Uncle Paul´s Cain 11 Page

By Paul Cummings

The Ninja 02/11/00

Detective Chief Inspector Danny Stoddard took three paces to his right and examined the victim again. The victim was dead, he had no doubt about that; separate a body from its head by about four feet using a sharp implement and the victim died. This was the second member of staff at this office block killed like this within a week. After that, he was a little short on facts. The forensic report on the first murder, for surely that was what it was, was inconclusive. People didn’t go around cutting their own heads off, and they certainly did not remove the weapon afterwards. The murder was probably done with an axe and swung by someone very powerful, powerful enough to remove a head in one swing. That certainly tied with Stoddard’s view of this murder. He left the room and went down the hall to where the man who found the body was.

Stoddard was a big man at six foot three and nearly sixteen stone, but he felt small next to the imposing lawyer who had found the body. A man who certainly looked powerful enough to have swung the axe that took the late Philip Michaels’ head off. As he approached, Detective Sergeant Sue Thompson, who was talking with the lawyer, turned to him.

"Guv, this is William Hampshire, he discovered the body," said Thompson before turning back to Hampshire. "Mr Hampshire, this is DCI Stoddard, who is heading the investigation." Both men nodded.

"Perhaps you can tell me what is going on here?" began Stoddard. William smiled.

"I was hoping you could tell me what is going on. After all, I’m not used to walking over headless bodies in the conference room," replied William. Smug bastard thought Stoddard.

"Well, Mr Hampshire, it seems as if we have some mad axeman who has decided to start lopping off heads here in these palatial surroundings." He gestured around with his arm. At least the air conditioning worked here, which is more than it did back at the office, he thought sourly. The hottest June for nearly thirty years and the station’s air conditioning packs up.

It was after eight o’clock before William was able to go down to the basement and get his car out to drive home. At least the traffic had eased a little he thought as he drove round the Embankment to Westminster Bridge. The powerful Jaguar cruised out towards William’s home in Richmond. Thinking over what he had seen when he had found Philip’s body, something was wrong. First one of the security guards on night duty, then one of the mailroom staff are beheaded. Somehow the mad axeman theory did not sit well with him.

Albert, 24th Duke of Hampshire, sat back down on the bench. He was tired, so very tired. Not all of it was explained by the fact that he was the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria and, due to the curiosity of being born in 1899, still alive in a third distinct century. Since the death of his only son the year before, the old duke had come to feel mortal for perhaps the first time. He thought more and more about his successor now. He had been the duke for over sixty years, but not for much longer. His heir was now his grandson, Edward, who would be a fairly safe pair of hands, especially after a career in the diplomatic service and having virtually run the companies for the last ten years, but at sixty two he was no longer young. After that would come James, here was the real problem. James was a good investment banker, his continued succession of new cars and beautiful women showed that, but he was not really a leader of men. The family’s fortune would be safe with James, but there was more to it than that. The Duchy of Hampshire was more than just a title, it made you head of the Hampshire Group, which was one of the largest private companies in the world. This was where James would fall down. He would not have the sense of duty to serve.

The old duke watched the young man walk towards him. He was not handsome in the way that James was; tall, dashing with film star looks, but he exuded a kind of magnetism that women found difficult to resist, and he had the most stunning eyes. Even the old duke could not look into those eyes for long. This was a man born to lead. He was the second of Edward’s five sons, and a twin at that, yet he was a man apart. He had a special sense of family and duty that the others could never have. Where as they had all gone into high-powered jobs from university, Benjamin had continued in the Territorial Army, that he had joined at 18, although it was the 21st SAS Regiment, not just any regiment. Benjamin had chosen it and he had used his influence to see that Benjamin was given a chance, although the TA SAS regiments were normally limited to those who had served in a full time regiment. Benjamin had then attended virtually every course available to a reservist and used his free time to train for the 1992 Olympic games, where he won a gold medal for Great Britain in the rapid fire pistol competition. After his promotion to Captain, he applied for the full time 22nd SAS Regiment. He underwent the dreaded Selection a second time and rose up to now command the whole regiment at the age of 33. He was the youngest lieutenant colonel in the army, and the only serving holder of the country’s highest award for bravery, that instituted by the duke’s own grandmother, the Victoria Cross. Here was a man to lead from the front. Even at a hundred and three, the old duke kept in touch with the army he had served. He knew just how good an officer Benjamin was. The old duke smiled. If only he’d get rid of those damn leather trousers he liked to wear.

