The three men sat around Kim Jin-sung’s small dining table, in his quaint hillside cottage, each held a lit cigarette and a glass of sake. In front of them was an ashtray fashioned from a wide, flat seashell set into a wooden base and a half-empty sake bottle. It was early evening and, beyond their vantage point in the building’s conservatory, a long line of industrial artificial brightness could be seen through its windows, the piecing arc lights bearing witness to the presence of the crippled nuclear plant on the coast.
One of the men, Min Hyun-woo, a man regarded by them as a most accomplished assassin, stubbed his half-smoked cigarette out in the ash tray, disturbing the ashen layers of its many predecessors.
‘It’s too late for them now, their response has been too slow,’ said, Kwak. ‘The fools have not even discovered the whereabouts of the displaced rods. In fact, they are still not entirely sure that the rods have gone missing in the first place.’ He held out a packet of cigarettes to his co-conspirator.
‘They are looking for the transporter. When they find it, they will see that we cut the flask free with a blowtorch, that will be the proof they need that the uranium fuel has been taken. Only then will they stop acting like idiots, pathetically willing the fuel rods to turn up in the wreckage of their plant or at the bottom of the sea. Then they will have no choice other than to admit the loss of a considerable amount of weapons-grade plutonium. Until then we have time enough to finish our operation.’
Min took a cigarette and lit it. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I agree the spineless chimps will not escalate their failings to the Japanese authorities, let alone Washington, until they are totally sure it is missing. The kind of search and investigation required for this would take days for them to organise, even without already having to deal with two national catastrophes.’ He blew a plume of smoke into the smoggy air above them.
Kim, nodded in agreement saying, ‘He is correct, Japan is reeling from this double disaster, punch drunk and on the ropes. The country’s capabilities and resources are near collapse, they will never intercept the flask now. They will not know where to start. They will eventually have no choice but to admit the rods are missing at some point, but not for at least a few more days and by then it will be far too late. We are covering our tracks ruthlessly, leaving nothing that could alert them to our plans.’
Kwak took a sip of his sake, adding, ‘The clean-up teams are working overtime now, eliminating anyone we suspect of having knowledge of our operations. Most of them have completed their tasks and have been reassigned to protect the cargo and secure its passage to Higashimachi. I have talked to the whore, and she has not told the two detectives anything. Soon she will take her final curtain call. I have sent word to Nam to eliminate the girl we found outside the Kurosawa family villa. It would have been nice to send a little icing on the cake back to our homeland, but we have orders to take no chances on anything that could remotely interfere with the mission. They will dump them both once the Daimyo Maru has taken up its position at sea. After this briefing, Min and I will make our way to Higashimachi to oversee the launch. After tonight, destroy all evidence of our operation and disperse to your extraction routes. I am sure we will all meet again in the presence of the Supreme Leader to be honoured.’
Kim rose from the table and addressed the two seated men. ‘Regardless of the efficiency of the clean-up teams, I still say a rising body count will attract attention from police and security forces alike, as sure as shit attracts flies, I am…’
The sudden appearance of a lone female approaching from the darkened interior of the cottage’s living room skewered the remainder of his sentence in the back of Kim’s throat.
‘I’m afraid that is not all it attracts,’ said the attractive young woman, pointing two, not so pretty pistols directly at them.
She focused her handguns, each on Min and Kwak and held them firmly there. Not being covered by either of the weapons, Kim saw his chance and broke for the conservatory door, ripping it open and throwing himself through it. Azumi stood resolute and unwavering, her intense gaze fixed on the two men before her. She stared at them with a terrifyingly calm expression, which did not alter even as, within a few seconds, Kim returned by flying through one of the windows, smashing him into a heavy telescope. The man lay under the optic, bleeding profusely from multiple wounds on his head and face, the consequence of being beaten, cut by glass from the broken window and his impact with a metal tube firmly bolted to the floor.
‘Welcome back,’ she said, in a not very welcoming manner. ‘I was disappointed that you felt you had to leave us so soon.’ The man struggled to regain his feet, grabbing onto one of the legs of the tripod for support, still reeling from the recent open palm strike to the back of his skull, the task was quite a challenge for him as his senses were swirling like a well shaken snow-globe.
‘Ah, such a gentleman,’ she said to the struggling man. ‘But please don’t get up on my account.’
The man continued his struggle to rise, until the sensation of a cold hard tap underneath his jaw, rendered him still. Rolling his eyes downwards, he saw the blade of a very long Katana resting flatly underneath his chin, with its edge laying inwards, not quite touching his throat. The reason for his sudden ricochet back into the cottage now standing beside him.
‘Look at me,’ said the swordsman, with an encouraging light flick from the point of his sword.
Kim turned to face him. The look on the man’s face was as identically void of emotion as the mask worn by the girl.
