Retribution Read online

  Akio pursed his lips. “I can’t get a clear reading on him. His mind is like a shattered mirror, the thoughts broken and disjointed. He will need some time to adjust to the memories he has unlocked and settle into this new existence. He remembers who he is, but he still has much of Miko’s darkness in him as well.”

  Yuko nodded. “We’ll do what we must to help him adjust, I know he was special to you, and I wish you the opportunity to find happiness.”

  “Thank you, my friend. I hope he can overcome all that has happened to him since we last saw one another. We will take it slow and see how he acclimates. I think we should keep Koda and Asai away until he comes to terms with this new normal.”

  Yuko’s eyes widened. “Do you think he would be a danger to them?”

  “I think it best not to expose him to humans just yet. He has only known them to be food for his entire existence as a vampire. His role models to date were some of the worst I have ever known. Better to be safe than sorry.”

  “I’ll inform them to stay away until you tell me otherwise.” Yuko nodded as she activated her implant.

  “Koda, Asai.”

  “Yes, Yuko?” Asai answered. “Koda is here with me.”

  “You two need to stay away from the base for a few days. Akio has brought an old friend here, and until he has settled in, it might not be safe for you to be around him.”

  “Is it another like Horst?” Koda asked.

  “No, it is another like Akio and me.”

  “We understand,” the girls answered.

  “Is Eve still there with you?”

  The elevator doors slid open, and Eve stepped out. “No, Eve is home,” the AI answered as she walked toward Yuko.

  “Okay, have a pleasant night, girls. I will see you in the morning.”

  “Goodnight,” Koda and Asai answered in unison.

  “Akio, do we need to make any special arrangements for Kenjii?” Yuko asked.

  “Such as?”

  “Will you want to put him in the Pod-doc for upgrades?”

  Akio was silent for a few moments, his eyes distant as he considered the question. “No, not just yet. He’s been through a lot over the years, and I want to give him time to come to terms with all of this before I broach that subject with him. We will need to keep a supply of fresh blood on hand. I can’t allow him to take from humans here.”

  “I will see to that, Akio,” Eve announced. “I made arrangements with a blood bank in the event we needed it.”

  Yuko’s eyebrows went up at this revelation. “Why would you have done that?”

  “I set it up shortly after we came here. It was part of the supply chain I set up, along with the food and supplies we used when Koda and Asai joined us. I tried to plan for any eventuality.”

  “You certainly did. Thank you for the planning and care you have provided us over the years. We wouldn’t have been ready for many of the things we’ve encountered without you.”

  “Just part of the service Eve Inc. provides.” The AI chuckled.

  “I’m serious, Eve. You have been an excellent friend and caretaker for us for over this quarter-century. I am always amazed by how easy you have made things for us here. I can’t wait to see what you and Horst come up with at the new base you’re working on.”

  Eve smiled at the compliment, genuinely pleased that Yuko had praised her. It was an illogical occurrence, but one she enjoyed just the same.

  “I sent the request in, and they will have ten pints of blood delivered within the hour. Abel, notify me when they arrive so I can meet them upstairs.” She turned to Akio. “Where would you like me to put it?”

  “Let me know when it arrives, and I will take care of it.” Akio motioned to his armor. “As soon as I get cleaned up. This stuff is starting to smell.”

  “Will do,” Abel answered.

  “I’ll be in my quarters if you need me,” Yuko advised. “I have to return a call to Inspector Yonai. He has some information he wanted to pass on.”

  Akio nodded and turned into his room.

  “What’s Yonai got for Yuko?” Eve asked.

  Yuko shrugged. “I don’t know. I was busy when he called today, and Asai took the message. He only said he thought it was important and I should call him back.”

  “If he needs more drone assistance with the Yakuza, I have all but one carrier here now. I left one in China to keep an eye out for those Sacred Clan tigers. I can help if he needs it.”

  “Thank you, Eve. If that’s what it is, I will let you know, but from what he told me, they have set the Yakuza back years with all the arrests.”

  “If he needs it, I’m there. I still have a bone to pick with those idiots.”

  “I’ll let him know you’re available for Yakuza-stomping. I’m sure he will appreciate it.” Yuko chuckled.

  “They shouldn’t have messed with my friend,” Eve growled.

  “I agree completely. Let me make the call, and I will let you know.”

  Chapter Four

  Nishitama District, Tokyo, Japan

  Kishi Sakutaro knocked softly on the door that led to her grandfather's study. He had sent word to her driver to bring her home immediately while she was in a meeting with one of his lieutenants over a shipment of drugs lost when the Special Investigations Unit of the Tokyo Police intercepted them. She had just explained how disappointed she was with his poor security when the driver interrupted, and she felt she had not given an adequate demonstration of her displeasure. She had only broken one knee and was starting on his elbow when she had to leave.

  “Enter.”

  She steeled herself and made sure her face was blank before she stepped through the door. Though he was her grandfather, she had no doubts about how he would receive her if she showed the slightest disagreement.

  “You sent for me, Sofu?”

  The old man motioned to a chair, and once she had sat, grimaced at her.

