by Matt Lincoln
“Doesn’t look like she is,” I taunted, turning my attention back to Watanabe. “Tell me what I want to know.”
“Fukoda,” Watanabe yelped as he realized that Hajime really was intending to look the other way as I did whatever I wanted to him. “Saito’s real name is Izumi Fukoda. The brothel is at 160-0021 Tokyo, Shinjuku City, Kabukicho, 1 Chome−7. The building says it’s a business center for an overseas company, but it’s not.”
As soon as he finished speaking, I threw him back into his chair and stalked out of the room. I pulled the door open brusquely before slamming it shut behind me.
“Whoa, are you okay?” Junior asked as I leaned against the wall outside the door and closed my eyes. I needed to take some time to calm down. Watanabe had laughed as he talked about kidnapping tourists and killing women like it was all a joke. Without meaning to, my mind drifted to Eliza and Amber, and then to Esther. All of these women that the group had kidnapped had been someone’s daughter, or sister, or wife. Thousands of people had suffered wondering what had happened to their loved one, and Watanabe was in there laughing about it.
I crossed my arms across my chest to keep them still. If I didn’t, I was liable to go back into the room and beat Watanabe to a pulp.
“Hey, Charlie.”
I flinched as I felt a hand touch my shoulder, and I opened my eyes to see Junior standing next to me. “What happened in there? You look like you’re about to explode.”
“Watanabe is a monster,” I sighed. “He admitted to everything in more detail than I would have expected.”
“I see,” Junior replied quietly. “Is it worse than we thought?”
“Much worse,” I responded. “The group has members all over the planet, apparently, and I don’t think he was lying. He did give me Saito’s real name, though. The address of the brothel, too.”
“That’s good,” Junior said in the same tone he used when he was speaking to a victim. I hated it.
“Yeah,” I replied, pushing myself away from the wall. “We should head back to the hotel and give Gardner all the information I got. We can come up with a plan then, too.”
The door creaked open then, and Hajime stepped out.
“Oh, agents, you’re still here,” she said as she pushed the door closed behind her. “After the way you exited, I thought perhaps you might have left already. Not that I would blame you.” Her mouth set in a thin line, and I could tell she felt perturbed by what Watanabe had said, too.
“We’re about to go,” I sighed. “Are you coming too?”
“Not quite yet,” she replied. “He and Fujioka both stated that the group has multiple police officers among their ranks. I still need to interrogate him regarding that aspect of the case.”
“Right,” I responded. “Why don’t you meet us back at the hotel whenever you’re finished? I want to see what Gardner can find out about the address Watanabe gave us. We can come up with a plan of attack then.”
“Agreed,” Hajime nodded. “I will let you know when I’m on my way then.”
We made our own way back to the hotel. By now, it was past midday, and the subway cars were significantly less packed than they had been that morning. The streets were a different story, as they were now filled with people. Our hotel was located in the heart of Akihabara, and as we moved through the crowd, I could see that almost everyone appeared to be laden down with shopping bags. I remembered that I still needed to get a souvenir for Amber.
“What are you looking for?” Junior asked. He must have noticed me craning my neck to look at the surrounding stores.
“Just wondering if there’s something around here Amber might like,” I answered. “It’s kind of hard to tell when everyone’s rushing around, and most of the stores aren’t even on street level.”
“Fiona might have an idea,” Junior remarked. “She went shopping yesterday to replace all the equipment she lost. Maybe she can point you in the right direction.”
“I’ll try that,” I answered vaguely. We walked the rest of the way to the hotel in comfortable silence.
“Oh, hey,” Gardner greeted as we stepped into the hotel room. “You guys are back early. Is everything okay?”
“Full confession,” I replied, dropping heavily onto the bed closest to the door. “Scumbag admitted everything. Didn’t feel a hint of remorse about it either.” I dragged a hand through my hair as I remembered how Watanabe had laughed about everything he’d done.
