The Rising Sea (NUMA Files 15)

“You might want to save that ammunition. The crawlers will be here soon.”

Joe’s reply was to fire off several additional shots, perfectly spaced to give Kurt the time he needed.

Kurt leapt over the wall and onto the roof. He raced forward with the Honjo Masamune in his hands, closing on Oni and Gao as they took cover.

Gao saw him first. “Look out!”

Oni spun, raising his pistol to fire, but Kurt slashed down with the samurai’s weapon and knocked the gun from Oni’s hand, taking part of the assassin’s thumb with it. Payback, in some sense, for what Oni had done to Nagano.

The pistol clattered to the roof and discharged in a random direction. Oni spat contempt and spun away.

Kurt had to change focus and deal with Gao, who was diving for the gun. He intercepted Gao with a kick to the jaw and then sent the pistol sliding across the roof with a flick of the sword.

Now Oni came back at him, swinging the Crimson Blade in a wide arc. Kurt deflected it and then dodged Oni’s second attack, stepping deftly to the side. But even with blood pouring from his wounded thumb, Oni pressed forward, fueled by rage.

Kurt counterattacked, slashing at Oni’s head, but the assassin’s training kicked in and he pulled back and responded with a riposte, one that almost twisted

the sword from Kurt’s hand.

Kurt clutched the Honjo Masamune and wrenched it free with brute strength. But before he could do any more, he was attacked once again.

“You’re an amateur,” Oni chided. “I’ll slice you limb from limb.”

“You couldn’t do it before and all I had was a wrench,” Kurt said.

Oni charged again, slashing and taunting Kurt simultaneously. “This blade has waited two hundred years to taste blood again. Tonight, it will drink deeply.”

Kurt was too busy defending himself to offer a witty reply. He parried to thrusts and attempted a counter by dropping one hand to the floor and lunging low and fast, a move known as a passata-sotto.

Oni hopped back out of the way and then came forward again. The attack became manic. Sparks flew each time the swords came together. Blood from Oni’s missing thumb tip soaked the hilt of his weapon and dripped along the blade.

Kurt was hard-pressed and with each flurry he was forced backward toward the edge of the roof. At the same time, he saw Gao crawling toward the fallen pistol.

“Joe!” he shouted. “A little help!”

Joe was already out on the roof. He charged toward Gao and tackled him. As they wrestled for the pistol, Oni attacked once again.

First, it was a lunge. Kurt dodged it.

Next came a feint that unbalanced Kurt. He slipped on the wet roof and he fell to one knee.

Now Oni went for his head, gripping the Crimson Blade with both hands and bringing it downward in an executioner’s chop that would slice Kurt in two.

Kurt raised the Masamune and blocked the downward strike, but he was left in a defenseless position.

With no chance to stand, Kurt lunged forward and drove his shoulder into Oni’s thighs. He wrapped his free arm around the man’s legs and with a mighty heave lifted up and arched himself backward, releasing Oni as he fell.

Oni flew helplessly over the wall, landed on the fire escape and clung desperately to the rusted metal steps. The staircase swayed back and then jerked to a stop as the jerry-rigged wire pulled taut.

Kurt stepped to the wall. Oni stared up at him, a strange expression affixed to his face. The Crimson Blade of Muramasa fell from Oni’s hand and dropped down between the rungs. It clanked between the steps, then vanished into the dark.

Ushi-Oni clutched at his midsection. His hands came away, soaked with his own blood. The blade had gouged him when he landed on the stairway. It had cut him deep but not fatally.

Kurt didn’t wait for him to recover or pull another weapon. With a downward slash of the Honjo Masamune, he cut the retaining wire in half and then shoved the reeling stairway with his foot.

It peeled away from the building, bending and groaning as it collapsed into the alleyway ten stories below.

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