As Cain approached the old duke he nodded to Michael Willis, who was standing attentively as ever a few paces behind the old man’s bench.

"Ah, Benjamin, come and sit beside me," called the old duke. Cain stepped in and sat. The old duke fell silent, ignoring all around him again. Cain looked out again over the grounds, but he saw nothing as his attention was focused on his great grandfather. These absent periods were becoming more frequent now.

"Ah, where was I, yes, Benjamin, how are you? We see so little of you now." As suddenly as his attention disappeared, he was back and alert.

"I’m fine, sir. How are you?" Cain was careful to keep the concern from his voice. The old duke would never allow anyone to be worried about him.

"If it wasn’t for Michael, I think I’d never get out." The old duke turned partly round, as far as his body would allow. "Michael, would you be so kind as to get me a small whisky."

"Yes, sir." Michael nodded and walked back to the house. Cain smiled. He knew Michael was not going to get a whisky, but was giving them some privacy. He had worked out a couple of years ago that when the old duke asked for a small whisky he meant Michael to leave them for five minutes and that a large one was ten minutes. Once Michael was out of hearing, the old duke turned back to Cain.

"Benjamin, I need you to promise me something." Cain remained silent, knowing the old duke would not be happy if he promised before he heard what was required of him. The old man nodded in recognition. "I’m an old man. When I am gone I want you to look after Michael. Find him a job. Something outside, he likes to be outside. He’s looked after me well these last four years, better than I deserve." Cain smiled.

"You don’t have to ask me that. We all know how much Michael has helped you. Father will look after him."

"My grandson is a good man, but he does not really understand duty as you and I do. That’s why I took Michael in when he was discharged from the army. I gave him the only job I had where he would know it was a genuine job and not a regiment hand out. But I know he prefers life outdoors to looking after me. Treat him as one of your own soldiers. Promise me." Cain saw the need in the old man’s eyes.

"I will, sir. I’ll make sure he is happy."

"Thank you, Benjamin." Their conversation tailed off as Michael walked back towards them. Cain’s mobile telephone gave a distinctive ring that Cain recognised immediately.

"If you’ll excuse me, sir, William is calling." With that he got up and walked away whilst pulling his small Nokia out.

After talking with his brother, Cain was concerned enough to seek out his mother and discuss it with her. She pointed out a number of other possibilities, but agreed that William’s worry was possibly well founded. They went to the large dojo built in the castle. For the next hour, there came the clashing of steel upon steel. Cain was faster and stronger than his mother, but her technique was exemplary. Her son’s was merely exceptionally good; not comparable to his unarmed skill nor his skill with firearms.

Akiko Hampshire nodded her approval the next morning when her son loaded a long thin leather case into the car she had given him only the month before. She knew the case would contain one of her son’s katanas. He had already made his apologies, so he got quickly into the driver’s seat and gunned the Porsche away. Being early on a Saturday morning, the roads were clear and Cain was able to make good progress up the M3, arriving at William’s modern mock-Georgian house nearly an hour earlier than they had agreed. William came out to meet him and have his first approving look at the Porsche.

The next meeting was somewhat bittersweet. They went back inside and Cain greeted William’s girlfriend Georgina Macpherson, universally known since school as Gina. She greeted him warmly, as she always did, but he knew that she disapproved of him. At twenty-four she had given up a career as a broker in the city and was now in her fourth year of medical school, intent on doing something constructive with her life. She disapproved of Cain being in the army, although she did not know exactly what he did in it. Nor did she approve of his martial arts studies, which she regarded as some sort of strange cult. Of course, her upbringing would never let her show her disapproval, so she put on a smile and kissed her future brother-in-law, the wedding waiting until she qualified as a doctor. Somehow, despite all of her disapproval, she could find nothing in Cain to dislike. He was kind, thoughtful, polite and attentive. In short, he was infuriating to her. She wanted to dislike him, but couldn’t.

After a drink, William called DS Thompson. Some quick talking and veiled threats persuaded her to meet them at the morgue. Cain transferred his luggage to William’s car and they drove off.

