"Well, not a lot we can do about that, is there?" Marius responded. "But we did manage to get hold of a security system from the apartment block that the trail went through. I am hoping we can gather some evidence from that." With that, he scooped up the computer and headed towards Hunter, telling him to grab his deck as he did so.
"How long has Vadim been gone now?" Shimazu asked.
"A bit over three hours. There's still time, but it's been a while."
"He's got about six hours in total, hasn't he, before his spirit loses his link to his body."
"Yep. Other than reports of some weird creatures like dragons and some other magical oddities, it seems to be the absolute limit for a metahuman to be out in astral space. The body weakens without the soul in it, and after too long it just sort of gives up…"
"But Tads has trained him on that hasn't she, and has taken him out for a while?"
"Yes, they did that journey down to Papa New Guinea. I think she had other motives as well, but they were gone for several hours so he knows what it feels like and what to expect. I just hope he's not got stuck somewhere"
"Hopefully not. I think Tads has impressed on him the need for caution, and I can't see him being trapped inside guardian vines or some magical trap so easily. I guess we'll just have to wait… I'm going to go get some training done while we do." Shimazu headed off to find some space in the academy to work out with his sword, leaving Aswon on watch, patrolling the building and checking the beach every few minutes.
Marius had explained the origins of the computer to Hunter, who had it hooked up to his deck and the roll out screen and was doing battle with the operating system. There wasn't any damage from the snatch operation, but Hunter was having difficulties – the system seemed to be designed by a particularly obtuse and unhelpful five-year old, with many inconsistencies and changes in formats for no apparent reasons.
"Do you need help with the translation?" Marius asked as Hunter swore again and looked like he was about to punch the storage unit.
"No, I'm fine. I speak fluent Chinese, as it happens. But this piece of shit menu system just doesn't make sense. You can't perform the disk rebuild without losing the index, if you lose the index, you have to do a FAT reconstitute operation, and you can't do a FAT recover if there's data on the disk – which is the only time you would want to do a recovery, to get back your data. Honestly, I think this is the worst piece of shit I've ever worked on." Hunter ran his hands through his hair and then grimaced. "Gimme thirty minutes of peace and quiet, and I can work something out. The data is on the chips, I just need to get at it. It might be easier to avoid the OS entirely and just work around it."
Marius nodded and left him to it, backing away quietly as Hunter started to talk to himself about container formats and lossy compression algorithms, and went to grab his toolkit, before settling down with the moped. He didn't have anything else pressing to do, and he was convinced he could get some more power out of the tiny engine – and who knew, he might need it. Besides, it was a good intellectual challenge, to work out the design and build of an engine he'd never seen before. Soon he was engrossed on the task, surrounded by a growing selection of parts laid out in a neat and methodical pattern.
Time flowed past, the students working in their rooms, instructors running them ragged and Chun moving from one set to another to critique and offer advice. Tads sat in position in the tilt-wing, maintaining the ritual link, her face covered in a light sheen of sweat from the hours of concentration required, with Kai sat nearby on guard. Aswon had found a perch up on the shallow pitched roof that gave him a good line of sight over the beach and town, and access down to the courtyard if he needed it, while the others worked on engines, computers and sword play. The wind picked up a little and grey clouds raced up from the south, expanding over the sky and a gentle rain started to fall.
As the minutes ticked by, the rain intensified, and the wind started to gust. Waves started to develop white caps, and break in serried rows over the abandoned beach, and the light faded quickly as dark clouds intensified and blocked out the sun. It was no monsoon and didn't have the intensity of a storm – but the bad weather looked like it would be in for a while.
"Team, Hunter. I've just finished going through the footage from the security system. No leads."
"Nothing at all?" Marius sounded frustrated.
"No, unfortunately not. It was worth grabbing though…unfortunately the host was as shit as the rest of their security and capacity was limited. They'd jammed enough cameras on there that was only about fifty hours of playback for each one, even at the maximum compression rate. And I've scrubbed back and forth through the two days, and there's no sign of our boy. Loads of people coming and going, including some unsavoury looking folk that I'd have pegged as drug dealers, kidnappers and brutal thugs from the look of them. But no activity relevant to us."
"So, a dead end then?" Kai asked.
"Fraid so."
"Well, worth confirming, Hunter. And yes, good job on grabbing the stuff, you two. Just unlucky I guess. So, that takes us back to the ritual. Is Tads still doing that?"
"Yes, she's having to maintain the ritual to provide the link for Vadim to follow. She's looking pretty tired now, which is hardly surprising." Aswon's voice was tinged with an edge of concern as he checked his watch and worked out how many hours Tads had sat in the same position, concentrating on the tenuous magical link between Harley's personal belongings and his current whereabouts.
"So, it's been hours. Should we just stop the ritual? Get him back?"
"It doesn't work like that, Kai. If Tads stops the ritual, the link will disappear. But Vadim won't know why it's done that – he may just think he's lost the trail. Or, if he is stuck, he'll be stuck and with no trail to follow either – forward or backwards. But he'll still be out of his body, wherever he is, and the clock will still be running."
"Oh. Oh, right. Crap. So, Tads needs to keep it up for as long as she can?"
"Well, to a certain point yes. Once it's been six hours since he left, she can stop. There's no point carrying on at that point – Vadim would be dead."
