Page 120 of Dragon 7

I caught a man's wrist as he swung a knife. I broke his elbow over my forearm and drove my palm up into his nose and felt it give.

The plane lurched and threw both of us against a crate and I used the wall to fold him into his death. Once done, I left him on the floor.

I checked to make sure Kenji was alive. The twins worked beside him in the strobing dark, all sweeping legs, trapping arms, and short brutal elbows. Most of all, they protected my brother like they always did.

I headed for Akiro.

“Not so fast, brother.” Akiro swung at me.

I let the ball pass, lunged inside the chain's reach, and got my hand on it. “This is nice. Can I have it?”

“No!” Akiro pulled.

I did too. “Are you sure?”

For one breath we were locked, the chain singing taut between us with his eyes wide above the steel.

Then Kenji came out of Akiro’s blind side. Kenji's hand closed on the kusarigama's shaft, and with one savage pull he ripped it from Akiro's grip.

“Ah!” Akiro's hands flew open. All confidence drained out of his face like water sputtering out of cracked glass.

Now you feel it.

“I’ve got him.” Kenji grinned. “Go check on the Fox, Hiro. Be a good son and make sure our father is doing okay.”

“I would love to.” I headed off.

Two men stood between me and the Fox.

I looked at them and shook my head.

“Are you sure you want to die for him?” I quirked my brows. “Seriously? He shits in a diaper. There are better men to die for.”

One charged.

I took the lead man's arm at the shoulder and turned him into a shield right as the second man's knife buried in his own partner's back, killing him fast.

Then, I had the other guy’s knife hand. I broke it and put the second man down on the metal with my elbow across his temple.

The Fox raised a gun and fired at me.

Fuck!

I fell to the ground.

The round went wide and punched clean through the wall, and a small hole opened beside my head with a shriek of wind that hadn't existed a second before.

“Check on me?!” He fired again.

Sparks burst off a crate.

A third shot came close to me. I dodged it, yet someone gasped. For a second, I swore it was a twin and hoped I was wrong.

“How about I check on you?!” His thin arms shook so badly the barrel painted circles in the air.

And I saw the truth of all of this.

The Fox was no longer the bully of my childhood who I hoped to impress. The monster to my mother. The dictator of Japan.