Ninja Assassin: Attraction

by Sally Keira

  "Your father is waiting in your building. Let's phone him now." Kazuo grinned as he chucked her a phone.

  Kaiya dialled excitedly. "Father, I have the chip. Kazuo and I are speeding across the city. No one is on our tail anymore. We'll be home in approximately 15 minutes."

  "Well done Kaiya, I'll be waiting on the roof with the helicopter," Tatsuya sounded very pleased.

  They hung up the phone. Kazuo cranked up the heavy metal music in their hummer. The ninja friends looked at each other again, laughing at their victory. They accelerated home, head banging to Kazuo’s choice of music.

  Chapter 18

  Kazuo parked the hummer in their secure parking spot, just as Kaiya finished describing how she had passed through the series of laser beams. Kazuo was impressed with Kaiya’s recount of the part of the action that he had missed. He was especially amused when he heard that Satoshi and Anton had been at the party, and had both failed to steal the chip. Kazuo and Kaiya were both still on an adrenaline high from driving erratically under fire. Once Kazuo exited the car, he raced toward the elevator and pressed the lift call button. He realised Kaiya was left behind, hobbling across the car park on her sore ankle.

  "Want me to carry you?" Kazuo shouted as he walked back over to her.

  "No. It's not that bad,” Kaiya said. “It’s probably just sprained. Just lend me your shoulder.”

  “Sure,” Kazuo said as he reached her. “Your ankle is swelling up, you’d better ice that after we speak to Tatsuya.”

  “No shit,” Kaiya grinned at him.

  The pair stepped into the elevator together. They continued to grin at each other as they ascended toward the roof of the skyscraper.

  Kaiya was keen to tell her father the specific details of how she had extracted the chip tonight. Tatsuya would undoubtedly be proud of how she had breached Tadao’s security and his laser obstacles. No one else could have succeeded in her place, even her father would not have passed those lasers in his younger years. Now it was time for her former position of being in-charge of the ninjas, to be reinstated. Kazuo worked closely with her anyway, so hopefully he should not begrudge her getting her former position back.

  The lift paused temporarily on Tatsuya's top floor. The doors opened and Tatsuya joined them in the lift, nodding seriously at Kaiya then Kazuo as he entered. When the door closed Tatsuya held his hand out, palm upward. Kaiya grinned at him as she placed the chip in his hand. Tatsuya’s hand closed over the chip. He looked pleased.

  "Well done Kaiya, well done Kazuo,” Tatsuya remarked almost formally. “Kazuo, your leadership has proven worthy, you will remain in charge of my ninjas. Kaiya, you have redeemed yourself. I want you to remain watchful by Mariko’s side for the time being. Your sole priority right now is to keep her safe. We will discuss moving you up to second in charge after I conclude my business on the island and Mariko’s security is less of an issue."

  “But I’ve earned my position back,” Kaiya protested.

  “I have made my decision,” Tatsuya said firmly. “Your position right now is to protect Mariko.”

  The lift doors opened because they had reached the roof. The noise of Tatsuya's waiting helicopter drowned out Kaiya’s further argument. Tatsuya's hand halted the lift door from closing, and he made another command loudly over the noise.

  "Kazuo, double the security in the building. I know we are still down several ninjas so put everyone on overtime. I want Mariko and Kaiya to remain in their apartment. Once my plans are in place with the chip, I will send the helicopter back for my daughters to bring them to my island.

  “Yes, Tatsuya,” Kazuo said.

  “I repeat, Kaiya. You and Mariko must not leave your apartment for any reason. Tadao will be unpredictable now that you have thwarted him,” Tatsuya said

  Tatsuya stared sternly at Kaiya until she reluctantly nodded back at him. Satisfied, Tatsuya dismissed them both with a nod of his own. Turning his back on them, Tatsuya strode across the windy roof and climbed onto his waiting helicopter.

  The lift doors shut. Kaiya stood fuming next to Kazuo, disbelieving that her father had just denied her her former leadership position. He had not even taken to time to hear about how she had managed to retrieve the chip. Her opportunity to ask him what he planned to do with the chip had also been lost. No answers would be forthcoming now until Tatsuya brought them to his small secure island, which he had apparently purchased several months ago.

  “He cares about that damned chip more than he cares about me,” Kaiya whinged.

