by Sam Waite
Yuri worked her jaw from side to side. "You're scary, Mick. It'd be easier if you'd walk the line a little tighter."
She disappeared behind the door to the cubicle maze.
What would be easier?
Chapter 22
Will Simons had used the information I gave him to wrangle an interview with Ueno, and I was invited. When I arrived he was sitting alone at an oval table in a private room big enough and elegant enough to accommodate a board meeting.
A woman in bellman's uniform brought us a silver urn of coffee and gold-rimmed china cups. I was halfway through my first cup before the same woman and a bellman escorted Ueno into the room. The bellman seated Ueno at the center of the table and the woman served him coffee. They both bowed deeply when they left.
He eyed us for a few seconds before he asked which of us was Will Simons. Then he asked me if I understood Japanese.
"Zen, zen." I said. Not at all.
He nodded and directed his attention to Simons.
Will didn't translate for me, but he gave me a detailed wrap-up later. Ueno asked what he wanted to see him about, even though he had to know already. Will gave him a list of payments and accounts that Morimoto had found. Only the payment to Hosoi's account was missing. We had decided to save that surprise for later.
Ueno told Will that he shouldn't write about the flow of Japanese government funds unless he got confirmation through a press club. Will admitted he would have to do some more digging before he had a story, but the press club wasn't on his list of sources.
They went back and forth for a while without progress. It was hard to tell if Ueno was trying to bluff Will or if he actually believed that Will wouldn't file a story that hadn't been approved by a press club.
It looked like Ueno didn't have much else to say about the payments, so I dropped the photos of him and Ito on the table and spread them out.
I had his attention now. His expression went from placid to scowl.
"Ito is holding Sayoko against her will. I want you to intervene."
"Why should I?"
"Because you're the reason she's being held." I took the safety deposit key out of my pocket.
Ueno moved nothing but his eyes. They followed the key until I laid it on the table about six inches from his hand. For a long while, he sat still as a predator and stared at it. His index finger twitched. It twitched again, and he took a long breath. He raised his hand slowly from the wrist.
I leaned forward.
He ran his thumb across his fingertips.
I reached out and little by little nudged the key back toward me.
Ueno squeezed out a faint sigh.
I picked up the key. "This opens a safe-deposit box that contains a tape. It's yours as soon as Sayoko is with me."
"If I were interested, how would I know it's the key I want?"
"We'll go to the box together. You can check the tape."
"You've seen it?"
"We haven't found it, yet. We will."
He looked down and touched his fingertips to his mouth like he was praying.
"Will you let her go?" I said.
"It isn't my decision. I'll contact you."
The woman who had brought coffee was waiting outside the door. I wondered if she was afraid he'd get lost.
Or maybe take a fall.
Chapter 23
Despite our lack of hard evidence that Sayoko was actually missing, Yuri tried to file a report. The police weren't interested.
"We should call Kuroda," I said.
"He's working on an internal investigation. He's basically a bureaucrat. I don't think he'll be much help," Yuri said.
He wasn't.
Because of the innovative way he took to get to me, longnecks and an old-time Texas swing band, I thought he might have some ideas or at least sympathy. Instead, he was coldly disinterested. A word he'd used, kankenai, means "no relation." If it wasn't on his agenda, it wasn't his affair. He gave us another Police Department number to call. It was one Yuri had already tried.
"What about her parents? They could file a report," I said.
"Do you have a sister named Pollyanna? From what Sayoko says, we'd have trouble getting them to cooperate. Even if they did..."
Yuri stuck out her lower lip and shook her head. "Some time back the papers ran a story about a young man who was kidnapped by bullies. He had a mobile phone and called his parents for help. They begged the police to try to rescue him. Boys in blue did nothing."
"What happened?"
"After a few days, he was found murdered."
It didn't look like my take-charge approach would get us very far. "Maybe you should turn your phone back on."
"I already have." Yuri took it out of her coat pocket and entered Sayoko's number. There was no answer.
