“Here,” Hibiki handed her a packet of mints, “it’ll help freshen your breath.”
Mai blinked in surprise. It wasn’t in her friend’s nature to be so rude. Unless… she observed him for the first time and saw a tiny smile at the corner of his mouth. As much as it surprised her again it gave her hope too. It reminded her that Grace could live and grow up to be a wonderful, healthy girl.
And that led her onto another problem.
“We have to get Grace away from this life. As soon as possible.”
Hibiki nodded and slipped a pair of sunglasses on. “Agreed. I think she should stay in Tokyo, either with or close to Chika and me.”
“You’re staying with the TMP?”
“I’m a cop. What else would I do? Do you know how hard it is to change lifestyles after a certain age?”
Mai did know what he meant, but said nothing. The fact remained that, although Grace would no doubt want to make her own mind up, Mai herself had life-altering decisions to make. Options did exist, she knew. The Tokyo Metropolitan could probably find her a position on the force which she could steer away from special or undercover ops. A consultancy business? Her own bodyguard company? None of it sounded particularly savory, but it beat getting shot at all day long.
But did it?
Mai reflected over the recent years. The adventures she had shared with Drake and the team stood out in her memory like shining beacons, like the Aurora Borealis of her life’s events. Yes, they were tempered with loss but what kind of experience wasn’t?
Hibiki glanced across. “Thinking about SPEAR?”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Easy. That’s the first flicker of a smile I’ve seen on your face in days.”
“Am I that transparent? I thought my face was quite unreadable.”
“Not to me.”
“And you think I should return?”
“To SPEAR? I think it’s the only thing that makes you happy. And bad things aren’t going to stop happening, Mai, just because you chose to opt out. They happen every minute in every part of the world. All we can ever do is try to make things a little better.”
Mai smiled wider for a moment as Hibiki threw the vehicle around another series of bends, the wind whipping at her hair.
The cop laughed. “You can hang your head out the window if you like.”
Mai laughed too and saw a text message coming in to her friend’s cellphone through the car’s Bluetooth system. It appeared on the Sat-Nav screen as he pulled into a lay-by.
All well here. Enjoy yourselves! Chika xx
Mai settled back into the seat. “Thank you for falling for my sister.”
“The pleasure was mine. We work well together.”
Mai nodded. Of course she knew they worked even better together when they didn’t have a crazy sister living with them. It was time to make that decision.
“Drive,” she told Hibiki. “Just drive.”
The road stretched far ahead, a ribbon of dreams, a snaking stretch of immersive inspiration, and Mai spoke no more but let her mind wander through a lifetime of experience and emotion. There was no pressure, no hassle, no reason to interrupt her train of thoughts. This was to all intents and purposes tangible and true Mai-time, and she reveled in it.
In the end, she picked her phone out of the glovebox and called a number.
“Hello, Hayden, it’s me.”
The voice at the other end sounded surprised. “Oh, hi, is everything okay?”
“Yes, yes. We’re well and Grace is getting better by the hour. Something to do with a young person’s fortitude, I believe.”
“Sure, well, that’s all five-by-five. Friggin’ reception is bad here. You need anything else?”
“Yes actually, I do.” Mai stared hard into the middle-distance. “Where are you?”
Hayden reeled off an explanation and a location, ending with the question that Mai most dreaded. “Why? Are you coming back?”
She answered as truthfully as she could. “I don’t know. I’m going to try. But tell nobody, Hayden. Just in case I don’t make it.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Drake awoke to the sound of a waterfall smashing onto the roof of his tent and washing down the sides. It took only a second to remember where he was and that the cascade came from the menacing clouds that no doubt hung low over the endless canopy of trees above. The hard rain practically surged against the flimsy material and, as he sat, up a disembodied voice drifted out of the near-dark.
“You snore like a moose in mating season.”
Drake rolled over and drank from his bottle of water. “And I guess Johanna says you make little gurgly baby sounds, huh?”
“What my wife says to me in the morning is none of your business. And how did I end up next to you anyway?”
“I lost a bet. Now shut the hell up and find out the time.”
Dahl lifted an arm out of his sleeping bag, squinting at his watch. “Dial says five-thirty. Shit, can we even make proper progress in this torrent?”
“Ordinarily, yes. But we’re searching for a camp and need to be stealthy about it. Let’s wait, it’ll pass soon.”
“Oh yeah? Expert on the Amazon now are we?”
“I read the crib sheet.”
The two men lay in semi-dark for a while until the deluge eased. By the time they emerged into the drenched jungle the others were already breaking camp. The team worked quietly and efficiently, and soon were ready to set out. Hayden checked coordinates and pointed them in the right direction.
“Six miles,” she said. “And then we really have to hit the stealth button. I reckon if the weather holds we’ll make that in half a day.”
“Longer,” Dahl said. “We should be taking a break when the real heat hits after lunch time. I read the crib sheet too.”
“We have to arrive before then.” Hayden nodded. “We won’t stop every transaction but we do have to halt the worst of them. Let’s head out and see how far we get.”
The team filed out, wet, disagreeable and sore from a night on the jungle floor. It took time to adapt to any new environment, and by the time they acclimated they all wanted to be long gone from the rainforest. The drizzle abated as they set off, and Drake took that as a good sign. Kinimaka took the lead, waving a machete like he didn’t know how to use it, and even Hayden gave him a very wide berth.
“Watch out there, big guy,” Smyth growled. “You’re gonna have a tree down on us.”
Kinimaka turned with a fierce frown. “You wanna take point, small fry?”
“Gladly.”
Smyth relieved Kinimaka of the machete and forged a path. Rain dripped all around and on top of them. The light filtering through the trees was wan at first, but soon started to take on a brighter luster, each ray illuminating a new patch of unchartered territory. Drake hefted his pack and his weapons and followed Alicia, trudging through the undergrowth. The pace they set was necessarily steady because, even as the sun came out, conditions were always tough for hikers. It might have been easier if they could stop and stare, marvel at the crouching wildlife and the rising steam, the sopping underbrush and the living jungle, but everyone knew they were on a schedule and the last bazaar was about to begin. The whole team were on alert; this was not an uninhabited jungle any more. Drug lords and gun runners and all manner of law-breakers made this area home these days, and the SPEAR team were constantly ready with their weapons. The slow pace they adopted was partly to conceal their presence from them, as any sudden gunfire might warn Ramses and his security of their close proximity.
Drake slogged along at the center of the march, as wary as he was relaxed and focused on the sounds that surrounded them. Alicia turned, holding a branch aside for him.