Blood Ocean (17 page)

“Maybe it’s you.”

“You think you can bite me?”

“Maybe I already have.”

He snorted and glanced at the other Pali Boy. That glance was enough to give him away, to show her his nervousness. She changed her mind. La Jolla never would have shown his unease.

“Serious, now. No selling on the
Legacy
.”

“Why should I bother to sell when you got the market cornered?”

“What’d she say?” asked the other Pali Boy, confusion coloring his face.

“Talking out her ass. Scamper back up. I’ll be there in a moment.” The tattooed Pali Boy gave her a long look. He held his hands down at his side, but his fingers flexed and unflexed to bleed off energy. “Name’s Kaja.”

“Lopez-Larou.” She didn’t offer her hand. “You took something of mine.”

He still smiled, and almost hid the tension behind it. “What if I was to say that I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“Then I’d say you need to check yourself, because you’re not fooling anyone.”

He stared at her for a long moment, then nodded. He walked to the nearest rail with only the barest glance at the sky. When he stopped, he leaned against it and stared at the Water Dogs harvesting barnacles far below.

Lopez-Larou followed, and carefully slid in beside him. She placed her hands over the edge of the rail, aware of the stiletto she had hidden in the sleeve of her sharkskin top.

“How do I know it was yours?”

“It was. We both know.”

“You arranged for one of my boys to take it across.”

“That was between him and me.”

“What’d you give him?”

“Enough chit to feed his family for a month.”

Kaja nodded. “That’ll do it.”

“What’d you get for it?”

“An arrangement. The Taos promised not to come aboard our ship for awhile.” He shrugged. “They make everyone nervous.”

“Really? Is that all you got for the stash?”

“What? Don’t you think it was worth it?”

“To keep the orange-robed monkey worshippers from your ship? Hardly. They’re just a nuisance, is all.”

“It is what it is.”

Lopez-Larou snorted.

“What?”

“You’re treating the symptoms, not the cause.”

Kaja grinned at her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Okay, then tell me. What are people more afraid of; the orange robes, or the monkey that comes with them?”

“But you can’t have one without the other.”

“Spoken like someone who stares at the world through a hundred-foot lens.”

“Mother Pele! Talking to you is like talking to a fortune cookie.”

“You spend your days swinging away above the city and from that distance everything seems just fine. You can’t see the misery. You can’t see the fear. All you see is people moving far, far beneath you.”

“I’m getting out of here.” He put a foot on the rail and was ready to push off.

“You leave and I’ll spread the word far and wide that the Pali Boys are running drugs for
Los Tiburones
. You won’t ever be able to swing onto another ship again without paying chit.”

Kaja stepped back down from the rail and glared at her.

Lopez-Larou grinned with delight. “I know. You hate me. I’m like an itch you can’t scratch.”

“Oh, I can scratch you.”

Her grin remained behind sizzling eyes. “Try it.”

Kaja stared at the Water Dogs for two minutes before he spoke again. He didn’t look at her, but she knew she was so far under his skin that he didn’t have to. “How can I make restitution?”

“Kavika.”

That snapped his head around. “Him? What about him?”

“Do you know what happened?” she asked.

“I do. Unfortunate. He was never really very lucky.”

“We need to see if we can free him from the monkey.”

Kaja stared at her for a second, then laughed. “You can’t be serious.”

“I couldn’t be more serious.”

“Even if I could, why would I want to? He’s been chosen because of his blood. He’s working on a cure for Minimata.”

“He’s been chosen for his blood, all right. But listen to me closely when I say that Minimata has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

“Now look who’s crazy. Why else do you think the Japs strap monkeys to people’s backs?”

“Here’s what I know. I know what sells aboard the city. I know what different people want and need and would trade their nearest loved one for. I know and keep secrets like I’m a priest. And what I also know, based on the chemistry I’ve learned, is that in the post-plague world it’s pretty rare for so many white-skinned people to be around without something keeping them alive.”

“I—I don’t understand. Are you saying that there’s a cure for the plague?”

“Not a cure. But there is a treatment. A treatment in blood.”

“This makes no sense at all. People wouldn’t allow it.”

