Furious

45

A few minutes later, Captain Miyoshi personally ushered in several police officers of the Kyoto Prefect. Their leader did not look at all happy to see Mr. Kawaguchi sitting beside Kris.

“Chasing ambulances again, Tsusumu-san?”

“Ah, Orochi, you are too late for this one. I got her before you.”

The police officer gave Kris a hint of a bow. “I am Inspector Dogen Osamu and you must come with me.”

At that moment, paper began to issue forth from the admiral’s desk. Mr. Kawaguchi fairly skipped over to pull them from the printer. “I regret to disappoint you, Osamu-san, but Miss Tanaka of my office has already presented our motion before a magistrate. I know this will break your heart, but Her Royal Highness will not be spending the night in your jail.”

“And where will she be staying, in your basement?”

“Hardly, my good man of the law. Mrs. Fujioka has offered her the use of her town house. We will be going there as soon as we are done here.”

“Then you won’t mind if I accompany you,” the officer said.

“And I will be accompanying the both of you,” Captain Miyoshi said.

“You will?” came from both representatives of the law.

“I am instructed to post a Marine guard detachment at the Fujioka residence. Commander Longknife is charged with causing the loss of two ships of the Imperial Musashi Navy. That gives us an interest in this case. The Navy will assure that the commander stands trial for the crimes she is charged with.”

Kris might have been disturbed by this latest development, but Gunny had edged into the room and gave Kris a cheerful wink. Something was going on here she didn’t understand, but if Gunny was good with it, it was good enough for Kris.

With that, they prepared to depart the Mutsu. Jack ducked into Kris’s bedroom, a sight he hadn’t seen before, and returned with Kris’s two self-propelled steamer trunks. His and Penny’s gear had easily been merged into them. With the captain leading the way, a small procession followed. Kris and her lawyer, Penny and Jack, the trunks, the police, and six Marines marching solidly up the rear.

On the pier, several station carts were waiting for them, and they quickly blended into traffic. Their route to the space elevator took them past the Mitsubishi Heavy Space Industry yard just as a shift was letting out. Traffic got much heavier. Still, they made it to the elevator a good five minutes before it departed.

On the ferry, the police officers took over leading the party until Kris’s lawyer objected. “Orochi, you are not trying to take my princess to your holding cells, are you.”

“And if I am?”

“Why don’t we try the VIP lounge instead?”

“Do you have an access card?” the officer asked.

“No, but no doubt Princess Longknife does.”

The cop’s “If it still works” look clearly held confidence that it would not.

To Kris and the police inspector’s great surprise, Kris’s Identacard opened the door to the VIP lounge. Apparently, Grampa Al’s vendetta against Kris had yet to reach its full extent.

Mr. Kawaguchi did a poor job of suppressing a grin as he ushered the police and the Marines into the plush surroundings, thus taking the lounge from nearly empty to overflowing in one quick move.

Several businessmen already enjoying a drink took one look at the new arrivals and took their drinks elsewhere. Kris was left to wonder if it was her, the cops, or the Marines that drew that response.

Likely it was all three.

At the downside station, a limo waited for Kris, as well as several police cars, and a bus of Marines with room for six more.

Kris offered Captain Morishita a seat in the limo, and Mr. Kawaguchi made sure that Inspector Dogen did not get in.

As they pulled away from the curb, Kris asked, “What is going on here? I’m grateful for the Marines. I always feel more comfortable with them around, but a busload of them?”

“And there is a company already deployed at the Fujioka residence,” Captain Morishita added.

“What do all of you know that we don’t?” Jack asked, his security-chief hat now solidly in place.

“We have problems with street ruffians,” the captain said. “Some of them almost seem to work hand in hand with the party in power.”

Kris raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Please understand,” her lawyer immediately said, “I golf with the Prime Minister almost weekly. He is a fine gentleman. It is true that we may shout some things that are less than refined when our young men play his party’s young men at their monthly baseball game. Still, we are all gentlemen.”

The captain of the Mutsu raised both eyebrows.

“Yes, yes, there is a faction among his supporters that no one would accuse of being gentlemen. They are rowdy troublemakers. Still, Torinaga Aki would never give a moment’s thought to anything so uncultured.”

“My Marines will assure that no one else does, either,” the captain said.

The arrival at Fujioka House showed the captain to be correct. There was a small mob waiting on the street outside. Before the Marine guards could open the iron gate, the mob swarmed around Kris’s limo, striking it and rocking it. Several eggs blotted the windows.

The police in the trailing car got out but were quickly lost in the scuffle.

The Marines in the bus dismounted, formed ranks with riot shields, and moved forward with solid intent. The mob backed off; those reluctant to do so were shoved along with the Marines’ shields. Only when the Marines had control of the gate did it open and admit the cars.

Under Gunny’s orders, the Marines folded themselves back through the gate as it closed. Still, the mob swept in, clambering up the iron gate. A few last eggs arched out to yellow the Marine bus.

