Intoxication

Chapter 11

I know this is a week late, but I had work to do in Belfast so I got a little behind. Man, talk about a crazy city! In certain places I had to keep my mouth shut so people wouldn't know I was from the Republic of Ireland! I'm glad to be back home. Here's the next part, anyway.

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Click, click, click, click…

Kai desperately wanted to smash Kenny's face into the keyboard, just to stop that obnoxious clicking. They still didn't seem to be any closer to finding where this Renaissance Man was hiding. They had gone from researching receipts and credit card bills to checking over unusual building projects. So far they could connect nothing to anything.

Kai's dreams about Rei were increasing in intensity. He woke up every morning covered in sweat and aroused. By day he missed Rei's company, the constant air of tranquillity that followed the quiet Chinese boy around was so obviously yearned for. And he was terrified of what might happen if their operation took any longer. Every time the phone rang, Kai thought it was a police officer calling to tell them that Rei's body had been found dumped in a ditch somewhere.

At last, Kai realised there was nothing he could do but wait. Wait for Bryan and Kenny to find some clue on the Net, wait for Tala to come up with some sort of plan, wait for Ian and Spencer to arrange the evidence they already had. He could do nothing. He spotted Dranzer lying like a discarded bottle cap on his nightstand, where once Drigger had sat beside her. With a heavy sigh, Kai picked up his Beyblade and walked outside to practice.

Nothing else he could do, really.

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Rei stared at the book. Then at Drigger. Then back at the book.

He had decided to write a note, attach it to his Blade, and set her loose. His plan was full of holes. First off, the only paper he had was the little antique book of poetry Cesare had left in his cell. The last page was blank, except for the little hand-written Fin, with enough room for a good-sized message. But there was a chance that if he tore out the page, Cesare would kill him. There was an equal chance that he wouldn't notice.

It's an old-ass book, Rei. Take the chance. He might even believe that the page just fell out. Either way, it's the only chance you'll get.

But he had nothing to write with. Why would Cesare leave a ball-point pen in the room with him, after all. There was nothing he could use as a writing implement, nothing at all.

Nothing, Rei? Come on! Show a little creativity, for fuck's sake! People have used all sorts of crap to write whatever. This place is bare, but there has to be something. Think, Rei, think! It's one of the few things you're good at! You've been in situations where you had to improvise before, right? What's stopping you now?

Oh, Rei. This is both pointless and stupid. He will find out what you're up to, and then you'll be as good as dead. Why can't you just be good? Stay here and keep your nose clean and he won't hurt you. It'll be worse for you out there, Rei.

Rei's stomach was starting to hurt. Over the last few days, it had been sore, but gradually it increased in intensity until it was almost unbearable. He remembered hearing something on television about how a small infection could ferment and fester when in isolation. He believed it was happening to him in there. Just then, Io spoke up for the first time in days. Or rather, she didn't say anything. It was unmistakably her, and she was insisting on showing him a childhood memory.

It was a hot day, hotter than most. Farmers gave up even trying to work and left their fields. Women rubbed plant oil on their babies' skin to protect them from the sun. The children went to the lake to swim. Twelve year old Lee and ten year old Rei went too, and stayed later than the others.

" I don't want to remember this," muttered Rei, "stop it."

Don't look away, Rei. Keep your eyes on the prize.

They were finished swimming, so they lay out in the sun to dry off. They were wearing only their underwear. Lee was staring. And then he leaned over Rei and kissed him. Not like the way he kissed his mother or his friends, but an open-mouthed kiss like they had seen his brother do to that brothel girl in the city. Rei was disgusted, and tried to…

" Stop! Why are you making me remember this?"

Soon be over, Rei. Then you'll see.

…get away, but Lee held on tight. Rei hit out, and Lee grabbed his hair and pulled hard. Rei's head snapped back and hit a rock. And there was blood, and Lee panicked, and apologized, and tried to mop it up…

Wait…

…and there was blood…

" Blood," Rei breathed softly, as though the idea would dissolve if he said it too loud, " Blood."

He bounded up, ignoring the burn in his stomach, and ran to the bathroom. Surely there was something there that would work…there! A small sliver of mirror was coming loose from the side of the bath. The edge was razor sharp. After drawing the blood, he could use it as a pen. Rei pried the sliver loose carefully and placed it gently on the side of the washbasin.

An untouched glass of wine sat on the food shelf of the door. Rei picked it up gingerly, sniffed it and winced. He harboured thoughts of using it to dull the pain in his stomach, but decided against it. He threw the contents of the glass down the sink and rinsed it out. Washing and drying the items carefully, Rei sat them out in front of him and prepared for what could have been either a brilliant plan or suicide.

He lifted up the heavy black curtain of hair and twisted it into a braid down the front of his body. Slowly, he lifted the sliver of glass to a thin pulse in his neck. He breathed once, twice, three times, and cut swiftly. The flow of the blood was quickly covered by the glass. There was only a slight sting in his neck, and a cold feeling in the path of the flowing blood. Rei held the glass to his neck for five minutes, until he was satisfied that he had enough for the task at hand. He lowered the glass, and staunched the bleeding with a strip torn off of his bed sheet.

With the page torn out of the book, the mirror sliver and the wine glass full of blood, Rei wrote his letter.

To whoever finds this:

My name is Rei Kon. I have been kidnapped and held captive by a madman and I need help desperately. I don't know how much longer I can hold it together in here. I can only give what little information I know. I'm being held with about twenty other men in a large mansion. My cell, and I assume everyone else's, are custom made stainless steel. The walls and the door are two feet thick at least, with three locks on the door. The walls are covered with reproductions of famous paintings.

The man who took me wears a painted porcelain mask at all times, so I can't describe what he looks like. He recently gave me permission to call him Cesare, but up until then was only known to me as C. He has rules that he expects us all to obey without question. Another prisoner who broke one of these rules not so long ago has since disappeared. That's all I can say. I wish I knew more.

It was concise and uninformative, but the best he could do. The bleeding had eased off, so Rei was able to remove his makeshift bandage. He washed the strip clean in the sink and hung it on the food shelf to dry. The letters written in blood had dried into the page by the time he was finished. He folded the page carefully and removed the Bitbeast from the Blade. The note just about fit into the Blade socket, with the Bitbeast fitting neatly on top.

Rei climbed on top of the bed to reach the tiny ventilation shaft, the only outlet in the cell. He slotted the strip of cloth into the grooves meant for the ripping cord, and held Drigger close to him. If he let her go, his last hope would go with her.

" Drigger," he said calmly, but sounding on the verge of tears, " Please find someone who can help me. But if you can't, find someone who will treat you with as much respect as I have."

Drigger glimmered sadly. She didn't want to go.

" Take care, and Godspeed." Rei pulled the cord and Drigger whizzed through the vent, leaving a silver glare in her wake. Rei watched her until she was out of sight.

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Dranzer spun, spun, and dropped. Her heart wasn't in it, and neither was her master's. Nevertheless, Kai picked her up and spun her again. She spun three times before dropping again. Kai sighed, picked her up and spun again.

Then, out of nowhere, a Beyblade came whizzing into Dranzer's path, knocking her over and then toppling itself. Kai looked for the challenging Blader, but there was no-one around. Confused, he picked up Dranzer and was about to kick the spare into a clump of leaves when the Bitbeast became all too familiar to him.

Drigger!