by T. M. Parris
Old chap. Tim was overdoing it. But it didn’t sound like Fairchild had much choice. So much for being his own man. Some days he didn’t feel independent at all.
“All right. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
A stressed spouse and her children in a foreign country? How to deal with that when there was nothing much to tell her? There was someone who would know what to do with them. He phoned the person he always phoned when he didn’t know what to do in Japan: Takao.
Takao’s taxi pulled up at the Embassy at the same time as Fairchild’s. Gardner was waiting by the door and came out. He was wearing a tuxedo.
“Have to let you in myself. The day staff have all gone home.” He used his pass to take them through to a small interview room, desk and four chairs, picture of the River Thames on the wall. Gardner introduced Fairchild and Takao to Fiona as ‘part of the team’ although that was a stretch as far as Takao was concerned. At least they knew each other; they’d met at the Trade Winds launch.
“So, I’ll leave you in John’s capable hands,” said Gardner, as he left. “You have my details, Fiona, so please don’t hesitate.” Gardner’s business card was sitting on the desk in front of a very unimpressed Fiona.
“I don’t think we’ve all been introduced,” said Fairchild, looking at the children.
“Henry and Sophie,” said Fiona listlessly. Henry was staring into space. Sophie was leaning against her mother, her eyes closed. “So who are you?” Fiona asked. “I don’t see a badge.”
“I don’t work here.”
A flash of annoyance crossed her face. “Then what?”
“I’m a friend of Rose.”
“Ah.” He wasn’t sure how Fiona had taken that. “So where’s Rose, then?”
“What have they told you?”
“Nothing.”
“What have they said, then? About James and his whereabouts?”
“The pompous one who just left said that he wasn’t able to provide more details but that everything was being done, blah blah blah.”
“I see.” There were lines under her eyes. “You came straight here from the airport, is that right? It’s a long flight, isn’t it?”
“Listen, don’t try and fob me off. I know there’s something going on. A bunch of people came to my house asking all kinds of weird questions about dates and birthdays and anniversaries. What was that all about? Them I’m just told to sit tight. The more I ask, the more people clam up. His company won’t even take my calls any more. What am I supposed to do? And where the heck is Rose?”
“Honestly? We don’t know.”
Her eyes widened.
“And James?”
“We don’t know that either.”
Takao was starting to look nervous.
“The thing is,” said Fairchild, “the fact that I’m not employed by the Embassy is in some ways quite a good thing. You see, I’ve never signed the Official Secrets Act.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Does that mean you’re planning to tell me what’s actually going on?”
“Yes. But some of it might not be what you want to hear.”
“Look, I don’t want it sugar-coated. If he’s in trouble I need to know how bad.”
Her gaze was steady. Fairchild glanced down at Sophie, who was wrapping her mother’s cardigan over her head. Henry was fingering a scratch on the edge of the table. She got his meaning and hesitated.
“Listen,” he said. “You’ve had a long day and so have I. I’ve just got off a flight myself. Do you have somewhere to stay?”
“Yes, I booked a room,” she said absently.
“Well, how about we all go and get some dinner and I’ll put you in the picture?” He could feel the children’s eyes on him at the mention of food.
Fiona crumpled a little. “Well…”
Fairchild turned to Takao, whose face came alive. “I know perfect place!”
Takao took them to Akihabara, Tokyo’s high-tech hub. From the taxi, he pointed out sights such as the massive Sega World and cutting-edge games and video arcades. The children seemed mesmerised. They stopped at a restaurant with a mass of blue fluorescent lighting and video screens. Fairchild was starting to question Takao’s judgement.
“This is it?”
“Trust me, it’s good place!” insisted Takao.
A woman with cat ears and huge painted eyelashes took them to a table. Henry and Sophie stared. Each table had its own monitor, and a massive screen opposite the bar was showing an animated movie featuring outsized robotic suits.
“So, it’s anime and game themed place,” beamed Takao.
The menu was a colourful mass of manga characters and large-print Japanese. “Perhaps you can order for us, Takao,” said Fairchild, wondering if he needed to find a new fixer. “I think the priority is getting a square meal inside everyone.”
“Sure! Sure! Eh, toooo…”
He called the waitress over and they left him to it. The kids were gazing round at the weirdly costumed staff and some of the even more weirdly dressed patrons. Fiona asked Fairchild some questions about himself. She’d perhaps got the wrong impression about the relationship between him and Rose. He’d have to put her straight at some point.
Takao finished ordering. “Okay, so we play game?” he said to the kids. “Nothing violent.” That was to reassure Fiona. The children registered only mild interest but Takao was on a mission, calling over the waitress and getting hold of a remote control for their screen. He flicked frantically. “Eh, toooo….must be…Ah! Food is here already.”
Takao put the remote aside to focus on the food. He was in full ambassadorial flow now. “Miso soup! Very hot. Very nice. Stir it with your chopsticks then drink out of the bowl. Easy, yes? Go on – try!”
He demonstrated and the children cautiously imitated.
