Chapter Seventeen

Second Score

 

Some of the best professors in the world were at Ella’s disposal. She studied everything from languages to hostage negotiations to quantum physics to network security. She also spent hundreds of hours learning a wide variety of physical skills, from hand-to-hand combat to reconnaissance to clandestine tactics.

Unfortunately, Ella could not grasp even the fundamentals of linguistics, history or political affairs, which are enormously important for field agents. She was not technically savvy, nor was she skilled in math, science or law. To make things worse, she got bored and frustrated easily. It was a miracle and testament to my own coaching and nurturing that she was able to pass any classes at all.

 

“Are you sure this is right?” Ella teetered on the tree branch she was perched on and carefully adjusted her balance. She stared at the grounds of the estate on the other side of a low traditional Japanese wall. “This looks like the wrong address.”

I used to help navigate a living starship that traveled across half the galaxy. I can read maps very well, Ella.

“Well, it looks wrong. This place looks like a temple or something. Are you sure this is–”

Stop asking me that. I agree with your assessment that this is not the usual sort of mark we hit, but my answer is not going to change.

Ella gave the venue one last suspicious glance before scampering out of the tree. The other Burglar Alarms were waiting near its base, looking very uneasy as well. Rightly so. They were slightly out of place in Azabu, one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Tokyo.

“Well?” asked Kaoru.

“This is it,” said Ella.

Daiki’s eyes went as large as saucers. “And we’re going to live here?”

“This is going to be the Burglar Alarms’ new headquarters,” she replied. “You’re still going to be living with your mother.”

Hinata tilted his head. “If it’s as rich inside as it looks out here, we’re going to be rich.”

Daiki looked down both sides of the street. “This is a funny place for a secret hideout, no?”

“Maybe that’s what makes it such a good secret place,” said Lee. “No one will expect it.” He appeared dubious, however.

“Well, we’re not doing ourselves any favors by sticking around,” said Ella briskly. “Pek, stand watch. The rest of us are going in.”

“Aww, me again? Why can’t someone else stand watch?”

“What?”

“I mean, why me again, Bosu? All I do is–”

“Because I said so.” She turned to the others. “Just like last time. I’m going to go in and check it out. When I give the all-clear, you guys follow.”

The outfit exchanged awkward and hesitant glances, and then all crossed their arms at the same time. Ella scowled. They had obviously choreographed that.

“Not a chance, Ella,” said Lee. “This going in alone thing to keep us out of danger isn’t going to work any more.” The rest nodded in agreement. They didn’t nod in unison, at least.

They are right. A good leader would actually send an expendable underling in first. Send in Pek. Let him spring the booby trap.

“Not a chance, Io.”

For a moment, Ella considered calling the whole damn thing off. Then she remembered what happened at the World-Famous. It was time to learn to trust her Burglar Alarms. “I’ll make you guys a deal,” she offered. “It’s easier for me to move without you oafs clomping after me. I’ll keep my comm open at all times.”

They eyed her with suspicion, and then retreated to discuss her proposal. Ella felt like she was losing control of the team. Somehow, the Burglar Alarms had evolved from her dictatorship to some stupid form of democracy. For some reason, Ella didn’t seem to mind this new development as much as she pretended, which surprised her.

Are you actually learning to trust someone? Little Ella is finally growing–

“Shut it, Alien.”

The rest of the Burglar Alarms appeared to have come to a consensus. They returned and crossed their arms again in unison like some stupid Korean dance video. “Here’s the deal,” said Lee. “You need to let us know everything is OK. If we don’t hear from you every minute, we’re coming in after you.”

“Hmm, fine,” growled Ella, her face scrunched up. That was all an act on her part just to save face. “At least stop clustering around the front door looking so obvious.”

The Burglar Alarms scattered in the most conspicuous way possible, each wandering off on their own in a different direction. Fortunately, the well-to-do inhabitants of this neighborhood were either too polite or couldn’t be bothered to notice. They really could have used that clandestine training from the Academy though.

