His guts felt a little sick. He was helpless. No weapons. Watched every minute. Tonaka was clinging to a frail reed. Killmaster had never felt lower.
The Mercedes skirted the Central Wholesale Market and headed for a causeway leading to Tsukishimi and the shipyards. The weak sun vanished behind a coppery haze overhanging the harbor. Air seeping into the car was laden with a brazen industrial stench. A dozen freighters lay at anchor out in the bay. They passed a drydock on which loomed the skeleton of a.supertanker. Nick caught a flash of the name — Naess Maru.
The Mercedes rolled on past an area where dump trucks were tilting garbage and trash into the water. Tokyo was always building new land.
They turned onto another causeway that led to the water's edge. Here, set a little apart, was a rotting old warehouse. End of journey, thought Nick. That's where they've got Tonaka. It was a good site, cunningly selected. Right in the middle of all the industrial hurly-burly, with no one paying any attention. They would have a good reason for coming and going.
The car pulled in through a ramshackle gate that stood open. The chauffeur kept going across a yard that was stacked with rusting oil drums. He pulled the Mercedes up alongside a loading dock.
Dimitri opened the door on his side and climbed out. The short Japanese showed his Nambu to Nick. "You also get out."
Nick got out. The Mercedes wheeled and drove back out the gate. Dimitri had one hand inside his jacket. He nodded toward a short flight of wooden stairs at the far end of the dock. "We go there. You first. Do not try funny stuff." His English was bad, thick with Slavic mistreatment of the vowels.
Funny stuff was furthest from his mind. He had one intent now, and only one. Get to the girl and save her from the knife. Somehow. Anyhow. With guile or force.
They went up the stairs, Dimitri hanging back a little and keeping his hand in his jacket.
Off to the left a door led into a tiny shabby office, derelict now. A man stood in the office, waiting for them. He stared hard at Nick.
"You are Pete Fremont?"
"Yeah. Where's Tonaka?"
The man did not answer him. He stepped around Nick, pulled a Walther pistol from his belt and shot Dimitri in the head. It was a good, professional head shot. Amateurs went for the body.
The giant crumpled slowly, like a skyscraper being demolished. He seemed to fall in pieces. Then he was all on the splintered floor of the office and blood was running from his shattered head into a crack.
The killer pointed the Walther at Nick. "You can stop lying now," he said. "I know who you are. You're Nick Carter. You're AXE. I'm Johnny Chow."
He was tall for a Japanese, too light of skin, and Nick guessed at Chinese blood. Chow was dressed for the hippie bit — tight chino pants, a psychedelic shirt that hung outside, a string of love beads around his neck.
Johnny Chow wasn't kidding. Or bluffing. He knew. So Nick said: "Okay. I'm Carter. Now where is Tonaka?"
The Walther moved. "Through that door just behind you. Move very slowly."
They went down a littered corridor illuminated by open skylights. The AXE agent noted them automatically as a possible way out.
Johnny Chow pushed open a plain deal door with a brass knob. The room was surprisingly well furnished. A girl sat on a divan with her slim legs crossed. She was wearing a red chcongsam slit nearly to the hip and her dark hair was piled atop her head. She was heavily made up and the white teeth glinted behind scarlet as she smiled at Nick.
"Hello, Carter-san. I thought you would never get here. I've missed you."
Nick Carter regarded her impassively. He did not smile. Finally he said, "Hello, Tonaka."
There were times, he told himself, when he was not very bright.
Chapter 11
Johnny Chow had closed the door and was lounging against it with the Walther still covering Nick.
Tonaka looked past Nick at Chow. "The Russian?"
"In the office. I killed him. No sweat."
Tonaka frowned. "You left the body there?"
A shrug. "For the time being. I…"
"You are an imbecile. Get some men and have it removed immediately. Put it downstairs with the others until dark. Wait — handcuff Carter and give me the gun."
Tonaka uncrossed her legs and got up. There was a flash of panty. Red this time. In Washington, under the Girl Scout uniform, they had been pink. A lot of things had changed since Washington.
She walked around Nick, keeping well away, and took the pistol from Johnny Chow. "Put your bands behind you, Nick."
Nick obeyed, tensing his wrist muscles, expanding the veins and arteries as best he-could. You never knew. A tenth of an inch might come in handy.
The cuffs locked coldly into place. Chow gave him a push. "Over there on that chair in the corner."
Nick walked to the chair and sat down, his manacled hands behind him. He kept his head down, his eyes hooded. Tonaka was in a euphoric mood, giddy with triumph. He knew the signs. She was going to talk. He was prepared to listen. There was not much else he could do. The taste of that was sour vinegar in his mouth.
Johnny Chow went out and closed the door. Tonaka locked it. She went back to the divan and sat down, crossing her legs again with a flourish. She rested the Walther in her lap, the dark eyes watching him.
She gave him a triumphant smile. "Why don't you admit it, Nick? You're totally surprised. Shocked. You never dreamed it."
He was testing the handcuffs. There was just a little play. Not enough to help him now. But they were not snug around his big bony wrists.
"You're right," he admitted. "You conned me, Tonaka. Conned me good. The thought did occur to me, just after your father was killed, but I never went back to it. I was thinking too much about Kunizo and not enough about you. I'm pretty stupid at times."
"Yes. You have been very stupid. Or perhaps not. How could you possibly have guessed? Everything fell into place so perfectly for me — everything fitted so well. Even my father sending me for you. It was a remarkable piece of luck for us."
"Your father was a pretty smart guy. I'm surprised he didn't catch on."
Her smile vanished. "I am not happy about what happened to my father. Yet it had to be. He was causing too much trouble. We have organized the Eta men very well — the Society of the Bloody Buddha keeps them in line — but the Eta women are another matter. They were getting out of hand. Even I, pretending to be their leader, could not handle it. Father was beginning to bypass me and work directly with some of the other women. He had to be killed, as much as I regret it."
Nick studied her with narrowed eyes. "Can I have a cigarette now?"
"No. I am not going to get that close to you." Her smile came again. "That is another thing I regret, that I will never be able to keep that promise I made. I think it would have been nice."
He nodded. "It might at that." So far there had been no slightest hint that she, or Chow, knew anything of Philston's plot to kill the Emperor. It was a trump he held; at the moment he had no idea how to play it, or if it should be played at all.
Tonaka crossed her legs again. The cheongsam hiked up to reveal the curve of her buttock.
"Before Johnny Chow comes back I had better warn you, Nick. Don't antagonize him. He is, I think, just a little crazy. And he is a sadist. You received the — the parcel?"
He stared at her. "I got it. I thought it was yours." He shifted his glance to her full breasts. "Obviously it wasn't."
She did not look at him. He sensed the uneasiness in her. "No. That was — nasty. But I could not prevent it. I can only control Johnny to a point. He has these — these compulsions to cruelty. Sometimes I have to let him have his way. Afterwards he is docile and easy to handle for a time. That — flesh he sent was from an Eta girl we had to kill."