“What was that all about?” Kris asked no one in particular.

“Did you notice that the mob was just large enough to fill a tight camera shot?” Mr. Kawaguchi said. “Those who watch it on the ten o’clock news tonight won’t know that all that noise was made by less than a hundred thugs. Your Highness, the fight for your life has begun.”

“If we are to join those who have fought for my life,” Kris said, glancing at Jack and Penny, “you must call me Kris.”

“And you must call me Tsusumu.”

The driveway opened into a circle before a huge stone mansion. The entrance to the circle was under a large stone torii.

Milling around the front door was another mob, only slightly less violent-looking. The presence of cameras proclaimed them to be representatives of the media.

“Oh no,” Kris muttered under her breath.

“Your Marines let them in,” Tsusumu said to the Mutsu’s skipper.

“Would you have rather had them in the mob outside?”

The lawyer accepted the lesser of two evils with a resigned sigh. “Try to say nothing,” he said.

“Would it be easier if I agreed to a news conference tomorrow?”

“It will be easier for the moment, but it will still be dangerous to your future.”

“My future is always dangerous,” Kris growled.

At her elbow, Jack sighed.

“Very good, then. We will promise to feed you to the lions tomorrow,” Tsusumu said, and opened the door.

Kris was immediately swept by a tidal wave of questions mishmashed into such a noise that she could understand none of it.

The lawyer went first, followed by Jack. They blocked the door well enough to let Kris and Penny get to their feet.

Tsusumu raised his hands for quiet and got none. He shouted, “The Princess will have a press conference tomorrow at noon,” but Kris doubted that anyone heard him. If they did, they only shouted their questions louder.

Kris was saved by the arrival of a dozen Marines, who formed a phalanx around her and led her into the house.

Once the door was closed, the silence was deafening.

“Is that what I have to expect everywhere I go?” Kris asked.

“I’m afraid so,” Tsusumu answered. “Captain, how long before your Marines are recalled?”

Captain Miyoshi had stayed in the limo until the Marines arrived and had come quietly up the rear of their movement. Now he shrugged. “The Navy Ministry has acquiesced to my request to guard Fujioka House. No doubt pressure will be brought to bear on them.” The captain turned to the lawyer. “Is there any chance that you might use your good offices with the Prime Minister to reduce those pressures? Is any interest of his party served by your princess’s being torn limb from limb?”

Tsusumu did not answer nearly as quickly as Kris would wish. Unbidden, the image of her going as an innocent victim to the headsman came to mind. What kind of game was she being played in? All she wanted to do was get out the word about the fight her people had died in and the fight that might be headed for them all.

Finally, the lawyer spoke. “I do not see any upside to this for Aki-san and his party. I will do what I can to help you keep the Marines here. Clearly, they are needed.”

That settled, Kris took her first look at her new quarters. Though the outside was weathered stone, the inside was simplicity itself. The walls of the entrance were white with parchment hangings, the floors parquet.

The stairs . . .

On the stairs stood a certain woman and her niece.

“Your hair is in desperate need of a good washing,” Abby said, dryly.

“Abby!” Kris shouted.

“Auntie Kris! Auntie Kris! Auntie Kris!” Cara shouted, jumping up and down with the unsuppressible enthusiasm of youth.

Kris flew across the floor and wrapped them in a huge hug. “You made it,” she said, over and over again. “They didn’t get you.”

“We had our story,” Abby drawled, “and we stuck to it. Cara, here, has the makings of a fine liar if I do say so myself.”

“You said if I didn’t keep saying what you told me to say, we’d never see Auntie Kris again. That made it easy to fib.”

“Good to see you again,” Jack said, coming up beside Kris.

“What, man? You didn’t have the good sense to take this great chance to never see this dame again?”

“Blew it,” Jack said, not sounding at all sad.

“He and Kris have been making up for lost time,” Penny said, joining the hug.

“Well, the two of them are finally showing some good sense,” Abby said, and broke from the hug. “I’m running your bath, Your Troublesomeness. It looks like you’re in desperate need of a manicure, too.”

“Are we done here?” Kris asked her lawyer.

His perpetual smile was no longer on his face. That didn’t look good.

“My partner just called me. The prosecutor has set the date for your trial. It starts in seven days.”

“Isn’t that a bit quick?” Kris and Jack both asked. Penny’s mouth was open, but they’d beat her to the question.

“It is. It is most unusual, but not unheard of. We do not go in for long, drawn-out court theater here on Musashi. A subject deserves a prompt hearing, and justice is best served without delay. I had wished for more time, but I have to admit that finding witnesses and evidence is rather out of the question.”

Kris couldn’t argue that point.

“Come, baby ducks, you look like you could use a relaxing bath.”

With that, Abby drew Kris up the stairs and did what she could to make the world and its machinations go away.