"Can't we send our spirits after him? The ones that Tads summons to guard us?"
"No – tracking ritual traces is something they can't do. They could search for Vadim if he's in their domain, but that would take them hours unless we can narrow it down somehow. So chances are they'll not find him until it's too late."
"Well, that's an arse." Kai pondered for a moment. "Ok, let's say Vadim comes back, and hasn't managed the trace. Is it worth doing a search in Macau, do we think? Is it likely that they've taken Harley there, to have him local for handing over, after the fight is done?"
"Possible, I guess. Assuming they are going to hand him back, it might make sense to have him close. It's a massive port, just like Hong Kong, so I guess there's going to be thousands of warehouses and spots that could do the job."
"So we could ask the spirits to go and search there, and that might be a small enough place to stand a chance of finding him?"
"I guess… I mean the spirits aren't that powerful, but it's worth a go, I suppose."
"Well, let's do that, then. Or at least let's do that when we're close to the time we need to stop the ritual. After all, if Vadim does come back, and knows where he is, there's no point in searching again, is there?"
They waited, the team keeping watch, working on their gear, training or working out to pass the time. Outside the sky grew darker as night fell, and the heavy rain battered at the roof, torrents of water gushing down the drainpipes and sounding a drum chorus on the surface of the tilt-wing.
"Kai? It's been five hours since Vadim left. Just letting you know."
"Ok, thanks Aswon. Right, let's all meet at the tilt-wing, then we can send our spirits off with the same commands. See if we can find either Harley or Vadim…" The team assembled and each of them asked their spirit to appear and carry out a task for them sending them off to scour Macao looking for any sign of Vadim or Harley, holding up items of clothing from each of them to give the spirits a 'flavour' for what they were looking for. Moments later the spirits faded into the background, rushing off at high speed to the south west as they headed across the sea towards their target. The team returned to their activities, feeling unsettled at the lack of news.
Time passed. A sudden cry from Aswon alerted them, his voice cutting over the comm-link.
"Got sight on Vadim, out over the ocean, heading for the beach. He's in trouble, pursued by a pack of spirits. Jeez, he's cutting it fine – two minutes left!"
Kai blinked as the body of Vadim suddenly twitched in front of him, then gave a convulsive heave, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, as if some invisible fist had just punched him in the stomach. He reached over and poked Tads, making sure she was responding.
"Vadim's out the front, being hurt by spirits. He's nearly back." Tads blinked and seemed to stare right through him for a moment, then nodded. A huge sigh escaped her lips and her shoulders sagged as she released the pent up energies of the ritual she'd carried for the previous six hours and fifty eight minutes. She tried to clamber to her feet and her legs betrayed her, buckling and refusing to take her weight after so long sat still. With gritted teeth she punched her upper thigh, then massaged it briefly, trying to get the blood flowing, then staggered towards the door.
Hunter slid to a halt outside and held out a hand, supporting her as she clambered stiffly down from the opening. Halfway down, he reached over and grabbed her with his other hand, letting his rifle fall on the sling between them as he gathered her up by the waist and tucked her under his arm. He couldn't carry her far like this – but probably far enough.
"Make a hole!" he bellowed as he charged through the academy, heading for the front door, sending students scattering to the sides of the corridor as he hammered down the hallway. "STAND BACK!" Marius was a few paces behind, pistol drawn and held pointing upwards, following along to lend what aid he could.
"Get everyone under cover! Get inside!" Tads managed to gasp as she saw Chun stick his head out of a doorway, confused by the commotion, before Hunter whisked her out of sight, slamming through the front door and the wooden walkway that led to the stairs down to the beach.
"Ok, it looks like we've got a bunch of watcher spirits that are trying to grapple him, dragging him backwards. They're not very big, but there's one on each arm and leg. And something behind him – I think it's a sea spirit of some kind. Has him by the waist, also trying to drag him down. They're not attacking him, but they are slowing him down… don't know if that's deliberate to kill him, or just trying to catch him, but the result is going to be the same." Aswon's voice was tinged with frustration. "Come on, Vadim, break free. Lead them this way…" He had the spear held ready, and it would go poorly for any and all spirits that came within range – but Vadim had to get over here, and at the moment it looked like he was losing ground steadily, being dragged backwards as he fought and struggled against the swarming foe.
With a grunt, Hunter swung Tads upright, holding her in front of him and making sure he was out of line of sight. Behind him Marius slithered to a halt, remembering what had happened back in Tashkent, and finding it to be far safer to be stood behind her, out of line of sight.
Tads had no time to think – she could see the pack of spirits dragging her apprentice backwards, overwhelming his frantic efforts. She could start banishing them, but the rites of banishment would take all of her concentration, and could only affect a single spirit at a time. And, by the sounds of things, Vadim didn't have any time to spare. Instead, she called power to herself and placed her mental shields over Vadim's form, protecting him – then opened herself up to the swirling vortex of ambient mana in the area, drinking deeply from the well of magical power. She didn't have time for finesse or to take chances – she just shaped the power crudely into a massive bolt of energy and sent it hurtling towards her target.
