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As Kenzo waited for an answer, a deep, soh in the castle The sorrowful tone echoed repeatedly

“What’s that?”

“Our alarm,” Kenzo said

Glass shattered in the atriuh one of the s and tu across the room toward them

8

AS THE GLASS SHATTERED, Kurt lunged forward, tackling Kenzo over the back of the heavy desk Fro for cover He never saw Joe, who’d stepped in front of the bouncing projectile, caught it bare-handed like a second baseman and hurled it back in the direction it had come

The grenade lass and exploded on the far side An incendiary device, it was powerful enough to kill anyone in close proxiasoline It flared like the sun, shattering everyin the atriulass

As the crystal tones of falling glass subsided, they heard the roar of unshots were fired

Kurt helped their host to a sitting position “Your castle is under siege, Master Kenzo”

“Why?” Kenzo blurted out “By whom?”

“I was going to ask you the sa”

“My acolytes will defend us,” Kenzo said proudly

The gunfire told Kurt they were going to face a stiff challenge “Only if they’ve got soht with”

“What about this?” Joe said, standing by the old Gatling gun “Do you have ammunition for it?”

“A few boxes”