Night Raid (2)
Beyond the stone wall, the lantern light from the garden glimmered faintly.
Far off, lights were leaking from the main house’s windows as well.
The humid air of the pre-dawn rain hung heavy around me. Only the occasional cry of insects broke the silence.
And from inside the wall, every so often, I caught the faint sign of movement.
At least two inside the garden.
My sharpened hearing was picking up sounds from beyond the wall, too.
Heavy footsteps. The rhythm of boots crunching over gravel. They were patrolling.
“Hoo…”
Maybe it was the monsoon-season humidity, but my clothes already felt damp.
I checked the iron needles at my waist again, then the band on my forearm and the dagger. Everything was where it should be.
Click.
A short burst of static crackled in the earpiece in my ear.
Then Elena’s voice came through.
- We’re starting. 3, 2, 1…
The next instant, every light in the manor went out at once.
The garden lanterns, the main house, the lights in the dormitory buildings on either side of the front gate. Everything.
In a blink, the vast estate was swallowed by darkness.
So the power cut had gone off without a hitch. For the moment, electricity and communications in the area were completely dead.
Crackle—
The static in my earpiece turned rougher.
The line we were using could get through the jammer, but the signal quality was taking a beating.
Still, that was exactly what Elena had told us would happen. Everything was proceeding according to plan.
“I’m going in.”
After pressing the transmit button and saying it softly, I set a hand against the stone wall.
Then I went over it in one clean, silent motion.
***
Beyond the wall, a well-kept Japanese garden spread out before me.
At its center was a modest pond, with moss-covered stones scattered around it here and there.
Stone lanterns stood at intervals throughout the garden, and pine branches drooped low over the water.
Pretty luxurious.
On one side of the pond, I could just barely make out the outline of a detached building, much smaller than the main house.
The damp earth underfoot gave off that peculiar musty smell only a wet garden could have.
“O-oi!”
Voices of surprise burst up from all over the garden.
One guy pulled out his phone and lit up the screen. Another fumbled around looking for a flashlight. A third shouted something in Japanese.
Each one of them came through my senses with painful clarity.
Then phone flashlights began switching on, and points of light bloomed here and there.
One on this side, another over there.
There are quite a few.
Every time a light came on in the dark, the enemy’s position was laid bare.
In a place this dark, those flashes might as well have been advertisements for where they stood.
Which was a blessing for me.
I immediately slipped into the shadow of a pine tree, into an even darker patch of ground.
For this moment, that darkness was my greatest weapon.
Good. Time to move.
After a quick sweep of the area, I started moving.
I lowered my center of gravity naturally, killed the sound of my footsteps, and let my breathing go thin and quiet.
Before I’d even thought it through, my body was already moving first. Everything came as naturally as breathing.
What did it feel like?
Maybe like coming home after being away too long.
There was a confidence in it, too, the sense that I could do anything.
Thud.
I pressed myself against the back of a stone lantern.
Then I moved again, keeping to the pine shadows and staying low.
One yakuza was sweeping the garden with his phone’s flashlight.
Before the beam could reach me, I slipped quickly into his blind spot.
Then I drew the three-section staff from behind my waist.
Clack.
A sharp metallic note rang out from the extendable staff in my hand.
The yakuza tilted his head at the sound and started to turn.
That was when I swung the staff straight into the back of his head.
Thunk!
One clean hit, dead on.
With a short, dull impact, his knees folded.
I caught his falling body with one hand and laid him down without a sound.
His phone slipped into the grass, and its light vanished.
One.
I turned my gaze and spotted another yakuza farther off.
He was walking around with his phone flashlight on, calling out for someone.
When no answer came, he started angling this way.
I took cover behind the shadow of a stone lantern beside the pond.
In darkness like this, using a flashlight did a nasty thing to your eyes. Once you’d been blinded by that bright beam, the moment you stepped outside its range, you couldn’t see a damn thing.
And if someone’s blind spot is open, there’s no end to what you can do there. For example…
I hooked an iron needle between my right index and middle fingers.
Inner energy gathered thinly at my fingertips.
Flash Shadow Pellet.
A concealed needle technique that launched an iron needle by snapping it loose with inner force.
At close range it made almost no sound, and the trajectory was too fast for the eye to track.
Without hesitation, I flicked my fingers.
Whoosh.
The iron needle pierced the guard’s neck. Right at the Renying Acupoint.
It was the point where the carotid artery and thyroid cartilage met. If a hidden weapon passed through it properly, the vocal cords and airway could be paralyzed at the same time, leaving the victim unable to make a sound.
“Kheh…”
He tried to scream, but the sound died in his throat.
All that came out was a short, choking gasp.
His phone dropped from his hand. Darkness swallowed the area again.
I walked quietly toward the man as he clutched his throat and staggered.
Then I brought the three-section staff down again.
Thwack—
The garden went silent.
Before he hit the ground, I caught him and laid him down.
I pulled the needle from his neck and took it back.
I intended to recover my hidden weapons whenever possible and waste none of them.
Good.
From there, I moved along the planned route through the garden.
Partway through, I found another yakuza crouched behind a stone lantern, scanning the surroundings.
He was smart enough not to use a flashlight, but my eyes still picked him out clearly in the dark.
I circled quickly beneath a stone bridge and came up behind him.
Then, as usual, I hit him with the staff.
Pow—
This was why people ought to use tools.
One strike to the back of the head, and the problem was easy, clean, and fast to solve.
“Hoo.”
By now, the men in the garden seemed to have realized something was wrong.
Urgent Japanese shouted back and forth, footsteps trampling through the wet ground, flashlight beams shaking everywhere.
They’d figured out this wasn’t just a power outage.
But by then I’d already crossed more than half the garden and was close to the main house.
