Redemption (23 page)

“Sweet dreams, Shinsaku,” she whispered in the darkness.

CHAPTER 31

The intensity of their training only increased, as the group had foreseen. The next day, Maki charged them with infiltrating the ventilation ducts of the building. He had them enter pipes in which there was barely room for one person. Silence was mandatory, and Maki ran through the building, identifying who was in the vents by the noises they made. Should he find them, they were sent back to the beginning. He switched up the scenarios. Sometimes, he took individuals and sometimes had them work as a group. The repetition was exhausting, but he told them:

“If I were your enemy and I can guess who you are, it means death for you! You have to be silent, imperceptible and invisible. You’ll start over if you’re incapable!”

As the group became more agile and efficient, Maki debuted another stream of training. After the vents, he had them infiltrate the building completely exposed, playing with shadows and lights. Again, Maki continually tried to reveal them. After the shadows, he went over surveillance cameras, locks of all types, hacking, automobile theft, tailing and evasion in the streets of Tokyo. He taught them to understand electric systems and modify them to black out or burn. He rode them until they’d reached an acceptable level in his eyes. Some fared better in some areas than others. In these cases, they helped each other. They wanted the group at large to be as cohesive as possible.

“You twist the red wire with the yellow to short-circuit the elevator and stop the descent!” Guerra ordered.

“I know, I know! Gimme a second!” Ming Mei retorted, burning with concentration in the elevator box. It was coming down slowly but surely, carrying them and Shinsaku.

There was a spark and a
zing
and the elevator stopped with such a jerk that the three of them found themselves on the floor. The lights cut out as well, leaving them in total darkness, immobile, and suspended.

“Christ, that hurt!” Ming Mei shouted, having burned her hand, which was the apparent source of the burning smell.

“You’re supposed to link it up
before
if you want a soft landing,” said Shinsaku.

“I forgot, I’m sorry! I don’t get this electric bullshit,” she grumbled.

“So… good reason to start again… let’s go!” said Guerra.

“Hey, by the way, what happened to Stone? We didn’t see her this morning,” said Shinsaku.

“She’s definitely with Namara. She can’t sit still when he’s around,” said Ming Mei, grinning in the darkness as she rooted for her flashlight.

“Yeah… just like you when I walk into a room!” said Guerra.

“Oh, yes, in your dreams, definitely.”

Shinsaku and Guerra nudged each other and laughed.

“Yeah, now that you mention it, she probably is with him,” said Shinsaku. “So let’s let them get to it, and have another go at this thing.”

“Be a mate and try not to fry us, burn us or blow us up,” said Guerra.

“
So
funny,” she spat, returning to the box with its hundreds of wires, her flashlight in her teeth.

*     *     *

“So. What the shit do I do next,” said Namara, scowling at the computer screen.

“You don’t panic, first of all. Find the encrypted file and transfer it to the principal folder,” said Kamilia, leaning across him to see better.

The goal of the exercise was to infiltrate an encrypted network resembling a company database, one that could contain personal information on its employees. He’d never been tech-smart to begin with, and now that he was under pressure to become so he’d come to hate computers with his whole body.

“Ok, now… click on the file and it’ll hook you up to the network. You have five seconds to bypass your encryption screen, or else you’ll be detected as a hacker and blocked, understand?” she asked, watching his eyebrows knit as he stared at the screen.

“Yeah, I think…”

“Good. Go!”

He started to type rapidly to do as Kamilia had said. He bit his lip and tried to beat the time limit.

“Shit, it froze!”

“How could it freeze? Are you sure?”

“Yes! These fucking dumb computers! I’ve never seen something so mentally deficient as a computer! It’s unbelievable that these bastards run our lives,” he shouted, face red, all rage directed at the screen in front of him. He punched the keyboard in resignation. He leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes to calm himself. She watched him without saying a word so as to not upset him further and tried not to laugh. She bit her lip to conceal her smile.

“You know what? Computers all hate me. How lucky that it just craps out as soon as I’m getting started.”

