For very special addicts only
“Wait,” Mika said, automatically slipping a clip into the Glock.
The young soldier leading their party stopped in his tracks. “Miss Coretti, we have secured this parking lot. No one has been allowed in or out.”
“They won't come through the front door and they won't ask for permission,” she insisted. The time had come. She felt it in her bones. The hunting party was either already here or nearby. Mika didn't have ninja skills, but time spent with Raizo had taught her to trust her instincts.
Sighing wearily, she eyed her twenty young escorts. “Listen to me carefully. My car is just right over there. I can reach it on my own. I want all of you to turn around and get on the elevator. Leave me.”
“We have our orders, Miss Coretti. We will escort you home,” said the youngster nearest her.
The lights went out. “Take cover!” someone shouted. Even though the twin backup generators kicked in, the lights began systematically blinking out of existence one by one.
The group scattered. The two guards closest to Mika sandwiched her in between them as they made a mad dash for the vehicles. There was a swishing sound and before anyone could react the lead soldier’s head was severed from his body. Blood erupted like a geyser, yet the body continued moving forward drunkenly.
Horrified, Mika fired into the darkness, desperately afraid that she’d hit the soldiers. She felt, rather than saw the pointed needle-like shuriken fly past her head.
“Get down!” shouted the soldier coming up the rear.
A heavy weight slammed into Mika, knocking her onto the garage floor facedown. A heavy liquid began oozing down her back.
“Oh God!” she whimpered. The soldier’s deadweight was pinning her to the ground. Struggling with all her might, she finally escaped. Freed, she lunged to her feet and tried to run, but lost her balance in a sticky pool of blood.
The sounds of rapid gunfire and flesh and tendons being hacked and sliced to pieces permeated the air.
As she tried to regain her balance, someone grabbed her by the hair and flung her into the air. She hit the ground with a thud. The pain that that reverberated throughout her body did little to lessen her determination to stay alive though. Scrambling to her feet again, she limped towards the exit sign. If they wanted to kill her, they had to do it out in the open.
Out the corner of her eye, she saw an entire new division of policemen and soldiers join the fray.
Mika had just reached the exit when a pair of hands seized her around the waist and hauled her back into the darkness. A large hand went over her mouth. Instinctively, she tensed with fear. She was about to put up the fight of her life when a familiar sound etched its way into her consciousness.
Raizo's heartbeat was music to hear ears.
*****
“Get in, Mika!” Raizo shoved her into a darkened vent. Inside, he pushed her ass with as much strength as he dared, forcing her to move faster and faster. Under different circumstances, he would never push away the perfectly formed size 36.
“I can't see... where… I'm going,” she breathed heavily.
“Move or die!” he hissed at her.
“Ouch,” she cried later when her head made contact with the wall.
“Stand up,” Raizo commanded. “Slowly.”
Shakily Mika got to her feet. “Now what?”
“I'm going to slide my head and shoulders between your legs and stand up,” he explained. “Use me as to reach the grating. Push the small panel on the left. That will open the grating.”
“Okay.” Her breath came in soft pants.
“Pull yourself up and wait for me.”
“Okay.”
Raizo maneuvered himself into place and was pleased that Mika followed his orders exactly. In less than a minute they were inside the walls of the first floor, lying face down. It was a tight fit.
“Where are we?” she asked very softly.
“In Winter, hot water runs through these pipes.”
“Oh shit.”
“Yeah,” Raizo agreed. “Follow the pipes until the end. When you fall remember to hold your breath.”
“Damn it,” she complained, but began slithering forward like a snake.
Ten minutes later they reached the pool of ultra-stale water that had been recycled for years.
Alternating between sputtering, coughing and panting, Mika stretched out on the edge of the container in an effort to catch her breath.
“There's no time,” Raizo insisted. “We must leave now.” Clutching her tiny waist, he dragged Mika to her feet, found another grate and went through ahead of her.
On solid ground, he took her hand and began running. It was a risky move, but any other decision would result in their deaths. Even so, like any prey that ran, they would be chased.
***
“I can’t… I can’t…” Mika fell to her knees, fighting for oxygen. Her heart was beating so fast in her chest, she was sure it would explode.
“Mika!” Raizo hoisted her up from behind to half drag-half carry her. “Just a little longer.”
Before all of this happened, she’d been a decent enough jogger. This little run shouldn’t have done her in this much. Perhaps it wouldn’t have if she hadn’t spent months recuperating from having a sword pushed through her chest where her heart should have been.
All of a sudden, Raizo propped her up against a wall. Since her night vision wasn’t as good as his, she could barely make him out at all. “Leave me,” she croaked. “Get away.”
