The young monk slumped to the floor, already dead.

Nezuma shook his head and looked at Eiji. "That was a very stupid thing to do, old man."

Eiji simply looked at him with no hatred or animosity in his eyes. "My fate has already been decided. It makes no difference what you do."

"Is that so?" Nezuma's gun barked again, putting a single round directly between Eiji's eyes. The abbot of the monastery crumpled to the floor at the feet of the other monks.

Ken held up the vajra vajra. "Enough! Isn't this what you want?"

Nezuma regarded him coolly. "Give that to me, ninja."

Ken smiled. "You spit that word like it's an insult."

"It is. Your kind have no honor."

Ken's eyes danced. "There's honor in killing unarmed monks and old men?"

"And lots of other people, too," Nezuma said. "I'm very good at it."

"Proud, too," Ken said. He raised the vajra vajra. "What's so special about this that you would come here and cause so much destruction?"

"The dorje dorje was given to your family by my family." was given to your family by my family."

Ken's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you."

"I don't care," Nezuma said. "It's the truth. I am the last in the Taishi family line. And that dorje dorje belongs to me." belongs to me."

"If it was a gift to the Yumegakure-ryu for the service they rendered to your family, what makes you think you have the right to reclaim it?"

"Because you relinquished it to these monks. You took what was an incredibly potent gift and hid it in a mountain."

Ken nodded. "For the good of mankind."

"Rubbish! You hid it here because you were afraid of using it. You knew you didn't have the honor and power to wield such a magnificent thing. And rather than give it back, you couldn't admit your weakness and chose to hide it here instead."

Ken shrugged. "I have no idea what my ancestors might have thought except that they believed it might be used for evil purposes."

"Cowards."

Ken looked at Nezuma. "And what would you do with this?"

"That's none of your concern."

Ken shook his head. "That's not quite true. Since I hold the vajra vajra, it's in my best interests to know what you'd do with it."

"It is in your best interest to hand that over to me right now before I kill you," Nezuma said. "There is nothing else you should be concerned with."

"And I'm to believe that you'll let us all live if I hand it over?" Ken smiled. "I think we both know that's not going to happen."

"I never said I wouldn't kill you," Nezuma said. "But I'll make it quick and relatively painless if you hand it over right now."

"I can't do that," Ken said.

Annja closed her eyes for a second. She could see the sword. She reached for it and felt her hands close around the hilt.

In the instant when Nezuma leveled his gun and fired at Ken, Annja tore the sword free and swung it down, causing the bullet to bounce off the blade and ricochet off the cave wall.

Annja swung the sword horizontally and caught the barrel of Nezuma's gun, knocking it off target. She swept up and tried to cut back down, but Nezuma deflected the blade and redirected it away from him.

He backhanded Annja in the face with the gun, causing her to stagger and drop the sword.

As it clanged to the ground, it simply vanished.

Nezuma stopped and aimed his gun at Annja. "Now, what exactly just happened there?"

"Nothing. It was an optical illusion," she said.

Nezuma's eyes sparkled. "Could it be that I'll gain not one but two magical items today to help me in my conquests? How amazing."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Annja said.

Nezuma put the gun barrel against her temple. "If I were you, I would somehow find a way to get that sword back right now. Or else I will shoot you dead and not care about the sword at all. After all, once I get the vajra vajra, I won't need anything else."

Annja closed her eyes. She could see the sword back where it belonged. She wrapped her hands around it but it wouldn't move.

She opened her eyes. "I can't get it out now."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

Nezuma sighed. "In that case, I don't really have much use for you anymore, do I?"

"Nezuma."

Annja heard Ken's voice and looked over. Ken flicked his wrist, and Annja saw a blur of metal go whipping past her head.

It caught Nezuma's hand and he cried out, backing away as he tore the shuriken shuriken out of his skin and bone and tossed it aside. out of his skin and bone and tossed it aside.

"Enough of this. You're all dead." Nezuma raised his gun.

Annja closed her eyes and tried to get to the sword again. But it still wouldn't budge. Why not? I need it now more than I ever have before. Why won't it come out?

Ken dropped and rolled forward as Nezuma's gun fired. Ken came up and flicked his wrist again. The two shuriken shuriken he threw at Nezuma made the huge man jump to avoid them. he threw at Nezuma made the huge man jump to avoid them.