  Kazuo shifted uncomfortably on his feet, while the lift dropped down to Kaiya's apartment floor. Kaiya had expected to be put back in charge immediately. But it was hard for Kazuo to feel too bad for her though, because he really liked being in charge himself. Finally, Tatsuya was appreciating his worth. Kazuo knew Kaiya needed some space to digest Tatsuya’s orders. So, when the doors opened on her level he remained in the lift.

  "Please don't resent Tatsuya extending my turn at leadership. You know I have earned it too. Tell Mariko I'm back safely but will just be downstairs doubling your security. I will come up and see her in my break later. I will have to remain on watch tonight with the others," Kazuo said.

  Kaiya hobbled out of the lift.

  "My father really is a bastard! Maybe I don't want to stay indoors for days or go to his stupid island,” she ranted.

  Kazuo frowned, reaching his hand out to halt the lift door from closing. He pointed his finger at her in warning.

  "Stay in the apartment like your father said. Otherwise, I will have to move some of our team into your apartment to watch that you are behaving. You know I don't want to do that because I'll also lose my privacy with Mariko,” Kazuo said.

  Kaiya rolled her eyes at Kazuo as the lift doors shut.

  Once inside her apartment, Kaiya grabbed an ice pack to press against her swollen ankle. Easing down onto a black leather couch in her largest lounge room, she then stared grumpily out the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. She failed to appreciate the spectacular view of the city lighting up Tokyo.

  Mariko walked out of her bedroom, looking groggy.

  "Hey Kaiya, everything go ok?" Mariko asked anxiously.

  "I suppose so. Father has his chip back. Kazuo is still in charge of our ninjas,” Kaiya sighed heavily. “We're stuck in this apartment now until father sends his helicopter back for us in a few days. This is so that Tadao's ninjas can't take their revenge on us. This bloody chip has cost us the last of our independence. I hope it was worth it!"

  The two sisters sat slumped on the couch looking miserable. Eventually Mariko gave Kaiya a big hug. No words would cheer them up.

  "I'm going back to bed,” Mariko decided after a while.

  "I'll have a shower after I finish icing my rolled ankle and I'll go to sleep after that too. See you in the morning, Mari," Kaiya said.

  Chapter 19

  Sometime before sunrise, a tall, blue-eyed ninja dressed completely in black, dropped silently onto the dark roof of the Takahashi skyscraper. Lawso quickly cut his parachute off him and bundled the material into a ball. He secured it tightly to a metal pole on the roof. There were cameras on the roof, but if he acted quickly and kept in the shadows it was unlikely he would be detected at this hour.

  Lawso firmly secured the end of a thick rope to an appropriate anchor point on the roof and dropped the abseiling line over the side of building. After attaching a harness to himself he stepped out onto the edge, and hesitated only briefly. The wind pushed against him while he peered down at the far drop below him to street level. Lawso gently lent further forward until the rope took his weight. Then he was running forward down the glass windows of the building, threading the slack of the rope through the abseil device as he moved. Lawso enjoyed the rush of wind and the rolling sensation in his stomach, as he surged quickly down two floors. Next, he ran sideways, swinging in a large arc across the side of the building. His hands gripped onto the top of a balcony and he climbed over the railing. If Tada
o's Intel was correct, he was now standing outside Kaiya's sister, Mariko's bedroom.

  Lawso silently worked on the lock to the balcony door. He smiled as he thought about the absolute chaos that Kaiya had left behind at Tadao's party that night. Lawso knew he could have stopped Kaiya from escaping by shooting her. But the little minx had known he was not going to.

  Although Tatsuya would have long since moved the chip from this location, Tadao had assured him that securing Mariko as hostage would be leverage enough to get the chip back. Tadao had surprised him when he had insisted that it must be Mariko who was taken hostage. Lawso could not help but feel disappointed that his target was not Kaiya. He wondered why it made a difference which sister he took.

  Lawso had opted to go after Mariko solo. Yoshito had mildly burned his hands when he had covered his face against Kaiya's little explosion. Lawso did not wish to work with any of the other ninjas. He was less conspicuous solo. It had not escaped Lawso's notice that Kaiya had subtly prevented Yoshito and himself from experiencing the full blast of her little bomb. She had spared them by throwing her necklace to one of the other ninjas. That poor ninja would live but was recovering with burns in hospital now.

