The Stein & Candle Detective Agency, Vol. 3: Red Reunion (The Stein & Candle Detective Agency #3) Read Free Page A

setting off after their master – but that was one thing I didn’t have. I stood up and stumbled outside, getting some of my strength as I stepped into the garden. Weatherby and Tiny followed me.
    It was dark, the pools of light from the tea house and the rest of the city not enough to banish the shadows. I looked around, still holding on to my heaters. Back in the tea house, I could hear the Yakuza moaning as they saw to their wounds, but I didn’t pay them any attention. My eyes stuck to the darkness, watching for any movement. It wasn’t long before I saw some.
    “There.”  I took a step into the darkness, leveling my pistols. “Come on out of there!” I called.
    My answer was a spinning kick to the face. I reeled backwards, everything getting blurry as I felt the blow rattle my brains inside my skull. Tiny caught me and we saw a trio of men in tight dark clothes and matching masks springing away, short curved swords on their backs and other gleaming weapons on their belts.  I raised my pistols and fired, hurrying after them as they ran to the wall and the garden.
    Weatherby recognized them. “Ninjas!” he cried, as they leapt over the garden wall. “The unstoppable assassins of ancient Japan!”
    “I’ll stop them!” I hissed. I ran to the garden wall and grabbed the top, then pulled myself over. I reached the top and fell, landing on the sidewalk. The ninjas were hurrying away, and I aimed my automatics at them and opened fire. I kept shooting until the clips were empty. At first I thought they could dodge bullets as easily as they moved through the darkness. But then I saw one of them was down, lying on the street with a shattered leg.
    I stood up and ran to him, Tiny and Weatherby close behind. I pulled the Ka-Bar from my boot and rolled the ninja over with a kick. He was clutching his bleeding leg. Only his eyes were visible in his mask, but their glowing hate told me all I needed to know. I leaned down, holding the knife close to his eyes.
    “Looks like your buddies left you. Pretty harsh treatment, I’d say. So how about squealing about where they’re hiding? I pressed the tip of the blade down, cutting through the fabric of his mask and drawing blood from the tip of his nose. “And you better speak louder than you move – or I’ll have you making a whole lot of noise.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Go to the ruins, gaijin” he whispered. “Go to your deaths.” He twisted around, pulling the blade from his back as he sat up. For a second, I thought he was gonna slash his sword across my chest, but then he plunged it into his own gut. He dragged it wide, spilling his innards onto the street.
    I stood up and looked at Tiny and Weatherby. The boy was looking away, his face more pale than usual. “Merde…” Tiny whispered. “He just… opened himself up.”
    “He believed he failed to uphold the honor of his clan,” Weatherby whispered, still looking away. “So he committed suicide.”
    The Ninjas were the worst kind of opponent – the kind that was always there to throw a punch, and never there to take one. They were fanatical enough to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, and bold enough to invite me to their hideout to continue our fight. They were lethal, had access to powerful magic, and they were fast. But not fast enough to stop a bullet.
    I turned away from the dead ninja. Sirens whined in the distance. Boss Yamoto and his thugs were probably already running away, and we should do the same. “Come on,” I said, heading for the sidewalk. “Tiny, where are you flopping?”
    “Hotel, not far from here. Plenty of room for you and the boy, sergeant,” Tiny replied. “I’d be honored if you stayed with me. And I think you fellows need some rest.”
    “Good idea,” I agreed. “Let’s go get some shuteye. The ninjas have been around since Ancient Japan, according to Weatherby. I bet they can wait until morning.” Weatherby and I followed Tiny to his pick-up truck. He had