Broken Rainbow: Big brother, you can only be mine

Jin'en read the line on the note three times: The old building is empty. Eastern warehouse compound, toward the back of the third row. If you don't come before tomorrow night, the goods will be moved.

He folded the note and tucked it inside his trench coat, alongside the unnumbered badge.

The badge was a glaring flaw. Prism never used anything of that quality for location markers. There was an eighty-percent chance it had been deliberately left for him to see.

He hadn't stopped the woman when she left, letting her go back to the card room to find Old Zheng. After a few steps, she turned back and added, "Old Zheng said you need to bring someone to the warehouse. You can't get in alone."

Jin'en didn't answer.

Broken Rainbow leaned halfway out of a third-floor window, checked that the line hadn't moved, then withdrew.

By the time Jin'en circled around to the courtyard junction, she was already waiting at the stairs, barefoot, with the braided cord wrapped around her wrist.

"What did she say?"

"Old Zheng wants me at the eastern warehouses before tomorrow night."

"You're going."

"Yeah."

Broken Rainbow said nothing. She unwound the braided cord from her wrist and wrapped it back around, moving more slowly than usual.

She stared at Jin'en for several seconds, a glint shifting through her green eyes.

"You're going alone?"

"I'll take a look first."

"Old Zheng told you to bring someone," Broken Rainbow said.

"If he said that, either you can't handle what's waiting in the warehouse alone, or the place is a trap from the start."

Jin'en leaned against the wall.

He knew it was a trap. Porsette had told him long ago that Prism was laying a path and waiting for him to walk into it.

But apart from this lead, he had no other route to Prism's roots.

Old Zheng held a list, and on it were Daffodil, Scarlet Mallow, Poinsettia, and Mandrake, who was only just getting started.

If he didn't go, those names would stay there.

"I'll take a look first," Jin'en said.

"Find out how many people are inside, then decide."

"You're not taking Little Red Riding Hood."

"She can't enter the warehouse. If there's a perception type inside, opening a door would be throwing her life away."

Broken Rainbow wound the cord back around her wrist and didn't argue further. She turned toward her room, then stopped after two steps without looking back.

"Big brother."

"Yeah."

"If you aren't back tomorrow night, I'll assume something happened to you in the warehouse."

She said it lightly, as if reporting the weather, without even drawing out the last word.

Jin'en didn't answer.

He understood what she meant-it wasn't a threat. She wanted him to remember someone was waiting for him.

The next day, Jin'en didn't make an early move.

He went to the training grounds as usual during the day and practiced a round each with the silver rod and the black rod. The silver rod's rifts closed more steadily than before, and the black rod's devouring power flowed more smoothly than it had during the first two days.

Porsette watched nearby without asking what he planned to do, only handing him a bottle of water when he stopped to catch his breath.

"You're going to the eastern warehouses tonight," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

"I saved routes around the secondhand market. I can reach that warehouse toward the back of the third row." Porsette crouched beside him and drew a rectangle on the ground with her finger. "If you get trapped inside, I can open a door."

Jin'en glanced at her. "If you open a door, a perception type will intercept you."

"I won't go in," Porsette said. "I'll open a crack from outside, just wide enough for you to get out. Whenever you need it, I'll open it."

Jin'en said nothing. He had heard this reasoning from her too many times-every time, she dismantled herself into a useful tool and offered it to him, afraid he would think she was useless. He stood and brushed the iron sand from his hands.

"Wait at the alley entrance tonight. I'll let you know before I go in."

After dark, Jin'en drove alone to the eastern secondhand market.

The market bustled during the day, but at night all that remained was a row of shops with their shutters pulled all the way down and a few stray cats rummaging through the trash. He circled past the main entrance, climbed into the warehouse compound from the side, and followed the walls to the warehouse toward the back of the third row.

Its roller shutter was down, but light shone through the gap underneath.

