“Harry? Can you hear me? Talk to me,” I said.
There was a long pause, and just as I started to try again the earpiece came to life.
“John! What the hell is going on? Where are you?”
It felt great to hear the kid. “Relax, I’m okay. But I need your help.”
“What’s going on? I’ve been listening to everything. Are you in a train station? Are you all right?”
I hauled myself up onto the platform. Some people stared at me but I ignored them, walking past them as though it was perfectly natural that I had just emerged filthy and bruised from the depths of one of Tokyo’s subway tunnels. “I’ve been better, but we can talk about that later. Is the equipment still up and running?”
“Yes, I’m still getting a feed on all the rooms in the building.”
“Okay, that’s what I need to know. Who’s still in the building?”
“Infrared says just one guy. Everyone else left right after you.”
“Yamaoto, too?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s the guy who stayed behind?”
“Very last room on the right as you face the building — where the three men took you. He’s been there since you got out.”
That would be Flatnose or one of his boys — must not have been in condition to come after me. It felt good to know.
“Okay, here’s the situation. They all think I’m on the back of a subway to Mita, and that’s where they’re going to converge in about four minutes. It’ll take them maybe another five to figure out that I’m not there and that they’ve lost me, and another five after that to get back to the Conviction building. So I’ve got fourteen minutes to get back in there and plant the bug.”
“What? You don’t know where they are. What if they didn’t all go to Mita? They could come back while you’re still in there!”
“I’m counting on you to let me know if that’s going to happen. You’re still getting a video feed from the van, right?”
“Yeah, it’s still broadcasting.”
“Look, I’m practically at the building now — still all clear?”
“Still all clear, but this is crazy.”
“I’m never going to get a better chance. They’re all out of the building, nothing’s going to be locked, and when they get back, we’ll be able to hear everything they say. I’m going in.”
“Okay, I can see you now. Do it fast.”
That advice I didn’t need. I went through the stairway doors and turned right, then jogged down the hallway to the entrance. As I expected, they had left in a hurry and it was wide open.
Yamaoto’s office was three doors down to the right. I was going to be in and out in no time.
The door was closed. I reached out for the knob, tried to turn it.
“Oh, fuck,” I breathed.
“What is it?”
“It’s locked.”
“Forget it — put the bug somewhere else.”
“I can’t — this is where we need to listen.” I examined the lock, and could see that it was only a regular five-pin tumbler. Not a big deal. “Hang on a minute. I think I can get in.”
“John, get out of there. They could come back at any time.”
I didn’t answer. I slipped out my keys and detached one of my homemade picks and the dental mirror. The latter’s long, slim handle made for a nice field-expedient tension wrench. I slipped the handle into the lock and gently rotated it clockwise. When the slack in the cylinder was gone, I eased in the pick and started working the fifth tumbler.
“Don’t try to pick the lock! You’re no good at it! Just put it somewhere else and get out!”
“What do you mean I’m no good at it? I taught you how to do it, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, that’s how I know you’re no good.” He stopped. Probably figured it was useless to try to stop me so he might as well let me concentrate.
I felt the fifth tumbler click, then lost it. Damn. I turned the dental mirror another fraction, tightening the cylinder against the pins. “Harry? I miss your voice. . . .” Another tumbler slipped.
“Don’t talk to me. Concentrate.”
“I am, but it’s so hard. . . .” I felt the fifth pin click and hold. The next three were easy. Just one more.
The last pin was damaged. I couldn’t feel the click. I worked the pick up and down, but couldn’t get anything.
“C’mon, sweetheart, where are you?” I breathed. I held my breath and jiggled the pick.
I never felt the tumbler click into place. But the knob was suddenly free. It twisted to the right and I was in.
The office was the same as when I’d left it. Even the lights were still on. I knelt down next to the leather couch and felt its underside. It was covered with some kind of cloth. The edges were stapled to what felt like wood. Good backing to attach the bug.
I pulled the adhesive covering off the transmitter and pressed it into place. Anyone talking in this room was going to come through loud and clear.
Harry’s voice in my ear: “John, two of them just got back. They’re coming up the walkway. Get out right now. Use the side exit — the one at the left side of building as you face it.”
“Shit, the transmitter’s already in place. I’m not going to be able to respond to you once I leave this room. Keep talking to me.”
“They just stopped at the end of the walkway to the front entrance. Maybe they’re waiting for the others. Go down to the side entrance and stay there until I tell you you’re clear.”
“Okay. I’m gone.” I relocked the door from the inside, then backed out and closed it behind me. Turned and started to move in the direction of the exterior corridor.
Flatnose was coming down the hallway. His shirt was covered with blood. The table must have caught him in the face and broken his nose again. It hadn’t improved his appearance. Hoarse animal sounds were rumbling up out of his chest.
He was standing between me and the entrance. Nowhere to go but through him.
Harry again, a second late: “There’s one right in front of you! And the others are coming up the walk!”
Flatnose dropped his head, his neck and shoulders bunching, looking like a bull about to charge.
All he wanted was to get his hands on me. He was going to come at me hard, crazed with rage, not thinking.
He launched himself at me, closing the gap fast. As he lunged for my neck, I grabbed his wet shirt and dropped to the floor in modified tomo-nage, my right foot catching him in the balls and hurling him over me. He landed on his back with a thud I could feel through the floor. Using the momentum of the throw I rolled to my feet, took two long steps over to him, and leaped into the air like a pissed-off bronco, coming down with both feet as hard as I could on his prone torso. I felt bones breaking inside him and all the air being driven from his body. He made a sound like a balloon deflating in a puddle of water and I knew he was done.
I lurched toward the corridor, then stopped. If they found him like this in the middle of the hallway, they would know I’d been back here, maybe figure out why. They might look for a bug. I had to get him back to the room at the other end of the hallway, where it would look like he’d died by a freak shot from the table.
His legs were pointing in the right direction. I squatted between them, facing away from him, grabbed him around the knees and stood. He was heavier than he looked. I leaned forward and dragged him, feeling like a horse yoked to a wagon with square wheels. There were bursts of pain in my back.
Harry’s voice in my ear again: “What are you doing? They’re coming in the front entrance. You’ve got maybe twelve seconds to get clear of the corridor.”
I dumped him in the room at the end of the hallway and raced out into the corridor, sprinting toward the side exit.
I reached the entrance to the side stairwell and heard the door on the opposite side of the corridor opening. I yanked open the door and threw myself through it, pulling it shut behind me but stopping it before it closed completely.