Fukushima uttered a command in Japanese and the two attendants followed the trio out the door. Jack could see the men’s shadows on the rice-paper doors as they stood whispering in the hallway. The shadow of an attendant quickly disappeared down the hall, only to return moments later, in the company of others.

  Jack smiled politely at Sayomi while nudging Laura with his knee under the table. He felt her nudge back. Something was wrong and they both knew it.

  If they had any doubts that it involved the two of them, they were were quashed when the doors slid open again. The trio returned with six attendants. Fukushima barked an order at the servants and they quickly disappeared from sight.

  “I am afraid that dinner must be interrupted,” said Fukushima, briskly walking to the far end of the room and removing a samurai sword from the scabbard.

  Da Khlot’s face held his usual impassive look as he bent over and whispered in Sayomi’s ear. She looked startled, quickly glancing at Jack and Laura as she scrambled to her feet. Lee stood to one side, his head bowed toward the floor as his body trembled.

  “That is most unfortunate,” said Jack. “The soup is excellent. Is there a problem?”

  “No problem,” replied Fukushima. “Simply an alteration in plans. Your task that you were to perform at nine o’clock will be performed now.”

  “The, uh, person from Osaka is here already?” asked Jack.

  “No,” replied Fukushima. “I have selected someone else.”

  “I see,” replied Jack. “Then if you will excuse me for a moment, I need to go back to my room and use the washroom. I shall return in a moment,” he said, getting to his feet.

  “You will not be going anywhere!” said Fukushima, allowing his rage to show.

  Jack swallowed. They know. It is Laura and I who are to be executed! “There obviously appears to be a problem,” said Jack, pretending to sound surprised. “Is there something we should discuss?” he added, with genuine concern.

  “You do not know what that problem is?” said Fukushima sarcastically.

  “No, I don’t,” said Jack, wanting an opportunity to deny any accusations.

  “Perhaps you don’t,” replied Fukushima, as a wicked smile appeared on his face. “The problem is with Lee!” he said, pointing the end of the samurai sword in Lee’s direction.

  “With … Lee?” said Jack, feeling both astounded and briefly relieved. Fukushima was no longer using the polite version of san at the end of Lee’s name.

  A glance at Lee showed a face with bulging dark eyes contrasting with a face that was pasty white.

  “Yes,” replied Fukushima. “You will kill him immediately,” he said menacingly.

  Jack glanced at Lee, who now remained bowed as his body shook.

  “But why Lee?” asked Jack. “Surely you don’t —”

  “You will not ask me questions,” said Fukushima. “If Lee is not dead within one minute, you and Laura will be.”

  Jack heard Laura’s gasp as they both glanced around the room in panic. All six attendants and Da Khlot withdrew pistols and quietly started fixing silencers to the ends.

  “I do not understand,” said Jack, “but it is obvious that you have your reasons. If someone would be so kind as to lend me their pistol, I will take Lee next door to the sauna room and carry out your request. It would be rude and lack dignity to conduct such an action in a place where people eat, not to mention in the presence of two ladies.”

  “You really believe that I would have my men hand you a loaded pistol?” said Fukushima angrily.

  “I am not about to hack at the poor man with a sword,” replied Jack. “One bullet is all I need. Surely, with the army you have present, that would not make you afraid?”

  “So you would do that?” said Fukushima, with a hint of disgust in his voice.

  “It would not be the first time I have had to perform such an act to gain someone’s trust,” replied Jack. “Obviously you have heard something that has caused you not to trust us. Perhaps this act will restore that trust? With my people, we refer to it as the Sophie Solution,” he added with a sideways glance at Laura.

  “I have never heard of that,” replied Fukushima, curiously.

  “Simply a test of loyalty,” said Jack. “What you have others perform for you. All I ask is that I carry out the task next door. We have been respectful of your culture, now I simply ask that you be respectful of mine. Your men may check the body immediately after, but my belief is that his body should be left in solitude for an hour to allow his spirit to leave peacefully.”

