Chapter 22

  It has to be the only view that exists in the world— looking out I see dozens of huge buildings like this one, thousands of lights, drones of all sorts flying about. The night sky isn't black here, the air has a grey weight to it. The freight elevator took what felt like forever to get up here, the 101st floor and we weren't even at the top floor. There is a cold beauty of crowded loneliness here, even though there looks to be more humans than I ever imagined. Charlie said there are no Others on the island of Japan, that there is a fierce war on the shores to the west of Japan on mainland China.

  The digital clock reads 3:07, in a light blue glow. They brought it out for me, I watched the minutes switch since 2:21. Lucy was quite eager for me to try the shower, I don't think it was just I spent half the year at sea and smelt like it. It was a bit of a tight fit in the shower, the nozzle somewhere around the middle of my chest, I had to bend over some to step in. I settled on sitting on the floor of the stall so I could get my hair washed. The soap, the treated water, it felt harsh to me. Over the last decade most of my bathing has been in rain water or a pond here and there. The clothes they provided are crisp, but smell and feel too clean. The same with the bedding.

  I can't sleep. Standing in the dark in the living room I just look out. Thinking of Maria frustrates me. My mind keeps drifting to Jen, even to Stinger, but thoughts of Maria pain me the most. Only another 9 and a half years to go before I can see her again. 'Only'. That's if she wants to see me. That's if I want to see her.

  I scoff at myself, was I any better? Was it fair of me to spend the night with Jodi before I left? To want to fill a hopeless void in my soul just for the night, to not be so alone? She said that she understood me better than I know myself in some ways. She told me she tried to be professional when first assigned to me, but that went out the window the moment she saw me walk in the room for the first time. She wanted me despite the obstacles.

  I felt the same, but the problem was, how do I know what my thoughts were and what Carls were? I didn't know at the time, but I do know after the last night with Jodi my feelings for her were my feelings for her. But here I am.

  There is some movement in the dark room, Charlie walks over to me.

  “It's quite the sight out der, eh?”

  “It sure is Charlie. Back home Manhattan is just a bunch of buildings in concrete sarcophagi, it looks decent on the Inside. The province is nothing but mostly wooden and brick structures. This though, it's something else.”

  “Can't sleep?”

  “No. This is the safest, most relaxed I've been in more than a decade, it's difficult to deal with.”

  “How about I introduce you to heated Sake?”

  “I have no idea what that is, but I'm not doing anything else at the moment.”

  We head into the kitchen, the light he turns on is blinding, he gets out a double boiler and a bottle of spirits.

  “I'm not getting you in trouble coming out here, am I?”

  “Not at all, was Lucy's idea. We've been listening to you walking about. She knows what it was like for me when I first got 'ear, far away from home. For a few months her and her brother came over a few times a week. I taught them English without the translator, they taught me Japanese.”

  “The brother stopped coming by?”

  “Well, he had to miss a few visits. You could say Lucy and I started finding other things to talk about and do wid out 'er broder ere. He still stops by to see Edmund, him and I don't talk much. It's difficult, he works for internal security, Lucy with customs, and I'm an outsider. You met him earlier, Shimura.”

  “Wait, Shimura? Lucy said not to trust him, but also he's not an enemy.”

  “Yeah, I tink some of de nuance in 'ur convo was lost dere.” He pours some of the Sake into the double boiler and fetches a ceramic carafe from a cupboard. “He's in a tough spot. With the training he received, the Gift, there are many obligations that go along with it. The government only allows 4 agents at a time to have it and it's kept tightly under wraps. Look mate, I want to be honest wid ye; I don't know why Father thought they would be willing to train you.”

  “Are there any others with the training?”

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  He takes a deep breath, looks at me and chooses his words carefully. “The Yakuza. Dey ave de same system of only 4 of dem having de training at de same time, only dey have a secret 5th. Word is de fifth is de leader of de gang, de strongest one wid de gift dat keeps dem all in-line. The reason both the government and Yakuza have so few is if too many have the Gift then could take over the whole island.”

  “What if we take the training module from the Yakuza?”

  He scoffs, “B'y, if ye doin dat just put a bullet in ye head, it'll be the same result only less pain.” He puts a thermostat in the Sake, then turns off the stove, pouring it into the carafe. He puts it on a tray then leads us to the living room, putting it on a side table he arranged two side chairs and a small table between them facing the window. “Sit.”

