Shinobi (A Katana Novel)

by Cole Gibsen

  When I reached the barn, I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d been worried I’d find the doors padlocked shut. Lucky for me, nothing but a simple hook latch held the doors in place. I glanced around to make sure no one was looking, pulled the latch free, and slipped inside.

  The musty air inside the barn pressed against me, hot and humid. A strange, sour smell I couldn’t identify burned my nostrils with each breath I inhaled. It took me several seconds of blinking before my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. Even then, I still couldn’t make sense of the device before me.

  In the middle of the barn sat two metal barrels joined by tubes. One barrel rested on the dirt-covered ground while the other hung over a wood-burning stove. A crate filled with empty glass jars was positioned nearby.

  What in the world?

  I took several steps closer to inspect the contraption when something else caught my eye. Several yards away in an open horse stall, a polished handlebar protruded from beneath a dust-coated tarp.

  Hope squeezed my ribs in a too-tight embrace. I ran to the tarp and yanked it off, revealing the shining motorcycle beneath. To make things even better, two helmets dangled from the handlebars and the keys were already stuck in the ignition.

  I clasped my hands over my mouth to keep from squealing out loud. This was it—the answer to my prayers. Now if only I could figure out how to drive it.

  As I reached for the handlebars, I heard a click behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to find the muzzle of a double-

  barreled shotgun pointed at my chest.

  I froze, a scream lodged inside my chest.

  “What are you doing on my property?” a scowling woman demanded through nicotine-stained teeth. The lines on her face from a lifetime of sun and cigarette use made her age impossible to determine. Inch-long black roots bled into peroxide-bleached hair that hung limply to her shoulders.

  Instinctively, I threw my hands in the air. “I-I’m sorry. I was, um, hiking. I got lost and found your barn. I thought there might be a phone in here.” It was a weak lie, but it was the best I could come up with as my mind searched frantically for a way out of this mess.

  Without my ki, I couldn’t make a shield. And I was willing to bet this woman’s gun wasn’t loaded with tranquilizer darts like the Network’s. Since I couldn’t fight a bullet, my only chance was to lure her close enough to make a grab at her gun.

  “Lost?” She snorted and spit out a greasy wad beside her feet.

  My stomach convulsed, and I did my best to nod.

  “You’re lying.” The woman narrowed her eyes. “The trails don’t come around here.”

  “I’m not lying.” My gaze darted from the barrel of her gun to the open door behind her—it was too far to make a run for it. “I’ve been wandering the woods all night. I haven’t eaten or slept. I’m exhausted and there are people looking for me.” That much was true. “If you’d just let me use your phone, I could call someone to come get me.”

  The woman’s lips puckered in disgust. “Do you see any phone lines?”

  I shrugged helplessly. “Then your cell phone—”

  She let out a guffaw. “You think a cell phone would get reception way out here?” She snorted again. “But you already know that, don’t you?”

  “What?” The hair prickled along the back of my neck. Something dangerous was happening; I could hear it in the woman’s voice. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She took a step closer. The smell of tobacco rolling off of her burnt my nostrils. She thrust the gun at my chest. “You’re not fooling me if you think I’m gonna buy your hiker story.”

  My heart hammered against my ribs. With the motorcycle

  behind me, I had nowhere to run. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Missy!” she roared. “I know who you really are—what you came here to do!” Her face burned crimson, her eyes wild.

  It was apparent I was losing control of the situation and fast. “Listen, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Maybe we could just take a deep breath and calm down for a minute.”

  “Calm down?” She snorted. “How do you expect me to calm down when the ATF shows up on my property?”

  She wasn’t making sense. “The AT-what?”

  “Ha! You must really think I’m stupid.” She took a step closer. “I know you guys have been after me for months. But I don’t care about your goddamned government regulations! After Danny died, with me out of work, making shine is the only way I survive. And I’m not going to let you take that away from me. The way I see it, Missy, it’s your life or mine.” She licked her lips. “There’s an awful lot of mountain to cover. If you went missing for real, they’d never find you.”

  My breath caught inside my throat. Of all the mountain folk to stumble upon, I had to find the psycho! I couldn’t believe I’d survived the night running from Network agents only to die at the hands of a lunatic. I searched frantically for a way out but came up with nothing. The woman was still too far away for me to attack, and without my ki, I had nothing to protect me.

  The woman grinned. “Looks like the bears won’t be going hungry tonight.”

  I sucked in a quivering breath. I couldn’t believe this was the end. After everything I’d done to stop her, Sumi would win, Whitley would die, and Q would forever be stuck inside Whitley’s body. And there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it.

  A bitter taste burned up my tongue. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the blow.

  The bang that followed was loud enough to rattle my bones. I gasped, and my eyes fluttered opened. I ran my hands along my body and searched for the warm spot where blood was sure to be spilling. Nothing hurt, and that was always a bad sign. Little to no pain almost always signaled a mortal blow.

  But as I continued to search my body for the bullet hole, something hit the ground at my feet. I looked down and, no matter how many times I blinked, I couldn’t make sense of the sight before me. The woman, who only seconds ago was on the verge of shooting me, now lay at my feet with a tranquilizer dart protruding from her flannel shirt.

