The Rising Sea (NUMA Files 15)

Nagano was tossed aside and the guard pointed his flashlight deeper into the passageway. Then he looked down into the shaft.

Kurt threw the stone the instant he saw the man’s face, hitting him in the jaw and snapping his head back.

Nagano helped the guard to the ground by chopping his legs out from under him with a sweeping kick.

The guard landed at the edge of the pit and Kurt reached up, grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him over. The man tumbled face-first, hitting the wall on the way down and crashing into the water below.

At the same instant, Joe charged the second guard, tackling him and slamming him headfirst into the wall. They fell to the ground together, where Joe landed a kidney punch and then followed up with a head-butt to the jaw.

Kurt pulled himself out of the pit and rushed to help Joe, who was struggling with his opponent. It took only seconds for the two of them to finish the fight.

“You’re slipping,” Kurt said. “You should have had this guy in three moves.”

“I’m not exactly at the top of my game,” Joe said. “While you were going for a leisurely swim, I was giving the performance of a lifetime.”

Kurt found the keys and unlocked Joe’s chains, then his own and then Nagano’s. They gagged the guard, took his weapon and chained him up.

“What about the guy who went for a swim?” Joe asked.

Nagano shook his head. “He didn’t resurface.”

With Kurt holding the guard’s pistol, they moved quietly down the tunnel, pausing when they heard someone approaching.

Pressing into the shadows, they watched as another of Han’s men approached with a pair of long wooden cases in the crook of his arm. The man was dressed in a lab coat. He wore thick glasses. And had his hair long in the front.

He reached one of the plastic doors, brushed the hair out of his eyes and pressed a button. A green light blinked and a soft push opened the door. He went inside and shut the door behind him.

“Let’s go before he comes back out,” Joe said.

“Not so fast,” Kurt replied. “I want to stop by the gift shop before we leave.”

Kurt crossed the tunnel and made his way to the plastic-coated door. Placing his hand on the same button he’d seen the technician press, he, too, was given a green light. He eased the door open and found the technician on the far side of the room, removing a polished sword from its case.

Kurt coughed lightly and cocked the hammer on the pistol. The technician straightened and then turned, putting his hands up instinctively.

“You speak English?”

The man nodded.

“Good,” Kurt said. “That will make this easier. On your knees.”

The technician got down awkwardly but kept his hands up. The hair fell in his eyes again and he attempted unsuccessfully to blow it away with a puff of air.

“You might want to consider a haircut,” Kurt said.

The technician nodded and Kurt reached over and snatched the nearest sword from its case. The weapon was beautiful. It shimmered in the fluorescent lighting of the laboratory.

The door opened again and this time Joe and Nagano slipped in.

“Did you find your souvenir?”

Kurt held up the samurai sword.

Nagano took one look and spoke its name. “Be careful with that. You hold a national treasure in your hands. The Honjo Masamune. Hidden by Shinto monks for seventy years.”

Kurt looked to the technician. “Why does Walter Han want these swords?”

The technician answered. “That one is a symbol of Japan.”