by T. M. Parris
“Henry?”
“We’re all okay, Dad.”
It was such a timid grown-up voice, a scared boy determined to do the right thing. Rose felt tears in her eyes. A slight scuffling noise made her turn round.
“Shit!” Everyone else turned. Milo was standing at the cavern entrance flanked by two yakuza, each carrying a gun. Rose backed towards the others. This was it. James had led them straight here and they were defenceless.
“What’s going on, James?” Fiona’s voice echoed round.
“Keep them quiet, can’t you?” said Milo, sounding irritated. He was pale; Haruma had done some damage to the man at least. Fiona and the children fell silent.
“Well, here we all are,” said Rose. “Which one of us are you going to shoot now?”
“Rose, don’t!” James’ words were a plea.
“Yes, you’re right, James,” said Milo. “You can’t always listen to your sister. Of course it’s you we’re interested in, none of the others. You already know what we want. But now you know us. Now you know our reach. We have friends everywhere. You can only continue if you work with us. And that’s what you want, isn’t it? For everything to carry on as it did before?”
His voice echoed away. Everyone was listening, the hostages too.
“Yes,” said James simply. “That’s what I want.”
“Then give me what I ask. A back door to the wallet. Go home and carry on how you were. Create a way in for us. We will stay in touch. You do what we ask, everyone will be fine. That’s the offer. Do you accept?”
“He’s lying, James,” said Rose. “He won’t let us go, not now we’ve seen him. You know you can’t trust him.”
“I accept,” said James quietly. “I’ll do what you ask.”
“James?” said Rose. “You can’t! Think what that means! They’re thieves! You’ll be helping them steal money. And then what? They’ll never go away. Whatever they ask for you’ll have to give them.”
James wasn’t even looking at her. He was staring up at the screen, at his family, the three of them lined up, hearing every word.
“James, listen to me!” she said. “What about the people who get hacked? Some of them are not nice people. If they find out how it was done, you think they’ll just accept it?”
“We look after our people,” said Milo.
“Don’t believe a word of it,” said Rose. “You saw what he did earlier. He’ll kill us all.”
James lifted his chin and squared up to Milo. “Everyone in here walks free. Everyone. My family gets on a plane to the UK. Then I’ll give you what you want. Those are my terms.”
Milo nodded. “I accept.”
“James!” shouted Rose.
Her brother turned and pointed a finger at her. “Now you listen, Rose. You said it yourself. Sometimes you do what you have to do to survive. I know you don’t think much of us. With you it’s all queen and country, and we’re just living our boring, meaningless lives. But this is me, Rose. This is what’s important to me. This is my world, my wife and my kids. They’re everything to me. Everything! And I will sacrifice anything to keep them safe. I’m sorry you don’t like it, but that’s what I will do.”
His voice echoed into silence. On the screen, Rose saw Fiona looking at her husband, and with such a look – pride, ferocity, intensity, love.
Milo nodded. “Good, good. Sorry, Rose. I guess you lost the argument this time. So! This is what happens next.”
He took a breath, frowned and turned. Then everyone heard. From down the cave came heavy footsteps, running, shouting, a burst of weapon fire. Was this the rest of Milo’s yakuza friends coming in? Rose moved forward, gripping the tripod in both hands. Hopeless though it was, she’d take a few of them out if she could.
But when the shouting got nearer, it wasn’t the yakuza. She heard a woman’s voice, one she recognised. “Get down on the ground! FBI! Everybody down!”
“No!” James ran forward. “No! Not now! They’ll kill them!”
Armed officers were swarming into the cavern. The two yakuza had their hands in the air. James was running straight towards the soldiers. Rose stepped forward and tripped him with the tripod. He fell, and she pressed him into the ground under her knee. He struggled like a wild animal. “Don’t let them!”
“They’ll shoot you, James!” She held his face down. The soldiers passed round. With the echo it sounded like there were dozens of them. Voices shouted commands over the top of each other. Gunshots exploded: bullets then automatic fire. James screamed.
