"Son of Mardrak"
May. 17th, 2022 01:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"Son of Mardrak"
3/23/2020
I.
They had left Tokyo behind them more than two hours earlier, heading northwest. Increasingly sharp turns on the steep hills were starting to get on Bane's nerves. Adding to his irritation, he wasn't used to this Nissan Altima which the Hozumi family had leased for him before he and Unicorn had materialized in that transcendental flash of blue light early in the morning. Even on narrow roads, the speed limit of fifty miles per hour (or rather, eighty kilometers per hour) seemed unreasonably restrictive. Still, the Dire Wolf kept pace with traffic and tried to avoid drawing attention.
If the usually indifferent Japanese police pulled this gaijin over just on general principles, Bane would have to cooperate with them. They would have no way of knowing he and Unicorn had not flown in on a commercial jet nor arrived on an ocean liner. Actually, the two Tel Shai knights had come to this country in a gralic gate which had instaneously carried them from Manhattan to Tokyo in a way that physics would never explain. Years ago, Bane had rescued the Hozumi son from a water demon and the family was glad to arrange this car to be ready for his use.
Other cars were becoming less numerous as they made their way into the countryside. The hectic pace eased. Bane glanced over to see Unicorn staring glumly straight ahead, hands in her lap. Like himself, Ashley Whitaker looked younger than she was. She had turned forty this year but a stranger would guess her age at mid-twenties. The healing properties of the Tagra diet and the Kumundu training kept them in peak condition. Bane himself was sixty-two but except for the salting of white in his black hair and some lines at the corner of his eyes, he seemed to be a man in his mid-thirties... and a man in great athletic trim at that.
"Ashley?"
The platinum hair swirled as she turned her head. "Hmm?"
"You might as well start spilling everything," Bane said quietly. His pale grey eyes flickered over her to take in her expression and gauge her body language.
"I'm okay, captain." She wiggled in her seat and tugged down her waist-length white jacket where it had ridden up.
The subdued tone of her voice alarmed him. Ever since he had first met Unicorn twenty years earlier, she had normally been energetic, full of impudence and given to odd creative turns of phrase. This behavior today was not like her. Bane slowed as they entered the town of Tokugawa, passing a tavern and an antiques shop. A foggy mist gave the trees alongside the right side of the road added beauty. "Come on, Unicorn," he continued. "You hadn't gone on a KDF mission for over a year. You weren't even showing up for Pizza Night to socialize. Then this summer, you started offering help on a regular basis. You called Sable to see if anything was going on and you turned up at Sheng's agency to ask if he needed help with any cases."
"Yeah. I've been a little bored lately," she admitted. The sapphire-blue eyes turned toward Bane. With her delicate features and clear skin, Ashley had always been pretty but lack of animation took away from that now. "I gave you a call last night because I figured retirement wouldn't suit you either."
At this point, Bane pulled over to the side of the road. "And when I told you I was coming here to see the Red Crane, you volunteered to come along. You even had your Unicorn horn with you in case. But I have never seen you this lifeless, honey. Even when you were seriously wounded or exhausted, you showed more spark. What's the deal?"
"Oh. I don't know. Married life, maybe. Being in a rut, getting older. April is gonna be nine in a few months. Before you know it, she'll be a teenager and then right after that, I might be a grandmother." Even though she had started opening up, Ashley's manner remained listless.
The Dire Wolf checked his mirrors and eased out on the country lane again. "All right. When you're ready to tell me what's really bothering you, I'll listen."
"Heh. You know me too well, captain." The petite blonde exhaled with relief at opening up a little. "You know, I haven't really had too many adventures in Japan. You?"
"Only a few cases in Tokyo. A water demon and a Tengu infestation. There was one duel with Mikage in Okinawa. I've certainly never been out in the sticks like this before. Red Crane was not involved in the Midnight War to any extent. He was a freelance spy who went back and forth between the authorities and the Yakuza families for negotations. I only met him once years ago, so I was surprised to hear from him."
Ashley made a scoffing noise. "And I'm sure he was all enigmatic and mysterious and wouldn't explain why he wanted you to meet him here, right? Espionage guys annoy me. You can't believe them when they tell you what day of the week it is."
"True enough. But his voice had subvocal tremors that meant he was genuinely agitated. I thought it was worth checking out. Okay, there's the place." Bane did not slow as they wheeled past a row of three rickety bungalows in serious disrepair. The corner of one roof was sagging in, the windows were either missing or crossed with duct tape and the paved parking area in front was cracked with weeds pushing up. Behind the buildings, trees had grown so close that their branches scraped along the roofs.
Only when they had passed out of sight did the Dire Wolf slow and pull over to a stop. "That's where Red Crane said to meet him. We should use our usual approach."
"Got it. I'll sneak up through the woods and watch the situation. I'll use my judgement if I should intervene." Reaching under her seat, Unicorn came up with an air pistol that had a needle-thin barrel and examined it before leaning forward to place it in the holster at the small of her back. Her jacket concealed the weapon. "I haven't used our dart guns since forever. You bring yours?"