The stun ball hit like a hammer, blasting the watcher spirits apart with the sheer impact and scattering their meagre energies to the winds. The sea spirit was made of slightly sterner stuff, but it was rent and racked with energy, disrupting and distorting it with the impact. With a shake, Vadim worked free and sped forwards, angling up towards the roof where he could spy Aswon and Shimazu standing ready, weapon foci raised and ready to engage anything dumb enough to follow him. He shot past them in the blink of an eye, then hurtled down into his flesh as the seconds ticked by, his body almost at the point of no return. With a groan of effort he opened his eyes, his physical eyes, and stared up into Kai's smiling face.
"Welcome back!"
"What are you doing? OW!"
"Don't worry, just an IV. You're low on energy, and your body is looking a little drawn. Just something to help you recover a little." Kai gently pushed him back down to the floor, and Vadim was tired enough that he didn't argue, instead lying still and staring up at the ceiling.
Back outside, Aswon and Shimazu had swung down from the roof and were racing downstairs, rushing to get outside and join Hunter, Marius and Tads at the front. By the time they got there, Tads had finished eyeing up the sea spirit which was lurking down by the edge of the water, moving back and forth as it stared angrily at them, still smarting from the magical attack that Tads had launched at it.
"I'm going to try and wrest control of it from it's summoner. I've never done this before, so I don't know what will happen. Or if I can do it… but if I can get control, we can find out where it's from and who summoned it and all kinds of interesting things. Be ready." She concentrated and stared at the spirit, her hands gesturing in the air as she felt for the nature of the spirit and the magical energies that had summoned and bound it to someone's will, trying to subvert and wrest control of them. As she did, she could feel the spirit resisting her efforts, fighting her off desperately, backed up by the residual power of the summoner. After a few moments she released the power. "No, no good."
The spirit roared and broke free from the surf, flowing up over the beach towards her, tentacles made of foaming water writhing and flicking as it rolled towards her. Shimazu and Aswon surged forward, weapons raised ready to strike. His long legs and the long reach of the spear gave Aswon a slight advantage, and he thrust the spear through the creature, shattering the magical bond and turning the angry spirit into a mass of salt-water that splashed down onto the beach harmlessly in front of them.
"Everyone – back inside, to the tilt-wing. We should get inside the ward quickly. The summoner will have felt the death of his spirit for sure, and may well come to investigate or avenge its death."
"He's right, we should uuuurkkkk…." Tads had the wind driven out of her as once more Hunter scooped her up under his arm and set off at a run for the tilt wing, the shaman flapping like a rag doll under his massive sinewy arm. Within a minute they were all back inside the tilt-wing, the port side door sealed tight while the starboard was left open, letting them see out and listen to the outdoor world, the powerful ward shimmering across the opening and protecting them against astral threats.
Vadim had tried to sit up again as they bundled inside, alarm on his face as he saw the weapons and body armour, but Kai once more firmly pushed him down to the deck.
"What's wrong with Vadim? Why has he got a thingy in him?" Tads asked, concern on her face. He'd been fine when she left him!
"Oh, it's just medicine to help him recover. Nothing to worry about." Kai responded airly. "So – is the threat dealt with? It all sounded a bit scrambled over the comms."
"Yes. Tads managed to destroy the watcher spirits and drive the sea spirit back, allowing Vadim to break free. She tried to control the sea spirit, but was unable to do so, and it attacked us and was dealt with. But, the summoner will be aware of the death of one of his spirits, so we got under cover in case there was a magical follow up."
"Ok, thanks, Aswon. Right – now then, Vadim. Did you manage to find Harley?" Kai glanced down at Vadim, and his smile faded at the dejected look on the Russian soldier's face.
"No, I failed. My skills were not sufficient to do what you asked of me." His voice was quiet and he sounded guilty, and his eyes flicked from Kai to Tads and back again, as if expecting harsh words and a stinging rebuke.
"Well, you tried, that's all we could ask. So, is there anything we can get from this? Directions maybe?" Kai asked, looking at Tads, while a hand dropped to squeeze Vadim's shoulder firmly.
"Probably. What I'd suggest, if everyone is happy, is a mindlink spell between Vadim and Hunter. Vadim can tell us what he saw then, and while he's thinking about it, Hunter will be able to see his memories and experiences. Hopefully he can use his computer to plot things out accurately then, or at least more accurately than just hearing stuff." Kai nodded at Tads and then glanced over at Vadim and Hunter, making sure they were ok with this, and then motioning Tads to continue.
Hunter set up his computer and the roll out display, and jacked into his deck, bringing the mapping software online, while Tads got comfy and cast her spell, linking their minds together.
"Very funny, Vadim."
"What?" Kai asked.
"He was thinking about when he told me there was a bug on the tilt-wing, back in Russia."
"I was just checking it was working." Vadim smiled, then adjusted his arm position, easing the tube connected to the IV needle so it was putting less strain on his flesh. "So, I followed the path to the north, heading along the road and through some villages…" They listened as he described heading up around the north of the island and into Hong Kong, then to the nightclub and out of the fire exit, before winding up at the apartment block – tallying exactly with Shimazu and Marius's earlier journey.