“Get them out of here!” That was Rapp.
“Get up! Get up now!” Two of them stooped either side of them, bulky with bulletproof gear. They grabbed her arms and pulled her up, wrestling the tripod out of her grip. They frogmarched her out of the cavern. They wouldn’t even let her turn her head to see what was happening.
“No! You can’t!” James was getting the same treatment as she was, but he didn’t go quietly. He shouted and screamed the length of the cave as they were forced along.
They were almost out of the cave when from deep inside came the sound of more gunfire. What was going on back there?
Chapter 39
From the moment the helicopter touched down in the theme park, Fairchild clung to Rapp like a malevolent shadow. The way the situation had evolved, he had no choice but to pass on the location as soon as the email arrived. Theoretically Zack was in charge, but with Rapp at the forefront of an offensive, things might not necessarily go to plan.
They landed in a car park and ran past a battlement and over a bridge into DisneySea, the water-themed part of the park. A model sailing ship, a Mississippi steam-boat, some kind of volcanic structure: it was like a bizarre military training exercise. A few yakuza with guns were hanging around the outside of the Centre of the Earth. As they approached, one or two of them got a couple of shots off, but they were soon neutralised. Rapp wasted no time joining the advance team heading inside.
“Keep with her,” said Zack. But Fairchild was already on it.
As they knew from the hastily-studied schemas, the cave curved round and led into a wide internal cavern. Rapp, already in there, was yelling at people to get down. The space filled with soldiers ready with their weapons. There were bodies flat on the ground. Two of them lay face down, one partially on top of the other. Fairchild slowed. It was Rose and James. For one horrific moment he couldn’t see either of them move.
Some fool fired a shot. Idiot, shooting in a space like this! A short barrage of return fire downed the shooter, a yakuza. He wasn’t going to be getting up again. Someone screamed. Another yakuza and a westerner had their hands up. The westerner was young, dark-haired, wiry. So this was Milo.
“Get them out of here!” Rapp seemed to be treating everyone in the cave as the enemy. The Japanese pair were led off, as were Rose and James. James wasn’t going quietly. Fairchild hung back out of sight; they were both safe, and he needed to be here with Rapp. And Milo.
A huge screen on the wall was showing a live feed. Fiona, Sophie and Henry were in a room somewhere. All Fairchild could see of it was a sofa. They were staring with horrified expressions. They must be watching a feed of the cavern themselves. Milo had to be getting help with all of this; rigging something up like that was way beyond the skill set of those yakuza. Almost as soon as he saw it, the screen went dark. The connection had been cut.
It was only gradually sinking in how much his bargain with Tang had changed things. The Wong Kai boss’s information had enabled this whole rescue. But Tang was angry. Tang wanted Fire Sappers, and thought that Fairchild was the person to deliver them. But Fire Sappers was elusive, and the only lead Fairchild had, anywhere in the world, was currently standing in front of Alice Rapp with his hands in the air.
Milo and Rapp were staring at each other. Rapp grabbed the man by the shoulder and threw him face down. He yelped with pain. The floor was covered in shattered glass. Everyone else stood staring. She knelt, grabbed the back of the man’s he
ad and pushed his face into the glass. He shrieked.
“Are you Milo?” she shouted. “Are you Milo? Answer me!”
Fairchild stepped forward.
“Rapp! It must be Milo. He was the only westerner here except for the hostages.”
“You keep out of this.”
“We need him to tell us where Clarke’s family is.”
“That’s what I’m doing.”
“By torturing the guy? Look at his face! There’s blood all over it. His eye!”
“You’re best buddies now, are you? You know what this guy did.”
Milo spoke. “Let me go and I’ll release them. You get them back unharmed.”
“You’re joking,” said Rapp. “Let you go?”
“You won’t find them otherwise.”
“One of the mob will talk,” said Rapp.
“No. Not them. They’ll go to prison instead of that. It’s what they’re like round here, loyalty and honour, such a wonderful thing.”
