Out of the corner of his eye, Sin saw an improbably large Japanese man in a dark blazer move off a stool at a noodle stand. The man wore a pair of dark sunglasses and was clearly attempting to project an air of menace. Sin found him almost laughable, but the man moved into the stream of traffic in an effort to cut him off.
I don't like this at all. Sin feigned moving deeper away from the behemoth, then cut for the noodle shop itself. The large man clawed his way back through the crowd to get at Sin, but by that time Sin had already passed beyond the counter and into the kitchen. The help in the back started shouting at him, but he smiled and repeated sumimasen to each of them, then he headed toward the back door.
This is too easy. They've anticipated me. Sin turned the knob on the rear door and let the latch slip free. Then, leaning back, he kicked the door open as hard as he could. Cutting through the doorway low, he arced a right fist into the belly of the man on his left. The man doubled over, so Sin straightened him with a knee to the face then backhanded him down the security hallway that linked the various airport shops.
Retreating one step, he put his back to the far wall and watched the door lethargically swing shut again. The man who had been standing behind it clearly had not expected it to open so swiftly. The doorknob had caught him in the groin, and he slowly sagged to the floor.
Sin started to laugh aloud when another man slowly applauded from farther down the corridor. Sin looked at him, then nodded. "Konnichi-wa, Takagi Kazuo-san."
"Konnichi-wa, Sinklaru-san. It is good to see you again, my friend." The stocky young Japanese man bowed to Sin, then shook his hand. "It has been three years, has it not?"
"Hai." Sin smiled and looked at the man's hands. "I see your oyabun still hasn't got any of your fingers in a jar."
Kazuo shrugged. "Uncle Takeshi sees too much of himself in me, I think. Now I see you've not lost any of your old piss 'n' vinegar."
Sin shrugged appropriately. "They weren't bad, but I was looking for, and therefore reacting to, another threat level."
"Ah, your friend Nagashita. Yes, well, you will love this: After he missed you when you left Japan, he was elevated to colonel and put in charge of the Internal Defense Cadre!" Kazuo clapped his hands. "Now that pit bull is at the emperor's beck and call—and largely out of our hair."
"To paraphrase John Paul Jones, give me another run at old Yamashiro Nagashita, and I could make him emperor." Sin draped his arm around his Yakuza friend's shoulders. "Give me a lift to my hotel, old friend. I smuggled two bottles of Glenfiddich out of Phoenix. One can be for your uncle, but the other we'll use to toast the good fortune of the IDC."
"And then you will tell me why you have returned?"
"That I will, Kazuo, because the only way I will do what has to be done is with your help."
Rajani knew as she stared down at her sleeping body, that she was dreaming.
The snake lay coiled beside Rajani, using her body as a shield between itself and Rex. Mickey had curled himself up into a ball with Rex curving his body to fit along Mickey's spine. Dorothy lay between Rajani and Mickey with her fingers tangled in her brother's dark hair. At their feet, a bed of coals glowed from within a circle of stones.
Above them, dark clouds hid the wide, starry bowl of the sky. Earlier in the day, when their last ride left them off outside Ash Fork, the sky had been blue. The thought of camping out in what had been the Prescott National Forest seemed like a pleasant adventure. The arrival of the midsummer monsoon clouds as the day cooled made Rajani reassess her judgment, but the kids did not seem to mind.
Even as she studied the wooded landscape around her, it began to shift. A putrid green light bled into the clouds and all the pine trees picked up the malevolent glow. Red streamers shot through the clouds and the rusty pine needles began to pulsate as if they were metal and being heated. Unconsciously, Rajani raised her hands to pull in the heat she knew should have been present, but instead felt herself being drained of warmth and vitality.
The landscape began to blur into a green-red maelstrom. The colors thickened, flooding over her and her companions. The bloody red ground curved up and the green sky down to capture her in a sphere. Where the two bowls met, little eddies swirled the colors together, locking the bowls together with a black line.
What is this? She reached her hands out, and even though they did not seem to touch the inside of the sphere, she felt resistance at the black line. She tried to twirl her fingers in the direction opposite the swirls that had locked things down, but she could not get the line to separate again. I'm trapped.
