The Last Assassin

by Barry Eisler

  Along the wall opposite the doors they had just come through were a half dozen booths. These, too, were softly lit and had the feel of alcoves. A few of them were occupied, again by prosperous-looking men and gorgeous women of various ethnicities. Several Japanese women, attractive in their own right but less fabulously attired than the hostesses, moved about the room, bringing snacks, freshening drinks, and otherwise ensuring that the members were well provided for.

  At one end of the booths was a door. Over it, a lighted green sign signifying that this was one of the two emergency exits. She would have liked a closer look, but sensed that would be overstaying her welcome.

  'It's beautiful,' Delilah said.

  Kyoko looked at her. 'You think you would like it here?'

  Delilah nodded.''Certainement. I'm sure I would.'

  Kyoko smiled and walked her back to the foyer. They stopped outside the front doors.

  'Then we'll see you at the same time tomorrow night?' Kyoko asked.

  Delilah nodded. 'Yes. And thank you.'

  Kyoko bowed in acknowledgment and went back to her office.

  Delilah turned to the women behind the island. 'Ah… the ladies' room?' she said.

  One of the women gestured to the stairs. Delilah thanked her, noting that, from their position behind the island, the women wouldn't be able to see the restroom doors or that of the utility room. She headed down, opening her purse, taking out an innocent-looking leather key case, and detaching the head from one of the keys on the way. Inside the body of the key, attached to the head, was a lock rake. She palmed the rake, dropped the keys back in her purse, and took out an exceptionally thin steel nail file that always doubled nicely as a torsion wrench.

  When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Rain's detector buzzed. She looked up and saw a ceiling camera aimed at the emergency door, presumably to catch an intruder trying to come in the back way. She wondered why the club hadn't invested a trivial amount more for an additional camera covering the interior, then realized it was probably out of deference to the patrons' privacy concerns. It didn't really matter. With the electricity cut and the lights out, the camera would be irrelevant.

  She hadn't seen anyone heading toward the restrooms in the last few minutes, and suspected they were empty now. Still, best to check. The men's room first, an embarrassed apology ready in case she had erred. But it was unoccupied, the three stall doors all slightly ajar. Likewise the ladies' room. Okay.

  She paused in front of the emergency exit door, behind the camera's ambit, and looked it over. It opened out, with a metal push bar across its center. She wanted to try it, but the camera would have caught that. Also, there was a sticker running along the length of the bar in red Japanese characters, with an exclamation point at the end. Probably a warning that an alarm would sound if the door were opened. She took out her cell phone and snapped a picture. Rain could read it later to confirm.

  She walked over to the utility room. Steel door, hinges on the outside, likely a five-pin tumbler in the knob. She tried the knob and was unsurprised to find it locked. Doubtful there could be anyone in there, but you never know, so she knocked, ready to seem extremely clueless about what down here was a restroom and what was a utility room in the unlikely event someone answered. But no one did.

  She glanced at the stairs, then slid the file into the lock and turned it slightly, taking up the slack. Then she inserted the rake and ran it back and forth over the tumblers. A moment later the knob turned and she was in.

  The room was dark, but she found a wall switch and flipped it on. She saw it instantly: a backup generator, bolted next to the exterior wall. She walked over and looked more closely. Diesel unit, digital control panel, she could shut it down anytime. If there was a problem with the controls, she could simply pull the leads. No worries about after-the-fact signs of tampering on this job.

  She looked around, hoping to see a fuse box, which would give them other options. But there was none. Probably in the office upstairs. And therefore, for their purposes, inaccessible.

  She turned off the light and walked out, checking to make sure the door was locked behind her. Then she ducked into one of the ladies' room stalls, hid the rake again, and took out the earpiece. She put it in and tilted her head down.

  'It's me,' she said. 'Is the reception okay?'

  'Loud and clear,' Rain answered promptly.

  'Roger that,' Dox added.

