Kazuki glared up at him with his remaining eye. ‘Do it!’ he said, coughing up blood. ‘Or don’t you have the guts?’

Jack’s sword wavered. To kill his enemy this way would give Kazuki the honourable death he desired as a samurai. Yet twice before Jack had let his rival live, and both times Jack had lived to regret it. This time, he knew Kazuki had to die. Not out of any desire for revenge. But for protection. Not only for himself and Akiko, but for his sister. He couldn’t allow anyone to harm Jess.

‘Call yourself a samurai?’ spluttered Kazuki. ‘You’re a pathetic … worthless … gaijin –’

Jack whipped back his sword, determined to finish their feud once and for all. Then as he swung the blade, a shout of KIAI – cut short into a strangled yelp – echoed through the manor house, followed by a girl’s terrified scream.

‘Jess!’ exclaimed Jack, stopping his sword mid-strike.

A bloodstained grin crept across Kazuki’s face. ‘That’ll be Kuma … meeting your little sister.’

Caught between killing Kazuki and saving Jess, Jack made the only decision he could. Leaving the wounded Kazuki on his knees, Jack sprinted out of the Great Hall, back through the Gallery of Arms and up the staircase. Wet footprints dotted the steps and continued in a trail along the corridor to Rose’s bedroom. The door had been smashed open and Jack could hear the sounds of a struggle coming from inside.

He dashed in and found Yori lying dazed on the floor, a manriki chain wrapped tightly round his neck. His shakujō lay beside him, snapped in half. Beside the four-poster bed the ninja Kuma had Jess, a garrotte pulled round her throat. Her fingers were clawing at the wire digging into her soft skin.

Jack rushed at Kuma, his katana raised. But Kuma turned and held Jess in front of him as a shield, and Jack no longer dared strike at the ninja for fear of mortally wounding his sister. Kuma tugged on the garrotte, making her cry out again in panic. Jack had a horrifying flashback to when his father had been garrotted by Dokugan Ryu and his clan aboard the Alexandria – and now the nightmare was happening all over again!

In desperation, Jack dropped his sword and held up his hands in surrender.

‘Kanojo o tebanasu!’ he cried, pleading in Japanese for Kuma to let her go. ‘You want me, not her.’

‘Your self-sacrifice is admirable,’ hissed Kuma. ‘But this is the price you must pay!’

42: Militia

‘Sumimasen …’ begged Jack, tears stinging his eyes as Jess’s struggle grew weaker, ‘she’s but a young girl, and unarmed.’

The ninja kept the garrotte taut and Jess’s hands fell away from the wire, her eyes closed and her body went limp.