“Usually less permanently,” sighed the Oyabun. “They are often spotted, and we break a bone or two or leave them black and blue lying next to the cell door for the guards to find and remove.”

  “Except for the assassination, it sounds like a game,” Hideki ventured.

  “Yes, ronin, like a game. Except in this game your skill has upped the stakes. Now we will all be treated as murderers,” sighed Nichi.

  Hideki knew what that meant. Death by crucifixion was probably the cruelest death. Such was not the way for a samurai to end his days, begging for water and praying for a compassionate guard to pierce his heart with a yari. “So what do we do, Oyabun?” he asked.

  “Quiet, let me think,” the Oyabun replied.

  Then the pig man started giving orders in the manner Hideki understood. “Goro, pull the bodies around behind the tatami mats.” Then, looking up into the rafters, “The guards probably already know what has happened, but maybe we had Buddha smiling on us.”

  Hideki followed his gaze upward. “You mean they spy on you constantly?” he asked.

  “Ronin, you truly have a lot to learn. Of course, they spy on us constantly. We are criminals in their eyes. We have no rights. We are denied even that most precious right, the right of privacy. Our every move is watched by the guards above and the spies in our midst,” he said pointing to the rafters and the dead bodies behind the mats.

  Rubbing his meaty hand over his bald head, the rotund boss of the Gumsumgumi thought aloud, “If the guards saw you dispatch the assassins, they’ll be here in a moment to separate us for immediate interrogation. That means death. They’ll cripple us first, to get our confessions so it all looks good in front of that corrupt magistrate and then they’ll crucify us.” The Oyabun looked around the edge of the tatami mats toward the cell door. “That means when they come for us, we’ll have to make an escape. We have no choice. If we stay here, we all die,” he said as if making up his mind, adding, “Well ronin, are you up for a little adventure?”

  “I guess I have no choice, Oyabun,” Hideki replied.

  “Smart thinking; you are correct. You have no choice, unless you count death a choice,” the Oyabun said. Then turning to his second in command, “Goro, we will give them an hour. If they have not come within the hour, you will have to create a disturbance that will get the guards to respond to restore order. Do you understand?”

  “Hai, Oyabun,” Goro responded. However, he did not understand. He hated it when the boss gave him that sort of order. Now he had to figure out what to do on his own. He was not good at that. It was so much easier when the boss told him exactly what to do. If the Oyabun had said, “Start a fire,” then he would know exactly what to do. If he had said, “Start a riot,” then again, Goro would know exactly what to do. However, to “Create a disturbance,” by the Buddha, what did he mean by that? Should it be a fire or a fight?

  The Oyabun saw Goro trying to sort out his assignment. “He’ll eventually settle on a path,” Nichi said to Hideki. “We’ll overpower the guards as soon as they come inside the cell. Your martial skills will come in handy, ronin.”

  “Where will we go once outside?” asked Hideki. “The streets of Edo are a maze.”

  “Never mind our destination, ronin,” the Oyabun warned. “If you do not know, you cannot betray us. Just follow me and stay close once we leave the magistrate’s compound.”

  “Goro, how would you like to be ainagi to the ronin here?”

  Goro’s stupid stare told the Oyabun more explanation was required. “The ronin, Goro; he has joined us now. No place will be safe for him. Only we have the network to hide him. He’ll need an older brother to show him the ropes.” Then turning back to Hideki, “Ototo dijobi?”

  “Hai, Oyabun,” Hideki said with a low bow at the waist. “I will be honored to be Goro’s little brother.” Turning to Goro, Hideki bowed again, “Ainigi, oshiette kudasai,” Goro’s confused look was still on his face. “He’s asking you to be his big brother in the Gumsumgumi, Goro,” the Oyabun said. “So take good care of him and let your past differences be in the past.”

  “Hai, Oyabun,” Goro eagerly replied, but he still shot Hideki a disapproving glance. Whatever thoughts Goro was thinking took second place to the sound of many guards running toward their cell. They were armed with short wooden cudgels—wicked-looking weapons with spikes driven through them in various directions. The sea of men moved back from the door of the cell and away from the carnage that was sure to come.