"No. I got used to packing the old Smith and Wesson again after I stepped down from the KDF." He allowed the faintest smile to touch his mouth. "Handguns are virtually illegal in Japan, you know. We're used to breaking assorted laws anywhere we are. Neither of us have a current gaikukjin card, either."
"Eh, it comes with the job." She brushed the shining hair back over her shoulders and leaned over into the back seat to retrieve the ancient horn in its white leather sheath. The three-foot length of ivory, pointed at one end and capped with silver at the other, was her talisman that allowed her to function in the Midnight War. "How long do we have before the gralic charge wears off from our bodies?"
"Eight, maybe nine hours. Then we automatically return to Manhattan."
For the first time, the old droll tinge returned to her voice as she got out. "Make sure we're not driving when we vanish or we'll leave the car speeding along by itself." Then she closed the door and loped off into the woods. Bane saw the road was clear in both directions, made a U-turn and headed back. He parked the Nissan in front of the abandoned bungalows and turned off the engine. In another second, the Dire Wolf had rushed over to the door which was hanging on one hinge. He had spotted a lifeless hand lying in the dust. It was the Red Crane. The blood over the front of the man's sweater was still wet and bright. Bane knew the former spy was dead but he checked for a pulse anyway. It looked as if the Red Crane's chest had been caved in from a powerful impact. A sledge hammer, maybe? He could see where the sternum sank inches down in the center of the blood.
As he bent over the still-warm body, a gleaming Mazda RX-7 with a spoiler, two-toned white top but black below wheel level, came to a sudden halt not twenty feet away. He rose to face two members of the National Police Agency's highway patrol in their immaculate uniforms complete with peaked caps and white cotton gloves.
II.
The officers were unimposing young men below average height and rather bland-featured. Each had a New Nambu 360 revolver holstered up at the side of their belts, but neither drew his sidearm. Instead, they were holding collapsible aluminum batons that had extended out to a sturdy two-foot length.
Before the policemen could speak, each gave a start and grabbed at the side of his neck. They dropped their batons and sagged down to their knees, then sprawled limply full length on the stained concrete. Bane knew what had happened. He strode over and bent to pluck a thin metal dart from each man's neck. "Thanks, Ashley," he said as calmly as if this was an everyday occurance. To him, it nearly was.
The Unicorn emerged from behind the corner of the delapidated building, holstering her weapon. Their anesthetic dart guns worked by compressed gas and the faint coughing sound they made was inaudible from a few yards away. "I wanted to watch you talk your way out of this," she chuckled, "But these guys aren't NYPD, they don't know you." Then she caught sight of the hand sticking out of the doorway and her manner changed. "Oh. Looks like you were being set-up for a homicide charge, huh?"
"Could be." Bane took a second to be sure the unconscious officers were breathing freely and their pulses were normal. It was very rare for anyone to suffer an allergic reaction to the Trom-devised chemical in the darts but it was always possible. These men would be fine. "Another cop car might show up any minute. Let's take a quick look and get away from the scene."
Examining the body without touching it, Ashley Whitaker said, "Quite a blunt force trauma, Jeremy, a single blow that caused instant death. I think it's a Midnight War incident, this was done by someone more powerful than Human. Troll? Melgar? That's my feeling."
"Let's take some readings." Both of them unclipped the Links from their belts and used the device's sensors to take detailed analyses and high-resolutions images for later study. Bane took a few more seconds to go through the dead man's pockets without noticeable results. He kept glancing up the road in the direction from which the police had come, and he gestured for Unicorn to join him as he headed back to their car. A second later, they were moving on away from the corpse and the two snoring officers.
In the passenger seat, Ashley was stowing the sheathed horn in the back seat again. "I have to say that there was no car in sight for Red Crane anywhere and I circled that shack. If we had gotten there no more than a half hour earlier, we would have prevented that murder. Any goons with a grudge here in the Land of the Rising Sun, captain?"
"No one comes to mind," he said as he slowed for a sharp curve. "I clashed with the Winter Snow school quite a few times but that was long ago and they haven't been active in recent years. It may not be a Japanese enemy, it could be someone just operating here for the moment."
Unicorn was studying images on her Link. "Hmmm... you know, there's no signs that your contact had been staying there. Not even an empty coffee cup or a cigarette butt in sight. Sheesh. That building looks like it hasn't been occupied in my lifetime. All the furniture has been removed. The body was facing outward from inside the door when the attack occured."
"He had a T-shirt under the sweater with no pockets," Bane told her. "Three pockets in his slacks with nothing in them, but they were still partly pulled out. So the killer emptied Red Crane's pockets before leaving. Wish I had the time to have searched the body properly. Any chemical traces in the air?"
"The readings say no," she replied, adjusting the device. "Nothing but normal environmental elements. I'm conducting a microscopic search for stray hair or skin cells rubbed off, that sort of thing, but zilch so far. Our perp was either careful or lucky."
"I just remembered one possibility. Unicorn, see if there's anything current about the name Satoru Kojima."
She glanced over at him with one eyebrow raised. "Oh my God. The Dragon-man?"
III.
