Just then, the familiar sound of a school bus horn sounded through the sea of black.
“We don’t have to!” exclaimed Jamie, smiling in spite of himself. “The cavalry’s coming!”
The ninja seemed to realize this, as well. Those who were closest to the two teens pressed in even harder. Those who were farther away scrambled to clear the path of the raging vehicle as it gained speed on its course of rescue.
As Jamie kicked a ninja out of his way, he caught sight of a lone ninja who was standing on the side of the warehouse farthest from the office. The figure was watching the fight with interest. Suddenly, he broke into a run toward the teens, who were still in the midst of a wave of Warui, their blades slashing left and right in an effort to clear a path to the bus.
“I hope that he does not stop!” commented Yoshi, as her swords worked in perfect harmony to disarm an opponent and deliver a knockout blow. Her back was to the lone ninja who was approaching and hadn’t seen him yet.
“That goes double for me,” replied Jamie.
Jamie saw the dragon pendant hanging from the running ninja’s neck and he realized who was leading this raiding party. He decided not to mention this one to Yoshi . . ..
* * *
“YEAH!!!” bellowed Dave as the bus scattered the outer ranks of ninja. “COMIN’ THROUGH, DUDES!”
“’Ten and two, Dave!’” exclaimed George from his seat behind Shawna and Amy. “’Ten and two!’”
"Dude," the big teen called back, "don't quote the driver's manual to me. I could do this blind-folded!"
"You mean you're not already?" returned George.
One of the ninja turned to face the bus too late and ended up stuck to the front grill, his head above the hood. He was still very much alive and his eyes were windows of absolute terror.
“Doncha’ just hate hitchhikers?” muttered Dave to nobody in particular.
“We’re comin’ up on them,” exclaimed Amy. “Open the door!”
* * *
Jamie punched a ninja out of the way to clear a path to the bus. He and Yoshi ran along side of it and Yoshi jumped aboard. Jamie lunged in after her just as a shuriken bounced off the side of the bus where he’d been a second earlier. He could hear the lone ninja yelling something to the others in Japanese, but, at the moment, he didn’t care to know what was said.
Jamie breathed a sigh of relief as he climbed the second step. “Nice driving,” he commented. “But what about the guy plastered to the front of the bus?”
“Oh, yeah,” replied Dave as he slammed his feet on the brake. Everyone aboard slammed into the cushioned back of the seat in front of them and Jamie and Yoshi were nearly knocked from their feet. As the bus came to a screeching halt, the ninja who had been stuck to the front of the bus went flying into a pile of floating tubes with an ear-piercing scream. They broke his fall, as he appeared dazed, but not dead.
Jamie had just righted himself, when Dave turned the bus left toward the road and pressed a little too hard on the gas, nearly pitching him out of the still open door. “HEY!” yelped the young ninja. He started to say something else when a black clothed arm wrapped around his neck from behind.
The young ninja’s right elbow shot backward, slamming into his attacker’s gut. He heard a groan and the chokehold loosened enough for him to pull free. Jamie turned to face his opponent. Some of the ninja had caught up with the bus and were climbing on it. The one who had attacked Jamie shoved forward, knocking the young hero onto his back on the steps with the genin on top of him.
“Keep driving!” ordered Jamie as he slammed the palm of his right hand into his opponent’s chin. The Warui warrior groaned in pain and released his hold as Jamie followed through with a well-placed fist to the chest. He then grabbed the genin’s head and slammed it into the doors, which were still open. The other ninja was now dazed enough for Jamie to push him off and out the door. He landed on the ground and rolled away from the bus.
As Jamie climbed to his feet at the base of the steps, he felt another force as a second ninja, the one with the dragon pendant, slammed into him from behind. Jamie, his patience wearing thin, refused to fall again. He put his hands down onto the top of the steps for balance and lashed out with his right foot, catching his attacker full in the face and knocking him backward. The ninja flailed wildly to regain his balance, but Jamie leaped up, grabbed the emergency handle above the door, and shot out with both feet. They connected squarely in the chest and knocked the attacker clear of the vehicle. Jamie dropped himself into a sitting position on the top step, regaining his breath as Dave closed the door.
