Velvet Dogma About 3300 wds (27 page)

She sobbed. "Andy."

The Black Heart fell to the floor.

Andy flicked on a light he'd brought with him, shone it on the dead man and kicked a wicked stiletto from the man's outstretched hand. Rebecca heard it skitter away into the darkness.

Eyes fixed on her, Andy rose slowly. A belt cinching his waist held grenades, a POD and another baton. He wore black and gray rags lashed tightly around his body like a Day Eater. His matted hair clung to his head. He had a knot over his left eye and a scrape along his left cheek. He looked like he'd been through war.

Was he out to get her? Was he going to take her to the Pacific Rim Amalgam? She took one look into his eyes and knew that she'd been had. She'd believed Kumi, but the lying bitch had been fooling her since the beginning.

"Where were you?" she fell into his arms.

"Trying to find you."
 
He petted her hair as he stared into her eyes.

"I was here all along."
 
She grinned.

"I just didn't know where here was until this morning."

Rebecca buried her face against his neck and squeezed him tightly. She'd never thought of herself as a woman who needed a man, and she never would, but she'd missed Andy terribly. He complimented her, and her him.

"Now that you've found me," she said, "Let's get the hell out of here."
 
Grabbing his hand, she moved to leave.

Suddenly a voice shattered the moment.

"Not so fast, Velvet Dogma. You have something I need."

They both turned towards the voice and saw Kumi illuminated in the doorway holding a baton in each hand. When she smacked them together, they sparked madly. The maniacal glee in her eyes, the savage grin on her face, her white-knuckled grip on the batons—it told the tale of another Kumi altogether, one who would never let their lives end with the solace of
And they lived happily ever after
.

"I
trusted you."
 
Rebecca stared at Kumi across the shadowed room, the hand light on the floor creating a wedge of illumination on the opposite wall. How had she been so deceived? From the beginning the woman had had her own design on Rebecca.

"There's no reason to stop now. I've always been on your side, Rebecca. Come to me while you still can."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your life. Don't run away with Mr. Hoke. He's a criminal. No good can come from him. You've paid your debt to society. Stay and be a part of this new, free world. Leave, and you'll be on the run for the rest of your life."

Rebecca looked from Andy to Kumi. Was she damned either way?

"I don't know what you really want, lady, but Rebecca isn't going anywhere with you."
 

The conviction in Andy's voice made her proud.

"Does your courage match your conviction?" Kumi raked the batons together like a Philipino escrimadora, sending sparks everywhere. Rebecca had once seen a martial arts demonstration where the weapon's master had wielded a pair of common-looking sticks in deadly blurred arcs, the individual sticks moving too fast to discern. She saw this professional potential in Kumi and feared her heart skipped on Andy's behalf.

He stepped in front of Rebecca and gritted his teeth. "I'm not afraid of you."

"You will be."
 
Kumi advanced into the room.

Things were moving too fast. One moment Rebecca was doubting everything Andy had said, the next she was embracing him. One moment Kumi was her friend reintroducing her to modern society, the next she was ready to do battle. Rebecca liked both of them and didn't want to see either of them hurt.

"Wait—stop!"
 
Rebecca stepped between them, her arms outstretched. "You can't fight over me. I won't
let
you fight over me. Enough people have died already."

Kumi shook her head. "Get out of the way, Rebecca."

"No! Stop this fighting. Let's figure this out."

"There's nothing to figure out."
 
Kumi glared past Rebecca to Andy. "This criminal wants to take you from me, your lawful and legally appointed representative. I can't let him do that. Such is my duty."

Andy shook his head. "I'm not a criminal."

"Then why'd you run from the police?"

"We were afraid for her life."

"The police were trying to save Rebecca from you."

"How were we supposed to know that?" He shrugged.

Kumi raised a dispassionate eyebrow. "Most people begin with the premise that the police are here to help."

"Most people don't lose their brother and all of their other friends to mysterious deaths. Most people aren't chased by these guys," he said, gesturing towards the body.

Kumi frowned. "This is asinine. I'm the legal authority here. It should be obvious that I'm in the right."

"How do you explain the Black Hearts?" asked Rebecca.

"I don't. I'm here to protect you from them
and
him."

"But I thought they were with you."

"These assassins? Never!" Kumi spat the words. "I told you, they were after your brother's stuff. They only found out about you later. They don't even know who you were in the beginning."

"Then how did they find out? If not from you, then who?"
 
Rebecca couldn't help but glancing at Andy.

"What? You think I hired them?"
 
He lowered his stick, shocked by Rebecca's doubt. "Why would I do that, Bec? I
love
you!"

"You didn't even know me before. You couldn't have loved me then."

His eyes widened. "So you think I hired them and then changed my mind?"

"It looks like you took the words right out of her mouth."
 
Kumi grinned and beckoned for Rebecca to join her.

But Rebecca shook her head. "Now
you're
putting words into my mouth. That's not at all what I was thinking."
 
She put her hands to her head. "I'm just trying to reason through this. Just because a thought crosses my mind, it doesn't mean I believe it."

"Rebecca," Andy said evenly, "I can't prove anything. All I can do is tell you that I love you, and that as long as I'm alive no harm will come to you."

"Isn't that marvelously melodramatic."
 
Kumi rolled her eyes.

Rebecca ignored the snide remark and stared into Andy's eyes. She couldn't be sure of anything. She'd
never
be sure. Such was the nature of trust. She loved Andy and even now empathized with his frustration. She wanted to hold him and tell him that she loved him, apologize for doubting him, try and make him understand that she wasn't at all perfect, but just a woman sent to prison for twenty damned years.

