Hikari Suzuki was sure there was nothing more boring on earth than doing homework in a hot boardroom surrounded by cigar smoking politicians that thought they were above the laws of the little people.

She glanced down at her AP Calc and penciled in an answer without having to think. It was ridiculous that she was even in school. She knew that was a rule her father could break, as he broke so many others, but he had insisted it wouldn’t look good to his constituents. She knew all about that catch-all, she was practically his campaign manager, and she wasn’t even old enough to vote.

Her father, Congressman Suzuki, thank-you-very-much, was an Important Man. Important equals Lame Ass Stick In The Mud, a man important enough to exploit his only daughter while still making her do her homework.

Her cell vibrated against her leg and she glanced at the text from Yerik. You used my toothbrush on your eyelashes again. I have mascara between my teeth.

She texted back a raspberry and tucked her phone back between her legs. Yerik was her best friend/sometimes boyfriend when no one else was available, which she had to admit was a lot lately. But he was like a big brother, well, a big brother you sometimes kissed…yuck…maybe not the best way to think about it.

The men were rumbling around the table, discussing Senator Angine and his continuing ascent up the drain of politics. Hikari didn’t normally care about politics, but the Senator gave her the creeps, the Come sit on my lap and I’ll tell you a story kind of creeps.

She had met him once, and that had been enough. Her father and his lackeys couldn’t get enough of the man. They would have eaten him with a spoon and a splash of milk if they could. All that groveling was disgusting. He wasn’t even really a Senator; he was a self-made multi- billionaire with a title given like a gold star for his efforts. No one knew where he came from. No matter how much she dug and hacked, Hikari hadn’t been able to find anything on him besides his own press releases and a hell of a lot of speculation. But they all knew where he was going. Up. Way up, to the top of the pyramid with the Chinese barons and the nameless, faceless moguls that pulled the strings and made the world spin.

Hikari was just turning her eyes back to her work when something they were saying caught her attention.

“The Trents were unearthed and taken care of.”

“Was the information secured?”

“The lab was destroyed completely. Nothing was salvageable.”

“Well, that was a waste.”

Hikari’s father glanced in her direction and Hikari stared until she was cross-eyed at her laptop. Good Japanese girl just doing her homework, not listening to her father’s dirty state secrets, uh-uh, no way.

“There is one thing. The daughter--Lissa, I believe.” Her father ran his finger down the edge of the table.

“She esca… uh, left the premises.”

“Was she retrieved?”

“Not exactly.”

The man Hikari thought of as Stuffed Shirt Number One cleared his throat. “Not exactly?”

Number One glanced at Hikari. “Sir, maybe it would be best if your daughter left the room.”

“Hikari stays. She will be leading you someday, it’s better that she understands the stakes. Angine’s people did not retrieve Lissa, the others did.”

“Which others?”

“The Tesero.”

Hikari was really listening now, taking mental notes, but the subject turned to the earthquakes and strange weather phenomenon, and she squirmed until the meeting ended and The Shirts left her alone with her father.

He turned to her, his eyes so dark she couldn’t read them. His hair at the end of the day had escaped its gelled confines and fell across his forehead in a dark tousled swath, making him look younger, more accessible. “You have questions.”

“About a million. You let me sit in on these stupid meetings and tell everyone you’re grooming me, but really you’re keeping me in the dark. Like your electors.”

She usually didn’t argue and now his brow furrowed into lines of disapproval. “You do not respect what I do?”

“I don’t really know what you do. Do I? Just the baby kissing part. But there’s a whole lot more than you’re telling me, isn’t there? Senator Angine is killing people, like the Trents, and you know about it. How can you let that happen?”

His smile was shallow and bitter. “There is nothing anyone can do to stop Senator Angine. The people that try are eliminated just like the Trents. If I don’t cooperate, you will be in danger.”

Hikari swept her hair back and stood up (eye to eye with him she noticed). “I don’t want people to die to protect my ass. Your job is to protect people, to lead them, not send them to the chopping block.”

“You don’t understand. You have so much to learn.”

“You bet I do!” she shouted. “But not from you.” She knocked a glass of water to the floor in her frustration, and stormed out of the room unable to look at him anymore. She could hear him calling her name, but she didn’t care, he and his cronies could take a fricking leap.

She punched the buttons of the elevator, bent back her nail, and cursed. She got off on the twelfth floor, the penthouse, and let herself into the foyer. She could hear her twelve-year-old brother Jace, gaming his prodigal little heart out beyond a door plastered with such genius sentiments as Jace’s Room-- No Admittance!!! and No Sisters Allowed.

Other people had mothers waiting at home getting dinner ready, maybe working up a good lecture on birth control or college admissions. She had her misfit brother and her father the political machine, the family killer.

She locked the door of her room and pulled the curtains on the lights of L.A., winking false promises below the window. She had painted the walls the color of wet blood, happily let the paint drip on the plush white carpet, murdering the good little girl’s room of pink and lavender.

On the wall across from her bed, a bank of monitors glowed brightly, playing channels from across the globe, keeping an eye on the stock market, monitoring the internet. All in a day’s work for the wunderkind teen of Congressman Suzuki.

She considered herself in the floor length mirror hung by the closet, looked to see if her sudden distrust of her father had changed her, made a difference she could see in her eyes. But she looked like the same Hikari, a pretty good Hikari. She liked what she saw, the long silk of hair with the strip of cobalt blue she favored in her bangs, the tilt of Asian eyes, cupid’s bow lips. She was sexy at seventeen, hell, even at fourteen she had been sexy and used it to her advantage, but she could wrap herself up in innocence too.

She went online, opened the web cam, and found Yerik waiting for her. If it wasn’t for the net she would never talk to anyone.

“Hey, Kari.”

“Howdy.” She pulled out a nail file and worked at the nail she had creamed in the elevator.

“You look pissed.” His tousled blond hair fell into his eyes making him look like an overgrown skater boy.

“Oh, you know, just the usual day full of meetings, Calculus, and homicidal fathers.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Who’d he kills?”

“Rebellious democrats.”

“Is that all?” He tipped back in his chair. “Want some company tonight?”

“Sure, bring your toothbrush.” She grinned unable to help herself. That was the cool thing about Yerik, he could bring out the worst in her, but he could also bring out the best. “No seriously, I just want to be alone tonight. My dad’ll be up soon anyway.”

“Suit yourself, but you’re missing a night you’d never forget.”

“Oh yeah? I already forgot the last one.”

“Let me come over and I’ll refresh your memory.”

“Goodnight, Yerik.” She closed the video out and sat looking at the screen for a second. Then with a sigh she considered the best way to hack her dad’s personal files.