The class you barely passed?

“Passing is passing. It’s like grenades.”

You had to cheat on the final. If I had not given you all the answers on the multiple choice, you would have missed most of them.

“I did not cheat! You’re part of me, so using you is not cheating.”

There was a lengthy pause. Finally, Io spoke. You just said I am part of you. That may be the nicest thing you have ever said to me.

“Stop rubbing it in,” mumbled Ella. She focused her attention on the security keypad next to the red half-moon-shaped double doors. Then, for the first time, she noticed the small security camera blinking in the corner. She reached for a throwing knife. “I thought you said the security system was off.”

This location is not live yet. The feed is self-contained on a twenty-four hour recording loop. Mostly just to scare off vandals and girl scouts.

“What’s a girl scout?”

Never mind.

Just in case, Ella partially covered her face from the camera and punched in the code. She was half-expecting this not to work, and was pleasantly surprised when one of the red doors swung inward with a high-pitched creak. She poked her head inside. “It is really nice in here. How did you come by this place again?”

I told you. Command shut down the underground safe house after your little stunt, and are moving it here. This one will not go live until the security measures are installed, and Command cannot get to that for another four months. In the meanwhile, I see no reason why we cannot use it as your headquarters.

Ella closed the door behind her and crept inside. She took three steps onto the grounds and felt as if she were transported to some weird alien planet. The estate looked as if it had sprung from a dream or fairy tale, like time had forgotten it existed. It was a picturesque scene of a traditional Japanese house sitting next to a babbling brook just inside the walls. Beautiful cherry blossom trees lined the perimeter, and several large gnarled and twisting oaks dotted the rest of the landscape. It looked very out-of-place nestled here in the center of Tokyo. Ella half-expected a samurai to walk out of that hut.

Minka.

“What?”

Those houses are called minkas, not huts.

Ella ignored the architectural lesson as she crept across the grounds looking for signs of activity. The interior of the hut – minka – was darkened, and the only sounds she could hear were the gurgle of the brook and the chirping of the birds. She paused behind a boulder and waited. Minutes passed. Still nothing. Ella was about to move closer into the house but something held her back. Her gut was telling her something was off about this place. Truth was, everything felt off.

Her earpiece buzzed. “Hello Ella? You there?”

“What is it, Hinata? Everything clear outside?”

“Yes, Bosu. Just checking in to make sure you’re alive.”

“You’re supposed to check in every minute,” added Lee.

“Is it really nice in there?” asked Daiki.

Everyone began chattering at once, jumbling the comm channel. Now she remembered why she had preferred to keep the thing off. “I need you guys to be quiet,” she hissed.

A chorus of “sorry, bosu” followed. Ella made her way toward the minka, moving from cover to cover. The peace and calm broke as the chatter slowly grew again. This time Hinata was poking fun at Lee and Kaoru for dating. Daiki and Pek piled on. At least they weren’t focused on her this time.

Push it out of your mind.

Ella did her best to do just that. She reached the minka and slowly slid the amado open. It was dark inside, musty. She swept a flashlight across the room. Half of it was empty, and the other half was filled with boxes. Her light rested on a familiar long metal tube leaning in the corner. It was the bazooka, no, the surface-to-air missile launcher.

To the left are the same supply containers from the underground safe house. The report checks out.

Ella waited several beats, listening for scraping or breathing or any other signs of life. Failing to pick anything up, she finally crept inside. Her gut was still telling her something was off. It was right more often than not, but perhaps this was one of those times when she was just being too cautious.

She walked to the adjacent shōji, slid it open, and peered inside. More boxes. She went across to the other end of the room and slid that door open as well. Furniture from the safe house was crammed into the corner and stacked in a pile.

Ella continued to the room on the far end. She slid that shōji open. “Hey Burglar Alarms, I think we’re cle–” Her voice trailed off as her body froze. Her eyes bulged, threatening to fall out of their sockets.

