ALICE Ch 389

Ingrid looks serious. “She needs a hospital.”

Julieta nods in agreement.

Aki sees no alternative. She crosses the room to the amazon and strikes her hard at the base of her skull with the handle of the pistol. The woman slumps over, and Aki pats her pockets. Trying to get the key for the cuffs from her while conscious would have ended with the amazon effortlessly reversing the situation. This is much tidier. Aki takes the keys and the amazon’s earpiece.

They get the cuffs off Lotte, and Aki puts them on the amazon.

Lotte’s in rough shape; Aki isn’t a doctor. Maybe she’s been beaten even more badly than it appears, or she is severely dehydrated. She’s lucid and can talk, but there’s nothing she can say that Aki hasn’t guessed already.

Aki holds up a finger to shut up Ingrid. She needs to think. An ambulance is an option, but it’s not very discreet.

Aki is not surprised by what they have found in this room, but it is not what she hoped for. She checks her watch; they’re close to the 6-hour timestamp. This will not be unnoticed for much longer. Lotte’s guard will change soon.

“Where did you get a gun?” Ingrid asks.

Aki ignores that and tries to think. This is Japan. Ingrid and Julieta do not need to know that the gun is a toy. While a real gun is not impossible for Aki to get, she did not expect—or perhaps she merely allowed herself to hope—that she would not need one. Heavy metal toy guns are plentiful, however, and convincing in the moment if one has no reason to be suspicious.

She tucks the pistol into her waistband and covers it with her jacket.

The obvious play is to get Lotte to the police, but in a matchup between the Japanese police and a Russian billionaire, Aki doesn’t like the odds. They need to get Lotte and themselves out of the country, and to warn Annette and Glynda that Irina has escalated her tactics and is moving against FUTA for keeps. But what are they going to do about it?

Aki is accustomed to being the big fish, but with someone like Irina, she is not. Her odds of successfully brokering peace are no better than those of the Japanese police in prosecuting what was done to Lotte.

Aki narrows her eyes. She sees a one way forward. Lotte has to be taken care of, and Julieta and Ingrid have to be protected. Her mind triages tasks: arranging for a private doctor, a ride out of this hotel, and then the logistics of getting face-to-face with Irina Orlova before she can retaliate.

She takes a deep breath and takes out her phone. “Get her on her feet,” she orders Ingrid. This is not what she signed up for when she came aboard for a few months to spend time with her old friends from FUTA.