A mark of honor

>> Kahala

He was aroused, the Te-Wu agent known as the Devil Snake, and he was right there, just a silly millimeter or two from total violation. But the stupid girl who had betrayed them resisted, wiggling and wrestling, even with a knife to her throat.

So he pulled the blade across her skin, opening a 2-inch gash that bled immediately. She cried out in pain and fear, and that made him more aroused.

He was so close now ...

"Communist bastard!"

The Snake looked up just in time to see the intruder dressed all in black leaping at him and kicking, a black hiking boot directed at his face.

The Snake rolled and slashed at his attacker. And screamed out in pain and flinched as the girl kneed him in the groin an instant before Kamasami Khan's boot smashed into his face. The knife fell harmlessly to the floor.

Khan picked up Bodhicita Guzman, and she trembled and sobbed in his arms, grabbing at the bloody wound to her neck.

"He ... he ... didn't ... you ... know ... he didn't ... "

"You were awesome, kiddo, the way you fought. I'm proud of you. Here, let's put this on."

He scooped up the gray nun's habit that had been torn off by the Snake, turned away as she pulled it on.

"And just for good measure," he said and blew a mini-dart soaked in the Triple Prozac formula his mad scientist friend from UH created. It stuck in the Snake's neck. "That should keep him quiet for a while."

They heard multiple sirens approaching, the sound of HPD solo bike officer Quinn Ah Sun and his boys coming to the rescue.

Khan took Bodhicita by the hand, hurried to the kitchen and grabbed a white towel. "Hold that on your throat. It's just a surface wound, but there's lots of blood vessels there. Keep the pressure on it."

"Will it leave a scar?"

Khan took a deep breath. What kind of scar would all of this leave on her? "If it does, it's a reminder of how ruthless the Chinese can be, especially when it comes to Lama Jey and anything having to do with Tibetan Buddhism. It would be a mark of your love for Jey, and of your courage. Then again, plastic surgeons can do miracles these days."

The sirens were right outside now. Khan's cell phone vibrated. "Situation under control, Officer Ah Sun. Three Te-Wu agents down for the count. Hang on while we open the gate for you."

Bodhicita clung to Khan as they went out to the garage, hit the button to open the gate out on Kahala Avenue. Quinn and five other cops on motorcycles roared up the driveway. "Search the grounds," he instructed four of his colleagues. But when Khan and Bodhicita led Quinn inside, there were only two Te-Wu still lying unconscious.