Reeling in the line

Jin'en stayed inside the house for two days. Porsette and Broken Rainbow left early and returned late each day, checking the coordinates they had saved in the Bridge District and Miguel District.

There were no problems with the first day's route. Broken Rainbow dealt with a tail in the alley behind the secondhand market, and Old Zheng sent no more people.

Halfway through the second day's route, Porsette took an extra detour before teleporting back from Uptown Tower Plaza in the Miguel District. Jin'en waited for her at the mansion's back door and saw that her hood was crooked, with sweat covering her face beneath its brim.

"Someone was following me." Porsette took off her hood and caught her breath. "They started following me from the souvenir shop beneath Uptown Tower. I only noticed after I entered the plaza.

"I didn't dare teleport straight back here, so I made another stop in the Bridge District."

"What did they look like?"

"Two people. One had a camera bag and pretended to take tourist photos in the plaza, but his lens kept pointing in the direction I was walking.

"The other was outside the souvenir shop beneath the tower. He followed me when I came out."

"Where's Broken Rainbow?"

"Big sis told me to teleport back first. She stayed in the plaza to deal with the one carrying the bag." Porsette set her hood on her knees, her voice settling. "She said she'd come back herself afterward and told me not to wait."

Jin'en asked nothing more and glanced toward the hidden door in the side corridor.

It was nearly dark when Broken Rainbow returned. Barefoot on the gravel path, her blade hanging behind her waist, she walked at an unhurried pace.

Porsette was crouching on the back steps waiting for her. She sprang up at the sight of her.

"Big sis."

"Mm." Broken Rainbow walked past her toward the hidden door, then stopped after two steps and glanced back at Porsette. "The one with the bag-I broke two of his ribs and got something out of him. He said Old Zheng has a temporary hideout over in Unheard-of Bay. He didn't know the exact location, only that it's in the old warehouse district near the fishing docks."

Jin'en emerged from the side corridor.

Seeing him, Broken Rainbow spoke before he could. "I didn't go straight there. You know the docks better than I do, so I came back to tell you first."

"You did the right thing." Jin'en headed inside, and the three followed the corridor toward the study. "If Old Zheng is staying at the fishing docks, he hasn't moved what he's holding yet. He knows shipping channels there. He went there to find a boat."

"Finding a boat means he's getting ready to run." Broken Rainbow unwound the braided cord from her wrist and looped it once. "Before he runs, he'll have to deal with the negatives and files.

"Either sell them to a buyer or take them aboard. If he takes them aboard, he'll be hard to track once he's out at sea."

"So he won't wait long." Jin'en stopped outside the study and knocked twice on the doorframe.

Inanna's voice came from inside. "Come in."

Jin'en pushed the door open, with Broken Rainbow and Porsette following.

Inanna sat in an armchair, the negatives and photographs recovered from Old Zheng's warehouse spread before her.

She did not look up at the doorway, pressing her fingers against the edge of a photograph.

"The fishing docks in Unheard-of Bay," Jin'en said, standing across the low table. "Old Zheng's hideout. Broken Rainbow found out today."

Inanna set down the photograph and raised her eyes.

"How do you plan to wrap this up?"

"We go tonight," Jin'en said.

"I've scouted the warehouse district at the docks. The old fishing-port warehouses are packed together, with narrow passages. There's only one main road in and out. Everything else is loading bays and piers along the water.

"If Old Zheng is carrying the goods, he won't take the main road. He'll use the passages along the waterfront and slip onto the pier where his boat is moored under cover of darkness."

"You're going alone?"

"Broken Rainbow will take the waterfront side with me." Jin'en glanced at Broken Rainbow by the door. "Porsette will stand by outside the docks. If Old Zheng runs out of the warehouses toward the street, she'll open a gate and cut him off."

Inanna's gaze passed over all three of them.

"Old Zheng has goods with him. He isn't running empty-handed. Do you know whether he has help in the warehouses?"

"No," Jin'en said without evasion.

"But there won't be many living signatures in the old warehouses.

"Only two or three loading crews work nights at the fishing port. Old Zheng chose that place because there aren't many people."

Inanna leaned back, her fingers pausing on the armrest.

"Go," she said. "Bring the goods back. No need to leave him alive."

The fishing docks lay on the southern side of Unheard-of Bay, separated from the seaside promenade by an entire stretch of reef.

During the day, fishing boats and freighters crowded the piers to unload. At night, only streetlights remained, illuminating empty concrete shores and rows of fully lowered roller shutters.

The old warehouses stood at the far end of the docks, their sheet-metal roofs so rusted their original color was unrecognizable. A narrow road ran through the middle to the pier entrance, flanked by welded-shut iron doors and discarded cable reels piled as high as a person.

Jin'en parked at the fork outside the docks and switched off the lights.

