First Flyght – Chapter 23

I leave Gai Reis’s office, nod at the grumpy man across the street shooting me daggers from his eyes, and slip around the corner before I do a little victory dance. Oh God, that felt awesome! Amazing! I went right in there, negotiated, and got us what we needed.

I breathe out a huge sigh of relief and lean against the side of a building. I didn’t think I could do it. I expected to fail like I failed at the Flyght interview. Like I had failed a million other times lately. It doesn’t seem possible I’ve dodged a bullet, but I have to be positive. Being cold and calculating needs positivity to see it through to the end.

I’ve bought us a short amount of time, enough to buy fuel, reserves, pay our docking and jump ring fees, and head back to the Brazilianos system. I’ll figure out the rest from there.

A few people walking by me turn and glance over their shoulder in my direction. Shit, have I been spotted? Do people already know what’s happened to me?

I grab my sunglasses from my bag and slip them on, hoping that’s enough to conceal me for now. I need to get out of the public eye.

My wristlet buzzes, and I’m tempted to ignore it, but now that I’ve made a deal with Gai, he or one of his employees may be calling me. Actually, I restricted calls to shipmates only, didn’t I? I flick my wristlet, and Skylar’s name pops up in my eye.

Fire heats my breath. Though I wanted to see her before I left the ship, I’m not prepared to talk to her after the way she blamed me for this gossip fiasco. ‘Don’t talk to him again’ places the blame solely on me, like I was asking for that kind of attention.

Still, she’s family.

“What’s up?” I ask as I accept the vidcall.

“I, uh, I need you to come here and save me,” she whispers. A glimpse of her surroundings shows she’s in a bathroom stall somewhere.

Thump, thump, thump! “We know you’re in there!” a man’s voice seeps through the vidcall, and Skylar rolls her eyes.

“Fuck off!” she yells at the door.

My heart starts banging in my chest. I may be mad at her, but no one threatens my family and gets away with it. What the hell happened once she left the ship?

She lowers her voice and looks back to me. “I’m not far from you, in Japantown.” A map of the area overlays her call, and her location is a blue dot six blocks away. My legs move, and I start walking in the opposite direction first before I turn around and know where I’m going.

Look, I have a terrible sense of direction, and there’s nothing I can do about it now.

“What happened?” I pick up my pace and pain shoots through my toes. These heels were not made for an afternoon jog.

“I’m pissed at Tomu, just as much as you, so I contacted a guy I know and inquired about his whereabouts. It, uh, didn’t go well. Hurry up.”

Her call ends, and I run.

Never mind that I have no idea how I’m going to save her. I’m wheezing running just one block. I can’t fight. I have no weapons on me.

But I would never leave Skylar to defend herself.

I dodge around lazy walkers and people waiting at the curbs for their street cars and public taxis. My feet cramp up, but I push through it.

My wristlet pings and a floating arrow in my vision points to a bar on my right. I come to a screeching halt, almost missing the door.

“Jesus, slow down, lady,” some old man croaks at me as I almost knock into him. “The bar isn’t going to close anytime soon.”

I throw open the door and rip off my sunglasses hoping my eyes adjust quickly. Several people hurry past me towards the door as the sound of banging and yelling comes from the back. The bartender at the long bar on my right holds his hands out.

“I don’t think you want to come in here.”

My heart beats hard in my ears, and my hair sticks to my sweaty face as I approach the two men standing in the hallway outside the women’s restroom.

“We’re going to kick down this door if you don’t open it right now!” One of the men steps back and raises his boot.

“Hey!” I yell, stepping forward.

The man drops his foot and both turn to me. My mouth dries out.

What the hell are you doing, Vivian?

“You looking for Tomu Kawabata?” I put as much anger into my voice as possible, and I have a lot of anger in me. Anger, rage, fury, exasperation — whatever you want to call it, this animal of emotions has been sitting in my heart just waiting to be let loose.

“No one is more interested in finding that bastard than me.” I jab my finger at my chest, and I’m surprised it doesn’t shake.