  “You believe in spirits?” asked Fukushima skeptically.

  “You are asking me to commit murder— is it such a difficult request to grant in return?”

  Moments later, Jack found himself in the sauna room with Lee kneeling on the floor in front of him. Jack held a pistol in his hand with one single round. He crouched over Lee from behind, holding the back of his collar with one hand and pointing the pistol at the back of his head with the other. Da Klot and four attendants stood a short distance behind him, all pointing their pistols at Jack, with the exception of one attendant whose pistol had be given to Jack.

  Jack whispered in Lee’s ear and said, “I’m not going to kill you. Pretend you are dead and when you get the chance, slip out through the patio door. Police are watching from a room at the resort down below. Run for help and scream when you reach the resort.”

  “No!” gasped Lee in panic.

  “Son of a bitch,” muttered Jack, slipping an arm around Lee’s throat so his next attempt to speak resulted in a gurgle. Jack used his other arm in a pincer move to cut the flow of blood in Lee’s carotid artery. “Trust me,” Jack whispered. He felt the body slump and knew he would have less than a minute before Lee awoke.

  “What are you doing?” asked Da Khlot, moving closer.

  Jack spun Lee around, slamming him down on the floor, while sitting on his chest. His body blocked the view of Lee’s upper torso as he smashed his nose with the butt of the pistol before quickly firing a round into the crack made by two adjoining cedar planks on the floor. As he got up, he smeared his hand across Lee’s bloody face.

  The attendant who had provided Jack with the pistol approached and looked down at Lee, before speaking in Japanese.

  “He says you killed him,” said Da Khlot, bluntly. “Are you finished?”

  “Of course,” replied Jack. “Shall we go back and continue our dinner now?”

  Jack, followed by Da Khlot and the others, entered the banquet room where one attendant bowed toward Fukushima and spoke in Japanese.

  Fukushima looked at Jack in surprise and said, “You actually committed murder! You really would do anything to survive,” he continued, more to himself than to Jack. “I thought you were a man of honour and would stick to your values.”

  Da Khlot pointed at Jack and spoke in Japanese. Fukushima smiled and nodded his head knowingly.

  “What did he say?” demanded Jack.

  “He said that you only pretended to kill him by using a — how did he describe it? — yes, a sleeper strangulation hold on him.”

  “Ridiculous!” replied Jack, realizing in the pit of his stomach that his little charade had not fooled Da Khlot in the least. His mind raced … Lee was left alone, maybe he did escape to seek help. He knew Fukushima would have realized that, yet had not countered with any orders to his men. Jack decided to ask. Anything to stall for time. “If what Da Khlot said was really true, why would everyone leave Lee alone where he could escape? I don’t understand —-”

  “Escape?” said Fukushima. “I think not —”

  The sound of Lee’s cry from the other room interrupted the conversation. Seconds later, he burst into the room, talking rapidly in Japanese to Fukushima while keeping his head bowed.

  “Now do you understand?” asked Fukushima, a bemused smile played upon his lips as he looked at Jack. “Lee-san is a man with honour,” he added, once more pointing the tip of his samurai sword in Lee’s direction.

  “Lee,” said Jack quietly. “Why didn’t you run?”

  Lee did not answer.

  Fukushima said, “He honours his family name. Is that not right, Lee-san?”

  Lee nodded, but his eyes remained fixed on the floor.

  “Honour,” said Fukushima, “is something that you, Corporal Jack Taggart and Constable Laura Secord, know little about.”

  Both Jack and Laura stared blankly back at Fukushima. It’s over. He even knows our names.

  “Yes, I know,” said Fukushima. “I do have my own sources. I am told that the Japanese police are at the resort. It may interest you to know that they will also detain the van when it arrives, but it will do them no good. The man who is being delivered believes it is to bring a special food order. The police will find nothing to prove anything is wrong.”

  “You kill us and they’ll have plenty of evidence,” said Jack.