  Nichi, the Oyabun, snapped an order at Goro: “Hand out the tatami to our toughest fighters and place them closest to the cell door.” Goro grabbed two underlings and started the movement of mats to the front of the cell.

  A large doshin with a jutte strutted to the cell door. “Oi, big boss of the carrion eaters; your time has come. You are to confess your dirty deeds to this jutte, here.” As he said this, he bounced the end of his jutte on his shoulder. “You can come easy or hard; it makes no difference to me.”

  Hideki believed the doshin. He looked capable of great cruelty. Police interrogation rooms were no fun. He snatched a quick glance at the hanging ronin in the adjacent cell. It did not matter whether large stones crushed you slowly or bamboo clubs flayed your flesh; either way you were doomed. If you survived and did not confess, you were innocent and allowed to leave, usually as a cripple. If you confessed to stop the pain, you were guilty and sent to island prison or executed. Hideki did not see either in his future.

  Nichi’s response was direct. “You don’t have enough men, you thief of honest men’s wages.”

  The doshin pointed in the direction of the oyabun and issued an order. The gate opened and the cudgel-swinging guards entered the cell. They ran into a line of large men using tatami matting to neutralize the spiked weapons.

  Hideki saw the larger picture at once. “The general who understands his enemy’s weakness and his own strengths will prevail,” Hideki said under his breath, reciting Sun Tzu’s Art of War. “Thanks, Jii,” Hideki said. Hideki’s job was to get to the jutte-wielding doshin before he realized their objective was escape. He had to get to him before he retreated and locked the cell door again.

  A guard rushed at Hideki, aiming an overhead blow with a spiked cudgel meant to impale itself in Hideki’s skull. Hideki moved into and on the outside of the cudgel, laying his right hand on top of the plunging arm. Hideki continued the attacker’s momentum downward and increased it by using his own force to spin the man 180 degrees from where he came. The attacker crashed into the line of guards, creating a hole into which Hideki darted. Only one more guard to get past and he would be at his target.

  The last man was left handed. He aimed a blow to the right side of Hideki’s head. Hideki saw the blow coming but was in gyaku hanmi and out of position. His feet were opposite the guard’s right foot forward position. This put Hideki at a disadvantage. He was too far away in this position to use the preferred counter of moving inside the blow. Instead, Hideki executed an outside block with his right arm, catching the guard’s wrist on the inside, driving it off target. Hideki turned his blocking hand over and captured the attackers left wrist, redirecting it downward below his knees and then upward in a great circle to Hideki’s left front as he stepped in the same direction.

  The club hand of the attacker ended up neutralized in this position as Hideki’s step brought the attacker off balance and reaching upward toward nothing. A quick exchange of hands and Hideki’s right elbow was free to drive back into the attacker’s exposed ribs. A loud crunch and the attacker went down screaming in a heap. Hideki’s eyes came up, searching for the jutte-carrying doshin. Hideki knew he had to get between the doshin and the open door. The doshin noticed Hideki. His confident countenance changed to panic. He turned, stooped down, and fled through the low cell door and closed it behind him. Hideki leaped to the door and pushed on it just as he heard the lock snap into place.

  The jutte’s face went from fear to smiles. “Didn’t end the way you expected?” he taunted. Then he rose and surveyed his guards. They were under tatami mats and immobilized. “Oi, Nichi,” the jutte called. “I’ve got to go find a very large cross for you.”

  Hideki shoulder’s hunched over. “Amida Buddha,” he swore.

  Nichi came up next to Hideki. “I guess that’s it. We all die tomorrow.”

  They stared after the swaggering doshin as he passed the guards’ day room and continued toward the long, narrow corridor leading to the front of the building. He was laughing and tapping his shoulder with the jutte as he strutted across the wooden floor.

  Hideki let out a loud sigh, and the jutte let out a loud scream as he vaulted toward the rafters. As the doshin went up, a gray-clad figure came down on the other end of the rope. Nichi and Hideki looked at each other in surprise. The jutte was screaming and calling to guards for help. There was no one to hear. The rest of the guard watch was in the front of the compound at the other end of the long, narrow corridor. They could not hear anything that happened in the center of the building.

