Velvet Dogma

chapter 25



"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.

But with each of these, Rebecca slid out of the way. When Kumi came down, she threw a hard right to Rebecca's head. Moving her head imperceptivity, Rebecca used Fair Lady Works At Shuttles, blocked the punch with her left hand, let it slide down the arm to the elbow, grasped Kumi's shirt, then stepped through so that Kumi slammed into the ground. Rebecca closed the move with a knee to the chest, but Kumi managed to roll away before being pinned.

Back on her feet, Rebecca wind-milled her arms to create distance between herself and her opponent, then returned her arms to the ready guard. Kumi eyed Rebecca's stance, then began to circle. She'd moved only a few feet before attacking, leading with a kick to the knee and a right cross. The kick creased the side of Rebecca's knee enough to send her back a foot. But as Kumi followed through with the punch, Rebecca leaned in, twisted, grasped the wrist throwing the punch and urged Kumi in the direction of her momentum with Carry Tiger To The Mountain. Kumi hit the wall, bounced off and turned.

Kumi wobbled a moment as her eyes cleared. Indignation and rage was quickly replaced by fear as it dawned on her that Rebecca hadn't released her. Using Kumi's wrist, Rebecca jerked the woman into her, then shoved her away. Unable to keep up with the movement, Kumi's knees buckled. Rebecca pressed Kumi to the ground with the inside portion of her forearm. "Parting of the Wild Horse's Mane," Rebecca explained in a tight clinical voice. Rebecca's knee smashed into Kumi's abdomen and her breath left her in a rush.

Stunned disbelief flashed from Kumi's eyes as she gasped. "How?"

Rebecca adjusted her stance until she straddled the smaller woman. "I've had twenty years of practice."

Kumi stared at her, blood trailing from the corner of one eye. Her lower lip had taken the brunt of the fall to the floor earlier and looked like mangled sausage. Blood soaked her teeth, staining them the color of merlot. She was suddenly a lot less formidable and more like the young Asian girl who'd introduced herself to Rebecca in the retro-faux apartment where they'd first met.

"Why didn't you let me go?" Rebecca finally asked.

"I can't."

"I thought I was free. I thought you said I'd served my time."

Kumi tried to push Rebecca off, but didn't have the leverage. "You'll never understand this world, Rebecca." She gave up in exasperation and stared with hate-filled eyes. "There's so much going on that you don't know anything about. You're too naive to survive."

"Is that why you killed my brother?" Rebecca spat.

"He died so we could get you away from the police."

Rebecca's eyes widened as she realized the meaning of those words. "But how could you have him killed? You work for the police."

Kumi explained with all the disdain she could muster. "I might work for the police, but that's not who I am. We would have killed a hundred more people if that's what it took. We needed you and there was nothing that was going to stop me."

"Me? Why me?"

"To save my father," Kumi said, the words delivered in a reverent whisper.

"Your father?"

"He's dying. Through some quirk of genetics, you're as near a match as they come. Without your organs, he'll die."

"Without my organs I'll die," Rebecca said trying to reason with the absurdity of the situation.

Kumi shrugged and turned her face away. "This is my father I'm talking about. If there's any chance at all, I have to try to save him, no matter what it takes. I'm sorry it turned out to be you, Rebecca. I liked you as much as one like me can like another."

"You sure have a lethal way of showing it. First my brother, and now me. Was it you who killed him?"

Kumi regarded Rebecca. "Do you mean did I wield the instrument that killed him? No."

"But you were involved."

Kumi didn't speak but the answer was in her eyes.

Catastrophic emotions of murder and revenge swept through Rebecca. She wanted nothing less than to kill Kumi. The part of her that had raised the little boy named David wanted to exact retribution for his death as an adult. Rebecca felt her humanity sliding away with each heartbeat, as desires to rip and rend the other woman sent tendrils of control through Rebecca's arms and legs. She couldn't help herself. She reached out quickly and snatched the nearest baton from the ground. In one angry move she placed the working end against Kumi's left breast and pressed. The effect was instantaneous as the current shot through both of them locking them in a jittering dance, teeth gnashing, tendons rippling, muscles clenching. Even if Rebecca had wanted to, she was unable to let go.

