In the brief pause after the first volley of gunfire, No Peak Green Bones exploded out of the cars with guns and blades and were upon the sentries in an instant. Suyo and Hami shot the man on the ground several times at close range, his body jumping on the lawn as if from hammer blows as his Steel collapsed under the barrage. Juen Din flew Light at the other guard, moon blade descending in a lethal overhead chop. When the guard raised his own blade to meet the high attack, Juen Ritto rushed into the opening in a blur of Strength and disemboweled the man in the time it took to blink.
Lott and Vin were already flying past the fighting on the lawn. Wary of traps, Vin blew the lock out on the front door with a shotgun blast, and Lott Deflected the door inward. They braced to Steel themselves, but the door slammed open on its hinges, revealing an empty hall. No trip wires were snagged, nothing exploded. Lott was about to rush inside when Vin shouted, “Wait!”
Lott turned to his First Fist with alarm. Vin tapped the side of his head and pointed to the house. “Can you Perceive that? Nothing. There’s no one inside.”
The Horn took a wary step closer, throwing knives in hand, stretching out his Perception to take in as much of the building as he could. Vin was right. He couldn’t sense a single jade aura in the house.
“That’s impossible,” he exclaimed. “We saw Ayt go inside the house yesterday and we’ve had eyes on the building all night and this morning. No one came in or out.”
No one doubted Vin’s Perception, but they searched the house anyway. It was empty. There were signs that Ayt Mada had been here recently: dishes in the kitchen, food in the fridge, clothes in the bedroom—but no one in the house. The back door was still locked. No Peak Green Bones had surrounded the townhouse and they were certain no one had left through the windows. Ayt and her bodyguards had vanished.
Vibrating with furious disbelief, Lott walked back out to the front lawn and crouched beside the guard lying on the ground with his entrails spilled out, still alive but only for a short while longer. “Ayt was here,” he said. “How did she leave?”
The guard didn’t answer. His face was waxen and sweaty and he was gazing far away. Lott stood and ground a foot on the man’s open abdomen, eliciting a scream. The sound made Lott wince, but there were times cruelty couldn’t be avoided. He waited until the dying man’s eyes focused on him. “Suyo here is excellent at Channeling,” Lott said, motioning the Fist over. “Tell me how Ayt Mada got away and where she went, and I’ll have him end your pain in an instant. Otherwise, I’ll throw you in one of our cars and ask him to stop the bleeding enough to keep you alive and suffering for hours.”
“Tunnel,” the man moaned. “I don’t know where she went, but this building . . . used to be a safe house for the Clanless Future Movement. There’s a tunnel . . . under the laundry room.”
“Godsdamnit,” Lott breathed. He pointed to the guard. “Save him if you can, kill him if you can’t,” he told Suyo. He gave instructions to Vin and half the other Green Bones to find and follow Ayt’s escape route. He ordered the other half to get in one of the cars and follow him. “We need to get to the Kekon Jade Alliance building.”
_______
Ayt Ato leaned over to consult quietly with his Weather Man before turning back to the table. “We’re amenable to the idea of Euman Island being officially declared clan neutral territory, and we agree that there should be no more jade mining there, offshore or otherwise. A national park ought to be established to protect that area from further exploitation. But how do you propose to deal with the foreigners?”
Niko took a moment to confer with Shae before answering. “From what we know about how the criminal investigation into the company’s CEO is unfolding, it seems likely that Anorco will be broken up and sold. Its assets include a sizable amount of jade inventory. I’m sure we can all agree that we want that jade back in Kekon and not in the hands of other foreign companies or criminal organizations.” When Ato and his people nodded, Niko said, “The Weather Man has a proposal.”
Hilo had told his nephew, When in doubt, get your aunt to do some talking. She’ll say something smart, and meanwhile you can watch them and have time to think ahead.
Shae leaned forward. “If the Mountain and No Peak both try to acquire Anorco’s jade, we’ll end up in a bidding contest, one that could turn violent and have us at each other’s throats again. We propose that our clans form a joint venture company under the auspices of the Kekon Jade Alliance, to acquire Anorco’s reserves and allocate them in the same way as jade produced from the mines—equitably between the Green Bone clans, as well as to schools, temples, doctors, and the national treasury.”