Silence In Numbers: File One (39 page)

“Easier said than done,” Katsumi stated. She meant to say more, but a sudden headache was…
Damn. Damn it. Not now. Give me an hour, please.
Unfortunately it was intensifying quickly, but her practice kept it from showing on her face. “I should probably talk to her about it again… I should be over there soon anyway.” Katsumi stood, looking at her. “Thanks for having me.”

Lenora smiled. “Of course. I enjoy your company.” She led her to the door, opening it. “Tell Ayane I’m thinking of her for me, okay?”

Katsumi gave a small smile as she stepped out of the door. “Thanks.” As soon as the door closed she made for the porch steps and headed across the grass. Stress, intense emotion and injury had a way of making her sickness worse, and she’d had a heavy dose of all three over the last twenty-four hours. It seemed to be getting even worse because never before had it hit her this hard this fast. As soon as her feet hit the grass the world was already swimming, her car a confusing blur in her vision. She’d never be able to drive in this state. She pulled out her phone to call a taxi but it slipped from her weakening fingers to the grass below, and she couldn’t distinguish it from any other dark spot in the grass.

The pain seemed to double itself every second, distracting her further. She reached out and felt the cool metal of the hood of her car as she reached it. She tried to brace her arm on it and follow around to the door but her arm buckled under the weight. She collapsed against the hood and slipped to the pavement in front of her car, knowing that she’d never make it now.
Aya… Going to be late… Sick… Can’t move…

Is it bad? Where are you?

Katsumi closed her eyes, glad, at least, to hear her sister’s voice.
At my car… don’t know how long I’ll… be…

At your car where?! Katsumi? Damn it!

Too late. Sensation fled from Katsumi as the familiar darkness consumed her mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reno laughed as he stood up from the table, grabbing his coat, phone and keys. “I never claimed I could do that, just that I could jump it.”

“Uh-huh,” Law said, unconvinced, as he downed the last of his drink. “You leaving so soon? Willing to risk the wrath?”

Reno grinned, holding up his phone to show the time. “No worries. It’s after eight, the boss left my house an hour ago, unless plans changed.”

Sano raised an eyebrow. “Willing to bet on it?”

“If he calls and asks if she’s gone yet, that will be a new level of cowardly, even for him,” Rufus said as he sipped from his glass.

“I’m not that much of a wimp!” Reno said defensively as he pulled on his coat.

“That means he knows his wife will protect him,” Law clarified.

“Damn right. And speaking of, it’s a night without the kiddo, no way I won’t take advantage of that,” Reno said as he wiggled his eyebrows, causing Law to laugh.

“Ugh, too much information, man,” Sano said with a shake of his head. He waved his hand. “Go, get out of here. Have fun.”

“You bet I will.” Reno left the restaurant and got on the road, trying not to speed, but failing as usual. His music blaring, his windows down, his long brown hair blowing, and his shades on even though it was night, Reno could have almost as much fun in a car as he could in a jet or helicopter. He made every turn perfectly and made no mistakes regardless of speed; it was his gift, really. He did, however, slow down as he entered his neighborhood, since an area with kids always made him drive like an old lady. As he approached his house his headlights fell on a sleek black car parked on the street outside it. His eyebrows rose in surprise as he drove around it and into the garage. “Huh, I guess she did stay late.”

He turned off the car and climbed out, whistling a tune as he headed for the front door. He opened it with a grin, stepping inside. “Yo, the man of the house is home! No insults in response to that statement, please!”

Lenora met him in the hallway, smiling as she kissed him. “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah, it was fine. I thought I might have a bit more fun here, though,” he grinned.

Lenora slipped her arms around his neck. “Really now? How so?”

“I’ll be glad to show you right after Katsumi leaves.”

Lenora smiled. “You’re in luck, then; she left over an hour ago.”

“Huh?” Reno frowned. “Then why’s her car outside? Did she drink a lot?”

