Dahl didn’t answer, but the expression in his eyes showed he knew he would take a few hits for that comment later. Drake feinted again, and again Gretchen didn’t respond. Instead she whirled her deadly blade in an arc, almost catching Alicia as she moved in.
“Back off, little ferret.”
Alicia held up both hands. “Already there.”
Drake heard Mai moving behind him. Judging by the swiftness of her footfalls and the sharp flicker of Gretchen’s gaze, the Japanese woman was moving fast. This was it, then. Mai had called the play. Gretchen couldn’t help but track Mai, the approaching whirlwind. Drake and Dahl moved in. The Russian did the only thing she could; tried to break for it in Alicia’s direction.
But as she moved, as she geared up that locomotive of a body, something fell onto her from the darkness that filled the train station’s arched roof. It was a heavy shadow, a cloaked arcane thing. The first indication Drake had that it was human was when Gretchen’s face opened up from hairline to chin, blood pouring out. The expression of shock in her eyes continued, the flicker and dart of surprise, even as she collapsed. She was still breathing when her head hit the floor, alive because her body hadn’t yet realized she was dead.
Mai gasped into the silence, “Gozu!”
All hell broke loose. The Tsugarai’s new master assassin moved like a dervish, flicking a shuriken in Alicia’s direction, a small blade toward Dahl, and slicing the wicked sword he’d bloodied on Gretchen at Drake.
The Yorkshireman backpedalled, not expecting such a sudden onslaught. Within seconds the manner of the fight had changed. Gozu was like a spinning devil, the opposite of Gretchen, and the shock of his silent arrival had stunned them all.
Gozu leapt through the gap between Drake and Dahl, bursting toward Mai.
“Dishonorable bitch!” He spat. “You kill your master! Enslave your clan! You will pay in eternity for all that.”
He struck like a thunderbolt; hands, feet and elbows stabbing forward faster than even Mai could track. Not only that, when one of his hands wasn’t engaged in combat he filled it with a shuriken or a small blade, throwing the object at Alicia, Drake and Dahl, and even Mai. Drake found a knife sticking out of his shoulder that he hadn’t even seen being thrown. Alicia cursed.
Mai struggled to defend herself, driven backwards, throwing her own arms and legs up in the nick of time but still taking hard blows to the face and ribs. Gozu was a killing machine, bred for a single purpose, and even Mai didn’t possess the lifelong discipline it would take to stop him.
“And Gyuki!” Gozu spat. “My teacher and yours. You would murder him too!”
Mai double-stepped to the side, perilously close to the edge of the platform, but gaining valuable inches. “Gyuki was a child molester, a devil. He deserved more than the quick death I gave him.”
Gozu raged, “I will—”
His tirade ended as Dahl smashed into him. Gozu’s little distraction, as he listened to Mai condemn his master, had enabled the mad Swede to launch a risky onslaught. The assassin staggered back with Dahl wrapped around his waist. Almost any other man in the world would have folded, but Gozu possessed such strength and balance that he managed to stay on his feet, striking down onto the nape of Dahl’s exposed neck.
The Swede grunted, coming up and letting go. Instantly, his cheek burned as Gozu whipped stiffened fingers across it. Dahl caught the second strike that would have crushed his windpipe, but missed the third that slammed into his gut and doubled him over. The Swede couldn’t remember when he’d been hit so painfully, so accurately, the blow slamming directly into nerve clusters.
His brain filled with agony. It was all he could feel, see, and think about.
Drake was by his side. The Englishman engaged Gozu without pause, trying to limit the master assassin’s strikes to the better protected parts of his body. Once he’d accepted that Gozu was inevitably going to break his defense at some point, it was a little easier to subtly direct those strikes toward less crucial areas. The two men fought their way back up the platform toward the store and a waiting Alicia.
“Tricky little fucker,” she said. “Try this.”
She flung her knife, giving Drake flashbacks of when she’d flung it once before, saving all their lives, but the Tsugarai assassin was more than ready for her move. With an eye-flicker of disdain he withdrew his short sword and deflected it away. Alicia cursed and joined the fight. Drake turned the directionality of the fight so that Gozu was headed backwards toward the far end of the station.
Right now the assassin was as far away from Mai as Drake could possibly get him. As they fought harder, Gozu hit the bottom step of the stairs that led up to the bridge that crossed the track and continued up, climbing backwards. Drake tried to take the advantage, increasing his attacks, but Gozu only twisted faster and punched harder. In the end, being a true Yorkshireman born and bred, the only thing Drake could think of was to be blunt. He picked up a man-sized sign with a solid plastic base and hurled it at Gozu’s head.
The assassin slithered underneath, but lost his footing. The sign bounced back and hit him in the spine. Alicia delivered a stunning, twisting elbow to the nose, breaking it with a loud snap. If Gozu even noticed the blow he gave no hint, but scrambled on arms and legs up the stairs like an escaping insect. Drake pursued fast. By the time he, Alicia and now Dahl reached the Ninja, the man had gained the narrow bridge across the tracks.
“Running out of space, arsehole?” Alicia taunted.
But then Gozu showed his intention. His goal was Mai, and Drake knew it; and should have anticipated the next move. Gozu leapt on to the paint-flecked railing that spanned the bridge and simply launched himself into space. He landed lightly on the platform below and tumbled, then sprinted hard at Mai with a terrible, driven, singular purpose evident in every quick realignment of his body.
Mai faced him; calm, poised, as if expecting this charge all along.
Drake raced for the stairs, Alicia at his heels. Dahl, in his special way, followed the ninja-trained assassin right off the railing, landing heavy and with a loud bellow, but still managing to tuck and roll. He came up aching, shocked, but still in one piece.
By that time Gozu was firing everything in his arsenal at Mai. The Japanese ex-ninja skilfully stood her ground, retaliating when she could and dealing several severe blows of her own. Gozu was definitely deteriorating now, having held four world-class assailants off for so long and taking wounds along the way.
“Gyuki would have been proud of you,” Mai said. “Such a loyal little worm.”
“I am loyal to my masters!”
“And you will die loyal.” Mai had purposely sought to raise Gozu’s heckles, knowing that besmirching his clan opened up the only crack in his armor. When the man stopped for one split second and reacted with hatred, she darted in close and grabbed the short sword that was hidden among the folds of his black robe. With a deft tug she wrenched it partly free of its scabbard and sawed the exposed blade across his ribs. This time Gozu yelled out and half-folded. Mai danced clear. Gozu struck out blindly.
Drake pounded along the platform, closing fast on Dahl. Alicia raced past them all, so fast Drake gawped and so close he heard the mantra she repeated under her breath.
“… will not lose another, will not lose another—”
Mai drove a foot into Gozu’s knee, watched him fold more acutely, then stepped in to finish the job.
“No!” Alicia cried.
Only Mai kept going. She didn’t see the small blade held behind Gozu’s back, who knew that even in defeat he could still kill his enemy.