The Judas Stones - Chapter 17

“15, 16, 17, 18.”

            “Must you always count out the numbers when we do this?” Mikhail asked his tone more than a little exasperated.

            “If you’re too tired or spent to keep up just relax and watch me then,” Kiko smiled and she completed another stroke.

            “That as you know by now is an impossibility, I’ve always been a willing and eager participant in these exchanges between us, its just that do we always have to try and set a new record each time we’re together?” he offered.

            “You sound like you’re getting old and you know what else you’ve made me loose count, now I have start all over again, please less talking and more concentration on the task at hand and this time try and keep up,” the Kunoichi smiled.

            “That’s it I quit,” Mikhail said collapsing.

            Kiko stopped her motion and frowned.

            “It’s no fun alone,” she pouted before rolling away onto her side, pulling her knees up and clasping her hands around them in a classic sulky position.

            “That sulking trick is old, you really need to add something new to your repertoire, I’ve seen this show before,” he flatly toned.

            “And you need to develop more stamina,” Kiko shot back.

            “I’ve got plenty,” he volleyed back as his hand tentatively touched her shoulder, before she flinched it free, but her movement was not as defiant as she had intended it to be.

            Mikhail took the cue and rolled onto his side, a finger reaching out and brushing against the middle of her shoulder blades.   She didn’t move away as he continued tracing about her back, her softness so paradoxical to her hard bodied form.  A few more fingers joined the foray as they slid and sloped about the contours of her exquisite back,  the tiny drop offs from raised muscles and the gorgeous curves of her bones providing a most seductive slalom run for him. The tracing grew wider, the curving sloop of her hips, the smooth hardness of her ass, the dip in the small of her back, the lovely run up to the gentle incline of her neck and the soft touch of her lobes.

            “I’m sorry,” he said slowly and tenderly.

            “I do it every time don’t I and I never learn.  It’s the competitive nature of the training, it’s hard to switch off,” Kiko said softly.

            “My fragile male ego will survive the beating it takes from our workout sessions, in fact it probably does it good, but from now on just beat me in silence when we’re doing push ups or sit ups, I know you’ll always be the better,” he said kissing the back of her neck lightly. 

            Kiko’s purring warmly encouraged more kisses as her arms swept back to find his stem her hands moulding its flaccid form into an erect hard throbbing pole.  His kisses, hot and moist graduated from her neck to her ear; his tongue dancing about it his hot breath wetted her in passion.  She turned her head to kiss him and nearly drown ecstasy as his tongue throated her, Kiko’s body quivered in delight, her hand tugging, urging his cock to find and impale her as she raised her leg.  Mikhail pushed inside her warm yielding receptacle. Kiko surging her hips a few times to consume all of him, before her leg slipped over his lower body and their motion started. 

            She paced them, he was terribly excited, a fact that raced her emotions just as much, but she slowed them to a manageable rhythm so they could enjoy each other for a while.  Soon her pace slowed even more, she twitched and then a slow low rolling moan began that Mikhail built into a scream of delirious passion.  A quick slid of his arms cradled her gently off the floor on her side as his hands cupped and stroked her tits.  His hips rocketed away, the thrusting piston accelerating inside her as she writhed against him.  Kiko jerked and bucked as he plunged into her in passion until she slowly took up the chase for him. 

            Mikhail felt her magic instantly, her hips and pelvis swirling him into her vortex.  She rubbed and stroked and caressed him to the edge, she could feel the maddening hardness and the drumbeat pulsing of his ready to explode shaft, she kept him there, dancing her pussy slowly for a fraction of a second that must have seemed an eternity to him before she gave him release.  Her hips jack hammered and pulled everything from him as he clung to her, her arched leg ensuring he couldn’t break free.  Her thrusts slowed as he did, before she resumed with a few deep draughts up and down his stem to finish him.  She smiled slipped free turned and wiggled into his arms their lips softly caressing as they recovered.

            “It’s so magical with you every time,” Kiko whispered into his ear as they clung to each other.

            “But always so short,” he added, completing the end of her sentence for the both of them as he brushed back her silky long hair from her face. 

            Kiko caught the tips of a few of his fingers with the edge of her mouth and kissed them slowly and succulently, her tongue pulling on them in a most arousing fashion as she could begin to feel between her legs as he swelled.  The Kunoichi moved her hips against his member grinding softly as she teased him at the entrance to her as she wondered at the events that had brought them together and the person, her blood sister, Claire. 

            “He needs someone he can count on for this mission, I can’t make it so he asked me if I could recommend someone,” Claire had told her.