“I’m gonna go make a call,” I announced as I abruptly stood back up. “Hajime will be here in a bit to come up with a game plan for tomorrow. I’ll be back before then.”
“Okay,” I heard Gardner call weakly as I left the room and accidentally shut the door with more force than I’d intended. I took the stairs back down to the lobby two at a time. It probably wasn’t a good idea to go outside, but I could at least sit in the lobby for a little while. I sank into one of the old, worn couches in front of the reception area before pulling my phone out of my pocket.
“Hello?” Esther answered after the fourth ring. I realized only then when I heard her sleepy voice that if it was one in the afternoon here, it was one in the morning back home.
“Crap, I’m sorry, Esther,” I apologized. “I completely forgot about the time difference. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“No, it’s okay,” she assured me, suddenly sounding more awake. “Is everything okay? You sound upset.”
“Yes, well, no, not really,” I replied. “The case has just been rough. One of the suspects we arrested said some horrible things, and it just got to me a little.”
“Oh, no,” Esther responded. “Do you want to talk about it?” I really did want to talk about it, but I wasn’t sure how much about the case I was allowed to divulge.
“I don’t know if I can,” I answered with a sigh.
“Oh, right,” Esther replied. “Federal agent business and all that. Okay, well, how about I talk to you? I know it probably won’t be as effective as venting your frustrations to someone else, but maybe it’ll distract you a little?”
“That would actually be nice,” I answered.
“Great!” Esther exclaimed enthusiastically. “So, where should I start? Oh, well, I dyed my hair.”
“Really?” I asked, a little disappointed. Her long red hair had been one of the first things that had attracted me to her.
“Yes, really,” she replied. “I was trying to dye it a brighter shade of red for Spring, but it didn’t really go as planned.”
“Uh-oh,” I chuckled. “What happened?”
“Well, the picture on the box showed really bright red hair, like fire engine red, but that’s not what happened! I put it in, and when I washed it out thirty minutes later, as the instructions said, it was dark brown. Seriously, like almost black!”
“So, it’s brown now?” I asked as I smiled at the harried tone of her voice.
“Well, no,” she responded sheepishly. “I panicked when I saw what had happened, so I tried to bleach the dye back out. I saw some videos online, and everyone who put bleach on dark brown hair had blonde hair after forty-five minutes, so I decided to try that.”
“So, it’s blonde now?” I asked, though I suspected there was still more to the story.
“I’m afraid not,” Esther responded. “Because what I failed to realize was that all of those girls in the videos had naturally dark hair. What really happens when you put bleach over box dye is that it oxidizes, and red oxidizes into green, so…” she trailed off, and my eyes widened as I realized what she was implying.
“Your hair is green?” I asked, unable to contain a burst of laughter.
“Yes, it is,” Esther replied, and I could tell she was smiling as she did. “It’s also about the same texture as straw right now. I have a hair mask in right now, and I’m going to the salon tomorrow to get it fixed. Hopefully, I won’t look like a monster when you get back.”
“You could never look like a monster,” I told her. I’d seen monsters up
close and personal. Esther was the farthest thing from one.
“Aw, Charlie, you’re going to make me blush,” Esther cooed over the phone. “Are you feeling better now?”
“Yeah, actually,” I replied as I realized how much more at ease I suddenly felt. “Tell me what else you’ve been up to since I left.”
“I’m thinking about getting a cat,” Esther started. I spent the next couple of hours talking with her, and I didn’t realize how long we’d been talking until a buzzing interrupted our conversation. I pulled my phone away from my ear and saw that Gardner was calling me. It was only then that I glanced at the time and realized that nearly two hours had already passed.
“I’m sorry,” I told Esther. “I have to get back to work now.”
“Don’t let me keep you,” Esther yawned. “Just call me the next time you get a chance, okay? And don’t worry about waking me up. Call me whenever you want to talk.”
“Okay,” I agreed with a smile. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye,” Esther called.