Lenora blinked. “Her car’s outside? She didn’t drink anything.”

“Shit.” Reno moved away and went back outside with Lenora following. “Gotta be an explanation-“

“There!”

Reno followed his wife’s pointing and spotted the body in front of the car. “Shit… Shit, shit, shit,” he repeated as they ran towards her. “You didn’t hear any gunshots or sounds?”

“No, nothing!” They reached Katsumi and turned her over, noting that she was unconscious. Lenora checked her over but shook her head. “No blood, no new wounds. Reno, call an ambulance. Do you know what hospital Ayane is in?”

“I don’t, but Law does. I’ll call him after this,” he said as he pulled out his phone, dialing the emergency number. “What’s wrong with her? I mean, she’s alive, but…”

“Pulse is weak, breathing labored… She seems to be in pain…” Lenora lifted one of Katsumi’s eyelids. “She appears to be dreaming, which is unusual… This isn’t a seizure or heart attack… I’m not sure what this is…”

Reno paced back and forth with his phone to his ear. “Well then this makes no- yeah, hi! I need an ambulance sent to my location now, someone here is hurt or sick and we don’t know what with, but she’s unconscious.” Lenora looked up at him as he spoke rapidly, continuing his pacing. “Yeah. Yes, I know her, she’s a family friend. Yeah, I have it. Right, okay thanks.” He hung up and looked at Lenora. “Fifteen minutes. Should we get her inside?”

Lenora nodded. “If we can. I don’t see any injuries so we might as well make her comfortable.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

August 14th, 2051

Two girls, seventeen and fourteen years of age, had broken into a complex held by the criminal organization known as the Blue Shield. That was the information they had, anyway; whether or not the individuals currently searching the warehouse believed it was up for debate. The warehouse was poorly lit, but that had more to do with the two having taken out half the lights than it did poor planning. Crates and boxes of various sizes filled the building, leaving only thin aisles between them for the soldiers to move through. The girls weren’t in any of those.

Katsumi knelt atop a wide crate, nestled in the shadows between two taller ones. She watched two soldiers move past beneath her and looked across the aisle. Ayane was atop a stack of three crates, too high to be in any line of sight. Four soldiers had set up searchlights in the building, one on each side; they swept the bright floodlights across the piles of crates, meaning the two couldn’t trust some shadows to hide them. Each soldier had a headlight and special rifles that rapidly fired needles. They couldn’t fire standard ammunition, as this warehouse was full of munitions and the whole thing would be caught up in an explosion. In total there were nineteen soldiers; fourteen exploring the room and four operating the lights. The last one was this unit’s leader, organizing the whole thing. He was their target.

Katsumi nodded to the side and received a nod from Ayane in return. Katsumi dropped into the aisle behind the two soldiers that had passed them. She moved silently, approaching the one in back. No matter how quietly she did this, the one in front would hear something and look back, but that would be fine. Katsumi moved quickly; her left hand whipped around and hit the soldier in the throat as her right caught the hand holding his gun, one of her fingers slipping behind the trigger so it couldn’t be pulled. Her left arm instantly curled around his throat, choking him out now that he couldn’t make a sound.

The soldier in front turned at the small noise and his eyes widened as he brought his gun up, but Ayane landed beside him and caught his gun, twisting it to break his finger. Of course he yelled in pain, but that was preferred at this point; Ayane quickly spun his weapon and shot him with it, and Katsumi let the other now-unconscious soldier slip to the ground before picking up his weapon and killing him with it. Then the two were back up in the crates, racing as far as they could before slipping in between two crates as searchlights swept across their position towards the source of the sound. As soon as the lights were past they began moving to the side, taking up hiding places.