            It had been that simple and that complicated as it had turned out.  Extremely effective as a team they had completed the mission well ahead of schedule and soon found they were very compatible in many other ways and it had simply grown into what they shared today, a complex relationship that gave them no security or a future together beyond the moment they now shared.  Claire had warned her that nothing good would come of it, giving her own heartbreak with Joseph as the example.  Kiko just listened, smiled and ignored it, Mikhail offered her a chance to live outside her tightly control veneer that the world saw, to explore her passion and vulnerability, to allow herself to be loved and love back.

            Mikhail brushed her hair away from her face, his soft fingers gliding over her cheeks, he swept her long hair over her shoulders and folded it up into the back of her neck as his other arm joined it and held it there.  Kiko lowered her face to his, pulling her hips up as she did, just barely taking his tip inside her. 

            “This time I promise not to count,” she smiled before they each disappeared into their shared dream.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         

            They’d avoided the awkwardness of the goodbyes by simply never saying or acknowledging them, a light kiss and a hug, just like a departing couple would do as they went their separate ways to work in the morning each fully expecting to meet up again that evening, a last connecting touch to remind the other of the other.  Kiko closed the door to her hotel room and padded over to the desk where Mikhail had left a manila envelope containing all the intelligence he had gathered for her, the Kunoichi poured herself a tea, sitting down she torn open the seal, pulled the documents free and began pouring over them.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         

            Sukhum was a booming city, thanks to the terminus of a series of oil and gas pipelines at its seaport that fed far off parts of energy hungry Europe, but what left the city could in some easy way be described as cleaner that what entered the city.  Drugs, prostitution, organized crime and off course vices of all kinds and it was one of those vices that Kiko was about to squeeze herself into. 

            The Opera House had retained its name only, what played there now was not Beethoven, but Black Jack, gone was Rossini to be replaced by Roulette amongst others, all staring on a strictly controlled play list and run by the Russian Mafia, this local chapter run exclusively by a prima donna any opera company would love and dread to have, a woman by the name of Svetlana Spirocova. 

            Kiko swung her car into the circular drive that led up to the main doors before bringing the vehicle to an abrupt stop on the on the far side of the drive directly opposite the doors.  She exited the car quickly and elegantly activating the alarm as she went depositing the keys in her small clutch purse and a large bank note into the hand of the protesting valet who instantly stopped yelling at her to move the car. 

            The Kunoichi glided up the stairs, her shimmering black silk gown caressing her lithe shape, the fine woven strands clinging to her curves as she moved, the changing light giving life to the material as it appeared to dance over her succulent form.  As she ascended the steps more eyes fell upon her as one leg swept free of the dress, the silk curtain parting in a wrap around opening as it slipped off her full firm thigh revealing a long willowy leg for the briefest of seconds before it disappeared back under cover.  The dress left nothing to the imagination, deep V neck plunging neckline and backline, both stopping just before showing critical parts of anatomy on either side of her body left the onlooker breathless for more.  Her hair was ornately done in an up do and held in place with several stylish hair combs, her flawless make up and wonderfully sleek Asian body structure completing the alluring deadly package named Kiko Matsumora.  The leg and Kiko vanished as she reached the entrance and moved inside past the open large wooden doors that had seen better days.  Pockmarked with kicks and cigarette burns and tattooed with peeling sections of paint, the inside was no better.

            “Strictly in it for the money, well I can’t say I blame them,” Kiko mused as she walked over to the cashier housed inside what used to be the ticket sellers booth when the place had been an Opera House. 

            “Kiko Matsumora I believe you have an account set up for and my marker ready?” she question glancing at look at the GSh-18 pistol that lay on the table next to the laptop the cashier was plucking away on. 

            “A mix of sophistication and not so much sophistication I see,” Kiko quipped noting the use of the laptop and data base next to the gun.

            “Da,” the man answered not looking up from the screen as he patted the weapon.

            “You must be very high roller to have marker this big,” he said as he turned toward her and sized her up.  “Yakuza, I’m thinking,” he added with a toothy smile.

            “Nyet!” Kiko added in an indignant voice as she scooped up her gambling plates from his extended hand and flounced away.

            She walked into the main room, pausing at the top of a small downward set of stairs to observe. 

            “Well its not Monte Carlo,” she thought in a resigned voice as she made her way down the stairs trying not to trip on the frayed carpet that curled up at the end of each step, not that she could see much of as its view was obscured by waves of thick stale cigarette smoke that blanketed the entire large room. 

            Her eyes scanned the entire room picking out details, mapping people and places as she fixed in her mind the details her training demanded and indeed her life may depend on.  Kiko brushed around tables as she serpentined her way toward the table she’d decided on while at the top of the stairs not long ago, her eyes just as active as those upon her. 

            “Do any of you gentlemen have any objection to my joining the game?” she announced her body positioned at the perfect angle and distance from the table all four of them to get a healthy look at her.

