Chapter 6

O'Kei:

I will explain as my brother cannot. Our father was a vice-president for a large company and mother was a freelance financial analyst. But that was only a cover for them as they were both Yakuza. They had been sent to check on business when the sickness struck. One of the surviving local Yakuza, Horukei wanted my brother to pronounce him the new leader here and was going to take me as his wife to seal the deal. We fled and he sent men after us. He put a bounty on us to be brought in alive. If you have not guessed Ken-Gi is also Yakuza, in fact he is a specialist in the old ways. Very few are taught and even fewer learn what is taught to the level Ken-Gi has reached. She quickly spoke to Ken-Gi in Japanese and he only nodded his head once 'YES'.

My brother had allowed me to continue; the Yakuza used the sickness to retake control of Japan. Plans are being made to try and expand their control as soon as they can organize it. Ken-Gi was told to kill Horukei and take control here gathering strength to take control here when the time was right. The local Yakuza wanted to follow Horukei and would not side with my brother which is the reason we were forced to flee.

What will you do with us know?

I talked with Tia and Erika and we decided to let them stay with us for the time being. Tia spoke to them and told them what we had decided. Tia and O'Kei hugged each other almost knocking each other out of their saddles. Erika said she was next as she moved to the other side of O'Kei to get her hug.

Ken-Gi and I just shrugged our shoulders and smiled as we all rode toward my ranch. The following evening we were at my ranch. Ken-Gi and I had just returned from scouting around the ranch. We both were still worried about the Yakuza searching for him and his sister.

The girls had just finished making dinner and Erika stepped outside to call us to eat. That is when Ken-Gi and I both became aware of the men moving up on the ranch from the far tree line; it still amazed me to see someone with the ability to sense danger like me and my former military comrades.

Ken-Gi had a pistol on his hip and a short sword on his back as he moved to the brush on the right side of the ranch house. I had two pistols one on my right thigh the other in the small of my back on my belt, and I also had my bowie knife strapped to the outside of my right calf. I moved to the trees on the left side of the ranch house. Erika cut short her call and faded back into the ranch house.

Half a dozen military looking goons with assault weapons and gear stopped about 20 meters from the front of the ranch house. One shouted for all of us to come out; that if we came out with our hands up we would not be killed. That is when the girls fired their first rounds. Two of the three they shot were dead before they hit the ground and the third was not going to last very long. The three that were left almost beat the dead goons to the ground and started to crawl away. One shouted toward the right; after a moment shouted again; then turned toward the left and shouted again.

I did not know what Ken-Gi was doing but when the girls fired I attacked the four goons that were moving through the trees trying to get behind the ranch house. I knifed the first goon under his arm my blade struck his heart and he was dead as I dropped him to the ground. The second heard me {I must be getting old and sloppy} so I had to slash his throat and throw my knife into the third goon's chest. I close lined the fourth knocking us both to the ground. I roundhouse rolled and kicked his legs out from under him as he tried to flip kick back to his feet. I followed through with a kick to his throat and just barely stopped the third goon from stabbing me with my own knife. He had survived my knife throw but was bleeding bad. I kneed him in the side where he was bleeding and he dropped the knife. I quick punched him two more times in the same place and picked the knife up with my other hand. I quickly slashed his throat and got back on my feet.

I moved to the edge of the trees and drew both pistols. The last three were now moving to their feet to make a run for it, so I began to shoot them aiming at their legs. After two shots from each pistol I dropped to the ground and rolled back into the trees. I really don't know how or why but the hole in the tree where my head would have been just made me smile. The guys hated it when I did things like that. The shooter was good; I knew where he had to be but could not see him. I had managed to hit two of the three and the third was doing his impression of an Olympic sprinter when I heard the shot from the ranch house. There was an immediate shot from my shooter followed by two quick shots from the brush across from me.

I knew the shooter had fired on whoever had fired from the ranch house; I was hoping that they were alright. Ken-Gi must have been the one to fire the other two shots. There were no more shots so I carefully moved back to the ranch house using the back door. I found Erika had been shot after she shot the last goon who was running away. O'Kei pushed her as she fired which saved her life. I looked at O'Kei and she just shrugged her shoulders. Ken-Gi walked up to the house with an assault rifle and said that he only wounded the shooter, and that he had gotten away. Tia and O'Kei were taking care of the shoulder wound Erika had, the bullet went through without hitting any bone or vital nerves, arteries or veins. It did dislocate her shoulder but other than a scar and a few weeks with out the use of her arm she would be fine.

Tia and O'Kei both cussed at the same time. I looked at them seeing they were looking at Ken-Gi I looked at him. He had sat down and leaned on the dining room table, sticking out of his back was a knife. I got to him at the same time as Tia and O'Kei. It was a combat knife 5" blade and only an 1 ½ " to 2" had stabbed into his right side below his shoulder blade but above all the major organs. Well it did get his lower lung but he was breathing ok for having a knife in his back.

We carefully cut away his shirt and examined the wound more carefully. I could tell it was a sucking chest wound from the frothy blood and sound it made as he inhaled and exhaled. I told Tia to go to my book shelf and bring the Grey's anatomy book and the Merck Manual. Those books would help to ensure we did everything correctly; it had been quite some time since I had dealt with war wounds.