‘I believe this is Kim Jin-sung, the owner of this quaint charming cottage,’ said Hikaru.
‘That means that you,’ said Azumi, as she gestured with the pistol pointing to the man on the right, ‘must be Min Hyun-woo, which then makes you Kwak Kyung-bok,’ she said looking down the sight of the other weapon. ‘The man with the plan and friend of the stars… well a few porn stars at least.’
‘We need to wrap this up, I need to make a call,’ said Kurosawa to his sister, his voice urgent.
Azumi picked up on the disconcerted tone from her brother. It was unlike him to sound so agitated, particularly on a job.
Kwak looked into the barrel of the pistol held in her right hand, pointing straight at his face, it was a Glock. In her left hand was a smaller, but no less deadly .38, both of which she held close to her body. The girl made jokes lightly, but clearly was not looking for laughs. His mind, recovering from its initial shock, was now looking for an opening. He knew that at least two of his associates were well armed with an array of weapons, which were concealed about them. He decided if he saw just the smallest of openings, he would attack the girl, relying on the other two to take down the guy with the sword.
The fact that they were still alive gave him some hope, they obviously wanted them that way and the more time went on the greater their chances of survival.
Azumi realised they needed to get on with it. ‘Okay, in that case, we need to simplify things,’ she said, not taking her eyes off the two men in front of her.
There was a sudden movement that the two men at the table caught sight of from the corner of their eyes. It was instantly followed by the sound of a high-pitched, sharp whoosh in the air, followed by the sickening sound of flesh and bone being sliced by hard, sharp steel.
Kim was a thin, slight man, his body did not seem to trouble the blade with any resistance as it caught him through the left side of his neck, down through his trunk and exited out under his right armpit. The two halves of his body fell forward together, sliding off one another as they hit the floor by the side of Kwak. Blood now flowed freely from the dismembered torso, pooling under the table around both men’s feet.
Min recalculated their chances of survival as Kurosawa moved behind him to go outside to use his cell phone.
‘Two is company and three is after all a crowd,’ she said, smiling and nodding her head in the direction of their dissected companion. Her smile morphed into a hideous sneer, her eyes never leaving the two men until Kurosawa returned from making his call. ‘No answer,’ he said simply on his return.
There would be only one person her brother would wish to call; she understood Ikuko must be in some sort of trouble. ‘Then we need to move,’ she said.
The Koreans heard small zipping sounds from the direction of the swordsman now standing behind them.
‘It would be very unfortunate if you were to make any movement now… at all,’ said Azumi to them both, as sets of plastic zip ties were lowered over Kwak ’s head with the tip of Kurosawa’s sword. Attached to it were two smaller zip tie loops. ‘Put one around your own neck first and pull it tight,’ she directed him.
He did as he was told.
‘Now put your right hand in one of the others and pull that tight too. And now put the other hand in and pull it tight with your teeth.’
He again did as he was told.
‘I said, tight!’ she hissed at him, the first sign of any emotion from the girl. They fully understood the abilities of the men they were dealing with and were not taking any chances with them.
Kwak grabbed the end of the plastic again with his teeth and pulled it tighter.
‘Now lean forward until your forehead is on the table.’
A second set of zip ties now appeared at the end of the sword above Min, and the larger loop also lowered over his head.
‘And repeat,’ she ordered, the sickly smile returning to her face.
Min now felt the wrong end of a gun barrel pressed firmly against his neck. Amateurs after all, he thought. They had got too close; this was not how you walk out a killer such as himself. Believing that the time had come for him to act, he readied himself.
Kurosawa pulled the trigger, firing the sedative into Min’s bloodstream. The sophisticated compounds took effect immediately. He quickly did the same with Kwak .
As the men collapsed into unconsciousness Kurosawa started to make another call.
‘Ikuko?’ asked his sister simply.
‘Yes, she must have driven to the villa after I hung up on her yesterday. Why would she do that?’ he said, waiting for his call to be answered.
‘Oh, I have no idea, brother,’ said Azumi raising her eyebrows at him in incredulity at his lack of understanding.
‘Retrieve the bug while I check in with Matachi and Co.’ Azumi heard him give a description of Ikuko, as she picked up the slim microphone, she had slid under the door to enable them to listen to the spy ring’s conversation before they gate-crashed the party.
Kurosawa handed her the phone. ‘She may have been on the boat, but there is no one there now.’
‘Take them to the van, I will organise a collection for these two for later. Our friends will be pleased to receive such high value assets. I will redirect the detectives to the industrial estate. Other assists are moving in, but it will take too long to get them into the action, the closest back-up is hours away, at best. Those two detectives are capable enough and are all we have for now. I will call it in on the way and send them the transcript. We are on our own for now. And if what we heard is correct – we are really in the shit.’