            A quick glance from all them and a chorus of nyet was met with a warm smile and a taken up chair, she crossed her legs to give her fortunate tablemates something to admire besides the cards in their hands, the silk material cascading slowly off her knee and up her creamy thigh. 

            “You are such a pleasure, finally to have some refinement at this table,” one of them said.  “Too bad we will have to take all your money,” he added taking note of the stack of plates she had placed on the table. 

            “Oh well at least you will still have your looks,” another added as he dealt the cards.

            “Well at least that will leave me still one up on you,” Kiko shot back with a smile curling at the corners of her mouth as she ended the sentence.

            “Such a large amount of money in that marker of yours you must be very high up in the Yakuza,” another added.

            “More likely very high up because she is good on her back,” a third man added to a rousing chorus of laughter from the assembled masses save one. 

            Kiko who had picked up the cards, shuffled and was in the process of dealing when all the banter about her was going on merely smiled as she flicked the cards about to the various players.

            “The part about the Yakuza is not true as for the other part of the sentence all I can say is I’ve never had any complaints only exhausted compliments from my partners, remember that Boris when your all alone tonight in your bed, but perhaps if you stare at my legs any harder you can have a wet dream about me,” Kiko said calmly as she picked up her cards. 

            The table grew instantly silent from the put down, the men thankful for the arrival of the game so they didn’t have to trade jibes with this vixen any longer. 

            “That was as they say, beginners luck,” the man Kiko had called Boris said, tossing his cards away.

            “Only time and how much money you men are willing to lose to me will tell,” Kiko said as she watched the next hand being dealt.

            The Kunoichi wafted her long willowy arm out across the table her fingers splaying and then coming together as she drew each card toward her passing them in turn to her free hand as she repeated the operation drawing the card and the men closer to her.  Kiko opened the biding with a smile, the others studied her before one folded and the other three stayed upping the ante and playing a coordinated game of piling on which Kiko recognized immediately for what it was.

            “Since you can’t jump on me physically you’re ganging up on me metaphysically I see.  Not to worry I’m more than woman enough to handle you four in either scenario, but for just the present lets stay with the metaphysical,” she added as she met their raises and tossed away only one card.

            Just like men they tried the same trick again thinking it might work this time and scare her out of the hand as the money became very large.  Kiko merely saw and then rose one more time.

            “You know the definition of insanity don’t you boys, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” she smiled as she watched them one by one fold.

            She tossed her cards down and began to collect her money from the pot when a hand moved toward her cards.  Cat quick she grabbed the palm of the hand turned it over and pressed a finger into the palm.

            “Its impolite and rude to look at another’s cards before, during or after a hand, that’s why its called a bluff,” Kiko said softly as she turned the hand over and forced Boris to the edge of his chair his feet dancing on their toes to keep from slipping to his knees.

            “I don’t want a scene and I’m sure neither do you so I’m going to let go slowly, you’re going to inch back into your seat and all of us will just pretend this never happened,” Kiko said in a whisper soft voice into his ear as she slowly released pressure.

            The respect and suspicion level rose in tandem at the table for this beautiful woman while the losing continued.  Kiko played one winning hand after another, the men consoling themselves in the fact that while they were losing money they would have more tomorrow and that the company they were losing it to was in some way a consolation. 

            “I see the coffers are becoming rather bare at this table, gentlemen it has been a pleasure, but I think greener pastures await,” she said with a small turn of her head and a rising of her alluring eyebrows. 

            The men looked over at the far table in the corner and smiled.

            “Enjoy while you can,” one of them said.  “Soon you will be leaving our money at that table and your own.”

            “Strange I seem to have heard that phrase earlier this evening, but I can’t quite remember where,” she quipped before taking a turn around the table and kissing each one on the cheek.

            “This is for you Boris,” she purred before taking his lips and delivering a silken caress of promising hunger to his.  “That is a taste of what you will be missing this evening, if only you’d been nicer and well richer, I don’t date men who are broke.”

            The laughter fell away from her ears as she made her way over to the new table.  She had noticed that her stellar playing and looks had got her noticed by the right people and now her night was really to begin.

            “Svetlana Spirocova and you are?”

            “Now that would be a waste of time, since of course the woman who runs this casino and this district is going to know exactly who I am already just as I know you are Svetlana Spirocova, but for the sake of courtesy, Kiko Matsumora,” the Kunoichi answered as she took the woman’s hand.

            The two sized her other up even down the grip they held each others hand in.  Kiko took note of the woman, she was what men would call a hard beauty, all angles and lines that taken apart and perhaps even together didn’t add up to a stunningly attractive woman on first or even second glance, but the longer you looked you found something their, something challenging.  Kiko saw all that in a second and the sexual attraction men would find in her. 

