After rushing through the ship and reaching a hidden deck on top of the highest one, we finally get to the surface. Like swimming up from the abyss, our ray of hope is the helicopter hovering and waiting for us.
“Is that Francesco’s? Where is he?” I ask Grandma and Grandpa.
“Don’t worry, he’s already inside! Let’s go!” Grandpa shouts.
CLANG!
The noise of the helicopter makes it difficult to hear each other, but we all turn around to hear where that sound came from. Here, we can’t see the fire, but the smoke moves upward from below us. Because of this, I remember something that we forgot.
“BOOBIES! WE LEFT FRANCESCO’S COUSINS!!”
Boobies frowns and shakes her hand left and right. “Who … ab … uys?”
“WHAT?”
“WHO CARES ABOUT THESE GUYS?!” She repeats.
“HOW ABOUT TIAN SHUI AND TIAN HUO?!”
“THEY’LL FIND A WAY OUT!”
It’s true, the Chinese are very strong, so they’ll figure a way out, but we left Francesco’s cousins unconscious in their cabin. He cares about them a lot and shouldn’t leave without them.
“I’M GOING TO FIND THEM!” I shout.
“WHAT?! NO! COME HERE!” She grabs my hand.
Grandpa and Grandma are already climbing the ladder hanging from the helicopter.
“NO, BUT-!”
“THINK ABOUT IT, THEY DIDN’T DO ANYTHING! THEY’LL THINK THEY’RE VICTIMS OF THE FIRE! THEY WILL SAVE THEM AND RELEASE THEM! NOW GRAB THE LADDER!”
I suppose she’s right; I didn’t think about it.
I put a hand on the ladder and slowly start climbing. Behind me, Boobies follows and sighs from relief. She mumbles a few words in her exasperation that I can’t hear clearly but recognize as “you can’t save anybody.”
Inside the helicopter, Francesco is lying in the back. A nurse, probably also the copilot, is measuring his blood pressure. She gives a cold stare to everybody. The pilot is an old man named Andrea that I’ve seen many times when I went to Francesco’s mansion. He was a butler.
Grandpa and Grandma are already seated, and we put on soundproof headphones with microphones that would otherwise make any communication impossible because of the noise.
“Is everybody here?” Asks Andrea.
“Yes.” Boobies says, coldly.
She pulls the ladder and closes the door with swift movements, like she has done it a lot, and the helicopter starts moving.
“Is he okay?” I ask the nurse, who answers me with a cold stare.
“He’s fine, he’s fine; we talked a lot earlier.”
“He’s fine, he’s fine; Cavalcanti are robust!” Grandpa and Grandma laugh.
“Shut up…” Francesco coughs.
“See, he’s fine, he’s fine!” They sing.
The nurse jumps at their throats with her scalpels and spits. “Why are you so happy? Are you the ones who put him in this state?! I’m going to slice your throats!”
“Grandpa! Grandma!” I shout.
“It’s not them.” Boobies responds. “He got caught in a fire.”
“And who started the fire? Do you think a fire could begin accidentally on the Crowned Shogun?” The nurse continues.
“Calm down, Fabiola!”
The butler stops her with one sentence, and the nurse releases them.
“Francesco wouldn’t have asked to wait for them if it was their fault.”
Old man, you have a lot of faith in Francesco’s sanity…
“Fine, but drop them anywhere. We have to hurry home. I already called the family’s doctors and surgeons. Let’s not keep the dead weight.”
“That’s fine with us.” Boobies sighs.
After a few hours of flight, we finally arrived back on land, and after checking my phone, I noticed it’s already noon. Abhi should wake up soon, and I can't wait to tell him everything.
The Cavalcanti helicopter drops us on top of a building that’s conveniently not too far from our home. The Camorra couple disappeared as noisily as they appeared, and I pray that our paths never cross again. For some reason, DIANA got attached to them, though.
On a motorcycle that DIANA stole from the sidewalk, we ride in the direction of our hideout. Holding on to her as not to fall, I press my chest to her back and feel a slight pain because of the jewels I hid in my bra. But feeling this makes me sure that it was not just a dream, and we nailed this mission!
The fresh air of the morning blows in our hair and makes this island’s heat a bit more bearable… Not that I didn’t get used to it, and it’s nothing compared to the desert I’ve been to...
A bit curious, I finally ask DIANA: “So, why did you call them Grandpa and Grandma? They weren’t that old.”
She takes a few minutes to think before responding. “They kinda reminded me of my grandparents. No, I actually don’t remember my grandparents at all, but they were exactly like I would have imagined my grandparents…”
“I see…”
We stay silent for more minutes until I continue. “I don’t remember my grandparents either; I actually don’t even remember my parents…”
“It’s probably better like that…” She says.
What an awkward conversation. I need to change topics. Yet, while I was still pondering what to talk about, I hear a single assault rifle detonation, and before I can tell DIANA to watch out, we drift violently on the sidewalk, a tire blown. We jump off of the motorcycle that crashes into an abandoned shop a few meters away.
Thankfully, nobody was walking there, apart from a tall, slender silhouette that slowly shows itself in a building’s shadow.
“Heyyy, DIANA, how are you doing?” The unforgettable face of her sister SIRONA smiles.
I turn to face DIANA who instantly froze. I notice her hand slowly rubbing her belly, and I remember all the scars this maniac gave her.
