Page 69 of The Queen's Denial

This is the text that wakes me up at 2 a.m. on a night when I’m not stationed outside of Chi’s mansion. I know immediately that I’m going there anyway, whether or not this turns out to be a false alarm.

To my surprise, though, as I pull on my jacket and open the door of the safehouse, Oxy’s number lights up my phone. That’s not a good sign.

“So, what’s going on?” I ask after I press it to my ear.

“Something suspicious happened. I’m trying to figure it out, but basically what I know right now is that someone jammed the signals. This is a billionaire’s mansion — could be innocuous, right? Just a faulty update to his security or something. But the weird thing is that they somehow delayed my alert that the signals were jammed. There are ways to do that, but it’s not fucking easy. What’s worse is, if it was a simple intel attack, it doesn’t seem like someone would go through all the trouble just to test the system, you know?”

I put my car into gear and floor it. Something about Oxy’s explanation is so unsettling to me. “Yeah, I know. I don’t fucking like it.”

Oxy’s voice is grim when she answers. “Me neither.”

I hear her click-clacking away on the other end, and I feel like I need to ask more questions to stem my concern. “So, they just stopped calls in and out. No other suspicious activity?”

“I’m not seeing anything,” Oxy clips. “Same guards as always. Everyone’s at their stations. Nothing suspicious on the… oh, shit.”

Any time Oxy says the words, “Oh shit,” everyone, their mother, and their cat should be scared out their fucking minds. She never gets flustered or worried about anything unless it’s extremely serious. I gulp before I ask. “What do you see, Oxy?”

She breathes deep and lets it out slowly before she answers, and it doesn’t matter anyway, because I’m already speeding down this empty highway to get to Chi as quickly as possible.

“It’s mylar foil interference.”

I don’t quite know what this means, so I make the only comparison I can think up. “Mylar foil? Like balloons?”

Oxy doesn’t laugh or make a sarcastic joke like she normally would. She pauses for another minute. “Fuck, there it is again. They’re blocking the cameras, Andy. They’re wearing suits that block the fucking cameras, and all I can see, when I can see it at all, are big blobs blending in with the night around them.”

I push down harder and floor the pedal. “This doesn’t sound like a test, Oxy. This sounds like a fucking all-out assault. Have the guards move in.”

“Already sounded the alarm. But Andy, they’re going in the wrong direction. I think they’re moving away from the grounds.”

“Are you sure?”

Oxy pauses again for another minute before finally answering grimly. “Maybe not… no, I’m sure. They’re heading away from the house, and you better hurry. Because this was definitely not a test. I’m pretty certain whoever this is has done their damage.”

*****

I’m at the mouth of the escape tunnel just five minutes after I hang up with Oxy. I figure there will be swarms of guards inside the house at this point, but I’m one of the few people that know where these tunnels lead to, or even that they are here. I jump out of the car and tear through the entrance, single-mindedly looking for Chi.

I don’t have to go far. She’s made it nearly to the end, but I see her hobbling, head down, limbs moving with staggered jumps, and I worry that she’s hurt.

“Chi!” I whisper to her as loudly as possible. She jumps about a foot into the air, gasping loud enough for it to be a scream. Her eyelids are as round as they can go, the whites of her eyes fully visible, bulging out at me in abject fear. She stares at me for a full ten seconds before she processes who I am but still seems rooted to the spot.

I approach her carefully, knowing immediately that something terrible has happened, even before she begins shaking uncontrollably.

As soon as I get close enough, she clutches my shirt in a death grip. “My father… Daiki… they—they…” She’s barely looking at me now, her eyes cloudy, roving over the walls of this tunnel as if she’ll find some impossible answer on them. I wish there was somewhere to sit her down, because she doesn’t look good at all.

“Chi,” I say lightly, putting my hands to her shoulders, grabbing lightly to try and ground her. She seems beyond just some physical touch, though. Her chest heaves up and down as she works her jaw, trying to push words out of her mouth but seemingly unable to say them. “Chee-chee, we have to go. Can you tell me what happened while we walk?”

Her eyes, still impossibly wide, land on mine and stop. She stops breathing and doesn’t move a muscle — just stares. The horror in her face is something I’ll never forget, I know. Something that will haunt me for the rest of my life, although I know in this moment that whatever she’s seen tonight will be about ten times worse.

“They’re dead.” She falls into me on the second word, her grip slackening on my shirt, but still holding on. She must have seen them, I think as I pick up her dead weight and hold her against me. She doesn’t look hurt, but she’s totally out of it. I really wish I could go into the mansion and make sure there’s nothing I can do, but I know I need to get Chi out of here first. I place her carefully into the car and drive off to the safehouse.

*****

Chi jolts up with a start, eyes wide in terror. I hold her hand, but she breaks the grip, snatching her hand out of mine and clutching it to her chest.

“They’re dead. They’re dead, and I have so much I have to do.” Her eyes don’t blink as she looks around frantically. “I’ll need to have their funerals. I’ll have to tell Daiki’s sister in Japan.I’ll need to postpone the wedding. They won’t be there, so I have to take them off the list. I’ll have to tell my mother and my brother, if they even care. They’ll need to come for the funeral.” She shakes a little, moving back and forth with her breaths, as I pull up to the safehouse. I approach her as I would a wounded animal.

“Chi. Stop. It’ll be okay. I’m going to help you.”

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