From there the route became less certain – Hunter trying to interpret the astral vision relayed from Vadim to the physical world and plotting the route on the map. At his best guess they rose up over three hundred metres before heading south east, crossing over the centre of the island and going not far from the origin point for the trace before heading out over the water. As far as he could tell, they headed for the island of Sung Kong, before spiralling down to land on the northern shore, at what looked like a settlement small enough to be just a few fisherman's shacks. The trace wandered to a hut, then back, rising up into the air again, and flying around the island to the south before turning to head west towards Po Toi.
At Po Toi, the pattern was repeated – spiralling in to land at a small collection of buildings, meandering about before returning to the aircraft and taking off, working around the shore to the next location and then doing it all over again. Three stops on Po Toi, another two on Beaufort Island, then a longer run over water south to Dangan Island, and five stops there. It was at the fourth stop that Vadim had run into issues – following the trace in through a door that was open, and finding himself trapped in the warded room when the door had been closed. For nearly thirty minutes he'd been stuck, probing the room to see if there was any other way out or hole in the ward, before the door had opened again and he'd been able to escape without triggering the alarm.
He'd been more careful then, hopping over to Erzhou Island for another pair of stops and then across the eight hundred metres of water to Zhiwan Island. On the north side of Zhiwan Island he'd followed the trail to some buildings, and found himself pressing through a door into a cell, that seemed to match the photo they'd seen – and Vadim had run into the spirits a moment later. Perhaps he'd tripped a magical alarm that he'd not seen or noticed, perhaps he'd been spotted flitting around in astral space. They didn't know – and what mattered most was that he'd been tagged by a watcher spirit that let out an almighty astral scream, jabbering and following him, attracting the attention of more spirits. They'd given chase, along with the bigger spirit and he'd fled, trying to lose them as he flew about. The sea spirit was powerful enough though that it could keep up with him, and it kept grappling him, trying to slow him down and letting the weaker and slower watcher spirits catch up.
Aware that his body was weakening, he'd had no choice but to start trying to break free and head back towards his body – he desperately wanted to lead them away from the team, but he wasn't quick or powerful enough to break contact, and knew he had precious little time to make it back.
"Don't worry about it, Vadim. You did ok." Hunter murmured, then froze the map at his last location and started to back track, drawing in the route and plotting distances, bearings, estimated heights and information about the settlements. "You can stop the spell now, Tads. I think we've got plenty of good info." He looked over at Vadim again, giving him a lopsided grin. "Seriously Vadim, it's ok."
"This feels like they're trying to obscure the route in some way. As if they were aware that he would be astrally tracked. I suppose the Triads are magically one of the more progressive crime syndicates, so that's hardly surprising." Aswon traced the route from start to finish, shaking his head as tried to work out what they were doing.
"All of these buildings… might they be owned by the same business or corporation? Might that be a link between them?" Tads suggested, and she saw several of the others nod in agreement – that might well explain things.
"I think Tads is right – that could well be a link. If they are though, the chances of Hunter being able to discover that link easily is pretty slim – the Triad will have buried it. But, it may well be worth leaving it twelve hours or so for the alarm to die down, and now that they know where to go and check, Tads, Vadim and a whole bunch of spirits can be over there in about ten minutes."
"We could do. Or we can look at Lo Han as the next logical target. He seems to be the mover here, and Wa Fan seems to be the firewall or cutout. She knows there's a job, but not what it's about, it seems." Kai looked at the map again and a thought occurred to him. "Another alternative – what if the buildings aren't from the same corp or business… but what if it's the same business delivering. I mean, what if it's a delivery business that owns the chopper – dropping off fresh food or medical supplies around all those isolated villages. It would make a great cover for moving stuff, for smuggling in general. And if you had someone doing the route already, they could have stashed Harley in there and taken him with them, as part of the weekly supply drop – that would avoid raising suspicion for an extra flight."
"But why do they go into the building then? That doesn't make sense?"
"I don't know Aswon, it was just a theory. Unless they had him packed away in a cart or crate or something like that, and the container was taken in to buildings to unload?"
"Hang on a moment. We know he looked really unhappy in the photos… but might they be faked? Making us think he's been kidnapped, but actually working with the Triads?" She looked over as Shimazu waved at Kai to pass him the photos again, studying them carefully.
"No, I don't think so – there's lots of little clues in the posture, position, even the set of the jaw and the hunched shoulders. It just feels too real to me. But, it might be that he was willing to start off with? Maybe he got promised something, but then found out it was a kidnap when they got him to the jail cell. Up until that point he might have been a willing passenger, thinking he was doing something good?"
"That's a good call." Aswon scratched his chin, fingers making a raspy sound on his stubble. "That might explain how they got him out of the club and away without people noticing or calling it in – if he was willing at that point, and they only sprung the news on him later."
Shimazu coughed and pointed, nudging Kai with his foot to attract his attention. As they looked around out of the doorway, they could see Chun standing inside the building, just peering around his doorframe at them.
"Hi Just wondered is it ok to come out now? Is everything ok? It all went quiet…"
"Oh, sorry Chun, let me just check… Kai grabbed his PDA and tapped on it a few times, as if checking information, before looking back up and continuing. "Yes, everything should be fine now. We just had some trouble with spirits and things. Tads, tell him, will you?"
"Yes, it should be safe by now. If we were going to have trouble, it would have arrived by now." She saw Kai put down the PDA, the screen blank and power still off, "but Vadim was doing magical tracking of Harley, and triggered some defending spirits. They chased him back here and attacked him, trying to kill his soul. We managed to get them sorted out, and we've got a partial trace on Harley."