Annja marveled at how fast Nezuma was for his size and she had flashbacks to how he'd fought back at the budokan budokan.

Ken closed the distance and kicked out at Nezuma's leg, using it to bridge the distance and come in, bringing the vajra vajra down hard on the bridge of Nezuma's nose. down hard on the bridge of Nezuma's nose.

Annja heard a sharp crack as Nezuma's nose was crushed. Blood ran out of his nose.

Ken followed up with a chop to the side of Nezuma's neck that made the bleeding fighter stagger.

But he swept back, ducking as Ken attempted to gain an arm bar on Nezuma. Nezuma righted himself and jerked his gun up, trying to aim it at Ken's head.

Annja could see his finger already starting to squeeze the trigger.

"Ken!"

Two gunshots rang out. Annja winced.

Ken rolled to the floor.

Nezuma sank on his knees.

Ken got to his feet.

Nezuma looked down at his chest and the blossoming crimson stain on his shirt. He brought his hand over his chest and looked at it in disbelief when it came away red.

"Who?"

"Me."

Annja looked at the door. A woman stood there caked in dark blood and grime. But the terrible gun she held looked deadly enough.

Nezuma frowned. "Shuko?"

"h.e.l.lo...master."

37.

Annja watched the shock wash over Nezuma's face. Despite the gunshot wound, he still managed to pull himself up. "I thought you were-"

"Dead?" Shuko smiled. "I'm sure you wish I was. But fortunately, I took some precautions back in the circulation caves to ensure my own survival. A little body armor and some latex makeup can work wonders. Not that you cared to try to help me even if it had been real."

"I would have-"

"Please," Shuko snapped. "You left me for dead willingly. And it's been apparent for a while now that you've been planning to kill me anyway. You almost did at the ryokan ryokan."

"You let us fail," Nezuma said.

"Deliberately," Shuko said. "If Kennichi and the woman spotted us, then they might just get complacent enough to not spot the real team I had in place. The one that allowed me to stage the attack on their ryokan ryokan."

Nezuma shook his head. "This makes no sense. That attack was carried out by the Onigawa-gumi."

Ken looked up. "It was?"

Shuko nodded. "Of course it was. I needed to make it look like we wanted you both dead. I sacrificed several good men in the process. But sometimes, that is the price you must pay."

Ken leaned back. "My G.o.d."

Shuko smiled.

"What is it?" Annja asked.

"All this time...I'd heard the rumors but I never believed them, of course. Who would?" Ken looked at Shuko. "It was you."

She nodded. "Yes."

"Who is she?" Annja asked.

Ken pointed at her. "She's the oyabun oyabun-the head-of the Onigawa-gumi Yakuza clan."

Nezuma sniffed. "Utterly ridiculous. She is merely my pupil-albeit a fine one. She had nevertheless betrayed me. An oyabun oyabun? Nonsense."

Shuko glanced at him. Disdain shadowed her face. "You were always far too concerned with appearances and tradition to allow yourself to see what was truly happening after you plucked me from the slums. As I learned, I also schemed."

"I should have let the rats eat you," Nezuma spit.

Shuko smiled. "Maybe. But I used my training and resources to start what will soon be the most powerful crime syndicate on the planet. Already my emissaries are reaching out to like-minded organizations all over the world. Soon we will use our networks to rule crime like never before."

Annja closed her eyes and saw the sword resting there.

"But you," Shuko continued, "you would never have let me live to see my own destiny. That's why I took matters into my own hands."

"I might have killed you at the ryokan ryokan," Nezuma said. "Where would your grandiose plans have been then?"

"You would have died in another second had you not released me," Shuko said. "There was a sniper resting his crosshairs on your head just waiting for me to give him the signal."

Nezuma closed his mouth.

Shuko turned to Annja. "I must say it's been a pleasure seeing you travel with Ken and help him in his quest for the vajra vajra. It's not often I feel admiration toward another woman, but you have certainly earned my respect."

"Uh...thanks," Annja said.

Shuko shrugged. "It's a shame I'll have to kill you."

"Couldn't we talk this over?" Annja inched her way toward Ken.

Shuko gestured with the gun. "Don't do that. It might make my trigger finger jump before I'm ready."

Annja stopped moving. Shuko looked at Ken. "So, you heard the rumors, then?"