"It's a long shot," the Dire Wolf admitted. "When we fought Kojima, he was an old man and that was in 1986? 1987? Somewhere around then. But if he stayed in his Dragon body, he'd be basically immortal. Any records of him still being alive?"
"I'm searching now, it's gonna be a few minutes. Going through tax records, credit card accounts, newspaper obits, motor vehicles... Of course, I'm comitting another dozen felonies doing this. It's a wonder we're not all in prison by now. Hold it. Okay, Satoru kicked the bucket in 1998 but his son is still alive. Taichiu Kojima, born in 1953. He's sixty-seven and retired himself now, living on a pension."
"Keep digging," Bane said.
"I'm pulling up Google Maps. This may take a minute." Unicorn made a few "Hmmm" and "Huh" noises, then laughed. "Oh come on. What an obvious trap. Three guesses where his address is!"
"From the way you're acting, I'll say it's nearby?"
"Six miles in the direction we're going. Damn. So, captain, you think some oldtimer bad guy forced Red Crane to phone you to draw you into an ambush?"
"Could be. Or maybe the Crane felt he was in danger and wanted my protection. Right now, that doesn't matter much. Death-traps always make it easier finding an enemy."
"I love your confidence," she said with the familiar impudence returning to her voice. "You taught us that when the villains start trying to kill you, it means you're on the right track. Kojima's house is right around this bend. Let me do the open approach this time. You can sneak up from the woods, okay?"
"Fine with me," Bane replied. "How about pulling over here?"
They eased into the crack-surfaced parking lot of a three story building which had signs of being under repair. A blue tarp covered much of the roof and bare wooden beams showed where wall panels had been torn out to lie in rubble at the base of that wall. Nailed to a chest high post was a sign which Unicorn used her Link to translate as "Northwestern Construction Enterprises." She snapped a photo of the banner over the main door and made a hmmm noise. "Say, this was a hot-water spring spa. Customers stayed here but spent most of their visit soaking in steaming hot mineral water. Wonder what happened that it closed?"
Bane stepped out of the car and studied the area in his usual suspicious way. He always acted as if expecting to be attacked at any second, one reason why he was still alive. "Japan has booms and recessions like any other country. Maybe the springs dried up, maybe tourists found a more convenient place. I see the corner of the next building edging out by those trees. I'm circling around the back."
With that, the Dire Wolf strode toward the woods by the side of the delapidated hotel and effectively disappeared. Unicorn had been staring right at him and was still not sure how he did it. She had the same Kumundu training in stealth that Bane had, but she couldn't vanish into cover the way he did. She comforted herself with the thought that it meant her captain was just naturally sneaky.
Slinging her Unicorn horn across her back, Ashley headed across the asphalt to the adjoining property. This was marked by crushed gravel and a long one-story building with a door at either end and only high narrow windows providing in grudgingly small numbers. A long wooden bench stretched ten feet along the front, chipped and stained now. Over the door were painted five kanji. Using her Link again to translate, Ashley received several possibilities, but the most likely meaning was "Hard Work Rest." So she guessed that had been a sort of dormitory for intinerant workers who had been employed in the busy season by the hot springs hotel?
One of the windows showed a glimmer of light. The electricity had almost certainly been cut off years earlier, so perhaps it had been restored as part of the rebuilding effort. That would explain why Kojima listed this as his residence. The gravel lot was clean. Standing out of line with door, toward the back of the building, Ashley stared around her with the wariness that Bane had shown. She slowed her breathing, using a Tel Shai technique taught to first year students. Half a minute later, her hearing sharpened past normal limits. Luckily, there was no traffic at the moment and only a light breeze through the leaves. She identified the distinctive sound within that forlorn building as chair legs being scraped over linoleum under the weight of a person.
Of course, she could have used the sensors of her Link to scan for heat signatures but like her captain, she preferred to rely on her natural senses when possible. Ashley slid the Unicorn horn from its sheath and tapped lightly with it on the door. "Might as well come out," she called. "We both know the other one of us is here."
A bent form wrapped in an oversized white topcoat limped out, grumbled something unintelligible, and plopped down on the bench. "Ah, that is better," he said in good English with a moderate accent. "This past year, my back has troubled me." Not a glimpse of the man could be seen. Leather gloves, a scarf and a woolen cap pulled low concealed most of his skin, and the dark-lensed goggles hid whatever might have been spotted otherwise.
"Mr Kojima? Taichiu Kojima, I think?" Unicorn decided to trust her instincts. Judging by the body language, the barely audible creaking of knee joints and the slow untensed breathing, this man was not preparing an attack. She lowered the horn, resting its silver cap in one palm.
"Yes. The son of Mardrak. That is why you and your famous Dire Wolf have come so far, isn't it? Why isn't he with you, miss?"
"He's on his way," Ashley said. She tilted her head, frowning at the strange sight. "Am I presuming too much to think you inherit some... let's say, unusual traits from your father?"
"Heh. Please have a seat, young lady. Call me old-fashioned but I feel that even under the unfortunate circumstances, I must be hospitable. Regretfully, I have no tea to offer, not even water."
