Like glass, one day break easily. You make her break. I think, one day.
Smoke drifting between us on the quiet air.
Bring her down.
Bring her down now.
‘Acknowledge your karma, Mariko, and obey it. There is nothing more for you here.’
Flash and the gun banged and I took the shock and waited. Fifth shot, that had been the fifth shot and there could be a sixth, I didn’t know.
Stink of cordite and the echoes coming back from the hangars, the nerves running with fire because of the effort needed to absorb the impact every time it came, the effort to go on standing still, to show her the tranquil mien of an immortal so that the voodoo would work.
Not voodoo, really. I’d told her the eternal truth and she’d recognised it and knew its power.
One last throw, because I had to find out.
‘There is nothing you can do now, Mariko, but obey your karma.’
She raised the gun and took aim at my head and fired but there was no flash this time, just a click from the hammer, a five-shot chamber, yes, and I watched the final understanding come into her eyes and dwell there, the understanding that this creature was beyond her reach in this world; and then her arms went down and her hand opened and the gun dropped from her fingers and I said, ‘Go to your father now and be at peace,’ and turned my back to allow her privacy for this most intimate of acts and heard the knife hiss from its sheath and the soft cry as the blade was buried and I began walking across the tarmac towards the lights.
The End
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13