Girl Fights Back (Go No Sen) (Emily Kane Adventures) (4 page)

And when it came down to it, George
turned out to be essential to the endeavor. Michael had no traction in Japan.
He was just a big, lumbering American. But somehow George fit right in. The
lead scientist, Dr. Kagami, was assisted in the lab by his daughter, Yukiko.
She knew the inner workings of every aspect of her father’s research. She was
his confidante, his partner and his colleague. Soon she was George’s
confidante, too.

Yuki had long recognized not only
that her father’s central genetic hypothesis was false, but also that his
project was morally wrong. But he was stubborn. She continued working on it
with him, exploring every avenue of his investigation, in the hopes he would
eventually see just how barren the project was and give it up. She loved him,
and could not bear to see him waste his life in this way. She was also afraid
if she left him, he would be preyed upon by unscrupulous elements both within
Japan and from abroad.

Something about George struck a
chord with her. She didn’t know why, but she trusted this
gaijin
(or foreigner) with the empty eyes. He had been lured there
because of her father’s work. He represented everything she feared. But she
could see he also understood it was misguided, even wrong. And there was a
subtle, quiet spirituality about him that reassured her. She could trust him.

They spent almost two years working
with Yuki, cajoling her, deceiving her, learning from her, understanding her,
and in the end helping her. Meacham was very patient. The moment of crisis came
when the lab was infiltrated by a Chinese operative. Her father was in real
danger. If the Chinese made off with Dr. Kagami’s research, or worse yet, with
Dr. Kagami himself, Meacham would consider it a failure, even a betrayal. It
didn’t matter that the entire research project was utterly fallacious. The Chinese
didn’t know that, would never believe it, and neither would Meacham.

In the end, the Chinese did manage
to steal most of the important records of Kagami’s work. But they did not
manage to steal him. When the theft was uncovered, he declared that his work
was a failure, there was no genetic solution to the side-effects of the
so-called Predator drugs. But no one believed him. The Mori Corporation accused
him of espionage and sabotage. His reputation was destroyed, and he committed
suicide. But all the interested parties still believed his research was valid
and all came to the same conclusion: they needed to secure his daughter to
complete the project. Yuki was in great danger.

But George and Michael acted first.
They spirited her out of Tokyo, hid out in Hokkaido for a few days, and then
south to Kyushu. Eventually they made their way to Okinawa, where George hid
out with Yuki for several weeks. From there, through Micronesia and then Samoa,
they picked their way to Hawaii. They hid there while Michael tried to patch
things up with Meacham. He flew back to Manila and turned over everything he
had from Kagami’s records, explained the fallacy at the heart of the entire
idea, told him everything Yuki had painstakingly explained to him. He was no
scientist. But neither was Meacham. Eventually, he was appeased. His foolish
dream was banished, at least for now.

When Michael returned to Hawaii a
few months later he was surprised to find a small child had been added to their
party. Where had she come from? Had George found her in Hawaii? She was clearly
at least part Asian. She couldn’t be Yuki’s daughter. Could she? George told
him she was his niece, his brother’s child. Did he even have a brother? His
brother had been married to a Korean woman during the war, who later died in
childbirth. His brother’s health was failing and he asked him to take care of
the girl. Michael did not entirely believe this story. But he was not inclined
to challenge George over it. He owed him too much not to be willing to go along
with it. In fact, he owed him so much he was about to dedicate all his energies
to creating a new life for all of them.

In the ensuing
years, Michael Cardano’s career flourished, without anyone quite knowing very
much about him. He moved from one mid level government post to another,
occasionally leaving government service for the private sector, later returning
to another government post. Without making much of a splash, he amassed a
considerable fortune, and a formidable network of shadowy connections. All
because he knew Meacham, or someone like him, would eventually reawaken the
Predator program. And when that moment came, he would have to be ready. And now
that moment had arrived.

