She had not misjudged him. The lust in his eyes was unmistakable. Nakamura waved Bangorn away. “You may leave us,” he said to the policewoman as he rose from his sitting position. “Come over here, Katie. Give me a real kiss.”
Katie checked the small wastebasket as she danced around the table. There was nothing except candy wrappers in it. Of course, she thought. That would be too obvious. Now I must make this good. She teased Nakamura first with one kiss and then with another. Her tongue tickled his lips and tongue. Then she pulled away quickly, still laughing. Nakamura started to follow her.
“No,” she said, backing up toward the door. “Not yet … we’re just getting started.”
Nakamura stood still and grinned. “I had forgotten how talented you are,” he said. “Those girls are lucky to have you as a mentor.”
“It takes an exceptional man to bring out the best in me,” Katie said, locking and bolting the door. Her eyes roamed quickly around the office and landed on another small wastebasket, over in the far corner. That would be the perfect place, she said to herself excitedly.
“Are you just going to stand there, Toshio,” £atie said now, “or are you going to get me a drink?”
“Of course,” Nakamura said, moving toward the hand-
carved liquor cabinet under the solitary window. “Straight whiskey, wasn’t it?”
“Your memory is phenomenal,” Katie said.
“I remember you very well,” Nakamura said as he prepared two drinks. “How could I ever forget all those games—especially the princess and the slave, that was my favorite. . . . We had such fun there for a while.”
Until you insisted on bringing in others. And even more disgusting things, Katie thought. You made it clear that I was not enough by myself. “Boy,” she barked suddenly in an imperious tone, “I am thirsty. Where is my drink?”
A quick frown crossed Nakamura’s face before he broke into a wide smile. “Yes, Your Highness,” he said, bringing her a drink with his head held low. He bowed. “Is there anything else, Your Highness?” he said obsequiously.
“Yes,” Katie responded, taking the drink with her left hand and reaching aggressively under Nakamura’s kimono “with her right. She watched him close his eyes. Katie kissed him hard whiie continuing to arouse him.
She pulled away abruptly. While he was watching her, Katie slowly took off her yukata. Nakamura advanced. Katie stuck out her arms. “Now, boy,” she ordered, “turn down those lights and lie over there on the mat, on your back, next to the table.”
Nakamura dutifully complied. Katie walked over to where he was lying. “Now,” she said in a gentler tone, “you do remember what your princess needs, don’t you? Slowly, very slowly, without any hurry.” She reached down and fondled him. “I do believe that Musashi is almost ready.”
Katie kissed Nakamura, caressing his face and neck with her fingers. “Now close your eyes,” she whispered in his ear, “and count to ten, very slowly.”
“Ichi, ni, san . . .” he said breathlessly.
With astonishing celerity, Katie swept across the room ; to the other wastebasket. She pushed aside some papers and ifound the gun.
. . shi, go, ryoku …”
Her heart pounding furiously, Katie picked up the gun, tied around, and headed back toward Nakamura.
440
ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
RAMA REVEALED
441
“. . . shichi, hachi, kyu …”
“This is for what you did to my father,” Katie said, sticking the barrel of the gun against his forehead. She pulled the trigger just as the astonished Nakamura opened his eyes.
“And this is for what you did to me,” she said, firing three bullets into his genitals in rapid succession.
The guards broke down the door in seconds. But she was too quick. “And this, Katie Wakefield,” she said in a loud voice, sticking the gun in her mouth, “is for what you did to yourself.”
Ellie awakened when she heard the keys rustling in the lock on her cell. She rubbed her eyes. “Is that you, Robert?” she asked.
“Yes, Ellie,” he said. He came into the cell just as she stood up. Robert put his arms around Ellie and hugged her fiercely. “I’m so glad to see you,” he said. “I came as soon as Herbert told me the guards had abandoned the station.”
Robert kissed his puzzled wife. “I’m terribly sorry, Ellie,” he said. “I was very, very wrong.”
