“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.
46
Kris’s night was peaceful. Twice, unusual sounds woke her, but a glance out her window showed Marines pacing off their rounds.
Breakfast was a surprise. The kitchen staff presented Kris’s team with a standard fare of bacon, scrambled eggs, and hash browns for Jack and Cara. There was also oatmeal and muffins for Kris and Penny to chose from. Abby eyed the entire collection and followed Jack to the hot breakfast.
The chief cook smiled happily as her handiwork disappeared. Her smile widened as Mr. Kawaguchi appeared. “Have you eaten?” she demanded.
“Would I eat anywhere else if I might enjoy a sweet omelet from your kitchen?”
The cook disappeared back into her precinct with his order.
“You eat here often?” Kris asked.
“As often as I can. Fujioka-san is a good friend,” the lawyer said, settling down at the table. “We’ve had to change the venue for your press conference twice.”
“Bomb threats?” Jack asked.
“No!” the lawyer seemed surprised at the question. “Requests from more reporters to attend. We have over two hundred calls, and more are coming in.”
“Where are we going?” Kris asked.
“We will use the auditorium at Kyoto University. It seats three thousand.”
“You expect to fill it?” Penny asked.
“Ah, yes,” Tsusumu said. “The university has announced that students may attend on their lunch hour. It will be interesting to see how many come.”
“Wear your spider silks,” Jack said. “It looks like you’re going to play duck in a shooting gallery again.”
Kris just shrugged. Abby had already helped her into her under-all body armor. It was nice having Abby around again. Abby and a full dozen steamer trunks.
“Any suggestion on what I wear?” Kris asked her lawyer. “Civilian simple elegance or uniform?”
“You are being tried for what you did as a Navy officer. If it is allowed, please wear your uniform whenever you can. That white outfit you wore yesterday looked simple but powerful.”
“Undress whites it will be,” Kris said.
“Pardon me, ma’am,” a Marine announced at the door to the kitchen. “There is a man to see you. He says he goes way back with you.”
Kris glanced up. Standing behind the Imperial Marine corporal was Royal USMC Gunnery Sergeant Brown, formally of the good ship Wasp and a longtime survivor for someone who’d gotten too damn close to a Longknife.
He stood there beaming like he had good sense, his pearly white teeth gleaming against his black skin.
“Good to see you, Commander,” he said.
“Always good to see you, Gunny. Pull up a chair. You hungry?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” he said, but he took the time to lug in two large foot lockers and park them by the door before he headed for the table.
“What you got there?” Jack asked.
“Sir, a batch of Chief Beni’s gear somehow ended up in my safekeeping, God rest his soul, Skipper. I had some leave coming, and I figured it wasn’t doing anyone any good in the back of my closet, so I headed here to turn it over to the commander.”
“Something tells me we can use it,” Penny said. “But without the chief, who will make sense of it?”
“I noticed some fine-looking Marines on my way in here,” Gunny said, grinning as a plate of ham, eggs, and grits was put before him.
“Back in the day, ma’am,” Gunny said around a full fork, “I was a demolition expert. Then the fine lady of my life suggested I leave that kind of fun and games to younger folk with no kids to come home to, and I got respectable. As respectable as one of us enlisted swine can get, anyway. I spent enough time at the chief’s elbow, squiring you around. I could be wrong, but I fiddled with that stuff on the way out, and I think I can be downright helpful. At least until I get the local Marines fully up to speed.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Jack said.
“At this press conference,” Tsusumu said, pushing himself away from the table and eyeing Kris’s associates. He must have decided they were trustworthy, because he went on. “There is something I would like you to emphasize at every opportunity.”
“You have my undivided attention,” Kris said, patting her mouth with a napkin and taking a last sip of tea.
“You are a lieutenant commander, correct? Of the Royal U.S. Navy?”
“Yes, on both accounts.”
“Rear Admiral Kota outranked you and is of the Musashi Navy. As I understand it, you two do not share a chain of command.”
“As was very strongly and insistently pointed out to me by Vice Admiral Krätz.”
“Ah, so my theory of the case is familiar to you.” And he began to explain to Kris just exactly how he intended for her to avoid the Imperial headsman.
Kris was still mulling his thoughts when they began to assemble for the trip to the university. Kris and Penny were in undress whites. Jack had chosen khaki and greens. Gunny Brown was in full-dress red and blues, with Chief Beni’s magic black box almost disappearing in his large hands, now clad in white gloves.
Her Imperial Marine escort turned out in their own dress uniform, red from top to bottom except for a white garrison hat, and belt and blue piping down the pants. They might look like toy soldiers, but their guns sparkled at the ready.
Captain Miyoshi followed the honor guard in dress blues.
“Thank you for coming, sir,” Kris said. “I wasn’t expecting to see you again.”
“The honor of Mutsu must be upheld. I was advised to stand by in case any questions arose concerning the Navy’s actions.”
“I will gladly defer to you, sir,” Kris said. Her lawyer, at her elbow, seemed less than happy to have a Navy spokesman present.
Kris hoped she would never witness a fight between her two new friends.
Two open military gun trucks, full of Marines and without the guns in evidence, led off. Kris’s borrowed limo followed them, and two more trucks fell in behind her. They did not head for the gate; a crowd was already in evidence there. Instead, they made a turn around the house and ducked out the back gate, where not so much as a photographer was in evidence.