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The priest tried to free himself, but Ushi-Oni slammed him against the trough, stunning him. The frail man went limp and Oni pulled his garment open. Around the priest’s neck hung a set of keys.
Oni grabbed and ripped them forth hard enough to snap the chain on which they hung.
The priest cried out, but Ushi-Oni covered his mouth and then snapped his neck with a swift twist of his arms.
Dropping the body to the ground, Ushi-Oni looked around him. A cool wind rustled through the bamboo, but, other than that, the forest was quiet.
Certain that he was alone, Oni took off his robe and then removed the priest’s garment and pulled it over his shoulders. The robe fit snugly; Oni was much larger than the dead priest. And, try as he might, he could not place the strange hat in a manner that looked normal. He slid the strap under his chin and left it crooked.
Before leaving the shrine, he dropped the naked priest in the trough. “Cleanse yourself, shinsoku.”
With the evidence of his first crime hidden, Oni tossed the brass casino marker toward the shrine, picked up his folded clothes once again and continued on the path toward the Shinto monastery up above.
* * *
• • •
SUPERINTENDENT NAGANO was glad to see the white van pull in beside him. His most trusted lieutenant and two plainclothes officers got out.
“Is he still here?” the lieutenant asked.
Nagano pointed toward the hills. “He’s gone up to the shrine.”
The lieutenant looked suspicious. “What would a man like Ushi-Oni want at a shrine?”
“I doubt he’s after forgiveness,” Nagano said.
“And you’re sure it’s him?”
“I saw him twice. It’s the man Zavala described,” Nagano said. “I want to take him alive. Preferably, out in the woods where there are no civilians.”
The lieutenant nodded. He carried a pistol and what they called a shock stick, essentially a high-powered Taser on a long pole—very useful in crowd control. The two officers had Heckler & Koch submachine guns, derivatives of the famous MP5 except with a much shorter barrel, a feature that made them excellent for close-quarters combat.
Nagano pulled out his own pistol. He was tired of waiting. “Let’s go.”
They moved quickly and silently, passing the vacant onsen and climbing their way up the bamboo-lined path to the thicket of torii gates. They arrived at the shrine without incident. There they stopped, but all they found was the hotel robe hastily rolled up and stuffed under the altar.
“He was wearing this,” Nagano said. “He must have changed back into his own clothing.”
“Look at this,” one of the men called from beside the trough.
Nagano rushed over and the two of them lifted the dead priest out of the purifying water.
“Any doubt that this is the Demon we’re tracking should be gone now.”
“Are you still getting a signal?” the lieutenant asked.
Nagano checked the display on his tablet. They were not in range of any cell towers there in the mountains, but with the direct-seeking mode, he was able to locate the tracking coin. “He’s in the sanctuary.”
They rushed along the path, arriving at the entrance to the monastery building only to find the front door ajar. Candles flickered here and there. A small fire burned in a stone hearth, but there was no sign of Ushi-Oni. Or anyone else, for that matter.
“I don’t like it,” the lieutenant said. “It’s too quiet.”
“Where are the priests?” one of the men asked.
Nagano couldn’t answer that. Some of the smaller shrines were sparsely attended or even left alone, but the sanctuary and the candles told him this one was occupied. He clicked off the safety on his pistol. “We can only assume the worst.”
The lieutenant nodded. “Which way?”