It took Ellie a few seconds to gather her bearings. ‘They abandoned the station?” she said. “Why, Robert? What’s going on?”
“Complete and total chaos,” he said heavily. He looked utterly defeated.
“What do you mean, Robert?” Ellie said, suddenly afraid. “Nikki’s all right, isn’t she?”
“She’s fine, Ellie. But people are dying in droves. And we don’t know why. Ed Stafford collapsed an hour ago and was dead before I could even examine him. It’s some kind of monstrous plague.”
The octospiders, Ellie thought immediately. They have finally fought back. She held her husband against her while he wept. After several seconds he pulled away and spoke. “I’m sorry, Ellie. There has been so much turmoil. Are you all right?” v
“I’m okay, Robert. No one has questioned or tortured me for several days. But where’s Nikki?”
“She’s with Brian Walsh at our house. You remember Brian, Patrick’s computer friend? He’s been helping me take care of Nikki since you’ve been gone. Poor guy, he found both his parents dead the day before yesterday when he woke up.”
Ellie walked out of the police station with Robert. He was talking continuously, rambling from subject to subject, but Ellie was able to comprehend a few things from his almost incoherent chatter. According to Robert, there had been over three hundred unexplained deaths in New Eden in just the last two days. And the end was nowhere in sight. “It’s strange,” he muttered. “Only one child has died. Most of the victims have been old.”
In front of the Beauvois police station, a desperate woman in her mid-thirties recognized and then grabbed Robert. “You must come with me, Doctor, immediately,” the woman yelled in a shrill voice. “My husband is unconscious. He was sitting there with me eating lunch and he began to complain of a headache. When I came back from the kitchen, he was lying on the floor. I’m afraid he’s dead.”
“You see,” Robert said, turning to Ellie.
“Go with her,” Ellie said, “and then to the hospital if you must. I’ll go home and take care of Nikki. We’ll be waiting for you.” She leaned over and kissed him. Ellie started to say something to Robert about the octospiders but decided against it.
“Mommy, Mommy,” Nikki yelled. She ran down the hall and jumped into Ellie’s arms. “I’ve missed you, Mommy.”
“And I have missed you, my angel,” Ellie said. “What have you been doing?”
^ “I’ve been playing with Brian,” Nikki answered. “He’s ” a very nice man. He reads to me and teaches me all about numbers.”
Brian Walsh, who was in his early twenties, came £ around the corner holding a children’s book. “Hello, Mrs. j|. Turner,” he said. “I don’t know if you remember me . . .” ‘m>” “Of course I do, Brian. And I’m just Ellie. I really do want to thank you for helping with Nikki.”
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ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND GENTRY LEE
“I’m glad to do it, Ellie. She’s a great kid. She’s kept my mind off a lot of painful thoughts—”
“Robert told me about your parents,” Ellie interrupted. “I’m terribly sorry.”
Brian shook his head. “It was so weird. They were both perfectly fine the night before, when they went to bed.” Tears came into his eyes. “They looked so peaceful. . . .”
He turned away and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. “Several of my friends say this plague, or whatever it is, was caused by the octospiders. Do you think that maybe—”
“Possibly,” Ellie said. “We may have pushed them too far.”
“Are we all going to die?” Brian asked.
“I don’t know,” Ellie answered. “I really don’t.”
They stood in awkward silence for several seconds. “Well, at least your sister got rid of Nakamura,” Brian said suddenly.
Ellie was certain she had not heard the sentence correctly. “What are you talking about, Brian?” she asked.
“You didn’t hear about it? Four days ago Katie assassinated Nakamura . . . and then killed herself.”
Ellie was stunned. She stared at Brian in utter disbelief. “Daddy told me about Aunt Katie yesterday,” Nikki said to her mother. “He said he wanted to be the one to tell me.”
Ellie could not say anything. Her head was spinning. She managed to say good-bye to Brian and to thank him again. Then she sat down on the couch. Nikki crawled up beside her mother and put her head on Ellie’s lap. They sat together quietly for a long time.