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Chapter 4:
Back in the Woods

By the time Emily got home from
school Friday afternoon she had already planned out her weekend. She collected
her gear: a change of clothes, a sleeping roll, a bottle, her hunting knife and
a few utensils. Also a scope she had borrowed earlier from one of the guard
posts. It must have belonged to a rifle at one time. This might come in handy.
The weather was getting cooler, so she put on a jacket and headed out the back
to the woods. Her father would be back Saturday or Sunday, and she wanted to
have plenty of time to get dug in.

Naturally she headed straight for
Promontory Rock. Well, not exactly straight. She took the most direct route she
could imagine, while at the same time leaving no clues behind her, and as many
false trails as she could think of. If it were possible to trace her steps from
above, as a bird might see them, that is, if they were visible at all, they
might seem to sketch out some sort of rune, or an arabesque. Was the pattern
merely ornamental, or did it have some deep meaning? Or was it like a mehndi,
festive with some sort of ritual meaning. She reveled in the path she was
creating and concealing at the same time, using it to misdirect the gaze of her
pursuer even as she set her heart on the promontory. Her father would not
expect her to go there now that she knew he knew.

The rock projected from a cliff at
least two hundred feet above the ravine below. A stream meandered among the
maples and elms at the bottom. The trees gave way to smaller oaks and mountain
mahogany further up until it finally thinned out to grass and a few shrubs
around the rock itself. One large clump of shrubs several yards away from the
precipice was dense enough to hide a small hollow within. It still held just
enough foliage to conceal her without the need for a lean-to or any other sort
of covering. She could see out in three directions without much difficulty. The
fourth direction was covered by a large rock and some thick brambles. No silent
approach from there.

Of course, she couldn’t build a
fire in there, but she had no intention of doing any such thing. She was
prepared to shiver at night if she had to. A fire would give everything away.
Fortunately, it proved to be a warm night.

She spent most of Friday just
enjoying the view from the precipice. She could see most of the estate from
there. The front gate with its guard shack, the main building, the south side
of the garage. Rolling hills to the east, some small farm parcels just on the
other side. The glow of a small town at the beginning of the evening. By midnight
even that had gone dark. The town wasn’t big enough to have street lights. Or a
shopping mall. To the east the Shenandoahs. Miles of wilderness, much wilder
than the estate, much more beautiful

Cars and large SUV’s came and went
much of the evening. There seemed to be something important happening at the
main building. Perhaps it was another of Mr. Cardano’s parties. If that’s what
it was, it must be a big one judging from the traffic. Yuki hadn’t said
anything about it that afternoon, and the kitchen didn’t seem particularly
busy. Maybe it was something less sociable. Emily was not curious. She was
intent on spotting the moment her father pulled the family car up to the
garage. She was determined not to let him take her by surprise.

The problem with Promontory Rock is
it’s a trap for its occupant. There’s only one safe path up to it. Anything
else would require some serious free hand rock climbing. It took at least ten
minutes to get down the path to the river bed. From there one could go in any
number of directions. The advantage of the rock is you can see for miles. It
would be extremely difficult to approach it unnoticed. But that assumes whoever
is up there is watching carefully.

Emily kept her eyes
moving—front gate, main building (bustling with activity), garage, and
back again. She also watched the paths she had left. If someone was following
her tracks she would be able to see them from up there.

The rifle scope had 12x
magnification. That was enough to give pretty good detail over most of the estate.
She couldn’t make out much about the people bustling about the main building,
but she had a pretty good idea there were a lot of them, and they were moving
quickly. It was too far away for her to hear anything from there. Around three
in the morning things seemed to die down. Just then she saw what looked like
the family car pull around to the back of the garage. That had to be her
father, home a little earlier than he said. That was just like him, trying to
steal an advantage from her with a little disinformation. She watched closely
for any sign of him. She would be able to see him heading across the lawn from
the garage towards the woods. But there was nothing.

