by Matt Lincoln
She handed me a red plastic box filled with rice balls, sushi rolls, tempura vegetables, and what appeared to be octopus tentacles, as well as a bottle of water. I’d chosen at random since I couldn’t read what each meal contained and I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted what I’d selected. Even the questionable-looking tentacles actually tasted pretty good, and before I knew it, I’d polished off the entire box. When the train was about ten minutes outside of Kyoto, the woman came by again. She had a trash bag this time, and I took the opportunity to dispose of the packaging and the empty bottle.
We pulled into the station a little while after that, and Charlie, Daichi, and I got off. Like Shinjuku Station, this structure was massive as well, and we had to make our way past several shops and restaurants to get to the main entrance. Past the final turnstiles, I could see a huge archway. To the left were several enormous sets of escalators, and straight ahead was the street. Several buses, taxis, and cars lined up along the front of the station, and all around us, people rushed by as they went about their business. As we passed through the turnstiles, a man in a police uniform approached us.
“Hello,” he greeted us in English. “Are you the agents from America?”
I was immediately suspicious and stopped in my tracks. I couldn’t place it right away, but something wasn’t right. One important thing I’d learned while living on the street was to always trust your gut. Human beings were capable of absorbing information unconsciously, even if they weren’t fully aware of it. Something about this situation had triggered some primal instinct in me, and I knew we were walking into danger.
A second later, I realized what it was. This guy was not a cop. I’d been dealing with cops my entire life. First, as troubled youth on the wrong side of the law, then later when I became a police officer myself. I’d met hundreds of cops, and I could recognize them right away. There was a certain way that cops carried themselves, a kind of aura they gave off. Not always, of course, but enough of the time that you could pretty much tell when you were dealing with one of your own. This guy was definitely not one of us.
“Junior, stop!” I yelled, but the man’s smile was already falling as he pulled his gun from his holster and pointed it at Junior.
I saw Junior freeze in shock, and my legs were moving before I could even think about it. I tackled Junior to the ground just as the man fired. Around us, I could hear screams as people ran at the sound of the gunshot. I looked up and saw the man take off and mix into the crowd as he ran through the turnstiles and into the station. Beyond him, I could see a pair of security officers running in our direction.
“Are you okay?” I asked, looking down at Junior. To my horror, I realized that the front of his sweater was growing dark as blood seeped into it. “Shit, he got you.”
“I’m fine,” Junior insisted, although the strain in his voice indicated otherwise. “It just grazed me. Hurry and go get him before he gets away!”
I stood up and took off before I could change my mind. The last time I had hesitated while trying to decide between helping a fallen comrade and pursuing a suspect, the perpetrator had managed to escape. I just hoped I was making the right decision as I left Junior bleeding on the ground to chase after the false cop.
I tried to find him among the mass of panicking civilians. Since he was wearing a police uniform, he shouldn’t be particularly hard to spot. I scanned the main area and finally spotted him as he jumped off the edge of the platform and onto the tracks. If he managed to get to the other side and into another part of the station, I would undoubtedly lose him. I ran to the edge of the platform and jumped off at full speed. I managed to knock him down as he was crossing the tracks, and I cried out as I slammed my own arm into a thick metal bar.
The suspect tried to take advantage of my momentary weakness by punching me in the face before rolling away from me. He’d punched me directly over the bandaged area. My entire body tensed as pain shot through my face. I fought through the pain, hoping that the hit hadn’t broken any of the stitches. It was a cheap move meant to catch me off guard, and I couldn’t let him get away with it.
He’d dropped his gun when I landed on him, and I could see him running for it now. I pushed away the pain radiating from my arm as I stood and chased after him. I threw my arms around his waist as I tackled him back to the ground from behind and pinned him there. He elbowed me hard and tried to flip me off of him and turn onto his back. I reeled back before punching him in the jaw. The hit caused his head to snap back violently, which caused him to become temporarily disoriented. As I was trying to get his hands secured, I felt a vibration beneath us. It was rapidly growing stronger, and I could hear a low rumble coming from behind me. I turned to see a massive white train barreling at us at an incredible speed.
The suspect pushed me away and started to scream. He ran to the edge of the platform, but it was too high up for him to climb out. By now, nearly everyone had fled the station, so there wasn’t anyone around to help him. Several yards away, I could see a police officer running in our direction, but the train was moving faster. We’d both be dead by the time it got here. I only had a few seconds to act.
I gripped the suspect by the back of his shirt with both hands and pulled him off the wall. I threw him roughly into a small opening just under the edge of the platform before rolling in myself. A second later, the train rattled by just inches from where we were lying. I could feel the heat from the train as dust and dirt kicked off the ground beneath the tracks and onto me. I closed my eyes as the smell of metal overwhelmed me, and thirty seconds later, I opened them as the train passed and the dust settled.
The suspect was openly crying as I dragged him out of the opening. He didn’t resist as I cuffed his hands behind him, and I tried to ignore the shaking in my hands as I did so. The police officer finally caught up to us then, but I pulled out my gun and trained it on him before he could get to us. The last time a supposed police officer had approached us, Junior had been shot, and a train had almost hit me.