"How's the hunt for the safe-deposit box going?" I said.
"Morimoto hasn't gotten anywhere. I personally checked every bank that we know Hosoi used. No luck."
"Wait a minute. They're all in Tokyo?"
"One was in Yokohama."
"But they're all here, close."
"Yeah, what are you...?"
Yuri's phone rang. This time it was a voice call. She spoke more softly than normal, like she was trying to calm a nervous animal. After a moment she covered the mouthpiece with her palm. "It's Sayoko. She wants the key tonight."
"Tell her I have it, and you haven't seen me. Tonight's impossible."
Yuri talked a long time with lots of pauses. Eventually she cut the connection. "It sounded like Sayoko was being told what to say. It took her a while to respond to anything I said. She told me we have until tomorrow to give them the key."
"What time?"
"I don't know. They'll call again. What do we do now? We can give the key to the lawyers. Let them issue subpoenas. Probably our best chance to nail these people and get Dorian off."
Dorian. Had he been holding out after all? There wasn't time to confront him with the latest evidence. "What about Sayoko?"
"Well, we could also give them the key and hope they let her go."
"Worst case scenario. The bad guys skate, Dorian hangs and Sayoko disappears into a mossy forest. You said the banks you checked were all in the Tokyo-Yokohama area. That's where Morimoto was looking. Let's call her brother and see what bank she used in her home town."
"If her brother knew about any accounts, they would have gone to the estate."
"Right, but accounts in her real name. Okay, skip her brother. We know she had at least one account under an alias. Ask Morimoto to help you check every bank in her hometown for a safe-deposit box registered under her own name or the alias. The town's not that big. Book two seats on whatever transportation will get us there the fastest."
"I'd better stay here to respond to calls in case they demand a face-to-face meeting," Yuri said.
"Yeah, I guess you had. We'll need a Japanese woman with the proper ID to pose as Maho and open the box, if we find it. Can we do that?"
Yuri smiled. She was ahead of me again. "I've already had IDs made, one with Maho's name and one with the alias. They've got my photos on them, but we can swap them for photos of whoever we can find to go with you."
It was too late to catch a flight to Morioka, so Yuri ordered tickets for two cabins on an overnight sleeper. The train would arrive at seven-thirty in the morning. Banks wouldn't open until nine. We also had airline reservations for a late afternoon flight back to Tokyo. Not a lot of time. It was all we could spare. Assuming everything ran on schedule, we still wouldn't get back to Protect Agency until after 6:00 p.m.
While Yuri was making arrangements and finding someone to go with me, I talked to Nozaka. We didn't know when Yuri would get another call or when Ito and her boys would want to meet. When we did find out, we'd have to make quick contingency plans. They would be expecting Yuri and me. A surprise guest could be a help.
He was game. I'd rather he was bringing the Marines.
Yuri introduced me to Mai O
ta, my traveling companion. She was in her mid twenties, spoke only Japanese and wore black trousers and sneakers. Perfect. Yuri also handed me a carrying case holding two digital video cameras and a cable to connect them.
"Yamazaki didn't look angry until he opened the card deck. Odds are pretty good what you're looking for fits a mini-cam. Can you work these?"
The controls were marked in Japanese. Yuri gave Mai and me a brief lesson. If we found a digital videotape, we would make a copy and put the original back in the safe-deposit box.
When Mai went to pack, I hung around. "Promise me you won't go anywhere alone until I get back," I told Yuri. "No matter what they say. Take Nozaka with you or call Kuroda."
"Don't worry. I think I can stall until you get back. I'll just tell them you're too thick-headed to understand what's going on. Should be an easy sell."
I ran my fingers behind her ear and kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose and her lips.
"Thanks for that vote of confidence." I picked up the camera bag and headed for the door.
"Hey, Mick." Yuri was smiling. "Don't let Mai take advantage of you."
"No problem, I'm not her type."
"How do you know?"
"She already told me."
