Free Stackpole, Michael A - Dark Conspiracy 02 by Evil Ascending

back through the crowd to get at Sin, but by that time Sin had already passed beyond the counter and into the kitchen. The help in the back started shouting at him, but he smiled and repeated sumimasen to each of them, then he headed toward the back door.
    This is too easy. They’ve anticipated me.Sin turned the knob on the rear door and let the latch slip free. Then, leaning back, he kicked the door open as hard as he could.
    Cutting through the doorway low, he arced a right fist into the belly of the man on his left. The man doubled over, so Sin straightened him with a knee to the face then back-handed him down the security hallway that linked the various airport shops.
    Retreating one step, he put his back to the far wall and watched the door lethargically swing shut again. The man who had been standing behind it clearly had not expected it to open so swiftly. The doorknob had caught him in the

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    groin, and he slowly sagged to the floor.
    Sin started to laugh aloud when another man slowly applauded from farther down the corridor. Sin looked at him, then nodded. “Konnichi-wa, Takagi Kazuo-san.”
    “Konnichi-wa, Sinklaru-san.It is good to see you again, my friend.” The stocky young Japanese man bowed to Sin, then shook his hand. “It has been three years, has it not?”
    “Hai.”Sin smiled and looked at the man’s hands. “I see your oyabun still hasn’t got any of your fingers in a jar.”
    Kazuo shrugged. “Uncle Takeshi sees too much of himself in me, I think. Now I see you’ve not lost any of your old piss ‘n’ vinegar.”
    Sin shrugged appropriately. “They weren’t bad, but I was looking for, and therefore reacting to, another threat level.”
    “Ah, your friend Nagashita. Yes, well, you will love this: After he missed you when you left Japan, he was elevated to colonel and put in charge of the Internal Defense Cadre!” Kazuo clapped his hands. “Now that pit bull is at the emperor’s beck and call—and largely out of our hair.”
    “To paraphrase John Paul Jones, give me another run at old Yamashiro Nagashita, and I could make him emperor.” Sin draped his arm around his Yakuza friend’s shoulders. “Give me a lift to my hotel, old friend. I smuggled two bottles of Glenfiddich out of Phoenix. One can be for your uncle, but the other we’ll use to toast the good fortune of the IDC.”
    “And then you will tell me why you have returned?”
    That I will, Kazuo, because the only way I will do what has to be done is with your help.”
    Rajani knew as she stared down at her sleeping body, that she was dreaming.
    The snake lay coiled beside Rajani, using her body as Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    a shield between itself and Rex. Mickey had curled himself up into a ball with Rex curving his body to fit along Mickey’s spine. Dorothy lay between Rajani and Mickey with her fingers tangled in her brother’s dark hair. At their feet, a bed of coals glowed from within a circle of stones.
    Above them, dark clouds hid the wide, starry bowl of the sky. Earlier in the day, when their last ride left them off outside Ash Fork, the sky had been blue. The thought of camping out in what had been the Prescott National Forest seemed like a pleasant adventure. The arrival of the midsummer monsoon clouds as the day cooled made Rajani reassess her judgment, but the kids did not seem to mind.
    Even as she studied the wooded landscape around her, it began to shift. A putrid green light bled into the clouds and all the pine trees picked up the malevolent glow. Red streamers shot through the clouds and the rusty pine needles began to pulsate as if they were metal and being heated. Unconsciously, Rajani raised her hands to pull in the heat she knew should have been present, but instead felt herself being drained of warmth and vitality.
    The landscape began to blur into a green-red maelstrom.