”
“This time I will take your body. And neither your bitch of a mother nor your closest cohorts will recognize its remains.”
Gyuki struck out. Mai ducked, weaved, and hit hard. She caught a nasty blow on the ear, another to the ribs. Gyuki moved in and tried to grab her waist for a throw, but his hand slipped down the seat of her leather trousers.
Unbalanced, he staggered.
Mai pounced instantly, recognizing his mistake, the only one he was ever likely to make. Four lightning-fast blows in less than a second smashed his windpipe, his right eardrum, his left eye and at least one testicle. Gyuki was out of the fight before his head hit the dirt.
The girl, Grace, goggled at Mai. “Oh God, you’re my hero. My true hero! I love you.”
“Even more than Miley?” Mai winked. She kept up with the times.
“Are you kidding? Twerking’s way out of style.”
“Or is it the camel tongue hanging down the side of her face?”
Grace laughed with high-pitched enthusiasm. “That’s it! The camel tongue!”
Mai lost her smile. “You have been abducted recently? Yes?”
“I think so.” Grace looked around at the heavy ropes entwining her body. “Can you get me down from here?”
“Sorry. Of course.” Mai pulled at the knots, wondering if the Clan had recently taken to kidnap and coercion. Branching out. That was probably the reason for the second billet. More assassins meant more money. After a moment, Grace was free and standing over Gyuki’s broken body.
“Can I kill him?”
Mai studied the girl’s eyes. “Do you want to?”
“I think so.” Grace turned to Mai, anguish in her face. “That’s wrong isn’t it? I didn’t use to have those feelings. Not before I came here.”
“How about this,” Mai spoke softly. “Could you kill him?”
Grace returned her gaze to the fallen assassin. “Yes. I could break his neck with my boot. Stab out his eyes with my fingers. Choke him up close. Strangle him with the rope he used on me. Force its knotted end down his throat until…”
“That’s enough.” Mai pulled her away. “He won’t harm anyone again. Come with me.”
With a brief check to reassure herself that Hibiki had the situation in hand, Mai led Grace over to the small wooden house where the Clan had practically imprisoned her parents.
“Sometimes things do have a happy ending,” she said with her hand on the door. “Even if it does take twenty years.”
For Mai, this homecoming had become very sweet. The things she had said to Bishamon, the words that had torn apart her heart, the undying knowledge that her innocent childhood and all the love shared between a young girl and her parents had been torn to shreds, dissipated a little now.
And, for the first time she could remember, it totally vanished as she stepped through the door and into the open, loving arms of her parents.
CHAPTER FIFTY ONE
Days later, and the entire SPEAR team, or what remained of it, were finally back together.
Drake perched on the wide lip of a windowsill in the Presidential Suite of the Hotel Dillion, at the heart of what was now a slowly recovering city. The view of the White House behind him was spectacular, but he didn’t have the energy to even register it, let alone turn around and endure the jabbing pains of a thousand new bruises just to look at it.
Kovalenko was dead, at last. So were his horrifying lieutenants, Mordant and Gabriel. The world had shifted again, back into the safe zone, at least for now. The only two members of the Blood King’s team who hadn’t been picked up were the rogue Secret Service agent, Marnich, and the cyber-geek, SaBo. It was assumed Kovalenko had paid the men off long before arriving at Death Valley. The hunt for Marnich and SaBo would be intensive to say the least.
Drake’s friends, his co-workers, but most important of all — his family — were spread out all around him. They were picking and grazing at the spread that all but covered an immense table and even part of the floor. They were knocking back shots, mixing cocktails, brewing coffee. A crate of Mountain Dew sat near the door, a sight that somehow sadly brought the murder of Ben Blake nearer to the center point of Drake’s mind. The entire group was convalescing, recovering, grieving, readjusting. If there was laughter it was subdued.
President Coburn had called personally to assure them that the SPEAR agency would not be axed; that it would remain safe for now at least until the next Secretary of Defense took up his post, and even then the President vowed to ‘strongly recommend’ that it stayed. Their track record was exemplary, and without peer, even before they had saved the President’s life.
But it would never be the same.
Alicia caught Drake’s eye first. Considering all she’d been through, she looked fresh and clean. But no soap or fountain of water, no cleansing of the soul, would ever take away the horror of what had been done to her and her new friends. Laid-Back Lex complained about the freshness of a peach, Dirty Sarah and Whipper whispered about splitting the fruit in half with the latter’s weapon of choice — the closer to Lex’s mouth the better. Trace, Ribeye and Knuckler tucked into a hearty liquid lunch. Alicia sat among them, watching them and watching Drake. Will I ever be able to move on? It seems the scars of my life will hound and restrain me forever.
Komodo and Karin held on to each other as if this was their last night on earth. Karin would have to return to the UK soon for her family’s funerals, but had insisted that she would return on the first flight. Her family was here now. It was Komodo, and it was SPEAR.
Dahl’s family were on their way to the States. Drake was looking forward to meeting them, and perhaps ribbing Dahl a little about his wife. Smyth was little different, but had proved himself an invaluable member of the team. He missed his buddy Romero every single day.
Next Drake’s eye switched to Mano Kinimaka. The big Hawaiian had lost so much in the last few days, sacrificed a great deal of what he loved to the Blood King’s insanity. The road back would be a long and dark one for him, but he was a strong man, a strong personality, and about as big as Mount Whitney. He met Drake’s gaze, sad, melancholy…
… hopeful.
Hayden lay beside him on the sofa, using it as a makeshift hospital bed, alive and recovering from her wounds and recent surgeries. It would take a while, but the boss of the SPEAR team was expected to make a full recovery. Drake’s heart had lifted on wings of eagles when he had heard. It was like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and a kind of vindication that all they had done was justified.
Also beside Mano, and keeping to themselves for now, were Lauren Fox, Yorgi and Sarah Moxley. Their parts were yet to come, it seemed, but there was no doubt they would be called upon. And on that day they would earn their wings or they would flee; or die.
And finally, there was Mai. Seated beside the bruised and battered woman was a figure who could easily have been a younger version of herself. Mai had said her name was Grace, and that she needed help. That was all for now. And it was enough. The rest would come later.