The Unicorn moved past him and lowered herself demurely to the bench, well out of reach. She held the horn so its needle-sharp tip was pointing down but toward him, ready to plunge if needed. The little blonde did not feel threatened by this man, which surprised her. "Oh, that's okay. My manners are not up to Japanese standards. I'm a Western barbarian, born and bred."
After an uncomfortable silence, Kojima tugged off his leather gloves with some difficulty and folded them into a pocket of his coat. His thick-fingered hands were covered with tough dark gray scale, without fingernails. He waited for her reaction, then began removing the scarf and hat and goggles to reveal a leathery-hided head without hair or external eyes. A distinct protuberant muzzle and brow ridge overhanging amber eyes completely the bizarre sight.
"I looked Human until I was sixty," Kojima whispered. "When I began to change, I had to retire to a secluded hermit life. As you can tell, I am my father's son."
V.
Ashley was not sure how to respond. "So, you're a hybrid. Half Human and half Dragon."
"So it seems. So far, I have no sign of a tail and only two nubs where the wings will be growing in. True Dragons have lifespans measured in centuries, so it may be that I will eventually become a full Garmiri like my father. But I hope not! I pray I will die soon as my Human side would entail."
"Mr Kojima, please. You know why my captain and I have come looking for you."
The grotesque head lowered as if its weight was too difficult to keep raised. "The Red Crane. Yes. I know. I did not bear him any ill will. It was the grandmaster of the White Web who had marked him for extermination, and the White Web who decided to use his death to lure the Dire Wolf here as well." The gleaming yellow eyes fixed on Ashley, then closed wearily. "I am so sorry. I have no grudges, I mean you and your captain no harm."
"Don't get stressed about it," she said, finally dropping the point of the horn down to rest on the gravel between her boots. "If anyone can take care of himself, it's Jeremy Bane. The question is what are we going to do with you?"
The son of Mardrak sat up straighter. "Wait. I thought I heard something..."
Swinging around the corner of the building, the Dire Wolf tossed the body of a man in loose dark clothing down to the gravel. In one hand, Bane held a twenty-six-inch barreled rifle. "Sorry I had to kill him. But this is a Remington 700 and he was starting to raise it when I got close enough. I couldn't take a chance trying to take him alive."
"So bad. So bad. He said he was going to wait for you at Red Crane's home. I had no idea he was looking down at this building, waiting, ready to kill..." Kojima rose stiffly to his feet, placing those scaly fingers to the corner of a fanged mouth. "I am crushed by dishonor. I was not brave enough to inform the police or you, because I thought a bullet through my head would end me like anyone else."
"I heard most of what you told Ashley," Bane said. He unloaded the Remington and pocketed the shells before leaning the weapon up against the wall of the building. "Your life is in as much danger as our now. The White Web hates having an assassin fail."
The crunch of breaking glass in Kojima's mouth jolted both Bane and Unicorn. They pounced on the creature, but he had already gasped and convulsed once before sliding down to the parking lot next to the dead assassin.
"Smell that?" Bane asked.
"Sure. Potassium cyanide, no mistaking it. Goddam, Jeremy, this has been a rough afternoon. Red Crane was murdered, then you killed the assassin and now Kojima has comitted suicide, I mean Seppuku. Hara-Kiri, you know what I mean."
Without ceremony or gentleness, Bane tossed first the dead White Web marksman into the delapidated building, then hauled the much heavier carcass of Taichiu Kojima in on top of it. Ashley handed him the Remington and he wiped it with a silicone cloth from his inner pocket before dropping it inside the door as well. He repeated this with the bullets, then closed the door with the cloth covering his hand.
"It's a toss-up who finds this mess first," Bane said. "Maybe the White Web already has a follow-up killer on the way, maybe the police are heading here now. Either way, it's in our best interests to make ourselves scarce."
"Sure. You're right." Ashley unslung the white leather sheath and secured her horn. "But I didn't really think this dragon-man guy was anywhere as innocent and manipulated as he pretended to be. Smashing in Red Crane's chest like that takes a wee bit of strength. He was part of the scheme."
They hurried back to the Nissan and hopped in, Ashley taking the wheel again. "You know, this case has been an unholy shambles. Red Crane is dead but so are the White Web goon and Kojima. I wish we could have gotten here even a few hours earlier, you bet things would have worked out better."
The Dire Wolf leaned back in the passenger seat. "What's done can't be undone. Right now, we have to return this car and lay low until the gralic charge wears off and sends us back to New York. I guess we may as well have dinner with the Hozumi family and watch some television for the evening."
"Ugh, no anime. I hate that stuff. April has it on day and night, and I just don't get the appeal. A nice artistic Kurosawa film, maybe."
Watching the change of expressions play across her face as she drove, Bane said, "Retirement didn't work out for me, Unicorn. Here I am, still playing the desperate game. What about you?"
The little blonde pouted in a way that had melted many hearts in her teen years. "I actually could use more of this stress and anxiety. Aw, I guess I'm like you, captain. Not made for a mundane normal life. We're born to chase monsters through the woods in the middle of the night. We're both, you know.." and here she flashed the familiar dazzling smile, "crazy as hell."
