“No, but just because it’s an unsurprising problem doesn’t mean it’s not still a problem.”
Hilo grinned and reached across the seat to shove his cousin’s shoulder affectionately. “You would’ve been a great Fist, Andy. I know that’s all in the past, so don’t take it the wrong way, I’m only saying it as a compliment.” He turned serious again. “Remi Jonjunin is like a Crew Boss with a Kekonese face. I thought there was a chance he would compromise to stay on good terms with the people in that room, but it’s obvious he doesn’t believe he needs us or anyone in Port Massy anymore. Why are you taking his insults so personally?”
“We made Remi,” Anden exclaimed. “We gave him the money and jade that he used to become the Bad Keck of Resville. I was the one who spoke for the clan and gave him free rein in that city. So it’s my fault that he’s now a problem for us.”
Hilo put the unlit cigarette into his mouth. “I trusted you to make the right decision at the time and you did. What was good for us then is bad for us now, but that’s the way things happen sometimes. Your Port Massy friends are asking us to trust them to deal with the Bad Keck. That’s just as well. We have to keep our attention at home, fighting the clanless.”
Anden gave the Pillar a skeptical look. “Hilo-jen,” he said. “Cory, Tod, Sammy—I like all of them. They’re good people who care about their community and what it means to wear jade. I want their association to succeed. But they’re not a clan. They’re green in their own way, but not in the way that’s needed to go up against someone with no morals like Jon Remi.”
The taxi pulled up to the front of the Crestwood Hotel and they got out. Hilo drew his coat around his neck and paused outside the hotel’s revolving doors. “Give it some time, Andy. Yesterday, I told you Remi was our ally until I said otherwise.” He fingered his lighter, then reluctantly placed the lone cigarette back into its box. “Now I’m saying otherwise.”
CHAPTER
31
Disappointment
Kaul Nikoyan lay on his back in the girl’s apartment, watching the light from the silenced television screen flicker off the ceiling. The girl, Mera, was still gamely mouthing his cock, but they’d had sex already and his mind was elsewhere. The sun had gone down. He glanced at the clock on the bedside table. In an hour, he would be expected to report to Lott Jin, who would assign him to his duties for the night ahead.
Niko knew his uncle would disapprove of how he’d spent the afternoon. No getting laid before work, not on the greener side of the clan, Hilo would say, echoing commonly held jade warrior wisdom. Good Fists and Fingers did not go out into the street relaxed and unalert. They set out as sharp as wolves that had not yet eaten.
Niko didn’t believe in old adages, and his uncle already found fault with him on a number of fronts, so why should one additional failing matter? Besides, although there might be an opportunity to exercise force tonight, perhaps even confiscate some illegally worn jade, he didn’t expect to face anything too dangerous. There’d never been any question that Niko would become a Finger in the clan, but the Pillar had instructed Juen Nu not to coddle him. He was to be given the same amount of work, risk, and expectation of discipline as any new Green Bone. Juen Nu, however, would be retiring this year. The Pillar had already given his permission. Lott Jin was the leading candidate to become the next Horn, but until the promotion was official, Niko doubted the First Fist would risk his standing with the Kaul family by allowing the heir of the clan to come to any real harm under his supervision.
“Do you want to order in anything to eat?” Niko asked, as a way to get the girl to give up on trying to arouse him again. Mera pushed her hair back and flopped down next to him, her lipstick smeared. She was pretty, but other pretty girls had tried to capture Niko’s attention before. He’d been sixteen years old when a girl had first offered herself to him in a dark corner of the garden on his family’s estate during a clan New Year’s party. He hadn’t felt comfortable taking the opportunity that time, or the next, but his curiosity had finally gotten the better of him and he’d since been with a few girls, to varying degrees of satisfaction.
“We can order in if you want,” Mera said, “but I’d rather go out, wouldn’t you?”
“I’m not that hungry, and I can eat later. I just thought maybe you’d want something.”
“The only thing I have an appetite for is you,” Mera sighed, draping her arm across his chest and laying her head on his shoulder.