Japan
Tanner knew Takagi had no intention of letting them leave Japan alive. That left only one alternative: Get out before he could trap them. Tanner hated the idea of running, but cliché or not, here discretion was in fact the better part of valor. Staying would get them nowhere.
It was dark by the time they returned to the Royal Palms. The lobby was empty except for the receptionist standing behind the front desk. Tanner recognized the young man. “Evening, Kenzo. Any messages?”
Eyes on the counter, Kenzo shook his head. “No, sir.”
“Can you check anyway, please?”
“Oh, sorry, just a moment.” He walked over, checked Tanner’s box, and returned. “No messages.”
Tanner stared at Kenzo until he looked up.
“Everything okay?” Briggs asked.
“Oh, yes, fine.”
Tanner joined Cahil at the elevators.
“What’s up?” Bear asked.
“Kenzo’s not his usual gregarious self. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye.”
“You know him well enough to—”
“I’ve never seen him without an ear-to-ear grin.”
The elevator’s doors parted. Tanner glanced back at the counter. Kenzo was nowhere to be seen. “I’m getting a bad feeling, Bear. Come on.”
The kitchen was closed for the night, so they walked through the grill area to the exit. Written on the door in both English and Kanji were the words Emergency Exit: Alarm Will Sound.
“Bear, I need a—”
“Hang on.”
Cahil rummaged through a nearby drawer until he found a steel spatula. Tanner wedged it between the jamb and the door’s bolt, then pushed the crash bar. Cahil held the spatula in place as Tanner slipped into the alley. He returned a minute later. “There’s a Takagi security truck on the road behind the trees.”
“That didn’t take long. Do we have anything in the room we need?”
“The laptop’s in the Rover; so’s most of our gear. I’ve got the cell phone and my passport.”
“Me, too.” Cahil shrugged and smiled. “What say we check out.”
After making sure Kenzo was still absent, they walked through the lobby and into the parking lot. They were halfway to the Range Rover when Tanner saw a figure—another Noboru clone—crouched beside the rear bumper.
Briggs gestured for Bear to circle through the trees, gave him a minute to get into position, then walked toward the Rover. When he was ten feet away, the man looked up.
His eyes went wide. He reached inside his jacket. He was fast; his gun was already clear when Cahil slipped from the bushes behind him and palm-butted him at the base of the skull. He crumpled. Tanner walked over, kicked the gun away, and checked his pulse. He was dead.
Tanner looked around; the lot was empty. “Grab his feet.”
They loaded the body into the rear of the Rover, covered it with a tarp, climbed in, and drove away.
With nowhere else to go, they drove into the forest north of Mitsu’s village. Once well into the trees, Tanner doused the headlights and coasted to a stop. They carried the body to the mangrove creek, found a large rock, tied the body to it, and rolled it into the water.
They hiked deeper into the forest until they found a small clearing. Here and there, fireflies winked, and the trees were filled with the occasional clicks of cicadas. Tanner plopped down on his duffel bag, pulled out the cell phone, and dialed.
Ieyasu picked up on the third ring. “Briggs. Where are you?”
“Don’t ask.
“Did you go to the funeral? Are you okay?”
“Yes and yes. We’re leaving, though. Forget you met us and lay low.”
“Briggs—”
“If Takagi finds out you’ve helped us, you’re dead.”
Some might call you bad luck, Takagi had said. It had struck a nerve, Tanner admitted. Though not true of Ohira, Sumiko had died because of her involvement with them. “You’ve been a great help and a good friend, Sato, but promise me you’ll leave it alone.”
“I promise. You take care of yourselves, both of you. You will contact me if—”
“You have my word.”
Tanner hung up and checked his watch: early morning in Washington. He dialed Holystone, listened to it ring, then heard a double-click as the call was routed to Oaken’s home.
“Hello?”
“Did I wake you?” Tanner asked.
“No. Where are you?”
“Camping. How soon can you and Leland be at the office?”
“I was on my way there; so is Leland. We were getting ready to call you.”
“Good timing, then. Call us when you get there.”
“What’s this business about camping?” Dutcher asked an hour later.
“We’re persona non grata at the hotel,” Tanner said, then explained.
“I told you to lay low. I wouldn’t call going to this woman’s funeral and throwing rocks at Takagi laying low. What were you thinking?”
Tanner didn’t know what to say. Leland was right; he was wrong. “It was a bad idea, I know. Takagi sits back, orders the execution of dozens of people—that we know of—then has the balls to go to Sumiko’s funeral. I wanted to look him in the eye. I just wanted to see for myself.”
Dutcher sighed. “Well, it’s done with. Two things: We checked on the names of those two JRA soldiers. Ieyasu was right. They were hard-core members, active in the Mideast. They even did some mule work in Israel a few years ago. You remember the bombing in at the Hagana Museum in Tel Aviv?”
“I remember.”
“Word is, one of these boys carried the explosives across the border. Whatever they were doing for Takagi, it was dirty.”