3/28/2020
3/23/2020
I.
They had left Tokyo behind them more than two hours earlier, heading northwest. Increasingly sharp turns on the steep hills were starting to get on Bane's nerves. Adding to his irritation, he wasn't used to this Nissan Altima which the Hozumi family had leased for him before he and Unicorn had materialized in that transcendental flash of blue light early in the morning. Even on narrow roads, the speed limit of fifty miles per hour (or rather, eighty kilometers per hour) seemed unreasonably restrictive. Still, the Dire Wolf kept pace with traffic and tried to avoid drawing attention.
If the usually indifferent Japanese police pulled this gaijin over just on general principles, Bane would have to cooperate with them. They would have no way of knowing he and Unicorn had not flown in on a commercial jet nor arrived on an ocean liner. Actually, the two Tel Shai knights had come to this country in a gralic gate which had instaneously carried them from Manhattan to Tokyo in a way that physics would never explain. Years ago, Bane had rescued the Hozumi son from a water demon and the family was glad to arrange this car to be ready for his use.
Other cars were becoming less numerous as they made their way into the countryside. The hectic pace eased. Bane glanced over to see Unicorn staring glumly straight ahead, hands in her lap. Like himself, Ashley Whitaker looked younger than she was. She had turned forty this year but a stranger would guess her age at mid-twenties. The healing properties of the Tagra diet and the Kumundu training kept them in peak condition. Bane himself was sixty-two but except for the salting of white in his black hair and some lines at the corner of his eyes, he seemed to be a man in his mid-thirties... and a man in great athletic trim at that.
"Ashley?"
The platinum hair swirled as she turned her head. "Hmm?"
"You might as well start spilling everything," Bane said quietly. His pale grey eyes flickered over her to take in her expression and gauge her body language.
"I'm okay, captain." She wiggled in her seat and tugged down her waist-length white jacket where it had ridden up.
The subdued tone of her voice alarmed him. Ever since he had first met Unicorn twenty years earlier, she had normally been energetic, full of impudence and given to odd creative turns of phrase. This behavior today was not like her. Bane slowed as they entered the town of Tokugawa, passing a tavern and an antiques shop. A foggy mist gave the trees alongside the right side of the road added beauty. "Come on, Unicorn," he continued. "You hadn't gone on a KDF mission for over a year. You weren't even showing up for Pizza Night to socialize. Then this summer, you started offering help on a regular basis. You called Sable to see if anything was going on and you turned up at Sheng's agency to ask if he needed help with any cases."
"Yeah. I've been a little bored lately," she admitted. The sapphire-blue eyes turned toward Bane. With her delicate features and clear skin, Ashley had always been pretty but lack of animation took away from that now. "I gave you a call last night because I figured retirement wouldn't suit you either."
At this point, Bane pulled over to the side of the road. "And when I told you I was coming here to see the Red Crane, you volunteered to come along. You even had your Unicorn horn with you in case. But I have never seen you this lifeless, honey. Even when you were seriously wounded or exhausted, you showed more spark. What's the deal?"
"Oh. I don't know. Married life, maybe. Being in a rut, getting older. April is gonna be nine in a few months. Before you know it, she'll be a teenager and then right after that, I might be a grandmother." Even though she had started opening up, Ashley's manner remained listless.
The Dire Wolf checked his mirrors and eased out on the country lane again. "All right. When you're ready to tell me what's really bothering you, I'll listen."
"Heh. You know me too well, captain." The petite blonde exhaled with relief at opening up a little. "You know, I haven't really had too many adventures in Japan. You?"
"Only a few cases in Tokyo. A water demon and a Tengu infestation. There was one duel with Mikage in Okinawa. I've certainly never been out in the sticks like this before. Red Crane was not involved in the Midnight War to any extent. He was a freelance spy who went back and forth between the authorities and the Yakuza families for negotations. I only met him once years ago, so I was surprised to hear from him."
Ashley made a scoffing noise. "And I'm sure he was all enigmatic and mysterious and wouldn't explain why he wanted you to meet him here, right? Espionage guys annoy me. You can't believe them when they tell you what day of the week it is."
"True enough. But his voice had subvocal tremors that meant he was genuinely agitated. I thought it was worth checking out. Okay, there's the place." Bane did not slow as they wheeled past a row of three rickety bungalows in serious disrepair. The corner of one roof was sagging in, the windows were either missing or crossed with duct tape and the paved parking area in front was cracked with weeds pushing up. Behind the buildings, trees had grown so close that their branches scraped along the roofs.
Only when they had passed out of sight did the Dire Wolf slow and pull over to a stop. "That's where Red Crane said to meet him. We should use our usual approach."
"Got it. I'll sneak up through the woods and watch the situation. I'll use my judgement if I should intervene." Reaching under her seat, Unicorn came up with an air pistol that had a needle-thin barrel and examined it before leaning forward to place it in the holster at the small of her back. Her jacket concealed the weapon. "I haven't used our dart guns since forever. You bring yours?"