"You have? Excellent!"
"Yes, Chun. We're just going over the data now. Tell me, there's some islands to the south of here, do you know anything about them?" Kai asked, then held up the display screen, pointing at the locations in question.
"Oh, those. Um… not really. I think they have fishermen living on them and stuff like that? Pretty quiet. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some smuggling of stuff happening around there though, and that probably means Triads. Or at least people acting as informants to the Triads."
"Well, something is a link between them. Harley was taken from a nightclub in the city, and went to each of these locations, before he went on to a final destination. We're going to start chasing that down next."
"Oh. Island hopping huh. So… do you need a boat? I think I know a guy…"
"A boat would be great, if you can arrange that. Really helpful in fact."
"Right, I'll make a call then. And go tell the others they can get back to training."
They waited until he was gone, then Kai cleared his throat.
"The way I see it, we have three main options to pursue now then. First, we have the snatch in the nightclub. We can go check that out, see if we can get camera footage perhaps, try to identify the snatch squad and follow up on that. Second, we have the mini-golf location that we've positively identified as having a Triad presence in the form of Wa Fan and possibly others. And third, we have Lo Han and his position at the Country Club, in his position as Wa's boss and the higher up member of the Triad."
"I would be surprised if the second option reveals much. I did scout there, and watch her for a while, and from what I gleaned from her mind during the probe on the beach, that all checks out. She launders money through the bar and golf club, and has an insight into Triad operations in the area. But she's in the dark on this one other than delivering the messages and getting Chun's agreement."
"I concur with Tads. We could hit the night club, but I think that would just serve to warn the Triad that we are on to them. Better to stay away now and pursue the other options." Aswon added.
"I do think we have option four to discuss as well – checking out the islands and the places the choppers stopped."
"Oh we're going to do that as well Tads, regardless." Kai nodded at her, "but I agree with the earlier statement – we should let things die down a little first. Now, as it happens I think option one might be worth following up on, but it's going to give us limited information. Maybe that he left the club with some other people willingly. Maybe they took him out drugged or drunk – but from a nightclub that might not be that unusual. So, I think option three is our best bet in terms of developing new information…"
"If we find him at the club, can we use some of the neuro gas to knock him out, so I can probe his mind. Would be a lot easier than having to knock him out by hitting him or asking him the right questions, at least from my point of view."
"Assuming we can isolate him in a building, we should be able to do that. Or at least someone will. I doubt a two and a half metre man can go unnoticed in a location like that. But one of you probably could get close enough to deliver the gas. And provided of course that he's not the kind of manager to be sat in a room in the middle of the organisation, like a spider in his web. And we should prepare for the possibility that he, too, may be a cut-out or middle-man and may not know the reason why."
"On the other hand," Aswon continued, "we know his name now. It may be worth checking with Chun if he knows him. Lo Han that is. It seems to me that someone knows Chun and is definitely after him."
"It does seem personal," Kai interrupted.
"Yes, very. Especially delivering that tutu. That seems like a calculated insult. Fight in this stupid costume, or we chop your son up into little pieces." He paused for a moment. "Perhaps we should look at the list of fighters that Chun beat in his winning streak. Perhaps there's someone there that he smashed that was either in the Triads or related to them. Can you find that information, Hunter?" The big ork nodded, pulling his deck over to him and checking the general matrix first to see if he could find a list of bouts and opponents.
"The tutu… is that embarrassing, or is that deeply personal perhaps?" Tads looked around at the others. "I'm just wondering if Shimazu can try his technique on the tutu. Maybe it was used to humiliate or destroy an opponent before, and being forced to wear it and lose has more historical context to it?"
"That," Aswon exclaimed, "is a really good question. If it was personal in some way, it's going to be VERY strongly tainted with emotion, enough that I'd be surprised if there wasn't some kind of feedback. Let me go ask Chun for it."
He returned two minutes later, plopping himself down on the seat with a sigh.
"Here it is. I had a look, and I don't think it's going to work. It doesn't feel right. But have a go…" He passed the box over to Shimazu who carefully opened the lid and pulled out the garment carefully, the pink frills puffing outwards as he straightened the fabric. It looked new, as if it had never been removed from the packaging at all. Shimazu concentrated for a few moments, letting his hands glide over the material, eyes closed as he reached out with his senses.
"Nothing. No emotions at all. I agree – this feels brand new, and probably assembled on an automated line. I'm sensing nothing at all from it, not even the vaguest of feelings. Sorry."
"It was worth a shot. If it had been something from the past, it could have been the key to unlocking this." Aswon held the box while Shimazu folded the fabric back up and squeezed it down into the base, jamming the lid back on and holding it in place while they looked for some tape or string. "How come it doesn't go back down to the original size?"
"Witchcraft." Kai added, nodding sagely. "Oh no – not your kind Tads, don't look at me like that. This is proper black magic stuff. It's like sleeping bags, they never fold up small enough to go back into their original bags either." Various snorts escaped from other members of the team as each of them flashed back to their own personal battles that seemed far harder than they should have been. "Ok, seriously though – if Chun has to fight, and he's wearing that, how much will it damage his reputation? Is it going to be that bad for him?"