William introduced Cain as an expert representing William’s company. Thompson appreciated William’s concerns that his company could be held responsible for the employee’s death, so wanted their expert to check the body. The body was wheeled out on a trolley and Cain was handed a file of notes that he completely ignored. He slipped on a pair of surgical gloves and approached the body.

Cain made his way meticulously from the feet up to the neck. There was no obvious marks on the body, except for the severed head. Examining the neck he noted the lack of tears in the flesh then examined the visible bone from the neck. Finally he stepped back and removed his gloves.

"Sergeant, would you mind telling me why it has been assumed that this man was killed with an axe?" Cain asked the policewoman. "I am afraid to tell you it was not an axe, but a sword. More specifically a very sharp sword." Thompson gave him a sceptical look.

"Why don’t you stick with what you know for fact and leave the deductions for now, Mr Cain."

"I was. Look at the bone here. It has been cut. No axe would be sharp enough to do that. The neck was obviously severed in one strike, as was correctly said, but the lack of tears in the flesh shows again that it was a very sharp blade. No Western sword would take an edge sharp enough to do this. It must have had a been made in the east by an expert in the sword." Thompson’s face did not change, but Cain could see the uncertainty creep into her eyes. "Now, for logical deductions, I guess the deceased to have been about five foot eight tall, which means that the attacker was probably around five ten to six two tall from the angle of the cut. If the body was fresher and in situ, I might be able to tell you more." Thompson chewed this over.

"Just what sort of expert are you Mr Cain?" Cain was saved from having to answer by Thompson’s phone ringing. Thompson walked away from them before answering then spoke into the phone.

"Ben?" asked William putting voice to his unspoken question.

"I think you might be right William. At the least this was done with a very sharp katana swung with the speed and timing to take the head off in one swing. I hope we are wrong, otherwise there will be more bodies turning up. You were right to call me." Just then Thompson returned.

"Looks like you’ll get your wish Mr Cain. A third body has just been found at your offices. Will you come with me, the DCI wants to talk to you."

When DCI Stoddard saw Thompson arrive with the big lawyer and the so-called expert his first impression backed up his preconception. Here was a young man who had learnt everything there was to learn from a textbook, but had probably never seen a corpse before. He greeted them all gruffly and continued looking at the corpse. He watched Cain carefully as he began to examine the scene. Cain had the right procedures; he was keeping back, not interfering with the scene, but Stoddard was waiting for him to examine the headless corpse and throw up. Instead, he walked over to the Scene of Crime Officer and began talking to her. With the SOCO he examined the pool of blood on the carpet, the flecks on the walls and then carefully lifted the body slightly, peering underneath. Stoddard watched him carefully. It was obvious to him that Cain knew what he was doing, but he wasn’t convinced by the story that they had told him of representing the company’s lawyers. At last Cain looked at the neck and head. Once he was finished, Cain briefly talked further with the SOCO before walking back to Stoddard and the others.

"Well Mr Cain, what new insights can you give us on this case?" asked Stoddard.

"The weapon was definitely a sword, not an axe. The deceased was standing by the vending machine, turned and was killed before he realised his killer was there." Cain saw the incredulous look in Stoddard’s eyes and continued. "The amount of blood on the walls shows that the deceased was relaxed when they died. If he had seen a man carrying a sword his heart would have been beating faster and there would be much more blood on the walls, instead of just leaking out onto the floor. The cut would have come from a raised sword in a downward arc, so we can see that it connected with the neck on the left-hand side, cut through it and out the right. This does not tell you if the killer was right or left handed though. In truth, the killer was probably ambidextrous. One more thing, and here I can not be certain, but your killer is probably between 5’10" and 6’2", which is unusual." Stoddard suppressed his urge to grin; this man was starting to make sense.

"And how do you know that? And why is it unusual?"

"It has to do with the way the sword would be swung to make the deepest cut. It would come from here," Cain drew his arms up to the right into a guard position with an imaginary sword, "and down to here." Cain’s hands can down like lightning and across in front of Stoddard’s neck and finishing, still holding his imaginary sword, six inches further on. Stoddard blinked at the speed Cain had moved. "There’s one more thing you need to know: The killer is Japanese and you can not stop them."

"You can explain that of course?" Stoddard asked, almost as a rhetorical question, as he knew by now that Cain would have an answer.

