him, but they got too close. That explains the dead Yakuza in the

alley and the bodies in Kanno’s shop. Kanno hijacked the limo and

its driver after the murders in the alley. Kobayashi’s men ran him

down at his shop and got killed for their trouble.”

“I suppose we could induce Kobayashi to cooperate, ” said Merlin.

“You probably won’t have to, ” Fugisawa said. “He made a bad

mistake, having his people try to take us out. That wasn’t like him.

It was a dumb, desperate move. He’s already in trouble with his

bosses for not being able to control what’s happening on the Ginza.

We’ll be offering him a way to save face, a way that’s even better

than having his men kill Kanno. This way, he’ll be able to publicly

take credit for helping to identify Kanno as the killer. I think he’ll

jump at the chance. And so will Katayama.”

“Sounds like it might work, ” said Kira. “I say we go ahead with

it.”

“Me, too, ” said Wyrdrune.

Modred nodded. “All right. Call Kobayashi and present it to him.

Set up a meeting. Then make arrangements for us to meet with

Katayama. See if you can get him to come here.”

“I’ll get right on it, ” Fugisawa said, heading for the phone.

“What worries me most is what Leila’s planning, ” Modred said.

“Whatever it is, she must be getting ready to execute it. These

Dark Ones are like vampires. They kill surreptitiously, one or two

victims at a time, gradually building up their power, but the

stronger they become, the hungrier they get. And Leila’s not only

hungry, she’s vengeful. She’ll try to cast a spell that would make

her powerful enough to overcome the runestones. And that means a

great many people would have to die.”

“We’ve gotta try putting ourselves in ‘er place, ” said Billy. “What

could she do to kill a large amount of people at one time and absorb

their life energy?”

“What did the Dark Ones do when they escaped the pit?” said

Kira. “Hell, they caused disasters all over the world.”

“Yes, but that was all of them acting in concert, directing their

energies through Al’Hassan, ” said Modred. “By herself, Leila would