They stood outside of Jiro's place, down the dank alleyway that just a few hours previously had been a home to wayward drunks and the smell of urine. Now, in the brightness of day, it looked like a run-down place, but the sense of danger was removed.

Ken pointed at the door. "It's been opened."

Annja followed his gaze. She could see the pry-bar marks by the hinges. "It looks like someone took it off and then put it back on when they were done with it."

Ken nodded. "Exactly."

"What does that mean?"

"Someone doesn't want anyone thinking there's something wrong inside." Ken moved closer to the door and pressed his ear against the steel and rust. After a moment, he stepped back. "We need to get in there."

"What for? Who knows how old these marks are? Knowing your friend, he's probably out somewhere or asleep. In either case, maybe we shouldn't bother him."

Ken shook his head. "I need to know if someone was asking about us. What if there's another party interested in us that we didn't know about before?"

"Ken, we're supposed to be in the mountains right now. Not down here looking for your pal."

"And if we don't know who is looking for us, we could walk into a trap," Ken said.

Annja pointed at the door. "Well, just how do you think you're going to get in there?"

Ken removed a small packet of something from his coat. "Stand back."

"What is that? Another special gift from Jiro?"

Ken looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"You could have told me about the gun."

Ken shrugged. "Didn't seem important at the time. Jiro always tosses in extras like that if he thinks I might need it. It wasn't something I asked for especially."

"But you knew he put it in the bag."

"I suspected."

Annja frowned. He certainly seemed perfectly comfortable reaching for it last night before the attack broke loose. "If you say so."

Ken unfolded a gray clayish substance from the packet and placed a small amount around each of the hinges. From another pocket he withdrew small cylindrical objects that Annja recognized as detonators.

Ken plugged them into each packet and then looked at Annja. "We should probably move away."

"You don't have to ask twice. I've seen this stuff blow before," Annja said.

They ducked around the corner and waited. In thirty seconds, there was a loud firecracker sound and when they looked back, bits of smoke wafted from the doorway.

"That wasn't as loud as I thought it would be," Annja said.

"Jiro gets good-quality stuff. Not your typical loud-bang explosive. It helps with avoiding unnecessary interest."

They examined the door. All the hinges had been blown off, but the door stayed where it was.

"Must be extremely heavy," Ken said. He reached into his coat and fished out a folding knife that he inserted in the gaps between the door and the frame. He exerted some pressure and the slab of the door started to come away from the jamb.

"Look out."

Annja moved and the door fell forward, clanging louder than the explosive in the alley. Ken glanced inside and all around the jamb.

"No b.o.o.by traps."

"Did you really expect some?"

He shrugged. "You can never tell. And I always think it's better to be safe than sorry, as the old saying goes."

They stepped into the corridor and headed for the elevator at the end of the hallway. When they reached it, Ken repeated his examination and only after two full minutes did he proclaim it safe to ride.

They stepped in and closed the grate. The elevator groaned its way up to Jiro's loft. They could hear music playing, but at a much lower volume than it had been last night.

"Maybe he's asleep," Annja said.

"Impossible," Ken said. "When we took the door off, he would have been down here with guns blazing. He's got the place wired for alarms and intrusion sensors."

"Doesn't seem like they stopped the people who might have gotten in here last night."

"No," Ken said. "It sure doesn't."

The elevator stopped and Annja pulled back the grate. Ken took point as they moved closer to the doorway. Annja could see the stacks of crates and boxes pretty much as they had been last night when Jiro had been scouring and rummaging through them.

Ken stopped. "Maybe you should wait here."

"What for?"

"It might not be...safe inside."

Annja frowned. "Ken, we had a battle last night where I killed several men. Do you really think that I'm going to stay out here like some sheltered dove while you go in there and face any possible dangers alone?"

He smiled. "I suppose not."

"Good. Now let's get on with this. The sooner we do, the sooner we can get going to find that vajra vajra of yours." of yours."