I heard a pencil strike wood as I closed the door behind me.
* * * *
On the train, I asked Mai what she did at the agency. She was a fact checker and thought playing operative was exciting.
"I like your enthusiasm. We just need you to act cool."
"Got it." Mai lowered her eyelids and puffed an imaginary cigarette.
"I mean natural," I said and hoped she got that.
Mai went to her cabin, but I stayed in the car and watched landscape roll by in the black of night. At some point, I dozed and when I opened my eyes the sun lay red on the horizon.
Mai bought a map of the town, and we found a coffee shop for breakfast and to plot bank locations. At 9:00 a.m. Yuri and Morimoto started checking the outlets of national banks, while Mai called regional banks. It was only a mid-size town, but there seemed to be a bank outlet on every corner of the business district. It was after one o'clock before I got a call from Yuri.
"Bingo." A safe deposit box was registered under Maho's alias.
I spent the taxi ride to the bank telling Mai that she would do fine and that the ID with the alias was a masterwork. I didn't know whether it was any good or not, but it had gotten Yuri's okay.
It passed the bank's scrutiny too.
Mai went in alone, while I waited nearby. As we had guessed, the tape fitted a mini-cam. Mai had been able to make a copy, but she didn't look happy about her success. I asked her what was on it. She wouldn't answer. She just shook her head.
On the way to the airport, I checked it for myself and understood Mai's reluctance to describe it. Maho was performing some bondage and light S&M. She had been either a deeply disturbed or a highly cynical young woman, but not as disturbed as the old man with her. He played both ways. Maho had accommodated him with the help of a strap-on accessory.
Chapter 24
"If we don't have a plan for a lie, we might as well tell the truth." Yuri passed the camera with Maho's video to Morimoto. Ito had demanded a meeting on neutral ground. "With both of us there, thinking of different ways to hedge our bets, they'll see it. If they separate us, our stories won't match."
"No separation," I said. "You don't leave my sight."
"You can't tell what we'll run into."
"Could you for once, just say, okay?" Frustration was gnawing away my sense of reality, not a good sign.
"Okay." Yuri reached up and patted me on the head. "I said it. Everything's going to be fine, Mick, just fine."
"Thanks." I choked back an urge to shove her into a chair and strap her down. "You don't have to go."
"They wanted both of us."
"Only because they think it's to their advantage. We don't have to play by their rules."
"How are you going to find them? How are you going to understand what they say?"
"I'll go where they say and give them the key."
"They won't give you Sayoko for the key. There'll be dickering. This is a first step, and you can't handle it. Besides, I'm the one they contacted. If anyone should stay out, it's you."
I let the retort slide. "I'll get ready."
Yuri and Nozaka had already made some preparations. She'd sewed a location transmitter into her homemade sap. When they searched us, the sap would probably be taken for what it was and nothing more. Nozaka would have a receiver and follow us. Yuri and I had been warned not to carry recorders, so he would bring a parabolic microphone that would let him home in on our conversation and record it. He had a video camera and another mike that picked up vibrations from solid objects. It would let him listen through walls, but it wasn't fully reliable.
No one asked for Morimoto's help, and he didn't volunteer any.
Except for the sap, neither Yuri nor I planned to carry weapons. They'd be found and wouldn't do us any good anyway. The only thing that I felt sure about was that we would meet overwhelming force. Nevertheless, I asked Nozaka to lend me his pen with the triangular blade, two inches of steel to shore up my courage.
He didn't mind. He was armed to the gills: knives, nunchaku and brass knuckles, along with light body armor on his torso, shins and forearms. He even had a high-performance slingshot and a sack of steel Pachinko balls for ammo. He said he could put a ball clear through an inch-thick pine board at twenty paces.
Impressive. As far as I knew, all Yamazaki carried was a short-barrel thirty-eight.
Mai stopped in to ask if there was anything she could do before she left the office. I gave her Kuroda's phone number and asked her to call him if we didn't return by the next morning.