  Lawso was aware of how dangerous the game was that he was playing with Kaiya. Unfortunately, he was at a loss as to how he could both keep Kaiya safe when she interfered with Tadao's plans, and claim her for himself. No other woman had ever had such an impact on him. And that little kiss of hers with the Minister of Defence at Tadao's party, was clearly an attempt to get a rise out of him. Lawso smiled because Kaiya had indeed gotten that reaction from him, even though he knew what she was doing. Kaiya knew how to drive a man crazy. Now he would drive Kaiya crazy by kidnapping her sister under her nose, and forcing her father to give the chip back.

  The latch flicked open and Lawso slipped indoors behind some floor length curtains. Once inside, he quietly closed the door behind him. It was dark in the room. Lawso's eyes adjusted as he peeped out from a gap in the curtains. A dark-haired woman was sleeping in the large bed. Her hair was shorter than Kaiya's but she looked similar to Kaiya in the dark.

  Mariko unexpectedly rolled over onto her side and sat up, switching on a bedside lamp. Lawso froze. He held his breath when Mariko shuffled across the room to her bathroom en suite. There, she switched on the bathroom light as well. The sound of her urinating in the toilet easily masked his footsteps crossing the room.

  The toilet flushed and Mariko switched the bathroom light off again. Mariko barely registered what was happening when someone large grabbed her from behind and placed a hand over her mouth. A needle pricked her arm and the anaesthetic worked quickly. There was minimal struggle before she passed out in Lawso's arms.

  Lawso had decided that drugging her was kinder than knocking her out. He easily slung Mariko over his left shoulder. Mariko was a similar light weight to Kaiya, perhaps slightly taller and leaner. His silenced m4 carbine assault rifle was slung over his right shoulder, within easy reach in case he encountered one of Tatsuya's ninjas. Lawso dragged the curtains aside. He intended to abseil down to a much lower balcony to make his escape with Mariko.

  ***

  Kaiya had earlier fallen asleep on the couch in the lounge room next to Mariko's room. Before she relaxed, she had showered and changed into a fitted purple Asics sports singlet and matching three quarter length pants. Inside her pants was a sewn in nylon covert sheath, where she concealed a small tantō dagger against her thigh. Kaiya did not usually wear a weapon in her own apartment. In Mizuchi Ninjutsu training Sensei Shinji had taught her to always be ready for an attack. So, after the eventful evening she had just experienced, the dagger helped her to relax. It was unlike her to feel this uneasy, especially since she was confident that there was no way Tadao's ninjas could breach their security system.

  Lying on the couch with her swollen ankle wrapped and elevated on a pillow, she had eventually drifted off to sleep. It was unusual for her to fall asleep anywhere but her own bed but she had wanted to be near to Mariko tonight. She awoke when she heard Mariko use her en suite bathroom. Kaiya could see under the door that her sister’s bedside light remained on when she was done. Perhaps Mariko was having trouble sleeping or maybe she was still upset about their further loss of independence. Kaiya knocked on her sister’s door.

  "Mariko, I'm awake too, can I come in?"

  She was met with silence. Kaiya turned the handle anyway and eased the door open.

  "Mari, are you still up?"

  Kaiya was utterly shocked to find Lawso standing next to the open balcony door. Her sister's unconscious body was flung over his shoulder. There was a startled look on his face, because Kaiya had entered the room just as he was heading to the balcony. Reflexively, Lawso pointed his assault rifle at Kaiya and they stood staring at each other.

  Lawso noticed that Kaiya's hair was out and hanging wildly around her. He could not help thinking how beautiful she looked, barefoot and comfortably dressed, with a look of absolute fury crossing over her face.

  “Why did you have to enter right this minute?” Lawso sighed.

  Absolute hatred struck Kaiya when she realised that Lawso was in the process of kidnapping her innocent sister. She pulled her tantō dagger out of her pants and shot him a death stare.

  "I am going to fucking kill you!" Kaiya vehemently spat out her threat.

  Eying off his assault rifle, Kaiya contemplated where she was going to stab him. She also pressed her GPS bracelet to alert Kazuo that she needed back-up.

  Lawso realised the serious intent behind Kaiya's threat.

  “Fine, so we’ll fight about it then,” Lawso said.