"I don't think so – I've seen some fights with people wearing ridiculous garb as part of their persona or fighting name. I think this is aimed at Chun personally, to make him feel bad. The damage to his rep will come from losing, in my book. And I don't know how well he'll do at selling it. My feeling is that he's still a very good fighter, even after being out of the game for a while."
"So why are they doing this? If it's about gambling, won't the money all be on him? As the fighter with the best reputation? So if he loses, the Triads get nothing. That doesn't make sense… unless they've bribed the gaming commission to investigate. Ahah! That must be it."
There was an uncomfortable silence as the others stared at Kai, wondering just what kind of gambling he must have been exposed to, to think that was a factor.
"In my estimate, there are two ways the Triads could make a lot of money from this." Marius held up one finger. "First, a fighter with Chun's reputation will get very bad odds, because most people will expect him to win. I have no interest in gambling myself, but I remember having to read about it when doing a module in statistical analysis back for my degree."
"You don't look old enough to have gone to university!" Vadim interjected.
"I was fifteen." Marius responded, making Vadim's jaw drop. "Anyway, I remember there was an example from a professional fight, a long time ago. One fighter who had a 37-0 record went into the ring, and had odds of one to forty two." He looked around and saw several blank expressions, sighed, and continued to explain. "If you bet forty two Nuyen, and your fighter won, you would make one Nuyen in profit and get your original stake back. So bet forty two, win forty three. It was the worst recorded odds in the history of the sport."
"So you would have to bet a huge amount to get any kind of return?" Kai asked.
"Exactly. The odds on the underdog were the reverse – forty-two to one. Bet one Nuyen, and if your fighter won, you got back forty-three. Now, this was an extreme case, and I doubt the odds would be that high, but if the Triad could bet even a hundred thousand on their fighter at high odds, even ten to one, they could make a million from a single fight. If they had the same bet spread out over ten different gambling organisations, they would turn one million into eleven. And of course, if you know you have a sure thing, you bet everything, at the best odds you can find." Marius extended a second finger.
"The other option is that the Triad accept the bets. They put good odds on Chun – maybe as high as one to one, making them very attractive compared to other betting agents offering one to five or one to ten. They accept hundreds or thousands of bets from people expecting to win vast sums of money when their favourite wins at good odds. Except of course, he does not – so they get to keep all of the money taken. And if they offer very poor odds on the challenger, say only two to one, that will drive people away from them to other agents, who then lose all of their money. Not only does the Triad make money on the bets taken, but they punish the other people taking bets, who all come out poorer after the fight."
"Fifteen?"
"Yes, Vadim. I was considered something of a prodigy as a child."
"So where does the betting commission come in?" Kai asked suspiciously.
"If they are careful with the odds, and not too greedy – and I have no reason to believe that this would be anything except expertly done – then not at all. The gaming commission would mostly be looking at the fighters and checking to make sure neither were on drugs or adversely affected. And if Chun sells it well, they will just assume the older fighter was out of practice and got beaten by the younger and more aggressive fighter."
Aswon sat back in his seat, and grinned, his lips pulling back revealing the massive fangs implanted where the incisors normally were. He gazed up at the ceiling, smiling broadly at something only he could see – at least until Hunter kicked his foot and raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.
"I was just thinking. When we do rescue Harley, we should not let Chun know. Not at first. And yes, I know that might be a little cruel. But just think – if we reveal we have Harley safe and sound, at say the end of round three… after all the bets have been placed and the Triads are expecting to make some really serious money, but then Chun turns on the juice and comprehensively batters his opponent. Oh my… Too late for them to pull out, and all of a sudden their massive win turns into an enormous flop. And we'll have had time to get our bets on, too…"
The cabin fell silent as they thought on that, and gradually smiles spread around the room as they imagined how sweet that feeling would be – or how lucrative it might become.
"Don't get me wrong – I would rather not fuck over the Triads, not in their back yard. I think we'll run into problems if we do. But if we're going to run into problems anyway, we may as well make the best of it. As long as Harley isn't playing for the other team, we could come out ahead. But that's something we won't know until we get him."
A student appeared at the door from the academy, calling over to them and informing the team that dinner was being served, watching as they quickly bailed out of the tilt wing and ran over the courtyard, trying to avoid the rain as much as possible and into the corridor, leaving Marius to lock up the door behind him.
In the dining room, the buzz of conversation lowered when they entered, as instructors and students alike watched them carefully. The excitement from earlier had faded but not entirely subsided, and various whispered conversations made it clear that speculation was rife. They tucked into the food with gusto, ignoring the looks and mutters.
When Chun and his wife came over to their table to check on them, Kai seized the opportunity to question him.
"Say, Chun. Quick question for you – I don't suppose Harley mentioned any new friends recently, did he? Or did you spot him around any new people?"
"No, none at all. He spent a lot of his time here, and other than a small crowd of friends he met and knew at the club, he's not really that social. And all of those people he's known for several years. Why?"
"Oh, we developed some new information is all, and we're just trying to work out how important it is. Not to worry. Oh – and one other thing." Under the table he nudged Shimazu in the leg and then deliberately glanced up at Chun, staring straight into his face. "Another name that came up was Lo Han. Works up at the Country Club. We believe he's had something to do with things. Does that name ring a bell?" There was a pregnant pause before Chun responded.