“Hold on a second,” she ordered as she took over the keyboard. A hint of perfume swirled into his nose. In a few seconds, the computer was working again.

“What did you do that I didn’t?”

“Nothing… you have to be sweet if you’re going to get what you want,” she said with a wink as their hands touched.

*     *     *

One morning, Maki had them pack their bags, explaining that they were leaving the building for good. The group moved to the mountains several hours from Tokyo. They set up in a small abandoned village on the side of a mountain. It was cold and snowy, and a dense forest surrounded the village. Small wooden structures were installed one next to the other, mingled with little streets which must have once been full of people. There were still curtains tacked to some of the buildings, painted with Japanese characters. Looking over the buildings, it was clear that some were houses, some were businesses, proof that once there was real life in this place where time seemed to have stood still.

  “Welcome to your new environment! You are now in an ancient ninja village, currently abandoned, as you see. Once, ninjas of my brotherhood lived here with their family under the shelter of the mountains. They lived reclusive and isolated here to train away from curious eyes. The rigor of the climate and the isolation of the mountains makes this an undesirable place to live, and difficult to access for most people – perfect for ninjas. You will live here and become similar to them. Here, everything will change you, harden you, believe me!” he shouted, raising his head and closing his eyes to feel the light snow flakes caress his face.

*     *     *

As Maki had foretold, they changed. From the comfort of their Tokyo building, they had passed to the constant cold and humidity they now endured night and day. The group slept on rugs and washed with cold water. Gradually, their bodies adapted and endured. Shinsaku and Kamilia, who had never lived in a cold climate, had it the hardest. Their only food was the fish in the nearby stream, their only heat was from fire. They had reverted back to the most basic state, the same level as nature to find their primitive instincts and become true predators.

Maki began their instruction in ninjutsu with bare-handed techniques. Ninjutsu focused on controlling the joints and breaking the bones of an adversary. The techniques required great knowledge of the anatomy to align the bones to break them, and twist the joints. The techniques were short and necessitated little energy output. The goal was to beat them as fast as possible. Maki taught them outside. He threw them into the snow, hit them, twisted them to the limit of what is humanly possible, to the goal of teaching them to work constantly despite the pain. Constant pain was essential to harden the mind-body. He abused them, but not to the point of serious injury. In the evening, they did their best to get some sleep, and the next morning, despite the aches and bruises and pains, training began again.

What Maki made them realize was that Nature was to be worked with, not fought against, because she would always win. He taught them camouflage, how to make poison, and how to poison weapons. They used fire as a guerilla technique as well as swords and any number of other weapons. Maki taught them to melt into their environment and to use it to survive, and to eliminate one’s enemy. They spent so many nights learning to tread quietly, climb and move like cats. They hardened, grew at ease in their hostile environment. They guessed that meant they were fully ninjas. One night, as they sat around an outdoor fire that lit the wintery countryside, thousands of stars sparkling in the firmament, Maki spoke his last to them.

“Only darkness follows the passage of a ninja,” he said, staring into the fire with his black eyes and offering no explanation. Then they went off to sleep without realizing that he would disappear during the night. All that remained of him were the barest traces in the snow that surrounded the village.

*     *     *

“Maki’s gone,” shouted Ming Mei at the others, who were (up until then) still asleep.

“What, what do you mean he’s
gone
? Are you sure?” Stone demanded, half asleep.

“Yeah, I’m sure I’m sure. His stuff is all gone, everything’s empty, he disappeared!” she retorted, nervous.

“Why would he leave without saying goodbye, makes no sense,” Guerra muttered.

“Yeah, it does… there’s nothing else to teach us. His work is done, our training is finished, like he promised,” said Namara from the floor.

“I’m with James. No sense. He wouldn’t have left without saying something. Maybe he’s off training, or maybe he just moved his crap somewhere else,” said Shinsaku as he pulled his clothes on.

Namara shook his head.

“Look around if you want, but you’re not going to find him. He’s flown the coup.”