I ended the call and called Gardner back.
“Hey, Charlie,” Gardner answered immediately. “Where did you go? Officer Hajime is already here.”
“I’m just downstairs in the lobby,” I replied as I stood up and stretched my legs. “I’ll be up in just a minute.”
“Okay, see you then,” Gardner responded before hanging up. I hadn’t even noticed Hajime come in. I needed to get my head back in the game. I wouldn’t be able to work efficiently if I was this distracted. The door was locked when I got there.
“Sorry,” Gardner said as she opened the door for me. “Locked it out of habit.”
“Don’t apologize,” I insisted. “We should all be careful until we catch Saito. Speaking of, did you have any ideas as far as a plan, Officer Hajime?”
“I do,” she answered. “We’ve done some research on the brothel that Watanabe told us about. It’s extremely underground and impossible to find unless you know exactly what you’re looking for. The entrance is below the street level, and there aren’t any signs to indicate what’s there.”
“That explains why I couldn’t find anything suspicious at that location via the satellite map,” Gardner muttered.
“We had an officer approach the area undercover just to get a read of the situation,” Hajime continued. “He claimed that Watanabe had told him about the brothel. The guard at the door bought it but told the officer that the brothel is only open on weekends and that he’d have to make a reservation ahead of time. They charged him a fifty-thousand yen deposit just to hold a spot.”
“That’s almost five hundred in US dollars,” Gardner gasped. “That much just to make a reservation?”
“It’s probably for the same reason that they’re only open on weekends,” Junior posited. “People associate high prices and exclusivity with higher quality. It’s the same psychological effect you see with luxury brands. Even if they’re basically the same as a cheaper version, the fact that it costs more makes people think there must be something special about it. The fact that you can only make a reservation a few days per week only compounds the allure.”
“That’s so disgusting,” Gardner shuddered. “They’re treating people like commodities.”
“They are commodities,” I responded bleakly. “To them, at least. That’s how they justify what they’re doing. They don’t see these women as people, just as things.”
“Well, with any luck,” Hajime started, “we’ll have all of them off the street and in our custody within the next forty-eight hours. Tomorrow is Saturday, and the brothel opens at ten. Agent Hills, we want you to accompany the undercover officer into the brothel. Pretend to be a client until you locate Saito. We’ll have a team of officers waiting nearby, and once you find him, they’ll move in to assist you in apprehending the suspects and rescuing the victims. Agent Chapman, while that is taking place, we’d like you to accompany one of our officers to Saito’s apartment. Just on the off chance that he’s at home and not at the brothel when we move in. Of course, I understand if you need time to talk over the details before agreeing to our plan.”
Junior and I both turned to look at each other at the same time.
“That sounds fine to me,” I shrugged. “We’ll just have to run it past Wallace before tomorrow night. You have any objections, Junior?”
“No,” Junior responded with a shrug. “Sounds like a solid plan, and the faster we move, the better. This group seems to have the uncanny ability to always learn about what we do right away.”
“It’s settled then,” Hajime nodded. “I need to go work out some details with the other officers assigned to the case. I will meet the two of you here tomorrow at eight to go over the plan one more time before we begin.” She left the room after that, and Gardner quickly locked the door behind her.
“Well, I guess all that’s left to do now is wait,” Gardner stated.
“I guess so,” I agreed. I could feel my heart pounding faster in my chest at the thought of finally being able to catch Saito. Ever since he’d hacked into Gardner’s computer, it felt as though we’d been chasing each other in circles. I couldn’t wait to see his face when we finally caught up to him.
30
Fiona
I tiptoed into the room and closed the door as quietly as I could behind me. Junior and Charlie had gone to sleep a few hours ago. I hadn’t wanted to wake them up by using the tea kettle, so I’d gone back to the vending machine room that Junior and I had gotten dinner from the previous night. To my surprise, the non-alcoholic drink machine in here even had hot coffee and tea available to buy. I’d been even more surprised when I’d reached down to collect the can, and my fingers brushed against the hot metal. I used my sleeve to pick up the can without burning myself before hurrying back to the room.
