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“Wait,” Rector said again. “You want the rotters here?”
Yaozu sighed again, as if he were second-guessing his decision and wishing he had someone smarter immediately at hand. He spoke slowly, enunciating so carefully that if Rector had closed his eyes, he might’ve imagined it was a white man speaking. “Yes, Rector. I want the rotters here. They’re disgusting, they’re ravenous, they’re violent, and they keep the city safe from outsiders. ”
“They do?”
“Even more than the gas, they prevent people from coming and going. The gas can be managed with a mask and a handful of filters. The walking dead are something else entirely—not just a physical threat, but a psychological one, too. No one wants to become a rotter, Rector. People chop off their body parts to keep from becoming rotters. They shoot their friends in the head to prevent the fate from befalling others. ”
“No, you’re right, I understand. But still … why keep them around?”
“You aren’t paying attention, or you aren’t thinking. I do hope your brainpower improves once you’ve had another day or two of rest. At this rate, I’m not sure you’ll survive a week. ” Yaozu retrieved his wire-rimmed spectacles from the stack of paper, then unfolded them and put them on. He picked up the topmost sheets and shuffled through them. When he found what he wanted, he pushed the glasses up onto his forehead.
“Rector, do you have any idea how much money comes and goes from Seattle in any given year?”
“No sir, I don’t. ”
“Millions. And this next year, if things hold together long enough, it might be closer to a billion. Can you imagine that kind of money?”
He could. He could calculate it in sap, and it made his head spin. But he lied. “No sir, I can’t. ”
“It’s more money than you could spend in a lifetime of trying. However, at the moment, the city is spending it almost as fast as we can earn it. You came here from the Vaults, yes? Well, you must’ve seen the place. It’s a wreck, from top to bottom. The hoses that keep our air breathable”—he waved a hand to indicate even what was in the room, right at that moment—“are in desperate need of maintenance and repair. Likewise, the ceilings are caving in at the spots where water collects and the land is damp, and foundations are settling all throughout the walled-off blocks. ”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Seattle is falling apart, and I am rebuilding it from the basements up. I can’t do it all at once, and I can’t do it cheaply—not like Minnericht did, when he carved out his hasty little empire a decade ago. But here’s what really frightens everyone: The threat of structural collapse isn’t my most pressing problem. ”
Yaozu’s face had settled into some very serious lines. Behind that mask of professional concern, Rector imagined he could see a nervous sparkle of something else. Not fear, exactly. Something lesser, but sharp.
“Then … then what is? Your most pressing problem?” Rector asked.
Yaozu leaned forward, wriggling yellow lights from the fireplace glinting off his spectacles. “Other people. People like you, Rector—though not you, personally. I’m prepared to believe that you’re a young man at loose ends, hunting for a place to belong. I might be wrong, but right now, we’re all operating under good faith, are we not?”
“Yes sir, we absolutely are. ”
“Excellent. Now, when I say ‘other people,’ I mean sellers, dealers, vendors, chemists, and pharmacists who want a piece of the sap money. They know Minnericht is dead, and if there’s one thing I must grant the man, it’s that his reputation was more solid than his city. Since he’s gone, word has gotten around. At best, people sense a vacancy at the top of the power chain, and they wish to fill it. At worst, they wish to come plunder what’s left of his empire, and leave the city to rot. ”
“And you don’t want either of them things to happen. ”
Yaozu sat up straight and smiled indulgently, like Rector had learned a new trick. “Yes! That’s precisely it. I don’t want either one of those things. And your new friends don’t either. Now, as for me … am I well-beloved beneath the streets? No, not at all. In fact, a fair number of people down here would be happy to set me on fire. But the smart ones understand that I’m doing them a favor. I’m spending my own money—”
“Minnericht’s money,” Rector blurted out, then cringed. It’d flown out of his mouth before he could stop it.
Yaozu let it slide. “Minnericht’s money, if you prefer. Regardless, I am restoring the city. This place is an investment. I want it to survive. ” He settled back in his seat again, slumping slightly as if this whole business wore him out, but it was all fully, miserably necessary.
Rector cleared his throat and said, “Well then, I hope you stick around. ”
“Me, too,” Yaozu said, and the words were weighted down with cynicism. Without brightening, and without unslumping, Yaozu continued to speak in a low, firm voice. “The dead are our watchdogs, Rector Sherman. We cannot afford to let them fade into myth or memory. I need to know how they’re getting out, and although I have other men assigned to this task, you are in a unique position to be of service, and I hope you will seize this opportunity to prove yourself. The Doornails will talk to you; they will let you come and go, and ask questions. Your two friends Ezekiel and Houjin can be of great assistance, insomuch as Captain Cly or Briar Wilkes will let either of them out on a long enough leash. ”
He hesitated, then went on. “And then there is the native woman, Angeline Sealth. She would as soon push me off a cliff as tell me the time of day, but she’s a remarkably useful woman in her way. It’s entirely possible that she knows the streets better than anyone else alive. I am in no position to ask for her help, but you are. ”
“I already talked to her,” Rector said. “Met her in the Vaults. She gave me some cherries. ”
“How kind of her,” Yazou said, drolly. Then he rose to his feet and removed his spectacles, folding them again and setting them atop a book. “You’re a salesman, Rector. You know how to talk to people—in fact, that might be the only thing you know how to do. So that’s what I want you to do. I want you to explore. And one week from today, I want a full report of what you’ve learned. ”
Eleven
Rector did not like the idea of homework, but he was happy for the clean slate and the chance to earn favor with the most frightening man in the Sound, so there was that to keep him warm at night. Unfortunately, he was too tired to feel much of anything beyond exhaustion, except the nagging need for sap—and the aggravating proximity of sap, which he was absolutely not allowed to have. At this time.
He wandered in the direction he thought the lobby might be in, but turned out to be wrong. He tried another hallway and learned he’d made another incorrect choice, and soon it became woefully apparent that he was lost.