“What are you doing here, you piece of junk?” I spit.
She walks slowly toward us. “I’m here to take back my sister. Your home isn’t a safe place for her anymore.”
“What?”
The time it takes for me to understand the implications of what she said, she puts her hand on DIANA’s shoulder and hugs her.
“I missed you…” She says.
I pull Gandiva from its strap mode and point it at her.
“What the fuck do you mean?”
She clicks her tongue, and a sniper shot comes flying at me. Since I’m highly trained, I have the reaction time to avoid it with a backflip, but there is no way I can take SIRONA and her backup in a fight now.
“Nice reflexes, how did you hear that? Oh, but you have more urgent matter at hand. I thought you kept a tiban at your home. I fear he must be dead by now.”
“WHAT?! WHY?! STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!”
“You should run, sweetie. Your home is burning!”
Panicking, I start running towards the apartment. On the way, I notice the sirens of firefighters and groups of people screaming.
Looking up behind the buildings, I see a tower of smoke scratching the heavens. Inside of me, I pray that it’s a different building. This devil made me a prank. Yet, when I arrive, it’s definitely our home that is set on fire.
I run madly in the crowd, screaming. “ABHI! ABHI! ARE YOU THERE?!”
When I notice that he’s not there, I rush inside the building, ignoring the shouting of the firefighters.
“ABHI! ABHI! ABHIIIIII!” I cry.
I can’t breathe. I cough. I stumble and crawl. In the flat, there is none. My only hope is that he found refuge in the bunker.
I crawl to the underground and fall on the stairs. My head bleeding, the heat growing, my brain gets filled with unwanted memories.
My dry lips repeat meaninglessly. “Everything is a weapon in the Punjab desert…”
I remember I left DIANA with her crazy sister, and the thought makes my heart ache. When I had to choose between her and Abhi, I didn’t hesitate. But I didn’t save Abhi either.
As a curse… I couldn’t save anyone.
In my dementia, I feel like I was back 15 years ago, with a backpack in the desert, a grenade in hand. That everything that happened was just a dream I had in the cold nights of the desert. And when I wake up, I’ll be back in the blazing fire.
In the midst of a scorching day, beneath the relentless sun, a helping hand extends towards me.
"Shixiong, are you alive?"
It's the same shidi from our previous encounter, the one who aided us in boarding the ship. Now, he's the savior pulling me up onto a motorized boat.
As we speed away, his face breaks into a relieved smile, recognizing my return to consciousness.
"Thank the heavens. We just had a meeting with the Masters. We're gearing up for war."
"War?" I mutter in response.
"Yes, indeed. There was a clash with the yakuza."
"I witnessed that... What about our mission, though?"
Darn it, I nearly revealed our clandestine espionage operation to a fellow shidi.
"What mission? I reckon that during wartime, all missions are temporarily shelved."
"How convenient..."
The prospect of waging war against the yakuza doesn't sound all that bad; it offers a glimmer of hope for rescuing TIAN SHUI.
"What's your name?" I inquire.
He gazes at me, a grin exposing a gap where a tooth is missing.
"I go by XIAO SHUI, serving under the Master of Defiance. We're in the same branch, shixiong."
XIAO SHUI... Destiny weaves its enigmatic threads once more.
"We've lost more than 20 security officers in the attack!" The room reverberates with heated voices, each one clamoring to make their dissatisfaction known.
"It's nothing compared to the loss of the Nubian Diamond!" A man, his suit splattered with blood, gesticulates wildly as he vents his frustration.
"Are we sure it's the Triads?" Doubt hangs heavy in the air as some question the assumed culprits.
"They're going to pay for this!" Anger simmers, threatening to boil over into chaos.
"Some sailors say they saw other people!" The uncertainty in the room adds to the mounting tension.
Inside the meeting room of the Crowned Shogun, it's a cacophonous battleground of discontent. The motley crew under my employ engages in a cacophony of complaints, casting blame in every direction while avoiding any personal responsibility.
My frustration and bitterness swell as I observe these self-important leeches, who have no comprehension of what it means to face danger firsthand. It's clear that a purge is in order, a cleansing of those who lack the mettle for true conflict. From this point forward, only the brave and the strong will be valued.
I step out of the office, the cigarette holder in my hand, and call out for TSUKI.
Emerging from the shadows like a lethal wraith, TSUKI appears before me, her attire befitting that of an assassin. The time has come for a reckoning. These gutless sycophants need to be pruned from the ranks. They lack the courage to stand in the face of adversity.
"Kill them all," I order, my voice steady.
Without hesitation, TSUKI vanishes, and the room erupts in a symphony of screams and gunfire. I take a deep, satisfying drag from my cigarette, savoring the quiet that follows.
In the aftermath, one figure remains untouched by TSUKI's blade—a young man with tousled, raven-black hair and a suit drenched in blood. He's the lone survivor, and thus, the sole individual worthy of salvation.
"What's your name?" I inquire, intrigued by his maniacal laughter.
He skillfully twirls his bloodstained knife and responds with a hiccup, "NANAYA. I have no rank."
"NANAYA," I declare, "I hereby bestow upon you the rank of Oni. Come, we're going to war."
Leading the way towards the exit, we advance together across the sea of blood.