"No. I got used to packing the old Smith and Wesson again after I stepped down from the KDF." He allowed the faintest smile to touch his mouth. "Handguns are virtually illegal in Japan, you know. We're used to breaking assorted laws anywhere we are. Neither of us have a current gaikukjin card, either."
"Eh, it comes with the job." She brushed the shining hair back over her shoulders and leaned over into the back seat to retrieve the ancient horn in its white leather sheath. The three-foot length of ivory, pointed at one end and capped with silver at the other, was her talisman that allowed her to function in the Midnight War. "How long do we have before the gralic charge wears off from our bodies?"
"Eight, maybe nine hours. Then we automatically return to Manhattan."
For the first time, the old droll tinge returned to her voice as she got out. "Make sure we're not driving when we vanish or we'll leave the car speeding along by itself." Then she closed the door and loped off into the woods. Bane saw the road was clear in both directions, made a U-turn and headed back. He parked the Nissan in front of the abandoned bungalows and turned off the engine. In another second, the Dire Wolf had rushed over to the door which was hanging on one hinge. He had spotted a lifeless hand lying in the dust. It was the Red Crane. The blood over the front of the man's sweater was still wet and bright. Bane knew the former spy was dead but he checked for a pulse anyway. It looked as if the Red Crane's chest had been caved in from a powerful impact. A sledge hammer, maybe? He could see where the sternum sank inches down in the center of the blood.
As he bent over the still-warm body, a gleaming Mazda RX-7 with a spoiler, two-toned white top but black below wheel level, came to a sudden halt not twenty feet away. He rose to face two members of the National Police Agency's highway patrol in their immaculate uniforms complete with peaked caps and white cotton gloves.
II.
The officers were unimposing young men below average height and rather bland-featured. Each had a New Nambu 360 revolver holstered up at the side of their belts, but neither drew his sidearm. Instead, they were holding collapsible aluminum batons that had extended out to a sturdy two-foot length.
Before the policemen could speak, each gave a start and grabbed at the side of his neck. They dropped their batons and sagged down to their knees, then sprawled limply full length on the stained concrete. Bane knew what had happened. He strode over and bent to pluck a thin metal dart from each man's neck. "Thanks, Ashley," he said as calmly as if this was an everyday occurance. To him, it nearly was.
The Unicorn emerged from behind the corner of the delapidated building, holstering her weapon. Their anesthetic dart guns worked by compressed gas and the faint coughing sound they made was inaudible from a few yards away. "I wanted to watch you talk your way out of this," she chuckled, "But these guys aren't NYPD, they don't know you." Then she caught sight of the hand sticking out of the doorway and her manner changed. "Oh. Looks like you were being set-up for a homicide charge, huh?"
"Could be." Bane took a second to be sure the unconscious officers were breathing freely and their pulses were normal. It was very rare for anyone to suffer an allergic reaction to the Trom-devised chemical in the darts but it was always possible. These men would be fine. "Another cop car might show up any minute. Let's take a quick look and get away from the scene."
Examining the body without touching it, Ashley Whitaker said, "Quite a blunt force trauma, Jeremy, a single blow that caused instant death. I think it's a Midnight War incident, this was done by someone more powerful than Human. Troll? Melgar? That's my feeling."
"Let's take some readings." Both of them unclipped the Links from their belts and used the device's sensors to take detailed analyses and high-resolutions images for later study. Bane took a few more seconds to go through the dead man's pockets without noticeable results. He kept glancing up the road in the direction from which the police had come, and he gestured for Unicorn to join him as he headed back to their car. A second later, they were moving on away from the corpse and the two snoring officers.
In the passenger seat, Ashley was stowing the sheathed horn in the back seat again. "I have to say that there was no car in sight for Red Crane anywhere and I circled that shack. If we had gotten there no more than a half hour earlier, we would have prevented that murder. Any goons with a grudge here in the Land of the Rising Sun, captain?"
"No one comes to mind," he said as he slowed for a sharp curve. "I clashed with the Winter Snow school quite a few times but that was long ago and they haven't been active in recent years. It may not be a Japanese enemy, it could be someone just operating here for the moment."
Unicorn was studying images on her Link. "Hmmm... you know, there's no signs that your contact had been staying there. Not even an empty coffee cup or a cigarette butt in sight. Sheesh. That building looks like it hasn't been occupied in my lifetime. All the furniture has been removed. The body was facing outward from inside the door when the attack occured."
"He had a T-shirt under the sweater with no pockets," Bane told her. "Three pockets in his slacks with nothing in them, but they were still partly pulled out. So the killer emptied Red Crane's pockets before leaving. Wish I had the time to have searched the body properly. Any chemical traces in the air?"
"The readings say no," she replied, adjusting the device. "Nothing but normal environmental elements. I'm conducting a microscopic search for stray hair or skin cells rubbed off, that sort of thing, but zilch so far. Our perp was either careful or lucky."
"I just remembered one possibility. Unicorn, see if there's anything current about the name Satoru Kojima."
She glanced over at him with one eyebrow raised. "Oh my God. The Dragon-man?"
III.
