by Jon F. Merz
Prisoners.
Jimmy eyed Kotogawa. “How did you find me?”
Kotogawa held up a cell phone. "Can you believe that they can make an app for this thing that can track a tiny homing device anywhere in the world. Amazing really, what technology can do these days.”
“What homing device?”
Kotogawa smiled. “The one you swallowed back in Katmandu. Served up by my formerly good friend Tak, who is unfortunately not with us anymore.”
So much for Tak's betrayal, thought Jimmy. But Kotogawa didn't seem like the type to get his hands dirty unless he absolutely had to. "Which one of your goons killed him?"
"I did." And then Jimmy saw Hideaki stand up suddenly, brushing the snow off of his parka. He grinned and stepped forward. "Guess you didn't see this one coming, did you?"
"You-?" Jimmy shook his head.
Merlin gasped. "But we were-"
Hideaki glared at her. "Be quiet, girl. You don't know anything about who I am."
Jimmy saw sadness eclipse the surprise on Merlin's face and he wanted to go to her. Instead, he stared at Hideaki. "I thought you were one of us."
Hideaki laughed. “That’s what you were meant to believe. Down to me almost killing you on the ship.”
“You could have killed me then, so why didn’t you? Isn't that what he wants?”
Kotogawa laughed. “Because that wasn’t the point. We weren’t going to kill you. We needed you to get to the scrolls. To lead us to them, once you’d managed to find them again.” He took a deep breath and glanced around, basking in the sunlight. "Of course, now that we have them-"
Jimmy brought his hanbo up. “I won’t release them. They belong to my family. Not yours.”
Kotogawa waved his hand. “All right now, let’s not be so dramatic. You will put the silly piece of wood down right now.”
“No.”
Kotogawa sighed. “Really, do we have to go through this charade?” He turned to Hideaki. “Kill the one you call Merlin.”
Jimmy saw surprise flicker across Hideaki's face, but then he reached under his jacket, brought out a knife and started to turn.
In that instant, Merlin exploded out of the snow faster than Jimmy would have ever believed possible. "Traitor!"
She barreled into Hideaki and the two of them tumbled across the steep slope, kicking up snow and ice. Hideaki's knife flew away into a snowdrift. Merlin's fists rained down on Hideaki and Jimmy heard the grunts and heaves as they battled. He wanted to help Merlin, but Kotogawa held up a hand.
"Don't even think about it or I'll have my men kill the other." As if to underscore the point, Kotogawa nodded and Jimmy saw another of his men slap Vanessa across the face. She winced and spat bright red blood into the snow. The look on her face was one of savagery.
Another grunt brought Jimmy's attention back to Merlin and Hideaki. They rolled ever closer toward the steep precipice. Merlin seemed to be gaining the advantage over Hideaki, her fists raining down on him with such speed, that Hideaki couldn't defend himself.
But then Merlin's leg slipped on a patch of ice and she went down, scrabbling for some sort of grip. Her hands flailed.
Hideaki scooted himself back onto firmer ground.
Merlin slipped toward the edge. Her hands still trying desperately to find something to grab on to.
"No!" Jimmy started forward.
Kotogawa blocked his path.
And beyond, Merlin seemed to pause for one indescribable moment before simply slipping over the edge of the cliff.
Gone.
Jimmy sank to his knees. It felt like the icy cold grip of death had just squeezed all the blood out of his heart.
"Merlin." His voice was a quiet whisper on the mountain breeze.
She hadn't even screamed, he thought. One moment she was there and the next she was simply gone.
Forever.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
His eyes stung with the sharp heat rising in them, but Jimmy blinked away the tears furiously, refusing to allow Kotogawa the joy of seeing his sorrow and grief. Merlin hadn't given him the satisfaction of screaming; the least Jimmy could do was be as strong as she had been.
Vanessa bowed her head and spat another wad of blood into the snow.
Jimmy shook his head. How could Hideaki kill someone who had loved him? How could he be so utterly unfeeling about her affection? It was as if she hadn't mattered even one little bit to him or his world.
He'd killed her.
Without any remorse.
No hesitation.
"I want those scrolls, Jimmy."