  'Okay. Leaving now.' She dropped the earpiece back in her purse and flushed the toilet. She walked out of the stall and checked herself in the mirror, already in character again. Then she headed back up the stairs.

  The women were out in front of the island, helping a Japanese man and one of the hostesses with their coats. It looked like someone had managed to agree on a price tonight. One of the women buzzed Delilah out. The security guy bowed and held the door for her again.

  As she reached the end of the walkway outside, one of the valets went running past her in the direction of the club. She turned around and got back to the turn in the path in time to see him pull a magnetic key from inside his suit jacket and wave it in front of the reader. He slipped it back inside the jacket, and she realized he kept it on a lanyard around his neck. The door started to open and Delilah moved out of its line of sight.

  The other valet was in front, holding open the passenger door of a blue Bentley Continental GTC. The engine was idling at a low purr.

  Nice ride, she thought. She smiled at the valet and walked off.

  33

  We reconvened in Dox's hotel room a half hour after Delilah had checked in from the club. She briefed us on everything: entrance and exit layout and procedures; security personnel and protocols; the backup generator. She hadn't missed a thing, and recollected exactly the right details. I wasn't surprised.

  'The layout is good,' she said, when Dox and I had exhausted our questions. 'We can control it. The only thing I couldn't confirm was the emergency exit door off the main room, on the ground floor. It's there, but I didn't get to try it. The one in the basement, though, opens outward with a horizontal push bar. But there was a camera in front of it, and something written across it. I think that an alarm would sound if it's opened, so I didn't try. Here.'

  She took out her phone and worked the keys for a moment, then handed the unit to me. 'What do you think?'

  I had to squint a bit, but it was readable. 'Yeah,' I said. 'It's what you thought. Nice going.'

  I considered for a moment, then said, 'I think it's safe to assume that the other door works the same way. Emergency doors in public buildings are installed to code. They always open out with a push bar. So we ought to be able to jam them from outside with nothing more than a steel rod. I'll check on that tomorrow when I recon the exterior.'

  'It's an impressive place,' she said. 'Very high-end, smooth operation. And the women are stunning. All of them.'

  'It occurs to me,' Dox said. 'Maybe I should reconnoiter this establishment myself. Couldn't hurt to have a second set of eyes, you know.'

  I looked at him.

  He shrugged and said, 'No need to get irritable about it. Nothing wrong with a man enjoying his work.'

  Delilah reached into her purse and took out Harry's bug detector. 'Here,' she said. 'Don't want to forget.'

  'You might want it tomorrow night…' I started to say.

  'No, it's served its purpose. And nicely. Worked in the vestibule and for the camera watching the basement emergency exit, quiet the rest of the time. I can see why it's sentimental.'

  I took it and shook my head. 'That's a story for another time.'

  She nodded and rubbed her eyes. 'I should get some sleep.'

  'You're right,' I said. 'We can finish planning tomorrow. Why don't you sleep in if you can, and call us whenever you get up.'

  'That sounds good,' she said, standing up.

  I stood, too. 'I'll walk you back to your hotel.'

  She shook her head. 'Better to stay apart for now.'

 
Once again, I didn't know what was the real motivation there, personal or professional, but this wasn't the time or place to discuss it. 'Okay,' I said.

  Dox stood, too. He extended his hand, and Delilah shook it. 'It's great they invited you back for tomorrow, and no surprise, either,' he said. 'You did really well tonight, on unfamiliar terrain and without a lot of preparation, and that's a fact.'

  She gave him a nice smile. 'Thank you, Dox.'

  'Our glorious leader thinks so, too,' he added. 'Just, like I said before, he's not very expressive about these things.'

  Delilah's smile faded and she offered a tentative nod that said, Let's not go there now, okay? I was more direct, shooting him a Stop that shit look. But he plunged ahead.

  'Yeah,' he said, 'the first time I gave him a hug you should have seen him, he was so tense I thought he would pass out. The second time he tolerated it better. Shoot, by the fourth or fifth time, damned if he hadn't started to like it. Now if a few days go by and I forget to throw an arm around him, he actually starts to mope.'

