Page 111 of Dragon 7

Rest, Goryū.

Yes, brother.

I blinked, and for some reason my heart ached.

My dragon-shadow broke apart above the tree line. The black smoke dissolved into the night. The gold-fire eyes dimmed and vanished. The dark sky closed behind him as if he had never existed.

And then, the left engine caught again. The propeller resumed its full speed. The plane straightened on its wheels.

Both engines synchronized. The twin roar locked into a single deep hum that vibrated across the field and through my sternum.

It was the treacherous sound of a plane about to move.

No.

Akiro yelled at his men. “Stop them from getting into the plane! Hurry!”

Then, Akiro looked down at me. “Until next time, Kenji!”

The fucking bastard turned and ran inside.

No. Fuck that! There can’t be a next time! Everything must end tonight! My Tiger bled!!

Even more soldiers poured from the hatch to block us. Fresh men, armed, body-armored, screaming orders. They were going to push us off the stairs, retract the ramp, seal the hatch, and take off.

If we lost this staircase, we lost Akiro and the Fox. And there was no bringing them back. Every helicopter had been grounded. Every antiaircraft gun was destroyed. If this plane left the island, the war continued for more days, weeks, maybe even fucking months, and our dead had died for nothing.

I turned to Hiro and the others. "They're going to pull the stairs and seal the door! We cannot let them push us off! If we lose this staircase, we lose the war!”

Then I heard it.

A bolt popped free from the staircase housing.

The metal groaned beneath our feet.

I roared, “FIGHT!!”

Chapter seventeen

Battle Royale

Kenji

The bolt hit the grass below us with a ping that I heard over the engines.

A second bolt sheared free. The staircase dropped two inches on the left side and every man on it grabbed for the railing.

I holstered one gun and seized the rail. "Up! Now! Everyone!"

Reo drew his blades and threw himself up the stairs ahead of us. The Tsuchigumo mask cut through the cluster of soldiers at the top like a black knife through paper. His first strike opened a man’s neck from ear to ear.

Blood sprayed.

His second took an arm. His third drove a blade through a vest and the chest behind it.

The twins flanked Reo. One went left and the other went right, but their matching kitsune masks made them a single creature with four arms and two blades. They killed in tandem.

One opened Akiro’s guard. The other drove the strike home. Their masks gleamed black with golden teeth bared in identical grins.