"There is probably only one person in the world who is not oriental looking, yet could have made the three cuts. Three cuts, three clean beheadings and, according to your SOCO, three surprised victims. Yet no clues as to the identity of the killer."

"And you have an alibi, don’t you, Mr Cain?" said Stoddard, knowing where this was going.

"You know already that I was with your sergeant at the time of this killing. But you are correct in the fact that I could have killed these people."

"So," asked Stoddard sarcastically, "are you clairvoyant enough to identify the body for us Mr Cain?"

"His name was Brian McMahon. But it’s not really clairvoyance Mr Stoddard, it’s written on his identity card, which is clipped to the waistband of his trousers." Stoddard looked down, but he couldn’t see the card. "When I moved the body to check for blood under it I saw it."

"Well, if you have any more insights that might help us, don’t hesitate to let us know," said Stoddard in dismissal.

As Cain and his brother walked away, DS Thompson turned to her boss.

"Well, Guv, what do you make of that?"

"He knows more than he’s telling us. But how much more?"

Once they had driven off in the Jaguar, William turned to his brother.

"Yes, William, it was a ninja. But why here? Why London? Why your company? Who was Brian McMahon?"

"He was one of the lawyers who worked for me." Cain mulled this over, the conclusion was obvious.

"William, I think they are closing in on you."

"Why me?"

"Because it would draw Mama or me here. Ando and Yukio are in Japan. There is nobody else. First the security guard, then the mailman, in your department, then one of the members of your team. If they don’t get stopped, you will be next." William looked at his brother and became scared when he saw the certain worry in his brother’s face. "Take us home now." William did not reason that a ninja learning where he worked would know where he lived too. Cain saw no reason to worry his brother.

They arrived back at William’s house to find Gina having a coffee having just returned from a shopping trip. Cain said nothing about his reasoning, but surreptitiously ensured that his SIG pistol was easy to get at, sitting in its holster clipped inside the waistband of his trousers. He was sure of his reasoning now, but had to work out how best to protect his brother and find the ninja.

During dinner Cain made a decision; he had to find the ninja that weekend. He was sure that the ninja was hunting him. If it were his mother they were hunting, they would have gone directly to the castle. His own address was much more hidden. He was also equally sure that they would kill William if necessary to get his attention. Somehow he had to protect his brother whilst hunting a deadly opponent. The reason why was not important yet. Once William was safe then he could try to find out why a ninja was hunting him in England. Finding his opponent would not be difficult; they would obviously be in or around William’s office block. The problem was how to meet them and yet protect his brother. Now that he was here in London, William was in much more danger. It would not look good to kill William when his target was Cain, but once the battle had begun, the ninja would look to kill William, and Gina, just to distract him.

Whilst Gina cleared the dinner plates away, Cain quickly explained his plan to his brother. He was concerned to protect Gina and so agreed. Surprisingly, Gina also agreed. Although she thought it was a stupid macho idea and most unlikely to draw out a phantom assassin that was supposedly hiding waiting for them.

Cain got together the equipment he might need and then they all got into William’s Jaguar and headed into town. They arrived outside the darkened office block just before midnight. William got them all through the outer security door and into the building’s foyer. Cain turned back to his brother and gave him a hug.

"Remember what I told you now. Take Gina back to your car and drive out of town. Try to keep to fast roads. Your Jaguar should be able to keep you safe then. Keep your mobile phone on. If you don’t hear from me within two hours, drive to Hereford as we agreed. Ask for Mick Hill. He will keep you safe until this is over." Gina looked into Cain’s eyes and saw the worry there. He doesn’t know if he’ll be alive in two hours time, she thought. This is madness. Cain watched his brother and Gina pass back through the security door and get into their car. Only then did he turn his back and walk to the stairwell.

William put his seat belt on and fired up the big V8 engine. His hand hesitated as he reached to slip the car into drive. He turned to face Gina and she saw the agony of his decision.