  “Prove to me it’s really you.”

  I looked at the person standing inside the barn door, blinking to ensure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.

  Kim walked inside the barn with the dart gun raised.

  I opened my mouth, but the words tangled in the back of my throat. Every muscle inside my body strained to run to him. Yet the dart gun aimed at my chest kept me locked in place.

  Kim stopped several feet away. “Tell me … ” He pressed his lips together and glanced at the ceiling as he thought. But then his eyes lit up and he looked at me, and I knew he’d found his question. “In our past life, I made you promise me something the night before we died. Do you remember what that was?”

  My body sagged with relief because I did know. The memory of that night was engraved into my memory like a firebrand. “You made me promise to never go where you couldn’t follow.”

  He flinched as if I’d slapped him and slowly lowered the dart gun. “I thought you were lying, playing another one of your mind games. But then, before I passed out, I heard you talking. How Quentin offered to lead the other agents astray.” He shook his head. “That’s something Whitley never would have done for Sumi.”

  My heart threatened to beat through my chest. “You believed me?”

  “Not at first. But after I woke up I trailed you here.” He nodded to the woman on the ground. “The real Sumi would have killed that woman on the spot. But you—” He cocked his head. “You don’t have Sumi’s powers, do you?”

  I shook my head. “I also don’t have my ki manipulation powers, either. They won’t work in this body.”

  He walked closer until he was an arm’s length away. From this close the smell of his sandalwood cologne enveloped me, bringing with
it memories of long ago. “The Network called me when you escaped. I told Rileigh—or at least the person I thought was Rileigh—that I was going to look for you. She was acting so strangely. She demanded I didn’t go. We had a fight.” He holstered his gun and ran a hand along his face. “I’m such an idiot. How could I not have known?” He stared into my eyes, but what he was searching for, I wasn’t sure. “How are you ever going to forgive me?”

  I fought to stand my ground as everything inside me strained to close the distance between us. “Shut your eyes,” I whispered.

  He frowned. “What?”

  “You can’t get something for nothing, Gimhae Kim. If you want my forgiveness, you have to give me something first.”

  “I will give you anything you want.”

  “Your trust, then.”

  He closed his eyes.

  I lifted a trembling hand and placed it over his heart. I wanted to feel the beat of it beneath my fingers, to prove this wasn’t a dream. “On the roof of my condo, you promised you wouldn’t let me go, remember?”

  He made a pained noise and his eyelids twitched.

  “Don’t!” I warned. “Please don’t open your eyes.”

  “Why?”

  My hand fell from his chest. “Because I don’t want you to see me like this. I want you to picture me as Rileigh, not Sumi. Especially when I do this.” I slid my arms around his waist.

  Kim wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me tight against him, his chin resting on the top of my head. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured. “God, I’m so sorry.”

  I pressed my cheek against his chest, letting the beat of his heart bleed through me, until my own pulse matched the rhythm. For one shining moment, the world fell away and nothing remained but Kim, me, and our hearts beating in time.

  Kim’s fingers wound through my hair. “How do I get you back?”

  “Quentin thinks it has something to do with a bracelet that both Sumi and Whitley are wearing.” I murmured the words against the cotton of his T-shirt.

  Gently Kim pushed me back and opened his eyes. “I remember a bracelet. Leather? With beads?”

  I nodded.

  He made a disgusted noise and raked his hand through his hair. “I asked Ri—I mean, Sumi—about it because it was so unusual. She told me they were friendship bracelets.” He shook his head. “How could I be so stupid?”

  “How could you have known?” I asked. “I certainly had no idea Sumi was capable of something like this. We just have to get back home and cut those bracelets off.”

  “Then let’s do that.” He reached for the walkie-talkie on his shoulder, but I grabbed his hand before he could hit the button.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He frowned at me. “I’m following protocol. I’ve got to call the Network and alert them to the situation.”

  “And you think they’ll believe you? What if they think I’m using Sumi’s mind control on you?”

  He was quiet a moment. “Good question. I guess they would want you to come to New York to prove you were Rileigh. It would probably take a couple of days at most.”

  A couple of days? I shook my head and took a step back. “I can’t do that, Kim. I don’t have time.”

  His forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What do you mean?”

  “Q thinks that we only have three days at the most before we get stuck in these bodies forever. Even if the Network believes me, the delay would cost me my body!” I glanced at the motorcycle behind me. “Maybe … maybe you could go back to the Network and explain the situation. You could convince them to stop chasing me.”

  His frown deepened. “That would never work. They’d want to see for themselves that you’re Rileigh. If I went without you, they’d assume I’d been brainwashed.” His eyes followed mine to the bike. “Besides, I made a promise.”

  I was sure I heard him wrong. “What are you saying?”

  He snapped the walkie-talkie off of his shoulder and dropped it onto the ground. Next, he walked over to the motorcycle and picked up the two helmets lying on the seat. He tossed one at me before straddling the bike and patting the empty seat behind him. “I’m saying you better hurry. We’re burning daylight.”

