The Blood Sword (Book One of The Blood Sword Series)

Chapter Ten: Joe

Joe sat in silence in his office thinking hard about the book he had just finished reading. There was a knock on his office door and Sam peeked in.

'You called me boss?' he asked

'Yeah Sam, come in and have a seat.' Sam did closing the door behind him. Once he sat down and was comfortable, Joe motioned to the book. 'I think I may have made a big mistake recruiting Hunter.' Sam's eyes widened in shock

'What? Why? You saw how well she could handle herself, she is an amazing fighter.' Sam said stunned 'You said more than a dozen times that she would make a great agent.'

'I still think that.' Joe agreed. 'What I did not take into account was the Bushido code.' Sam frowned. 'Bushido is the code the Samurai of feudal Japan followed. I knew from the start Hunter trained in the samurai's forging art, and the man that raised her was the last of a long line of famous and powerful samurai. What I did not believe was Hunter herself is an actual living samurai who follows the original code of the warrior's way. Or the bushido code.' Sam shook his head.

'I am sorry Joe,' He said unconcerned 'I still don't see how this matters. I know little about samurai, but I know they were serious bad asses and no one could stand against them in fair battle.'

'Do you know what the first rule all samurai learn?' Joe said with a sigh. 'It boils down to death before disloyalty to your master. The samurai were the protectors of the highest nobles. The shoguns and emperors. Their one duty in life is to give everything to protect their masters.' Joe leaned forward and looked Sam right in the eye. 'Their master Sam. Like a slave. Like what we fight to stop every day.' Sam paled shaking his head.

'You mean she thinks she is a slave to the organization, that she owes us fidelity or something?' He demanded

'No.' Joe said relieved Sam was seeing the problem. 'Me Sam. She thinks I am her new master. She has sworn her oath of loyalty to me' Sam's eyes widened in shock.

'Well shit Joe. What the hell are we going to do about this?' he asked 'We cannot have her running around here thinking she is your slave or something.' He froze and looked to Joe panicked. 'Don't they kill themselves or something if they fail in their duty?'

'Yes, if they fail in battle, or dishonor their code.' Joe stood. 'I want to talk to her before I decide anything. I have some questions I need to ask her about all this.' Sam nodded his agreement and the two left the office together. They got into the elevator. 'Computer, locate recruit O'Ryan.'

'Recruit O'Ryan is in her living quarters. Would you like to go to the eighth floor?' a computerized female said.

'Yes.' Joe replied. When the elevator opened, Joe stopped at the wave of warm air hit him. It was always chilly this deep into the base. All of the occupied apartments had their doors open. Lt. Kane was just coming out of this apartment. He smiled seeing Joe and Sam.

'You know, I had doubts when I saw them dragging that big forge in here piece by piece, but now I have to say I am damn happy to have our new neighbor. This is the first time since I moved down here that my apartment has been a comfortable temperature.'

'I take it that means Hunter is using her forge.' Sam chuckled. Kane nodded.

'Yeap. She fired it up a few hours ago.' He shook his head. 'I just hope those kids in there do not annoy her enough to make her close her door.' Kane waved and headed for the elevator.

Joe and Sam went to Hunter's room and entered through the open door. Joe looked for the blood sword and the daggers but the only thing on the bench was the sheaths, grips, and steel hand guards. They went to the forge and found a group of trainees near the door watching as Hunter hammered a glowing lump of metal.