“We also have edamame, green beans, very tasty. Very healthy.” He gave Fiona a reassuring look. “Try a little sauce. Not too much! Now here, some pickles. Maybe a bit sour. Careful! This is seaweed. Yes, really! But it’s tasty. Tastes like fish. Try it!”
It kept them busy until something more substantial arrived, yakitori chicken on sticks with rice. The kids dug in. Fairchild wondered how long it was since he’d asked after Takao’s family. He couldn’t even remember how old Takao’s children were. While they were eating Takao cued up the game and the waitress brought brightly coloured headphones and consoles. It was only then that Fairchild noticed quite a lot of other diners, especially the younger ones, plugged in to headphones and busy on the screens.
“So! You ready to play?” said Takao. The game looked suitably tame, knights on horseback and a forest of mythical creatures. He talked Sophie and Henry through it and pretty soon they were all on their headphones battling away. Fairchild and Fiona were free to talk.
“Okay,” said Fiona. “Hit me with it.”
“Well, first of all,” said Fairchild, “James was subject to a blackmail attempt. He didn’t have an affair with anyone. That was fabricated to try and get control of him.”
“Yes, I realise that.” In response to his look, she said: “I don’t think six people would have come to my house asking when our wedding anniversary is if he’d just gone off with some woman. So who’s really behind this?”
Fairchild told her everything he knew himself, including Rose’s disappearance, what they knew about Fire Sappers and the shipping lead. She looked stunned. “All this for James? Why?”
“His encryption work. He holds the key that unlocks vast amounts of money. They want the money. It’s probably as simple as that. It’s good news in that they want him alive. And there’s a lot of effort going into tracing them. I’m standing by right now for news.” He patted his phone.
“And why are you doing all this, if you’re just a businessman?” said Fiona. “It’s Rose, isn’t it?”
“Maybe,” he said, feeling a little warm in the face. “We go back some way. But it isn’t what you think.”
As if on cue, his phone beeped. It was Zack. Fairchild moved away from the table to take the call.
“We’ve found something,” said Zack. “And we’re moving. So get over here if you want to be a part of it. And hurry. They won’t wait.”
Back at the table, Fairchild didn’t even sit. “I’ve got to go.”
Takao paused the game and they all removed headphones and looked round.
Fiona’s eyes were wide. “What’s going on?”
“Not sure yet. They think they might have found them. When I know more I’ll tell you.”
“Is that a promise?” The children were looking upset as well.
“Yes, that’s a promise.” Fairchild turned to Takao.
“Well,” said the Japanese man with exaggerated regret. “Fairchild, it sounds like you are going to miss dessert!”
As the children’s eyes lit up and they turned to their mother, Fairchild slipped away. They’d be okay with Takao.
Chapter 31
From the house in the mountains the hostages were driven back to Tokyo, right through the city to the port. There, in darkness, they were led onto an immense ship and locked in a crew cabin, a tiny room with four bunk beds and one window overlooking a vast container deck. They remained in there the whole of the next day, getting hot and stuffy while the ship sat. Their old yakuza friends brought occasional food. No freight was moving on or off. They were waiting.
Rose was still furious with James. But after about eighteen hours she relented and climbed up to sit next to him on the top bunk. It was dark again, and the others were asleep.
“What do you think we’re waiting here for?” she asked.
“Well, it’s these people, Rose. They’re on their way here, apparently.”
“The hackers? They’re coming to Japan?”
“So I believe. They’re the real enemy. Not these folk.” He nodded towards the Japanese students. “They were being blackmailed. This international group, whoever they are, were going to betray their identities and get them into trouble with the law, and, you know, their ancestors and such like.”
“Ancestors?”
“Yes, bringing shame on your ancestors is a terribly bad thing, apparently. You know Haruma’s brother killed himself because of this?”
“Really?”
“Jumped off a building. It’s very real, even if we don’t exactly get it.”
“Even so, James, they’re the people who got you into this. There’s a time to do the right thing and a time to just do what you have to do to survive. You want to get back to Fiona and the kids, don’t you?” She saw pain on his face. “I could have got you out of there. It would have worked. Now we’re in even more trouble. No one knows where we are and these Fire Sappers are coming here.”
“Fire Sappers? That’s the group?”
She frowned. “You didn’t know?”
“The youngsters said they didn’t know who was blackmailing them. If they knew the name they never said it.”
“You’ve heard of them?”
“Oh, I’ve heard of them. They’re pretty renowned in the IT security world. They’re not good news, generally. I was a fool, I suppose, getting chatting to Mirai in the first place. Or even coming to the conference.” He looked incredibly glum all of a sudden.
“They were onto you before that, James. How could you have known? And you got a message out. I found you. That’s pretty good going.”
“Yes!” He perked up at that. “Glad you were able to decipher it. I was worried I’d overdone it a bit. Did you get the date or did someone have to run a search program? I wasn’t sure.”
“I got the date. But it took a while. Do you really have all this off by heart somewhere in your mind, James?”
He gave a little giggle. “Not really, but I thought, you know, first mention of your possible future career, it might have stuck in the mind.”
“James, enough already of this spy obsession of yours.”