The guy was lying face down in shards of glass surrounded by armed soldiers, but he still managed to sneer. What a scumbag. Rapp was right about that at least. Fairchild squatted next to him.
“They won’t let you go, Milo. Be realistic. If you cooperate, things will be a lot better for you. Tell us where they are.”
Rapp pointed at Fairchild. “You back off. I’m leading this.”
“Says who? Zack’s in charge, remember?” But then it dawned on him.
“Quiet, isn’t it?” said Rapp, watching his face. “The radios aren’t working in here. Too much rock. Which means I’m the senior officer.” She turned to the soldiers. “Detain this guy. He’s trying to collude with the prisoner.”
“I’m doing nothing of the kind and you know it.”
But the soldiers moved forward.
“Take him outside,” she said. “Get him out of here too.” She pointed to the mobster. They hesitated. “Go!” she shouted. “All of you!”
“That makes no sense,” said Fairchild. “Why stay in here alone with Milo? You’ve detained everyone now. We should all go out together.”
“I’ll be right behind you. Go, now!” Behind her on the floor, fear started showing on Milo’s face. The soldiers encircled Fairchild.
“Why is she doing this?” he said to them. “Why aren’t we staying together? You know this isn’t right.”
But they had no choice; Rapp was the senior officer and they had to obey orders. Two of them grabbed his arms. Another pair led the yakuza out in front, and one more followed Fairchild. They propelled him out of the cavern. Rapp and Milo were out of sight.
He let them take him twenty paces. The guys on either side relaxed. He could hear the one behind messing around with a pair of cuffs, slowing a little as he did so. The two in front with the thug were a few paces ahead. It was now or never.
He jerked backwards violently, pulling one of his arms free. He grabbed the other one’s arm and twisted savagely. Anticipating, Fairchild’s elbow and knee caught the other two as they came forward, winding them long enough to get out a kick and a punch and to grab a gun from a holster. Everyone froze. He pointed the gun at the nearest and backed off towards the cavern. The other two drew their weapons and aimed at him.
“Drop it! Drop it!” Their shouts echoed in the cave. It was a calculated risk. He didn’t think they’d shoot.
“Come on, wake up! You know what she’s doing in there!”
He turned and ran. He had to stop her. Milo was his only chance. But when he got to the cavern, he saw he was too late.
“Rapp! No!” Milo was standing, arms in the air. Rapp was aiming straight at his chest. Fairchild sprinted, but before he could reach them she fired twice in quick succession. Milo fell to the ground.
Rapp lowered her gun. She looked at Fairchild calmly. The other soldiers came up behind him.
“What are you doing?” Fairchild shouted. “We needed him, Rapp!”
“He was coming for me. I said I’d shoot, but he took no notice.”
The soldiers bent over the body and straightened again. No point in hurrying: the man was dead.
“So where’s his gun? Was he carrying?” asked Fairchild.
They already knew he wasn’t. The soldiers turned to Rapp.
“He was coming for me,” she repeated. “You think I should have asked him nicely what his intentions were? He could have grabbed my weapon. I have the right to defend myself.”
“By shooting him in the chest?”
“There was very little time.”
“You engineered the whole situation. There was no need for you to be alone in here with him.”
“I had to take action, given you didn’t seem sure what side you were on.”
“Like hell. Milo wasn’t a threat. He was unarmed.”
“He could have got away. I couldn’t take the chance, given the importance of the target.”
“Got away how, exactly? The rest of the team is right outside!”
“We don’t know that. We have no comms. The situation out there might have changed. I couldn’t risk him escaping.”
She was cool, he gave her that.
She stuck rigidly to her story when they all eventually emerged, Fairchild in handcuffs, Milo on a field stretcher, the two bullets efficiently fatal. Fairchild saw Zack’s face when he cast his eye over the body. He knew exactly what he was looking at.
James was agitated; Rose was trying to calm him down. There was some friction between them, Fairchild could tell. “That’s Milo?” said James, when he saw the body. “He’s dead? Then how will we find them? Oh, God, they could have been killed by now!”