Jin'en crouched at the corner, narrowed his Spatial Perception to its finest focus, and swept the interior-three living signatures, all toward the back, motionless. No fluctuations from a perception type.

He circled behind the warehouse and formed the black rod. Pressing its tip against a welded seam, he let dark light seep inside and silently dissolve an opening two fingers wide. He squeezed through sideways and moved inward along the shelves.

Several rows of cardboard boxes filled the warehouse. Old Zheng sat behind a table against the wall. He didn't look at Jin'en, keeping his head lowered as he leafed through a stack of things. Several photographs lay spread across the table.

"You're here." Old Zheng didn't lift his head. "Earlier than I expected."

Jin'en remained in the shelves' shadow without approaching. "You said the goods would be moved before tomorrow night."

"That was a lie." Old Zheng pushed the photographs to the edge of the table. "They've been here all along. Waiting for you to collect them."

Jin'en didn't move. Old Zheng looked up at him and rubbed a fingertip across the stack of photographs.

"You're not here for the goods," Old Zheng said. "You're here to ask about the list."

Jin'en didn't deny it.

Old Zheng turned the photographs over, exposing their backs.

Jin'en saw clearly: they were photographs of Broken Rainbow-a side view of her walking near the mansion's back entrance, and another of her crouching in a Bridge District alley to tie her shoelaces.

"I was just a little short of pinpointing Scarlet Mallow." Old Zheng turned the photographs back over, writing facedown. "Now that you're here, I know how tightly she's tied to you. If you hadn't come tonight, this photograph would have been handed up tomorrow. The day after, whether she left the mansion wouldn't be up to her."

Jin'en's right hand clenched inside his trench coat pocket.

"You want to trade me for her."

"What would I trade you for her for?" Old Zheng leaned back, his chair creaking. "Three names on the list. I've tracked down Daffodil, I'm one step away from Poinsettia, and Scarlet Mallow..." He paused. "I couldn't get at Scarlet Mallow before. But with you coming alone tonight, this lead has paid off."

Jin'en didn't move. He was calculating-three signatures on Old Zheng's side: Old Zheng himself, one against the wall, and one by the door.

Old Zheng would keep sitting there talking to stall for time. The one against the wall was probably reaching for a weapon, while the one by the door guarded the retreat.

The black rod could subdue Old Zheng, but the other two would move.

"Coming alone was stupid," Old Zheng said. "I wasn't being polite when I told you to bring someone."

The one by the door moved.

In Jin'en's perception, that living signature moved two steps toward the entrance, as if to pull up the roller shutter. Jin'en's black rod moved first-its tip reached out, and dark light slipped through a spatial fissure to the man's feet. The concrete bulged, and the man stumbled back a step.

The one against the wall drew a short knife. Jin'en turned sideways, silver markings flashing beneath his cuff as space folded momentarily between him and the man. When he steadied himself again, he was right in front of Old Zheng's table, the black rod pressed against Old Zheng's Adam's apple.

"Give me the photographs," Jin'en said.

Old Zheng didn't dodge. Instead, he smiled. "You can get the photographs, but not the list. The list isn't in this warehouse."

Jin'en pressed the rod's tip an inch farther forward. "Where is it?"

"In tomorrow morning's car," Old Zheng said. "If I don't send word tonight, that car won't stop tomorrow morning, and the list will disappear with it."

Jin'en stared at him. Old Zheng's words mixed truth with lies, but he couldn't tell which was which just yet.

"Leave someone to collect it," Jin'en said. "Let the person in the photographs come get it herself."

Old Zheng narrowed his eyes. "You mean Scarlet Mallow."

"You've already photographed her. You ought to let her know."

Old Zheng didn't answer, but he didn't pull the stack of photographs back, either. Jin'en reached out, took them, and tucked them inside his trench coat before stepping back twice.

"Where does the car stop tomorrow morning?"