Kotogawa's voice knifed through the air, cutting away the sorrow Jimmy felt.
Jimmy sighed. There was no way he was going to give them up. But what could he do? He shifted and then felt something in his pocket stab him in his leg.
The shuriken.
If he could just get to it, somehow...
He looked up and saw Vanessa eyeing him intently. Her eyes blazed with fury and Jimmy could see she wanted nothing more than to be fighting for all she was worth.
"The scrolls, Jimmy. Give them to me."
Jimmy looked up at Kotogawa. "Let Vanessa go."
Kotogawa sniffed. "I will do no such thing. That woman has been a constant source of annoyance to me for several years now. She'll meet her fate on this mountain - like her younger protégé."
Jimmy gripped the hanbo, but Kotogawa sighed. “Drop the staff. Now.”
Jimmy let the staff go and watched it sink into the snow, disappearing from view almost immediately.
"I won't ask again, Jimmy. Give me the scrolls."
Jimmy felt his lungs heaving now under his parka. His chest felt like a bellows and a sense of heat seemed to be radiating outward from just under his navel.
Kotogawa frowned and turned to Hideaki. "Kill the woman."
"Gladly." And then Hideaki again reached into his jacket. But instead of pulling out another knife, he brought out a pistol instead.
Kotogawa glared at him. "Are you insane? I explicitly told everyone no firearms. A gunshot here will bury us all in an avalanche."
Hideaki shrugged. "I've got a suppressor." And he brought out a blunt length of tubing that he screwed on to the barrel of the gun.
Jimmy put his hand in his pocket. "Sounds like someone doesn't exactly follow your orders."
Kotogawa glowered at Hideaki and then stared at Jimmy. "I'll deal with that later."
Hideaki stomped across the snow toward Vanessa. Jimmy watched him, but Hideaki showed no signs of grieving over Merlin's death.
He was as cold and evil as Kotogawa.
As if feeling the weight of Jimmy's stare, Hideaki turned then and grinned at him. “Not to worry, a few bullets in Vanessa and she won’t be suffering any more.”
Jimmy fingered the shuriken in his pocket. There was comfort in its weight, in the hardened cold steel. He slowly drew his hand out of his pocket, palming the shuriken as he did so.
Hideaki brought the gun up...
Jimmy Matsuda.
Goro's voice spoke simply and Jimmy felt the weight of expectation of his entire family - countless generations - a warrior line that stood for the power of good in the universe...all coming down to one final moment.
This moment.
This place.
This one person.
Jimmy.
His heart thundered like never before.
Hideaki aimed down the barrel...
The heat in Jimmy's body enveloped him totally - surging, coursing, pulsing.
And then Jimmy moved faster than he ever had before. His hand shot out, flinging the shuriken - praying and yet knowing his aim would be true -
-a sharp clang and Hideaki’s gun went flying into a snowdrift. But a single shot rang out anyway. Vanessa fell away.
Had she been shot anyway?
Hideaki yelped and jerked his hand back. Blood splattered the nearby snow and he turned to Jimmy with a terrible look on his face. "I should have killed you on t
he ship anyway."
But Jimmy was already rushing Hideaki, and as he did so, he became aware that the snowfield around them came alive with ghosts in white, rising out of the drifts and emerging from hidden snow caves. Jimmy could only see their eyes, which were sharp and intense.
He heard the shrill whisper of metal bees like he'd heard in the tunnel. More shuriken zipped through the air, clanging off of swords and staves.
Kotogawa wasted no time screaming orders at his men, “Kill them – kill them all!”
They reacted well, spinning and bringing their weapons to bear, but the figures in white blended so perfectly with the snow, that they seemed almost invisible. Swords cleaved the air, cutting nothing before the monks were on them, rapidly disarming all of Kotogawa's assassins.
But Kotogawa's men didn't give up; they opted instead to do battle with their hands.
Jimmy was intent on reaching Hideaki, who stood awaiting his attack from a distance of twenty feet.
Before Jimmy could reach him, he felt the sudden bite of a blade at his left temple and heard Kotogawa's voice again. “Not so fast. I’ll take the scrolls, if you please.”
