“So, how did your practice go this afternoon?” Cassandra was staying at the Pub all day long and staying inside, where it was safe. She kept getting an uneasy feeling every time she got close to the front door.

“It went fine. I had to change my routine up some. The trick I was going to perform, didn’t workout that well. So, I had to come up with a different one that would flow better with the time restraints.”

“I think you choose the right one for the performance. You also need to be careful tonight while your searching the warehouse. What I am seeing isn’t set, but it’s possible you might have a visitor.”

“Will it be Mr. Ludlum?”

“No, it will be an associate of his that you can use to find out where he is hiding. Mr. Ludlum is keeping his distance from the two of us. You, because he is scared of you and he knows you want to kill him. Me, because he knows I can find him. The problem is, he keeps moving. It makes it hard to determine where he is or where he is going.”

“Is he staying in this area?”

“Yes and no. I can see him nearby right now, but there’s nothing I can go off of that tells me where he is.” Cassandra was examining the image she was getting right now to see if there is anything she could use to identify where he was.

“Try this.” Sasha faces Cassandra North inside the Pub.

“Now, I am going to slowly turn you till you feel how strong the your feeling is.”

Sasha slowly turns Cassandra clockwise. She keeps it up until Cassandra tells her to stop. Sasha was observing in what direction she was
facing. She notices Cassandra was facing South West.

“Okay, lets try this again.”Sasha returns Cassandra to North again and then turns her again.

“Stop.” Cassandra stops after a few minutes.

This time she was facing West.

Sasha repeats the same technique several times and comes up with different results.

“Just as I thought. He’s moving around in some sort of vehicle. That's why you can’t get a solid id on where he is.”

“So, how are you going to get him?”

“By springing his trap for me. Is that person going to be there tonight?”

Cassandra concentrates a little harder to see if he will be there. After a few minutes “Yes, he is going to be there.”

“Good. Is he there right now?”

“Yes and waiting for you. They found your listening bug.”

An evil smile appears on Sasha’s face “then I better not keep them waiting for me.”

“Sasha, be careful. The guy they brought in to handle you is from China. He’s a trained killer from the Hirata clan.”

“Hirata clan, you say?”

“Yes.”

“They must be desperate using someone from that clan.”

“You know that clan?” Cassandra was curious about what Sasha knew.

“Only what my mother told me. She has had a few encounters with a few of their clan members in her past.”

“Interesting. It sounds like you come from an interesting family.”

“I do. I was lucky they adopted me and raised me like they did.”

“Well, at least you can pass on what your family gave you to your daughters.”

“True. Are you going to be okay?”

“As long as I stay inside the pub, I’ll be fine. Ludlum won’t start anything. To many witnesses around me and he won’t send any one in,
because he knows I will recognize them.”

“Well, just in case he decides to prove you wrong. Here are two smoke bombs and some really strong itching bombs for you. Throw the smoke
first and then toss the itching bombs. The itching bombs are really strong and any exposed skin it settles on, will drive the target crazy.”

“Thanks, but how can I tell them apart?”

“The shape of the bombs themselves. The smoke are perfectly round like a golf ball and the itching are more oval shape like an egg.” Sasha places the bombs into Cassandra’s hand.

Cassandra fingers them and could feel the difference between the two.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Well, let me get going.” Sasha stands up and gives Cassandra a hug.

“You’ll make it Sasha. Just be careful and use what your mother taught you against him. He’s no match for you.”

“Thanks.”

Sasha heads out to her rental car and drives towards a gas station not to far away from the pub and changes into her outfit. She pulls out an
extremely old bamboo staff.

“Hello, old friend.”

Sasha twist and pull the top off the staff and pulls forth a highly polished steel blade. She doesn’t pull it all the way out, but enough to check it.

“We have a challenge before us my old friend.” Sasha slides the blade back down into the bamboo housing and twist the top again to lock it.

Twenty minutes later, Sasha pulls into the warehouse parking lot and parks. She moves quickly and silently towards the building and makes her way inside the warehouse section, where she spots the van from last night. She moves quietly as she heads into the building itself and just as she is turning a corner. She comes face to face with an Asian person.

“Well, hello.”

Sasha jumps back in time as a flash of steel misses her face. Another sword swing misses her by inches as she moves backward. She brings her staff up in time to block another sword strike. She parries and block several strikes to her with her staff. The guy she is fighting moves with speed and a style her mother never taught her, but she figures that the style she does know will get her through. Sasha gets her sword loose and start fighting back. She parries and dodges strikes from him several times as she tries to strike him. Sasha could tell he was an experience swordsman.

Sasha starts pulling tricks out of her bag and tosses flash pellets to distract him. Her sword cuts right across his chest. She manages to strike his left shoulder and paralyzes it with one nerve strike.

He manages to slice her right leg, but thanks to the weave of her suit. The strike doesn’t slice through the suit.

“Nice try, but no cigar.” Sasha blocks another strike to her body.

She spins and connects with her foot to his abdomen. Her sword connects with his swords arm slicing right through it. She hears movement right behind her and moves just in time as bullets strike the guy she had been fighting. She palms several explosive golf ball size balls into her hand and tosses them towards the shooters.

An explosion occurs right in front of the guys. They get sent backwards off their feet and onto their backs with their ears ringing from the explosion. When they looked up they see Sasha standing there with her sword pointed at one guys throat and her gun pointed at the other guys throat.

“Drop’em asshole!”

Sasha was pissed and ready to kill these assholes, but she needed answers and she couldn’t get them if they were dead.

The guys dropped their weapons.

“Roll onto your stomach and cross your feet, NOW!” Sasha steps back some to allow them to do what she ordered.

Both guys roll onto their stomach and cross their feet.

Sasha puts her gun away and points her sword behind the head of one of the guys.

“Cross your hands behind your back, NOW!”

Both guys do as they are told. Sasha kneels and pulls a zip strip from behind her back and zip lock their hands. She puts her sword away and moves both guys to an empty office. She checks the Asian guy Ludlum had hired to fight her, but he was dead from wounds caused by the bullets. She heads back into the office and looks at the two guys.

“You guys are going to tell me everything you know or the authorities are going to find extra crispy bodies.” She makes flames appear in her hands as she moves them closer to their faces so that they could feel the heat from her hands.

“Don’t think I won’t burn you assholes. You have managed to piss me off.” She touches one finger to one guys cheek, leaving behind a burn mark on his skin.