Broken Rainbow climbed out of the passenger seat and moved her blade from behind her waist to within easy reach of her left hand. The end of its sheath tapped lightly against the concrete.

Porsette stood beside the car, her hood pulled up and its brim lowered to her eyebrows.

"We go in here and work our way back along the waterfront warehouses." Crouching beside the front of the car, Jin'en reviewed the warehouse layout in his head. "Broken Rainbow takes point. I'll stay five paces behind. Porsette, wait behind the old guard booth at the dock entrance.

"If Old Zheng comes out of the warehouses and runs toward the street, he'll have to pass the booth.

"When you see him, open a gate to intercept him. Don't fight. Just block him for a second."

"Is one second enough?" Porsette asked.

"Enough."

Broken Rainbow had already taken half a step when Jin'en reached out to stop her by the arm.

"Don't use an illusion once we're inside. There are night-shift loading crews in the warehouses. They might have nothing to do with Old Zheng.

"If you activate your Eye of Bewilderment, everyone within several dozen meters will get caught in it."

Broken Rainbow brushed his hand off her arm without arguing.

"I know," she said. "I'll only use my blade."

The two slipped past the heaps of discarded cable along the outer edge of the docks, heading deeper into the warehouses.

Jin'en spread his Spatial Perception as finely as he could, sweeping it along the ground. There were four living signatures in the old warehouses: two in the third warehouse along the water, one moving through the passage outside, and another standing still at the pier entrance at the far end, probably watching the boat.

Broken Rainbow walked five paces ahead of him, her footfalls silent and her sheath no longer touching the ground.

At the corner of the second warehouse, she stopped and glanced back.

Jin'en moved up beside her.

"The one in the outside passage is coming back," Broken Rainbow whispered. "He went to the pier entrance and exchanged a few words with the boat watcher. Now he's coming back. He'll pass our passage in another half minute."

"Let him pass." Jin'en stepped back into the shadow of the warehouse corner. "We'll move once he's gone."

They crouched at the corner for half a minute.

Footsteps approached along the outside passage, then receded, finally disappearing toward the street-facing side of the warehouses.

"Move."

Broken Rainbow slipped out from the corner and crept along the warehouse wall to the side of the third building.

Jin'en followed and swept it again with Spatial Perception-the two living signatures inside had not moved. One was seated; the other stood beside a shelf farther inside.

The warehouse's side door was barred from within. It was made of sheet metal, with aging welds.

Jin'en did not let Broken Rainbow use her blade. A length of black rod formed in his right palm, its tip pressing against a weld. Dark, flowing light seeped in, silently dissolving an opening around the bar.

Turning sideways, he pushed the door open a crack and glanced inside.

Old Zheng sat behind a sheet-metal desk against the wall, several sheets of paper and a kraft-paper envelope spread before him.

The other person, standing, was a young man holding a canvas bag and packing things into it.

A short blade rested on the corner of the desk. Old Zheng's right hand remained below its edge, never rising.

Jin'en widened the gap enough for someone to slip through sideways, then gestured to Broken Rainbow-two, both his.

Broken Rainbow nodded, leaving her blade sheathed, and retreated to the passage corner to guard the outside.

Jin'en slipped sideways into the warehouse.

The metal door made little noise opening, but Old Zheng still looked up.

He did not rise when he saw Jin'en. He lifted his right hand from beneath the desk, his palm empty.

"Earlier than I figured," Old Zheng said.

"When did you figure?"

"Tomorrow morning." Old Zheng leaned back in his chair. "Boats leave the docks in the morning. I was going to leave before dawn. Since you're here tonight, I'll have to leave now."

The young man shifted the canvas bag behind his back. Jin'en did not point his black rod at him, instead tapping its tip against the desktop.

"Put the bag on the desk. Step back against the wall."

The young man glanced at Old Zheng.

Old Zheng said nothing, only tilting his chin toward the desk. The young man set the bag down and backed up to crouch against the wall.

Jin'en approached the desk, keeping the black rod pointed toward Old Zheng.

He pulled the canvas bag over and looked inside-several rolls of negatives, two unsealed kraft-paper envelopes, and a small black notebook with its cover worn pale.

"All the negatives and files are here?"

"All here." Old Zheng kept his right hand motionless on the desk. "Put these together with what you took from the old building that day, and you've got Prism's entire network in this part of the Bridge District.

"Take a look when you get back. The lists for the Bridge District and Miguel District are all in the notebook."

Jin'en zipped up the canvas bag and picked it up.

"Old Zheng."

"Mm."

"How high up did your work for Prism go?"

Old Zheng watched him for two seconds. The corner of his mouth moved, as though he wanted to smile but couldn't.

"The very bottom. The people above gave me money and lists of people to watch, so I watched them.

"I don't know their names or what they look like. Nothing.

"If you want to get to Prism's roots through me, you won't."