"It's a long shot," the Dire Wolf admitted. "When we fought Kojima, he was an old man and that was in 1986? 1987? Somewhere around then. But if he stayed in his Dragon body, he'd be basically immortal. Any records of him still being alive?"
"I'm searching now, it's gonna be a few minutes. Going through tax records, credit card accounts, newspaper obits, motor vehicles... Of course, I'm comitting another dozen felonies doing this. It's a wonder we're not all in prison by now. Hold it. Okay, Satoru kicked the bucket in 1998 but his son is still alive. Taichiu Kojima, born in 1953. He's sixty-seven and retired himself now, living on a pension."
"Keep digging," Bane said.
"I'm pulling up Google Maps. This may take a minute." Unicorn made a few "Hmmm" and "Huh" noises, then laughed. "Oh come on. What an obvious trap. Three guesses where his address is!"
"From the way you're acting, I'll say it's nearby?"
"Six miles in the direction we're going. Damn. So, captain, you think some oldtimer bad guy forced Red Crane to phone you to draw you into an ambush?"
"Could be. Or maybe the Crane felt he was in danger and wanted my protection. Right now, that doesn't matter much. Death-traps always make it easier finding an enemy."
"I love your confidence," she said with the familiar impudence returning to her voice. "You taught us that when the villains start trying to kill you, it means you're on the right track. Kojima's house is right around this bend. Let me do the open approach this time. You can sneak up from the woods, okay?"
"Fine with me," Bane replied. "How about pulling over here?"
They eased into the crack-surfaced parking lot of a three story building which had signs of being under repair. A blue tarp covered much of the roof and bare wooden beams showed where wall panels had been torn out to lie in rubble at the base of that wall. Nailed to a chest high post was a sign which Unicorn used her Link to translate as "Northwestern Construction Enterprises." She snapped a photo of the banner over the main door and made a hmmm noise. "Say, this was a hot-water spring spa. Customers stayed here but spent most of their visit soaking in steaming hot mineral water. Wonder what happened that it closed?"
Bane stepped out of the car and studied the area in his usual suspicious way. He always acted as if expecting to be attacked at any second, one reason why he was still alive. "Japan has booms and recessions like any other country. Maybe the springs dried up, maybe tourists found a more convenient place. I see the corner of the next building edging out by those trees. I'm circling around the back."
With that, the Dire Wolf strode toward the woods by the side of the delapidated hotel and effectively disappeared. Unicorn had been staring right at him and was still not sure how he did it. She had the same Kumundu training in stealth that Bane had, but she couldn't vanish into cover the way he did. She comforted herself with the thought that it meant her captain was just naturally sneaky.
Slinging her Unicorn horn across her back, Ashley headed across the asphalt to the adjoining property. This was marked by crushed gravel and a long one-story building with a door at either end and only high narrow windows providing in grudgingly small numbers. A long wooden bench stretched ten feet along the front, chipped and stained now. Over the door were painted five kanji. Using her Link again to translate, Ashley received several possibilities, but the most likely meaning was "Hard Work Rest." So she guessed that had been a sort of dormitory for intinerant workers who had been employed in the busy season by the hot springs hotel?
One of the windows showed a glimmer of light. The electricity had almost certainly been cut off years earlier, so perhaps it had been restored as part of the rebuilding effort. That would explain why Kojima listed this as his residence. The gravel lot was clean. Standing out of line with door, toward the back of the building, Ashley stared around her with the wariness that Bane had shown. She slowed her breathing, using a Tel Shai technique taught to first year students. Half a minute later, her hearing sharpened past normal limits. Luckily, there was no traffic at the moment and only a light breeze through the leaves. She identified the distinctive sound within that forlorn building as chair legs being scraped over linoleum under the weight of a person.
Of course, she could have used the sensors of her Link to scan for heat signatures but like her captain, she preferred to rely on her natural senses when possible. Ashley slid the Unicorn horn from its sheath and tapped lightly with it on the door. "Might as well come out," she called. "We both know the other one of us is here."
A bent form wrapped in an oversized white topcoat limped out, grumbled something unintelligible, and plopped down on the bench. "Ah, that is better," he said in good English with a moderate accent. "This past year, my back has troubled me." Not a glimpse of the man could be seen. Leather gloves, a scarf and a woolen cap pulled low concealed most of his skin, and the dark-lensed goggles hid whatever might have been spotted otherwise.
"Mr Kojima? Taichiu Kojima, I think?" Unicorn decided to trust her instincts. Judging by the body language, the barely audible creaking of knee joints and the slow untensed breathing, this man was not preparing an attack. She lowered the horn, resting its silver cap in one palm.
"Yes. The son of Mardrak. That is why you and your famous Dire Wolf have come so far, isn't it? Why isn't he with you, miss?"
"He's on his way," Ashley said. She tilted her head, frowning at the strange sight. "Am I presuming too much to think you inherit some... let's say, unusual traits from your father?"
"Heh. Please have a seat, young lady. Call me old-fashioned but I feel that even under the unfortunate circumstances, I must be hospitable. Regretfully, I have no tea to offer, not even water."
