Jade War

Hilo leaned forward and swept an unimpressed stare around the circle of men. “My grandfather kept his old crony Yun Dorupon in place as Weather Man for decades, long after he should’ve retired and no matter how many pubescent girls he fucked, and I didn’t see you putting up much of a stink about it. I made the decision to put my sister on Ship Street, and I’m not going to oust her now just because Ayt Mada is digging up shit and feeding it to the newspapers.” He stood up; the meeting was over. Reluctantly, his visitors stood as well. Councilman Kowi and the two Lantern Men were visibly dissatisfied, saying nothing as they saluted stiffly.

Hilo said, “I like that you speak your mind, Hami-jen, as long as you keep using your good sense to serve the Weather Man.” The Master Luckbringer dipped into a wordless, terse salute and left along with the others. When they were gone, Hilo paced several circles around the study, cursing under his breath. Then he picked up the phone on the desk and dialed the Weather Man’s office, reaching Shae’s secretary. “Tell my sister we need to talk.”

CHAPTER 28

Not That Stupid

Bero’s prospects, which had seemed so promising last year, had been stalled for months, ever since the Mountain raided the scavenging operation and murdered the Uwiwan work crew. It had taken him and Mudt the rest of that miserable night and another two whole days to walk down the mountain and hitchhike back to Janloon. When they finally arrived, hungry, sore, and bedraggled, and told Soradiyo that Green Bones had killed the pickers, stolen the trucks, and taken the jade, the barukan manager’s face had turned purple, and he looked fit to kill both of them on the spot.

“All the fucking jade you’re wearing, and you couldn’t Perceive them in time to get out of there with anything

?”

“We got out with our lives,” Mudt muttered.

“Yes, how are you alive?” Soradiyo asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Why didn’t Nau snap your necks?”

“He sent us back to give you a message,” Bero said. “Says he wants to talk. Says you’re not going to make money at this rate. I think he wants to buy you out.”

Soradiyo’s narrow face seemed to lengthen further with his scowl. “Get the fuck out of my sight,” he told them.

Bero thought their next job would be an opportunity to make up for the prior disaster, but it turned out to not even be a scavenge; they were trucked out to a windy cove on the remote west side of the island to help pack motorized fishing boats with raw jade stones hidden under ice and seafood. Apparently, the clans were unofficially running the coast guard and patrolling Kekon’s waters so vigorously that it was becoming increasingly difficult to sneak jade offshore. Soradiyo was splitting up his shipments to the Uwiwa Islands and sending half a dozen boats in different directions at the same time, hoping that at least a few would get through. Bero could smell rotting fish on his clothes, his skin, and his hair for days afterward.

The next scavenge job Soradiyo scheduled for them was canceled due to a tip-off about a Green Bone patrol in the area, and then the torrential spring rains arrived, rendering the mountains inaccessible and shutting down both legal and illegal jade mining activity for three months.

Bero expected to return to work once summer came around, but Soradiyo did not contact them. The barukan manager seemed distracted and was becoming difficult to pin down in person. The one time Bero found him in the Rat House and demanded an explanation, he said testily, “Soon, soon, all right? I’ve got other things going on, things that might solve a lot of our problems,” but refused to further elaborate. Bero became frustrated and impatient.

Mudt’s attitude did not help. “I told you from the start, keke, we don’t need that unreliable barukan asshole. It was a bad idea to begin with, but fine, we did it, we’re still alive and we made enough money to last awhile. The clans are hitting the smuggling harder and harder, and Soradiyo’s going to end up as worm food, so it’s better we get out now while we can. Get back to training seriously, and then to going after Maik.”

“I don’t give a fuck about the Maiks,” Bero snapped.

Mudt yelled at him, “Maik Tar killed my da.”

“Your da had it coming,” Bero said, “messing in a clan war, and you’ll end up the same way if you don’t shut up.”