            Svetlana wore her platinum blond hair pulled tight back and in a stylish bun, her make up was sparse but well applied her choice of attire was basic black, a body suit over which she’d placed a black blouse, half flat fashionable knee length boots finished the outfit.  She released Kiko’s hand and moved around the table motioning for her guest to take a seat.  The Kunoichi chose a seat off to the corner a choice that kept her back from the crowd and up against the wall. 

            “You’re a bit overdressed for my establishment, not that I’m complaining as it gives the room a sense of class, still it makes me wonder who you are trying to impress?” Svetlana said as she shuffled the decks of cards and placed them into the shoe while her gaze held fast on Kiko.

            “I don’t need to impress anyone, this is strictly for me, but I’ll take the compliment none the less,” Kiko said as her fingers very blatantly played with the frayed edges of the green felt of the card table. 

            “So have you come to take my money or my life or perhaps both,” the Czarina of the casino said with a smile.

            “I’m afraid you have me confused with someone else, but to satisfy both our curiosities please elaborate,” Kiko intoned.

            “Come Miss Matsumora you have quite a reputation, one that I’m told is well earned, as an arms dealer as well as a dealer in other ancillary businesses that go along with that field.  Your history precedes you no matter how hard you try and suppress it,” Svetlana cautioned.

            “History is written by the victors and usually embellished by the same for purposes of advantage, but I concede there is a kernel of truth in what you know about me, but rest assured my dear woman, this is a friendly call, business is part of it, but business that would be to your advantage as it relates to your rather bothersome neighbours to the north,” Kiko stated before adding slyly.  “Of course business can also have a pleasurable aspect to it as well; I see no need to separate the two.”

            Svetlana got the gist of the statement as she passed the shoe to Kiko her hand lingering just a factor on it so that she could feel the touch of the exotic beauty she was bantering with.

            “Shall we start with Baccarat and see where that takes us as the evening progresses?” Kiko said her eyes not even on her opponents around the table as she began dealing the cards from the shoe. 

            The table engaged in a several rounds of Baccarat mainly to get a feel for each other, search out weaknesses in either playing or strategy, at least that’s what the other players at the table did, Kiko and Svetlana used the time to trade glances, the odd furtive touch of legs, which Kiko initiated and was rebuffed several times before the woman chased back to her, but mostly they cleaned the table of other players so they could have it to themselves.  One by one the confidants and companions of her inner circle where driven from the table, their resources exhausted by the hunger of the two alpha females who devoured them before turning their attention on each other. 

            “You have not made mention of that information I may find useful Kiko, tell me are you holding out on me?” the crime boss asked as she dealt out the cards.

            Kiko carefully picked up her cards her face betraying no sign of emotion only the blank face and a serious and very good card player.  The silence grew closer and closer to the breaking point for Svetlana who was not used to being put off like this for an answer.  Kiko let it build up and little more, it was a battle of wills and she was determined to draw first blood, she watched the woman for signs she was close to going over the edge and at just that point she placed her cards on the table face down stood half way up, leaned over and whispered into Svetlana’s ear, her mouth so close the woman could feel the steam and warm watery words as the gurgled into her head, the intoxicating mix of information and desire swirling about her in a desirous narcotic mix.  When she had finished her recitation Kiko lingered for just a second, in that second Svetlana’s mind raced with the possibilities of what happen between them, then the Kunoichi drew away slowly giving the women a close call with her lips, so close Svetlana could almost taste Kiko’s lipstick. 

            “Some information is better past on in a more intimate setting wouldn’t you agree?” Kiko said as she picked up her cards.

            “Besides now you have several trusted employees to check out what I have just told you leaving the two us to the fun and games while they do the work,” Kiko added.

            The mob boss smiled then motioned with a flick of her hand for one of the dismissed males from the card game to come closer.  A quick rely of information and he moved away tapping a few colleagues on the arms as he went, they dutifully fell in behind him. 

            “You have them well trained,” Kiko smiled as the game resumed.

            “Yes I do, but sometimes I wish they weren’t, there is something exciting and dangerous in confronting something you can’t quite control, the experience can so very exhilarating,” Svetlana answered her eyes blazing.

            “Fun and games indeed,” Kiko answered leaving no misunderstanding between them.

            Baccarat is a very old and very simple card game but with an almost infinite amount of outcomes and ways to lose even when things look certain for victory.  Card counting is useless since many decks of cards are put into the playing shoe, it is more a game of nerve and deception mixed well with luck, Kiko had all the qualities to play the game well and tonight she was on her form, her winnings quickly piling up well her opponent with the luxury of owning the establishment could draw on the houses resources to constantly replenish her gambling loses.  The cashier dutifully brought more gambling plates, but each time he did he seemed just that much more on edge, his edgy glances at his boss and his nasty ones at Kiko told as much, his latest trip confirming if looks could kill, Kiko would be dead, the Kunoichi knew it was time act, she reached for the shoe.

