Deathbites

Pimples turned pale. 'Don't let him hear you say that,' he whispered. 'Mr. Nogi can smash bricks with his bare hands. He's murder on anyone who doesn't show the proper respect.

'Some guy failed to bow when he came into the dojo two days in a row. He beat him so thoroughly that the guy had to be taken to the hospital. We never saw him again, but you better believe everyone who saw that bows when Mr. Nogi comes in.'

'Never saw the guy again,' Lyons mused.

'Naw. He must have been booted out.'

Probably buried, Lyons thought, but said nothing.

'You going to show me the ropes?' he asked.

'Ahh, we'll see. I got to go now.'

The kid hurried away, leaving Lyons with a distinct impression that alliances in HIT depended on how favorably the candidate was viewed from above.

Lyons had to prevent himself from bowing to the dojo when he entered. No one had told him to do so; it would have been a giveaway. He took five paces into the large room with the bare floors before he was hit on the back of the head with sufficient force to throw him on his face.

'Bow when you enter a dojo,' Nogi told him.

It would have been easy to slap the floor and roll when he was hit from behind, but Lyons knew that would give away his training. So he absorbed most of the fall with his arms. His palms stung and he was face down and helpless. Nogi placed his bare foot on the back of his neck and shoved his face into the floor.

'You bow when you enter a dojo, any dojo. Is that understood?'

Lyons twisted his head to one side. 'What the hell are you talking about?' he asked.

Nogi kept his foot on Lyons's neck.

'Class,' he called in an authoritative voice.

Lyons could see that mostly female students answered the master's call. He was surprised to see one platinum blonde, who looked as if she would be more at home in a massage parlor. She was looking at Lyons's face and smirking as she approached.

When the class was assembled, Nogi spoke.

'This worm was told to bow to the dojo. He has asked what the hell I am talking about. Because this is his first time here, I will be too lenient and explain. All of you listen. I shall not explain again.'

'Are you going to let me up for the lesson?' Lyons asked.

Nogi put enough pressure on the neck to cause pain. 'Shut up and stay where you belong, worm.

'Always you will bow to the dojo when you enter and when you leave. In future, you will receive a severe beating if you forget. I will not tolerate such disrespect. You will also bow whenever your senseienters or leaves the room. You will also bow whenever a black belt enters and the senseihas not got your attention. Is that clear?'

Lyons said nothing.

Nogi pressed on his neck with his bare sole causing excruciating pain along the top of the vertebrae.

'It would be so easy to break your neck. Answer when spoken to.'

'Yes, I understand,' Lyons said. Inside he was telling himself that this was part of the price to pay for penetrating HIT.

'Here you answer the question by saying, 'Sensei!' The tone of voice will tell me whether you mean 'yes,' 'no' or are asking a question. Can you grasp that, worm?'

'Sensei,' Lyons grated. The foot eased slightly.

'You are still thinking of revenge. That is good. We like angry people here. They make fine fighters. Good luck with your revenge,' Nogi said.

'Now I will tell you why you bow to the dojo, to the black belts, and above all to the sensei. The senseihas power, so you bow to that power. The black belts have acquired some of that power, so you bow out of respect for the power they have acquired. You bow to the dojo, because it is the place where power is transferred from master to student. Treat the dojo with respect because it is here that you will acquire the power which earns you respect.'

Lyons wondered how a person who had gone through the years of vigorous mental and physical discipline necessary to become proficient in the martial arts, could use that discipline to subjugate and terrorize others. As he thought, he relaxed.

Nogi took his relaxing as a sign of submission and removed his foot. Lyons remained on the floor until he was told to get up.

'Although we mix the sexes for training,' Nogi announced, 'I usually make it a practice to match training partners of the same sex.'

He grabbed Lyons by the collar and flung him into the arms of the surprised platinum blonde.

'You two are partners, because women should train with women,' Nogi said.

The blonde looked angry. The rest of the class tried to hold back laughter.

'Why do I get stuck with a womanwho can't take care of herself?' the blonde demanded.

Nogi's tone was heavy with sarcasm. 'You have showed me how great a warrior you are. I'm afraid to give you anyone more valuable. You might damage someone that matters.'

When the laughter died down, Nogi added, 'Take this worm and teach him fundamental manners and how to stand up. He seems to spend too much time on the floor.'

The blonde shrugged and headed for one corner of the room. Lyons followed, content to be inside and in one piece.

6

July 12, 1004 hours, Santa Clara, California

Gadgets dropped the half-eaten doughnut back onto the table and stared morosely into his third cup of coffee.

'One of us should have gone with her,' he told Politician for the fourth time.

'There's a chance someone in that building saw us in Atlanta,' Pol said. 'It's better if she cases the layout first.'

Gadgets did not look convinced. He looked around the doughnut shop. No one was particularly interested in them. They both wore suits and ties and looked like two businessmen having a long meeting.

A soft voice spoke as a hand touched Gadgets's shoulder.

'I'm back,' Lao Ti said. Gadgets shifted over in the booth and Ti slid in beside him.

'WAR has the second, third and fourth floors of that old office building,' she reported to Pol and Gadgets. 'The computer room is on the south side of the fourth floor. Excellent security. The building is full, but the tenants on the sixth floor, south side, are just moving in. Some sort of sales firm for personal computers. No one in this branch of WAR was in Atlanta at the time of the raid on Elwood.'

'How did you find out all that?' Gadgets asked.

'It wasn't difficult. First, I went to the building superintendent and asked about renting. I learned from him that CompuSales had taken the last vacancy and were in the act of moving in.

'I went to CompuSales and applied for a job. From that I learned the location of the office and the fact that they're new and can't afford to hire anyone.

'Next, I applied for a job as programmer at WAR. I learned the location of the computer area from the way the security is set up. Being an organization for the unemployed, WAR takes workers from its own ranks. I was invited to join. When I told them that I had worked last across the road from Elwood, they were full of questions. From the nature of the questions, I'm sure that no one has come from Atlanta to that office since the battle.'

She ended with a small shrug. 'So I spent all this time just applying for jobs and talking to people.'