The truncheon jabbed him in the left armpit, exploding fiery agony through every nerve on that side of his body. The electric jolt threw Akira halfway across the small clearing like a toy discarded by an angry child. The MechWarrior rolled to a stop in a crumpled heap, his sword lost somewhere in the underbrush.

Stun-stick. Feels like half my body is on fire.He lay on his back gasping for air as a third individual joined the first two. Each wore a helmet with full, dark visor that gave no clue to the wearer's identity. Their dark uniforms had padding at the elbows and knees but no rank or branch insignia that Akira could make out as they swam into focus. Because all three were tall and powerfully built, he had first assumed they were all male. Without seeing their faces or some other clue, he realized that there was really no way to determine any of their sex.

His first attacker rewound the garrote around gloved hands. When he turned to speak to the latest arrival, his voice buzzed like an insect's because of computer modulation. "He is mine to kill, Captain."

The figure with the stun-stick shook his head. "No." He pointed the stun-stick at Akira. "I struck. I hit. The kill is mine."

The garroter hugged his left elbow to his broken ribs. "But he laid hands upon my person."

The Captain nodded to the man with the garrote. As that one moved to finish the job he'd begun earlier, Akira kicked up with his right foot. He dealt the garroter a crushing blow to the groin, then struck again, propelling his attacker aside into the dark brush. The modulator translated the man's screams into harsh, flat croaks as he stumbled around in the undergrowth. There followed the sound of a great crash and then the croaking ceased.

Akira, half-paralyzed, glared at the remaining pair of guards. "I will not die easily."

"Suit yourself, infidel." As the man with the stun-stick started toward Akira, another shadow figure detached itself from the night-darkened undergrowth. He locked one hand on the ComStar guard's chin and the other on the back of his helmet. Yanking back and twisting savagely, the shadowman jerked the guard off his feet, snapping the man's neck like a dry twig.

The ComStar Captain turned toward the shadowman, drawing a neural whip and telescoping its blade out to full length. The lean shadowman dropped into a low crouch as the whip's electric hum sliced through the night. Using the whip blade like a fencing foil, the Captain feinted twice at his victim and Akira could feel the ComStar man's confidence growing.

Then a smaller man appeared at the Captain's back. "No way, Morgan. You had the other one." Cracking his knuckles, the new man laughed easily. "This one is mine . . . Let's see what he's got."

The Captain whirled in an instant, slashing wildly at the man behind him. The small man dropped beneath the cut, then swept his legs through the Captain's. The ComStar Captain crashed to his back, raising his hands to defend himself, but the small man did not press his attack.

Shaking his head, the smaller figure stood up, brushing dirt from his hands. "Slow, very slow," he said, looking down at the Captain and waving him forward. "Come on. Get up."

The Captain scrambled to his feet and brandished the neural whip. In full control of his movements, he inched forward like a fencer. He kept the blade's tip moving in small circles as he worked his way in. When he felt the gap had closed enough between himself and his target, he lunged.

The small man sidestepped, then ducked under the recovery slash. As the Captain retreated and fought to regain his balance, the small man swept in. He lashed out with a roundhouse kick that snapped the Captain's head back, blasting him to the ground.

The shadowman shook his head. "Do it, Jaime. We don't have that much time."

Wolf nodded and pulled a glove from his belt and onto his left hand. The Captain regained his feet, but before he could set himself to attack, Wolf had closed with him. The Captain slashed at him, but Wolf caught the blade's forte in his left hand.

"Insulation, friend, makes your fancy toy worthless," Wolf said. Stiffening the fingers of his right hand, he stabbed them into the Captain's throat. The ComStar guard collapsed at Wolf's feet.

Yorinaga Kurita emerged from the brush and knelt beside his son. "Can you move?"

Akira nodded painfully. "Hai, sosen.The stun-stick got me on the left side. What isn't numb hurts pretty bad."

Wolf looked over at Yorinaga. "Can you get him back by yourself?"

"Hai."

"Good. Morgan and I will clean up here. Kid, did you bring anything with you besides yourself?"

Akira nodded as his father helped him to his feet. "Sword . . ."

Yorinaga draped Akira's left arm over his shoulder. "It's back in the brush ... in the other one."

Morgan Kell nodded. "We'll bring it to you. But you better hurry. The next sweep is due in five minutes."

Yorinaga guided his son into the woods. The older man picked his path with great care to avoid low branches or jarring drops. As sensation slowly began to work its way back into Akira's body, he became able to move more freely, and the journey went faster.

"Father . . ."

Yorinaga, his face hidden in shadow, shook his head. "Save your breath."

Akira grabbed his father's shoulder. "How did you know where to find me?"

"Your map. You left it on your bed." Yorinaga glanced back over his shoulder. "Wolf and Kell saw me on the way here—how I do not know—and offered to help search for you."

Akira managed a weak smile. Thank the Dragon, that for once, a mistake did not prove fatal.Then he remembered the nightmare of the ComStar 'Mech legions, and it made him stumble.

Yorinaga caught his son before he could hit the ground. "Akira," he whispered hoarsely. "What is it?"

"Down there, I got a look beneath ComStar's facade." He shook his head slowly, remembering what he had seen and for the first time realizing how much it had struck fear in him. "The Word of Blake is bound with steel . . ."

31

ComStar First Circuit Compound

Hilton Head Island, North America, Terra

19 August 3028

Primus Julian Tiepolo stared at the three unwavering images holographically suspended in the center of his private audience chamber. How can this be happening?He shifted his gaze from the projection of the corpses to the room's only other occupant. "Yes, Jarlath. I do find this most disturbing. How were they killed?"

The ROM chief pointed to the top picture. "Bruises on his body indicate he was kicked and punched in the front of the body. Then, as you can see from the narrow incision in his chest, a blade of indeterminate length was shoved through his chest." Jarlath licked his lips. "We found the spot where he died. The blade had penetrated the ground to a depth of 15 centimeters."

Jarlath indicated the second body. "His neck was broken. Whoever killed him is enormously strong, and I would suppose, very quick."

Tiepolo closed his eyes and massaged his temples to forestall a headache. There were hundreds among the wedding guests who could fit that description . . ."And the third?"

Jarlath swallowed hard. "The Captain actually drowned, Primus. A blow to his throat fractured his hyoid bone and crushed his windpipe, but it did not kill him instantly. When his assailants tossed him and the other two into the ocean, he drowned. We know this because we found salt water in his lungs, which was not true of the others. His assailant must have been very quick because the Captain's neural whip was still fastened to his wrist by a martingale."