Shinsaku covered the village, but he had to admit that Maki seemed to indeed have disappeared. When he returned, his colleagues were in deep discussion.

“You were right, Namara. Maki’s gone,” he said as he banged the snow off his feet.

“Great, and what now?” asked Kamilia.

Silence fell. They stared at each other and nobody had a thing to say, like they could never have foreseen this day arriving.

“It could be time to go home,” said Ming Mei slowly.

“Return? To what exactly? Our lives? With all that we know now? You think you can do that?” Kamilia asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think we really have a choice,” said Ming Mei.

“There’s never been a group like us before. We can’t have gone through this all together just so we can split up at the end. That… makes no sense,” said Shinsaku.

Ming Mei glared.

“I know, Shinsaku, but what do you want me to tell you? That was what we understood from the beginning.”

“There’s another option,” said Namara from the back of the room.

“Like?”

“Well… James and I worked on contracts handed down to us from an employer…”

“What kind of contracts?”

“Um… the same kind we’ve been training for. We work for the government, but we’re independent, if I can put it like that. A few more independents wouldn’t disturb anything.”

“Are you saying… we should become mercenaries?” Ming Mei’s eyes were wide.

“Exactly, or ninjas, if you prefer. One thing I know, together we’ll be an unbeatable group of mercenaries, a never-before-seen entity. And, we’ll be our own bosses, exactly like the ninjas were, or are. We’ll take contracts we like, make the hit, and collect the money. So… any volunteers?” he asked.

Guerra grinned.

Ming Mei, Kamilia and Shinsaku just stared at him for several seconds. Their eyes gave more agreement than words ever could.

“I think we have three volunteers right here,” said Shinsaku, cracking his knuckles like they were heading into a fight.

“Great! I think it’s time to leave this shithole!” said Namara.

“Good plan,” said Ming Mei.

“Perfect. So, in that case… move out,” Guerra called in his best military voice, hoisting his backpack over his shoulders.

CHAPTER 32

A few days had passed since the end of their training in Japan and Danny had returned to the US to rest up before his next adventure. Kamilia had invited him to her house in San Diego to show him around California. Danny, this being his first voyage under Californian sun, was charmed by the city and the desert heat of southern California. He felt in a complete other universe. He’d gone from the glacial humidity of the Japanese mountains to the scalding Californian heat in the space of a few days. He had come to know Kamilia in a completely different context. It seemed to him that, for the first time in his life, he could tell someone anything, as though he’d known her for his whole life. The more he looked at her, the more beautiful she became, with those big brown eyes and that waterfall of hair that glided over her tiny bronze body. He couldn’t fall in love with her, he knew that. With where they were right now, what they were trying to do, there was one way
that
could go – unmitigated disaster. But his body wanted hers more and more each day. He woke once and couldn’t find her – thought she’d gone up to the roof to train – no Kamilia, but the roof, with its clear blue pool and panoramic view of San Diego and the Pacific ocean, was too much to resist.

The terrace was dotted with dwarf palm trees whose leaves waved like fingers in the light ocean wind. No clouds on the horizon, just the unending azure and the burning sun. The terrace and the pool were completely deserted, and so, without a second thought, Danny plunged into the sparkling water. His skin immediately released the sun’s angry heat.
I could spend the whole damn day in here, it’s stupid hot out there.
The weatherman had warned of a heat wave that would rage through southern California for several days and Danny had never felt heat like this in his life.

He swam a few laps, ducked his head under, threw back his hair sending water flying over the pool deck, and grabbed his sunglasses. He leaned against the edge and held himself in place with his arms while his body floated lazily. He tipped his head back, closed his eyes, thought of nothing. All there was, heat and coolness – heat above the surface, calm below, dry above, wet below.

“How’s the water?”

He opened his eyes. Kamilia was smiling at him, laying a towel down on a lounge chair. He watched her as she walked her feminine walk. Her movements were light and graceful. She wore a bright yellow bikini and black sunglasses. His eyes skimmed the curves her bikini showed.
This woman is perfection – jeez, I’d better watch myself.