“Shit.” Hayden and Kinimaka shook their heads, having heard something similar at different times before. The Awa Maru sinking was not something the American administration had been able to sweep under the mat.
“There was only one survivor.” Karin grimaced. “Kantora Shimoda. And he later told authorities that no Red Cross supplies were aboard the Awa Maru, they having been previously unloaded.”
“What? Why?”
Karin shrugged. “Clearly, it was a clandestine mission, the civilian transport front exactly that. A front. The Awa Maru was being used for another purpose.”
“Okay, okay,” Kinimaka said. “Say that’s true. Why in hell was a US sub secretly in the Straits of Taiwan? And why fire on a ship supposedly transporting supplies to their own POWs?”
“Good questions,” Karin said. “Both unanswerable for now. But the story isn’t finished yet. In 1980 China launched one of the biggest salvage operations in history. Five years and one hundred million dollars were spent in their search for… what? It must have been something incredibly valuable, significant to them, or both.”
“The treasure,” Hayden said. “And the bones of the Peking Man.”
“Sounds reasonable to me.”
“What did they find?”
“Nothing. Not a single thing beyond a few personal artefacts. The ship was pretty much stripped clean.”
Smyth looked shocked. Even Hayden was surprised. “They found nothing?”
Karin sat back. “Even the NSA were intrigued after that. They sifted through literally thousands of intercepted communications to discover what had happened to the bones and the treasure. Their conclusion was that it ended up in Thailand somewhere.”
Smyth spread his hands. “Eh? The NSA said that?”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Hayden placed her hands palm down on the table in front of her. “So,” she checked off her fingers as she spoke, “why was the USS Queenfish hanging around the Taiwan Straits at that time? Why did they sink a known hospital ship? And what happened to all that cargo?”
“And what would Callan Dudley want with the Peking man?” Kinimaka added. “Which somehow ended up in the Smithsonian.”
“If Dudley is working for the Pythians,” Komodo said, a hand on Karin’s shoulder. “The question is — what do they want with the fossils?”
“I just can’t help thinking there’s a reason the Americans were in that place at that time,” Hayden continued, “As much as I love my country the motives of its power players sometimes lead me to despair.”
Karin fielded a phone call. “They found Walcott,” she said and proceeded to tell them the details of the man’s kidnapping. “I’m just shocked both his family and he are still alive. The family were tied up and left in their house. Walcott was deposited on the Interstate. He did have one snippet of interesting information though — Dudley mentioned a second vault that he was about to visit.”
“He means raid,” Hayden said. “Shit, there’s even more to this than we know. Could it be another artefact? The treasure itself?”
“If there was any treasure,” Komodo said. “I doubt that it’s been sitting in a dusty vault for fifty years.”
Hayden looked down as her cell rang. Seeing Robert Price’s office she sighed and offered a few suggestions to the team. As she answered and waited to be put through to the new Secretary she couldn’t help but remember General Stone’s words: “In any war there are unintended casualties. Just ask your new Secretary of Defense”.
What the hell had Stone known about Robert Price?
CHAPTER NINE
On the way to Kobe, Drake learned more about the dreaded Yakuza and recounted details of Mai’s previous exploits at their expense. During her first, largely unsanctioned, operation she had engaged the local Yakuza gang, which had links to the head office in Kobe, taking them down to the last man. Head office, it now seemed, had previously blamed its own men for the defeat and damage rather than Mai Kitano, perhaps not comprehending the legend she had become. Old speculations had been reintroduced, however, when Mai humiliated the Yakuza for a second time during her whirlwind quest for her parents. Again Drake berated himself for not going with her, even though he knew he’d been embroiled in a life or death battle at the time.
“This Hikaru,” he said. “According to Hibiki he’s the guy who’s been credited with capturing her. What do we know of him?”
Dahl answered that one. “Hikaru is the man Mai made the deal with at the Cosplay convention,” he said. “Pretending she’d taken him out for the Tsugarai, he gave her time to set the trap. Assuming all went to type, the Yakuza will have punished Hikaru for his failure, despite his efforts in ridding them of a significant rival. It is all about honor and saving face, after all.”
“Bollocks,” Drake said. “So you’re saying this is some kinda atonement? Making up for a fabricated loss?”
“It’s much more than that now. Mai has been romanticized as the Yakuza’s nemesis by their bosses, mostly after her capture. A spectacle will be lapped up by their members.”
“They’re gonna get more than a fucking spectacle,” Drake growled. “Believe me.”
Alicia leaned across at that moment. “I just knew there was a reason I stayed,” she purred. “ ‘Cause I ain’t interested in one single hair on the Little Sprite’s head. It’s to hear you when you’re angry, Drakey.”
“Amazing. I thought you’d had your fill of that when we were teamed up together, working for the Ninth.”
“Ninety-nine to oh-three?” She heaved a sigh. “I remember the years well.”
“And you’re full of shit. No way do you want to see Mai hurt.”
“Balls.” Alicia looked away, finding a sudden interest in the clouds floating over the wing.
The other two members of their team, Yorgi and Grace, smiled. Yorgi had been asked to come because of his world-class breaking-and-entering skills. Grace had been allowed to come because she practically screamed the house down when she heard about Mai’s fate and promised to stay in the hotel room. Drake had more things to worry about now than Grace and her ill-fated past.
Later, when Mai’s freed, I’ll help. I… promise.
Not that he would ever again say such a thing aloud.
The hours passed and the airplane turned day into night and then into day again. As they were nearing their destination Dai Hibiki called.
“Just wanted to make you more aware of what you are facing in Kobe. The Yakuza, though a transnational crime syndicate, are at war with each other. Several of the families do battle, but the one we face — the Goda Kai — are by far the largest.”
“Typical.” Alicia snorted. “Little Mai couldn’t just piss of a tiny splinter group could she? Had to be the full Monty.”
Now Drake smiled. “Same could be said for all of us. Look at this Ramses bloke. I’m guessing we’re gonna have to set him straight on a few things at some point.”
“One terror organization at a time,” Dahl said.
Hibiki coughed to reclaim their attention. “They’re very organized, strict, and deeply rooted in everything from crime to Japanese media. And despite their attempts at achieving respectability, including providing earthquake relief, much of their notoriety actually dates back to their origins. Called Bakuto, they were gamblers, an undesirable and disdainful image in older Japan. Gambling was illegal, and many houses cropped up in abandoned temples and shrines on the outskirts of towns and villages all over the country. Oddly, the name Yakuza itself refers to a losing hand in Oicho-kabu¸ a form of blackjack. Ya-ku-za or 8-9-3.”