High Flyght – Chapter 24

I feel like total shit. All the remnants of my middle-of-the-night puke fest are washed away, but the emotional and physical scars live on. I’m drained of energy, living on coffee and fried potatoes, the only two things I can tolerate on a hangover. But the shame in my chest is like a sky-high pile of manure. Not only did I fail to metabolize the prescient dream berries in an acceptable manner, but I sobbed and cried like a baby in front of my network. My interference caused Kostas Levine to die. I have failed so miserably, I might as well space myself.

I stare at my feet and keep my head down as we move forward in a queue of people to be admitted to Athens Industries’s headquarters. They have so many security protocols that it will be a while before it’s our turn.

Jinzo’s arm slides across my lower back. “How are you doing?”

“Tired.” And I yawn for good measure. I keep my eyes down. “Those sedatives Gus gave me were enough to put an elephant out… Not that I’ve seen an elephant, but I hear they’re huge.”

“How are you really, though? You’ve been quiet all morning.”

I could say a million things right now, none of them are appropriate in a public situation. I shrug, instead.

“Let’s just get through this alive, and we can talk more about my feelings.”

“We’ll be fine,” Ken says, from behind us. “I have my ways.”

We shuffle forward a little more.

“I have an idea.” Jinzo keeps me secure at his side with one hand. “Why don’t we go to the town hall after this, before we go to Flyght for our afternoon meetings?”

“What do we…?”

Jinzo raises his eyebrows.

“Are you serious? I thought we’d have a few more weeks of figuring things out.”

“Let’s sign the contracts. The initial two years will be over in a blink, and I’d like to start that right away.”

“But —” I turn to look at Ken. “You two have stuff to work out.”

There’s a hierarchy in relationship networks, and they tend to fall apart without them. Most women have a number one, a trusted consort who usually becomes a husband, someone they come to with all decisions. That consort takes care of everything else.

Ken smiles with a shrug. “I don’t need to be number one.”

My head spins like a giant reached down from the sky and knocked the room over. I stumble and grab Jinzo.

“What did you say?” My lips are numb.

He blinks in surprise. “Are you surprised? Ah, Vivi.” He winks. “I’ll be in and out of the Amagi because of Flyght. Jinzo is a better number one. And most of all, I trust him, and I think you should too.”

“I do. I do,” I say, hastily. “Without a doubt.” I smile at Jinzo. He’s my number one? “I just… I heard you say that. Last night. You said, ‘I don’t need to be number one,’ in my… visions.”

“Really?” Both Jinzo and Ken ask at the same time. Their synchronicity makes me smile and relax.

“It’s like the most gut-churning deja vu. You said it, and I felt dizzy and light-headed.” I squish my eyes shut. “But it was definitely in my visions.”

“Shit. It worked,” Ken whispers, a giddy smile on his face.

“Yeah, but look what I had to go through. I still don’t feel well.” I rub my arms and try to forget the aches of last night. “There’s no way I can sell that on the market.”

“No. But it can be refined.” Ken’s stare is far off, looking into the future like I was last night. I doubt he sees what I saw.

Through security and all the way up to the CEO suite, I try to remember all the things I saw in my prescient state. Jinzo down a long corridor. A little boy crying. A handsome man swinging me around.

Think, think, think, Vivian. If Ken’s statement turned true, then the rest is bound to become true as well.

My thinking grinds to a halt as the elevator doors slide open, and a young man greets us.

“Welcome. Your meeting with Ms. Dellis is scheduled to begin. Would you like anything? Water, coffee, tea?”

How about a giant pool to drown myself in?

“No, thank you,” I say instead. No need to get this meeting off on the wrong foot.

“This way.” He gestures us forward, down a long, bright white hallway to a suite that spans the whole side of the building. The views here are even better than at Flyght. The green roofs of Concord City undulate from here to the mountains. Palo Alto is such a beautiful place.

“Ms. Kawabata.”

My body turns cold as Renata Dellis approaches from across the room. She had been sitting at her desk when we came in, and now she’s in front of me with her hand out.

A sharp inhale of breath, and I’m able to shore up my reserves for this. It’s time to call on Business Vivian once again to get stuff done. Regular Vivian is a mess, anyway.

I reach out and meet her hand, pleased to note her handshake is firm and precise. There’s nothing worse than a poor handshake.

“Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule for me today.” Renata’s smile is warm and welcoming, but the tone behind her words tells me she’s busy as hell and has no patience for this. She wants to move on with her day. Does her day include killing me and sending me to the composters?

“It was no problem at all.” I turn to my rear. “This is Ken Mata, CEO of Flyght, and Jinzo Lee of Lee Shipyards.”

Renata shakes their hands as well. “Yes, I know of you both.”

Ah ha. Her annoyance is directed at my men. That’s interesting.

Renata Dellis is a loner. She has no relationship network — not one man or woman or anyone in between. She doesn’t even have a dog or a cat. She’s often said in interviews that she has no time for relationships, and she’d rather be working. After Ken and I broke up, I’d had the same sentiment. I would’ve been fine doing this on my own. I realize now, though, just how much stronger a network is than being alone.

“Please have a seat.”

We all sit at the end of a long conference table that could seat twenty. This is better than her sitting behind her giant desk with us sitting on the other side like disobedient students being suspended from school.

I close my eyes briefly as a flash from my premonitions reminds me that I saw this. I saw this. In my visions, Jinzo, Ken, and I sat across from her at a table. My stomach turns. I wanted to see the future, but I didn’t expect it to work.

“I have a few pieces of pressing business to discuss with you, so let’s get right to item number one. Your brother.”

I stay so still my butt hurts.

“Have you seen him or been in contact with him at all?”

“Nope. And trust me, the whole universe will know when I’ve caught him.”

Her lip twitches. “You’re not harboring him because he’s family or anything? Let me assure you, Ms. Kawabata, if you are, I will find out.”

I flatten my lips as I hum over this information. Of course, she’ll find out. She knows everything… except where my brother is.

“Hmm, no. My cousin and I are sure that if we ever find him, he will be beaten to a pulp and then spaced. There’s no love for him in the family anymore. My parents have disowned him as well.”

She looks at Ken. “Vivian speaks the truth. He hasn’t surfaced yet.”

“Why do you want him?” I try to play dumb. We’ll see how far it gets me. “He destroyed my family, not yours.”

“And I’m sorry about that. I really am.” Renata swivels her chair back and forth while tracing her finger along the shiny black table. “Your family was an Ossun mainstay. I remember growing up, my father always said Kawabata polished rice was the best.”

“My father thought Patras bread was worth a day trip into Sakata City. Great with olive oil and cracked pepper.”

Renata’s grin is slight, but I’ve made her smile, and I consider that a win.

“Your brother was actually an employee of mine.”

“Really?” I sit back in my chair and glance at Ken and Jinzo. They fake surprise better than I do.

“He came to one of my managers four years ago to tell me about plants and seeds on Rio he had been researching. He was looking for a yearly salary plus bounties for everything he found that we could use.”

Hot damn. That’s a ballsy move.

“Rio plants and seeds? Like what?” Playing dumb is getting easier.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t say.” Because whatever it is, it’s now a trade secret. “After doing an audit on what he had, we were impressed with his findings, and we agreed to his terms. Things were going fine until he disappeared.”

Disappeared with your proprietary technology and information about a secret military contract to turn those seeds into weapons, you mean?

“Well, he sold off my family’s farm and put us all in debt up to our eyeballs. And you?” I gesture to her opulent office. “You seem to be doing okay without this low-level employee.”

Jinzo’s foot touches mine under the table. It’s not a call to shut up, but a warning to watch myself.

I’ve thrown down the challenge. Will she talk?

She drags her finger along the table, back and forth, thinking.

“Then, I hope you’ll call me if you find him. And I do hope you get your farm back, but don’t tell that to my sister.”

And now it’s confirmed that India Dellis is after my farm. She’ll be there at the auction, and if I’m not careful, she’ll have more money than me for bidding. I try not to let my disappointment show, but I only have so much strength left. Renata sees something on my face, for sure.

The other important thing is she doesn’t suspect I have her information. If she did, she’d just come out and ask for it. Burying that box in the field was one of Tomu’s better moves.

“I’ll let you know if I ever find my brother. I can’t guarantee he’ll be alive, though.”

“Fair enough.” She clears her throat. “The other matter we need to discuss is more delicate. I…”

My face heats as I watch the almighty Renata Dellis reach for her words.

