Craig sat back, looking flustered. “I tell you, this can’t be right. It’s impossible.”
“Just because it doesn’t match up with your theories doesn’t mean that it’s untrue,” Hiroshi pointed out. The handsome young man reached out and squeezed Craig’s shoulder. “I brought you into this because you might be the only one who can revive her. If that is Pandora inside the skull and not some nameless demon, I need to know, can you free her?”
Craig paused before nodding. He was obviously unhappy to find out that Pandora wasn’t running free in the world, killing monsters like he’d thought. Quick Dan had heard Locke trying to reason with him, saying that there was no reason why Craig’s notions couldn’t coexist with the fact of Pandora being in the skull. Perhaps, she’d argued, Pandora had done exactly as Craig’s sources claimed until the day that she’d become trapped in the Silver Skull. The stories of the Skull’s ‘dark powers’ might simply come from the energies associated with Pandora herself and not any demon.
“I can free her,” Craig said, though there was a hint of doubt in his voice. “But in order to do that, we’ll need the Skull.”
“Which we gave to our enemies,” Locke pointed out. “I never understood that part of the plan.”
“You’ve stated that several times,” Hiroshi replied testily. “I needed access to an expert like Miss Emerson. Charity Grace gave me that, all the while keeping our presence a secret from more established forces. If we had given her a fake Skull, she would have figured that out and it might have delayed her looking to prove the connection between Pandora and The Skull.”
Craig leaned forward. “You already knew about this? Or at least suspected it?”
“Yes. I’ve looked for Pandora for many years, my good doctor, and in the end, I came to the conclusion that she had been trapped in The Silver Skull.”
Locke stood up, her exasperation making her foolhardy. “But now we don’t even have the Skull! How are we supposed to resurrect Pandora without it?” She glared at Hiroshi, ignoring the whispered word of warning that came from Quick Dan. “And you haven’t even told us exactly how she’s going to help you take over Washington, D.C.!”
Hiroshi was up from his chair so fast that he was nothing more than a blur. He seized Locke around the throat and shoved her hard against the wall, lifting her up so that her toes barely scraped the floor. As she gasped for air, pushing at his grip, he hissed, “I tell you what you need to know. You work for me and if you want a place in the coming world order, then you’ll shut your mouth and remember your place. My mother once went six months without saying a single word because my father told her that he’d cut out her tongue with scissors if she questioned him again. Is that what I will have to do with you? It would greatly lessen your usefulness to me, given that your tongue seems quite popular with the men you seduce!”
With obvious disgust, Hiroshi tossed her aside. She landed in a heap at Dan’s feet and the ugly man knelt at her side, giving her a comforting squeeze.
Hiroshi looked around at each of them, ensuring that they were listening to his every word. His voice became so loud that people on the street hurried on, sensing that this was not something they wanted to hear. “I am the leader here. I allow all of you the opportunity to express yourself but I have my limits. You will trust and believe that I know what is best because I do! I gave Miss Grace the Silver Skull so that she might prove my theory. She has done so. Those papers that we have been looking at, I did not just take them from her. I left her in a pool of blood on the streets! She is probably dead by now! We will march into Hendry Hall and take back what is ours and then Pandora will fulfill her destiny by helping me claim what should be mine!”
“She didn’t mean any harm,” Quick Dan murmured. “She’s just a dumb broad.”
Hiroshi saw Locke’s cheeks redden at her friend’s words and he laughed. The tension in the room began to dissipate and Hiroshi took his seat once more. “Dumb broad,” he said, still chuckling. “You are so right, Dan. Locke, please sit back down.”
Locke rose unsteadily, pushing Dan’s hands away from her. She swayed somewhat but made it back to her chair. There were bruises already forming on her smooth neck. “I’m sorry,” she said hoarsely.
“It’s forgotten,” Hiroshi said dismissively.
“I didn’t realize that you’d already killed her.”
“As I said, it’s in the past.”
Obviously eager to help move the discussion forward, Dan took a long drag on his cigarette and asked, “So when do we go to Hendry Hall?”
“Tonight. I want you two to have a good, hearty meal and then move out.”
Dan and Locke exchanged glances. It was Dan who cleared his throat and spoke up first, though he obviously dreaded having to ask. “Just the two of us?”
“Can’t you handle it?”
“Sure.”
“Then, yes, just the two of you.”
“What about the people in the house?”
“Do as you need to. Kill them if it makes it easier for you. All I care about is getting the Skull back.” Hiroshi looked over at Craig, whose eyes were very wide. The doctor was obviously extremely unnerved by the confrontation he had just witnessed. “Still feeling confident that you can bring our Pandora back to life, Doctor Craig?”
“Yes, but I have to confess that I’m uncertain what your ultimate plans are — not that I’m asking!”
Hiroshi sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he seemed to have reached some sort of decision. He leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. His posture conveyed supreme confidence and even those who were nursing extreme anger towards him — such as Locke — were drawn in by his charismatic nature. It was a gift, one that would serve him well as Emperor. He was handsome and magnetic, drawing people to him like moths to a flame. Even when someone knew they were going to get burnt, they couldn’t pull themselves away.
“Pandora accumulated a lot of magic over the years. Just as you surmised, Doctor Craig, she came to view it as her lot in life to hunt down the demons and destroy them. Her method of doing this was to place them into a new trap: her own soul. She allowed herself to be the vessel that would contain these awful beasts in the hope that it would free the world of sin, fear and destruction. Unfortunately, the number of monsters she’d unleashed was too many to count and over time, she became corrupted by the very creatures she sought to destroy. Her ability to control her power and her actions began to wane. She became as large a threat to mankind as the things she’d unleashed. Finally, a powerful wizard decided that he coveted her power but he knew better than to destroy her and unleash the great beasts she held within. So he put her into a cage. He was then able to manipulate the power, filtered through her and through the Skull.”
“But you want to free her? Isn’t that… dangerous?” Craig asked. “Why not just use the Skull like the old wizard did?”
“Because I want her full glory. I plan to free her,” Hiroshi’s eyes gleamed with madness. “And then I plan to woo her. I will win her heart and then she will fight for me. There is nothing in this world like a woman who battles for the people and things she loves. It is a passion that no man could ever equal. She will be my bride and my deadly blade that will cut through the world.”
MITCHELL HURRIED INTO the spotless foyer of the Sovereign City Hospital. He was just about past the small guard’s station when he skidded to a stop as a beefy hand grabbed hold of his arm.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry, boy?”
Mitchell turned to face the security guard, a heavyset man with a thick beard. His name tag said Richards. “I’m sorry, mate, but I’m in a bit of a hurry here.”