Illustrated Warrior #7
Chapter Eighteen

Arashi was not pleased, but he was not surprised. He had received reports about dozens of armed men, both inside and outside the building; all courtesy, no doubt, of Moroni and the other crime lords. And then the reports -- all the reports -- had suddenly ceased; all of his guards vanished mere moments after hired guns had arrived.

Koji, loyal Koji, was the only one still by his side. He glanced from his lieutenant to the monitors.

"Has the public been evacuated from the atrium and the offices?"

"Hai, Arashi-sama."

"Koji, the enemy is at our gate, but our men are nowhere to be seen. It is up to you and me, then."

Arashi first picked a katana, Koji an MP5 machine pistol. Interesting how their instincts differed. As well as they knew each other, they came from two different worlds.

He considered the sword in his hand, then glanced up at a dozen men already filing into the glass enclosed lobby beyond the security station. "I think another." He took a short wakazashi for his left hand.

Koji nodded and took a sword for himself.

"We will take the attack to them," Arashi instructed.

A moment's surprise was all it would take.

"I'll die with you without hesitation," Koji replied, "though I would prefer to know why, and what you really know of this Shi-killer who so brilliantly engineered our downfall."

There was no time for answers. There was only the battle.

Arashi and Koji burst into the room with the dozen gunmen, and the attackers suddenly become the attacked.

Arashi saw Koji shoot one man in the chest while his sword fell upon a second man's wrist. It was a wise move. He who has no hand cannot fire a gun.

Then Arashi was in the fray, one sword descending to slice through a skull, the second driven point first into a man's chest. He leapt, dodging gunfire, his boot pushing another man back into the path of a speeding bullet. Koji rushed forward, drawing the attention of their foes. Arashi made sure those men saw nothing more.

Half their opponents were dead or mortally wounded. Those who remained backed away, looking for distance to give them some advantage.

They rushed the remaining forces, slicing and shooting. As their opponents fell, Arashi saw others flooding into the hallways beyond. He picked up the gun of a fallen enemy.

"Trust me, Koji," he called to the man at his side, "our deaths will come in time, but not today!" The two fired together. Six more fell before the hail of bullets.

"Very well," Koji replied, looking at the dead piled before him. "I will once again swallow my questions. But if we do live through this battle, it is because there is a ghost among us, denying us an easy death."

"Naw, don't worry about it," a voice called out behind them. "I'll waste you nice and easy. I promise."

The two spun to face this new attack; three men in long coats, all heavily armed. Their assailants would never end.

Koji shot first. His bullets had no effect. "Their coats! Bulletproof!"

Arashi dropped his gun. "Then let us see how they fare against three feet of tempered Yokohama steel!"

"I don't think so," the leader of the newcomers replied, fondling a long knife of his own. "Not when Moroni is payin' two mil to mount your heads above his fireplace in the Hamptons."

The fool was so intent on his threats that he did not see the noose descend from above until it had looped around his neck and tightened. He was jerked aloft, the thick cable crushing his windpipe.

"The Shi-killer!" one of the others shouted. "Let's split while we still have the chance!"

"Fool!" Arashi said as he decapitated the man. "The moment has already come and gone!"

Koji had already shot the other between the eyes.

Arashi looked up to the balcony to glimpse the Shi-killer, a shadow among shadows, there for a moment and then gone. She had saved them, but for what?

Arashi was sure the Shi-killer had other plans.

Illustrated Warrior

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