The Last Assassin

'Hai,' he said. He sounded tired. Well, it was night out there.

'Ore da,' I said in Japanese. It's me.

'Let me call you back from a different line.'

His voice was really raspy. Must have been a hell of a case of the flu he was fighting.

'Sure,' I said, and clicked off.

A moment later the phone rang. 'Sorry,' he said. 'I'm changing phones more frequently lately than I used to.'

'Not using scrambled?'

He laughed, then coughed. 'Only when we're trying to get the NSA's attention.'

I smiled. A scrambled digital signal attracts the NSA the way blood brings sharks. It's as useful as leaning close to whisper in someone's ear: anyone who sees you do it will immediately start listening intently. Better to just move the conversation somewhere else, where no one is looking.

'How did things go?' he asked. 'Were you able to meet her?'

'Yes.'

'And your son?'

I saw him, too.

'Just saw him?'

'No, it was more than that. I…' I paused, the memory seeming to shift something inside my chest. 'I held him in my arms while he slept.'

'That's good,' he said, and I imagined him smiling.

'You okay?' I said. 'That flu sounds pretty bad.'

'I'm all right.'

'I've got a situation I need your help with. I'll put the information on the bulletin board.'

'I may not be able to access the bulletin board for a while. I'm in the hospital.'

I frowned and pressed my ear closer to the receiver. 'What's going on?'

'Nothing, I'll be out of here soon. Tell me about your situation. It sounds more pressing than mine.'

'You sure your phone is all right?'

'Positive.'

Okay. I told him everything.

When I was done, he said, 'What are you thinking?'

'You know what I'm thinking. I can't stop halfway. The only way to finish this is to keep going until it's done.'

'You mean…'

'Look, the Chinese are just contractors on this. They don't know me, they don't know what I'm capable of, so they'll believe the obvious explanation for what happened to their people — a junior guy with a history of violence lost his temper, killed his boss, and went into hiding. But Yamaoto is going to know better. And he'll have an incentive to try to persuade the Chinese that I was behind the deaths of two of their people, as a way of getting them personally involved. So all I've done by taking out the two Chinese is buy myself a little time. If I don't finish Yamaoto, too, it'll have been for nothing. Worse than nothing, because if the Chinese figure out what really happened, they could retaliate against Midori and my son. They know where they live, goddamnit. They've been watching them.'

There was a pause. Finally he said, 'I agree.'

'Of course you agree. This is exactly what you wanted. Don't think I don't know it.'

'I had no intention of putting your son in danger.'

'You showed me those photos to make the baby more real to me, to make it impossible for me to ignore. Otherwise you could have just told me.'

'Perhaps, but…'

'You're a manipulative bastard, Tatsu. You know it's true. But I don't have time to argue with you about it. I don't even have time to hate you. I need your help.'

'You want me to move them?'

I knew he could do it. He'd moved Midori to New York in the first place, to protect her from Yamaoto. But Yamaoto had found her anyway.

'I don't want you to do anything,' I said. 'If she gets wind of what's out there she'll never see me again. Just tell me how I can get to Yamaoto.'

'You can't just get to him. He's afraid of you, you know. Even obsessed. He goes out infrequently. Uses bodyguards. Travels in an armored car…'

'I've got access to a sniper. All I need to know is where and when.'

'That's exactly the information Yamaoto now guards most jealously.'

'What about his headquarters? His residence?'

'The very locations where he most expects trouble, and where he takes the most precautions.'

We were silent for a moment. I was so frustrated I was breathing hard.

'You know,' I said, 'I wish you would just arrest this guy. I really do.'

'We've been over this before. In addition to his other activities, Yamaoto is a powerful politician, well protected by his network of patronage and blackmail. Moving against him directly would do nothing but get me fired. Believe me, I wish I could.'

'Fine, then just tell me how to get to him.'

'I'm trying to. But if something happens to Yamaoto immediately following the deaths of the Chinese, it won't look good for you. It could cause a problem between you and the triads, which you just said you would rather avoid.'

'How, then?'

'You have to turn Yamaoto and the Chinese against each other. Make them suspect each other, rather than suspecting you.'

'I'm listening.'

There was a pause. It sounded like he was taking a drink of something. He coughed, then said, 'For the last ten years there has been a boom in the manufacture of methamphetamine in China and Taiwan. Chinese triads cooperate with the yakuza in smuggling the drugs into Japan.'

'Is this the quid pro quo Yamaoto has been offering them in exchange for watching Midori and the boy?'

'Not the smuggling itself. That's been going on for a long time. What's new, I've learned, is that Yamaoto has switched suppliers. Formerly he bought his product from Korean gangs. Now he has switched to United Bamboo, the triad based in Taiwan, in exchange for UB watching Midori in New York, where UB has a large operation. That's the quid pro quo.'

'Where's our opening, then?'

'The new arrangement is unstable. The players are unaccustomed to each other, and suspicious. The bad blood that is always festering and that lately has worsened between China and Japan has infected gang relations, too. Like the countries themselves, the gangs are always ready to think the worst of the other's motives. All they need is a little push, and they'll turn on each other.'

'What do you have in mind?'

'Up until now, Yamaoto and UB have been dealing in relatively small shipments of methamphetamine because they don't yet trust each other. But I have an informant who's told me of a particularly large shipment arriving later this week, the largest one yet. The parties are nervous because of the amount of product and cash involved. If something were to go wrong…'

I thought for a moment. I couldn't be sure the Chinese would buy into my hoped-for explanation for what had happened to Wong and Chan. And regardless of what they believed, if Yamaoto learned of Wong's disappearance and Chan's death, he would draw his own conclusions. If he suspected I'd been in touch with Midori and the baby, he might move against them as a way of flushing me out. I hated to leave them alone and defenseless. But the only way I could see to protect them was to go after Yamaoto.

'You trust your informant?' I asked.

'He's always been reliable. It's what's kept him out of prison.'

'How many principals?'

'Two yakuza making the pickup. An unknown number of Chinese handling the delivery. But my guess is at least two Chinese.'

So a total of at least four, maybe more. Too many to handle alone. This wasn't going to be easy.

I sighed. 'What is it with Yamaoto? Why is he so obsessed with me? I mean, I'm the one who was forced to leave Japan. Yeah, I won a couple of battles, but couldn't he look at himself as the winner of the war?'

'I don't think so. It's not just your beating him that rankles. He's also afraid of you. He knows what you can do.'

'I left the fucking country. Live and let live.'

'Remember, he killed your friend Harry, even if he didn't pull the trigger himself. He's a vain man, and would insist on avenging such a loss. He assumes you would do the same, and that he is in continual danger as a result.'

The words stung. Sure, he was just explaining why Yamaoto had it in for me. But he was also reminding me of a debt I'd failed to pay, knowing my shame about Harry would goad me. Tatsu had a way of imbuing his sentences with multiple meanings.