            “I think this should be our final game of the evening and as a patron of your establishment I request the honour of naming the game and the stakes,” Kiko seductively requested as she stacked her plates and pushed them to the centre of the table.

            “I am listening,” the Russian woman answered.

            “One game of Blackjack, loser pays the winner in the currency of her choice are we in agreement,” Kiko asked.

            Svetlana glanced at the rather sizable pile of currency she owed to this woman and then back at her uncertain how to answer a situation she was not used to being in.

            “Currency can come in many forms and be paid out and back in many, so many ways,” Kiko almost purred reassuring her.

            Svetlana smiled back and Kiko passed them each a card face down and then another face up.  Svetlana smiled as she looked at her cards then flipped them over.

            “Twenty will require the maximum effort from you and I intend to extract that from you Kiko and I want to be paid in full,” Svetlana hungered.

            “Double down,” Kiko said as she flipped over a pair of queens.

            A crowd started the gather round the table, mostly curious onlookers, but Kiko kept a watch on all numbering and memorising their positions.  She also noticed the three former players had returned to the fold, a small nod to Svetlana lost on all except Kiko. 

            “The game’s coming to a head, in more ways than one,” she mused as she drew the next card from the shoe and flipped it face up on the table along side the other two.

            Well, double down again, things continue to build, don’t they?” Kiko quipped as a third queen appeared.

            The patrons stirred in anticipation of the next card, Svetlana crossed her legs stretched an arm along the back of the chair and smiled.

            “You do know how to prolong the agony Kiko, I just hope you can prolong the pleasure for as long, the odds are long against you,” the Russian answered.

            Kiko watched the crowd surge forward as she withdrew her card, didn’t even look at it as she tossed it in the air.  The ace wafted down landing across the queens as the crowd buzzed, some doing quick calculations as to the amount this beautiful and mysterious woman had won, others wondering if she would live to collect it and still others giving odds on that.

            “An enchanting evening all round, but all good things must come to an end, regrettably,” Kiko said.  “I think its time for me to collect my winnings and retire for the evening.”

            “I assume you want to be paid in American dollars,” Svetlana said her voice suddenly devoid of the sexual tension she’d had all during their time together. 

            “No,” Kiko answered. 

            “If not American then Euros or perhaps Yen,” the Russian woman asked surprised by the answer she’d heard.

            “The bet was the winner gets paid in the currency of her choice and as I related earlier currency comes in many different forms and as such has value beyond the mere measure of these gambling plates or cash,” Kiko said as she half stood and leaned across the table closer to Svetlana.

            “I’ll take that necklace you’re wearing Miss Spirocova,” Kiko smiled as she held open her hand and watched the woman’s face change from expectation to anger in an instant.

            “That is impossible,” Svetlana said coldly, her mood becoming darker with each word.

            “Nothing is impossible, all that’s required is the will to make it possible and since I won our little game and therefore the bet I want what I want and I have to will to collect it,” Kiko said back just as frostily her hand still held out

            “You would do better to take to money Miss Matsumora in that way you may still live but I confess even that is now in danger,” Svetlana said in a very icy tone that was all business.

            Kiko watched the crowd take their queue from her words and begin to back away, the void filled by Svetlana’s men, five big brutes in total.  She merely smiled and relaxed back into her chair while casually playing with her four cards from the game.

            “Are you going to pay me what I won or is your word worth nothing, that can be a very dangerous thing to let happen in your profession,” Kiko offered slyly as she baited the woman.

            “As a guest in my house you show a decided lack of manners and graciousness, something I’m sure we can correct or eliminate from you Miss Matsumora.  The information you told me earlier has proven to be correct, for that I thank you and to show you I’m not with mercy I will let you live, but just barely.  One would only ask for such a seemingly insignificant piece of jewellery as this stone necklace I’m wearing instead of the rather large sum of cash, because they know more than they should.   No Miss Kiko Matsumora you have been playing two games for most of the evening, a game I was entirely allowing you to play and now the game is over, for you at least.  You see Kiko I’m aware what this stone represents, what it means to have and what not so innocent people such as yourself are willing to do to acquire it and now your about to find out what I’m willing to do to retain it for DOOM, my business partner, albeit a silent one, which is more than I can say you’ll be,” Svetlana said as she motioned to her men to seize the woman.

            Before the final words had escaped her mouth Kiko put her hand up in a casual gesture of a pause to the advancing men.

            “If I’m going to be ruffed up I want to make sure I look my best before we start gentlemen and lady,” she answered smartly.