I knew it was a bad habit to stay up so late, especially when I needed to work the following day. I just felt so peaceful and calm at night that it was easier for me to concentrate. I knew that it always caused me to have dark circles under my eyes, but I found that I could accomplish twice the amount of work in the same amount of time during the night as I could during the day. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
I settled back onto my bed with my can of tea. I smiled as I remembered how Junior had helped me shove all the bed tables together to form a desk. It was still a little uncomfortable to work while hunched over, but it was better than trying to work from the floor.
I ran a new search on Izumi Fukoda, which was Saito’s real name, according to Watanabe. Officially, he was a businessman in his forties. He owned a series of hotels, casinos, and nightclubs. Even without the income from his illegal pursuits, he was likely making a killing. It would definitely explain how he could afford to have bombs and animals shipped all over the world at a moment’s notice, assuming this was the same person who’d been supplying the animals during our last big case.
I ran a search on the flower symbol that had originally tipped us off to the traffickers. It was clear that the two cases were connected, but we hadn’t actually figured out how yet. Maybe it really was just as simple as both groups being involved in illegal trafficking, but I somehow doubted it. There was something here that we were missing. I could just feel it.
My heart sank as I realized that there were new posts. Since the last time I’d run a search on the flower symbol, the group had posted three more times. Each time, they were advertising the acquisition of new merchandise. I slammed my laptop closed, unable to look at any more of it. I knew that the job involved a lot of horrors, but this was the first time I’d come so close to it. Up until now, my job had mostly been to track down people and places, retrieve emails and data, that sort of thing.
I looked over at Junior and Charlie, hoping that the sound of the laptop slamming closed hadn’t startled them awake. To my relief, they both seemed to still be fast asleep. Unlike me, they’d have to go directly into the field tomorrow on dangerous missions. I didn’t want
either of them to feel tired.
I was nervous about the fact that they’d be splitting up. I understood that it made sense for someone to cover Saito’s place, but after we’d been attacked more than once, I still felt uneasy. After Hajime had left, we’d called Wallace and Nelson to tell them about the plan. Nelson had assured us that Hajime was trustworthy and that he was personally working with her to choose which officers would get assigned to the case. His reassurances had assuaged my fears a little, but I still couldn’t stop worrying. Daichi’s betrayal had left me feeling paranoid, and I knew I would spend the entire time they were out fretting about it.
I also needed to be ready to work, though. We’d all have to stay up late tomorrow, and if I didn’t get some sleep, my reaction time might get affected. I got up to toss the empty can of tea into the trashcan by the door, then climbed back into bed and closed my eyes. For a while, I couldn’t turn my mind off. It wasn’t until I started counting backward from one hundred that I finally fell into a fitful sleep, still worried about what the next day would bring.
31
Charlie
“You should check out Harajuku,” Gardner suggested. “It’s only about a twenty-minute subway ride away from here. It’s really popular with young girls. They have all kinds of cutesy stuff there.”
“Really?” I asked. “I’ll check it out then.”
I’d asked Gardner for advice on where I should go to find a souvenir for Amber like Junior had recommended. I would be infiltrating the brothel tonight, but Hajime wouldn’t be here for several more hours. I thought this free time would be a good opportunity to go find a gift.
I shoved my hands into the pockets of my leather coat as I left the building. It didn’t seem like anyone had realized yet that Watanabe had been taken into custody, and everything had been quiet with Daichi as well, so I decided to take the risk and venture out into Tokyo despite the danger. I’d deliberately waited until after rush hour to set out, as I had no desire to repeat the terrible experience from our first morning in Japan. The trains were still packed, considering it was Saturday, but I noticed that most people seemed to give me a wide berth. At over six feet, I towered over almost everyone else on the train, and I realized I must stand out.