  “Evidence such as this?” asked Fukushima, stepping forward and swinging the samurai sword.

  Laura put her hand to her mouth and gasped, emitting a sorrowful cry as Lee’s severed head bounced off the marble table and rolled on the floor. His body fell over in a clump with the heart still beating a gusher of blood out through the neck.

  She looked up at Fukushima in a daze as he raised the sword over her head.

  I’m next.

  39

  “You are a coward!” screamed Jack. “You have no honour!”

  “It is unfortunate that you have to die,” said Fukushima, looking down at Laura while ignoring Jack. “You are a pretty lady.”

  “You will go to jail for this,” she replied bitterly.

  Fukushima smiled. “No, you do not understand. I have eight witnesses to say Corporal Taggart went berserk and killed you. It was only after the poor unfortunate Mister Lee tried to intervene and was also killed by Corporal Taggart that one of my men shot him.”

  “Is that your way out?” yelled Jack. “You call that honour, killing a defenceless man?” he said, pointing at Lee’s decapitated body. “You would even attack a defenceless woman? Is this the samurai code of honour you profess to admire? You are truly the biggest coward I have ever seen,” he said, spitting in Fukushima’s direction. “If I had a sword you would turn and run like a little boy!”

  The tendons in Fukushima’s neck grew taut and his face reddened. “You?” he shouted. “You dare to challenge me to fight to the death with these?” he added, brandishing the sword. “You are a fool!”

  “Perhaps, but unlike you, I am not a coward. If I die, it will be with honour.”

  Fukushima walked quickly over to Jack and said, “You will die. The both of you.”

  Jack saw Fukushima’s arm twitch as he thrust out the samurai sword. He jerked his head back, but not fast enough. Fukushima sliced the end of Jack’s nostril faster than his reflexes could react.

  “If I had wanted to take your entire nose off, I would have,” said Fukushima, sneering at Jack, who stood with blood running down across his lips and dripping off his chin.

  “As I said,” replied Jack defiantly. “You are very brave against an unarmed man.”

  “You know you could not possibly win,” said Fukushima. “If you continue to insult me like this, I might accept your challenge.”

  “Are you sure you have the guts for that?”

  Fukushima’s red face deepened to a purplish hue and he replied, “I will grant you your dying wish. Your death will be slow as I remove your less vital body parts one at a time. You saw the demonstration I did with the apples.”

  “If I were an apple I would be truly afraid,” replied Jack. “It is a little different when you fight man to man. Of course, that is presuming you are a man.”

  “Go ahead!” Fukushima yelled. “Get the other sword.”

  “Should you die,” said Jack. “I would expect that your men would not kill us. That we would be free to go. It would be the honourable thing to do.”

  Fukushima unexpectedly laughed and said, “I will tell my men that if you win the challenge, you are their new boss.”

  Jack walked over to where Laura sat and said, “I know you disagree, but we will show them that we have honour. We may die, but they will never forget the courage we displayed.”

  Laura swallowed. This is insane … What is he trying to tell me? To disagree? “Committing suicide is not courageous,” she said, with uncertainty. “You are wrong to do this.”

  “You do not speak to me in such a manner!” said Jack, sounding angry. “You will show respect! If I lose, you will show respect to Fukushima-san!” he added, while reaching across the table and picking up a bottle of sake. “The Japanese think we have no honour? We will prove them wrong. Fukushima-san and I will bow to each other with respect. We will then retrieve our swords and fight to the death. If I die, it will be with honour. At that time —”

  “We will die,” said Laura. She sounded matter-of-fact. It was not a plea for help. It was simply a statement of what she believed.

  “Shut up and lower your face when I talk,” ordered Jack harshly.

  Laura lowered her eyes as Jack raised the sake bottle high over her head. He looked around the room at everyone’s faces and shook the bottle to emphasize his point, before looking at Laura and saying, “When the battle is over, you will show respect and honour by pouring the winner a drink!”