“Not a chance,” he teased lightly, only slightly out of breath. “You owe me food or something. Hang on.”
Raizo’s dry sense of humor was one of the reasons Mika first liked and trusted him in the first place. “What… now?” Her throat was on fire.
He inhaled and exhaled deeply. “Look,” he said, slipping his arm around her, propelling her towards the dark street. They were far away from any place she recognized. Only a handful of homeless people warming themselves over a fire were in sight.
“Go behind that broken street lamp. There is a small opening between two buildings. Squeeze inside. Feel the wall. You’ll find a doorknob. Hide inside. Follow directions.”
“What about you?” Frightened, she placed both hands on his chest. “You have to come with me.”
Raizo sank to his knees and reached for something just behind her feet. The distinctive sound of the kyoketshu-shogei, the knife attached to the chain, reached her ears.
“Raizo?” she asked uncertain. “We can hide our scent, take a rest and keep moving.”
“It has to be this way,” he told her, still on his knees, his head gently resting on her abdomen. “If I don’t make it, stay inside five days, no more, no less and then get out Berlin. Don’t tell anyone. Now go! They’re almost here.”
“On one condition.”
Raizo shot to his feet, nearly toppling her over in the process. “There’s no time!”
“There’s always time for this.” Mika threw her arms around his neck, pressed her body against his and briefly kissed him firmly on the lips.
As she sprinted across the street, it occurred to her that in another life, she would have worried about seeming too forward.
In this life, nothing mattered except Raizo knowing how much he meant everything to her. She could only hope that such a heartfelt feeling could be relayed through such a simple kiss.
*****
“My ass is entirely too big,” Mika muttered unhappily. The space between the two buildings hardly qualified as an alley. About three feet from the front, she found the doorknob. It beeped at her touch, followed by swishing sound like that of an elevator.
Open space greeted her in the darkness. Trusting in Raizo completely, she took a step forward. The swishing sound returned and the lights came up. Mika found herself inside an elevator that didn’t have a keypad only a red, green-trimmed rectangular pad on the wall. A message blinked.
Please place the palm of your hand on the console.
She did. Another message appeared.
The palm vein authentication program has been activated. One moment please.
Five seconds later, the elevator began moving. When the doors opened later, another doorknob was available. Like the earlier one, it appeared to be a hand geometry system, a part of the building’s biometric security system.
“I wonder if he really did minor in electrical engineering at ninja school,” she reminded herself.
The moment she stepped inside, every single light in the huge loft came alive. Every shutter of every window except the overhead skylight sealed itself and beeped.
Mika’s jaw dropped in shock. From outside the building looked old and abandoned. Inside, it was virtually brand new. Perhaps she’d been deceived by the darkness. It was empty save for a long narrow bed, a fairly large kitchen and what appeared to be a full-sized bath.
There were no shadows cast and no closets in which assailants could hide. This quickly brought Mika back to her prime objective: to get rid of her scent. Quickly, she shed her clothes and shoved them into one of the black bags hanging on the bathroom door.
Unexpectedly, an unmarked control panel seemed to control the shower, too. Several keys later, pleasantly warm water gushed out over her head. When it stopped automatically ten minutes later, she was treated to a full-body dryer.
“Okay, Raizo. I’m impressed.”
In another life, she would have moaned and bitched about having to use fragrance- free deodorant and soap. In another life, she would have scoffed at having to giving up powder, make-up and coco butter lotion.
In this life, showering and bathing to cover up her scent had become her second priority. Her first was, and always would be, Raizo’s safety.
To this day, she still didn’t know why he’d saved her the first time or why he continued to risk his life for her.
“How can I repay him?” she wondered aloud.
*****
It wasn’t until Mika was standing naked in the middle of the loft did she realize that she had nothing to wear. Fortunately, just as she was about to wrap herself in a sheet, she found a very white v-neck t-shirt. It barely reached her upper thighs; it barely covered her butt.
Although her stomach growled with hunger, Mika ignored it. Instead she sat on the bed and reflected on the things she regretted in life. Never having been active in church topped that list. At times like this, she needed to embrace faith. She needed to believe in a Higher Power.
Sliding to her knees, she clasped her hands together tightly and prayed. “Dear God, please save Raizo. If not for me, then for the child he once was before Osunu…you’re God, you know what he did. Raizo… please…help him.”
The prayer sounded hollow to Mika’s ears, but she stayed put for an hour until her legs grew numb. She had no intention of moving until Raizo returned to her safely.
A loud crash shattered her peace. Snatching the Glock from the floor, she stumbled into the kitchen to hide behind the counter.
The door opened.
“Mi…ka…”
Blooded and bruised, Raizo was unconscious long before he hit the floor.
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