"Bridge District docks. The usual spot," Old Zheng said. "You haven't taken the list tonight. Until the car arrives tomorrow morning, it'll still be in the car."

Jin'en asked nothing more.

He retraced his steps out of the warehouse, climbed out of the compound, and made his way back to where he'd parked.

Porsette was crouching in the darkness at the alley entrance, waiting for him. She stood when she saw him approach.

"How many people inside?"

"Three. Old Zheng was there."

"I got the photographs." Jin'en handed them to her. "Of your older sister. Old Zheng took several."

Porsette leafed through them, her fingers pausing on the one of Broken Rainbow crouching in the alley to tie her shoelaces. "This was taken close up. Where was he crouching when he took it?"

"He said Bridge District."

"Which alley in Bridge District? He even captured how she ties her shoelaces." Porsette turned the photograph over to examine the back, the writing facedown. "The angle is very low. Whoever took it was lying on their stomach."

Jin'en took the photograph and looked again. The angle was indeed low, as if it had been shot upward from ground level. The place where Broken Rainbow was tying her shoelaces was a corner in a narrow Bridge District alley.

"That wasn't a candid shot," Porsette said. "Someone specifically waited for her to photograph her. Whoever was waiting knew she'd pass that spot."

Jin'en put the photographs away without speaking.

He remembered what Broken Rainbow had said last night: "If you aren't back, I'll assume something happened to you in the warehouse." She hadn't said it casually. She knew someone had their eye on her.

When he drove back halfway up the mountain, Jin'en didn't use the back entrance, instead circling around to the gravel path behind the mountain.

Broken Rainbow crouched behind the large rock at the junction, barefoot, the braided cord wrapped around her hand, looking as though she'd been waiting a long time.

"You're back." She stood, first sweeping her gaze over him. "Are you hurt?"

"No."

"What did you get?"

Jin'en handed over the stack of photographs. Broken Rainbow looked down at them for several seconds, stopping at the one of her tying her shoelaces. Her green eyes narrowed.

"Taken lying down," she said. "He knew when I'd use that alley."

"How long have you been watched?"

"I didn't notice." Broken Rainbow handed the photographs back. "I've mostly been in the mansion lately. I haven't gone out much. Just those few trips to Bridge District-"

She stopped.

"The time I tied my shoelaces was the day you sent me to the back alley to cut off that lookout," Broken Rainbow said. "I was crouching behind a low wall that day. My shoelace came loose, so I crouched down to tie it. Just that one moment."

"Someone remembered it," Jin'en said.

"The person recording how I crouch is the same person recording your file." Broken Rainbow wound the cord back around her wrist, her voice dropping lower than usual. "Old Zheng isn't just digging into you. He's digging into my habits, too."

Jin'en said nothing. He tucked the photographs back inside his trench coat and headed toward the concealed door in the side corridor. Broken Rainbow followed, her bare feet making little sound on the wooden floor.

"You're going to the docks tomorrow morning to collect the list?"

"Yeah."

"Alone."

"Alone."

Broken Rainbow asked nothing more. At the courtyard junction, she suddenly stopped.

"Big brother."

Jin'en stopped.

"Old Zheng photographed me tying my shoelaces to confirm one thing," Broken Rainbow said, her voice level. "He wanted to confirm how tightly you and I are tied together. You went to the warehouse alone tonight, and he showed you the photographs. Whether you reacted or not, he recorded it."

Jin'en turned to look at her.

"You reacted, didn't you?" Broken Rainbow said. "He saw you react, so he knew I mattered to you. Scarlet Mallow's entry on the list changed from 'unconfirmed' to 'confirmed' tonight."

Jin'en fell silent.

She was right. Old Zheng's whole setup tonight hadn't been about threatening him with the list at all. It had been about watching his reaction. The moment he'd reached out to snatch the photographs, he'd handed over the answer: Scarlet Mallow and Mandrake were tightly bound together.

