Chapter 43 : Escape

They fled in different directions.

Jack, Akiko, Yamato and Saburo sprinted across the mud-slicked

square towards a side alley that would lead back to the temple. Kazuki and

his Scorpion Gang went the opposite way, heading for the castle. As they

ran, Jack glanced up and spotted several shadows flitting across the

rooftops towards them.

'Hurry!' Jack urged. 'There's a whole gang of them.'

They put on another burst of speed and had almost reached the cover

of the alley when Saburo lost his footing, flying face first into the mud.

'Keep going!' Yamato shouted to the rest of them, running back to

help their fallen friend.

Jack and Akiko rushed on, entering the alley just as a ninja dropped

from the eaves. Glancing over his shoulder, Jack expected to see the

assassin bearing down on them. Instead, the ninja let them run away and

turned to bar Yamato and Saburo from making their escape.

'We'll meet you at the temple!' cried Yamato, dragging Saburo

towards a different alley.

Akiko drove Jack onwards. 'Come on! We'll lose the ninja in the

backstreets.'

They switched left, then right, then right again, before entering an

enclosed courtyard with only a single unlit passage leading off from it.

'I think we're in the clear,' whispered Akiko, checking over her

shoulder for signs of pursuit.

Jack's eyes hunted the dark recesses of the yard, but there was only a

large wooden water butt and a small shrub in a clay pot in one corner. He

peered into the black hole of the passage where the rain ran in rivulets off

the eaves and disappeared, but no enemy threatened to emerge. They were

out of danger and he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

'Do you think it's Dragon Eye?' he whispered to Akiko.

Akiko put a finger to her lips, her eyes scanning the courtyard.

All of a sudden, two ninja materialized out of the night sky,

cartwheeling in mid-air to land right between them.

'RUN!' screamed Akiko, snap-kicking her foot into the closest ninja.

She caught him right between the legs and he crumpled to the floor

with a feeble groan. Spinning round at lightning speed, she then sent a hook

kick directly at the other ninja's head.

But this ninja, quicker than his companion, caught Akiko's foot in

mid-air. He raised his other arm to break her leg with a crushing forearm

strike.

Akiko didn't falter. She jumped, cartwheeling backwards, and brought

her other foot up to connect with her attacker's jaw.

The ninja's head was jerked backwards by the blow and he released

her leg. Akiko continued to fly through the air before landing deftly on the

eaves above.

Jack stood rooted to the spot, astounded at her agility.

'I said RUN!' ordered Akiko above the storm.

Two more ninja suddenly appeared on the rooftops and began to battle

with Akiko.

Jack's first instinct was to clamber up the water butt and help her, but

the ninja who'd been kicked first was back on his feet and rushing bowleggedly in his direction.

Without hesitating, Jack grabbed the clay pot and flung it towards him.

The pot smashed into his head and the ninja crumpled to the floor, where he

lay unconscious among the shards of pottery.

Jack made for the water butt, but this time found his way blocked by

the other assassin. His only option was to escape down the passage.

He plunged into its enveloping darkness, faltering only for a moment

to look back at Akiko. She had knocked one ninja off the roof, but now

another forced her to leap from building to building in an effort to escape.

Jack prayed she would survive.

Then he fled.

Jack held his breath, trying to remain absolutely still.

The ninja raced past, oblivious to his quarry hidden in the darkness of

a blind alley, barely noticeable as a narrow gap between two houses. Jack

waited a few moments longer. Then, when the ninja did not come back, he

allowed himself to relax. He'd managed to escape from his pursuer for the

time being, but what should he do now?

He was safe concealed by the darkness, but at the same time he was

trapped in a dead end. If a ninja appeared, he would have nowhere to run.

Jack shivered with both cold and fear. Above him, the night sky was

just a narrow strip of thundering cloud caught between two rickety

buildings. The rain cascaded down the roofs and into the narrow alley, the

sound echoing off the walls as if he'd entered a small subterranean cave.

He shivered again, this time with the same uneasy feeling of being

watched that he had experienced in the square.

He spun round.

But only the black emptiness of the dead end greeted him.

Still he couldn't shake the sinister sensation.

He checked the main passageway. It was deserted.

Retreating into the security of his blind alley, Jack convinced himself

that he was imagining things, his nerves merely on edge.

He hugged himself for warmth, hoping Akiko had also escaped the

ninja. It would be remarkable if both of them managed to survive the night.

Although he knew Akiko could handle herself, he also knew the ninja were

merciless in their pursuit.

The rain softened and Jack glanced up, hopeful that the storm was

abating.

The rain hadn't slackened at all.

Only the noise it made. As if there was a sound shadow behind him.

His finely tuned senses blared out a warning. His mouth went dry, his

breath caught in his throat. Ever so slowly, he turned his head and stared

once more into the dead-end darkness.

There was nothing there.

Then the darkness seemed to rise and Jack found himself face-to-face

with the featureless hood of a ninja… eye-to-eye with the formidable

Dragon Eye.