            The Kunoichi raised her hands and carefully padded her hair making sure her coif was perfect, a touch here and there as she moved her hands about smoothed what was already perfection.  Kiko touched a few loose strands around her ears as she did the air was filled with a faint buzzing sound, like that of a far off swarm of bees only these insects had rather deadly stingers.  Svetlana barely had the time to register what had happened when she was pressed up against the wall by the point of Kiko’s sword! 

            “While your heart leaves your throat I’ll explain what just occurred and then what’s going to happen,” Kiko said with a wry smile and curled the corners of her mouth.

            “The blade of the sword is flesh coloured and contoured to fit snugly but flexibly against my spine, the plunging backline of my dress allows easy removal once of course I insert one of my hair combs into the blade to act has the handle.  What’s the matter Svetlana you seem a bit starry eyed at the moment as do some of your men.”

            The casino boss’s eyes darted about, her head not daring to move as Kiko had the blade pressed against her throat so much so that it was pushing in the skin on her windpipe.  She moved from body to body, they all share two common traits save four of them, they were dead and each had a small silver star imbedded in either their face or neck, the other four had one of Kiko’s playing cards deeply plunged into their throats.

            “Just the merest flick of a finger is all that is required to send the little stars whizzing on their way.  They look so delicate so fragile shimmering from my ears don’t they, certainly no one would suspect they were miniaturized throwing stars coated in a lethal and instantly acting poison,” Kiko offered.

            “You will be dead before you leave my place Miss Matsumora my people are very loyal and will never let you leave,” Svetlana stated.

            “You had better hope they aren’t as loyal as that because just before they kill me I’ll kill you, personally I’m not afraid to die, how about you, I say we test both those theories right now!” Kiko questioned grabbing the woman’s wrist and pulling her around the table into her arms.

            With the blade of her sword against Svetlana’s neck and Kiko chest pressed into her back the two began to make their way to the exit, the crowd a mix of buzzing excitement and shifting bodies as the mob bosses men look for an opening to do one of two things, either kill the Japanese woman or their own boss, most were not sure which would yield the better reward, but some were more than sure, these were the ones Kiko searched for.  

            “They see the opportunity for advancement and the perfect chance to do it without recrimination, but I need her to be alive just a little longer,” Kiko thought as her eyes flashed about picking out her targets as they crept along.

            Svetlana thought about escaping her mind telling her a quick jab of an elbow would free her, she was just about primed for the action when her ears buzzed and she saw several more of her henchmen fall, she relaxed her arm.

            “A wise choice my good woman,” Kiko said warningly as they moved toward the stairs up to the entrance.

            The blade scraped and turned in slight elevations against the woman’s neck the light occasionally catching the flat of the sword and reflecting it back into Svetlana’s face the heat of the glow only serving to add somehow the menacing predicament she was caught in.  They reached the top of the stairs, Kiko’s eyes flashed to the cashier in the booth or more importantly to the gun she had scene when she’d entered.  The Kunoichi caught the flash of cold blue steel a second before he felt the deadly steel of one of her stars. 

           

            Claire’s blood sister picked up four men coming in the entrance and readying to rush up the stairs, without hesitating she wrist locked Svetlana’s arm to give her some tension and flung the woman back on her heels and down the stairs, the suddenness of the motion achieving the desired result, a momentary lapse in decision on the part of her on rushing assailants.  Kiko sprang backwards her hands grasping the balustrade as her body inverted and she tumbled over herself in a backward walkover her form and grace scoring a perfect ten on the makeshift balance beam.  The Kunoichi pumped her arms as he pushed off at the three quarter point in the revolution, she twisted in the air as she righted herself before her legs flared out her sides at exactly the right time the force the stretch injecting her heel points into the throats of two minions for a fraction of second before she pulled them free and landed silently at the entrance doors.  The sword flashed forward and then behind her, the keenness of the blade slicing into the soft tissue of two more victims, ramming through the bone and out the back, a twist of the blade a sharp retraction and all that showed was a small trace of blood on the blade, the strikes so quick they barely had time to leave a mark.  Kiko reached out an arm gathered Svetlana back into her fold, blade at her throat once more, two quick glances telling her the way was clear to her car whilethe second fell upon the two minions who bore the puncture holes of her Prada heels, their hands clutched over their throats in a white hard grip, streams of crimson braking through the cracks between their fingers.

            Down the stairs the duo moved into the moonlit night, Kiko’s heels clicking on the pavement as the duo crossed the short span of drive to her car waiting on the other side.  With keys already in her hand Kiko pushed the remote starter and the Subaru Impreza WRX roared to life.  The female ninja and her human shield bumped against the side of the vehicle then inched their way along the side, across the back and finally up the drivers side where Kiko reached for and opened the door her hand closing around the Heckler and Koch 9mm handgun she had stashed in the map box on the inside of the door. 

            “Get in!” Kiko said as she violently shoved the woman down and across the driver’s seat into the passenger seat.  With a thud Svetlana tumble against the door but still had the presence of mind to try the door handle.