  I hugged the helmet against my body. “But the Network …

  you do realize if they think I’ve brainwashed you, they’re going to come after you too.”

  “Let them.” He turned the ignition. The bike roared like a beast, making me gasp. “Let them send an entire ninja army after me.” He extended a hand toward me, and I slipped my fingers inside his. He pulled me onto the bike behind him and revved the engine.

  After we put our helmets on, he glanced at me over his shoulder. “No one is going to take you away from me again. Not the Network, and definitely not Sumi.” With that, he kicked the bike into gear with his foot, and together we shot out of the barn.

  When we hit the gravel road, I tightened my arms around his waist and rested my head between his shoulder blades. In both lifetimes, Kim and I had been torn apart. He seemed to think this time things would end differently.

  I only hoped he was right.

  21

  It wasn’t until the winding inclines of the mountainous roads gave way to level interstate that I loosened my white-knuckled grip around Kim’s waist. In fact, if we weren’t in a race against time with Network agents on our tail, I might have actually enjoyed myself. Cruising along on the motorcycle brought back fond memories of riding horseback in my previous life. Sure, our current speed was ten times greater, but the thrill of the wind pulling across my face while the ground blurred beneath me was just as exhilarating.

  We crossed a bridge and Kim pointed a finger at a large, white billboard welcoming us to Ohio.

  I nodded my chin against his shoulder.

  “We’re making really great time!” he shouted, his words barely making it to my ears before being carried away by the wind. “Maybe eight or nine hours tops. We’ll be home by nightfall.”

  By nightfall? I closed my eyes and allowed myself one glorious moment to bask in the warmth of hope that flooded through my veins. After everything I’d been through in the last twenty-four hours—everything that had gone wrong—it was almost too much to hope I’d actually caught a break.

  “We have a slight problem,” Kim said, interrupting my thoughts.

  And apparently I was right. “What’s wrong?” I screamed.

  He pointed to the gas gauge and the needle falling deeper into the red.

  “Do you have any money?” I asked.

  He shook his head.

  “Son of hibachi.” I spit the words through clenched teeth. That was what I got for thinking things were finally going my way. There was no way we’d make it all the way back to St. Louis on the little gas we had. I doubted we’d make it more than another fifty miles—if that.

  As we continued to fly past mile markers, I wracked my brain for a possible solution. If we ran out of gas, not only would we lose valuable time, but we’d be stuck should any cop or Network official find us. Maybe we could make up a story about Kim losing his wallet and convince someone at a gas station to give us money. It might work … or it might get the police called on us. Either way, it was our best bet for getting home.

  I leaned forward to tell Kim to take the next exit with a gas station when I caught site of a familiar black truck barreling toward us in the side mirror.

  It couldn’t be. My fingers curled like claws into Kim’s shirt. He glanced over his shoulder and gave me a questioning look.

  It took me several swallows before the lump inside my throat loosened enough to allow me to speak. “I think we’re being followed!”

  He frowned and checked the side mirror. At that early hour, only a few tractor trailers dotted the road around us. The black truck stuck out like a thorn on an otherwise smooth stem.<
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  Kim’s frown deepened into a scowl. He twisted the handlebar and the bike growled as we shot ahead. My head swam as I watched the scenery whirl past in dizzying waves of color. I couldn’t be sure if the pounding inside my head was from the rush of wind or my own heartbeat. “Kim!” I cried out, but his name was ripped from my throat before it ever touched his ears.

  He pointed a finger at the side mirror for the briefest second before placing his hand back on the handlebar. Keeping my head pressed against his back, I slowly turned to look behind us. The wind ripped lines of tears from my eyes, but even through my blurred vision, I could see the truck closing the gap between us as we continued to accelerate.

  “We can’t outrun them,” Kim shouted. “But we might be able to outmaneuver them.”

  “What?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

  “Hang on!” Kim swerved sharply onto an off ramp, forcing me to bury a scream into the cotton of his T-shirt. Behind us, the truck squealed its tires and struggled to cross two lanes in time to make the exit. Even then, it kicked up gravel and swerved dangerously as its back tires caught the shoulder.

  When we reached the top of the ramp, Kim jerked to the right, causing the bike to tip dangerously on its side. I thought for sure we would fall until the last second, when Kim put his foot to the ground, balancing us, as we turned and sped down the country highway.

  “Kim!” I screamed, curling my nails into his shirt. “Please tell me you know what you’re doing!”

  He shook his head, a sly smile reflected back at me in the side mirror. “When don’t I?”

  My heart beat against my ribs like a hammer. I wanted to believe him, but at the breakneck sped we were traveling, I couldn’t help but wonder if facing the men with the guns was a safer option.

  We raced along the empty road. Nothing but fields and pastures passed on either side of us. Each time Kim made a turn, we would jump ahead only to have the black truck catch up within seconds.

  I bit my lip as I watched the truck close the gap between us yet again. We couldn’t keep this up forever. First of all, we were running dangerously low on gas. Second, I knew the truck behind us had probably radioed for backup and it would only be a matter of time before more trucks and more men showed up. And while we might be able to outmaneuver one, I didn’t think we’d be able to escape them all.