in the sternum. Crackling agony spread through Eddie’s ribs. Gasping, he stumbled back – and collided with the samurai armour, tumbling to the floor amidst a clattering avalanche of ornate pieces of metal. Another intense stab of pain as the shuriken, still embedded in his arm, was driven deeper into the muscle.
And more of the lethal throwing stars were about to come his way, Michelangelo spinning his staff in one hand as his other went to his bandolier—
The armour’s elaborate breastplate was beside Eddie. He snatched it up and rolled to raise it like a shield. A shuriken flying straight at his head clanged off it.
Something else shot towards the armour – and punched right through it with a bang. Eddie flinched as the kusarigama’s razor-sharp sickle blade slammed to a stop inches from his face.
Raphael hauled on the weapon’s chain again, whisking the shield away.
Leaving himself briefly open to attack—
Eddie pulled the bloodied shuriken from his arm and hurled it. It hit the ninja in the throat with a solid chut and a crimson spray. He collapsed, twitching and gurgling.
Both remaining ninjas froze, exchanging glances as they reassessed their opponent. Eddie scrambled up. The pain in his chest made every breath hurt, and his arm was now damp with blood. He glimpsed his gun on the floor of the next room, but he would have to get past the staff-wielding Michelangelo to reach it.
And now Donatello was whirling his nunchaku from hand to hand as he advanced from the opposite direction.
Trapped—
‘Let me go!’ Nina yelled, striking at Kojima with her heels and elbows as he dragged her into Takashi’s office. ‘He’s my husband! I can talk to him, find out what’s going on!’
Takashi had no interest in debate. Instead he went to a cabinet and took out a sturdy impact-resistant case. He opened it, revealing that it was lined with foam rubber, inset with three recesses in the exact shape of the statues.
‘Put them in here!’ he ordered. Still holding the struggling Nina with one arm, Kojima tugged one of the statues from her grip as Takashi placed his own figurine in the case. ‘Dr Wilde, the statues must be kept from any harm. And so must you.’
‘You’re the one who should be worried about harm!’ Nina cried as she finally broke loose, giving Kojima a solid kick in the shins. He yelped. ‘Call off your – your ninjas,’ she said, not quite able to believe what she was saying. ‘I can get Eddie to—’
The door opened. She turned, hoping to see Eddie . . . but saw instead his most deadly enemy.
Alexander Stikes.
She backed away like a cat facing an aggressive dog. ‘What the hell is he doing here?’
The industrialist didn’t appear pleased to see him either. ‘I told you to wait until we were finished.’
‘Sorry,’ said Stikes with a sarcastic smile, ‘but the alarm going off was rather a clue that something was wrong.’ He turned to Nina. ‘A pleasure to see you again.’
‘No it goddamn isn’t,’ she growled. She addressed Takashi. ‘This son of a bitch tried to kill me!’
‘He is only here because he delivered the statues to me,’ said Takashi. But there was a flustered quality to his reply that made Nina suspect he was concealing the whole truth, if not outright lying. ‘Please, Dr Wilde, you and the statues must be protected.’ He pointed at the stone figure still in her hand. ‘Put it in the case. If necessary, we will use the escape capsule to get them – and you – safely out of the building.’
Nina glanced at the booth containing the spherical pod. ‘You’re not shooting me fifty storeys into the air in that thing.’
‘It is for your own safety,’ Takashi insisted as Kojima hobbled to her and took the last statue, then put it in the case and closed the lid.
‘I can look after myself.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Stikes. ‘I’ll take care of her.’
The malice behind his supercilious smirk was impossible for Nina to miss. She had seen it before, as his prisoner. As his victim, tortured for information with scorpion venom. Fear rose at the memory, her fight-or-flight instincts kicking in with a rush of adrenalin.
Fighting was out of the question. She knew she couldn’t win.
Which left—
She burst into motion, shoulder-barging Kojima aside and snatching up the case before sprinting through the doors.
‘Damn it!’ Stikes hissed as they slammed behind her. He reached into his jacket and drew a gun, a nickel-plated Jericho 941 automatic, and ran after her.
‘No!’ Takashi’s