Page 33 of Dragon 7

Kenji blinked. “Hear what?”

The noise was a thin metal whine that slid down from the north and climbed over the trees toward us.

Oh fuck.

“I think.” My spine went straight. “A plane is coming.”

Beside me, Kenji's hand drifted to the holster at his hip and rested there. “Don’t worry. The guns will be ready.”

“The war is starting now.”

“Not yet. That’s Akiro’s scout plane. We knew it was on the way.”

“But you didn’t know that Akiro would bomb Tokyo.” I let out a long breath, thinking about all the innocents who were already lost tonight. “Why would he do that? It doesn’t make sense.”

“That’s not our focus right now—”

“You control Japan. It needs to be—”

“One thing at a time, brother.” He scowled at me. “I am only one man.”

“No. You are the Dragon. That means you are more than one man.”

Kenji looked away, and. . .for some reason. . .that made my gut twist. I didn’t know why, but he was off.

All of this just felt. . .fucking off.

And for this war, we needed to be fully on.

A minute later, the plane sounds grew louder to the point where Kenji and Yoichi could finally hear it too.

Kenji’s thumb settled on the silver guard of his gun.

I checked the sky and saw the lights. Two red ones and a white one blinked in the black sky over the water, swelling larger by the second.

Fuck you, Father. We will win tonight. No matter what.

The shape behind those lights stayed dark. Seconds later, the moon caught the long line of a wing, then a curved belly, then the thin tail, and the rest of the plane held the same black as the night around it.

The sound rose into a thick drone and began to shape into a hard, flat buzz, filling the sky, crawling down through the trees, and pressing against my chest.

I gripped my mask.

The plane’s engine roared.

Louder.

Closer.

Growling, Yoichi increased the speed on the cart.

Scout or not, we need more time before the battle. And we have to get Nyomi off the goddamn island!

I gripped the locket tighter.

Soon, the antiaircraft gun let out a long, tearing boom that rolled across the water and shook the leaves over our heads.

A second gun answered it.