Blood Ocean Read Online Free Page A

have. After all, he was a descendant of an ancient warrior line and he should act as such.
    So Kavika set his jaw, turned and made his way carefully through the families who lived on the lowest of levels. He tried not to make eye contact with anyone. He kept his gaze focused on the square of light filtering down the stairwell from the deck high above. He was so keen on thinking about his mother and sister that be bumped right into someone, knocking them to the ground. He mumbled an apology and continued on.
    “Fucking piece of Tuna guts Pali Boy, why don’t you watch—” Suddenly the speaker began laughing.
    Kavika walked two more steps, but the laughing got even louder. He turned and saw that he’d knocked down a slip of a girl. Then the girl spoke again, and the voice was anything but a girl’s.
    “Go figure. I get knocked down by a wannabe Pali Boy who can’t even stunt on his own.”
    Kavika stared hard at the figure on the ground for a moment, then turned and walked away.
    The figure leaped up and followed. “Wait a minute, Kavika. I was coming to see you and your mother.”
    “She’s back that way,” he said, hooking a thumb back the way he’d come. “I’m going this way. See you later.”
    The figure paused to glance backward into the depths of the hold, then decided to follow Kavika anyway, not catching up until he was almost all the way up the stairs and out into the sea air.
    “Kavika, wait!”
    She grabbed Kavika’s arm, and he stopped and turned. She was a scant Filipina who couldn’t weigh more than eighty pounds. Her long hair and fingernails were perfect. Her pouty lips begged to be kissed. Her long, fake eyelashes accentuated her eyes. She went by the name Leilani. If her real name hadn’t been Spike, he’d be sorely tempted to kiss her.
    “What do you want, Spike?” He gently removed her hand from his arm.
    “You hurl me to the ground and this is all you can say?” She wiped at her shimmering gray dress and found a microscopic piece of dirt. “And you got me filthy in the process.”
    Kavika smiled thinly, then turned and walked to the port rail. Spike hurried after him.
    The old oil tanker towered over its closest neighbors, offering a bird’s eye view. Immediately below them was a day tripper that had originally come from San Francisco. The words ‘Alcatraz’ were still edged in a glossy blue that had somehow withstood the elements. The wheelhouse ran from stem to stern, a hundred windowframes lining the walls, but the glass had long since been destroyed, and the windows were now covered by scraps of fabric and recycled trash. It was the morgue ship, the only above-ground enterprise run by the Water Dogs. Akamu’s body was probably down there now. His family would be repaid in shark skin and food for their donation.
    When Spike slid next to him, he said, “Akamu was killed.”
    “I saw him inside. He was your friend, wasn’t he?”
    “Your brother and I used to swim with Akamu. We were kids together.”
    “And now that you’re a Pali Boy?”
    “He was full time. I’m just part time.”
    They remained silent for awhile. A northerly breeze promised rain. He could almost feel the moisture on his skin.
    “They blood raped him.”
    She nodded. “I saw. My brother said that one of the needles pierced his heart. Sloppy.”
    “Who would do something like this?”
    “Maybe this can explain it.” She held out her hand. In it was a media stick.
    “Where’d you get this?” he asked, snatching it and checking the display.
    “It was lodged in the pocket of Akamu’s pants. The area was drenched with blood, so whoever searched him must have missed it.”
    “Did you look at it?”
    She shook her head. “We don’t have that kind of old tech. Do you?”
    “I don’t, but I know who does. Come on.”
    The main deck of the tanker was composed of a six-storey bridge all the way aft, and a main deck that ran the other ninety per cent of the ship’s length. The bridge was the home