Girl Fights Back (Go No Sen) (Emily Kane Adventures) (19 page)

Emily turned to Sensei with a
questioning look on her face. He smiled, patted her shoulder and let her sit
down. She sat cross-legged at the back of the dojo and watched the rest of the
matches. Most of the kids were unable to genuinely take the initiative. For the
most part, they tried to initiate action with a sudden reckless attack, or they
waited too long for their opponent to make the first move. In neither case were
they able to control the conflict. Wayne came the closest to achieving something
like
sen
. Perhaps because of his
size, he didn’t feel threatened by any opponent, except Emily, of course. As a
result, he was able to act calmly and decisively. But even this wasn’t quite
what Sensei meant by taking the initiative, since he still allowed his opponent
too much freedom to control his own action. It was just the accident of his
size that created the appearance of
sen
.

While Emily was
watching the matches, she noticed a familiar face out in the parking lot
watching as well. She was leaning against the driver side door of a large
sedan. It was the woman who attacked her at the university a few weeks earlier!
It was clear she had been watching Emily. Why else would she be here. Emily
could see there was no point waiting or putting off this conversation. She got
straight up and walked to the door, stopping only to bow slightly at the edge
of the main room. She pushed the door open and strode directly toward the
woman. She was fully prepared to fight it out with her right there in the
parking lot. She was aware of every detail of her body, but paid special
attention to her hands. The woman visibly flinched as Emily approached. It was
clear she would have preferred to turn and run as soon as she saw the look on
Emily’s face. But she swallowed and held her ground, trying not to make any
move that could be misinterpreted.

“Is this a threat?” Emily growled.
The woman shook her head nervously.

“No. I just came to talk.”

“How did you find me?” Her eyes
moved quickly around the parking lot, but saw nothing suspicious.

“It wasn’t hard. You had to train
somewhere. I just tried all the dojos in the area. Don’t worry, Meacham has no
idea. He isn’t even looking for you anymore,” she said, trying to sound
reassuring. Emily was unmoved. She just glowered at the woman. It was very
unnerving.

“Look, I just want to talk. Is
there a private place we can go?” Emily looked her up and down. She felt like
she was being frisked.

“Office,” Emily grunted and nodded
back to the dojo. But before she would let the woman pass, she required her
shoulder bag. They stepped into Sensei’s office and Emily closed the door
behind her.

“Sit over there,” she said
motioning to a spot on the floor in the corner. There weren’t any chairs in the
office anyway, so there weren’t a lot of other options. Still, Emily wanted to
be able to control this woman if she had to. She stood over her as she looked
through the bag. There was almost nothing personal in it, a key ring, a brush,
a head scarf, a chapstick and some lifesavers. There was a thin wallet with a
driver’s license for someone named Constance Matthews, two credit cards in the
same name, a card with nothing but a single email address on it, and a blank
electronic access card. “This woman’s definitely an agent,” Emily thought.
“There’s nothing real in here.”

“Do you have a name? I’m guessing
it’s not Constance Matthews.”

“Can we just go with that one for
now?” she asked with a distinct note of sorrow in her voice. Emily found her
quite perplexing.

“Fine, Constance,” she said
menacingly. “What was so important that you had to track me down?”

“Meacham, he’s not a threat to you
anymore. He suffered a setback a few weeks ago in Taipei. A major
embarrassment. He’s on the run for now. I don’t know about Burzynski, but I
don’t think he was ever really a threat to you.”

“That’s all well and good, but you
didn’t find me to tell me that.”

“No. There’s something else. I’m
not the only one looking for you. In Taipei, Meacham’s group was ambushed by a
Chinese hit squad. I only narrowly escaped by hiding in a sewer. I overheard
them talking about a girl they thought Meacham was pursuing. They didn’t seem
to know her name, but I think they’re looking for you.” Emily listened
impassively, trying not to betray any interest to this woman she hardly
trusted.

“They mentioned the name ‘Kagami’,
who’s somehow connected to Michael Cardano. But that can’t be you since you’re
obviously Chinese,” the woman continued. “But from the way they described the
girl they’re looking for, it’s got to be you, even if they have the name
wrong.”

