Page 55 of Mercy Written in Blood

Minamoto did. He hauled Takeda away while Jun crawled after them, pulling himself forward with both hands. Takeda's voice echoed back through the passage.

"Haruki!"

He watched until their light disappeared around the bend. Then he turned towards the dark.

The first attacker appeared without sound. Haruki raised the knife. The figure stopped several metres away. A second emerged behind it. Then the leader. The cracked mask had been discarded. He was older than Haruki expected — perhaps forty-five, dark hair, fine features, blood at the corner of his mouth from Haruki's strike. He looked almost ordinary. That made everything worse.

"Your loyalty is misplaced," the leader said.

Haruki leaned against the wall.

"It keeps happening."

"You protect people who will betray you once they understand what was found."

"Maybe."

"The Accord will erase this."

"Maybe."

"The old bloodlines will kill for it."

"Apparently."

The leader studied him.

"You don't know what the journal proves."

"I don't need to."

"Then why die for it?"

Haruki tightened his grip on the knife.

"I'm not."

The leader looked towards the route Takeda and Minamoto had taken. Understanding passed across his face.

"You are delaying us."

"Yes."

The man almost smiled.

"A temporary mercy."

"Those still count."

The first attacker moved. Haruki met them, caught the descending wrist, turned beneath the strike and drove the folding knife into the attacker's side. The blade was too short, the angle poor. Still, it went in. The attacker struck him across the jaw. Haruki hit the wall. The second attacker drove a knee into his injured ribs. Something tore inside him. He fell. A boot pinned his knife hand to the stone.

The leader approached.

"You chose strangers over your own life."

Haruki tasted blood.

"They stopped being strangers underground."