A man ahead was brandishing a knife and sweeping his flashlight wildly from side to side.
He’d tried to brace himself, but the hand gripping the blade was shaking.
I drew another iron needle and snapped it forward with my fingertips.
Shhk—
This time, I aimed for the throat again.
With a strangled sound, the knife fell from his hand into the grass.
I rushed in and finished him, too.
That makes four.
My condition was definitely good tonight.
All my senses were sharp, honed like freshly whetted blades.
Right before I reached the main house, I spotted the yakuza guarding the corridor that linked the garden to the veranda.
There were two of them, both holding flashlights and keeping watch.
Take them down fast and get inside.
The moment one of them turned his head to check inside the house, I hurled a needle toward the other man’s throat and lunged forward.
Whoosh.
“Kuhh…”
Struck by sudden pain, he clutched his throat and coughed.
The other man flinched at the sound and started to turn toward his partner—just as my hand, already upon him without a sound, cut through the air.
Thwack—pow!
He was sturdier than I expected, and even after one hit he kept standing, so I struck him again.
Once I’d also dealt with the other man still choking in pain, everything around me fell quiet.
“Hoo…”
After crossing the wall, I’d been moving almost nonstop.
Heat had risen through my body, but thankfully my breathing was better than I’d expected.
It had taken about four minutes to get this far. Still within plan.
I folded the three-section staff and tucked it behind my waist.
Clack.
Then I stepped carefully onto the veranda corridor of the main house.
A tiny murmur of movement drifted from inside.
The men who’d been woken by the commotion were starting to move.
Bourne is in the innermost room.
I had to cross this corridor all the way to the end.
There was no time to waste.
***
Inside the main house, the atmosphere was different from the garden altogether.
Elegant hanging scrolls were set into wall alcoves, and flower vases stood at the corners.
Breathing in the tatami’s distinctive grassy scent, I let out an incredulous laugh.
Hah. This looks less like a yakuza hideout and more like a cultural property.
Sliding doors lined both sides of the corridor.
There was a good chance yakuza were sleeping behind those doors. I had no idea how many were awake.
If I followed the corridor all the way, there would be a bend to the left.
The innermost room beyond that was where Bourne was staying.
Getting there as quietly as possible was the important part.
If I make even the slightest racket inside, it’ll turn into a hassle.
I tightened every nerve and moved with utmost care, placing my feet as though they were sticking to the floor.
It was old wooden flooring, so if I stepped wrong, it would creak.
I picked only the spots that would make the least noise and advanced little by little.
Creak.
The floor groaned.
I stopped moving at once.
Holding my breath, I listened for any response around me.
Two seconds. Three.
Fortunately, nothing stirred.
I started moving again.
Just then, as I was passing one of the rooms on the left, I felt movement inside.
Low Japanese voices. The sound of bare feet stepping on tatami.
Someone was approaching the door from inside.
Damn.
For a moment I was caught off guard, but I moved quickly and pressed myself against the door frame.
Iron needle in my right hand, I flattened myself against the side of the sliding door.
Then—
Swish.
The instant the door opened, my hand moved.
The needle drove into the throat of the man emerging from the dark.
“...Gk, hkh.”
He clutched at his throat and opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
I moved around behind the staggering man, clamped one hand over his mouth, and pressed a pressure point at the back of his neck with the other.
His whole body jerked once in a violent spasm, then went slack.
Swish—
I shoved the limp yakuza back into the room and closed the sliding door.
I could feel a thin sheen of cold sweat on my forehead.
This is rough.
At last I reached the corner where the corridor bent.
Once I rounded it, I’d be at the inner room where Bourne should be.
Then I sensed two presences beyond the corner.
Two voices exchanging something in Japanese. They seemed to be checking the cause of the blackout.
And they were heading this way.
I quickly slipped behind the sliding door along the corridor.
I held my breath. The cold touch of the wooden frame pressed against my back.
Footsteps drew closer.
A beam of light passed the corner and swept into the corridor where I was hiding.
From the movement I could tell the two of them were walking several paces apart.
The man in front passed first.
His flashlight skimmed near the room I was hiding by, but he didn’t stop.
Then the two sets of footsteps grew distant, and I let out a short breath.
“Haa…”
I opened the sliding door again, slipped out, and rounded the corner.
At the far end of the inner corridor was a door that looked larger than the others.
It was the inner room where Bourne was staying.
I glided toward it and set my hand against the door.
Before opening it, I first felt for what was inside.
But…
There’s no one here?
I couldn’t sense a single presence or sound.
I slowly slid the door open.
As expected, no one was in the room.
Not even the bedding showed any signs of being disturbed.
Meaning Bourne hadn’t slept here in the first place.
Is he in another room? Or in another building?
The plan had gone wrong.
I took a moment to steady my breathing, then pressed the communications button.
“Elena, Bourne isn’t in the inner room.”
Through the hiss of static, Elena’s voice came through shakily.
- If he’s not in another room in the main house… there’s also a chance he’s in the detached building. I’ll check the detached building…
After confirming her instructions, I turned back.
There was no helping it. For now, I’d have to check the other rooms in the area one by one.
As I was thinking that and about to leave the inner room—
“Mm…”
I spotted a silhouette at the far end of the corridor I’d come from.
A sturdy build, visible even in the dark. A long sword in one hand.
“...Nezumikka.”
He muttered the word in a low, dry voice.
I clicked my tongue, remembering one of the yakuza from the dossier.
It sounded just like what Ryan had said.
So there really was a lunatic walking around with a real Japanese sword.
I let my right hand drop naturally, setting up another iron needle.
At the same time, my left hand drew the tactical knife from its sheath.
Just as I steadied my breathing and slowly drew up my inner energy—
“Hah.”
The man inhaled and started toward me.
The long blade gleamed coldly in the dark.