            “Don’t be so fucking stupid!” Kiko barked at her for the clumsy attempt at escape.

            That abrupt glance down gave two opportunists in her organization that time to act; they dashed for the car, their hands clenching revolvers, fingers on the trigger.  Both were just in the motion of squeezing off a round when Kiko squeezed off two of her own.  The stars that hand once dangled and dazzled as part of her earrings had been used up, but the stems that held them had not.  A flick of each hand launched the darts across the void and into the necks of the two, their razor honed edges slicing the carotid artery on both, they took several steps more then fell to the ground a fountain of blood shooting into the air from the severed blood line.  That was all the time Kiko needed, the car roared from its spot and into the night, the lights fading fast as Svetlana’s men scrambled to cars and the chase.

            Kiko drove with one hand on the wheel and one hand pointed at her hostage, gun levelled at her head.

            “When I say shift, do it!” Kiko said coldly.

            “Why should I?” Svetlana huffed in a surprising show of defiance.  “It will only aid in your escape,”

            “Because if you don’t I’ll blow your head off and bounce what’s left of it off your window.  Shift!”

            Svetlana up shifted the car, the engine roared as they raced around a corner, took a sharp left and headed out of town, the car climbing out of the valley of the port town.

            “This round is very treacherous, you need to slow down or you will kill us both!” the mob boss said as her hands white knuckled on the dash board.

            Kiko ran the car around a hair pin; the Subaru’s all wheel drive griping the road like glue.

            “Shift.”

            The window blew outward the glass shattering away and spilling about the lap of Svetlana as the cold night air rushed in and smacked against her hands that had covered her head instinctively from the blast.

            “Do as your told and you may live thorough this, the next one goes right between your eyes, shift!”

            Svetlana obeyed and the car accelerated into the mid 90’s, the road grew more narrow and twisty but Kiko just kept pushing the car harder, her one arm swinging in and out as the swung round ninety degree switchbacks with effortless ease.  The Kunoichi took another turn as the car sped them toward the mountain spa town of Naa.  Kiko slowed the car and pulled into a dark and deserted lookout point and rest area at the side of the mountain. She ordered Svetlana out of the car with a wave of the gun which she tossed on the passenger seat as she came round the vehicle an envelope in her hand

            “Take this, inside there’s a passport, bus and train ticket and more than enough cash, get on the bus that comes through here in an hour, take it to Atarbekovka, get on the train to Moscow, go to the Interpol Office and tell them all you know.  There’s more cash there, more than enough to get you to wherever you want to resettle, any country, you name it, you’ll be taken care of for the rest of your life, all you have to do is cooperate and all it cost you is this,” Kiko said as she yanked the chain that held the stone from off the woman’s neck.

            “And if I don’t?” Svetlana said rubbing her neck from the force of Kiko’s retrieval.

            “Well then I can put a bullet in you right now if you want to be difficult or perhaps I should just leave you and let your loyal employees deal with you.  Something tells me my bullet would be faster and more much more merciful compared to what they’d do to you before they kill you for screwing up so bad, but the choice is yours, so choose,” Kiko said.

            “Before I take the money and leave I am curious to know how we would have fared together had all this not happened.  Was it all a game tonight or not,” Svetlana said as she slowly brought her face closer to Kiko’s.

            “A game within a game but of course a game can sometimes have more than one winner,” Kiko said softly before their lips met.

            Svetlana was a very good and distracting kisser, as her mouth opened her tongue darted about and carefully pried open Kiko’s lips and worked inward to find the hungry and eagerly receptive one of Kiko’s.  The Russian woman controlled the action and tempo of the kiss while she carefully bent one of her legs back and up her hand trailing down and pulling free the small but useful knife from a concealed point within her boot.  She brought the knife up and with a quick thrust and imbedded it into the void Kiko had created between them a fraction of a second before. 

            “I should have known and luckily I did,” Kiko smiled then added a rueful laugh.

            Svetlana balanced the knife in her hands as she prepared to advance only the strange acrid taste of iron in her mouth stopping her short as she put a finger to her lips and saw the telltale sign of blood on them.

            “Koga Technique, the Poison Kiss,” Kiko smiled as she spit out a small plastic pouch from her mouth. 

            Svetlana staggered back a few steps then began to laugh for a few seconds before she fell to her knees and smiled.

            “I may have missed but I hear the approaching cars of my men, at least I know I’ll soon have company in hell,” she coughed.

            “You create the hell you inhabit and yours is finished, enjoy it while you can,” Kiko said coldly as she turned and walked away clicking the remote for the trunk as she went. 