Above her, the green dome began to boil. As she looked up, a crystalline lattice with a curiously web-like design worked into it drilled down into the sphere. It glowed rhythmically with power. Needle-nosed and possessing a slender body, it slid into the sphere and left a gaping hole behind it. Rajani began to will herself toward the opening, but the crystal swerved toward her and sliced across the surface of her right thigh.
She cried out in pain, but quickly recognized the agony as being well beyond physical. She broke through the wall of pain and for a second found herself eavesdropping on the thoughts of Fiddleback. No match! blasted into her brain, then the crystal had passed on and took the pain with it.
Rajani felt herself drawn along behind the crystal auger like a swimmer caught in the wake of a ship. Her first impulse was to resist it, but then it swooped down toward Dorothy and her brother. She let herself be pulled after it and reached out with her left hand to touch the aft end of the pulsing gray crystal.
Again the pain hit her, but she steeled herself against it. «No match!» She shot into the matrix as it plunged in at the children. She felt the searching drone check itself and saw a tantalizingly brief glimpse of the search target. Not Jaeger/Coyote! the drone concluded and began to spin furiously.
Rajani withdrew her hand, but let herself remain in position to draft off the crystal construct, it whirled through the sphere and broke out through the other side. The globe that had been her reality exploded like a balloon shot through with a bullet and she burst out through into a realm of darkness and twinkling starlight.
Looking out, she saw other lights dip and dive through the dark. They shot in at glowing lights like moths attacking flames, and she realized these mobile lights were other searcher drones akin to the one she followed. They are searching for Jaeger/Coyote. Is it safe to assume he knows of Fiddleback's defeat?
"Safe assumption, but a dangerous game you play here."
Rajani felt a strong, firm hand on her right arm. She glanced down as the hand jerked her around and noticed a gold ring of a curious design on the ring finger of an utterly black hand. «Is it you they seek?» She sent, then she realized the human silhouette was that of a man. "Who are you?"
The man jerked her toward him, yanking her free of the crystalline probe. "What were you doing? Are you mad?"
"I don't understand."
"Look at yourself!"
She did so and realized why his voice carried as much alarm in it as it did. A golden nimbus surrounded her. The gold lines running from the backs of her fingers up along her arms and shoulders radiated out through the fabric of the flight jacket she wore. Assuming for a moment that every light in the sky was another person, they were candles in comparison to her sun.
Except him. He radiates nothing.
"The drones are hunting Coyote but, even so, I am not anxious to make myself a target."
Rajani nodded sharply, then concentrated. She brought her mental defenses into play, neatly snuffing the glow surrounding her. "Who are you? What are you?"
Again the man-thing ignored her questions. "You have to leave here. Your trick to deflect the hunter away from the child worked because the creatures monitoring these devices are slow and stupid. Unfortunately, your display may have alerted others. You must return and protect the child."
«Who are you?» She sent such vehemence that a tremor shook the man holding her. A golden bolt of energy seemed to
emerge from her forehead and punch through his chest. His eyes and nostrils lit with goldfire, then black again subsumed it. He jerked back, releasing her, and held his head in his hands. In that confusing moment she caught wrath and wraith from him, but nothing that really answered her question.
"You are very good, but out of control. Look!" He pointed off into the sky and she saw a dozen of the probes orienting themselves on the both of them.
"I am sorry . . ."
"Save it. Protect the child; he is in danger." The shadow man pointed down toward the glowing circle of light below them, and Rajani saw a smaller triangle of red lights moving in toward it. "You deal with that problem and I will take care of the probes. Go, now!"
Rajani pointed her toes and raised her arms. She slipped down through the darkness as if it were a greased tunnel and arrived at her destination far more swiftly than she could have hoped. Above her she saw a silver-blue light outline the man, then it metamorphosed into a glowing silver behemoth that smashed two of the probes together into blazing dust.
Rajani felt a wrenching sense of chaos as she touched and reentered her body. She forced it awake, snapping her eyes open. She rolled over to her right and touched Dorothy's leg. "Wake up, Dorothy, wake up."