Kumi rocked and rolled beneath her, eyes bulging and spittle flying from her mouth. The agony being electrically etched onto the once beautiful woman's face was almost payment enough for David's death. But nothing would be enough. Nothing would ever bring him back. Not even her own death. The current had an irredeemable hold on each of them and would not let go. Kumi screamed first, her voice ragged with pain, screeching beginning from deep inside her that rose in decibels until Rebecca joined in, hers a wounded tenor of loss and regret, scraping past each death on the way out and reopening the wounds. Their voices merged into a fantastic song of agony, every rising, ever ragged.

Then Rebecca was flying through the air. She landed against the wall hard enough to dislodge the baton from her grip, but she felt no pain. Her body was still abuzz with electricity, the power short-circuiting her nerves as it coursed back and forth through her nervous system.

Through blurred vision she saw Andy kneeling in front of her. "Rebecca, speak to me." He smacked her cheek with the back of his hand. "Rebecca, are you okay?"

She tried to answer but her mouth ignored her command.

"Jesus." Andy wiped her forehead. "What have you done to yourself? Are you crazy? You could have died!"

"Don't care," Rebecca managed to say through cracked lips.

"Bull. I know you care. You're just pissed off."

"Pithed," she said, her tongue refusing to lift from the floor of her mouth. Pain climbed from her spine, then spread into her limbs. She arched her back and moaned. "Owwww."

"What is it?" Andy's eyes searched hers.

Rebecca clenched her fists, then her toes. She shook her head and flexed her shoulders and the pain returned like a freight train and slammed into her. She gasped, but when Andy sought to hold her more tightly, she pushed him away. "Need to breathe," she finally managed to say.

A scream erupted from the hallway. Other fighting had occurred while their drama took place. Pitched battles still raged in the hall. Andy glanced hurriedly towards the doorway, then back at Rebecca. "Come on, Bec. We need to get out of here." He shook her shoulder. "Snap out of it."

"All right." Rebecca managed to shove him aside as she tried to get to her feet. Using the wall she made it on her second try.

She looked down at her hand. Where she'd gripped the baton, the skin had blackened and peeled back; beneath was raw red oozing muscle. Reaching down, she ripped a piece of material from a sheet pinned to the floor by the overturned bed, then wrapped her hand. She wasn't going to get it fixed anytime soon, but at least she could keep it from getting any worse.

Ready, she turned towards Andy, who stared at the floor across the room. She followed his gaze and noted the empty space. Kumi was gone.

They looked at each other and read the fear in each other's eyes. Based on what Kumi had said, she wouldn't be done with Rebecca until she was dead. There was no telling what Kumi was planning, or whether she'd already regrouped and was coming back with reinforcements. They needed to get out of there.

"What's the plan?" Rebecca asked.

Andy ripped his POD free from his waistband and noted the look from Rebecca as he began to place it over his eyes. "This was shielded from the EMPs." He set it in place and flicked the switch. Ten seconds later he removed it and reattached it to his belt. "Good news or bad news."

"What?"

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?"





She'd noticed that the sounds of the fight had died down to almost nothing. No, they had completely disappeared. What happened to everyone? She had a bad feeling. "Give me the bad news."

"The police have the building surrounded and are mounting a charge. Here, give me a hand, will you?" Andy dragged the door that had been ripped from its hinges over to the corner of the room. Pushing Rebecca into the corner, he placed the composite polymer barrier across the two walls, effectively blocking her in. "Get down and wait for me."

Rebecca did as he said, the agony in her hand rendering her incapable of arguing. She tried to cradle her hand, but the pain raged from within. Nothing she could do could make it stop. She tried to think of something else. Anything. She placed her hand ever so gently on her lap, then asked through clenched teeth, "What's the good news?"

"Thought you'd never ask," came his response from the other side of the door. "The good news is that we don't have to go out. We need to go down." He ran and leaped over the door, all but falling on her as he struggled to turn and bring his hands and arms over both their heads.

"What are you—"

An explosion jarred the room, stealing the air from Rebecca's lungs, leaving the rest of her question unasked. Debris and dust ricocheted off the walls and the ceiling, raining down on them, coating their skin and getting into their lungs. She coughed and managed to suck more dust into her lungs. After a few seconds, Andy pushed the door away and stood. Helping Rebecca to her feet, he hurried to the gaping hole now in the middle of the floor. As Rebecca joined him and looked down, the face of a Day Eater came into view, laughing eyes above a black and white plaid face scarf. Another joined the first, each of them holding a blanket between them.

Andy coughed into the crux of his arm, then gestured towards the hole. "You first."

She didn't hesitate.

She jumped.