The Shadow Circle

Chapter-9

"So, how much do you know about the history of Japan?" He asked when we were safe in his motel room. I had an adjacent room, in case someone tried to kill me again. I was trying to open the package Arianna had hidden. Seriously though, what was in the thing? The ten commandments?!

"Kai, I'm American," I told him.

"I thought you were Israeli," he said.

"Dual citizenship," I said.

"Right, so it's safe to assume you know nothing?" He asked.

"You know nothing, Jon Snow."

He smiled. "I like that show."

"Yes, I can see why you like it," I said. "Lots of bloodshed and a crazy body count."

He clipped a magazine of bullets into his gun. I was standing near the door of the room, prepared to bolt out if something went wrong. Knowing me, there's a good possibility something would.

"Come in and shut the door," he said, dumping the loaded weapon into his drawer.

I stepped in and shut the door, staying close.

"You're not very discreet in your expressions of mistrust, are you?" He sighed.

But my mind was already somewhere else.

"What's that?" I asked. I dumped the package onto the dressing table of the small room and walked up to pick up the silver star shaped object.

"That's a shuriken. A ninja star? Please put it down, you'll be at a disadvantage with both your hands injured," he advised, eyeing me nervously.

"It's pretty," I said, examining the sharp edges of the star blades. It was surprisingly heavy.

"Surprisingly people would disagree if it got too close," he said. He seemed to reconsider that. "Actually no, they wouldn't. They'd be dead."

With a tight smile I put the weapon down.

"The Shadow Circle?"

"Right," he said, moving over to sit on the bed. I stayed standing. I knew he wouldn't kill me, yet. But that didn't mean I was at ease, my body's natural instinct told me to stay the fuck away. Plus, I'd seen him kill when he was lounging on the couch in my living room with just a flick of his wrist.

"There was a period in Japan when the Kingdom was being ruled by the Shogun. A military commander," he started.

"I've read about that!" I said suddenly, memories of stuff that I'd read somewhere or seen on television fell into place slowly. I went and sat on the bed, next to him. I'd have preferred to stay standing but I was too tired.

"Do you know what the Sengoku period was?" He asked.

"Not exactly," I said. The name sounded familiar.

"It was a period of unrest where the local landlords or the daimyo rose up in rebellion against the Shogun. The Shogun had an entire army, spies and everything. How do you think the landlords won, then?" He asked.

I thought about that. "They had to have extra help. From the locals?"

"In a way. They hired their own little band of spies," he said. "Ninjas. But in actuality, the word 'spies' is sugarcoating their true purpose, they were more like mercenaries, assassins."

I shivered.

"That's when they realized that money could be made in secrets." His voice had taken a deeper tone, unintentionally dangerous. "That's when a group of them came together and formed the Shadow Circle. An order of spies who live in the shadows," he said.