“And second?” Tanner asked.
“Walter’s got an idea about Tsumago. I’ll let him explain.”
Oaken asked, “How do you guys feel about another tour of Takagi’s shipyard?”
Cahil groaned. “Oh, boy.”
“What have you got in mind?” asked Tanner.
“You remember her computerized helm console? I’m betting it logs the ship’s projected courses and speeds. Unless the crew is unusually meticulous, they probably didn’t clear the computer’s buffer after each trip.”
“How big’s the buffer?”
“Just guessing, I’d say a gigabyte. Plenty of space to record her last dozen voyages. In the last six months, she’s made eight of them.”
“Oaks, you’re the best,” said Tanner. “Leland, are we paying him enough?”
“Not enough money in the world.”
“Okay, okay,” Oaken said. “Can you do it? Can you get back into the dock?”
“We’ll get in. Tell me how we download the data.”
Oaken explained the procedure. “Once you’ve got the laptop plugged in, it’ll load the data onto the hard drive. Any questions?”
“None,” said Tanner. “Leland, we’re gonna have to move fast. As soon as Takagi realizes we’re gone, he’ll start making calls: police, Immigration, the works.”
“We’ll handle that. You worry about getting into the shipyard … and back out.”
They loaded their gear into a single duffel, walked to the main road, and found a bus that took them to Wakayama, where they found an open rental car agency and used one of Tanner’s sanitized credit cards to rent an Accord. From there they took the ferry across to Shikoku and drove south to Mugi. The dive shop was closed, but it took them all of five minutes to break in, collect what they needed, and leave a generous bundle of yen on the counter.
Thirty minutes later, they were crouching in a cluster of trees across from the shipyard. Cahil was sorting through their gear as Tanner scanned the sea fence one last time. He lowered the binoculars. “Ready for round two, Bear?”
Cahil dipped his hand in the water. “Warmer this time, I think.”
Hovering motionless in the water, Tanner could see the green glow of Cahil’s chemlight beside him. Briggs peered ahead but was unable to see the fence. He checked his watch and compass. Perfect. Now it was just a matter of time.
In the distance, he heard a faint grinding sound, like metal scraping concrete. He signaled Cahil to wait, then finned up to the surface and popped his mask above the water. He focused his binoculars on Dock 12.
The hangar door was open, and the interior was dark except for several flashing yellow lights. A tugboat sat at the mouth of the dock. He tapped twice on his tank and Cahil surfaced beside him. “We’re too late,” Tanner whispered and passed him the binoculars.
“They’re rigging the tow lines. I count three … no, four crew on the forecastle. Can’t see the bridge. They’ve got it pretty damned dark in there.”
“All the better to skulk away. How long before she’s at the gate?”
“Twenty minutes at most,” Cahil said. “Unless you want to hitch a ride …”
“I know. Let’s go.”
Swimming hard against a crosscurrent, they reached the shore eighteen minutes later and climbed out just as Tsumago was reaching the fence. Once through the gate, the tugboat disengaged its towlines and peeled away. Almost immediately, Tsumago’s wake broadened, white against the dark water.
“She’s moving fast,” Cahil said.
Tanner nodded. “How long since you’ve done a five-minute mile?”
“Oh, shit.”
“Once she makes the turn around the headland, we’ll lose her. We have to know which direction she’s headed.”
“I’m right behind you.”
It was almost two miles to the end of the peninsula. For the first mile, Tanner caught glimpses of Tsumago as she steered for open water, but soon the forest thickened and they lost sight of her.
The path they chose was a hiker’s trail, and they made good time despite falling several times in the darkness. By the time they reached the headland, their shins were bruised and bloody. Panting hard, they scrambled up the rocks at the water’s edge.
“You see her?” Tanner asked.
“No. Wait … there.” Cahil pointed at a pair of lights in the distance.
“Give me a fix.”
Cahil pulled out their map, picked out a couple landmarks, and did a quick calculation. “She’s at one-five-zero.”
“I see green running lights.”
“That makes her starboard side to us. She’s heading south; make it one-eight-five.”
Across the cove they heard the thumping of the helicopter rotors, followed a moment later by a strobe light streaking across the water. Five minutes later, the strobe merged with the Tsumago’s outline and blinked out.
“Bad news,” Tanner told Oaken an hour later, then explained.
“You’re sure she was heading south?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I might have something. It’s not gonna be as accurate as data from the helm, but I’ve got a guess where she’s headed.”
“Oaks, I’m certainly not one to complain, but it would’ve been nice if you’d thought of this a few hours ago,” said Cahil.
“I know, sorry. There’s just so much information—”
“I’m kidding, Walt.”
Tanner asked, “How long until you can give us a guess?”
“Tomorrow. In the meantime, we’re getting you out. Got a map?”
“Yep. Go ahead.”
“There’s a small airstrip outside Iyo on Shikoku’s northwestern shore.”
“I see it.”
“Go there. A charter will be waiting.”