Ken nodded. They stepped over one crate and then another. The deeper they got into the loft area, the more apparent it became that there had been a shoot-out.

Ken knelt and brushed his fingers across a part of a crate where the wood had been splintered. "Ricochet."

He stood. "I don't think this is going to turn out well."

"At least he appears to have tried to fight them off," Annja said quietly.

Ken sighed. "For all the good it did him."

"We might be wrong. He might be okay."

They turned a corner and saw the dark pools of blood. Annja knelt and used a sc.r.a.p of wood to poke the liquid. It was thick and sticky. She looked up at Ken.

"It's a couple of hours old. Already congealed," she said.

He nodded and poked his head around another corner.

Annja heard him gasp.

"Ken?"

He ducked back around and faced her. "He's not okay."

Annja brushed past him and looked. Jiro was seated in a chair in a large tub that had been filled with water. A car battery sat nearby with leads running up to alligator clips that had been attached to Jiro at extremely intimate parts of his body.

Jiro's lifeless eyes stared at her.

Annja blinked and looked away.

Ken's hand was firm on her shoulder. "He didn't give us up easily."

"Who would do this?"

Ken shook his head. "I don't know. But when I find out, I'll kill them. If not for the vajra vajra, then for Jiro."

25.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Ken nodded, bowing his head for a moment. "He was a good kid. A little on the dodgy side, but he sure didn't deserve this."

"No one does," Annja said. "And we'll make sure whoever did this doesn't get to do it to anyone else."

"It's my fight," Ken said. "It's not right for me to ask you to come along any further."

"Don't be ridiculous," Annja said.

Ken shook his head. "Between last night and this, no, I can't ask it of you. You've been great so far, but this is getting out of control. These people will apparently stop at nothing to get the vajra vajra."

"If you think I'm backing out now-"

"Maybe Taka was right. Maybe the vajra vajra shouldn't be disturbed at all. Maybe it should just be left alone where no one else can find it," Ken said. shouldn't be disturbed at all. Maybe it should just be left alone where no one else can find it," Ken said.

"You really think it's safe anymore?" Annja asked. "After all of this, these people are closer to it than ever before simply by virtue of tagging along on our coattails."

"What are you saying?"

"That you can't simply disengage from the hunt now. Because you started it, you've got to see it through to the end. Or else the wrong people will be able to find it. And I don't think you want that happening."

Ken nodded. "You're right, of course."

"Yes. I am."

He smiled. "Thanks for being so modest."

Annja touched his arm. "Enough of this. We need to get going or there's a chance-"

Ken stopped her. "Wait!"

Annja heard it, too. In the distance, the sound of wailing sirens broke the early-morning quiet.

"Think they're headed this way?"

"We can't stick around to find out," he said. He headed to the window and looked out. "They're already here!" He turned and ran to Annja. "Come on." He grabbed her by the hand and led her toward the elevator but stopped when he heard the clamor of footsteps and shouts from below.

Annja pulled up short. "They'll call the elevator."

Ken scrambled around looking for a stick. He found a ski pole and jammed it in the elevator winch. "That should stop them for a few minutes." He turned and ran back into Jiro's loft with Annja close on his heels.

"Is there a back way out of here?" she asked.

Ken nodded. "I thought Jiro to always have an escape hatch. I know he put one in place."

"Shame he couldn't have used it last night."

"I think they somehow caught him by surprise," Ken said. "But I'll find out when we catch up with them."

Annja could hear the groan and whine as the elevator call b.u.t.ton was repeatedly pushed and the elevator strained against the ski pole.

The police officers were calling from down below.

"What are they shouting?" Annja said.

"Something about the building being surrounded," Ken said. "You know, the usual."

Annja smirked. At least he had his sense of humor intact. "You think they mean it?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure why they're even here unless someone spotted the door and called them about that. I don't think they'd mobilize the whole force for a simple breaking and entering."

"But again, we won't be around to find out."

"Right." Ken rummaged in a closet and after tossing a few boxes out of the way, he reemerged with a frown. "Where is it?"