  Laura stared quietly down at the table. She heard Jack’s words, but only now became aware of what Jack would try to do. She slowly lifted her eyes toward Jack and asked. “After, do you want me to take them all out for dinner, too?”

  Jack’s eyes revealed his thoughts to Laura. She understands … I wish I could hug her. Instead, he glared and said, “I do not believe it possible under the circumstances, but you could extend the invitation. It would show class. Now stand up! What is important is that you honour and obey my command.”

  “Sounds like a wedding vow,” muttered Laura, slowly getting to her feet. “Except you forgot the bit about until death do us part. Or did you?”

  Jack solemnly handed Laura the bottle before straightening his kimono and walking out to the middle of the room. Fukushima uttered a command in Japanese and one of the attendants retrieved the other samurai sword from its scabbard and held it with both palms facing up and his arms extended. Fukushima passed his sword to another attendant, who held it in the same fashion.

  Fukushima paused to glare at Jack before walking briskly to the centre of the room to stand face to face.

  “You have honour,” conceded Fukushima, “but your barbarian tongue will also be taught respect before I let you die.”

  Jack stared back in silence before bowing deeply, as did Fukushima.

  A quick upward thrust of Jack’s hand and a flash of metal alerted everyone that something was amiss. It takes two seconds for the body to respond to a given stimulus. By then, Fukushima’s terrified scream filled the room, as Jack, using a dinner fork with both outer prongs bent down, pierced his eye socket with the two inner prongs, popping his eyeball out like a plump grape.

  Fukushima tried to leap back, but Jack’s other hand held the back of his head as he rotated the fork, before moving and wrapping his arm around Fukushima’s throat from behind, while his other hand positioned the bloody fork close to Fukushima’s other eye.

  Laura was the first to react. She had seen Jack take her fork a moment before while the others were looking at the bottle of sake being waved above her head. She now turned and smashed the end of the bottle on the table.

  Sayomi’s reflexes responded at this moment, jumping and throwing a side-kick aimed at Jack’s temple. Her mind was focused, blocking out the sound of chaos around her as her body moved to deliver the fatal blow.

  It was not until the broken end of a sake bottle rammed deep, twisting into her face that Sayomi’s brain connected the reason why Laura smashed the bottle when Fukushima first screamed.

  Sayomi’s kick flailed in the air as she felt Laura’s arm around her throat from behind as they fell to the floor. Laura quickly rolled over on her back, using Sayomi’s body on top of her for cover.

  Sayomi struggled and felt the sharp edges of the broken bottle on her mouth and nose. She tried to grab at the bottle with her fingers but Laura twisted it deeper into her already shredded lips and broken teeth.

  “Don’t try it, karate girl,” warned Laura. “Or this older woman will show you something you don’t want to learn.”

  Da Khlot, along with the others, pointed their guns toward Jack, who was hunched low over Fukushima. Sayomi was not their concern.

  “Back off!” yelled Jack, over Fukushima’s screaming, “Or I pop his other eye and ram this fork through his brain!”

  Fukushima raised his hand to cup his eyeball dangling from his eye socket.

  “Put your hand down,” warned Jack, “or I’ll shish kabob your eyeball and your brain!”

  Fukushima lowered his hand and Da Khlot stared at the eyeball dangling and swaying across Fukushima’s cheek. He saw the desperate and determined look on Jack’s face as their eyes met and Jack started to twist the fork into the corner of Fukushima’s remaining eye.

  “Okay, stop,” yelled Da Khlot, before turning to the others and shouting a command in Japanese. Some of the men hesitantly lowered their guns, while two didn’t. Da Khlot yelled again and the remaining two immediately obeyed.

  “He won’t die from what I’ve done,” said Jack.

  “I know that,” replied Da Khlot in a monotone voice. “Let him go and it will be easier on you.”

  “Like hell I will!” yelled Jack. “All of you get the fuck out of here! Now! Close the door behind you!”

  Da Khlot shook his head so Jack put more pressure on Fukushima’s eye.