By the Sword

    The man read them off twice and Hideo wrote them twice.

    "You are sure this—hello? Hello?"

    The co

    Hideo stared at the coordinates, seeing them as either a gift from Heaven or a trap. He'd set a trap for the ronin—and he was now sure that was he on the phone. So was the ronin returning the favor with a trap of his own?

    And his mention of Kakureta Kao… could that be true? The sect reportedly had been wiped out in World War II. But it served no purpose for the ronin to lie about such a thing. In fact, how could he even know about them unless…

    … unless they were back.

    He turned to his computer and opened Google Earth. He punched in the coordinates and found himself looking down at the roof of an isolated rectangular building.

    Could it be?

    Assuming the ronin had told the truth, what was Kakureta Kao doing here in New York? But more importantly, did the sect have any co

    The safe and sensible thing to do was to gather information before he and the yakuza paid a visit to this building.

    He glanced at the clocks on the wall—one for New York and one for Japan. It was still midafternoon in Tokyo. He should call the home office just to be sure.

    Dawn shrank back against the wall. She'd have totally pushed herself through it if possible.

    "Wh-who are you? What do you want with me?"

    The ninja types had removed their scarves or headpieces or whatever and now they looked like young Asian goths. Three of them remained in the room with her. They could have been NYU grad students at some East Village club, except they didn't seem to speak English, or were pretending they didn't. Each was taking a turn swinging the cruddy sword she'd seen with Hank. Why they'd be so happy with a piece of junk was beyond her.

    She remembered the growing horror of the ride through Brooklyn and then across to Staten Island as she realized that these men hadn't been sent by Mr. Osala—they had no idea who he was.

    They'd brought her to this strange building out near the landfill and stuck her in this candlelit room on the second floor. She didn't know how long she'd been here, but she hadn't had a second alone. She had to go to the bathroom but didn't have the nerve to ask.

    "Tell me—please! What am I doing here?"

    One of them glanced at her, then went back to chattering in Japanese with his friends.

    Back still against the wall, she slid-sank to a squat and buried her face in her trembling hands.

    What had happened to her life? She couldn't call it a nightmare—more like a series of nightmares, each more terrifying than the last. She'd been scared at that Kicker place, but this was downright terrifying.

    And then she sensed movement in the room and heard the guys saying something like, "Akechi-sensei."

    She looked up and saw a tall, thin figure at the door, wrapped in a hooded blue robe with a red silk mask over its face. The young ones bowed and scraped as he glided into the room. He stopped before her and stood with his hands folded inside his long sleeves as he stared at her. The black eyes through the holes of his mask were the only sign that she faced a human. Otherwise he could have been some sort of alien monk.

    She tried to rise but her legs wouldn't support her.

    Why was all this happening to her? She hadn't been the best person, but she hadn't been bad. Certainly hadn't been evil.

    Why me?

    The monk spoke in a high-pitched voice. His English was heavily accented but she understood him.

    "You are with child?"

    Was that what this was all about? The baby? The baby again? Was everybody crazy? Had the whole world gone insane? What was it with this baby?

    She'd show them.

    "Me? Pregnant? No way. I'm a virgin. I'm saving myself for the right man."

    The monk whirled and machine-gu

    He bowed and the two of them exchanged a few words, then the monk pointed a long finger at the doorway and gave an order. The other two hurried out while the tall one stayed behind.

    They spoke in low voices, as if afraid she might eavesdrop. Fat chance. Arigato and konichiwa—picked up at a hibachi restaurant—were the extent of her Japanese.

    And then one of the other young ones returned, yammering away. Everyone stepped aside as some sort of high-sided, wooden, wheelbarrowlike cart rolled through the door, propelled from behind by the third young one.

    And in the cart… another masked monk in a blue robe, but this one had no legs and—oh, Christ! She hadn't noticed it at first, but now she could see candlelight flickering off the rear walls of his empty eye sockets. He was missing his eyes too!

    His cart stopped before her. He thrust a gnarled hand in her direction and clutched at the air just inches away.

    Was he trying to touch her? No way!

    She frantically crabbed away across the floor but the cart followed until she was backed into a corner. She tried to make herself smaller but his hand kept coming closer and closer…

    And then the fingertips grazed her skin and like a sprung trap the hand clamped down on her forearm.

    Dawn screamed and tried to pull away but the monk's grip was like iron. She twisted and thrashed but still could not break free.

    What was he doing? Was he going to grope her?

    But just as suddenly as he'd grabbed her arm, he released it and waved his hand in the air, jabbering at the top of his voice.

    Whatever he said, it seemed like good news to the others, because the young guys started jabbing their fists in the air and the standing monk's eyes glittered with happiness.

    What had the eyeless one said?

    As if reading her mind, the tall one stepped closer and leaned over her.

    "You may lie to me. You may lie to the others. But you ca

    Seer? What was he talking about?

    "I don't—"

    "You are not a virgin and you are with child. You carry the infant we seek."

    "Seek for what?"

    "That is none of your affair."

    His right hand darted out and she felt a sharp sting in the left side of her neck. She flinched and slapped at his hand. As he withdrew it she saw a sliver of wood between his thumb and forefinger. It looked like an oversize toothpick with a blue stripe.

    "What—?"

    "You will rest now."

    "But…"

    Her lips stopped moving and her eyelids suddenly weighed a ton each. Before they closed she saw one of the young ones approach with Hank's sword. Was he going to cut her with it? She knew she should be afraid but couldn't manage it.

    But no worry about that. He laid it at her feet and bowed. And then all the young ones cheered.

    She gave up the fight against her eyelids. As she let them close she felt herself drifting. She wanted to ask what they wanted with the baby… what were they going to do with it… or to it?

    Ice pierced her chest. To it? They weren't going to hurt it, were they? They couldn't…

    Listen to me, she thought as her senses fled. Yesterday afternoon I was totally going to abort it and now I'm worried someone's going to hurt it. I am so messed up… so-so-so messed up…