“Oh yes, sorry, keep schtum and all that. Anyway, it was easy to remember given Father having a good old rant about a return to Socialism, so that gives the year, and it must have been the second Saturday in May, the first as you know—”
“Isn’t a prime number. Your mind really does work in a very peculiar way, James. It was pretty brave as well. Did they take it out on you?” Rose had noticed some bruising on various parts of her brother’s skin.
“Oh yes, caught me red-handed. Gave me a bit of a kicking. Never mind, we’re all here to tell the tale. I say, these other people, the backup, they’re not just going to give up on us, are they? When they find we’re not at the house any more?”
“No, they’re not going to give up. They want the hackers, James. They want Fire Sappers. This is the closest they’ve got to them. So they’ll keep looking.”
“Well, that’s something, I suppose.” James was probably still curious about why Rose came on her own. Fortunately he seemed to decide not to ask about it again.
A long, tedious silence was interrupted when the door was unlocked. The ever-present yakuza took them down one flight into a living area with sofas, carpeting and a few framed pictures on the walls. They sat and waited, the guards standing arms folded at the doorway. A deep, low vibration started up. Rose and James exchanged glances. The ship’s engine was going.
Eventually the door opened at speed. The man who walked in was not yakuza. Western features, dark hair, young, skinny, wide brown eyes and a dark goatee, dressed in jeans and a casual shirt. Out of the window the perspective was shifting; the ship was starting to move. This was the man they’d been waiting for.
The door slammed behind him and he stopped abruptly, hands in his pockets.
“So this is what I’ve come all this way for.” There was an angry, impatient air to him, as if he had better things to do with his time. He spoke English with a European accent Rose couldn’t place. His eye roved over them all.
“I can see the mess-ups here. Mirai. Of course that’s you.” Mirai looked up sulkily. Then to the other students he said “So you’re Tomo, Haruma or Kiyonori. Don’t tell me which is which. I don’t care. Sorry about the other one, by the way. I guess if he thought he could fly away from this, he learned his lesson. You learn it too. You can’t get away. I can always find you.”
He sat in an armchair, crossed his legs and sighed wearily. “Unbelievable I had to come to Japan to sort this out. I was tempted to get our yakuza friends here to write you all off as a bad mistake, but I was persuaded it was worth the effort of coming here. Looking at you all, I’m not so sure. Such a simple task you had to do.” He shook his head. “What a bunch of incompetents.”
“Now, wait a minute,” interrupted James. “They never wanted to be a part of your grubby little enterprise anyway. You coerced them!”
The man looked amused. “How sweet! They got you into all this but you still feel protective.” He put his hand on his chest. “My heart is warmed by that. You’re James, of course. I know a lot about you. Who’s this?” He nodded towards Rose.
“I’m his sister,” said Rose. “And who are you?”
“Most people know me as Milo,” he said. “What do most people know you as?” That question had an uncomfortable edge.
“Rose.”
“Thanks for joining us, Rose. Of course you didn’t mean to come along for the ride. Seems that incompetence is everyone’s game here.” He turned to the students again. “I mean, really, a simple piece of blackmail. How many times can one thing go wrong?”
“Well, as James says, you can always let them go if they’re not up to your usual standard of criminal,” said Rose.
“No, no. Nobody is let go. Once you are in our web, you stay there. Fire Sappers chooses its victims. They don’t choose us. The mistake these amateurs made was to try some hacking themselves. They were ours after that. I think you say, in your language, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”
“And what do you say in your language?” asked Rose.
>
He laughed silently, showing a lot of teeth. It was worth a try.
“I know you, but you don’t know me,” he said. “That’s how it works. You’re a diplomat, I believe. Or something like that.” So he did already know who she was. She thought so. But what else did he know? “Could be useful if your bosses discover you’re here.”
“They won’t trade. They don’t make deals with criminals.”
“We’ll see. One thing I’ve learned is that all kinds of people who don’t trade, trade. When it’s all laid out. When the arguments are made clear.”
“Not in this case.”
He leaned forward. “They’d let you die?” The word charged the atmosphere. He was telling them what was at stake.
“Yes. They would. And a good thing too. Better that than you get rewarded for what you do.”
Milo turned to James. “She’s brave, isn’t she, your sister? Are you brave, James? You know it’s you we really want. I think you know it. Because you’re quite clever, aren’t you? You act like a fool but you’re not.”
James opened his eyes wide in innocence. “I’m terribly sorry, but I have no idea at all what you could possibly want with me.”
“Oh, really?” Milo rolled his eyes. “Maybe you are a fool after all then.”
“You know,” said James, “talking like that really isn’t going to help—”
“The cold wallet.” Milo cut across him like a knife. “It wouldn’t be difficult, would it? With your years of encryption experience? To place vulnerability inside, a hidden key that only we can access. Something embedded so deep that it wouldn’t be detected.”
It was clear from James’ expression that this was exactly what he was expecting. Everyone was looking at him. “I have a team of coders working for me. I can’t pull the wool over their eyes like that.”
“You could find a way. Or give us the encryption codes and we’ll do it if you really can’t manage.”