Fairchild recognised the expression on Rose’s face: a restrained anger. Rapp was standing back, serene.
“One of those goons must know where they went,” said Rose.
“They’re not talking,” said Zack. “Gentle persuasion didn’t help either. What about the comms link? The screen? Can it be traced back?”
“No, it can’t.” James answered more calmly. “It was a dark web location. Untraceable.”
“James-san,” said the female Japanese hacker, her voice sounding tiny out here.
“What is it, Mirai?” James was close to tears.
“The yakuza have a place. A house. They took me there once. They kept me there long time.” She bowed her head.
“Christ,” said Rose. The other Japanese boy stepped up right next to Mirai.
“On the screen,” Mirai said softly. “The sofa. The room. Not sure, but maybe same place.”
“That’s good enough,” said Zack. “Where is it?”
“Sangenjaya.”
“Yeah, that hasn’t helped. Is it far?”
“Yes. Far.”
“It’s the other side of the city,” said Fairchild.
“Well, let’s get going,” said Zack. “And why does everyone have cuffs on? Get them all off.” He pointed at Rapp. “She’s not coming. She’s getting escorted back to base along with the body. The slow way. Everyone else – back to the copter.”
Chapter 40
Rose sped up to approach Zack as they all raced back towards the waiting helicopter. Fairchild caught up with the American as well.
“I hate to rain on your parade,” Fairchild said to Zack, “but do you have an idea of where we’re going to land a helicopter in the middle of Tokyo? And won’t they hear us coming? Assuming they’re still there, which probably they’re not because they already know Milo has been taken.”
Zack had his phone in his hand and didn’t slow his pace. Rose had to jog to keep up with the men.
“Yeah, there’s a heliport at Minato base. Right in the centre.”
“There’s an American military base in central Tokyo?” said Rose.
“Sure. We used to occupy the place, remember? Never really left. Anyway, if you two will let me get on with things, by the time we get there we’ll have a vehicle ready to drive us to San Gen whatever. We’ll go in quiet and hopefully surprise them.”
“They won’t be surprised, Zack,” said Fairchild. “They already know we have James and the others. They saw it on screen.”
“Doesn’t mean they’ve gone anywhere. They don’t know Milo is dead. Maybe they’ll stay put and wait for orders. Depends if there’s anyone else there with a brain.”
“There is,” said Rose.
That got Fairchild’s attention. “What do you mean? Did you see someone on the screen?”
“Not see. Hear. I recognised his voice.”
She gave Fairchild a look which he’d seen before.
“Yeah, well, I’m open to other ideas about where to look for these folk, if you guys have any,” said Zack. They didn’t.
In the air decisions were made about who would go in the van. Mirai had to go with them. “We’ll never find the place otherwise,” said Zack. Rose noticed that she and Tomo were holding hands now.
“Fairchild, you’re coming,” said Zack.
“So am I,” said Rose.
“Why? You’re not part of the unit and you don’t add anything.”
“All that’s true of Fairchild as well. If he goes, I go.”
“I want to go,” said James.
“No,” said Zack. “Not a good idea. You should stay at base. We’ll keep you up to speed, don’t worry.”
“No, I want to be there!”
“Come on, Zack,” said Rose. “You’d want to go, wouldn’t you, if it was you? He doesn’t need to get out of the van.”
Zack rolled his eyes. “Okay then. But it’s your job to make sure he stays in the van.”
A fresh team was ready and briefed by the time they got to base; all they had to do was climb into the vehicle. The journey was fast, Mirai up front giving directions as they got close. The place was above a shop and its entrance in an alleyway.
“Down there,” said Mirai, her voice shaking, as they drove past. Whatever they’d done to her here, it had clearly traumatised her.
They parked out of sight. Rose and Fairchild followed the advance team and hovered at the end of the alleyway. But the door was hanging open. The soldiers filed in. Everyone else waited outside. The silence stretched on for an age.