She chuckles ruefully.

“I rarely get involved in other people’s personal business, but this is why I asked for Mr. Mata and Mr. Lee to be here today. As you know, my family is close with the Briar-Stevenson family.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“I did,” Jinzo says with a sigh.

“Cressida is like a sister to me and India, and she’s been calling me, sometimes several times per day, to cry about losing you, Mr. Lee.”

My heart pounds like a tympani as I look over at Jinzo. Over the past few weeks, he has come into his own on the Amagi. His hair has grown in, and his face has filled out some. Our time in bed has gone from thrilling to caring and sweet and back again. He’s always exactly the person I need him to be… and I don’t want to let him go.

“This is hard for me to ask, so please forgive me. But would you and Mr. Mata be willing to let Mr. Lee go, for the sake of a lovesick young woman?”

I just don’t believe this is happening. I pinch my own leg and feel the pain, so it must be.

“You want us” — Ken gestures to him and me — “to ‘let Jinzo go?’ What do you think this is? Some kind of cult?”

Jinzo bursts into a laugh. “You have got to be fucking kidding me…” He shakes his head. “Cressida and I are done. And it’s insulting that you would ask this of them. I am my own person. I’m independent. I’m not a commodity. They treat me well. Cressida treated me like dirt.”

Renata’s eyes are like two moons.

“You can tell Cressida I’m not coming back.” He stands up. “No, wait. Don’t bother. I’ll be sure to tell her myself.” He lowers his voice to a mumble. “Though I swear I’ve said it in a billion messages so far.”

“That would be helpful.” Renata holds up her hands. “I’m sorry to have brought it up.”

“Are we done here?” Jinzo’s voice is like ice at night.

“Jin,” I whisper. I reach out to touch his hand. He takes a moment, but he sits again.

It looks like we’re going to leave here alive! And if she knows about my dealings with Gai Reis or believes I know about her underground human smuggling, she’s not saying anything about it today.

Today, I have a chance to live.

“I have something for Ms. Dellis, and then we can go.” My bag is at my feet, so I bend over and grab the one thing I thought I could bring that wouldn’t raise suspicion for the security here. I place one clear box of seeds on the table.

“When my brother disappeared, we went to his apartment on Ossun to see if we could figure out where he went. We didn’t find much, but since you said he was seeking out Rio plants and seeds, I think this belongs to you. I’ve been carrying it around with me, wondering what I should do with it.”

It’s an elaborate lie that can’t be verified. These seeds were in the box, and it’s only one of them. I have no idea what they do, but I will know eventually because I, of course, took some for myself.

But this seems like a gesture that will get me off the hook with Renata. I’ll give her something, and maybe then she’ll leave me alone.

She picks up the box and holds it up to look inside.

“Do you know what it is?” she asks, focusing back on me.

I shake my head. “I’m not sure. It could be anything. But your people will figure it out faster than me.”

“But aren’t you some farming prodigy? I saw you graduated summa cum laude.”

She’s showing she knows all about me.

Not everything.

“I no longer have a farm to be a prodigy for.”

I stand up, hoping to end the meeting, but Renata jumps up from her side of the table.

“What if you found another farm to head? Are you… for hire?”

I can feel Ken’s anxiety at this question. He’s told me more than once that nobody says no to Athens Industries. People either say yes or they die.

But I can’t say yes. I just can’t.

“Not right now, though thank you for asking. I have a job as captain that I enjoy, and I’m saving up to buy the family farm back. That’s my most important goal.”

“I can’t persuade you?”

Renata and I lock eyes, and unfortunately, I’m the first to look away. She’s powerful, and I know my limits.

“No. I’m afraid you can’t.”

Wow. That feels amazing.

I smile as I round the table and stick out my hand.

“It was a pleasure meeting with you today. And I’m sorry about Cressida. We’ll try to take care of that situation as soon as possible.”

Renata shakes my hand again, but this time I can tell from the look in her eyes that this will not be the last I hear from her.

The doors to the office open, and her assistant waits for us.

“The pleasure is all mine,” she says, turning to her desk. “Enjoy your day in Concord City, and please contact me if you hear from your brother.”

I leave Renata Dellis’s office with my life. I wonder how long I’ll have it.