Ryllen waited until they were alone to address what he saw. They sat on rocks at the shore’s edge, sharing a pipe. Across the strait, the twinkling lights of Pinchon fil ed the night. The breeze died.
“Are you stil with us?” Ryllen asked. “With Lan?”
“You mean, am I going to obey? Of course, RJ. Green Sun has given my life a purpose. No way I’m stepping out of line. I just wish …” Kai took a long drag on the pipe. “He’s too conservative, RJ. He put us in this position when he gave the kil order seven months ago. We did our job so wel , now we have an enemy massing against us. They’l strike sooner or later. You heard him tonight. We’re going to lose people. We need to make sure they lose more.”
“We wil . We have more informants than ever, and we’l start uncovering the high-ranking collaborators soon. I feel it. Then we’l
have a field day on those cudfrucking traitors.”
Kai passed back the pipe. “We go deeper into the muck, and I swear, you’re more confident every day. Where do you get it from?”
“Dunno. I wake up with the sun, feeling better about myself than I ever have. I kil people nearabout every week, but I don’t blink.
Don’t wanna take it back or run home to Mother – not that she’d open the door. I guess the important thing is I’m taking a stand, Kai. No matter which way this ends, I can say I made a difference.
What else was I gonna do with my life? I’l never be a real Hokki, and I’ve got nowhere else to go.”
Kai grabbed Ryllen’s hand and kissed it. “I agree, RJ. A man has to stand for something. We’re patriots. We do what has to be done.
Someday, they’re going to celebrate us for drawing a line and defending it. I’d just like to be around to hear the cheers. I don’t want them writing poems about me. They can thank me to my face.”
“They wil .”
“Can you guarantee it?”
“They’re not fond of yellow.”
Kai chuckled. “Say what?”
“Your hair. Yel ow. It’s not your best. They’l respond to red. You real y ought to go that way more often.”
“What in The Lagos does my hair color have to … Oh. You’re being funny, RJ. This from a guy who retints his braids twice a week.”
“Somebody has to have a laugh. Keeps us sane. That’s what you always told me when I was down.”
“Fair point,” Kai said.
“Plus, it’s about as beautiful a damn night as they make. The rings? Look at them. Take your breath away. And that city.” He pointed across the strait. “Last paradise on Hokkaido. You and I are fighting to keep it that way. Never been prouder of anything I’ve done in my life.
“I think of those people who don’t know we’re protecting them.
No clue how badly the rings are poisoning the planet or how desperate the continentals are becoming. We’re protecting a way of life. We’re the heroes, Kai. Knowing that puts a smile on my face
every morning. Wel . That, and loving you.”
Kai fel silent. He looked up at the stars and across to the city then turned to Ryllen.
“Nice speech. So, you love me? You never said it out loud before.”
“Wait, what? Sure, I have. Lots of times. I think.”
“Nope. I was starting to wonder.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re wrong.”
“I’m certain I’m not.”
“OK. I won’t push it. You’l just pul rank.”
“Always works.”
Ryllen felt the last of the evening’s tension fade away. So rarely these days did they find time for themselves without the crusade casting a long shadow. Ryllen wanted to hold onto the moment and stretch it deep into the night. When the sun returned, they’d leave the island and resume inflicting death on the enemy.
Until then?
Happiness.
Or were those precious moments together a mere delusion?
Ryllen never stopped asking the question, for so long as he lived. It was one of many he would never be able to shake.
Where did he miscalculate? Was he always naïve? Was love too taxing an emotion in a time of war? Did it cloud strategy, cripple courage, and induce hesitation?
None of these concerns waylaid Ryl en when they returned home to their flat beneath the UpWay. Not as they communicated with their brothers and sisters to organize an assault on their most valuable targets yet. Not as the final intel confirmed they would be intercepting a smuggling ring – twelve immos, two couriers, and a traitor from Hotai Counsel overseeing the transfer.
The smugglers were using the Ronin Swal ows, a limestone cavern along the west-central coast that fil ed with seawater at high tide. It was located five kilometers north of the