  Delilah covered her mouth and looked down. She stood like that for a moment, very still, and then she started laughing. I looked at Dox, half incredulous, half enraged at the shit he was constantly pulling, but he didn't even notice because he was laughing, too.

  There was nothing I could do but stand there while their laughter fed on itself and grew. Dox was wiping his eyes and saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' while Delilah just stood shaking with her arms crossed and her head down.

  After an unpleasantly long time, it subsided. Delilah breathed in and out deeply a few times, then said to me, 'I'll call you tomorrow?'

  I nodded and said, 'Yeah. Sure.'

  'Good night,' Dox said, and I could tell he was struggling to hold it in.

  She made it out without either of them losing it again, but I had a feeling she laughed all the way to the elevator.

  I looked at Dox.

  'I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry,' he said. 'There's just something about you that brings it out in me!'

  'I think that's known as blaming the victim.'

  'Go ahead, make fun of me for hitting on Tiara the tranny, it'll make you feel better.'

  'No, it would make you feel better. That's why I won't do it.'

  'Ah, you're a hard man, John Rain, a hard man,' he said, and this time I couldn't help it, I started laughing with him.

  34

  The next morning, I took a quick run past Whispers, just a local guy out for his morning jog in his shoes and tracksuit, a hat pulled low against the chill air.

  I followed one of the alleys to the back of the club. Given their business hours, I doubted anyone would be about this early, but if I were seen, a jogger looking for a place to take a leak wasn't about to raise anyone's hackles.

  In keeping with that possible cover story, I paused and started undoing the snaps on the pants of the nylon tracksuit while I scanned the perimeter for cameras. I saw none, just a windowless concrete façade with an emergency exit door on the left, plain steel with no handle or other hardware. A cement path ran the length of the building.

  I resnapped the pants and walked over to the door. As I had expected, the hinges were on the outside. A one-meter steel bar jammed in tight at a low angle, with the bottom in one of the expansion joints in the path, would seal it.

  I repeated the procedure on the west side of the building, where the basement exit was located at the bottom of a utilitarian concrete stairwell. This door was identical to the first one. Okay.

  I continued on my morning run, stopping at Aoyama Park to call Tatsu at the hospital. The phone rang several times, then I heard his voice, almost a groan: 'Hai.'

  'It's me,' I said. God, he sounded terrible. 'I'm sorry to bother you.'

  He said nothing for a moment, and I could tell he was trying to catch his breath. 'Bother me?' he rasped, finally. 'These calls are all I look forward to. And visits from my grandson.'

  'Any further word on tonight's meeting?'

  'Yes, the informant just confirmed. No wonder I'm in pain, no one will let me get any sleep. The meeting is at ten o'clock.'

  'Good. We're done with the initial pass. And I'm going to have that man inside tonight, after all.'

  'What else do you need from me?'

  'Like I told you last time, someone positioned to take out the place's power on my signal.'

  'You want the lights out.'

  'Yes.'

  'What about the backup…'

  'It's taken care of

  'I have a man who can help with this. But… you're going to have to work fast.'

  'What do you mean?'

  'From the substation my man can access, he can't shut down power to individual buildings, only to entire blocks. And if the power goes out on an entire Tokyo block for more than two minutes, city regulations require an investigation.'

  'Can't you just…'

  'City regulations. I'm federal. Trust me, we don't want an investigation. It would jeopardize good people. Can you do what you have to do in under two minutes?'

  I thought for a minute.

  'I guess I'll have to,' I said.

  'Good. I'll have someone standing by tonight with clear instructions.'

  'I'll need his mobile number. I want to talk to him directly, make sure he understands the plan. And I'll need to be able to signal him when I'm ready to go in tonight, too.'

  'I'll have him call you.'

  'All right. Good.'

  We were quiet for a moment. I said, 'You holding on?'

  There was a pause. He said, 'Finish it tonight.'

  I nodded, feeling grim.