“Show me your ID,” I yelled, realizing a minute too late that he wouldn’t understand me. To my surprise, he complied. He put his hands up before slowly reaching into his pocket to produce a leather placard with a badge inside of it.
“It’s okay,” he assured me in heavily accented English. “I can help you. Just let that man go.”
“I’m a federal agent,” I called, holstering my gun and producing my own identification. “From the United States. This man is not a police officer. He shot my partner. He’s the one whose gun went off just now.” The police officer’s eyes widened in surprise before he looked down at the suspect. I kept still, silently hoping he would believe me. After a moment, he nodded and moved forward to help me lift the suspect up onto the platform.
“Thank you,” I huffed as I pulled myself into the platform. “We’re here investigating a series of international crimes. He shot us as soon as we left the station. He’s most likely working with the people we’re after.”
“I understand,” the police officer nodded as he patted down the suspect. After checking his pockets, he pulled out a leather placard similar to his own. “His ID is fake. He is really not a police officer. I’ll call for some help.” He pulled a radio off of his belt and began to say something into it in Japanese.
“There you are,” I heard a voice say from behind us. Daichi was running across the platform toward where we were standing. “I got separated from you in the rush of people, and the next thing I knew, you were both gone. I’m very sorry.” He folded at the waist and bowed deeply after he finished speaking.
“It’s fine,” I responded dismissively. “Is Junior okay?”
“I don’t know,” Daichi replied as he straightened back up. “I was trying to follow you and the suspect. I haven’t gone back to check on him yet.”
“Well, let’s go, then. What are we waiting for?” I snapped angrily. If he hadn’t been helping me apprehend the suspect, the least he could have done was help Junior. Dai
chi at least had the decency to look remorseful, and he nodded before turning to walk back toward the entrance of the station. I was about to follow when I felt a hand close around my arm.
I looked up to see the same cop who had helped me up off the platform. His eyes narrowed, and he was eyeing Daichi’s retreating form with a look of contempt. He turned to me and shook his head.
“He’s lying,” he whispered. “I saw him as I was running toward the two of you. He was standing on the other end of the platform, just watching you two as you were fighting. I thought he was just a bystander until I saw his police uniform. He didn’t lose sight of you. He was there the whole time.”
My blood ran cold as I took in the man’s words. Daichi had been standing by while I took down the suspect on my own and hadn’t stepped in even when I’d been about to get hit by a train.
“Can you arrange for the suspect to be interviewed here, at a local police station?” I asked the officer. “And help me call an ambulance for my partner? Neither of us speaks Japanese, and I’m not sure I want to rely on Daichi.”
“Of course,” the officer replied quietly as we both turned to look at Daichi. I began to walk after him before he could turn around and realize I wasn’t following him. It seemed like the suspect we’d just apprehended might not be the only fake cop we’d encountered since getting to Japan.
22
Junior
I glanced down at the wound on my side. I was still lying on the ground, and I had my hands pressed against the spot where the bullet had grazed me. I could see blood seeping out from between my fingers where I was using my hands to apply pressure to the wound. It hurt, and I couldn’t sit up without feeling nauseous from the pain, but it didn’t appear to be life-threatening. The station seemed empty now, although, in the distance, I could hear the sound of police sirens and what sounded like running footsteps somewhere to my right. I hoped Charlie didn’t have trouble with the suspect.
I needed to call Fiona and warn her about what had happened. Somehow our location had been compromised, and if they had found us here in Kyoto, it was possible that they knew where our hotel was too. I moved one of my hands away from my side, panicking internally as I felt a renewed gush of warm blood beneath my other hand. Without the pressure of both of my hands, I’d bleed out more quickly, but I needed to warn her as soon as possible. My hand shook as I scrolled through my contacts list before landing on her name. I lifted the phone to my ear and listened as it rang once, twice, then three and four times before it finally went to voicemail. I tried calling again to no avail. I dropped my arm back to my side. The fact that she hadn’t answered made me worry, but I tried to convince myself that it didn’t mean anything.
The sirens grew louder before coming to an abrupt stop, and a second later, I heard the sound of a door opening, followed by a quick patter of footsteps. Two police officers leaned down and began to speak to me in Japanese, and my first instinctual reaction was to be apprehensive. How could I be sure that these two weren’t just pretending to be cops as well? One of them said something into his radio, and I could hear more police sirens approaching. They certainly seemed more legitimate than the suspect had, in hindsight, but I still couldn’t communicate with them well enough to be sure. I wished Daichi was here to translate, and that was when I realized that Daichi had disappeared as soon as the commotion began. I had seen Charlie run off after the suspect, but I hadn’t actually paid attention to where Daichi had gone. Hopefully, he was helping Charlie apprehend the suspect.
Just as I had that thought, I sensed movement in my periphery. I turned my head and saw Charlie and Daichi approaching with the suspect, along with another police officer.