"I can’t leave him Gina. I just can’t. Benji has always been there for me. Always. I can’t leave him. You drive the car. Follow Benji’s plan. It’s a good plan. He got out of the car and walked back to the office block without a backward glance. If he had he would have seen a look of sorrow in Gina’s face. She saw clearly that she would never have the hold on William that his brother did. A hold he seemed to have on all of his family. It was almost like he held them in some sort of spell. But then he had driven all the way there on William’s hunch and was only concerned to keep William and her safe, so maybe the obsession was in some way justified. Well, I can be as brave as them, she thought and reached to the glove compartment where William kept his spare pass, being somewhat forgetful, William had got a second pass from work and always left it in the car, just in car he forgot his pass. She got out of the Jaguar and locked it.

Cain crept silently up the stairs. If his opponent were a true ninja Cain would not be able to be surprised by him. Haragei was a special sense that enabled him to know where people were. It was like the sense and ordinary person might have of someone behind them, but much stronger and better trained than that. The only trouble with it was that haragei adepts were also great transmitters of their presence. They could sense most people nearby, but when another haragei adept was close by their presence was announced like a shout to a normal person’s whisper. Cain would not rely on this though and was prepared for action instantly. After all, there were rumours that some masters had been able to shield their presence, which would make them invisible to haragei. He had never met anyone with this ability, but that did not mean it did not exist.

From the roof, he had watched the car arrive and the three people get out. It was too far away for haragei to work, but his eyesight told him what he needed to know. The smaller man was a ninja. He moved with a balance and grace beyond normal men. He recognised the long box his opponent got out of car. Good, his opponent was still versed in the way of the ninja; he had not gone soft living in the West for so long. He watched as the bigger man and the woman come back out then smiled as the bigger man walked back to the building. Now he had another edge over his opponent. He had studied his opponent for so long now. There appeared to be only one weakness in his opponent in that he was not alone. He allowed himself the weakness of a family. Tonight he would see the folly of that decision, first as he cut down the untutored brother then the one he had come half way around the world to kill, for no other reason than he had been perhaps the best ninja of all. That was a title that Saito wanted for himself. Killing Benji would give him that status. He ducked back inside the building and went to the top of one of the flights of stairs. Here he drew his katana and carefully laid the scabbard on the landing of the top floor. By the time his opponent saw this it would be too late. He ran silently across the office block and down the back stairwell.

Now was the difficult time as he hurried silently down the back stairs. He had to guess the time his opponent would take to climb the stairs so that he could return to the main stairwell and wait for the weak brother to come up. Saito looked towards the brother’s death with neither regret nor anticipation. It was only important in the edge it would give him in the battle. He opened the door and slid silently into the third floor landing. The third floor was a good choice; it was the entry to the main client facing meeting rooms and so was much bigger than some of the other floors. It also afforded several places where a man could stand hidden in ambush. He could neither hear nor feel his opponent, which probably meant he was already a couple of floors above them. But he could hear the brother charging up the stairs whilst trying to be quiet. So unskilled were these round-eyed iteki. Saito shrank back into the shadows and waited.

William hurried quietly up the stairs. He wanted to catch his brother up, but not so quickly that he ended up surprising him and getting killed for his troubles. He paused on the third landing momentarily thinking about that. He was not even sure it was possible to surprise Benji. He did not feel the sword slide between his ribs and cut deep into one of his lungs. Suddenly he found himself on his knees and winded. He coughed and spat red onto the carpet. He rolled over onto his back and saw the ninja hovering above him. His last thought was how he had failed his brother before darkness overcame him.

In the silent office block the sound of William crashing to the floor reached Cain in the stairwell three floors above. He turned and proceeded silently, but quickly, back down. On the third floor landing, he saw his brother’s body. He was so distraught by the sight that he nearly joined his brother on the floor. The ninja launched a lightning strike to remove Cain’s head. Cain managed to half duck and half block the strike with his scabbarded sword. The bottom half of his scabbard flew away down the stairs as the razor sharp katana blade clashed. A reverse cut to the stomach followed, which Cain just avoided being disembowelled by. Then an overhead vertical cut, which would literally have cut his head in two. Cain side-stepped this and flicked the remains of his scabbard down.

Cain avoided a thrust to the throat and span away to give himself more room. For what he didn’t know. He already knew all he needed to about his attacker; the man was a better swordsman than he was. He was younger and perhaps as quick as Cain himself was. Worse, he knew his attacker knew all of this too. Neither man spoke, they were professionals and death was their profession, although the ninja allowed himself a small smile.