  'I will,' I said.

  35

  Delilah called later that morning. We all headed back to Dox's hotel room. I brought in another Dean & DeLuca meal.

  'Here's what I've got in mind,' I told them while we ate. 'We'll be wired up the way we were last night. But this time, Delilah will wear her hair down and keep the earpiece in. There's a construction site just north of the club entrance. Dox, have you checked it out?'

  He nodded. 'Last night, like we discussed. I can get in fine, and there's good cover and concealment. The problem is the angle. I'll be a hundred yards out but only ten feet up. That means the possibility of unanticipated, moving obstructions becomes significant.'

  'You mean other people,' Delilah said.

  Dox shrugged. 'Could be people, could be a car. Hard to say. I do know it won't be like shooting from the top of the University of Texas tower. But that path in from the street runs about fifteen feet before turning right behind a wall. That'll give me time, if nothing's in the way.'

  'What about body armor?' Delilah asked. 'You've said Yamaoto is paranoid. You sure he won't be wearing it?'

  Dox shook his head. 'Most concealable armor won't stop a high-velocity rifle slug. There are a few that do, but they weigh close to twenty pounds and they're still bulky. Not something you'd want to strap on under a suit.'

  'All right,' I said. 'If the shot is there when Yamaoto arrives, Dox takes it and we can all go have a beer. If the shot isn't there, Dox remains as backup, in case Yamaoto manages to make it out of the club despite my best efforts inside. And Delilah, if you get a chance, look Yamaoto over and if you think he's wearing armor under his clothes, you let us know. Questions or comments so far?'

  They both shook their heads.

  'Delilah, you arrive before ten. We want you there before Yamaoto so you can see where he goes when he gets inside…'

  'If he gets inside,' Dox added.

  I nodded, 'If he gets inside. But the main thing is, I need to know where Yamaoto is inside the club. Who he's with would also be useful. And so would confirmation on the numbers and positions of club security and any bodyguards. With just a little luck, you'll see Yamaoto and Kuro when they arrive, and you'll be able to watch them to see wherever they go. Don't wait. As soon as you have Yamaoto's position, let me know, and go take out the generator. Or, better yet…'

  'Take it out
before Yamaoto arrives,' she said.

  I nodded. 'Yeah, that's good thinking. It's not as though anyone's going to notice until afterward. And it'll be one less thing for us to worry about once he's there.'

  'But how do we take out the main power?'

  'My contact here will have a man in the appropriate electrical substation. But there's a catch. He can only give us less than two minutes of darkness. More than that, and there'll be some sort of investigation by the city authorities, which my source doesn't want.'

  'Two minutes…' Delilah said.

  'It should be enough. Because before I call our man and the lights go out, you'll already be next to the emergency exit to let me in. In fact, you'll have to be.'

  'Because once the power is cut, the front door will be inoperable. It's got an electronic lock.'

  'Exactly. And at the same time, we can't use the emergency door before the power's out — otherwise, the exit alarms would give us away.'

  She nodded. 'And the camera pointing at the exit door…'

  'It'll already be dead when you let me in. I don't know if the video feed gets recorded, but with the power out, it won't make a difference.'

  'But what about inside the club? Even after you cut the lights, it won't be totally dark. People will have lighters, cell phones…'

  'That's perfect,' I said. 'We want just enough light so that people don't panic and start moving around. A little bit of light will keep them calm and in place for a couple minutes while they wait for the power to come back on. With lighters and cell phones and before their eyes have adjusted, they're not going to be able to see more than a few feet in front of them regardless. I'll be moving through in night-vision goggles with a suppressed HK. I'll be in and out in less than two minutes. No one will even know what happened until the lights are back on and we're gone.'

  Delilah nodded. We were quiet while she digested it.

  'You checked into a new hotel?' I asked.

  She was using the same name at Le Meridien and at Whispers, just in case anyone at the club thought to check up on her. Obviously, after tonight, that arrangement would no longer be tenable.