Chances were good that even if Nozaka was able to keep up with us, he wouldn't be in a position to help. Even if he managed, he might not know what was best to do.
I borrowed a laser pointer from Protect Agency's stash of presentation tools. If I clicked it on once, it meant Nozaka should smack the man in front of me with a Pachinko ball. If I clicked it twice, it meant I was nervous and he should smack the guy anyway.
None of that would do us any good if they took us to a basement or an underground railway. They didn't. We met at a fish market.
Yuri had gotten several calls. Each one directed us to another location. I guess they'd learned from our park encounter and intended to make it tough for backup to follow us. The market was on Tokyo Bay at Tsukiji, a village of shops and quays and auction sites. At this time of night, things were quiet. Action didn't get into full swing until just before sunrise, when fishers brought in their catch.
We parked on the outskirts and waited. After five calls and a meander through fish stalls, we met our hosts.
I didn't recognize either of them, and no one spoke. They just led the way to a car. Yamazaki got out of the back seat. He and the other two men searched us. They had us stand back from the car, lean forward and put our hands on the roof. They did a thorough job, especially on Yuri. Yamazaki searched her. He let his hands linger on the insides of her thighs and across her breasts. I tempered the fire in my own breast before it blazed out of control.
Another time. Another moment. Soon, Panther.
He found Yuri's sap in her coat pocket. He tested its heft, slapped it against his palm and put it in his own coat. As long as we stayed together, and he didn't discover the transmitter inside, it was fine for him to keep it.
Yamazaki told us to get into the back seat of the car. It was the first time anyone had spoken. He and I sat next to the doors. The other two men took the front. As we pulled out of the parking area, I saw a second car fall in behind us.
We took a freeway out of town. I couldn't tell exactly where we were headed except that it was away from the bay, which meant more or less west, toward the mountains. I tried to ask Yamazaki where Sayoko was, but he ignored Yuri's translation. When we persisted, he told us
to shut up.
I wanted to turn around to see if the other car was still with us. More precisely, I wanted to know if Nozaka was following. Instead, I sat still, as Tokyo's neon glare faded to a glow and the land lay dark beyond the lights of the highway. Our road led uphill through forest. We turned onto ever-smaller roads, until we were on gravel and there was only one set of lights behind us. They didn't belong to Nozaka.
We finally stopped. Yokoyama, his two plainclothes police pals and a young guy, who looked like a malnourished accountant, got out of the second car. Yamakazi led us deeper into the woods to a small clearing.
There was nothing out here. No cabin, no campground, no Sayoko. Nothing but solitude. It didn't take long to eliminate all but two of the reasons why they might have brought us there. No one to hear a gun shot, and they wouldn't have to haul bodies.
The plainclothes policeman who had asked for my passport spoke.
"Where's the key?" Yuri translated.
"I don't have it."
The cop drew his pistol, aimed it between my legs and fired a round a couple of inches too low to do damage. I tensed but didn't move.
"We can hurt you, and then we can search you. Are you sure you don't have the key?"
Oddly, the smell of gunpowder calmed me. The contrast to the odor of cedar and pine intensified my awareness of the forest around us. It was the closest I'd felt to home since I walked off the plane.
"Where's Sayoko?" I said. "If I see Sayoko, maybe I can remember where the key is."
The cop blinked. Then he laughed. They all laughed except for the accountant.
"I'm serious. You've got her. How do I know she's safe?"
"She's safe," Yamazaki said. He drew his pistol and pointed it at Yuri.
"Wait! This isn't about the key. You want a tape."
No more smiles.
"The one I have is of Ohashi and Maho. They're doing weird stuff. Is that what you're looking for?"
"Where is it?" The plainclothes cop jabbed me in the chest with the barrel of his gun.
"Is that what you're looking for?"
"Hai!" He screamed. Yes.
I took the key out of my pocket and handed it to him. "That opens a safe-deposit box. The tape is inside."