Cain launched an attack of his own, with every bit of speed he could manage. It was a cut to the head followed by a reverse cut to the neck and thrust to the groin. Cain was lightning fast, but this was a known sequence of attacks that ended in a counter attack for the defender, so the ninja was happy to absorb the blows, waiting for the less skilled and eight year older man to make a mistake or tire. Two moves from the end of the sequence, where upon the counter attack would come, Cain ignored the deep thrust forward, even as the ninja was retreating to avoid it. He shot back two paces and threw his katana at the ninja. The disrespect for his sword almost caught the ninja off balance, but he stepped back and parried the flying sword.

"A good attempt, Benji-san, but now I will kill you, like I did your brother." The ninja was confident enough that he could now handle an unarmed man. Cain reached into his jacket. The ninja took another step back and raised his sword, ready to defend against the shaken, or small bladed weapon, that he now expected to be hurled at him. From a distance of five metres, he was confident that no throwing star could hit him. He looked shocked as Cain pulled his SIG pistol, flicked the safety catch and fired in one movement. Nobody can dodge a bullet, no matter what their training. The 9mm shell took the ninja high in the chest and drove him up and back. Two more shells hit his chest sending him spinning backwards to crash heavily down the stairs. Cain saw the red blood exploding from the ninja’s body, he didn’t bother following him, but ran to his brother.

Gina ran past the tumbling ninja and beat Cain to her lover. She turned him over and saw the hole in his chest and all the blood soaking the floor. Even without medical training she knew he was dead. Cain dropped to his knees, put the pistol onto the floor beside him and placed one hand on William’s throat and the other on his chest. The blood flow was slowing now, but the erratic and weakened heartbeat was pumping his lifeblood out of him.

There was no time to talk, Cain took his left thumb and pushed it into the wound, to block more blood from flowing out. At the same time he focused his mind and pushed out into William’s body. He felt the wild, adrenaline excited state that William’s body was in, a state that was killing him. Slowly Cain focused his power around William’s heart. Slowly it calmed and began to beat slowly and regularly, although still weakly. Sweat was now standing out on Cain’s forehead, but he could not break the link to William to wipe it away. To do so now would kill William, if he were not already dead.

Gina finally looked at what Cain was doing to his brother. At first she did not take in what she was seeing, then slowly, Gina’s medical training took over. She saw that the bleeding had slowed, assuming that William was dead now, she didn’t understand why Cain still had his hands pressed to William’s chest. Looking into Cain’s face, she saw the sweat and look of concentration he had. Slowly, fearing what she might find, she eased her hand forward and felt gingerly for a pulse. She was surprised to find that it was there. Slow and regular, where it should have been fast and erratic, if his heart was still beating at all. She looked back into Cain’s face. He obviously believed he was doing something and for a reason she could not explain, William was still alive and somewhat stabilised.

Gina watched as Cain turned his head to look back at the stairway. She followed his gaze and saw the black clad man she had passed lying on the stairs. His chest was covered in blood, but he stood holding his sword and watched them.

"Gina," Cain spoke quietly, but dragged her attention back to him, "take my gun, aim it at him and pull the trigger. Now Gina." Gina hesitated. "Gina, if you don’t kill him, I will have to and if I take my hands off of William he will die. Kill the man who did this to William." Gina heard the emotion in his voice and saw the truth in his eyes. She picked up the pistol and aimed it at the black clad man, who advanced a step and raised his sword.

"Stay where you are," called Gina, amazed at the calmness in her voice. The black clad man advanced again and replied in Japanese.

"He is saying that he will force me to kill my brother to save our lives. Prove him wrong Gina. Shoot him!" Still she hesitated. The man advanced to within ten feet of them now and smiled.

"Don’t you smile at me you bastard," she spat and pulled the trigger. The blast shook the ninja’s body and forced him to stagger back a step. He looked up at Gina, so she fired again. He dropped his sword and crumpled to his knees. He looked at Cain and spoke to him, Cain answered, then the ninja pitched forward, face first into the floor.

Gina dropped the pistol as if it were a snake.

"Gina," called Cain quietly. "Help me. Call an ambulance, we need help. The sword punctured a lung, I can’t let go of William or he will die." Gina numbly took her mobile phone out from her bag and called for an ambulance. After that, she called the police then went down to let them all in. Cain remained, his power still locked into William’s body, calming and slowing the body as much as he dare to prevent William from bleeding to death or downing in his own blood.