“Why do you think it’s me?” Emily
asked. She supposed the woman was right, of course. The mistake about the name
offered some reassurance, but that wouldn’t deflect them indefinitely. She was
also bemused by her conviction that she was Chinese. Perhaps that ambiguity
would prove useful at some point.

“They’re looking for a warrior, a
super soldier. You’re the only person even remotely connected to Cardano who
fits that description.” Emily mulled this last bit of news over for a few
moments in silence.

“Where are they looking now?”

“They were headed for the
southwest. Apparently they think Cardano’s hiding there.” Emily turned away,
hoping to hide the distress that must otherwise have been visible on her face.
From the information she just heard, it was difficult to tell what the Chinese
really wanted or who they were looking for. Was it her or her Mom? Did they
know who her mother is? She tried to collect herself and turned back.

“How long will it take them to come
here?” she asked, hoping in part to create the illusion that her anxiety was
for herself.

“I don’t know, a few weeks, maybe
months” the woman said. “But there’s a security cam video on the web of a fight
in a gas station somewhere. It’s pretty murky, but it shows a girl beating the
tar out of three guys. I’m guessing it was you. If the Chinese see it, they’ll
find their way out here sooner. On the plus side, there’s no vehicle or license
plate visible in the video. That’ll slow ‘em down a bit.”

“You found me a lot sooner.”

“Yeah, but I already knew who I was
looking for.”

“And just why did you take the
trouble? What do you want from me?” Emily demanded.

“I don’t know, honey,” she said
feeling a tiny bit more confident. “I guess I just got a little religion back
in that bathroom stall.” Emily glowered at her. The woman backtracked, visibly
shaken. “Look, I’m sorry. I owe you. I know. You kicking the crap out of me,
well, it gave me a little perspective. You don’t have to trust me, I wouldn’t
blame you.” Emily nodded. “But if you want me to meet you somewhere, send a
message to the address on the card in my wallet. Just put a time and a place,
but give a date one day late. I’ll be there.” Emily said nothing. She put the
card in her pocket, handed the bag back and helped the woman up. She walked her
out of the dojo just as class was ending. The woman opened her car door, then
turned back to Emily.

“You can call me Connie. That
part’s real,” she said, looking into Emily’s eyes. Emily thought she saw
genuine sincerity there.

“Thanks, Connie,” she said turning
back to the dojo. She stood in the doorway and watched her drive away as the
class filed out past her.

Once everyone had left, Sensei
stood behind her and cleared his throat. Emily turned and looked into his face.

“What was that all about?” he
asked.

“I’m not sure. Have you seen her
hanging around before this evening?” Sensei shook his head and grunted no.

“What did she want?” Emily paused
for a moment and considered what she should tell Sensei.

“She says she’s a friend. She
warned me about Chinese agents who might be looking for my Dad and Mr.
Cardano.” He grunted his understanding. Some part of what she said was true.
She was reluctant to explain any more to him about what these men might be
looking for. “Have you seen any men like that?”

“No, no one like that. Chinese
agents would have a hard time blending in around here.”

“We need to be careful. They’ll
probably check out the dojos in the area, if they do show up here. Sensei, we
need to be very careful around these people.”

“Do you trust this woman?”

“No. But I’m still gonna take her
warning seriously, at least for now.” Emily thought for a moment and then said
“Sensei, I may have to take some time off after Christmas. I may not be back at
the dojo for a while.” He grunted, clearly unhappy but resigned.

It was getting dark, but Emily
thought it was important to discuss this news with Michael. At the same time,
it occurred to her that if the woman’s story had been a setup, its purpose
might be to trick her into making a quick call to Michael so they could somehow
trace him. She didn’t understand how the software on the thumb drive really
worked, and whether it would provide a secure connection if Meacham’s people
knew what terminal she used. And she was concerned she might not be able to see
if she was being followed in the dark. She decided to wait until the next day
to make that call.