"You shouldn't have gone alone." Broken Rainbow stepped forward and stood before him, tilting her head back to look at him. The lamplight fell across her from the side, the light in her green eyes deeper than usual. "You should've taken me. You'd collect the list, and I'd go into the warehouse and cut off Old Zheng's entire line. He digs into me, you protect me. With both of us there, not one of his people would've escaped."

"Taking you would've told him that two people on the list were there."

"He should've known that already," Broken Rainbow said. "From the day he photographed me, he should've known Scarlet Mallow wasn't someone he could dig into alone."

Jin'en watched her. The girl spoke fiercely, but her eyes were calculating something else. She wasn't calculating how to cut Old Zheng off. She was calculating whether, when he went to the docks alone tomorrow morning, someone hidden in the shadows would take a photograph of him tying his shoelaces, too.

"I'm going to the docks tomorrow morning, but not for the list," Jin'en said.

Broken Rainbow's green eyes lit up.

"I'm going to cut off that line," Jin'en said. "Old Zheng said the list was in the car, and the car would stop at the docks. He's counting on me trying to seize the list. That car is a trap. I won't intercept it. I'll stake out the docks and see who signals it."

Broken Rainbow stared at him for two seconds, then the corners of her mouth slowly rose, revealing her pointed canines.

"You've learned to be bad," she said. "You weren't like this before."

"You taught me."

"Everything I taught you was to help you protect yourself." Broken Rainbow slipped her hands into her pockets, drawing out the end of her sentence. "I never taught you to use yourself as bait."

"Last night, you said that if I didn't return, you'd assume something had happened to me in the warehouse," Jin'en said. "I came back today."

Broken Rainbow said nothing. She stood beneath the streetlamp, her bare feet on the icy stone slabs. The light in her green eyes shifted, then shifted back.

"Big brother," she called, more softly than usual. "What I said last night wasn't to scare you."

"I know."

"I meant it." Broken Rainbow stepped forward, stopping less than half a step from him and looking up, her expression serious for once. "Wherever you're going in the future, if it's somewhere you can't handle alone, take me. If you think I'll get in your way, say so. I'll back off. Don't walk into a trap alone. Once you're inside, there won't even be anyone to open a door for you."

Jin'en looked at her. The girl had gone a long way around and said plenty of fierce things, but in the end, it all came down to one sentence: don't go throw your life away alone.

"I'll stake out the docks tomorrow morning," Jin'en said. "If you want to come, stay fifty meters behind me. Don't let anyone see you."

Broken Rainbow showed even more of her pointed canines. "Deal."

Jin'en left before dawn the next day. Broken Rainbow followed a street behind him, wearing a dark jacket, her hair tied up and tucked beneath a hat. She didn't drive, following on foot two alleys away.

The sky over the docks was just turning gray-white. Jin'en crouched behind a second-floor window in the abandoned warehouse opposite the storage yard, spreading his Spatial Perception around the "usual spot" Old Zheng had mentioned. Just after six, a black sedan drove in and stopped beside the loading bay, its engine still running. The person in the driver's seat didn't get out. After waiting two minutes, a hand reached out of the window, and the hazard lights flashed.

Jin'en didn't move.

After the flash, the docks' side gate opened a crack, and someone emerged-the man who'd reached for a knife by the warehouse wall last night. He walked to the sedan, bent down to exchange a few words with the driver, then circled to the rear, opened the trunk, and carried a cardboard box toward the side gate.

Jin'en watched the box. The list was most likely inside.

But Jin'en didn't intercept it.

He waited. The moment the trunk opened had been enough for him to see clearly. A shipping bag covered the cardboard box, its opening sealed with tape. A line of small print ran across the tape-not a shipping company's name, but an abbreviated address. Miguel District, a certain street, a certain building.

Jin'en memorized the address, withdrew from the second-floor window, and climbed down the fire escape.

Broken Rainbow waited at the alley entrance. When he approached, she said quietly, "The box went through the side gate."