  The gray-clad figure stared up at his handy work as he tied off his end of the rope on a cell door. He stood and walked backwards toward Hideki’s cell to ensure his captive could not get down. Hideki could read the writing on his back: Abe Courier Service. “Yoshi,” Hideki cried. “I’ve never been so happy to see anyone.”

  Yoshi turned to smile at his friend. Then he surveyed the scene of the wounded men in the cell and the guards immobilized with tatami mats and Gumsumgumi sitting on them. “I don’t wonder. By the way, the Old Grey One sends his love and requests your presence tomorrow morning.”

  “Only two things wrong with that, Yoshi. First, I’m locked up, and second, I don’t know where I am.”

  Yoshi looked puzzled. “You are in jail.”

  “I know that much,” Hideki said. “But once you quit looking stupid and get me out, I have no idea how to get to the Old Grey One. Edo is a maze.”

  Yoshi knelt down to examine the lock.

  “Can he open it, Takezo?” Nichi asked.

  Yoshi’s head snapped up in surprise at the name.

  “If anyone can,” Hideki replied.

  Yoshi took out two metal strips from the folds in his jacket and went to work on the lock. “You would have a little difficulty with this one, Takezo,” he said, stressing the new name. “It is of Chinese design.”

  Nichi’s impatience was showing. “But can you open it?”

  “I believe so,” Yoshi said as the lock clicked and opened in his hand. “It is a good thing I spent two years building them.”

  Yoshi opened the door expecting Hideki to exit. Hideki stepped back and pointed to the door. “After you Oyabun.”

  Again, Yoshi let surprise play on his face as he rose and ran to the guards’ day room.

  Nichi had great difficulty in getting through the narrow space but emerged only slightly ruffled. Yoshi returned holding many lengths of rope and Hideki’s swords. Nichi understood immediately. He called for Goro to tie up the guards under the tatami and to get the Gumsumgumi ready to move out.

  “Domo, Yoshi,” Hideki said, bowing. “Now I feel like a man again.”

  Nichi looked from Hideki to Yoshi. “And how does an out-of-work ronin happen to have a servant handy with a rope and a lock pick?”

  “Well,” Hideki started, “Yoshi is sort of our family …”

  He did not get the rest out as Yoshi chimed in, “Courier … I am his family’s courier. I actually work for his grandfather.”

  Nichi looked Hideki in the eyes. “Right, and I am the next shogun. Yoshi here is a ninja if ever I saw one. But he is the first one that has not tried to kill me. I will find the underlying truth of this later. Come ronin, you can help me plan the next leg of our escape.”

  Hideki had moved over to the adjoining cell where the one-eye ronin dangled. Nichi came up beside him.

  “We do not have time to do charity work, ronin. We must escape now before the alert is sounded,” Nichi said. Hideki ignored him and stepped into the cell. He drew his wakazashi and looked up into the good eye. There was no pleading there. His expression was stone, resigned to his fate.

  Hideki stepped around behind him. “Prepare yourself,” Hideki said. There was an almost imperceptible nod from the one-eyed man. Hideki pressed his blade to the rope and it split immediately. The ronin landed with a thud and fell over on his side. His arms still bound behind his back. Hideki cut him free and set him upright.

  Yoshi arrived at his side with a bucket and ladle of water and put the ladle to the one-eyed man’s lips. He reached up tentatively at first, then with urgency, and gulped down the water. Yoshi refilled it and he drank again.

  “Can you walk?” Hideki asked. His question caused a slight nod.

  Hideki and Yoshi lifted him up into a standing position, each taking an arm. He was a large man, a head taller than either Hideki or Yoshi. Once balanced, Yoshi asked Hideki to watch him as he let Hideki take the weight and ran toward the guard’s day room. When he returned, he had a guard’s kimono. They covered the large man’s nakedness and he seemed to recover some confidence and a little strength.

  They started toward the day room and the long corridor when the one-eyed man stopped and pointed with his chin at the day room. Hideki understood. The one-eyed man wanted his own clothes and swords. He pointed to an open cubicle. When they emerged, the one-eyed man wore an all-black kamishino. Everything about him was black. His kimono was black. His hakama was black. Even his sword’s tsuka and saya were black.