"What?" Dorothy brushed blonde hair from her face. "Geez, what happened to you?"
Rajani felt a cold stickiness on her right leg. She looked down and saw a dark splotch on the right thigh where the crystal had touched her. I'm bleeding. She pressed her hand to the wound and black blood oozed up between her fingers. "It's nothing, Dorothy. Get Mickey up. We have to move out."
"Aaha?" Mickey asked as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.
Rex stretched, then sat and scratched himself. Suddenly his head came up and with it came the fur on his spine. A low growl rumbled from his throat, then he looked over at Rajani and stood. From the dog she got a sense of duty tinged with growing fear as she tossed some sticks on the coals. Rex looked back out into the shadows surrounding the campsite and barked once.
The yipped howls of a dozen canine throats answered him. Mickey reached out to Rex, but the dog moved beyond his grasp to position himself between the boy and the threat. Likewise, Rajani moved forward while Dorothy picked up a big stick. Alone, Mickey clutched his blanket and huddled down to make himself a small target.
He's small physically, but his fear is immense! Sheer terror radiated out of the boy, and Rajani renewed the defenses she had erected earlier. She structured them to let low levels of emotion through, but to cut her off in case of a huge emotional outburst. I cannot afford to be blinded.
"Hush, Mickey." Dorothy grasped the knotted pine branch in both hands. "They're coming, Rajani."
Behind her the kindling caught and the fire flared to life.
Rajani saw it reflected in a galaxy of eyes barely three feet off the ground. As she watched, however, one set drifted up and forward. A lupine head skylined itself and, as the creature moved in toward the circle of light, Rajani saw him complete the transformation from a wolf to a ruddy-furred wolfman.
"Grrrreeeeetings," the creature growled seductively, infusing the word with insincerity. He eyed Rajani up and down, then Dorothy. Only on Mickey did his gaze linger, and Rajani felt pleasure rippling from the wolfman so strongly that it almost brought a smile to her face.
Forcing his emotions aside, Rajani snarled. "Leave here. There is nothing here for you."
"Perhaps you are not for me, nor she, but he is a tender and tasty little morsel." The wolfman squatted down and barked sharply at Mickey, making the boy jump. "Oh, yes!"
Mickey's wave of fear crested over Rajani, then she felt an equally sharp jolt of pleasure from the wolfman. With a bitter, coppery taste in her mouth, she realized the wolfman hungered for Mickey's terror, lusted after it as Andy had lusted after her.
"If you dare touch him . . ." she began. Beyond him, backing him, a dozen dogs and coyotes slunk forward. One, a huge Alsatian, came forward more boldly and bared his fangs at Rex. The Alsatian started to growl and set itself to lunge, but the wolfman turned and snarled at the Alsatian, forcing it to back off.
Mickey's fear almost overrode the exchange between wolfman and Alsatian. In it, Rajani sensed the Alsatian's resentment at the wolfman's domination of what had been his pack. In return, the wolfman radiated invincibility and contempt for the Alsatian. The pack shifted uneasily, as if to deny they ever objected to the wolfman's leadership, and the Alsatian backed away from the emotional fury projected by the wolfman.
The wolfman turned and studied Rajani. He sniffed the air, but the slight breeze curled the smoke's fire around her like a cloak. He sneezed once, then nodded. "You are most interesting prey, but it is not you that I want." He pointed at Mickey with a clawed finger, then gestured with it to command the boy forward.
Mickey buried his head in the blanket, and Rajani felt his terror rip through her like a chain saw. The wolfman's eyes glazed over almost orgasmically, and he howled in delight. Discipline wavered among his pack, then he snarled and the various curs backed away. The Alsatian moved the least and turned to face the wolfman directly.
His control over them is not complete. Dropping to one knee, she reached back with her right hand and let the rattler slither forward into it. The wolfman's eyes followed the snake's movement, then he looked up and she made eye contact. «I will not let you have the boy.»
«I give you no choice, alien.»
"Dorothy, scream!"
Though she had put on a brave front, Dorothy let all her fear out through her scream. The wolfman oriented on her, then back to Mickey when his sister's screams spiked his terror higher than ever. The wolfman grinned sloppily and opened himself wide to the emotional feast the two human children provided him.