"The list is in the box," Jin'en said. "The box went through the side gate, and that gate leads to the old building. The old building is registered under the shipping company's name."

"So the list is still in that building."

"Yes. But the car was a trap. I didn't intercept it, so by tonight they should know someone's seen through it." Jin'en headed toward the car. "We need to get the list out before tonight, or they'll move it."

Broken Rainbow followed him for a while, then suddenly spoke.

"Brother."

"Mm."

"Last night in the warehouse, when Old Zheng showed you the photo," Broken Rainbow said, "were you thinking about how to keep me out of it?"

Jin'en didn't answer.

"Don't just stay quiet." Broken Rainbow hurried two steps to walk beside him. "I could tell. When you snatched that photo, it wasn't about the list. You were afraid he'd use it to blackmail me."

Jin'en turned his head and glanced at her.

"We already got the photo back," he said.

"One print. There are still the negatives," Broken Rainbow said. "Someone like Old Zheng wouldn't make just one print. Chances are he still has the negatives. If we don't get those back tonight too, he can still make new prints tomorrow morning."

Jin'en fell silent for a beat. She was right.

"So you still have to go into that building tonight," Broken Rainbow said, her voice suddenly softening. "Go in, get the list, get the negatives. There are more people guarding that building than there were at the warehouse."

Jin'en looked at her. There was no wheedling in her words, no show of weakness. She simply laid out the stakes clearly, then waited for him to decide.

"We're going in," Jin'en said. "You're coming with me tonight."

Broken Rainbow's green eyes lit up for an instant, and her pointed canines showed, but she quickly hid them again.

"All right," she said. "You go inside and get the stuff. I'll cover your retreat from outside. If anyone comes, I'll stop them. Don't look back at me. Get it and go."

Jin'en said nothing more. He opened the car door, got in, and started the engine. Broken Rainbow got in from the other side, pulled her cap down, and turned her face toward the window.

They had driven some distance before Broken Rainbow's voice came from beside him again, muffled, as though squeezed out from beneath her cap's brim:

"Brother."

"Mm."

"Last night in the warehouse, when you walked in alone, didn't you ever think about what would happen if you couldn't get out?"

"I did," Jin'en said. "I came up with a way."

Broken Rainbow didn't ask what that way was. She pulled her cap down farther, hiding most of her face.

"That's all right, then," she said. "As long as you came up with something. Don't forget there's still someone at the house waiting for you to come back."

Jin'en held the steering wheel and didn't answer. But he couldn't say whether the thought in his heart-Even if I can't get out, I still have to keep you out of this-counted as thinking of her as "someone waiting."

That night, outside the old building, Broken Rainbow crouched in the shadows on the second level of the fire escape, her blade laid across her knees. Before Jin'en climbed in through a side window, he looked back at her.

"Once I'm inside, count to thirty. If there's no movement by thirty, pull out."

"I'm not pulling out," Broken Rainbow said. "If there's no movement by thirty, I'm coming in to find you."

"If you come in, Old Zheng's men will cut you off."

"Perfect." Broken Rainbow drew her blade half an inch from its sheath, cold steel flashing beneath the streetlight. "Let them. You get the stuff, I'll deal with them. No one's getting a shot at your back."

Jin'en said nothing more and climbed through the window.

Broken Rainbow crouched in the shadows, counting the seconds. She couldn't say when she had started calling him "Brother" in earnest instead of as a joke.

Maybe it was when he washed her feet in the back alley, maybe it was when he walked into the warehouse alone, or maybe it was this moment, when he climbed through that window without a word, throwing himself into a building full of Prism's people.

She gripped the hilt and stared at the window. The seconds ticked past in her head, one by one.

Thirty.

No movement at the window.

Broken Rainbow stood up. She drew her blade and crept along the fire escape toward that second-floor window.

She had said that if he didn't come back, she would go in to find him.

She had meant it.