Cain was still kneeling connected to William when the paramedics arrived. One of the paramedics knelt opposite Cain. He saw the hole in William’s chest and felt for vital signs. He looked quizzically at Cain.

"Don’t worry about it," Cain replied, "just get him on the stretcher and let’s get him to hospital. I can’t keep him like this for ever."

"How are you keeping him like this? It’s almost like he’s in a deep sleep."

"He is sort of. I’ll explain later. Can we take him to hospital and see if we can help him wake up first."

The paramedics sprung into life and lifted William onto the stretcher. As they got to the street, DCI Stoddard arrived in his car. He rushed over as the paramedics lifted William’s body into the ambulance.

"Inspector, we will talk at the hospital, bring Gina with you."

"No," shouted Gina, "I’m coming with you."

"Gina," replied Cain softly, "I have to go to keep William sedated. There is not room for us both. I promise I will keep him alive until they can operate in the hospital.

It was close to four in the morning before DCI Stoddard got to interview Cain at the hospital. William was still in emergency surgery to work on the collapsed and punctured lung. Gina stood staring through the observation window as the surgeons battled to save her boyfriend. Cain sat quietly sipping a plastic cup of water. Stoddard quietly entered the room and went to stand opposite Cain. Cain drew out his pistol and handed it to Stoddard. There was no need for Stoddard to know that he had already wiped all of Gina’s fingerprints from it.

"Well, Mr Cain, would you like to tell me what went on tonight?" asked Stoddard as he slumped heavily down into one of the chairs and sealed the plastic evidence bag that now contained Cain’s pistol. Cain looked up into the policeman’s eyes and nodded slightly.

"All right Mr Stoddard, I will talk to you now. I’ll make a formal statement later, once William is safe and Gina asleep, but for know I will answer some of you questions. You found the body of the ninja. He was your assassin."

"So you shot him with a SIG automatic pistol? I though you said we would not be able to stop him. All you did was put five bullets into him. Anyone could do that."

"He wasn’t expecting it. He thought I was going to throw a shuraken, a throwing star if you like. That he may have been able to dodge or block. He didn’t expect the gun; it’s not in our rules of combat. I violated the rules and shot him."

"Because he was a better swordsman that you?"

"No. I would have died by our rules. I shot him because I believed he had killed William. He might still have done," replied Cain with a glance to the operating room window. "The killing of an innocent is strictly forbidden. He was therefore acting outside of our rules and became just a man trying to kill me, so I killed him."

"So what were you doing at the office block so late on a Saturday night?" asked the policeman.

"I was trying to catch your murderer. As I told you before, you could not have captured him."

"Nor could you it seems," replied Stoddard sarcastically.

"Maybe I could have, maybe not. But once he attacked William he lost the right for me to try. He became a murderer, so I stopped him as simply as I could," Cain replied calmly.

"So you shot him five times?"

"I did what I had to, to stop him killing me. It’s called self defence. The rest will have to wait until later. I freely admit shooting this man as he was trying to kill me. The rest can wait." Stoddard was about to continue but just got up walked out. He was a good judge of character and Cain had told him all he was going to for now. So long as the killings stopped he had the problem solved. All that remained was to sort out exactly what Mr Cain’s involvement in this really was. Every word Cain had said was true, but he had left Gina completely out of the story.

Two hours later Sergeant Thompson had an answer for him. At seven in the morning, both he and Thompson were feeling the worse for wear, but they sat down with Cain in an office at the hospital. Stoddard was mildly irritated that Cain looked so fresh after what he had been through, but he had seem the way he had looked after Gina Macpherson afterwards and arranged for a bed for her near to her boyfriend. Stoddard had also spoken to the ambulance crew and got their side of what had happened. Something didn’t quite add up yet, but Thompson’s information may make the difference.

"So," began Stoddard formally, "Colonel Cain, please can you describe your full version of events tonight." If the police had expected a reaction they were disappointed.

"Well, Inspector, I see you have found out who I am."

"Not difficult. How many men carry around concealed pistols, with papers showing home office approval."