  Unfortunately, he needed to free up his arms, so he threw Mariko roughly onto the bed. He kept his gun aimed at Kaiya, while he pulled a large combat knife out of his boot. The assault rifle remained in his dominant right hand. Lawso lowered the gun to point it at her injured ankle as he calmly spoke again.

  "Beautiful, I'm warning you that I am not going to go easy on you this time. I will use your ankle injury against you if I have to." Lawso raised his gun and fired twice.

  Kaiya flinched as the silenced assault rifle clicked. She stood temporarily immobilised until she realised Lawso had not shot her. The thud of two bodies dropping to the ground behind her in the lounge room, make her feel sick to her stomach. She did not need to turn around to know that they were the bodies of the two security ninjas, who had been posted outside of her front door.

  Lawso stared at her with a dangerous expression, the look of a man who had just killed without hesitation. He had only bought himself a couple of minutes. Kazuo and the other ninjas would be filing into the lift by now, one floor down.

  “If you hadn’t pressed that bracelet, I wouldn’t have had to kill your two friends just now. Now, I will be taking your sister with me as hostage," Lawso told Kaiya in a matter of fact tone, knowing it would incite her to violence.

  "Like hell you will!"

  Kaiya released a ferrel scream and charged at him in a rage. Her knee connected with his thigh and she viciously swiped her knife at his chest. A large slash ripped into his shirt. She had intended to cut him open but only managed to expose his hard abs.

  "Are you trying to remove my clothes?" Lawso taunted.

  “No, I’m going to spill your guts,” Kaiya said.

  Kaiya remained furious. She attacked again with her blade, determined to make him bleed.

  Lawso anticipated her moves, blocking her knife with his gun. Kaiya easily avoided his first knife counter-attack. But then his foot made deliberate contact with her injured ankle, in a kick of moderate force. Kaiya let out a whimper at the pain. Lawso took advantage and sliced his blade across her chest. There was no further pain, just the sound of fabric tearing. Kaiya’s singlet top now only had one strap. One cup of her purple bra and ample cleavage was exposed from the precise slash of Lawso's knife.

  “Nice bra. I was starting to think you only wore black lingerie,” Lawso said.


  “Shut up, you flirting, sister-thieving bastard,” Kaiya snapped.

  Lawso chuckled at her words and the outraged expression on her face. He retreated backward through the balcony door, quickly clipping his abseiling harness back onto the rope. He had barely had time to look up again when Kaiya sprung onto the balcony.

  “Leaving so soon? The only place you’re going is hell,” Kaiya said, swinging her dagger at his face.

  Lawso leant backward slightly over the balcony to avoid her cut. Her dagger just missed his eye, scratching his cheek as he turned his head. He groaned in frustration at the near fatal hit. Using his gun, he blocked another vicious slice of her dagger near his throat. Kaiya was not holding back.

  Lawso deliberately dropped his knife and grabbed Kaiya’s attacking wrist with his now free hand.

  “I’ve never seen you this furious before,” Lawso said under his breath, fighting to still the movement of her knife. “You’re actually trying to kill me.”

  “You’ve gone too far this time,” Kaiya yelled. “No one touches my sister! Let go of my wrist so that I can kill you, you bastard!”

  His reward for securing the wrist of the hand brandishing her dagger, was a punch to his cheek from her free hand. Lawso grunted, accepting the hit as he slung his gun strap over his shoulder. Kaiya did not hesitate to get another punch in, this time to his chest. Lawso yanked her captured wrist hard, causing Kaiya's body to be smashed against him.

  “Stop struggling, woman,” Lawso muttered. “I’m taking you now instead.”

  Lawso frantically caught her other wrist, while Kaiya was kneeing him in the stomach. Lawso used the momentum of Kaiya's attack to send them both toppling over the top of the balcony.

  Kaiya screamed when she felt herself falling. Lawso held tightly onto both of her wrists, determined to take her with him. They were both flung a fair distance through the open air, swinging in a large arc across the expanse of glass on the side of the skyscraper. They experienced a blur of movement and a rush of heavy wind slapping against them. Kaiya's stomach lurched during the fall and her heart pounded rapidly. It felt like she was falling to her death. Eventually it sunk in that she was swinging suspended, high in the air from Lawso's steel grip on her wrists.