Walkthrough
Chapter Eleven
Wade let himself into Rita’s home. Though he startled her, she didn’t object to his intrusion.
“Hey, Rita,” he said, picking up a coffee cup from the sink and throwing its contents onto the floor.
Her eyes looked down at the stain on the rug, but she didn’t move or say a word. He pulled out a plastic bottle of cheap booze and poured it into the dirty cup.
“Here you go, darlin’,” he said, putting the cup on the opposite side of the table.
Rita picked up her cigarettes and sat down at the dinette. She took the cup without question.
“Drink up.”
Taking a big gulp, she sat it down half empty.
“So where’s junior?”
“I don’t know, Wade. I kicked his ass out.”
“Good, you probably should have done that years ago. You’ve coddled him too long, but I don’t blame you. It’s the nature of a mother to spoil children.”
“I blame his dad. Dan was a cunt, understand? His spoiled little bastard is a cunt just like his old man,” said Wade, refilling Rita’s cup.
“So, what did the little cunt do that finally cut the apron string?”
“He told me he was going to James to find out about Dan’s death,” said Rita.
“That’s too bad. You should have sent him to me, and James would have been able to watch his grandkids grow up. He loves those little rug rats. Oh well, next lifetime, right? You haven’t touched your drink.”
Rita picked up the cup and chugged it. “Please Wade, don’t. James had nothing to do with this. It was all Todd’s idea.”
“Too late. James doesn’t live here anymore. Drink!” said Wade, pouring the rest of the bottle into the cup.
“You killed James? How could you?”
“It was easy. I killed James and his mouthy bitch, too. Oh my, just look at your expression. He must’ve made a BIG… impression, huh, Rita?”
Rita spat at Wade.
“Aww, you do love me. Let’s dance,” said Wade, grabbing Rita’s arm.
Todd paced in his motel room. He could hear the cackling of hookers outside. They reminded him of seabirds. Master Yasuda and Kiko hadn’t shown up. It was late, too late, to be walking around in this part of town.
He reminded himself that Sophia didn’t mention Kiko, so chances are Wade and Aldo don’t know she is alive. Still, this is a tough neighborhood. There’s plenty of danger that’s not related to Wade.
Todd gave his jacket a long hard glance, then he heard a knock at the door. “Can I help you?” said Todd.
“Kiko here.”
The door opened quickly, and both Kiko and Master Yasuda walked inside. The stealthy karate master slid clear of the doorway, eyeing the entire room in less than a second. In kind, I pulled Kiko around me as I closed the door in one motion. Master Yasuda threw the deadbolt and slid the chain latch home.
“Kiko told me quite a story. I want to know how much of it is true,” said Master Yasuda.
Kiko can talk about what happened? I wonder if that’s why Charlie had her locked up in a barn all these years.
“Please sit. Something to drink?” I said, motioning to the two chairs beside the small table in the corner, and getting Kiko a cola. She was already sitting on the bed and watching the shopping channel on the TV.
“No thank you,” said Master Yasuda, as if I was asking him to pollute his temple. Maybe I had.
“So, um, I think I mentioned dangerous men are looking for us. They don’t know we are together, and they don’t know where we are at this moment.”
“That is interesting. She told me about a gigantic machine that shocked her dreams. What do you know about this?”
In every role playing video game, an answer will affect the outcome at crucial moments. At this moment, do I lie or tell the truth? My calculations were taking too long as I weighed my answer. I could tell that Master Yasuda was being insulted by my delay.
“I don’t know how to answer. Just knowing that such a machine exists puts you in danger. I’ve never seen the machine, but I’ve seen what it can do.”
“Show me.”
Fuck, he wants a demonstration. Well, I wouldn’t have believed it either, unless someone could prove it to me.
“Okay, but please, no one else can know. I’ve been told that at least one and perhaps all of these women will kill themselves, to prevent these men from going to jail if the story becomes public.”
“How many women?”
“Five that I know of, maybe more.”
“Show me, please,” said Master Yasuda, pointing to Kiko.
“Kiko, den, yellow, wa,” I said, and like Donita, Kiko looked like a puppet with her strings cut. “Yellow San, remove your clothes.”
Without flinching, Yellow San pulled her clothes off, standing naked with her boobs strapped down by the same elastic band that held her knife.
“When this is over, what will you do with five women?”
“Good question. I’m really trying to save my mother. But I can’t save her without saving everyone else.”
“What’s your plan?” said Master Yasuda.
I was about to tell this one-man army I did not know what to do next when my phone beeped. It was a text from mom.
“Todd I’m sorry. Please come home. I need you.”
“Don’t answer, you cannot trust this,” said Master Yasuda, pointing to the phone. “Tell me, how many men do they have?”
“Three.”
Another beep and another message, an image of mom’s battered face, her swollen lips had split open, filling her smile with a ruddy hue, the whites of her left eye shone bright red from hemorrhaging, and fresh blood dripped from the end of her misshapen nose.
“Stop! Take the battery out of your phone,” said Master Yasuda.
“But look at what they did to her!”
“No! You need to be focused, not tempted to worry about what is beyond your control. This is an act of desperation. If you do not reply, they will have to consider that you did not receive the message. She is their only leverage. They can only go so far and this tells us where they are at. Take the battery out now!”
“But—”
“We fight smart. This is psychological warfare. They are trying to cause us to make mistakes.”
I took the battery out of the phone.
“They are expecting you to arrive alone in a car. There will be three of us and we will take the subway. She knows these men and can scout for us.”
“Kiko?”
“Yes, with that level of focus, she can easily master many complex fighting forms. She already shows great promise and has incredible strength. How do I command her?” said Master Yasuda.
“There is a three word trigger phrase and a slave name. You say, ‘den, yellow, wa,’ I wouldn’t do it often. I understand it hurts very much, like getting punched in the head.”
“Then her second personality is in charge. The name of her second personality is Yellow San. You use that name to command her.”
“There is also a long list of things she must do, as Kiko and as Yellow San. I don’t know what was on that list or if she even understood it, but I have found out it is impossible, perhaps dangerous, to deny her. There are also booby traps set inside her mind where she will commit suicide if the circumstances are right.”
“For example, she cannot see you talking to the police, ever. If the news of her condition, or her captors, becomes public, she will also kill herself. There may be more. Those are the only ones that I have been warned about.”
In our tiny motel room, I watched a karate master train, Yellow San, in minutes. As Master Yasuda predicted, she was a fighting machine, including mastery of knife forms. Of course, Yellow San probably had a strong desire for vengeance that fueled her passion.
“Enough, we must conserve our strength. How do you change her back?” said Master Yasuda.
“Like this,” I said, snapping my fingers in Yellow San’s face. I handed her a cola from the refrigerator.