Both men step out of the hallway and approach me. I immediately regret getting involved. They’re at least a hundred and eighty kilos apiece, sumo wrestler size. I’m impressed they could even find suits to fit them. One has a snake and dragon tattoo that stretches above his suit collar and wraps around the back of his head. They vaguely look like the two men who came to see Tomu’s downstairs neighbor.

Mr. Tattoo jerks his chin at me. “You look familiar.”

The door to the bar opens and closes behind me, but I keep my eyes on the men.

“Trust me. If you’re looking for Tomu, you’re going to be seeing my face a lot.”

Mr. Sumo turns to Mr. Tattoo. “It’s the sister.” His smile is shrewd.

“The sister has nothing,” Mr. Tattoo responds. “But she’d make a good hostage.”

Make a good hostage?

I hold out my right hand and cover my mouth with my left hand as a hysterical laugh bubbles up.

“Me? A hostage?” I break out into guffaws of laughter, roars that hurt my belly and double me over. This is hilarious. Yeah, go ahead and take me. At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about how to pay the bills. I try to draw breath twice before they approach me. “Tomu hates me and stole my money. He’d rather keep it for himself than use it to free me.” Tears stream down my face as I right myself and wipe them away.

“Actually, yeah.” I hold my hands out to the two men who stare at them in skepticism. “Take me. I have a feeling you’ll feed me for a time before killing me, and that’s a far better situation than I’m dealing with now. No bills to pay. No more shameful videos on OEN. Ah, sounds blissful.”

“Ms. Vivian,” a voice hisses from behind me. My head whips around, and I spot Marcelo standing at my back. When did he get here?

Mr. Tattoo approaches me, trying to stand over and intimidate me, but we’re about the same height, even if he is bigger. “How about you stay out of our way?”

What they want here is for me to back down and run away. That’s what I would’ve done a few days ago. But now a switch has been flipped, and Kind and Caring Vivian has taken a backseat to Bitch Vivian. Bitch Vivian is not taking any of this shit anymore. Also, Bitch Vivian is so scared she’s ready to pee her pants, but she’s not going to back down.

“How about, instead, you stay out of my way?” I counter. The hair on my arms stands up as Mr. Sumo joins him. “I’m going to find my brother and take back what he stole from my family. And no one is going to stop me. Do you understand?”

The women’s bathroom door cracks open, and Skylar slips out.

“The boss won’t like that,” Mr. Sumo says.

“If your boss has something he wants from Tomu, he can have Tomu Kawabata when I’m done with him.”

“She doesn’t share with anyone,” Mr. Tattoo says and stresses the female pronoun. Ah, I’m talking to a female mob boss’s henchmen, am I?

“She doesn’t have to share, but she doesn’t get him first.”

I take a step backwards, call up Hecate, and signal the police. Thankfully, that’s always the top option on my main access point.

“This meeting is over, gentlemen. The hunt is on. I suggest you get moving before the police show up.”

Mr. Sumo looks me dead in the eyes a full second before turning and lumbering his way out the door. Mr. Tattoo cocks a quick smile at me.

“I like you. We can play again sometime soon.”

He follows Mr. Sumo out into the sun.

“Shit,” Skylar says, her eyes wide. “When I called you for help, I honestly thought you would come, and we’d both get a beatdown.”

I sigh as I reach into my bag to find my sunglasses. “Did you call Marcelo for help too?” My hands shake as I place them on my face and come this close to poking myself in the eye.

“I was worried you wouldn’t answer me,” she says, frankly.

Well, if I hadn’t gotten the deal with Gai Reis, I might have gone off and sulked. But I didn’t. Once again, my friends and family could count on me to get the job done.

“If you really called the police, then we should go.” Marcelo laughs as he holds out his arm to usher us out. “You are now my favorite client. It’s going to be fun matching you to the right men.” He winks at me, and I soften a bit. So he’s not going to dump me? That turned out better than I hoped.

I fish through my bag again, find my wallet, and extract a twenty-credit bill, one of the few bills I have left. I smile at the bartender and place it on the wide expanse of dark wood.

“When the cops show up, just tell them a few people got rowdy, and you sent them on their way.”

He picks up the bill and cocks his head to the side. “Do I know you?”

“Nope. You’ve never seen me before.”