When she got home, she found the
guys installed on the front porch drinking hot cocoa and laughing. Wayne and
Billy were ribbing Danny about how Emily had completely dominated him in
bo
sparring. When Danny’s mom saw her
arrive, she brought out one more cup of cocoa for her.

“Oh... My... God, Em,” Danny
sputtered in mock seriousness. “I’ve never seen you spar like that. You were
amazing. It’s like you were possessed!” Emily would have laughed, but her mind
was still focused on what Connie had told her.

“What happened tonight?” Danny’s
mom asked in all innocence.

“Oh, nothing much, Mrs. Rincon,”
Wayne chortled. “Em just gave Danny a serious butt-whipping in class.” Billy
started giggling. Danny blushed.

Emily remained impassive. She was
still a little uncomfortable joking about their match, since it seemed to her
to be caught up in something Sensei wanted her to see about
sen
. She wasn’t sure she had fully understood
him yet.

“Well, good for you, Emily,” Mrs.
Rincon piped up. “I’m sure he had it coming.”

Emily smiled, glad to see an
opening to shift the conversation away from the sparring. They were all happy
to talk about holiday plans. Billy and Wayne were spending Christmas in town.
Danny and his mom were visiting relatives. Emily said she might be going out of
town. She really had no plans, but wanted to prepare the way in the minds of
her friends, in case she had to move quickly. In the back of her mind, she
halfway hoped Michael would react to her news by moving his family and Yuki.
That could well mean she would be able to meet them somewhere along the way. It
would be sort of like a holiday family reunion. She mused on the prospect of
seeing her mother later as she lay in bed. Eventually, however, her thoughts
turned to
sen
.

What had Sensei
meant for her to see this evening? He could see events were guiding her to a
new relationship to her own skills. She was becoming tougher, even more focused
than she had ever been. He didn’t know the details of the encounters she been
having over the past few months, but he must have sensed a change coming over
her. She began to think along these same lines, too. She saw the temptation to
cling to certain techniques and patterns of behavior under pressure. They would
become entrenched habits rather than true initiative. It was refreshing to
break out of her usual pattern in the
bo
sparring. Perhaps that had been
Sensei’s point, not that she should choose a different approach to
sen
,
become more or less aggressive, but that she should reconnect with her
sen
in a genuine way.

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Chapter 16:
Torbay

Emily spoke to Michael the next
day, filling him on all the details of what Connie had told her. His assessment
was quite similar to Emily’s. They didn’t know who she is, or where, yet. They
were also confused about exactly who they were looking for, and that could be
useful later. Michael confirmed that Meacham had indeed suffered a serious defeat
in Taiwan. He had reason to suspect something Connie seemed not to know, namely
that Burzynski may have tipped off the Chinese. They both found his suspicion
alarming. If Burzynski was willing to conspire with foreign agents for his own
ends, that meant he was capable of anything. Michael thought their presence in
New Mexico was undetectable, but he agreed with Emily that it would be a good
idea to move now, at their leisure, rather than waiting until a hasty departure
would become necessary.

To Emily’s immense satisfaction,
Michael also thought this would be a good moment for a family reunion, and the
crush of holiday travel would make it easier to move around unnoticed. He
arranged for Andie and his son to meet them, and sent travel documents to Emily
under the name Emily Chung. A week later, after several diversions through
southeast Asia, Emily arrived at the airport in Auckland. Andie came to meet
her in a rental car and drove her to a large beachside villa on the north end
of Torbay.

Andie was amused to see Emily
dressed in her clothes. She recognized them right away, and was more than a
little flattered to see how well they fit. She found it even slightly comical
to see the transformation of the little commando who lived over her garage into
a beautiful, stylish young woman.

When they pulled into the driveway
of the villa, Yuki, who had been waiting nervously for over an hour, ran to the
car and threw her arms around her daughter for the first time. She hung on
Emily’s shoulder for as long as she could. But eventually a child must pull
away. Yuki was surprised by how big Emily was. She always thought of her as a
little girl. She couldn’t help but notice how solid she felt, how strong, how
tall. It was almost like hugging George. She concealed a little tear from
everyone. This was supposed to be a happy occasion.