Then there was Kumi. She'd been the first person Rebecca had met as a free woman. She'd been a friend. Her concerns seemed real. She'd been there for her. If she was guilty of anything, it was lying about Andy's death.

Then, an epiphany cut through her confusion—Rebecca realized that she'd rather love and be loved and be wrong, than never have been loved and be right. She didn't know if her decision was the right one, but she loved Andy. She trusted him. She'd put her fate in his hands, and hope that she'd chosen well.

She stepped towards him. "Oh, Andy."

He closed the distance.

Rebecca reached for him, but instead of embracing her, he shoved her roughly aside. She fell to the ground, pain spiking from her shoulder.

The clash of batons filled the room as she hit the floor. A warrior's scream broke from Kumi's mouth as she lashed out with a sizzling strike. Andy cried out as smoke rose from his left shoulder, the blow spinning him around. He staggered out of the way, desperately swinging his baton to ward off Kumi's blows, then crashed into the wall. He barely managed to turn before Kumi was on him. Her batons moved so fast they were almost invisible. Kumi dashed into Andy's range then one, two, three strikes on his chest.

He moaned, bringing his baton up too late to defend.

Kumi lashed out again, slower as her confidence built, and struck Andy in the thigh. He grunted, swung his own baton in a sluggish lunge and almost hit her.

"All that blather," mocked Kumi. She dodged in, poked him in the stomach with the end of the baton, then dodged away.

"You told Rebecca you'd protect her."
 
Kumi sneered. "How can you protect her when you can't even protect yourself?"

"Leave him alone."
 
Rebecca tried to get to her feet, but stumbled over the body of the Black Heart.

Andy sagged against the wall. His torso smoked in five different places. His arm hung slack at his side. He couldn't bring his head up. He had the look of a beaten man. His defeat had come so quickly, so unexpected.

Kumi approached him at a swagger. Her cock-sure grin mocked him. She reached out to push the baton against his chest, but she never made it. Andy pivoted and delivered a sidekick so unexpected that it doubled her over. His heel and the edge of his boot sunk into her midsection, propelling her back across the room.

Hitting a wall, she managed to keep a grip on one of the batons. When she regained her footing, her balance was a little shaky. "Fooled me," she muttered around a forced smile. She found her balance and stood straighter. "But that's the last time."

Rebecca snatched the other baton from the floor, but before she could bring it to bear, Kumi flicked the end of hers onto Rebecca's arm. The sizzle shook Rebecca to the bone, then pain blossomed from the point of impact until all of her cells screamed. As Kumi strode past her, Rebecca dropped to the floor no longer in control of her muscles.

Andy stood ready now. Gone was his beaten look, replaced by a look of wily confidence. His grin was a mixture of determination and expectation, his mouth slightly open as his tongue darted across his upper lip.

Kumi didn't hesitate. Her last six steps were at a run as she snapped the baton up and around Andy's head. But he was too fast. He'd learned to duck, and instead this time
he
was the one to land the first blow, catching her on her shoulder, as he came up slashing. Her body shook and she dropped the baton.

That was all that Andy needed. He tossed his own baton aside and dove for her feet, jerking her to the floor. She hit hard, her face taking the impact. He rolled over the back of her leg, bringing her feet with him and bending them backwards.

"Son of a bitch," Kumi screamed, thrashing her body as best she could, flailing with her hands as she tried desperately to find the leverage to escape. But face first as she was on the floor, she couldn't get to Andy who'd grasped her from behind.

Still she struggled, each inch gain of freedom paid with the price of a mile of pain. She managed to free her right leg just before he dislocated her knees. He tried to get his grip back, but was too late. Still, he kept doggedly to her left leg, working his legs around it in a figure four, trying to regain his leverage. What he couldn't accomplish with two, he'd get by with one.

But Kumi turned and brought the edge of her hand down on Andy's windpipe. Andy had no choice but to let go of the other leg as fire erupted in his throat and his hands clawed at his windpipe. His eyes bulged as he gasped for air.

Kumi scrambled to her feet, turned and kicked him twice in the stomach. Before she could do it a third time, Rebecca pounced on her from the behind, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman's neck. Kumi overbalanced and slammed into the wall, forcing Rebecca to let go. As Kumi stumbled free, she turned and faced Rebecca.

Neither had a weapon.

Rebecca stood in
single whip stance
—front knee bent, trail leg straight behind her, front arm ready to parry, rear arm held in reserve like a whip ready to strike. For many Tai Chi Chuan was just an exercise, something to be done in the morning before tea and muffins. But it had been developed as a hidden combat form. The moves were as complicated and deadly as any martial art. The slowness of the exercise fooled almost everyone. Those watching never realized they were watching something deadly...like her guards. Rebecca had practiced every day of her incarceration, her movements slow, deliberate and perfect, without any of them the wiser that she was actually performing slow motion combat. To use them now at speed felt exhilarating, if not a little terrifying.

Kumi launched a round kick at Rebecca's head. Instead of parrying, Rebecca leaned back, and reversed her stance. The kick sailed past. Kumi followed the kick with a straight right hand towards Rebecca's midsection.

All the moves Rebecca had learned, all the names, flashed through her brain. She used
Snake Creeps Down
, parrying the punch down to the ground, then followed it with
Golden Pheasant Stands On One Leg
. Letting go of Kumi's wrist, Rebecca stood, placing all her weight on her forward leg, then as Kumi punched with her left hand, Rebecca shifted her weight to her trailing leg, leaned back, grabbed Kumi's wrist, and jerked the woman off her feet.

Kumi got up slowly from the ground. A nod of recognition and a smile of respect preceded her next attack. She feinted to her left with a punch, kicked towards Rebecca's midsection, then leaped into the air with a flying elbow.