"I don't think so. I'm not sure. Han is a pretty common name." He didn't sound that convincing, to anyone's ears. Shimazu raised his cup to his face as he turned and looked down the table, covering the movement of his mouth as he sub-vocalised a message.
"He definitely knew the name. And the look he gave wasn't one of guilt… it was more like. Shame? Yeah, shame."
"Oh, that's too bad. Never mind." Kai responded quickly. "On a completely unrelated matter, Mrs. Fu – can I ask if you have any Bolomjgui spice? I'd love to get some to flavour my food, it's a Mongolian favourite. I'm sorry, I don't know how to translate it…"
"I'm not sure. What kind of flavour is it?"
"Why don't we go to the kitchen, and I'll see if I can describe it for you." Kai got up and gently touched her on the elbow, guiding her off towards the door as he started to describe a bitter crumbly spice that dissolved well in yak's milk…
Once he was in the kitchen with her, and the door closed, he turned to her and lowered her voice.
"I apologise for the deception, but I needed to speak to you alone. You see, we know Lo Han is involved, and we could clearly see from Chun's face that he not only knew of him, but knew him well. Mr. Han is the one that ordered Harley's kidnap, and we have reasons to believe that he'll kill him, rather than return him. So it's imperative that we find out the details of the history between Chun and Lo. We don't care what has happened, our absolute priority is getting Harley back safe and sound. Nothing else really matters, but we need to know the details of what happened."
She bowed her head and wrung her hands in front of her.
"I should not speak for him. It is disloyal." Kai could tell she wanted to, and pitched his voice a little lighter, adding some warmth.
"I know you don't want to – but you must. For Harley's sake, but also for Chun's. If something happens to Harley, you know he will never forgive himself. And he'll blame the people responsible, and who knows what he will do? You're not betraying him, you're helping him, keeping him and your family safe. You know it makes sense."
"Lo Han, well, he knew Chun when he was fighting. He wasn't a friend, or anyone he worked with, but he followed Chun's progress. Chun said he bet lots of money on him, made even more when he kept winning. He supported Chun, often turned up with friends at his fights. Sometimes he wanted to take pictures with him, or take him for drinks, but Chun was always wary."
Now that she'd started to speak, the words came faster and surer, as if she'd committed herself to telling the tale and wanted to get it over and done with.
"When Chun announced that he was not going to fight any more, Lo Han was angry. Very angry. He argued with Chun, telling him it was a mistake, that he was wrong. But Chun was adamant. He had won the K… competition. He had been crowned the winner, and said that he would fight no more. He was done. But Lo Han would not take no for an answer, and kept pushing him. Would not leave him be. No matter what Chun said, he just got louder and louder."
"Then he started to call Chun names, calling him a coward and weak. I could see Chun trying to keep his temper, not to answer, but Lo Han just kept saying things, getting worse and worse. I think it was when Lo Han said that Chun was so weak that he couldn't protect his family, and that bad things would happen to me. He lashed out, and kicked the man in the face." She stopped for a moment and swallowed, clearly reliving the moment and feeling a little sickened by it. "I heard the bones snap as his head rocked back, an awful noise. But Chun spun in the spot and jumped, and kicked him again. There was a horrible noise, and his foot smashed his face. I think he nearly killed him, might have killed him. But I was crying and holding his arm, begging him to stop. And the other man, the young man with Lo Han, he pulled him away. There was blood everywhere, and I was worried that he was going to die. But he didn't. But his face was so broken, the hospital could not fix it all. He's still scarred, even now, to this day. I don't know if he's ever forgiven Chun. But he's never come near him again."
"Ahh, look. Here's some spice." Kai grabbed the pepper grinder and shook it until some granules came loose into the palm of his hand. "Thank you for helping me find this. I'm sure it will help. Lots." He smiled at her, and then turned, heading back to the dining room to join the rest. With a dramatic flourish he sprinkled the granules onto his dinner. "There! Found some. Good old Bolomjgui spice. So tasty." He took a large forkful of food and shoved it into his mouth, and then his eyes started to water as he got a mouth full of peppercorn fragments, that had to be washed down with half a mug of juice. "Ahh, yes, the taste of home."
The others shook their heads, and finished their dinners, tidying away their dishes when they were done and heading up to one of the dorm rooms to continue their conversation. Once they were all settled, sprawled over the beds or resting on cushions on the floor, Kai relayed the story he'd pried out of Chun's wife, relaying it in as much detail as he could recall. Marius was the first to respond.
"So, why do we not just head up to the country club, find him, club him into unconsciousness and let Tads rifle through his mind. Once we have the information we need, we put a bullet in the back of his head and be done with him, and throw the body into the sea. Keep it simple and straightforward?"
"That has it's merits, that's for sure. Mrs. Fu certainly seemed pretty upset when she was telling me what he said, and I don't think he's any definition of 'nice man', so it is not like we're not doing the world a favour."
"They have decided to escalate things by kidnapping a boy. But, this is not just business – this is personal. Clearly this man seeks revenge for being disfigured, and is insisting Chun wear the tutu. This is about proving a point, not just making money."