The Unicorn moved past him and lowered herself demurely to the bench, well out of reach. She held the horn so its needle-sharp tip was pointing down but toward him, ready to plunge if needed. The little blonde did not feel threatened by this man, which surprised her. "Oh, that's okay. My manners are not up to Japanese standards. I'm a Western barbarian, born and bred."
After an uncomfortable silence, Kojima tugged off his leather gloves with some difficulty and folded them into a pocket of his coat. His thick-fingered hands were covered with tough dark gray scale, without fingernails. He waited for her reaction, then began removing the scarf and hat and goggles to reveal a leathery-hided head without hair or external eyes. A distinct protuberant muzzle and brow ridge overhanging amber eyes completely the bizarre sight.
"I looked Human until I was sixty," Kojima whispered. "When I began to change, I had to retire to a secluded hermit life. As you can tell, I am my father's son."
V.
Ashley was not sure how to respond. "So, you're a hybrid. Half Human and half Dragon."
"So it seems. So far, I have no sign of a tail and only two nubs where the wings will be growing in. True Dragons have lifespans measured in centuries, so it may be that I will eventually become a full Garmiri like my father. But I hope not! I pray I will die soon as my Human side would entail."
"Mr Kojima, please. You know why my captain and I have come looking for you."
The grotesque head lowered as if its weight was too difficult to keep raised. "The Red Crane. Yes. I know. I did not bear him any ill will. It was the grandmaster of the White Web who had marked him for extermination, and the White Web who decided to use his death to lure the Dire Wolf here as well." The gleaming yellow eyes fixed on Ashley, then closed wearily. "I am so sorry. I have no grudges, I mean you and your captain no harm."
"Don't get stressed about it," she said, finally dropping the point of the horn down to rest on the gravel between her boots. "If anyone can take care of himself, it's Jeremy Bane. The question is what are we going to do with you?"
The son of Mardrak sat up straighter. "Wait. I thought I heard something..."
Swinging around the corner of the building, the Dire Wolf tossed the body of a man in loose dark clothing down to the gravel. In one hand, Bane held a twenty-six-inch barreled rifle. "Sorry I had to kill him. But this is a Remington 700 and he was starting to raise it when I got close enough. I couldn't take a chance trying to take him alive."
"So bad. So bad. He said he was going to wait for you at Red Crane's home. I had no idea he was looking down at this building, waiting, ready to kill..." Kojima rose stiffly to his feet, placing those scaly fingers to the corner of a fanged mouth. "I am crushed by dishonor. I was not brave enough to inform the police or you, because I thought a bullet through my head would end me like anyone else."
"I heard most of what you told Ashley," Bane said. He unloaded the Remington and pocketed the shells before leaning the weapon up against the wall of the building. "Your life is in as much danger as our now. The White Web hates having an assassin fail."
The crunch of breaking glass in Kojima's mouth jolted both Bane and Unicorn. They pounced on the creature, but he had already gasped and convulsed once before sliding down to the parking lot next to the dead assassin.
"Smell that?" Bane asked.
"Sure. Potassium cyanide, no mistaking it. Goddam, Jeremy, this has been a rough afternoon. Red Crane was murdered, then you killed the assassin and now Kojima has comitted suicide, I mean Seppuku. Hara-Kiri, you know what I mean."
Without ceremony or gentleness, Bane tossed first the dead White Web marksman into the delapidated building, then hauled the much heavier carcass of Taichiu Kojima in on top of it. Ashley handed him the Remington and he wiped it with a silicone cloth from his inner pocket before dropping it inside the door as well. He repeated this with the bullets, then closed the door with the cloth covering his hand.
"It's a toss-up who finds this mess first," Bane said. "Maybe the White Web already has a follow-up killer on the way, maybe the police are heading here now. Either way, it's in our best interests to make ourselves scarce."
"Sure. You're right." Ashley unslung the white leather sheath and secured her horn. "But I didn't really think this dragon-man guy was anywhere as innocent and manipulated as he pretended to be. Smashing in Red Crane's chest like that takes a wee bit of strength. He was part of the scheme."
They hurried back to the Nissan and hopped in, Ashley taking the wheel again. "You know, this case has been an unholy shambles. Red Crane is dead but so are the White Web goon and Kojima. I wish we could have gotten here even a few hours earlier, you bet things would have worked out better."
The Dire Wolf leaned back in the passenger seat. "What's done can't be undone. Right now, we have to return this car and lay low until the gralic charge wears off and sends us back to New York. I guess we may as well have dinner with the Hozumi family and watch some television for the evening."
"Ugh, no anime. I hate that stuff. April has it on day and night, and I just don't get the appeal. A nice artistic Kurosawa film, maybe."
Watching the change of expressions play across her face as she drove, Bane said, "Retirement didn't work out for me, Unicorn. Here I am, still playing the desperate game. What about you?"
The little blonde pouted in a way that had melted many hearts in her teen years. "I actually could use more of this stress and anxiety. Aw, I guess I'm like you, captain. Not made for a mundane normal life. We're born to chase monsters through the woods in the middle of the night. We're both, you know.." and here she flashed the familiar dazzling smile, "crazy as hell."
3/28/2020