There, standing in the center of a barren room, was Nabin. “Hello, Ella. How are you?” He waved his familiar lackadaisical wave and spoke with his weird American southern drawl that sounded like each of his words was falling down a well.

Ella opened her mouth. No noise came out. She forgot how to breathe.

Get out of here. Go, go now!

A dozen intense and conflicting emotions slammed into her one after the other. Ella did the first thing her heart told her to do. She reached for a throwing knife.

No time for that. You can stick him another day.

Nabin’s eyes widened. He threw up his hands. “Whoa, whoa, babe. I just want to talk.”

“Don’t ‘babe’ me, you self-righteous jerk,” she hissed reflexively. “Especially after what you did.”

Nabin gave a start. “Me? After what I did?”

Ella’s hand tightened around the handle of her knife, and she readied her throw. Truth was, seeing him made her heart flutter. Seeing him also made it ache. By Ganesh, she missed his ugly face and his stupid wide smile and the stupid way the ends of his stupid lips almost reached his stupid oversized ears.

For a moment, fond memories of the only man she ever loved flooded her thoughts. His visits were the only highlights Ella remembered during her tenure at the Academy. She had no family or friends, so all of her spare time and energy were reserved for him. Their brief but passionate relationship had burned hot and bright.

Damn it, Ella! Stop daydreaming. This is a trap!

Of course Io just had to be an asshole and ruin the moment by reminding her of all the bad times as well. A series of quick scenes slammed into her head one after another. She relived it all in rapid succession, as if someone was fast-forwarding a movie and stopped at all the worst parts. All those moments when he had brushed her off as a silly girl, saying she was being immature. She wasn’t immature; he was being a stubborn know-it-all. The several times he wasn’t present with her because he was too caught up thinking about duty. The dozens of instances when he ignored her when she needed him. The fights… those dozens of fights.

Whatever Io was doing worked. Everything replayed vividly in Ella’s head as if she were right there experiencing them again for the very first time. By the time the scenes had finished running in her head, she was grinding her teeth as the now-familiar rage bubbled up to the surface from a place she had thought long-buried. She focused on Nabin, who was now standing before her.

“Ella, listen please, babe,” he said, offering his hand. “I really need to talk to you. This is serious.”

She completed the motion and the knife flew from her fingertips. Her heart really wasn’t in the throw, so the knife flew lazily and sunk into the floor right between his legs. Ella pulled out her long dagger and took two steps forward.

No, no. Just leave. Get out before it is too late.

“Ella?” Lee’s voice blasted in her ear. “What’s going on? You’re breathing awfully heavy. Who is that talking?”

“I thought the place was empty?” chirped Daiki.

The crew began to clamor in her ear again. It all just became background noise. Ella’s attention was on Nabin. Finally, she found her voice. She couldn’t quite process all her emotions. She was somehow enraged and ecstatic to see him all at the same time. “What do you want?” she hissed.

He wants to haul you back to the Prophus.

“The Genjix are after you. You need to come with me so we can protect you,” he replied, taking a step toward her. Ella took a step back.

He probably has orders to take you in for raiding the safe house.

“We know it was you who robbed the safe house. If we could determine that, then so can they.”

See! You need to flee now.

Ella wavered. Everybody was yelling at her. Io, the Burglar Alarms, even her conscience, and they were all telling her to do different things. She pushed all the voices out of her head and asked what was really on her mind. What really mattered to her. “Did you come looking for me because you love me?”

There was no hesitation. “Yes.”

By the Eternal Sea, do not fall for that, Ella.

She took a step closer to Nabin. “Are you trying to get back together with me?”

Slight hesitation. “Maybe. I don’t know.” He paused. “I do miss you.”