"I wasn't planning to ask." Securing his grip on the bag, Jin'en stepped back toward the warehouse's side door.

Old Zheng withdrew his hand from the desk and rested it on his knee.

"You're not killing me?"

"Mother said there was no need to leave you alive." Jin'en had already reached the door. "But she didn't say I had to do it."

He left the warehouse and pulled the side door shut behind him. Broken Rainbow approached from beyond the corner.

"Got it?"

"Got it. The two inside haven't moved. Leave them." Jin'en held out the canvas bag for her to see. "It's all here. Let's go."

They retraced their route behind the waterfront warehouses.

At the dock entrance, Porsette poked half her head out from behind the old guard booth. Her shoulders relaxed when she saw them.

"Nobody ran out," she said.

"Old Zheng wasn't planning to force his way out tonight." Jin'en opened the car door. "He thought I wouldn't come until tomorrow morning."

As the car turned onto the road back, Broken Rainbow sat in the rear seat looking through the canvas bag. She opened the black notebook and scanned two pages.

"The list for this part of the Bridge District has seven names." She flipped farther back. "Three more in the Miguel District. Daffodil and Scarlet Mallow are both on it, and Poinsettia too. Mandrake-" She paused. "That last line was added later. The handwriting's different from the rest. It was a last-minute addition."

"Old Zheng added it."

"Mm." Broken Rainbow closed the notebook and returned it to the bag. "The first seven names are all printed. Only your line is handwritten.

"He probably didn't have time to reprint the whole page when he added you."

Jin'en said nothing.

When the car turned onto the gravel road halfway up the mountain, he glanced at the canvas bag in the rear seat through the rearview mirror.

Prism's network in the Bridge District could now be considered fully reeled in.

With this batch of lists recovered from Old Zheng, all the surveillance posts in the Bridge District and Miguel District had been cut off.

But the seven names in the notebook, along with that final added line, showed that Prism had connections farther afield. He simply couldn't reach them anytime soon.

The car stopped at the mansion's back door.

Broken Rainbow got out first with the canvas bag and headed for the hidden door in the side corridor.

Porsette climbed out on the other side and stood beside the car, in no hurry to leave.

"Big brother, Old Zheng didn't run tonight... That boat will still be waiting at the docks tomorrow morning." Porsette lowered her hood, holding its brim in her hands. "Will he still go to the docks tomorrow morning as planned?"

Jin'en locked the car, took two steps toward the hidden door, then stopped.

"That boat at the docks-will it still be there tomorrow morning?"

"Yes. I checked. It's moored at the inner pier, with fishing nets hanging from its bow."

"Then go to the docks again with Broken Rainbow tomorrow morning." Jin'en pushed open the hidden door. "If Old Zheng boards, don't stop him. Watch which boat he boards and which direction it goes. Just write down its number."

"Don't catch him?"

"Catching one cargo hauler is useless." Jin'en walked into the corridor. "Let him board. If the boat goes to sea, it'll have to dock somewhere. Wherever it docks will be Prism's next shipping point."

Porsette stood at the hidden doorway and pulled her hood back up, lowering its brim to just above her eyebrows.

"All right," she said.

"I'll go watch the boat tomorrow morning."

Jin'en entered the corridor and headed for his room.

At the courtyard junction, the bare tree still stood behind the iron railings. He glanced at it without stopping.

The next morning, Porsette and Broken Rainbow left the house before dawn.

The fishing docks' morning boats began departing at six. Old Zheng's little freighter, hung with fishing nets, mingled with several fishing boats. At six twenty, it cast off and chugged out of the harbor. Crouching behind a heap of discarded cable on the outer edge of the docks, Porsette watched it round the breakwater and head into the eastern waters.

"Got the boat number." Broken Rainbow crouched beside her, keeping her voice very low. "The number painted on the stern ends in zero-seven. It isn't sitting deep in the water. It can't carry much cargo. If Old Zheng brought anything aboard, he could have brought one crate at most."

"He doesn't have anything left," Porsette said. "Big brother took the canvas bag last night. Old Zheng only carried a small bag when he boarded."

Broken Rainbow turned to glance at her.

"Then he's just leaving on his own. He's already handed over the goods."

"Right." Porsette looked away from the sea. "Prism tells him to run, so he runs. With the goods gone, having him escape still cuts the connection. The lists we got cover the Bridge District and Miguel District. Once Old Zheng runs, nobody can pick up this line."

Broken Rainbow stood and brushed the dust from her knees.

"The boat's heading east. Which way will it turn after the breakwater?"

"Going by the shipping routes, east leads to the waters off Unheard-of Bay. Farther out are the routes to other ports." Porsette stood and pushed her hood up a little. "I wrote down the boat number. That's what big brother wanted."

The two withdrew from the docks and returned to the car.