But Jimmy had already started to move, dropped low and shot a straight punch directly into Kotogawa’s lower stomach. He heard the rush of air and then Kotogawa’s knife dropped into the snow.
Kotogawa swore and started pawing about the snow for his blade.
Jimmy wasted no time with him and instead redoubled his efforts to reach Hideaki.
Hideaki waved him on. "Come on, half-blood, let's do this. For real this time."
Jimmy eyed him. "It was always real to me."
Hideaki smiled. "I know."
"I can't believe you killed Merlin."
Hideaki waved his wounded hand. "Oh, please. She was an annoying little bug that should have been squashed a long time ago. I'm grateful to be rid of her."
"You're only saying that because of Kotogawa. I know she meant something to you."
Hideaki grinned. "I thought I saw a little crush there when she landed on the freighter. Is this the first time you've had your heart broken, Jimmy?"
"Go to hell, Hideaki."
He laughed. "What a shame you won't ever have another-"
Jimmy suddenly accelerated and slammed into Hideaki, knocking him back and into the deeper snow. Jimmy started raining punches down on his head. But Hideaki deflected them easily.
"You won't win, Jimmy. He's too powerful."
Jimmy gritted his teeth and kept punching at Hideaki. "Is that why you sold us out?"
Hideaki shot his own punch into Jimmy's stomach. "Kotogawa wants to bring back the ways of the samurai. He wants to purify Japan of all the foreign influences that have turned it into a weaker state."
Jimmy felt like he wanted to puke from that punch, but he bit down and dropped an elbow at Hideaki's face. "He's a racist."
Hideaki dodged the attack and chuckled. "Nothing wrong with that. Japanese blood has been diluted of its natural strength by the likes of mixed children. Like you, Jimmy."
"I have more honor in my blood than you ever will," said Jimmy. He head-butted Hideaki above his eye and then rolled away.
He felt something stiff bite into his back as he rolled and grunted. As Hideaki got to his feet, Jimmy pawed through the snow and felt his hand close over his hanbo. He yanked it free and stood in front of Hideaki.
The older boy pointed at Jimmy's staff. "That won't help you." And from under his jacket, Hideaki produced another knife. Jimmy frowned. Hideaki was a walking arsenal.
Hideaki hefted the blade. "This tanto was a gift from Kotogawa. I'll use it to slice you open. And then your muddied blood will stain this mountain."
Jimmy felt his mouth go dry, but he kept the hanbo up in front of him. He would have to wait until Hideaki committed himself to the strike.
And then Hideaki lunged, reaching out with a tremendous stab aimed right at Jimmy's chest.
Jimmy forced himself to wait and then he jerked sideways rather awkwardly. The metal blade sliced through his parka, barely missing his arm as it did so.
Jimmy couldn't stop himself, he toppled sideways, losing his balance in the deep snow. As he landed, he sensed that Hideaki was coming.
Hideaki dropped on top of him, trying to pin Jimmy's shoulders back with his knees. Jimmy saw the blade suspended above him. Hideaki glared down at him and then thrust right down at Jimmy's throat.
Jimmy jerked the hanbo up, catching the underside of Hideaki's arm behind the elbow. The strike caught Hideaki unaware and the knife stabbed above Jimmy's head, down into the snow behind him.
Jimmy bucked his hips and rolled Hideaki off of him.
But Hideaki cut back at Jimmy so fast he barely saw it. And then Jimmy felt the tanto cut deep into his left thigh.
He sucked air and clamped one hand down on the wound as Hideaki got back to his feet.
"So, the mighty ninja does bleed after all."
Jimmy felt nauseous, but forced himself to ignore the throb in his leg. Hideaki circled him and slashed out again.
This time, Jimmy spun the hanbo and brought it down on Hideaki's wounded wrist. He heard a snap as the hanbo shattered the small bones in Hideaki's wrist.
The tanto dropped away.
"No!"
But Jimmy had already snapped the hanbo back up and drove it right into Hideaki's temple.
Hideaki seemed to pause for a moment.
And then he dropped face-first into the snow.
