“I’m not a godsdamned surgeon,” Anden cried at Shae.
“Would it make a difference?” she asked numbly. “Just do what he wants.”
Hilo was laid out on his bed and Anden worked feverishly to keep him alive and dull the pain. At times, he barked orders and others ran to help him or bring him supplies. During that time, word of what happened spread through No Peak and members of the clan began to gather silently in front of the Kaul estate. Fists and Fingers, Luckbringers, Lantern Men. Cars began to arrive, packing the road around the house. Makeshift Deitist shrines went up along the gate, dozens of cups of incense trailing smoke.
Lott Jin went out and came back again to report that the entire city was in shock. The Mountain clan was in turmoil. Ayt Ato was alive, but his Horn was dead, and his Weather Man was in critical condition from a gunshot wound to the chest. Four penitents from the Temple of Divine Return had been found tied and gagged, locked inside the stairwell of a parking garage near the Kekon Jade Alliance building. The four gunmen who’d taken their robes and their place inside the meeting were former employees of GSI, all recently out of work. One of the four mercenaries had survived long enough to confess that they’d been hired by Iwe Kalundo and promised an enormous sum of money by Ayt Madashi for the murder of everyone in the room.
“They were told to wait until the pledge of friendship had been made and moon blades exchanged,” Lott said. “Then they were supposed to kill Ayt Ato first.”
Shae sat in the kitchen, hugging her arms, folded in on herself and staring at nothing. Ayt Mada had whispered the name of her own nephew. She’d never intended to pass the leadership of the clan to Ato, only to lure them all into the belief that she had. That afternoon, after she’d sat across from Shae, serving her tea, after they’d talked of sacrifice and vision, of ending feuds and doing the right thing for the country, Ayt had resigned her position in anticipation of one final opportunity—the Kauls and the Kobens in the same room, discussing what the future would be without her. When they were all dead, she’d claim that the Kobens had betrayed the clan by pledging friendship to the Kauls. She would install her preferred successor, Iwe Kalundo, and rule from behind him.
The phone in the study rang and Lott answered it. After he hung up, he said, “They have her.” Vin and his men had followed the tunnel under Ayt’s townhouse into Janloon’s subway system. By then, the Koben family was on the hunt as well. Every Green Bone in the city was looking for Ayt Mada, but within an hour, she showed up back on the Ayt estate. She walked onto the grounds and into her office as if it were an ordinary day. That was where the Mountain’s people had found her.
“They say she didn’t try to run, or fight,” Lott said.
“No,” Shae said. Ayt Mada would never flee Janloon like a criminal, nor waste energy toward no purpose. As soon as she’d learned her nephew and the Kauls were still alive, she’d surrendered, knowing her final, murderous gambit was over.
Because of Hilo, Shae thought. Because old tigers understand each other.
Anden came down the stairs. His eyes were ringed with exhaustion and he looked pale and aged. “I’ve done all I can. I stopped the bleeding, put him on an IV line, stabilized his temperature and blood pressure for now. He’s loaded with painkillers.” Anden rubbed a hand over his face, then looked up at the family, tearful. “All it buys him is a few more hours, maybe the rest of night. A bullet went through his spine, and the others tore up his insides. He’s conscious right now, but it might not be for long.”
Anden sat down next to Jirhuya on the sofa and put his face in his hands.
Shae went up to see her brother. Wen and Niko were on either side of his bed. Gauze and sheets covered Hilo’s torso. The jade studs across his bare collarbone stood out stark against unnaturally pale skin. When Shae touched Hilo’s shoulder, she nearly drew back at the shocking change in his jade aura—the smooth, bright river was a dim trickle. His eyes were open and focused, however, and he said to his wife and nephew, “Let me talk to my Weather Man, alone, just for a minute.”
After Wen and Niko had stepped out of the room, Shae crouched down near the head of the bed. A thousand things came into her throat and closed it completely.
The Pillar asked, “Is Ato alive?”
Shae nodded and told him everything she knew. “Ayt whispered all of our names. She only resigned and handed power to the Kobens to mislead them. To mislead me.”
A weak smile crawled up Hilo’s face. “But she failed. She’s done. This was her last shot, and she got me, in the end. But she didn’t get us. That’s what’s important.” He licked his lips. His eyes were glassy but bright, and he turned them on her with insistence. “Shae, you have to help Niko. You have to make him better. A better Pillar, a better person. Help him, the way you helped me.”