“ ‘Mutual problem’?”
“Yes, the problem is mutual. You have something that I want, or you know where it is. Once I have it, you will no longer be a liability, and we can ‘live and let live.’ But if I don’t have it, the situation becomes more difficult.”
I was silent, waiting to see if he would say more. After a moment he said, “I really would like to talk with you. Dozo kakete kudasai.” Please sit.
I bowed my head and walked over to one of the chairs facing the couch, putting my hands in my pockets as I did so, affecting an air of resignation. I switched on the transmitter. Regardless of how this turned out, Harry would at least hear everything. I sat down and waited.
“Thank you,” he said, sitting opposite me on the couch. “Now tell me, how did you find me?”
I shrugged. “Your man Ishikawa broke into my apartment and tried to kill me. I got his cell phone and used it to find out he’s connected to you. The rest was just taking the initiative, as you say — the best defense is a good offense.”
“Ishikawa wasn’t at your apartment to kill you. He was there to question you.”
“If that was Ishikawa’s idea of ‘questioning,’ ” I said, “you should send him to Dale Carnegie.”
“Regardless. We are not after you — only the disk.”
“Disk?”
“Please don’t insult my intelligence. You’re protecting Kawamura Midori.”
That caught me by surprise. But then I realized — the men who were waiting for her at her apartment. They must have been Yamaoto’s people. They’d been focusing on her, thinking that if she had her father’s things she might have the disk, and then I walked into the picture. It was only after I ambushed them and Midori went underground that they started coming at me.
“What does she have to do with this?”
“I know that her father had the disk when he died. It is therefore likely that she has it now. And she is in hiding.”
“Of course she’s in hiding. She had the same kind of welcome party at her apartment that I had at mine. She knows she’s in danger but doesn’t understand why.”
“Ordinarily a person in her position would go to the police. She has not done so.”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that. I don’t trust the police myself.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know. She took off after the ambush at her apartment. She thought I was with your people.”
“Really? She hasn’t resurfaced.”
“Maybe she’s staying with friends — in the country or something. She looked pretty scared to me.”
“I see,” he said, steepling his fingers. “You understand, Rain-san, there is information on that disk that would be harmful to Japan, useful to her enemies, if revealed. These enemies are looking for the disk, too.”
I thought of Holtzer, how he wanted to turn the Japanese government into a “fuckboy,” as only Holtzer could put it.
One thing I didn’t understand. “Why the contact at the Kodokan?” I asked.
“Curiosity,” he said, his posture contemplative. “I wanted to know what would drive a man with a history like yours. If I had known then of the way you would soon be involved in this matter, I would of course have avoided the contact.”
“What do mean, ‘history’?”
“A man of two such opposed countries and cultures.”
“I think I’m missing something. Other than the fact that I inadvertently showed up at the same time as your men at Midori’s apartment, I didn’t know we were acquainted.”
“Ah, of course. You wouldn’t know, but I have retained you for your services from time to time.”
Through Benny, then. Christ, the little bastard really slept around. Probably reselling my services at a markup. Not any more, though.
“So you see, until recently, your interests and mine have always been aligned. If we can just clear up this one matter, we can return to the status quo ante bellum.”
He wanted that disk badly. I hoped Harry’s algorithms were up to speed.
“The problem, as I’ve said, is that I don’t know where this disk is, or even what it is,” I told him. “If I did, I’d give it to you. But I don’t.”
He frowned. “I am sorry to hear that. And Kawamura’s daughter, she doesn’t know, either?”
“How would I know?”
He nodded his head gravely. “This is a problem. You see, until I have what I am looking for, Kawamura’s daughter is a liability. It would be much safer for her if the item were returned to me.”
In that moment I was tempted to believe that there was some truth to what he was saying. If he had the disk back, Midori wouldn’t be a liability.
But there were other parties after it, too, and they would have no way of knowing that Midori didn’t have it anymore. Besides, the logistics were impossible. Yamaoto would never let me leave on the strength of a promise to return with the disk, and I wasn’t going to tell him where to find Midori and Harry. Besides, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t go on cleaning up loose ends even after the disk had been returned.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think she has what you’re looking for,” I said. “Why would Kawamura have given her anything, anyway? He would have known it would have put her in danger, right?”
“He may have given it to her inadvertently. Besides, as I have said already, the fact that she has not gone to the police is telling.”
I said nothing, waiting for him.
“Enough games,” he said finally. He stood and walked over to a coat rack, where he took a suit jacket off a hanger. “I have an appointment elsewhere and have no more time to try to persuade you. Tell me where I can find the disk, or tell me where to find Kawamura Midori.”
“I told you I don’t know.”
“Unfortunately, there is only one way to confirm your ignorance. I think you know what it is.”
Neither of us said anything more for about a full minute. I heard him exhale, as though he had been holding his breath. “Rain-san, you are in a difficult position, and I am sympathetic. But you must understand that I will have what I want. If you tell me now, as a friend, then I can trust you. You will be free to leave. But if my men have to acquire the information from you by other means, I may not be able to let you go afterwards. In fact, you may not be in a condition to go. Do you understand? If I don’t have the disk, I am forced to do the next best thing: systematically eliminate every risk associated with it. So you see, it would be much better if you tell me now.”
I folded my arms across my chest and regarded him. My look was impassive, but inside my head I was playing a map of the hallway, the staircase, trying to find a way out.
He must have really been hoping I would crack — he waited a long time. Finally he called for his men. The door opened, and I was surrounded and pulled to my feet. He barked some orders at them in Japanese. Find out where the disk is. And Midori. Whatever it takes.
They hauled me out of the room. Behind me, Yamaoto was saying, “I am very disappointed.” I barely heard it. I was too busy looking for a way out.
18
THEY TOOK ME back down the hallway. I noted the entrance as we went past double glass doors, a dead bolt visibly locked in place in the small gap between them. The doors had opened outward when we came in. If I hit them dead center, on the fly, the lock might give. If it didn’t, and I had time to back up and try again, I could try to go through the glass, hope not to get cut too badly. Lousy options, but they beat being tortured to death by Flatnose and his handsome friends.
They were pretty rough shoving me down the hallway ahead of them, and I tried to emanate waves of fear and helplessness so their confidence would build. I wanted them to feel in control, to believe that I was cowed by their size and their numbers. That might give me some small chance at surprise. Beyond that, I had only one advantage, the same one SOG always had against the North Vietnamese, even when we were operating in their backyard: Considering what was coming, I was more motivated to escape than they were to hold me.