“What people wouldn’t allow it? Are you serious? Whose people are you talking about? Are there people strong enough to take on the Boxers or the Corper Nips aboard the Freedom Ship? I know that Spike and Kavika went there, but where were you when it happened?”

“Watching,” Kaja said softly.

She couldn’t help it. She smacked him across the face. He didn’t flinch. “Maybe you should walk the decks sometime,” she snarled. “See what’s really going on. Maybe you should get close enough to see the misery. Maybe then you’d pay attention and
see
, and stop being a victim.”

Kaja’s eyes looked lost. His mouth hung open and his face sagged. It was too much to take in. Still, he somehow managed to ask, “What’s your plan?”

“I don’t have one. I was hoping that between you and Leilani, we could all figure something out.”

Kaja looked at her.

“What is it?”

“You haven’t heard, then.”

“What?”

“Leilani. She’s missing. Probably dead.”

“What?” Lopez-Larou felt a fluttering in her heart. “
What?
”

A
N HOUR LATER
found them making their way on foot to Ivanov’s. Kaja had filled her in about what he’d learned about Spike, and how the rumors had it that she was dead. Lopez-Larou wasn’t taking it well. He didn’t pretend to understand what had gone on between them, but he found himself wanting to understand. The
Tiburón
had gotten under his skin. She’d been more insightful than he’d given her credit. That she wanted to parlay the loss of drugs into helping that part-time wannabe Pali Boy, Kavika, was an equal mystery.

No, that wasn’t fair. The boy had done something entirely unexpected. Kaja hadn’t ever anticipated that Kavika and Spike would try and take on the Corpers. The very idea went so far beyond what anyone would do as to be unimaginable. Was it foolish? Yes. But was it a stunt equal to anything the other Pali Boys had done? Kaja felt himself nodding. Absolutely. The attack had been a badass move and something the boy’s father would have been proud of.

But look where it had gotten them. The transvestite was reported dead. Donnie Wu was definitely dead, his headless body retrieved ten days ago. And Kavika was monkey-backed.

He glanced sideways at Lopez-Larou. The set of her jaw and the heat in her eyes spoke of a determination that would be hard to ignore. She claimed that the monkey-backing could be reversed, but how much of that was blather?

They made it to the old sub and asked to see Ivanov. They were made to wait for five minutes, and then escorted inside.

It smelled like sweat and piss. It always did. The smell took some getting used to. After they climbed down the ladder, they slid through several galleys until they came to an open room. Ivanov sat in an old-fashioned lounge chair that had been bolted to the floor. Made of some indistinguishable fabric, it was a motley color of stains and cigarette burns. He was watching a war movie on a television affixed to the wall. Men in gray uniforms shot at other men in green uniforms. Explosions colored the sky orange in the background. Without looking away from the screen, he gestured for them to take a seat on one of the benches along the wall.

They sat for another five minutes before he finally turned to them.

“Dirty Dozen,” he explained. “Lee Marvin. He was a man’s man.” He smacked the arm of the chair. “I love that movie. What is it you want from Ivanov, now?”

After brief pleasantries, Lopez-Larou repeated her idea to him. His reaction was to laugh.

“Nothing chemistry can do for that. We’ve tried. I lost my first mate that way. Terrible way to go, to be attached to a fucking monkey.”

“I don’t try and tell you about submarines, so don’t you tell me about chemicals. I have my own ideas of how to separate him from the monkey.”

“And if it doesn’t work?” Kaja asked.

“Then it doesn’t work.” She shook her head. “Please don’t tell me you think living life like that is better than being dead.”

“And your claim that it has nothing to do with Minimata?” pressed Ivanov.

“Don’t insult me. I know that you know.”

Kaja watched the pair stare at each other for several moments. Was it possible that Ivanov knew the secret as well? He’d been friends to the Pali Boys for as long as Kaja could remember. How could he have kept such a secret from them?

Finally Ivanov nodded. A slow sneer took over his puffy-cheeked face. “
Da
. We know.”

“Holy Pele. When were you going to tell us?” Kaja demanded, rising from the bench.