Mickey's fear hammered Rajani, but she fought against it. Instead of letting her shield slide up to protect her, she let her own fear and anguish pour out. She felt hormones course through her body, giving her more physical energy that she translated into mental power. Reshaping and guiding Mickey's fright, she forged it into a weapon.
The wolfman soaked up the emotional storm like a plant basking in sunlight. Rajani took her share of that same energy and forced it back into itself. She trapped and concentrated it, like light trapped in a laser tube. She squeezed it tighter and tighter, letting the pressure build. Her hands balled into fists, and her teeth ground together. Finally, when she could hold it no more, she directed the fear at the wolfman and gave him everything.
Open as he was, the wolfman had no time to muster his defenses. As had happened with the shadow man, the golden bolt Rajani projected pierced him. Unlike the shadow man, however, it did more than show itself in his eyes and nostrils. It jetted like dragonfire from every orifice of his body. It seeped out over his skin like sweat and poured out of his ears and nose like blood. His mouth opened, but gold energy, not words, vomited forth.
In a heartbeat, the wolfman went from hunger to satiation, then beyond. Brimming with fear, he could not metabolize it all. It covered him, permeated him and became him. Panic seized and twisted him, stunning his mind and crushing his psyche. Locked in the throes of a psychic meltdown, he made a last-ditch effort to save himself. Relinquishing his grasp on the energy, he vented as much as he could into the area.
The pack instantly sensed his terror and attacked. Leaping, yipping canine forms closed on him. A brindle pit bull sank its teeth into the wolfman's calf while a Doberman pinscher dove at his throat and a terrier worried his left ankle. The wolfman tried to bat the Doberman aside, but a rottweiler took a bite out of his left hamstring, and he went down. Before he could yell, the snarling canine mass buried him.
The Alsatian had hung back, but started forward when the wolfman lost his footing. But before he could join the melee, Rex hit him from the flank and locked his white teeth on the Alsatian's throat. They rolled over and over out into the shadows to be quickly eclipsed by the bloody and frenzied pack.
"Move, fast!" Rajani pointed back aw
ay from the yellow eyes and reddened teeth of the roiling dogfight.
"Eh!" shouted Mickey as he stood.
"Rex will find us, Mickey. Move!" Dorothy grabbed Mickey's hand and started sprinting on through the thin woods.
Rajani took one look back at the pack, then followed the children. Her right leg throbbed with pain, but seemed to be functional. Tracking the kids more by emotion than sight or sound, she caught up with them quickly and led the way down a steep hill. Using her night vision to pick out deer trails, she got them safely away from their old campsite.
Dorothy leaned heavily on a tree. "Wait, gotta catch my breath." She gulped down air. "That was a luper, wasn't it?"
Rajani shook her head. "A luper?"
"A werewolf, a loup-garou." Dorothy bent over and breathed in through her nose. "My dad's girlfriend was Cajun. She told us stories."
"Ah oaries."
"Yes, Mickey, bad stories." Dorothy looked up at her. "That was one, wasn't it?"
"I don't know." Werewolves? There are no such things, or were none when I went into stasis. Were my parents wrong? Was Dr. Chandra mistaken? Have things changed so much in such little time?
Rajani turned and peered back along their backtrail. She saw movement through the brush, then heard something. Mickey smiled and pointed. "Eheze!"
"C'mere, Rex!" Dorothy shouted.
Mickey clapped his hands and Rajani smiled. She watched the dog descend the hill. "Aside from the limp, Rex looks okay."
She reached out with her mind to welcome Rex, but she sensed nothing from him. As the canine approached them, the dog's form shifted and bloated, it thickened and widened, growing taller as it reared up on its hind legs. Torn and bleeding, dragging its left leg behind it, the creature they had taken to be Rex transformed itself into the luper they had left behind.
"Almost worked . . . your trick. I killed them." He clutched his right hand to his stomach, and Rajani saw at least two of his fingers had been gnawed off. "Even your Rex." He swallowed hard and looked at her. "Share the boy with me. Please."