Page 73 of The Atlas Maneuver

This guy truly believed himself to be a step ahead.

She had no choice, so she asked, “I assume you have equipment?”

“Of course.”

CHAPTER 39

COTTON WAS UNSURE OFAIKOEJIMA, BUT HE’D CREATED THIS OPPORTUNITYso now he had to exploit it.

“I need to know what the PSIA is doing here,” he said.

“Better question is, what is a retired Magellan Billet officer doing here?”

“I’m doing a favor for a friend.”

“That must be a good friend.”

He shrugged. “Not really. Call it a weakness. I can’t say no.”

“Is that friend Derrick Koger?”

He nodded. “You acquainted?”

“Only by reputation. And, I might add, yours preceded you as well.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear. There’s a saying where I come from. Even the blind-eyed biscuit thrower hits the target occasionally.”

“Modest, too. The reports on you were definitely correct.”

Enough sparring. And when all else fails, play dumb. “Why is Kelly Austin so important?”

She smiled. “Come now, we both know the answer to that.”

AIKO COULD NOT BELIEVE HER GOOD FORTUNE. FATE HAD INTERVENEDand provided a surprising alternative.

But life was like that.

“This is for you,” her father said.

And he handed her a small round object.

Her seven-year-old brain was baffled. “What is it?”

“Something quite special. A daruma.”

She’d been intrigued.

Eventually, she learned that a daruma was a traditional Japanese good-luck charm, used for making a wish or setting a goal. Typically round, made with papier-mâché, and painted with blank eyes and the exaggerated face of a bearded man. They were modeled after a sage monk named Bodhidharma, who lived in the 5th and 6th centuries. Supposedly he spent nine years facing a cave wall in deep meditation, his eyes wide open, never blinking. His commitment to enlightenment was so strong that his arms and legs atrophied and fell off. Yet his spirit remained undaunted. The dolls represented that limbless body and spirit.

Have a goal, a wish, or a promise to fulfill?

Paint one eye with a circular dot. Then work toward the goal every day. Once accomplished, paint the other eye. The dolls were everywhere in Japan, on bedroom dressers and tables, or on shelves in businesses, restaurants, and temples, an auspicious charm, a constant reminder ofganbaru, the ability to persevere. She’d kept hers from childhood as a reminder that life was full of pitfalls, bumps on the road, false starts, and good fortune. The daruma embodied a wise proverb.

Fall down seven times, stand up eight.

“It’s not just a doll,” her father would say. “It is a physical manifestation of your goal, a reminder of fate and everything in between. It keeps you accountable.”

As a child she’d been intrigued.

---