  He pours me a drink, we both have a sit. It gives a very warm mellow feeling, I expected it to be more harsh from the smell of it before it was heated. We look out over the city.

  “How many people live here?”

  “On the island? Over two million. Most of them are in the Tokyo area. Outside the city the Others periodically infiltrate. The Yakuza police much of it.”

  “They police? Aren't they a gang?”

  “Well dis is where it gets grey. They protect the people, but also siphon off the well off and the government to fund it. That and smuggling. A lot of what Lucy does is to stop smuggling. Dat's also why she knows how to smuggle giant foreigners wid funny accents in.” He says with a smile.

  “Oh, she smuggled you in as well?”

  “Ha, wiseguy. No, I'm ere as a diplomat. I erd yur government keeps de citizens in the dark about what's going on in the world. Probably for the best. De Others, they control most all of ur continent, it's where it all started. I fink it's a bloody miracle de Province and the Cavern under Manhattan exist. You know New Orleans has free people?”

  “No, I didn't.”

  “Dey has an agreement wid de Others. Basically the only city to be allowed to live peacefully beside the Others in North America. Anyways, it's too late to get into the details of de war all ova de world. Tell me more about yurself. I erd day left you and Raven to fend for urselves for 2 years on dat island.”

  “Yeah. And honestly, we were happy for most of it. Life was so simple; food, shelter, sleep, repeat. Things always seemed to go to shit when others came into our life. It's almost funny, the day they told us they wanted to sterilize both of us was the day Maria and I found out she was pregnant. Her and I both drew our revolvers on the General that suggested we allow them to sterilize us.” I chuckle, “Maria asked him if our answer was clear enough or did we have to send his body home with a hole in his head as a reply to the government.”

  “Ha, sounds like a woman ye don't want to mess wid.”

  “Yeah. We didn't part ways on good terms, and now I won't see her for 9 1/2 years. So I guess that's that.”

  “Wait, you won't see her for 9 1/2 years? Why not? Why that exact time frame?”

  “She made a deal with the Collective; they kept her alive in exchange for her offering to be an envoy of sorts for 10 years.” I feel the tension in my face, the shallow breathing, ”They all were afraid for us to have a kid, to not have control over us like we're a damn science project. Our government, the Collective, they all wanted us to be a part. And they won, we left each other, they found a way for me to not see my daughter or the woman I love, to turn the two of us against each other for at least 10 years. When we parted ways she hated me and I hated her. The woman I couldn't imagine living without, they separated us. All I have in life is to get this training so I can protect them from Stinger. I NEED this so I can protect them from him, to end his threat to them.”

  “Dammit.” He taps his fist on his chair arm, “Well shit mate. I'll have to talk with Lucy, and probably Shimura. Ye don't understand how lucky ye are to fall into the three of us. I couldn't imagine 3 people better suited to help you. Once I tell Lucy, we won't be able to talk away. I'm going to help, but this is a lot. We all have the ability to help and the drive to do what's right. Flip'n Father knew this, he knew how impossible this seemed but knew we would help you.”

  “I'll find another way if I'm asking too much.”

  “No, no you won't. I'm not the type to walk away. It would be like me asking for help and someone walking away from me and Lucy in need and walking away from ourselves. I'm going to discuss things with Lucy. You know, sitting here in a chair with some warm Sake in my belly looking over de city helped me get ta sleep many nights. Try to get some sleep.”

  “I will. Night Charlie.”

  I woke up the next morning rested but with a creaming headache. The sun is rising over the horizon, there is too much activity going on out there to comprehend it all.

  “Good Morning Stanley.” Lucy says, looking down on me as my eyes push open. She kneels down beside me, “We will help you protect your family. It is the right thing to do. Charlie and I agree. And...” She puts her hand on my arm, “Maria loves you, don't you forget.”

  I don't know what it is, still waking up, hung over a bit, worn out, tired but her words go straight to my heart my eyes tear up, I wipe them and clear my throat, sitting upright.

  “Sorry.”

  “Don't be sorry.” She says as she stands and goes to the kitchen. There is a chiming sound from the kitchen, her words are spoken faster and louder. She then calls out for Charlie, he runs out from the back, I go to the kitchen.

  “Shimura is coming over now. He wants to take Stanley in.” She says.

  “Di' he say why?”

  “The man that came with Stanley, he killed Kenji.”

  They are both quiet.

  “Who's Kenji?” I ask.

  “One of the 4.” Charlie replies.