  “Kishi-chan, it is time we discussed my visitor,” Sato Sakutaro announced.

  “Visitor?”

  “The man who came inquiring about the people that idiot Muto was involved with.”

  Kishi’s eyes widened. She had tried to talk about it the day the man came, and the old man had sent her away with more questions than answers. The only thing any of her sources had found out was that the survivors swore a male and a female Oni had come to Riko’s and killed many.

  Sato shifted in his chair and took a deep breath. “The man who came was a ghost from many years ago. From a time when I was a soldier for my father.”

  “Surely he was not that old. He looked no older than me.”

  Sato’s lips curled into a slight smile. Kishi had always been observant, and it pleased him she had caught that.

  “Not the man but who, or what, he represents. His master is the ghost I thought never to have dealings with again.”

  Kishi nodded, and Sato continued.

  “His Master is Peng Kun. When I dealt with him first, he was a general in the PLA. We needed weapons, and he brokered a deal that allowed us to purchase them from the Chinese government. He was my contact and I was his for things the Chinese needed plausible deniability for.”

  Kishi nodded again. That the Yakuza had helped Chinese intelligence services get information in the past was no secret to her. The Yakuza had performed services in exchange for money or other favors for many foreign governments before the world collapsed on the World’s Worst Day Ever.

  “It was when Peng left the army that things became different. He was also a member of a group that has been around in China for centuries. They had placed people in positions of power throughout the government, forming a shadow government if you will—one that put the needs of the organization above all others. It’s a group of very dangerous beings, more deadly even than our soldiers.”

  “A Chinese criminal group?” she asked.

  Sato gave a rueful laugh. “If only it was that simple.”

  He reached for a glass on the table beside hi
s chair and frowned when he found it empty.

  Kishi rose from her chair and moved to fill it from a chilled pitcher on a shelf near the door. Once she had returned and was in her chair, Sato spoke.

  “The group my old friend General Kun was with was much more than a criminal enterprise. They lived in the shadows and also in plain sight throughout China. You have heard the reports of the tiger-men attacks in rural areas?”

  “I have seen the reports.”

  Sato nodded. “Good, then this will be easier to explain. Those reports are accurate.”

  Kishi’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “You’re telling me there are men who can become tigers? Surely you are joking, Sofu.”

  “I wish I were, but I have seen it myself. That’s the reason I had all our people obtain special ammunition like the police and military are issuing now. That ammunition, silver-infused bullets, is the only known way to stop one of those things. The man who was here is one of those tiger men.”

  “But why did you—”

  Sato cut her off in mid-sentence with a raised hand. “Because even with the special ammunition, they are still very hard to kill. It was smarter to tell him what he wanted and try to get out of debt to Kun than to fight.”

  “But the information he wanted… The people involved are the same ones you said were the reason we suffered the losses when the police took that songbird Sero.”

  “Hai.”

  “It was you who issued the orders that our organization was to avoid them at all costs. Who are these people to us?”

  Sato picked up a manila folder from the table and opened it and sifted through the contents until he found what he wanted—a color photograph of an attractive man of indeterminate age. He could have been anywhere between mid-twenties to forty until you looked at his eyes; they held the experience of someone much older.

  “I think the man they seek is this one, based on the description of the person who supposedly killed the tiger man in Hosu and a similar one from Aida a few weeks ago. Given the conveyance he used, I have little doubt the man our guest seeks is this one.”

  “What makes him so special?” Kishi asked as she studied the photo.

  “That picture is from a calendar a very advanced company put out before the World's Worst Day Ever. His name is Akio, and he was part of a dangerous group of people who protected the head of the company.”

  “How can it be the same man? Surely he would be close in age to you now, Sofu.”

  “The company, TQB they were called, had some unique individuals working for it.”

  “TQB? You mean the people with the spaceships?”

  “Hai. This man was one of her Queen’s Bitches. They were all formidable warriors who never lost a battle. It was rumored that none of them were completely human, if at all. A group of our people attempted to steal from them once, but they all died, and there were no fatalities among the TQB people. I thought they were all gone—that they had gone into space when their Queen left—but it appears this one stayed.”

  “If you know who he is, why have we not eliminated him?”

  Sato looked at her incredulously. “Did you not hear what I said? This man is Death walking. The best thing we can do is to pray he doesn’t come looking for us. The ones the police arrested were lucky compared to what could have happened.”

  “But he is only one man. Surely we can handle him,” she mused.

  “No, child, we can’t.”

  Kishi’s eyes widened. She had never seen her grandfather back down from a perceived threat to the organization. Now he refused to act against the man who, if logic held, was responsible for the biggest loss of Yakuza power in many years. She saw something she had never seen in the old man’s eyes—fear.

  “If the man who was here before has plans to go after this Akio, there will be many more deaths before it ends. I hope the information I provided will end the debt I owe Peng Kun. If it does not, I fear the losses we experienced because of Muto and Sero are nothing compared to what they will be if this man thinks we are his enemy.”

