Just when Reaper had ordered Leo to kill Tom’s mother, Leo had noticed the same thing.
“We have a problem,” he said slowly.
“What now? Do I have to go there and kill her myself,” answered Reaper, eyes transfixed on the TV.
“I think we’ve got company. We have the right number of blips but some of them have stopped moving.”
Reaper spun round and watched as eight blips which had been moving, stopped and remained motionless. Of the thirty seven guards on duty, twenty five were stationary.
“But the system would tell us!” He spun around to his communications man. “What the hell is going on?”
It took him only fifteen seconds to find the anomaly and to reverse it. Seventeen new blips appeared on the screen. The nearest was over 200 metres away.
“Kill them all,” ordered Reaper.
Saki made his way to the end of the corridor. Two guards were positioned at the top of the stairs. Saki made his way towards them yawning and claiming he needed a drink. As he drew along side them with his arms outstretched in a yawning motion, he lashed out and struck them both simultaneously and with such force that neither would be conscious for at least eight hours. He then made his way down the staircase and noticed the security screen with new blips. They knew!
“We’ve miscalculated” Tom said. “It has taken too long to get to the house, the lights have already gone off, they’ll know something’s up.”
It was then that they heard the chilling sound of gunfire. Lela immediately sprinted towards the house. A guard tried to stop her but without breaking her stride, she knocked him out.
Saki walked into the living room as Leo rushed towards him with two guards by his side. Saki smiled, he was going to enjoy this. This was the guy who had slapped Rachel. Saki disarmed Leo with a sweep of his foot and as the foot continued in its arc, he knocked one of the guards unconscious. The other received a pummelling of punches to the stomach before Saki turned around to face Leo. Leo had positioned himself. He was a black belt in Karate and knew a thing or two about martial arts. Saki was merciless. With his first move, he broke Leo’s kneecap. With his second, he snapped his forearm. His third meant that Leo would never use his right arm again, the one which had slapped Rachel. Leo had not had time to throw a single punch.
Reaper had heard the screams of agony from the lounge and grabbed his gun. He burst into the room as Saki delivered his fourth and final knockout blow to Leo. Reaper aimed and fired, he didn’t care if he hit Leo, he wanted Saki dead.
Saki, on seeing a gun aimed at him, moved instantly. As Reaper pulled the trigger, Saki dived towards him, landed underneath him and disarmed him before the second bullet had a chance to leave the barrel.
Reaper was stunned. His target had vanished and as he had tried to locate him, his gun had been forced from his hands and had flown across the room, out of reach. He had instinctively watched the gun fall before trying to understand what had just happened. As he looked up, a very angry looking Saki stood before him.
Saki paused and then spoke.
“Just tell me one thing. Have you ever been to Sabah?”
“Yes,” replied a defiant Reaper who was still stunned by what had just happened.
“You and I need to have a little talk,” said Saki coldly.
Reaper was unperturbed. He was a skilled hand-to-hand fighter, having trained with some of the best in the world. Over the years, he had mastered many martial arts and Saki was much smaller than him. He positioned himself in front of Saki.
Lela rushed through the front door of the house. Two guards in the entrance hallway raised their guns, they had both heard the commotion from the lounge and the subsequent gunfire but had been ordered to remain on station. When they realised it was a young girl, they made their biggest mistake and lowered their weapons. Lela walked over and beat the two men unconscious before they had a chance to raise a finger or pull a trigger.
Reaper made the first move against the diminutive Saki. He threw a straight punch at Saki’s head. He had knocked many men unconscious with the same move. It was unstoppable and on this occasion its speed and power was a sure fire hit.
Saki had moved before Reaper’s brain had sent the signals to his fist. Saki had already planned his counter- strike. As the fist started its journey, Saki stepped aside and threw a punch both faster and significantly more powerful towards the fist.
Reaper could not believe it. Nobody could move as fast as this guy. Reaper then discovered that nobody could hit as hard as Saki either. His counter-strike struck the back of Reaper’s clenched fist and shattered every bone in his hand. The pain was excruciating. Reaper screamed in pain for the first time in his life.
Saki stepped back in front of Reaper and goaded him by remaining dead pan. Saki wanted to know the identity of the mastermind behind Reaper. He knew that the thug in front of him was incapable of putting such a plan together.
Reaper was enraged, the pain in his hand was intense. He spun around and delivered a high kick powerful enough to take Saki’s head off.
Saki smiled to himself as he watched Reaper subtly position his next move. It really was a man-versus-boy scenario. As Reaper spun round, Saki took Reaper’s standing leg away from under him with such a force that Reaper was propelled three feet in the air before landing and breaking his coccyx. It had been no fluke. Saki had calculated exactly how Reaper would land and again Reaper screamed, such was the intensity of the pain. Reaper would not sit comfortably for some time, if ever again.
Reaper looked at the little man in utter disbelief and then struggled to his feet, the pain from his lower back and shattered hand were excruciating. So he used his good hand to pull out a knife from inside his boot and faced Saki again.
Saki watched as Reaper struggled to his feet, pulling his knife and facing up to him again. Enough was enough. It was time for the man to talk. Saki, with invisibly fast action, took the knife out of Reaper’s hand and began the questioning.
As she made her way through the house, the screams Lela heard made her shiver. They were coming from the lounge and she made her way there. As she approached, a guard had his back to her and she realised he was taking aim at somebody in the lounge from where the screams were coming. Without a second’s thought, she jumped on the guard and disabled him and the weapon which she discovered was pointing at her father.
Reaper had had more pain inflicted on him in the preceding two minutes than most hardened fighters would have in a lifetime. Saki had been merciless in his quest to find out who had killed his beloved Tylanni. Lela walked into the room and put her hand on her father’s shoulder. He spun around and the hatred in his eyes vanished as he hugged his daughter.
Reaper, relieved that the punishment had stopped, summoned all his strength, picked his knife up from the floor and inched it towards Saki who was now completely consumed by his daughter. He swung his hand back and smiled as the knife took flight towards Saki’s back, directly towards his heart. It was his last smile. Lela caught the knife just as it was about to pierce her father’s skin and returned it down the same trajectory, killing Reaper instantly. She had not even broken her father’s embrace.
Kano and Kisho rushed into the room just after Lela and watched as she dealt with the three guards and then dealt with Reaper. Both looked at each other, realising that they were now the third and fourth best islanders and that Saki’s number one slot looked very shaky.
Tom rushed in just behind Kano and Kisho. Saki saw him and after checking the security system to ensure
