My Ninja Girl 4 by Gideon Caldwell (latest novels to read .TXT) 📕

rushing to the inner chamber and take everyone hostage. Mixing the outer teams together certainly forced an uneasy alliance. It also meant that Micah would be alone in his individual team, which would make it that much harder for him to act when the time was necessary.

When he had heard of the setup, Micah had asked if there was any concern that some of the security teams may be working together, so they could have two members per door, something to that effect. Apparently, this wasn’t the case, or at least it hadn’t been in the past. This also led to Micah asking if they could rely on the nun named Saru’s security team to help them, giving them an advantage at each entry. This wasn’t going to happen; Saru wanted no part in the actual coup, only a promise of cooperation by agreeing to overlook the action Ahmey was planning to take. She also asked that they try not harm her agents, but she did so in a way that led Micah to believe that they were indeed expendable.

Nope, they were going to be on their own, and while that might be easy for Bunni and Yuri, it was going to be more difficult for Micah and Liza to take down the people they would inevitably be grouped with.

Aside from his prosthetic gatling gun, Micah now had an energy dagger sheathed in his boot, one that activated once it registered someone’s inner industria. He also had his energy shield, which would help to some degree. He was certainly strapped.

Before lining up for Ahmey’s inspection—which, as Micah came to understand, was definitely only for show considering Saru and her security detail where there as well, their group planning on sharing transport—Soraya had given Micah a briefing on using a dagger.

As if it were second nature to her, the kitsune showed him all the best places to stab someone, focusing on a particular move that she thought would be easy enough for Micah to replicate. It involved attacking someone from behind, driving his blade into their carotid artery, and then quickly holding them as they bled out, reaching across their body, and stabbing them in their femoral artery, along the right side of their leg.

“Remember, they’ll need to bleed out. People don’t always die quickly.”

She demonstrated the move multiple times as if it were a piece of cake, Micah not sure if it was something he was going to be able to pull off. No, he was going to have to rely a bit on luck, his understanding of industria, and his trusted energy weapon, saving the blade for last-ditch efforts.

In the end, her lesson had been helpful, however, Micah realizing he should have figured out the best places to stab someone long ago, considering his knowledge of human anatomy from his single semester of medical school. He had a good enough understanding of that aspect of human anatomy, and it could have been utilized to his advantage.

Lined up now, Micah felt a hint of apprehension as Ahmey stopped before him, the young nun acting as if she were a drill sergeant. She looked Micah over, and as she did, he saw his reflection in her helmet. This is so bizarre, he thought as she finally moved on to Bunni, who stood next to him, a head taller than the others.

“At your service,” Bunni said, her voice metallic because of her helmet, but not metallic enough to hide a hint of sarcasm. Ahmey nodded and moved on to Soraya, and finally turned back to Saru.

“I believe we are ready,” she said.

There was now a transport vehicle hovering outside, the wind whipping around it as Micah and the rest of the grunts piled into the back. Saru and Ahmey took the front, along with the driver, who belonged to Saru’s regiment. After a momentary pause, the vehicle began to lift into the air, the bottom of the craft humming.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” one of Saru’s monks said to Micah, the man sitting across from now, with a single hand held above his head and looped around the handle hanging from the ceiling.

“We met last year,” Micah said, “at one of those events.”

He figured this would work, and was happy to see that it did, the monk nodding in an agreement. “Another retreat, ha? I hate those damn things. I guess I don’t remember meeting you then. Not surprising.”

“They’re not so bad,” Liza said. “At least they give you a little peace and quiet.”

“And if we are at a retreat, we don’t have to patrol the subway stations with the rats below,” said a different nun, who was seated across from Yuri at the opposite end of the bench. This caused a few of the members of Saru’s team to laugh, Micah chuckling along with them, trying to blend in. Rats? he thought. Is that what they really call us?

“Ugh, peasants, I mean, pedestrians,” Soraya said, trying to play along.

“Tell me about it,” said Bunni, her tone just slightly mocking enough to make Soraya’s shoulders tense.

She really knows how to get her, Micah thought.

A voice appeared in his bucket. “Look at you,” said Choro. “You’re practically a recruit now. Let me know how it is on the other side, and don’t get too comfortable.”

Rather than respond, Micah looked down at his free hand and made a thumbs up gesture.

“Yep, I get it, no need to reply. I’ll just give you an update. Julia has several squads of Hermetics now stationed outside the Society of Monks’ administrative building in Coralie, with more en route, and even more in some of the underground tunnels ready to fight the forces that will eventually land once the coup is underway.”

Speaking for just a moment longer, Choro explained that Bobi’s mechas were ready to go as well, and warned Micah to expect quite