  Kishi sat in stunned silence, trying to determine what had caused her grandfather, one of the most ruthless Yakuza members ever, to lose his nerve. Granted, he was an old man, but until now, he had never wavered. Now she feared he was suffering from some form of senility that would not be easy for her to hide from the organization. She knew she had to act before the others realized the Oyabun was losing his mind. It caused her a moment of sadness, but as he had always told her, business is business.

  Police Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan

  “Yuko-sama, thank you for stopping by.”

  “Yonai-san, it’s good to see you. I trust you are well.”

  Yonai smiled down at her. “I’m better than well. The information you and Akio-sama provided allowed us to strike a decisive blow against the Yakuza. We have caused them to have to reorganize all the way to the top with the arrests we made.”

  “I’m happy we could assist you with that.” Her face darkened. “They shouldn’t have taken Koda. We will never forgive them for that.”

  “That’s some of the reason I called you.”

  “Oh?” Yuko’s eyes held a faint tint of red, and her voice had dropped several octaves. “Does someone have a problem with how we handled that?”

  Yonai waved his hands and shook his head. “No, no, there is no problem. Far from it. We have punished the guilty, and the ones who still live will never breathe free air again. This is recent information.”

  Yuko took a settling breath, realizing the threat she had perceived was unfounded. “What information would that be?”

  “I received word from my intelligence unit that there was someone asking questions about Akio. They were meeting with the new Kumicho of the Yakuza. He didn’t give them any names, but he directed them to the district where the Palace is. I wanted to let you know in the event there is trouble.”

  “Do you know where this man is?”

  “No, we didn’t get the information until a few days after the meeting took place. I called you as soon as I got it,” Yonai offered.

  “Thank you. I will let my people know to be vigilant. It is better to be prepared and have it be nothing than to be unprepared and have it be something.”

  “Akio’s assistance with the surveillance when we raided the Yakuza establishments saved people's lives. You need not thank me for passing on information that may help you do the same.”

  Chapter Five

  TQB Base, Tokyo, Japan

  Akio had stepped out of his bathroom and was towel-drying his hair when he heard a light knock on his door.

  “Enter.”

  When the door slid open, Kenjii stood in the entrance. The form-fitting t-shirt and tight jeans hugged his body so well it looked like someone had poured him into them. He had well-defined arms, and his pectorals bulged under the tight cotton shirt. Akio froze, the towel covering one eye as he stared open-mouthed.

  Kenjii saw his expression and smiled as he turned around once, stopping with one hand on his hip and a well-remembered mischievous smile on his lips.

  “You like?”

  Akio shook himself and pulled the towel off his head, leaving his shoulder-length hair sticking up all over. He pursed his lips and nodded. He didn’t trust himself to answer considering the years they had been apart, but he definitely liked what he saw.

  Kenjii cocked his head to one side and took in Akio’s shirtless form. The loose workout pants he wore concealed his legs, but his upper body was that of a warrior. Years of working with a sword had made his body hard. The Pod-doc that fixed his nanocytes had left him with a well-defined chest, bulging biceps, and eight-pack abs.

  Kenjii whistled softly. “It seems I am not the only one who has added something extra over the years. You look amazing. Not that you didn’t before, but,” he motioned with one hand, “this differs greatly from what I remember.”

  Akio’s mouth turned up into a faint smile as he saw the approval—and maybe something
else—in Kenjii’s expression. “I’ve had a few…upgrades, if you will.”

  “Yeah, I would say you have.” Kenjii grinned. “I don’t know what you are eating, but I want some.”

  Akio’s eyes narrowed at the mention of eating. “Do you need to feed? There is a delivery of fresh blood on the way.”

  “Hai. I need to replenish soon. The past few weeks have taken a lot out of me, and I have used a lot of energy healing injuries. But that was not what I was referring to.”

  Akio turned away, not wanting to allow the hope in his eyes to show. “The blood should be here soon. Eve ordered it before we arrived.”

  A look of disappointment flashed across Kenjii’s eyes, quickly replaced by confusion. “Eve?”

  Akio finished toweling his hair as he walked across the room to where a neatly folded tunic sat on the bed. “Yes, Eve is one of the team here. She is an artificial intelligence in an android body. She created Abel and handles logistical needs for the base, among other things.”

  “What is an artificial intelligence?”

  “Uh, if Abel is a supercomputer...” Akio halted, and Kenjii nodded for him to continue.

  “Eve is the next level of computing technology; she is self-aware. That means she is capable of reaching answers based on emotion and instinct as well as uploaded data. She is for all intents and purposes a living being like us, only instead of flesh and bone, her body is synthetics and steel.”

  “That…that’s unbelievable.”

  “Believe it.” Akio grinned. “You’ll meet her soon enough.”

  Akio pulled on the tunic and fastened the closures down the front. “Excuse me a moment. I don’t want this to dry like this.” He rubbed a hand across his unruly hair.

  Kenjii watched Akio as he walked through the open door to the vanity. His eyes widened in realization. “You cut your hair!”

  “Hai, many years ago.” He faltered before continuing, his expression turning angry. “After I thought you were dead. It was the only thing the compulsion allowed me to do to mourn you.”