At the back of the bus, Max Adams sat in a seat next to the emergency exit. A ninja’s fist broke through the window of the door as if it were made of paper. Without a thought, the young teen climbed to his feet and grabbed the wrist, then shot out through the window with his left foot, catching its owner in the side just below the armpit. The ninja glared at him in pain, so Max repeated the action, this time releasing the arm as he did so, causing the ninja to fall from his perch to the gravel below.
A ninja dropped to the window next to the driver’s seat and punched through the glass, reaching in for the big teen. Dave grabbed his assailant’s wrist and squeezed until the ninja’s hand was forced open. Dave glanced down and, noting an empty palm, grumbled, “Hey, dude! No token, no ride!” He yanked inward, slamming the ninja into the side of the bus to daze him then released the wrist to let the attacker fall.
* * *
The Warui party leader climbed to his feet as he watched the bus speed back toward the town. His eyes narrowed in hatred. Would he never have the opportunity to regain his lost honor?
* * *
Jamie took a sharp breath as Shawna pressed the alcohol-soaked cloth to the cut on the right side of his face. It was not as bad as he had feared, and he figured it would barely leave a scar.
“It’s already stopped bleeding,” commented the girl.
“Is the alcohol really necessary, then?” asked Jamie as he clenched his teeth for another application.
“You’ve beaten dozens of ninja,” retorted Shawna. “You don’t want to go and do something dumb and die of an infection.”
“Actually,” muttered the young chunin, “the sword hurt less than what’s on that rag.”
They both chuckled.
Yoshi sat on one of the lab tables, watching them in silence. Finally, she spoke. “Losing your touch, brother?”
Jamie cocked an eyebrow.
“See any cuts on me?” chided the kunoichi playfully.
Jamie knew she was just joking with him. “Sure,” he snorted, “just rub it in.”
“You sure are good with those swords.” Amy was speaking to Yoshi from her place next to Shawna on the floor.
The kunoichi smiled sadly. “Yes, I suppose that I am.”
The door to the science room opened. Dave walked in, followed by Buster and George. The big teen set a dual-deck, portable stereo down on the lab table next to Yoshi. “Forgot I had this,” he commented.
“Does the radio work?” asked Yoshi hopefully.
“I’ll show ya,” responded the big teen as he turned on the device and began to slowly turn the tuner. Broken sentences filled the air as he moved silently through the stations.
“Excellent!” exclaimed the kunoichi.
Dave came across a man talking. “ . . . there has been no communication from the terrorists regarding their demands and we have no way of knowing if the three people whom they were seeking ever arrived in the school. We will continue to keep you informed as updates occur.”
Jamie sighed. “They don’t know we’re free.”
“How could they?” inquired Shawna.
“Maybe we should bust into a house to try ta find a workin’ phone,” suggested Dave.
Jamie shook his head. "I’m betting the Warui planned for that and probably took out the phone lines all over town.”
/> “You could try breaking into the abortion clinic,” said Amy.
Buster looked at her in awe. “You can’t break into . . .,” his face contorted even more “ . . . there’s an abortion clinic in Sera?”
“Yeah,” replied Shawna, “they wanted it in a bigger town, but nobody would approve it. So they came here, waived their money around, and the town council just melted in their hand.”
The preacher rolled his eyes as he headed out into the hallway and toward the soda machine.
“And to add insult to injury,” continued Amy, “they built it next to the First Baptist Church.” She shook her head. “It’s like they were rubbing it in the faces of the Fundamentalists.”
Shawna looked at her cousin suspiciously.
“What?” asked Amy.
“Since when did you care about the abortion clinic?”
Amy glanced after Buster. “Since we got a cute preacher.”