Jimmy watched him collapse and then sank to one knee. The wound his leg wasn't too bad, but he was bleeding and it would need to be stopped.
The sudden realization hit him that he had almost completely ignored everything else that was going on around him. He whirled, expecting to see more of Kotogawa's men about to kill him.
"Hold it, Jimmy. It's me."
Vanessa stood in front of him, clutching a wounded left shoulder. Blood had seeped through her parka.
"He shot you!"
Vanessa held up her hand. "It went right through. I'll be okay. Lucky you threw that shuriken when you did."
Jimmy looked beyond Vanessa and saw that all of Kotogawa's men had been subdued or killed by the warrior monks from the temple.
There was no sign anywhere of Kotogawa.
"Where did Kotogawa go?"
Vanessa helped him to his feet. "He did a runner, Jimmy. Once he saw that he was outnumbered, he took off. We haven't seen the last of him, by any means, but he's gone for right now."
"Oh."
"We need to get that leg taken care of. I don't want you losing any blood-"
The impact from behind felt like a freight train slamming into him. Jimmy tumbled away from Vanessa, face first into the deep snow beyond. The icy cold snow blinded him, but he could feel the weight of his attacker on top of him. Jimmy took a breath and rolled again, dislodging the body. He came to his feet and winced. The pain shooting up his back was intense.
Hideaki came to his feet ten feet away from him, cradling his broken wrist. But even wounded, Jimmy knew he'd still be incredibly dangerous.
“We’ll finish this now the way we should have on the boat, little tiger.”
Jimmy waited and then Hideaki attacked, driving Jimmy back toward the edge of the cliff. Hideaki came in hard with a straight blast to Jimmy’s face, but Jimmy ducked and punched into the underside of Hideaki’s chin, snapping his head back. Hideaki brought his chin down and a line of blood streamed from his mouth. He shouted something in Japanese at Jimmy.
Jimmy said nothing but kept his weight lower, trying to maintain his balance in the deep snow.
Hideaki attacked again and Jimmy avoided the assault by pivoting around. Hideaki’s strikes barely missed and he caught Jimmy on the side of the jaw twice. Both times, Jimmy saw stars but fought back the urge to pass out. He knew that this time, Hideaki would not stop until he had killed him.
They backed closer to the edge and then Hideaki suddenly dove in, tackling Jimmy around the wai
st. Unable to spread his legs because of the deep snow, Jimmy went down on his back.
Hideaki hovered over him, raining punches and elbow strikes down on his face and head. Jimmy brought his hands up and tried to ward off the majority of blows. But Hideaki kept the attack up and Jimmy knew he was losing.
“Die Jimmy..."
Hideaki rained more strikes down. Even though he had a broken wrist, Hideaki used his elbow to do damage. Jimmy saw the scar by Hideaki’s left eye and shot his arm up toward the eye socket.
Hideaki smirked. “Not this time...”
But Jimmy wasn’t aiming for the eye. Instead, he used the strike as a diversion and while Hideaki reacted to that, Jimmy bucked his hips and then drove his other hand into Hideaki’s throat.
Hideaki pitched forward, struggling to get air into his lungs. But then Jimmy was already rolling over, dislodging Hideaki from his mounted position.
Hideaki slid down the slope and then pitched over the edge of the cliff.
Jimmy felt himself being yanked toward the edge as well. Hideaki still had a hand on his sleeve.
“No!”
Hideaki’s eyes blazed. He was hanging on with his one good hand. But he was heavy enough that he could pull Jimmy over.
And Jimmy felt himself starting to slide over the edge.
He struggled to punch down on Hideaki’s hand, but it had no effect.
“Looks like we'll die together, Jimmy."
Jimmy glanced down and saw Hideaki's bruised and battered face. There was desperation in his eyes, but Jimmy saw more hatred and evil in them than he would have thought possible.
He chopped again down on to Hideaki’s wrist, but all he heard was Hideaki laughing now.
Jimmy edged over the cliff, facing Hideaki below him. A fierce wind blew up from the valley far below.
And then Jimmy felt the indescribable sensation of losing the last bit of friction keeping him on the mountain.
He slipped-
-punched out into the snow and ice with all of his strength