“Hey, you okay?” Charlie asked as he knelt down to help me sit up. Doing so caused the injury on my side to compress, but once I was actually sitting up, the pain seemed to subside a little.
“Just fine,” I responded with just a hint of sarcasm. “It’s not lethal. What about you?”
“Great,” Charlie replied, but there was a steely edge to his voice that sounded strange.
The police officers who were trying to assist me began to speak to Daichi, but before he could respond, the other officer stepped in and said something. Daichi looked irritated, and I wished I could tell what they had said.
“Why don’t you go with the suspect back to the police station?” Daichi suggested as he turned to Charlie. “In the meantime, I’ll drive Agent Chapman to the hospital. We’ll waste less time that way.” It seemed like a good idea to me, and I was about to agree when Charlie shook his head.
“Nah. I’d rather not split up,” he asserted. “Doesn’t seem like a smart move after we just got ambushed like that.”
“It’ll be faster if I just take him,” Daichi insisted, and the smile on his face seemed strained. “That way, you can start interrogating the suspect without having to go to the hospital first.”
“The ambulance had already been called,” the new police officer interjected, eyeing Daichi with thinly veiled disgust. “It will be safer for the agent to be transported by ambulance than in a regular car.” Daichi looked displeased by the way the conversation had gone, but he didn’t argue further. Instead, he just nodded and stepped a few feet away to make a phone call. The entire interaction had carried an unsettling undercurrent, and it left me reeling at what had just happened.
“What was that about?” I asked Charlie quietly. He looked over at Daichi as if to check if he was listening, but before he could answer, a couple of paramedics wheeling a gurney between them came to a stop next to me. They stooped down as if to help me up, but I held up a hand to stop them.
“Tell them I’m okay,” I said to the new police officer before moving to stand on my own. I winced as the pain in my side intensified, but I fought through it.
“What are you doing?” Charlie asked. “You’re going to make your injury worse.”
“We don’t have time to go to the hospital,” I retorted, looking over at Daichi, who was still on the phone. “Something’ s up, right? We can’t waste time when someone clearly knows about our movements now. Can you ask them to just patch me up right here?”
I looked at the police officer, who seemed surprised by my request, but complied. The paramedics, too, looked surprised but ultimately agreed to stitch me up right there, after the police officer explained that we were federal agents and really needed to go as soon as possible.
“I’m Officer Tanaka, by the way,” the police officer introduced himself as the paramedics finished patching me up. “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself, with everything that was happening.”
He held his hand out, first to Charlie, then to me. By now, Daichi had rejoined us, and I noticed that Tanaka seemed extremely wary of him. “Once the three of you are ready, I can walk you to the police station that they transported the suspect to. It is only about ten minutes away.”
“It’s fine,” Daichi smiled. “I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble for leaving your post. I’m sure we can figure out our way there.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” Tanaka insisted. “In fact, since I was the first officer on the scene, they expect me to write a report, anyway. I’ll accompany you there to ensure you don’t get lost.”
Once again, Daichi’s smile faltered for only a second before he pasted it back into place, but it seemed forced.
The walk to the police station was agonizing. My wound wasn’t very deep, and the paramedics had done a decent job of patching me up, but it was really only a temporary fix. The truth was that I really did need to go to the hospital, but I could tell there was something up between Daichi and Charlie. Something he didn’t want to talk about in front of him if the way he clammed up as soon as the man was within earshot was anything to go by. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. We’d been ambushed by someone who mysteriously knew exactly where we would be and when, and suddenly Charlie was acting coldly toward Daichi.
I pulled my phone out of m
y pocket as we walked. It had only been five minutes since we left the station, but it had felt like so much longer. Every step was sending flashes of pain across my abdomen, and it was taking all of my restraint not to make any physical sign of my discomfort. My phone was smeared with blood from when I’d tried to call Fiona earlier, and I grimaced as I wiped it clean with the sleeve of my sweater before trying to call Fiona again. I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding when I heard the call connect this time.
“Hello? Is that you?” Fiona’s voice asked with uncertainty. The nervous tone of her voice alarmed me.
“It’s Junior,” I replied, trying to keep my voice as neutral as possible. I couldn’t be sure who else might be listening.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Fiona sighed. “I was so worried. After they attacked me, I worried they might have come after you too. Is everything okay?”
My mind went into overdrive as I tried to process what she’d just said. Fiona had been attacked? I desperately wanted to ask her what had happened and if she was okay, but I couldn’t chance Daichi overhearing.
“No, nothing yet,” I said, hoping Fiona would pick up on the nonsensical response and realize what I was trying to say.
“What?” She asked, “Can you hear me, Junior?”
“Yeah, but it was just a little graze,” I continued, glancing surreptitiously at Daichi, who was walking a little ahead of me. “We’re heading straight to the police station now.”
“Oh, no,” Fiona gasped, and I rejoiced internally as she seemed to understand what I was trying to do. “Okay, you can’t talk right now, right? Because there’s someone there who you can’t trust?”
“Yes, I’m sure it’s fine. We have a job to do,” I answered.
