"A back exit. As you can see, it's tough to see the castle from here. And for anyone in the castle looking down, it's tough to see us while we stand here."

"Are we hiding?"

Ken looked around and then back at Annja. "We've had company with us since we left Ueno-shi."

Annja frowned. She had no sense of that. There'd been no warning. "Are you certain?" she asked.

"Absolutely."

"Who are they?"

Ken shook his head. "I'm not sure. It's a couple, though. A man and a woman. Both j.a.panese."

Annja sighed. "So, now what? Do we ambush them or what?"

"Hardly. That would be counterproductive to what we're trying to achieve."

"Yeah, but-"

"The best course of action," Ken said, "is to get as far away from them as possible. Right now, they should be in the main entryway. They'll go upstairs and look down and realize we aren't there anymore. That's when they'll get nervous about losing us."

"So, we'd better leave now. Come on," Annja said.

Ken shook his head. "No. We wait."

"What on earth for? We have a head start. We can get into the woods before they do and they'll never know where to look for us."

Ken leaned against the stone wall. "Have you ever done any escape-and-evasion training?"

"Uh, no."

He nodded. "One of the lessons I learned while I was going through that myself was how to discourage pursuers."

"And you're going to enlighten me."

"If you'll permit me, yes."

Annja leaned against the stone wall with him. "Fine."

Ken smiled. "It's only one option, but when there's a group of people pursuing you, you can try to get behind them. You have to find a way to penetrate their line as they progress. Then once you're behind them, you have a certain amount of freedom. You can go back the way you came and go off in a different direction entirely."

Annja watched the sun start to dip behind the clouds to the west. "Is this what we're attempting to do now? Penetrate their line?"

"Yes."

"And you really think they'll freak out when they can't find us?"

"Absolutely. I don't think they know where we're headed. Otherwise they would have moved on us already."

"You think it's the Yakuza?"

Ken shook his head. "No. I think these are your friends. Not mine."

"The ones who broke into my hotel room?"

"Presumably."

Annja sighed. "Wonderful."

"You didn't really expect them to give you the freedom they promised, did you? They'd be fools if they did."

"I don't know what I expected."

"They need to keep tabs on you. This is how they'll do so. And they must be quite committed to the hunt since I've been doing little things throughout our trip to discourage potential tagalongs."

"Maybe they're good," Annja said.

"They are good," Ken replied. "I have no doubt of that. Now it will be a matter of seeing if they fall for my little ruse or not."

"And how are we going to be able to tell that?"

Ken led her away from where they'd been standing to a small pathway that ran alongside the moat of the castle. Annja could smell the hyacinth bushes and a.s.sorted other late-blooming flowers that sprang up this time of year. "Smells nice."

"Not in the moat," Ken said with a low chuckle. He parted some of the bushes and entered them.

"You're kidding."

His face reappeared. "Would you please get in here?"

Annja glanced around. Anyone seeing this would a.s.sume the two of them were engaged in some sort of s.e.xual shenanigans. She grinned. Not that that would be such a horrible thing. "If my clothes get torn, you owe me," she said.

She ducked inside and followed Ken for a hundred yards or so through the dense foliage. When they emerged, they were on a steep embankment that overlooked the road leading to Ueno Castle.

Ken pointed. "There's the train station."

"I didn't realize it was so close. Why did you waste money on the cab fare?"

He shrugged. "It was necessary to see our pursuers. If we'd walked, it would have been harder to spot them."

"I can see the entrance to the castle from here."

"Exactly. But it's difficult for us to be seen provided we keep ourselves low." Ken checked his watch. "I would say any moment now we'll learn if we've been successful or not."

"There," Annja said. "A man and a woman just came flying down the steps toward that cab."

"Indeed."

Annja watched them climb into the taxi. The cab sat there for a moment before shooting away from the curb. It rolled down the street toward them.

"Down!" Ken said.

Annja felt herself being yanked backward. Her back hit the ground hard and she lay there trying to catch her breath. Beside her, she could hear Ken breathing softly. After a moment, he rolled over to face her.

"You okay?"

"I think so."

"Sorry about that. I suddenly realized that they could see us if they were looking up as they drove past. Something they were probably doing anyway just to make sure."

Annja sighed. "It's not so bad laying here with the trees all around us."

"It is kind of nice."

She turned on to her side and stared at Ken. "Why did you bring me along to find the vajra vajra?"

"Because I admire your ability to locate things."

"Is that all?"

He smiled. "Does there need to be something more?"

Annja sat up. "I guess not."

Ken sat beside her. "We should get going now. There are several small inns located a few miles from here. Any one of them will make a good place to hole up before we get started tomorrow morning."

"What about gear?"

Ken nodded. "There's a store on the way I know about."

"Will they know about it, too?"

"I doubt it. This isn't a store that advertises itself." He stood and held out his hand. "Come on."

20.

The door was built of solid sheet metal and rusted through in the lower section. Flakes of it lay scattered about the ground. Next to the door was a single buzzer, which Ken pushed.

"Now what?" Annja asked.

"We wait, of course."

Annja glanced around the neighborhood. Waiting didn't seem to be a very wise idea. They were on the back side of Ueno, tucked down a side alley lined with topless bars and pac.h.i.n.ko pac.h.i.n.ko parlors. Already Annja had felt the eyes of scores of thugs checking her out. parlors. Already Annja had felt the eyes of scores of thugs checking her out.

"Seems a little odd that we're hanging out in this part of town. If we're trying to avoid the Yakuza, then playing in their neighborhood seems a bit silly," she said.

Ken shook his head. "The Onigawa-gumi doesn't control Iga. We're as safe as we can possibly be, given the environment."

"Wonderful."

Across from them, a group of five men stood drinking from a single bottle. One of them finished it and threw it to the ground, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. None of them seemed particularly thrilled that they were suddenly out of booze.

"Ken..."

"Relax, Annja. They won't come near us."

"I wish I could be as sure as you seem to be."

Darkness had claimed the city as soon as they had walked there from Ueno Castle. By the time they found their way through the labyrinth of alleys and dead ends, the shadows had grown long and the last bits of sunlight had twinkled out.

One of the drunks yelled at Ken. Annja had no idea what he said, but she imagined it probably went something like, "Hey, what the h.e.l.l are you doing on our turf?"

Ken laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"He said he'd let me live if I handed you over."

"Lovely." Annja felt herself getting angry. Plus, her stomach hurt. Neither of which boded well for anyone in her path. She closed her eyes and checked for the sword. It was where it should have been and when she reopened her eyes, she felt a smidgen better.

Another drunk said something to the other men. They all laughed.

"Great," Annja said. "Here we go."

The drunk took a single step forward and then fell flat on his face. The rest of his gang bent over laughing at him. They helped him up and together, they staggered down the alley toward the main street.

"I told you it wouldn't be a problem," Ken said. "Drunks in j.a.pan are mostly harmless."

"Mostly?"

"Well, every once in a while someone gets into a bit of a stew. But mostly, they're just all talk and no action."

"Lucky for us." Annja glanced back at the door. "Are we waiting on someone to come down and open this or what?"

"Yes."

From inside, she heard a sudden clanging of locks and bolts. Ken turned around and grinned. "Ah."

The door swung open and a bright flashlight beam cut into the darkness. It flashed from Annja's face to Ken's.

A voice spoke English with a Brooklyn tw.a.n.g. "What do you want?"

Ken waved the flashlight away. "If you don't mind, I'm trying to preserve some of my night vision."