            The Kunoichi scanned the lid and floor of the trunk picking various weapons and ammunition and a few other things out of their racks and storage holds before closing the portable gun shop with a slam of the trunk and walking around to the front of the car jamming a clip in the Uzi as she went and pulling on a set of goggles.  The muzzle spat fire as the windshield of the Impreza exploded in a crystal shower for a few seconds, Kiko pulled the clip free checked the level of the ammo then slotted it back into place as she walked to the car picking up a shard along the way she cut at her dress and ripped it away leaving her with a mini skirt.  A quick wrapping of the material around one hand and she had all the glass cleared off the seat and dash, she roared away just as her pursuers headlights picked her up.

            “Come on boys, my bloods up now!” she said.

            The streets of the town were narrow, perfect for her car, its all wheel drive and rally modifications gave her just the slightest of advantages.  Kiko swung the car sharply in a narrow street the headlights closing fast as her followers proved more competition than she thought they would be.  Headlights soon illuminated the way for a hail of bullets, the air alive with lead that ripped into the car’s back end and blew out the rear window send and shower of broken glass all about.  Kiko picked up the Uzi swung her arm around and fired out the back window spraying the lead car with death before the clip was exhausted, she dropped the gun on the passenger seat picked up her handgun and squeeze of the remaining 10 shots in the clip before ejecting the spent cartridge and jamming another in from the seat beside her. 

            She sped on, her head tucked down, weaving the car from side to side as best she could on the narrow street as they continued to rip bullets into the car and about the deserted street.  Kiko downshifted hard, took a corner went up a short street that led back to the main road through town.  Just at the intersection she veered hard right then left send the passenger side front and back wheels up the lip of a protruding concrete set of stairs, at the perfect time she turned the wheel left again and the car’s very front right side caught the edge of a telephone pole send the Subaru in the air and spinning backward.  The Kunoichi jammed the stick into reverse, cranked the engine and shifted through the matrix of gears, the engine revving as the clutch ground through the motions only to be drowned out by the slamming of the suspension as the car bottomed out on the asphalt!

            Kiko picked up a fresh magazine clamped the Uzi between her steel thighs and pulled it free, she relaxed, let the cartridge fall to the floor, inserted a fresh clip between her thighs and worked the shaft into place.  With one eye on the road and the other on her chasers Kiko released the steering wheel column lock and rammed it down as far as it would go, her lower thighs and calves locking around it while her hands, now free, picked up a second Uzi and pointed them both out the front window and pulled the triggers tight.

            Death ripped into the vehicle, the engine exploded in a shower of sparks then flames as Kiko emptied round after round into the increasingly unstable car that meandered dangerously all over the road before turning sharply to one side at too high a speed and rolled end over end the flames jetting out everywhere the vehicles momentum stopped as it hit a tree and exploded into a ball of fire that engulfed it and the tree in seconds.

            “One down one to go,” Kiko smiled as the second car came on to pick up the chase.

            The female ninja worked the gears again, the clutch burning as she forced the car into a 180 to right it.  Kiko worked the engine but the clutch was jammed and would go up past second, the lights and the bullets from behind closed fast on her.  The car was filled with holes and smoke as the projectiles flew past her, the dash, the firewall and into the engine, her back tires were blown away sending the car skidding across the road toward the small stone fence that acted as the barrier to the edge of the road and the sheer drop down the mountain.  At the last second she turned the wheel enough so that she hit the wall at just enough of an angle to bounce off skid across to the other side of the road where her car rammed into the side of her assailants spinning it around and out of control as it crashed into the stone fence and stayed there wedged in place.

            Kiko stopped jammed her car into reverse and smoked what was left of the shredded tires into a white cloud that acted as camouflage for her motion until the muzzle fire from her arsenal revealed her location and by that time it was too late.  Her smashed backend rammed into the side of their car, caving in the door and violently shaking the semi conscious occupants as the vehicle moved further through the destroyed wall.  She was out of the car, gun in hand and crouched as she crept along the side of her auto then popped up, finger on the trigger.  One man in the back seat raise a weak arm, his gun waving around loosely as if held by a drunken man, Kiko jammed the handle of her weapon down hard on his slamming it against the top of the door, the gun falling harmlessly to the ground as he screamed in pain, his hand shattered from the blow, the remaining three occupants where all in various states of hurt and without weapons, but alive.

            “You’re a long way from home boys, but don’t worry I can get you back there sooner than you think 230 horsepower can move a mountain or a least move a car down a mountain,” Kiko said unemotionally as he walked back to her car and rammed it into reverse jamming one of the machineguns into the seat and against the gas pedal before walking away.

            Blue smoke, the sound of metal wheel rims on pavement, a racing screaming engine, the scrape of steel against rock then finally the rolling crash of crushing metal down the mountainside climaxed by a fireball of gasoline.

            “I hope Mikhail had that car insured,”