As Broken Rainbow started the engine, Porsette sat in the passenger seat and wrote the boat number on the back of an old receipt she found in the glove compartment, then folded it and tucked it into her pocket.

It was a little past nine in the morning when they returned to the mansion.

Jin'en waited for them in the training ground, sitting beside a stone target at the edge of the grounds, his right hand resting on his knee, his palm perfectly clean.

When he saw the two of them come down the stairs, he did not get up.

Broken Rainbow handed him the receipt.

"Boat number zero-seven. Left port at six twenty, headed east, then turned east-northeast after passing the breakwater. Old Zheng boarded with just a small bag. He didn't bring anything bulky."

"How many people aboard?"

"Three on deck when they cast off. Four after Old Zheng got on."

Jin'en turned the receipt over, glanced at the boat number, then folded it and put it in his pocket.

"Did any other boats leave the docks with Old Zheng?"

"No. That boat left port alone. It was another ten minutes or more before any other fishing boats went out." Porsette leaned against the target and took off her hat. "Brother, with Old Zheng's boat heading east, which port would it probably dock at?"

"The nearest cargo port to the east is the old port outside Unheard-of Bay. Beyond that are the deepwater docks on the eastern side of New Hethereau District." Jin'en thought for a moment.

"I'll have Daffodil look into boat number zero-seven. She knows the people at the docks."

"What about Prism's list?" Broken Rainbow sat down beside him. "The leads in the Bridge District and Miguel District have gone cold, and there are still seven names in the notebook. If those seven people keep lying low, does that leave us with no leads to follow?"

"Of those seven names, some are in the Bridge District, and some are in Miguel District." Jin'en took the notebook from his pocket and turned to that page. "The four in the Bridge District will probably stop after Old Zheng's escape. The three in Miguel District-" He ran the pad of his finger along the space after the names.

"These three conduct surveillance outside Old Zheng's territory. He has no authority over them. If they're still active, we can only track them through another lead."

"Which lead?"

"Prism collects spatial coordinates. The Bridge District operation was specifically watching Porsette.

"The coordinate ranges marked after those three names in Miguel District fall outside the areas Porsette frequents."

Jin'en closed the notebook. "They're watching something else."

Broken Rainbow untied the braided cord around her wrist and wound it twice.

"You're planning to go to Miguel District to investigate those three."

"No rush." Jin'en stood and put the notebook in his pocket. "Let's get the details on Old Zheng's boat first. Only once it docks will we know whether Prism has someone meeting him at the next port."

That afternoon, Daffodil's reply arrived at the shoe repair stall. Unica collected it and slipped it under Jin'en's door. The note contained just one line: zero-seven is an affiliated vessel, registered at the Old Port District to the east, and usually docks at Berth No. 3. The owner's surname is Fang. He hauls bulk cargo and occasionally takes private jobs.

Jin'en folded the note and tucked it beside the badge at the corner of his desk.

Porsette stood in his doorway, watching him fold the note.

"Brother, Berth No. 3 at the Old Port District."

"Mm."

"I saved coordinates for the Old Port District. I passed through on a detour back from the docks last time and had a look."

Jin'en turned his head toward her.

"What did you see?"

"There's a row of sheet-metal sheds beside the berth, much like the ones behind the secondhand market in the Bridge District.

"There were two trucks parked in front of the sheds, one white and one blue.

"Behind the sheds is an unloading platform, connected to a narrow alley that leads out of the port."

Porsette's voice was level. "If Old Zheng's boat docks at Berth No. 3, he can only head toward the sheet-metal sheds or behind the platform after he gets off. We can follow either route."

Jin'en looked at her for two seconds, then set the note back on the desk.

"We'll go take a look at the Old Port District tomorrow."

"I'm coming with you."

"You're coming with me." Jin'en straightened up from the desk.

"But once we reach the port, you only open the door. You don't go in. I'll go inside to see how many people are in the sheds and whether Old Zheng is there."

Porsette nodded.

"All right."

She turned and headed into the hallway, then stopped after two steps and glanced back at Jin'en.

"Brother, Old Zheng's boat docks tomorrow, and we're going tomorrow. Does that mean we've worked out exactly when he'll arrive?"

"We have," Jin'en said.

"Daffodil checked the schedule. Zero-seven docks at Berth No. 3 tomorrow afternoon. We'll get there before he unloads."

Porsette ran those words through her mind, asked nothing more, and headed for the third floor.

Jin'en pulled the door shut and sat on the edge of the bed, his right hand resting on his knee.

The silver markings were quiet, his palm perfectly clean.

Tomorrow, Berth No. 3 at the Old Port District. Old Zheng would disembark, and Prism's rendezvous point at the next port would be waiting right behind that row of sheet-metal sheds.

He closed his eyes and mapped out the route through the Old Port District again in his mind.