Cain then gave the police a full statement of everything that had happened. It was true in every respect except for Gina having shot the ninja at the end. His statement had her arriving just after that. He had already spoken to Gina and she had readily agreed to go along with the statement. The ballistics report would show that the last two bullets came from a much lower position and Gina was kneeling near to him as she fired. He would easily have been able to hold the pistol in the exact position she had fired from. Without a fingerprint or any other forensic evidence, Gina was going to be left out of the inquest.

The statement covered every angle and answered every question Stoddard had, but still he had a feeling he could not shake off. Something was not quite right. He shook his head, it was now nine o’clock and he was probably just tired. After a few hours sleep he would speak to Miss Macpherson and get her statement. Assuming that tied up, the case was all but closed. Only the forensic scientists were left to add their views, then the coroner could hold an inquest. He was confident that Cain would be fully exonerated. The Home Secretary’s office had been on the telephone. There were most insistent that Cain was treated well and allowed to leave with minimum publicity. When Stoddard had asked Cain about that, he had just explained that he and the IRA had a history of disagreements. Stoddard knew enough to know not to probe this if he wanted to remain in the Metropolitan Police and not find himself transferred to North Yorkshire or somewhere. The powers that be would not take kindly to a plod nosing around as to why an SAS officer is licensed to carry firearms at all time, especially if it involved operations against the IRA.

Once the police had finished questioning him, and were, at least outwardly, satisfied with his statement, Cain returned to the intensive care unit were Gina remained. She was up and out of bed sitting next to William, gently holding his hand. Cain walked up to the bed and picked up William’s notes, which were hung over the bottom of the bed. Quickly he scanned them, finding the key indications he wanted: William’s blood pressure was back to a normal level, his respiration was unaided, although he still had an oxygen mask on. His pulse was slightly slow, probably due to a relaxant they had given him to prolong his sleep and hence aid the healing process. In all, Cain could see that William was expected to survive, although how badly his punctured lung would complicate his life, especially over the next few months would be impossible to tell yet. Gina looked up to Cain and gave a little smile.

"You know far more about medicine then you let on, don’t you Ben?" Cain gave a small smile in reply.

"Not as much as I would like, Gina." Her face turned suddenly serious.

"Ben, what happened there last night?"

"William’s going to be all right here for an hour or so. Let’s go and have breakfast." Despite her eagerness for an explanation, Gina allowed herself to be taken off to the hospital restaurant for breakfast.

Gina had a coffee and a croissant, whilst Cain took a ham – salad sandwich with a large orange juice. After they sat down, he started to explain what went on in the fight with the ninja, but Gina soon interrupted him.

"No, I mean with William. His body was in shock and he was pumping blood out all over the floor. He should have died from blood loss or even drowned in his own blood, yet you stabilised him, without any medicines. How?" Cain looked at her. Her medical studies had enabled her to see just how precarious William’s position had been, but it blinded her to what he had done to save his brother. He tried to explain the nature of ki – the energy that flows in all living things, but she didn’t really understand. He explained how he worked first on the brain to slow William’s reactions and let him take over. Then he calmed the heart and proceeded to slow the whole of William’s body down so that it stopped literally pumping his life away. Once back at the hospital, they had performed the operation to close his bleeding blood vessels and repair the hole in his lung and chest cavity. All Cain had done was buy William time, so that they could get him to hospital.

She didn’t pretend to understand everything, but she understood that William was going to live due to his brother. And that changed things between her and Cain. No longer could she disapprove of his lifestyle. She remembered his calmness as he told her to pick up the pistol and shoot the ninja. She had so nearly refused, but that would have meant that Cain would have had to do it. He had told her that it would have killed William. So nearly had she killed her lover. Then, to cap it all, he took full responsibility for the shooting and ensured that she was not involved in the inquest. Suddenly she saw some of what caused William to so love his brother and she was ashamed for the way she had treated him. She looked up into his eyes, to apologise and saw the exhaustion there. Then she remembered that he had been with the police since he had put her to bed.

"Ben, you look exhausted, you have to rest." Cain smiled.

"I am a little weary," he conceded, "what I did to William last night takes more out of you than running a marathon. Once we have spoken to the doctors, we’ll go back to your place and I’ll have a little siesta, if you don’t mind."

"Oh Ben, how could I mind." With that she stood up, offered her arm to her future brother-in-law and they walked back to find a doctor.

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