The soldiers that found the bodies seemed angry. Four of them climbed the crates, and they could hear others being ordered to watch the aisles around the area. From below them, between two crates she’d pushed apart to make just enough room, Katsumi watched as they unfortunately moved towards the spot her sister was hiding in. That wouldn’t work; she waited until the fourth soldier was passing her, then grabbed his ankle and yanked his leg down into the crevice she was in, breaking or twisting something judging by the sound he made. The other three turned and she leapt up on top, wrapping an arm around the soldier’s neck and turning his body to intercept the fire from the front two soldiers as she shot the third. The front two dropped from Ayane’s fire in the next few seconds, then the two sisters were up and moving again before the searchlights landed on the new bodies.

Six down. Katsumi paused to shoot one of the searchlight operators, followed by shooting out the light. They then ran towards another side of the warehouse, hopping from crate to crate before finding a new hiding spot. Seven down, eleven to go before the target was clear. Three soldiers ran beneath them and Katsumi loudly landed behind them. They spun around to see her, but two of them went down as Ayane shot them from the other side. The last one spun in confusion to find the new attacker and Katsumi easily gunned him down before disappearing back into the supplies. Ten down. Two soldiers moved carefully across the crates as they looked in each crevice with increasing caution.

It didn’t help, even though both sisters’ weapons were empty. As one of them looked into a dark spot Katsumi appeared in it and smashed the butt of her gun into his knee. As he fell forward with a cry she jammed the gun into the spot and caught his head, yanking it down so his neck landed on the edge of the gun, crushing his windpipe. She ducked back down as the other soldier began firing in her direction, hitting his ally more than anything. Ayane came up behind him, bashing the back of one leg. As he went down on a knee she kicked his gun from his hands and brought her own up against his neck from behind, pulling it tightly until he went limp. Twelve down. They grabbed the new weapons and moved; had to keep moving.

The three remaining soldiers exploring the room were extremely nervous now, jumping at every shadow. It didn’t help when Ayane’s fire took out another searchlight and operator. Thirteen down. Even the unit’s leader looked scared, as well as angry. He yelled at them that he wouldn’t be beaten by two little girls. He was on the edge, though, and he would flee the second the last man went down; that couldn’t happen, they needed his information. The two sisters split up, each moving towards a different wall. Ayane fired to make the three exploring soldiers follow her. They took out the remaining two searchlights at the same time; fifteen down. The leader was shaking now, calling for the three soldiers to return to his side. Cowards were so easy to predict.

Katsumi landed in front of him, startling him so much he wasn’t even able to get his gun up before she hit him. As he stumbled back she ripped the gun from his hands, then moved behind him and put it to his head as the remaining three soldiers came out. They immediately raised their guns but he waved his hands wildly, shouting, “No, no! I’m right in the way, fools!” They paused but didn’t lower their weapons, unsure how to proceed from this side of things. Ayane helped them out by shooting one from behind. The other two spun and as Ayane shot one, Katsumi turned the gun and shot the other one. The leader tried to use this to escape but she kicked out his legs, sending him to his back.

They set up a chair, using the same heavy-duty tape that secured most of the room’s crates to secure him to the chair. He looked between them, disbelieving that girls of that age had killed his whole unit and captured him. “What do you want?”

Katsumi stood in front of him and folded her arms. “Eli Vans was here yesterday,” she said, using their father’s current alias.

“We want to know what he’s doing and what he’s planning,” Ayane added as she moved to his side.

The man laughed. “You… You’re kidding, right? I tell you, he’ll kill me.”

“If you don’t, we’ll do much worse,” Katsumi said without hesitation.

“Sorry, but he’s a little more intimidating than you. I’m not saying a word.”

Katsumi shrugged, not at all bothered by the refusal. It was only temporary anyway; it always was. “Fine.” She began walking around, looking over the tables lining the side of the warehouse.

“…What are you doing?” the man asked in confusion.

“She’s looking for something to use,” Ayane answered simply.

“Ah.” Katsumi picked up a sheet of sandpaper. “This’ll work.” She walked towards the man. “Last chance. Sure you won’t talk?”

“Being able to kill doesn’t mean you’re able to torture. I’m sure. Good bluff, though.”