“Why so glum, lover?” Fab inquired.
“I am not your lover,” Rikki told her.
Fabiana grinned. “You could be if you play your cards right.”
“Here we go again,” Gar muttered.
“I can not be your lover,” Rikki stressed.
“Oh? Why not?” Fab chuckled. “Don’t tell me you like men?”
“I am in love with another woman,” Rikki revealed.
“So? What’s that got to do with us getting it on?” Fab asked.
“I must be loyal to the woman I love,” Rikki said. “Such loyalty extends to our physical relationship.”
Fabiana did a double take. “Are you serious?”
Rikki nodded.
Gar chuckled. “How about this? Not only does he have a sense of humor, but he also has morals! The last of a dying breed!”
Fabiana did not appear pleased. “I’ve just been insulted.”
“No, you haven’t,” Rikki disputed her. “Were I in love with you, I would be as true to you as I am to the woman at my Home. You must understand. My Family is very idealistic. We believe in being guided by the Spirit in all of our activities. We also believe in truth, honor, and loyalty. Loyal persons are spiritually growing persons.”
Fab studied the man in black for a moment. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”
“There are many more at my Home,” Rikki said.
“Like the three who came here with you?” Gar interjected.
Rikki remained silent.
“That’s okay,” Gar said. “Don’t tell me. But you’ll talk to Tiger, I guarantee it. As for your three friends, one of them was captured before you were. And it’s only a matter of time before we find the other two.”
“You caught one of my friends?” Rikki questioned.
“Sure did,” Gar confirmed. “He must have been seven feet tall.”
Blade was a prisoner too! Rikki’s lips compressed in mounting frustration. If Blade had been captured, then where was Hickok? This cast an entirely new perspective on the situation.
“Now he really looks glum!” Gar observed derisively.
“Leave him alone,” Fab snapped.
“What’s wrong with you?” Gar countered. “Don’t tell me you’re really falling for this guy?”
“Drop it,” Fab said.
Gar stared at his sister for over a minute, evidently bewildered by her behavior. At last he shrugged and devoted his attention to the bridge ahead.
Rikki became immersed in thought, considering his options, striving to compose his troubled emotional state, to empty himself of his anxieties, to attain the inner harmony essential to the effective performance of a perfecting martial artist, of a consummate swordmaster. Engrossed in his inner effort, he trekked after Gar and Fabiana onto the Montlake Bridge.
The column was a third of the way across when Gar and Fabiana inexplicably halted.
Rikki nearly bumped into Fab.
“Son of a bitch!” Gar barked.
“Maybe they’re not,” Fabiana said.
“They are,” Gar stated. “I know they are.”
Rikki, puzzled, looked to the west, in the direction the twins were gazing with uneasy expressions. Hundreds of yards off was an immense flock of birds.
“They’re coming this way!” Gar said.
“What do we do? Stand or run?” Fab questioned.
Rikki realized everyone else was watching the birds with transparent apprehension.
“We run for it,” Gar ordered. “And remember to keep your eyes covered.”
“What is going on?” Rikki inquired.
“Gulls,” Fab said.
“Gulls? You mean sea gulls?” Rikki asked.
Gar turned toward the column. He pointed at the flock of gulls and shouted. “Head for the trees on the south side of the bridge! Don’t stop!
And protect your eyes!” He spun and ran to the south.
“Hurry!” Fab said to the Warrior, running after her brother.
Why were they anxious about a flock of birds? Rikki took off, drawing abreast of Fab and keeping pace with her.
The rest of the column, galvanized into action by Gar’s admonition, fled toward the south end of the bridge.
Fab had her eyes on the gulls. “They’re getting closer!” she cried.
“I don’t understand,” Rikki said. “What can gulls do?”
Fab glanced at the Warrior. “They can tear out your eyes and rip off your flesh.”
“Seagulls?”
“Have you ever seen gulls before?” Fab queried.
“No,” Rikki confessed.
“They have big, sharp beaks,” Fab mentioned. “And their talons can cut you open.”
Rikki gazed at the flock, which was now about 200 yards distant. “I didn’t know gulls attacked humans.”
Fab nodded, jogging effortlessly. “They do. Our parents said the gulls were different before the war. They were scavengers, mainly. Fed on dead or dying fish or squid or whatever they could find. They also learned to like garbage. And some of them became aggressive. The tourists and even the locals thought it was fun to feed the gulls. My grandmother told my mother that some of the gulls would eat right out of your hand.” She paused. “So the gulls must have lost their fear of humans even before the war. And the war changed them even more. I don’t know what it was, whether it was the radiation or something else, but some of the gulls will attack humans on sight. A number of Sharks have been killed by them over the years.”
Rikki glanced at the flock, now less than 150 yards away.
“Like Gar said, be sure to protect your eyes,” Fab cautioned. “The gulls like to go for the eyes.”
“Have you ever been attacked by them before?” Rikki queried.
“No,” Fab answered nervously. “I’ve been lucky. Usually you can see a flock coming and take cover if you’re alone. They don’t normally go after large groups of people.”
The flock was 100 yards from the bridge, their raucous cries filling the air.
Rikki estimated the column would be two-thirds of the way across the bridge when the gulls reached them. He looked over his right shoulder, relieved to see the Shark named Buck about six feet behind him. He wanted to keep close to his katana.
The race to escape the gulls was conducted, for the most part, in silence. The Sharks pounded over the bridge in an uneven line, the fleetest dozens of yards ahead of their slower comrades.
The point men were almost to the end of the bridge.
Gar was ten feet in front of his sister.
An idea occurred to Rikki. The sea gulls might provide just the distraction he needed. If the Sharks became embroiled in a running battle with the birds, he might be able to slip away unnoticed. He decided to avail himself of the opportunity if it developed.
There was a strident screech and a solitary gull with over a three-foot wingspan arched toward Gar. The gull had a white head and chest and gray wings. Its bill was a bright yellow, its legs and talons reddish-orange.
“Gar!” Fabiana shouted.
Gar was already in motion, sweeping his shotgun to the right and squeezing the trigger when the gull was less than 15 feet off.
The shotgun boomed and the gull exploded in a shower of feathers and pulverized fragments.
Fabiana laughed.
Three more gulls appeared, swooping toward the head of the column.
Fab raised her shotgun and blasted one of them. The other two veered upward.
Rikki gazed to his right. The main body of the flock was only 20 yards off, and the end of the bridge was still 30 yards away.
Gar had slowed, gazing at his sister.
Rikki glanced back at Buck. The Shark was huffing and puffing, the katana and pouch in his right hand, a revolver in his left, and Rikki’s backpack on his back.