"He's probably justified it to his bosses on how much money they stand to make. Maybe not even told them about the personal angle. That's just not good business, after all." Aswon added. "I mean, I understand using personal knowledge to create a business opportunity – but I bet he never mentioned or got them to sign on to the humiliation part. That's just adding risk."
"So once again I say, let us just go and grab this guy, pillage his mind and deal with him."
"Or Marius, why not just knock him out, get the information and then put him face down on the golf course with a golf ball just next to him, as if he's been knocked out by a bad shot. Why go looking for trouble?" Marius snorted at Aswon, but didn't respond.
"I think we need to understand what the deal is between Chun and the Triads. I remember him saying they agreed to leave him alone, and a kick to the face – I'd assumed he was joking, but that seems like exactly what he meant. But I think you have enough of the story now to go and confront him, and find out what is going on, Kai. Did he fight for the Triads and never tell his wife? Was he fixing fights? What is the real link between them? That's going to affect how we do this." Tads turned away from Kai as she continued. "Though feel free not to embellish the details of any fighting. I'm quite happy not to hear that."
"Alright, you make a good point. I'll go have a chat now. Maybe take him out onto the beach for a walk, so there's nobody else around. Hopefully will be less pressure for him to avoid the truth."
"I'll come with you then, if you're going outside. Just in case there are any spirits lurking around." Shimazu stood in a smooth motion, making sure his scabbard hung correctly and the hilt of his sword was in the perfect position. Together they left the bedroom and headed down to find Chun, inviting him to join them on the beach for a few minutes. Chun looked between them then agreed, clearly wondering what they wanted but prepared to humour them. He paused at the front door as he saw the rain lashing down, but Kai and Shimazu marched out and down the steps towards the sand, without pausing, and he followed along. Within moments their clothes were drenched, but he seemed determined not to mention it if they didn't.
"So, Chun. I noticed when we mentioned Lo Han there was a strong physical reaction from you. So did several of my team. We could tell you were upset. More, we've been investigating him, and we know you have some history. So, please, make it simple. Spill the beans and let us know the full story, so we've got a good a chance as possible of getting Harley back. We need to know the score here, so we don't miss details and get surprised."
Chun sighed, looking down at the sand for a few moments before he started to talk. The tale he told was similar to what Kai had heard from his wife, but with a number of embellishments – it quickly became apparent that Chun knew exactly who Lo Han worked for or with, and had since he met him, and that he'd been careful not to accept favours because of it. Lo Han had worked hard to try and make Chun 'his man', with Chun working equally hard to avoid it, no doubt making Lo Han annoyed in the process. He'd also made him a considerable amount of money in legitimate fights, and he suspected a fairly obscene amount of money on the underground fight circuit, where Chun had done equally well.
But Chun had never worked with or for the Triads directly, always wanting to be his own man, make his own way in the world – and he'd never, ever, contemplated throwing a fight like he was being told to do now. And he said that Lo Han would know that – and that everyone who knew anything about him would also know that. So the threat to Harley was probably the only thing that would change his mind – either that or a threat to his wife or baby, but they so rarely left the building they were probably much harder targets to capture.
The only other additional information they gathered was about the disagreement with Lo Han – where Chun revealed that the younger man with them had pulled a knife, holding it close this his waist and out of sight from his wife as he squared up to Chun, standing over Lo Han's battered and crippled body. Chun had stared him down and told him that if he didn't get out, he would be next, and the man had evaluated his chances and decided he didn't like the odds – sliding the blade away as quietly and smoothly as he'd drawn it and dragging out the bleeding body of his boss. So, there was another possible angle – the shame of someone who had let his boss get beaten and not avenged him.
They grabbed details of Lo Han and the young man, or at least as much as Chun remembered, and then returned to the others to fill them in on the details before getting changed into dry clothes.
"I wonder if the young guy that was with them – he'd be a few years older now – I wonder where he is. Might be worth doing a check if we can, though the description was a little vague. But imagine if we found out that he was head of security at the nightclub that Harley was snatched from…" Aswon suggested. "That would certainly tie things up neatly."
"Yes, but I think it might be good to know, but we're already convinced that this Lo Han is involved up to his neck. So I think we should go and find him. I would guess his house is protected, by Triad mages if he's a senior figure, and he might be more vulnerable at work. Though if his house is warded rather than protected with active magic, I'm pretty sure I can sleaze in through them with enough time to study them. "
"I've had a look at the matrix site for the Country Club. It looks like an exclusive place, but I don't think the security will be too bad. If anything, it strikes me as a place that relies on reputation and power of the people there to keep it safe. I mean, for starters, the perimeter on that golf course is enormous. No way they've got top line security all the way around that. But who'd risk raiding a place where the local chief of police and Triad head go to hang out for Martinis?" Hunter wrinkled his nose. "Course, we don't care about stuff like that do we?"
"Alright, people. Let's get a good night's sleep and rest from today – especially you two." Kai pointed at Tads and Vadim. "And tomorrow, we'll go see Lo Han and have a word. And depending on how polite he is and how useful his information is, will decide what we do with him. I like the golf ball idea, Aswon, but the Marius protocol does have a certain direct simplicity about it."
The team split up, heading back to their dorms and settling down for the night. Tomorrow could be a busy day…