That was good enough. It wasn’t exactly the answer she was looking for, but Nabin was stupidly truthful with her, which was often annoying. She sometimes – most of the time – preferred he tell her what she wanted to hear. She took another step forward. Sure, the two of them had technically broken up, but there was still something there. And he came looking for her. That had to mean something. Ella took a few more steps forward. She was almost at arm’s length.

Ask him if he is under orders to find you. Ask him!

Io seemed on the verge of panic. That was a good question. It never occurred to her that he was here for any other reason than to see her because he loved and missed her, and was really, really sorry he broke up with her, and wanted to make up and be together.

Ask. Him.

“Oh fine, Io.” She was absolutely convinced he came only for her, regardless of all that negativity Io was putting into her head. It took Ella a second to find her voice again. “Are you on the job?”

The hesitation was long this time. “Yeah, Ella. I am.”

Her heart stopped. “You’re not here for me?”

“I am. It’s both. You’re in danger. The Prophus need to take you to a safe place.”

Remember what I told you about how they want to control and imprison you?

His words cut into her chest. She whispered. “Io was right.”

“What? No. Don’t listen to that asshole.”

They had never gotten along. A few months ago, Ella would have agreed with Nabin. Now that she was on her own again, and Io was the only one in Ella’s life who hadn’t abandoned her – even if it weren’t by choice – Nabin speaking badly of Io felt like a personal attack. Ella’s rage ticked back to boiling.

She stomped up to him, shaking her fist. “Don’t you dare talk about my Quasing that way. Only I can. What are you even doing here? You don’t want to be with me any more, remember? Go do your stupid important Prophus thing.”

I appreciate you coming to my defense, but I would much rather you just follow my instructions for once.

Nabin took a step backward, just staying out of her blade range. “Can we sit and talk? In private?”

“If you’re on the job, then we have nothing to talk about.” She bent down and picked up her knife. “I just wanted this back.” She turned to leave.

Nabin’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. “Ella, you have to hear me out. You’re in danger. The Genjix are looking for you.”

“You better watch what you’re doing with your hand.” Her voice quivered with rage.

Nabin hastily let go. “There’s a price on your head.”

“How large?” That was the first question that popped into her mind.

“Big enough that every bounty hunter, mercenary, and probably a few governments are looking for you.”

“It seems I’m finally moving on up in life. No thanks to you.”

More like I am. I wonder why.

“Why are they after me?” she asked.

“We’re not sure,” admitted Nabin. “It has something to do with the Bio Comm Array, but we haven’t cracked it yet. In any case, you need to come with us. We need to protect you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Who is we? Did a whole bunch of you come to kidnap me?”

“No,” he stammered. “Look, we’re just trying to keep you safe.”

“How would you do that?” she asked. “How would you go about protecting me?”

“We’ll move you someplace where they can’t reach you. We’ll hide you to make sure they can never find you.”

Ella’s eyes narrowed. “Some place like Greenland? With guards watching over me all day?”

Nabin nodded. “Around the clock security for your protection.”

Ella loved him, but he could be so dumb sometimes. “No thanks.”

She sheathed the knife with a hard push into its sheath and stomped toward the exit. She was just about to leave the room when a figure appeared at the doorway, blocking her path. “Why don’t you sit down and we can talk this through, maybe starting with exactly why the Genjix are looking for you.”

“I told you I don’t know,” she spat. “Who the hell are you?”

“Maybe you should take a breath and think it over. Dig a little deeper.”

“I don’t need to–” Ella squinted at the wrinkling, old man. Where had she met this fossil before? “You look familiar. Have we met?”

“No,” said the old man, rather defensively.

Ella furrowed her brows. “Yes we have.”

He crossed his arms. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Oh no.

“Oh no what, Io?”

This is more serious than we thought. You may have to fight your way out of here.

“I’m not going to beat up this grandpa. My ancestors will never let me live that down.”

That was when it hit her. Ella’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped. “Hey, we have met! On the plane out of India! You’re Cameron’s old man! You’re Roen Tan!”