Yoshi chuckled.
Jamie climbed to his feet.
“Where are you going?” asked Shawna.
“I’m going to try to get some answers out of the prisoners again.”
Dave scratched the stubble on his right cheek. “What makes ya think they’ll be any more likely t’talk to ya now than before?”
“I don’t,” responded the young ninja. “But if I don’t try something, I’ll go stir-crazy.”
Chapter Fourteen
Saturday, 2:37 PM
Donnie and Tanemura had found a roadside park at which to leave the Blazer. Donnie checked the weight of his backpack. Noticing the former Air Force sergeant grunt as he lifted it onto his back, Tanemura asked, “Is it too heavy?”
Donnie grinned at the old ninja, who was checking his ninja-to. “No more than what I wore dancing through the jungles of ‘Nam.”
Tanemura wrapped his mask around his face and tied it in place. “What do you have in your pack?”
Don checked the safety on his 12 gauge pump shotgun and replied, “Extra ammo, food, a tent, sleeping bag . . ..”
“I doubt that the latter two will be necessary,” commented the jonin, noting that they had not been forced to travel as far as they had originally planned.
“Never hurts to be prepared,” remarked the police academy teacher as he checked the doors one final time to make sure that his vehicle was locked.
They turned and stepped into the forest.
* * *
Max and Pete sat in front of the coach’s office door, discussing their art. The Bluff had only two Tae Kwon Do schools, and they each happened to be in different ones.
“Actually,” Max was saying, “Master Dan isn’t very traditional. We don’t have to learn the Korean names for the forms, or anything. Just so long as we can do them.”
Pete digested the info. “Master Lee makes us remember every name, though he’s a little more lenient when it comes to the other exercises.”
Max chuckled. “Yeah, we do push-ups at the end of every class. He actually asked us how many we wanted to do last Tuesday. Some idiot said one.”
Pete looked incredulous. “Is that all you did?”
“Don’t think it was easy,” commented the other. “We moved down very slowly. It took us almost a minute to do the one push-up, and a lot of us didn’t finish it.”
Pete appraised Max. “Did you?”
The smaller lad raised one eyebrow arrogantly. “Of course.”
The double doors to the gym opened as Jamie stepped into the room. He looked in their direction and walked toward them.
“What’s up?” asked Pete.
“I want to talk to the Warui chunin,” was the young ninja’s reply.
“What makes you think he’ll be any more likely to say anything now than before?” asked Max.
“Nothing in particular,” commented Jamie. “But I’m going to separate him from the others and see if that makes a difference.”
The two younger boys shrugged and moved out of the way after Pete unlocked the coach’s office door. Jamie turned the knob and stepped boldly inside.
The captured ninja again eyed him with intense hatred. Jamie knew that any one of these men would happily put a knife in his heart. To his surprise, the Warui chunin smiled at him in amusement.
Jamie cocked an eyebrow. “Come with me,” he instructed.
The man climbed calmly to his feet and followed Jamie from the room. The two ninja walked around the stage and up to the prop room. Jamie opened the door and motioned for the other chunin to step inside, which he did without argument. The disconcerting smirk never left his face.
The prop room was a mirror image of the coach’s office, at least in size and shape. Jamie pulled two large, metal prop boxes from under a shelf and sat them in the center of the room. He seated himself on one and motioned for the other ninja to do the same. The Warui ninja sat on the other box.
The two ninja regarded each other for a few moments, trying to get a feel for the other’s emotions.
Finally Jamie spoke. “What’s your name?”
The other warrior’s face never lost that look of amusement, but he did not speak.
“You can’t tell me that you don’t speak English,” commented the leader of Adventure. “You seemed fluent enough when we tried to interrogate you before.”
“I speak English, gai-jin,” remarked the other man, “but I will not give my name.” His eyes narrowed. “Name’s give power to those who possess them, Jamie Raleigh.”
Now it was Jamie’s turn to smirk. “And this is why you’re the prisoner,” he chided.
