I smiled. Stimulus, response. By leading with threats and accusations, I’d created an opening for him to deny everything and try to dissuade me. And maybe I’d bought Dox a little time in the process.
I checked the time/date stamp. He’d left the message at 08:00 GMT the previous day. That was four in the afternoon in Singapore, while I’d been in the air. So I had-I looked at my watch-a little over eight hours before the call.
I purged the browser, went to another pay phone, and called Kanezaki.
He picked up right away. “Where are you?”
“Not over the…”
“I’m using a scrambler, it’s okay. Where are you?”
“Singapore.”
“Perfect, perfect. I was hoping you’d catch the nonstop from Newark. I’m here, too.”
“What are you…”
“You saw the bulletin board, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You were already in the air when I got the information. I had to leave right away-assemble the gear you need, charter a plane…there wasn’t much time.”
“Where are you?”
“Grand Hyatt, Scotts Road and Orchard. Can you meet me here?”
Ordinarily, I would have declined. It’s inherently uncomfortable for me to allow someone else to choose a meeting place. But it made no sense for Kanezaki to try to set me up now. Maybe another time, but not now. I suppressed my paranoia and said, “Yeah. Give me two hours.”
“Room seven-oh-four. I’ll be here.”
I hung up and called Delilah from another phone.
“You get it?” she asked.
“I got it. Thank you.”
“Let me give you another number, a sterile line, scrambled. I need to talk to you, it’s important.”
“You can just put it on the…”
“I’ll put the number on the bulletin board. But I need to talk to you.”
I hung up, checked the bulletin board, and called her back on the sterile line.
“What is it?” I said.
“Do you know where Dox is?”
“I…have a good idea.”
“You said he’s on a boat. How are you going to get him off?”
Why was she asking me this? “How do you think?” I said.
“I think you’re so angry and afraid that you’re planning on going in with both guns blazing.”
I frowned. “That’s not exactly the way I’d put it.”
“Without solid intelligence about the layout, and the numbers and placement of opposition on the boat, you might as well be wearing a blindfold. It’s suicide, for you and Dox. You can’t do this alone.”
“Look, I appreciate the offer, but this is going down today. You’re too far away.”
“I’m not talking about me. I’m talking about Boaz.”
“What?”
“He’s in Jakarta now. And he has something you need.”
“What the hell is he doing in Jakarta?”
“You know what he’s doing there. Waiting for your call.”
I felt something go cold inside me. “You told him,” I said quietly. “About Dox. About Hilger.”
“Yes, I told him. My people want Hilger dead. They’ll help you.”
“Hilger dead is secondary. All I’m trying to do for now is save Dox.”
“It amounts to the same thing. And if you get killed storming that boat, you won’t save anyone.”
I didn’t respond. First Midori, I was thinking. Now you. I drop my guard a little, and look what happens. Every damn time.
“Do you understand?” she said.
“I don’t need your help,” I said, barely managing to modulate my voice. “I don’t need you second-guessing me and deciding what’s best behind my back. I’ve lived a long time, through shit you wouldn’t believe if I tried to tell you, and I’ve managed it with my own instincts and my own judgment.”
“Good. Keep living that way. Don’t ever change your tactics. It’ll all work just fine for you, right up until the day you die from it.”
Maybe it’s for the best, I thought. This is your way out, your reason. You always knew you couldn’t trust her. Now she’s given you the proof. Just say goodbye and you’re done.
“You had no right,” I said, getting ready.
“No, John, I do have the right. You see, I’m in love with you. And that means I have the right, and the obligation, and yes, the fucking self-interest not to let you do something stupid that gets you killed!”
“You…you’re…” I said, stupidly, my game plan suddenly shredded.
“I love you,” she said again.
There was a long pause.
“I don’t know what to say,” I managed to mumble.
“The traditional response is, ‘I love you, too.’ You can try that, if you want.”
I swallowed. “Tell me about Boaz,” I said, hoping she would accept it as a kind of answer.
“He has something that can get you onto the boat safely. And Dox off it. He’s on a private plane. It’s fueled and ready to go, and he can meet you anywhere. You just have to call him and tell him where.”
There was another long pause. I said, “Give me the number.”
She did. I jotted it down.
“I, uh, I’ll…” I said.
“Just help Dox. And protect yourself. We can talk about the rest later.”
“Wait,” I said. “I…”
But she had already clicked off.
I called the number. A voice I recognized said in gruffly accented English, “Boaz here.”
“Hello, Boaz,” I said.
“Shalom, Rain-san,” he said, and I imagined his irrepressible smile. “I was hoping you would call.”
“This line is secure?” I asked, hoping the answer was yes now that he had used my name.
“Of course. Where are you?”
“That depends. What do you have for me?”
“Delilah didn’t tell you?”
“Not specifically.”
“Then I’ll just say this. It’s a hostage rescue technology developed by our Sayeret Matkal commandos. Top secret. And just what you need.”
“What’s it going to cost me?”
“We want Hilger dead. He killed Gil in Hong Kong, as you know, and we’ve been looking for him ever since. Delilah says you have actionable intelligence pinpointing his location. If that’s true, the Sayaret technology is yours to use. I can bring it to you.”
Actionable intelligence? I thought. Maybe now, but not when Delilah had contacted Boaz. Well, she’d told him what she thought was necessary to get him involved.
“You’re not worried about CIA retaliation?” I said, stalling for time so I could think about whether to tell him where to find me.
“Hilger’s not CIA anymore, as you know. He’s a freelancer now. That makes him vulnerable.”
Not exactly a comforting statement, from my perspective. Goddamnit, how was I going to handle this…
“I’m in Singapore,” I said, feeling I was losing control of the situation. First Kanezaki, then Delilah, now Boaz…Christ, why not just throw a party?
“I’ll be there in three hours. Tell me where.”
“Can I reach you on this number?” I asked.
“Of course, it’s a mobile, GSM.”
“I’ll call you. Be somewhere in the Orchard Road shopping center.”
After the usual assuming-the-worst precautions at and en route from the airport, adjusted to account for the extensive public camera coverage courtesy of the Singapore government, I made my way to the Grand Hyatt near Orchard Road, Singapore’s upscale shopping district. It was about eighty degrees and humid, and I relished the tropical heat after the arctic conditions in New York. The area in front of the Towers was bustling with well-dressed Chinese, Malays, Indians, and foreigners, and I caught snatches of conversation in a half-dozen tongues. Cars and taxis were lined up patiently at traffic lights in the rush-hour congestion, and I almost smiled at the distinct absence of honking horns. It seemed these people had found a way to get along.
I took the elevator to the tenth floor, then the stairs down to seven. I moved along the empty hallway watchfully until I came to Kanezaki’s door. I knocked, then took several steps back. Despite what my rational mind was telling me, I hated showing up where I was expected. Especially after what had happened outside Accinelli’s apartment.