Ivanov regarded him as a parent would a child. “You would want us to tell you everything?” he asked, shaking his head. “You Pali Boys have secrets. Water Dogs have secrets.
Los Tiburones
have secrets. Everyone has their fucking secrets. This is one of
my
secrets.” He glanced at Lopez-Larou and gave her a vicious smile. “Although it seems that others know this secret. Tell me, how is it you know?”

“You want me to reveal my source?”

“I want you to do what you want to do.”

She shrugged. “It was the Sky Winkers.”

“Ah, the Night Men. Yes, they seem to know too much.”

“Why’d they tell you?” Kaja asked.

“I don’t know,” she turned to him. “They just did. They also claim to talk to people in space too, so you have to take what they say with a grain of salt.”

“Then how can you be sure?”

“I just am.”

Kaja hesitated, but the more he thought about it, the more he was beginning to believe it, too. The Corpers had begun monkey-backing twenty years ago, and in all that time they’d never given any sign of having made progress on a cure for Minimata Disease. There should have been something.
Anything
.

“I’ve got to say that I never thought he’d get as far as he did.” Seeing the looks on the others’ faces, Kaja added, “Kavika—he pissed me off and I’m afraid that all of this was because I told him that he had to find out why Akamu had been killed.”

“But you knew they left the drugs,” Lopez-Larou said. “It was nothing more than an accident.”

“I know, I know.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. “I sent him on a wild goose chase. But you have to understand, Kavika had this problem he had to deal with. Something was always holding him back. Something inside him kept him from doing anything dangerous.”

“Looks like he overcame that,” snorted Ivanov.

“Yeah, and then some.” Kaja shook his head. The other Pali Boys wouldn’t understand, but they’d just have to deal with it. He turned to the girl. “Listen, whatever it is, count us in. I’m not so sure that we can beat the Corpers, but we can definitely figure out a way to get Kavika back where he belongs.”

“
A Bridge Too Far
,” Ivanov murmured.

Kaja gave him a look. “Eh?”

“It’s a movie, with Harrison Ford. Before he was in that damned space movie. Instead of doing what they can, they do too much.”

“Ah.” He turned to Lopez-Larou. “Look, not that I don’t want to get revenge for Wu, but I need to go to Princess Kamala about this. It’s just too big.”

“I’d be surprised if she didn’t already know,” Lopez-Larou said, matter-of-factly.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I
T TOOK TWO
days to plan the mission. Two days of Ivanov talking about movies and strategies and World Wars from a time they could barely envision. Lopez-Larou pointed that out to the old drunk on several occasions, but he’d merely waved her off with the perplexing comment, “It’s all Hollywood anyway. It was never as real as it really was.”

Despite his incoherence, they were eventually ready. Their plan’s success depended on their own boldness, and the Mga Tao’s desire to protect their monkey-backed wards.

They waited until eleven bells before they put the plan in motion. It was important that whatever they did, didn’t come back to haunt them. After consulting with Chito, who was eager to assist, they were ready.

So it was that Kaja, Lopez-Larou, and five of Ivanov’s men walked up the gangway of
The University of the Waves
. At this time of night, most of those aboard the ship were sleeping. A pair of burley Taos stood at the entry, the orange silk headbands on their foreheads showing their affiliation. Lopez-Larou ignored them. She marched by them and into the ship, her hood pulled forward until her face was hugged in shadow and her hands hidden in the sleeves. The others did the same, following two by two, heads down, pace moderated.

Ivanov’s men were marking the pair; they’d most definitely attempt to bar their way when they left with their packages. She wondered how many Taos would die this night. Two, ten, twenty? It didn’t bother her much. The Taos propagated an outrage. Whether or not they knew it mattered little. At the end of the day she’d trade all of them for someone she cared about.

She followed the path she’d taken earlier, down the halls, past the intersection and onto the landing of the
Sports Wing
. The room was lit with subdued lighting. Each couch had at least a pair of occupants. The stage was empty, which she privately appreciated. She didn’t know if she could take seeing the naked fat man dance again.

They paused at the top of the stairs, and she searched for Kavika.

Kaja, who’d come to stand beside her, saw him first. He pointed. “There.”