Part 25 (2/2)
Ken's hand was on her arm. ”Come on. You okay?”
”Shoulder.”
”We'll get to it later. We've got to get out of here.”
They ran down the neighboring street. When they'd cleared a block, they risked looking back. Only then did they see the heads of police officers peering over the edge of the building, scouring the streets below for signs of Ken and Annja.
”You don't think they know what we look like, do you?” Annja asked.
Ken shook his head. ”Not a chance. Unless they had video cameras there, which they didn't. We're cool.”
”Nice to know we won't end up on j.a.pan's Most Wanted j.a.pan's Most Wanted tonight.” tonight.”
”We need to get back to the ryokan ryokan and get our gear.” and get our gear.”
”Too bad you didn't get a chance to refill your ammunition supply while we were there,” Annja said.
Ken grinned. ”Says who?”
”You did?”
He lifted his jacket and Annja saw the spare magazines filled with fresh rounds. ”You had time to grab that?”
”While I was looking, yeah.”
”I don't suppose you found me a gun?”
”Unfortunately, no.”
”Great.”
”You can use mine, if it makes you feel better, but honestly, I didn't think you'd want a gun after that giant sword you used last night.”
”Don't bring that up.”
”I'm not.” Ken smiled. ”But it was an awfully big blade.”
”And somehow I managed to handle it well.”
”You did seem very well accustomed to handling it.”
They crossed the street by the train station and Ken pointed at a noodle restaurant. ”We'll grab some lunch here and then head back.”
”At this rate it will be dark when we get into the mountains,” Annja said.
”Probably.”
”You're not concerned about that?”
Ken shrugged. ”Day, night, it doesn't much matter to me. But I want to make sure you're okay. So we'll eat and give that shoulder a moment to rest. If it isn't better when we get back to the ryokan ryokan, then we'll see a doctor about it.”
”I'm sure it'll be fine,” Annja said. ”And I'm not really a huge fan of doctors.”
”You're scared of doctors?”
”I never said that.”
”Okay.”
He held open the split curtain and they entered the small stand. Ken pointed at the seating bar. ”I'll order. You sit and pretend doctors don't scare you.”
”Ken,” Annja said. ”Don't make me pull out my big sword.”
He laughed. ”I can't figure out if that's some sort of vague s.e.xual innuendo or not.”
”It's not,” Annja said.
But she was smiling too.
26.
Nezuma watched as Annja and Kennichi made their way into the noodle stand. Next to him, Shuko shook her head.
”The police certainly acted like idiots.”
”They usually do,” Nezuma said. ”Even though they were told to be there shortly after Kennichi and Creed entered the building. Leave it to our bureaucratic morons to screw up something so simple.”
”Why did you want to lay a trap like that? It seems rather counterproductive to me.”
Nezuma smiled. ”Because it would give us a bit more time to get ourselves in position. Plus, I have a contact on the police force here. Given a little time, I could have arranged to have him place a homing device on Kennichi or Creed. And that would have given us a great deal of luxury.”
”Such as not having to sit here and do surveillance?”
”Exactly.” Nezuma slid on his sungla.s.ses. ”There's nothing I abhor more than this mundane lack of action. Even now, they're having themselves a bite to eat while we're forced to sit out here and wait for them to finish.”
”I could get us something,” Shuko said.
”No.” Nezuma shook his head. ”We might miss them leaving while you're gone and I don't want to have to leave you behind.”
”Thank you.”
He smiled at her. ”Of course.”
”So we wait now, is that it?”
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