The moon was bright that night, and
the estate buildings were easy to see. Sure, a stealthy figure could probably
dart into the woods without her being able to see. But that wasn’t her father’s
way. He wasn’t sneaky. He preferred to be direct. He would walk directly to
wherever he thought she was. Flush her out, force her to break cover and run.
Then she would have to trade a well-meditated hiding place for one chosen in
the moment. He would let her see he was coming, at least initially. Later, once
he was in the woods, he might choose a path at least as ornamental as hers had
been. A direct path would make no sense in there. Then he might pop up
unexpectedly, just when you thought he had to be someplace else. So she kept
her eyes moving.

As she watched the estate from on
high, she felt very much like a silent sentinel. She could see it all, though
she could only hear what was right around her. Everything else was cloaked in
silence. It gave her a feeling of calm confidence. Her gaze was powerful. She
could see whatever would come, as long as she had the will to look. If she
could see it, she could face it, whatever it was. And so she continued looking
with all the intensity she could muster.

She was reminded of the boy. She
didn’t particularly want to think about him just now. He didn’t matter. But
somehow, his face came to the surface of her consciousness. He knew her from
the dojo. He had seen her around school, thought she was cool. At least she
seemed cooler than the other girls. He had approached her a few times, making
idle, empty conversation. He was on the varsity football team, the starting
tailback. He was fast and strong, though not as large as the biggest guys on
the team. He was popular, not bad looking. There were lots of girls who would
like him, who wanted him. When they saw his interest in her they were angry.
Who was she, after all? She was nobody. Just some weird girl with no friends.

A few of them approached her, tried
to intimidate her. They made fun of her clothes, made rude insinuating remarks.
One of them put a hand on her shoulder, meant to push her, maybe pull her hair.
When she caught a glimpse into Emily’s eyes, she shrank back. They all saw it
was no use. They left her alone after that. He joined the dojo the next day.

He was stronger than most of the
boys there, and fast. He could hit hard and his balance was good. It was very
difficult to get him down. He picked up
shotokan
quickly. It appealed to his aggressive instincts. He was pretty good in
sparring. He usually beat the other boys. Sensei seemed to think he had
potential. His name was Danny Rincon.

He asked her if she wanted to go to
a concert at the local armory on the weekend. She had just finished him off in
the ring. What an odd response to defeat. He was lying flat on his back on the
mat. Just as she had expected to see that look of perplexity and embarrassment,
he asked her out. This one’s at least a little bit different from the others,
she thought. But not
that
different. Sensei snorted. She said “okay” at
least partly for the pleasure of surprising Sensei.

He picked her up that evening in an
old pickup truck. The ride over was disconcerting. Neither of them knew what to
say. A lot of irrelevant, semi-personal information came out of his mouth in
nervous spasms. She was a lot harder to talk to than the other girls. Nothing
seemed to impress her. He was afraid of the silence, didn’t want her to
discover she didn’t like him. So he filled up the space with conversation. He
told her how he loved football (she seemed unimpressed), admired his coach
(who?), wanted to go to college on a scholarship, but did not really want to
study anything in particular. His parents were separated. He lived with his
mom. She was an ER nurse at the local hospital. His dad came to all the games
and yelled from the stands. He was afraid to talk about the dojo with her.

The music was loud and irritating.
She liked to be able to listen to herself, and that was impossible here. But
everyone was swaying together, moving with the beat. That was interesting. It
felt almost as if she was connected to all these people, an experience of a
primal synergy. They were all open to the same suggestion. It was almost
communal. But, of course, they were all really alone. The music had brought
them all together, but in the end it kept them all isolated.

They danced. It was almost possible
to see something different in him; if only it weren’t so loud. In between songs
they were jostled by some other kids. They tried to move to the side, to make
way, but the crush was persistent. It was getting oppressively hot on the
floor. Danny suggested they step outside to cool off. He got a couple of ices
from a vendor by the door and they headed out to the patio.