  Hideki surveyed the one-eyed ronin. His gaze was drawn to the dead eye with its angry red scar a little above and a little below the socket. He went back into the day room again and emerged with a tsuba and saego from someone’s swords.

  Hideki cut the cord and tied one end of each length to the opposing end of the Tsuba. Then he moved the sword guard toward the dead eye. The one-eyed man pulled back instinctively, but relaxed when he understood Hideki’s intent.

  Hideki placed the Tsuba over the dead eye and tied it in place behind the man’s head. With the last section of the cord, Hideki tied back the man’s hair so it looked less wild and intimidating. When he was finished, he stepped back to admire his handy work.

  “Now you won’t be so easy for the police to spot,” Hideki proclaimed. He knew he had made the right decision. This man’s samurai spirit was strong. He would not bend and he would not break. “Such a man is worth saving,” Hideki thought. The man in black reminded him of Musashi.

  Yoshi looked at Hideki. “No wrong too small to right and no right too small to defend?”

  Hideki shrugged. “I guess.” It was all Hideki could think to say by way of explanation.

  The one-eyed man bowed his head. “Namae non desuka?”

  Hideki bowed, saying, “Benkei Takezo,” giving his name of the evening.

  Yoshi rolled his eyes skyward at the ridiculous name.

  “Honto desuka?” the man’s raspy voice asked, denoting his non-belief.

  “Well, it will have to do for now,” Hideki replied. “And what shall we call you? Don’t tell me Kuro?” Hideki asked, referencing the black clothes.

  The man tried to smile. It was too painful. “You may call me Jubei,” he growled.

  Yoshi’s head snapped toward Jubei.

  “Benkei Takezo, from this moment on, I am your man,” Jubei rasped.

  Hideki felt the warmth creep into his cheeks. “Dame, I am no one’s better. Moreover, you owe me nothing. I am sure you would have done the same for me.”

  “That is the point, Benkei Takezo, I would not have. You defend the weak when it is not in your best interest. You shame me with your Bushido.”

  “Well, we can talk about it when you are well. You are overly grateful now. When you are better, you will see that I’ve done nothing so great.”

  “You are the one who doesn’t understand. I have been on a musha shugyo for some time to better my skill and myself. Tonight you have shown me a great lesson, and you do not even see it yourself. I will follow you now not out of giri, but to see how you turn out.”

  “You saw it immediately, didn’t you?” asked Yoshi.

  “Hai,” Jubei replied.

  Nichi came up to Hideki. “Okay, we rush them,” he said as he pointed to the narrow corridor.

  “Simasen, Oyabun,” Hideki pardoned himself. “That may be counterproductive. I suggest we use a little strategy.”

  With Goro beside Nichi there was very little space in the corridor.

  “I will listen because you saved my life tonight and because your family courier got us out of that cell. Speak your plan.”

  “Have the guards strip. Put your best men in their clothes. We can come out laughing and congratulating ourselves on showing those Gumsumgumi a thing or two. When they least suspect it, we overpower the officers in front and bring them back to a cell. We can then split up and go our ways to rejoin at your direction. If we are lucky, they won’t know about the escape until much later.”

  The Oyabun pondered the plan. “I like it. It might work.” He turned to Goro and gave the necessary instructions. The Gumsumgumi emerged from the large cell a few moments later in guard clothing and carrying juttes. They moved single file down the narrow corridor. Goro and Nichi followed. Hideki, Yoshi, and Jubei brought up the rear.

  It was slow going having to half carry the one-eyed ronin. Hideki noticed that by the time they reached the entrance, no real police officers remained standing. They all were tied and gagged. The entire Hatchobori belonged to the Gumsumgumi.

  Nichi came up to Hideki. “Good plan, ronin. You take your friends and go with Goro. He’ll get you to our home.”

  Hideki started to protest about Jubei needing a doctor. Nichi cut him off. “It will all be arranged. I have a very good doctor on call. Do not worry about him. You can go see this “Old Grey One” in the morning after you’ve bathed, rid yourself of jail-house fleas, and had some decent food and a change of clothes so you’ll be hard to recognize.”