The other ninja’s face darkened. “You should have killed me.”
Jamie shook his head. “There are worse things than death.”
“Like being held prisoner by the gai-jin student of the Funakoshi jonin.”
The young hero’s eyes widened in bewilderment. “Why is this so much more dishonorable than being held by anybody else?”
The other chunin’s eyes narrowed in pure hatred. “You must understand how much we loathe you, gai-jin. Even more than any of the rest of the Funakoshi.”
“Why?”
“Our war is an ancient one,” commented the other ninja. “It is over four centuries old . . ..”
“I’m aware of the history,” interrupted Jamie impatiently.
“The point is that the rest of the Funakoshi are our enemies by birth.” He leaned forward and Jamie could see the bloodlust in the man’s eyes. “You chose to be our enemy.”
Jamie's eyes narrowed. “And what I want you to understand is that I don’t care about the war.” He clenched his fists, glaring straight into the eyes of the Warui chunin. “I don’t care about you, your clan, or my clan! I have only cared about four people in the Funakoshi, those being Master Tanemura, Yoshi and her parents . . . the only members who ever accepted this westerner!” He rose to his full height and towered over the other man, who watched him cautiously.
Jamie continued. “Because of members of your clan, two of those people are already dead.” He folded his arms across his chest to fight the urge to slug the bound man. “That’s what made me your enemy!” His eyes narrowed. “But you created an even worse enemy . . . not in me . . . but in Yoshika.”
The other ninja said nothing.
“She would have been trained like the other women of our clan,” explained Jamie. “She would have been an okay fighter, but two of you would have been able to take her. But killing her parents left her training in the hands of my master . . . and he trained her like a male in our clan.” He cocked a crooked smile. “Now she’s a fighting machine. And forcing her to watch you kill her parents has turned her onto you.”
The Warui chunin remained silent.
Jamie shook his head. “You think I’m this awesome warrior?” His voice dripped with sarcasm. He was thankful that his folded arms covered his own heavy breathing. “You have more to fear in her than in any twenty members of our clan.”
; The other chunin finally averted his gaze. “Wars have casualties.”
“Neither one of us wanted to be in this war!” raged the teen. “The Funakoshi just want to live their lives and forget about the past. But you won’t let us!”
Jamie stepped forward and lowered his face to that of the other ninja. “Now, you’ve brought this on yourselves!”
* * *
Jamie sat on the cold floor of the science room, fighting tears that were trying to force themselves to surface along with one of the most painful memories of his young life. “You lost it in there, Jamie,” he muttered to himself. “You let it all get to you.”
The door to the room opened and Shawna stepped in.
Seeing her, the young ninja took a deep breath to compose himself. “What’s up?”
Shawna leaned against the wall next to Jamie and slid to the floor. “How’d it go with the other ninja?”
“I didn’t really get anything out of him,” was the response.
Shawna ran her fingers through her bleached blonde hair. “You didn’t really expect to, did you?”
Jamie sighed. “Not really.”
“Then what’s troubling you?” She gestured around at the science room and the school in general. “Other than the obvious.”
“I lost my temper.”
“Everybody does.”
Jamie brought his right hand up to rub the back of his neck. “When I looked at him, I just kept seeing those ninja who killed Yoshi’s parents.”
“Was he one of them?”
Jamie shook his head. “No.” He looked up at her. “But the guy who led the attack on their house was the same one who led the attack on us at the Boat House.”
“Are you sure?”
The young ninja nodded. “I could never forget that man.”
Shawna rested her elbow upon her right leg, propping her chin on the hand of the same arm. “Did Yoshi think it was the same guy?”
“She didn’t see him,” responded Jamie. “And even if she had, I'm not sure that she would have known.” He looked up at the pretty honor student and explained. “Yoshi doesn’t remember much of that . . . day.” He sighed. “And that’s a blessing.”
Invasion of the Ninja Page 10