Atonement I:
He sensed it before he arrived. Someone had broken into his office. Pushing down the involuntary rush of indignation and anger, he readied himself for a fight and slammed the door open. And stopped short. Aditi, the Lotus Blossom, was leaning back in his seat, with her feet on his desk, obviously waiting for him. That explained it. Good as EDF security was, he wouldn't expect it to be a match for her.
Refusing to show the sudden surge of lust, just as he had during their last unexpected encounter, he strode into the room as though nothing were wrong. You'd think that a few decades would be enough to dull the memory, but he still recalled that one night in blazingly intense detail. The bloom of her youth had grown into maturity and experience that somehow rendered her even more attractive. But he refused to give any indication.
Every relationship in his life, romantic or otherwise, had been absolute train wreck and he was done ruining things. Perhaps maintaining a professional distance would be just the thing to keep this one from going down in flames like his connection to everyone else he'd ever loved. She smiled.
"Saki." He crossed his arms and waited for an explanation. From what he recalled, she never did anything without purpose.
"For old times' sake." She held up a file and tossed it on his desk.
"I think I can trust you to be discrete and this had better not come back to bite me in the ass." She silently mouthed the words, but he could read what she was saying just fine. He didn't answer and she didn't expect him to, rising her feet and exiting in his office with catlike grace.
He finally took a breath and approached his desk to flip open the file. It was the report of her last mission. Why would she think he needed to see it? Especially since it meant breaking protocol and risking her professional reputation. He skimmed through and his heart almost stopped.
The EDF had Karai. In their lab. For in instant he could see her smiling gap toothed face grinning up at him after proudly showing off a newly mastered kata at age six with such intense clarity it blocked everything else out. No. Not his little girl. They would not have her!
Suddenly furious, he stood and yanked the bottle of scotch off the shelf where it had been collecting dust since Bishop had smugly gifted it to him when he'd agreed to join. Opening the bottle, he dumped the contents down the sink of his office bathroom. Then he proceeded to tear the document to shreds and stuff the pieces in the empty bottle, which he followed it up with a lit match, enjoying the moment of gratification he felt when the inferno shot out of the neck of the bottle, completely incinerating the paper.
But that still left the complication of how to free Karai. Bishop was no fool and kept him on a short leash. While he managed and oversaw operations with great efficiency, no one actually loyal to him was allowed any contact and his staff was constantly being switched off to prevent them from falling to far under his influence.
Only his assistant had been allowed to remain for Saki's entire tenure, likely because the man was grossly incompetent and imposing him on Saki probably amused Bishop. Even all of his resources came through the EDF and were carefully monitored. In fact, his office was most certainly bugged, hence Aditi's circumspection when she'd offered this knowledge to him. He was alone in this.
His only option was to bust into the lab on his own and get her out himself. But even with careful planning and his skill, that wouldn't be a guaranteed success. There had to be some sort of back up because Karai was too precious to be left here and he well remembered what his overconfidence had cost her in the past. Never again. She would be safe no matter what he had to do. But how?
His incompetent assistant! He tossed the burned out bottle into the garbage and paged the man to his office. While he waited, he opened the desk drawer and pulled out a standard issue protective phone sleeve and tucked it into his pocket. Next he removed an oblong, metal ball with a small blue button at the top.
He was still holding it up for examination when Tatsu rushed in, his shirt still covered in the remnants of what was probably a half-eaten dinner. It was late. Nearly midnight, but they all kept long, unusual hours at the EDF, so it wasn't entirely atypical. Although knowing Tatsu, this could be his second dinner. His assistant clumsily snapped to attention upon entering.
Saki casually rose to his feet, exuding a calm that belied the storm of emotion raging within him. He circled the nervous man like a predator, fluidly slipping Tatsu's phone from his belt pouch and ducking it into his own shielded pocket. Tatsu had no clue as his attention was fixed on the shiny, metal object in Saki's other hand.
"This is Lillja's latest version EMP grenade. He's requested that I oversee its field testing." Tatsu nodded enthusiastically as Saki brought up the request he'd been ignoring for over a month now. You've been doing well Tatsu, despite a few setbacks." The man cringed as Saki referenced his many and copious failures.
"I think that it's time I entrusted you with more responsibility." Tatsu nodded eagerly.
"I want you to arrange the field test."
He dropped the grenade into Tatsu's waiting hands as he spoke. His assistant gazed down at in in awe. The big chance that he'd been hoping for. Saki waited for the inevitable. As Tatsu ran his hand over the grenade, he couldn't quite resist the temptation and depressed the blue button. A wave of energy burst forth from the grenade, killing every electronic device in the room. Except the one shielded in Saki's pocket. Although secretly pleased, he gave Tatsu the glared he'd used to cow even Tiger Claw.
"Get out you fool!"
Tatsu dropped the grenade and fled the room. Alone for the moment, truly alone, Saki pulled out the intact phone. Tatsu lost his phone so habitually that they'd started giving him standard issue burner phones. Phones that weren't worth the time and effort of bugging. The most valuable phone Saki could possess. Praying that the number still worked, something he was rarely reduced to doing, he dialed and waited. He let out a sigh of relief as Amaya's voice answered on the other side.
"Who is this and how did you get this number?"
"Amaya don't hang up."
"Saki?"
"I don't have much time. The EDF has Karai at their headquarters. They've got her in the lab Amaya." He could hear her sharp intake of breath and knew that she understood.
"I will get her out."
"How?"
"I'm not sure yet. But I will. I just…needed someone else to know." That was the closest he'd ever come to admitting that he might not succeed, but Amaya heard it for what it was. And that was why he'd chosen to call her.
"Goodbye Amaya."
He did wait to find out if she'd respond. He'd already drawn this out longer than he should have. Wiping down the phone with a tissue to clean it of prints, he tucked it back into his pocket. Now it was time for Tatsu to have accidentally microwaved his phone in the breakroom.
