Tokyo Enigma (20 page)

What
would be easier?

Will Simons had used the information I gave him to wrangle
an interview with Ueno, and I was invited. When I arrived he was
sitting alone at an oval table in a private room big enough and
elegant enough to accommodate a board meeting.

A woman in bellman's uniform brought us a silver urn of
coffee and gold-rimmed china cups. I was halfway through my first
cup before the same woman and a bellman escorted Ueno into the
room. The bellman seated Ueno at the center of the table and the
woman served him coffee. They both bowed deeply when they
left.

He eyed us for a few seconds before he asked which of us
was Will Simons. Then he asked me if I understood Japanese.

"
Zen
,
zen
." I said.
Not at all.

He nodded and directed his attention to Simons.

Will didn't translate for me, but he gave me a detailed
wrap-up later. Ueno asked what he wanted to see him about, even though
he had to know already. Will gave him a list of payments and
accounts that Morimoto had found. Only the payment to Hosoi's
account was missing. We had decided to save that surprise for
later.

Ueno told Will that he shouldn't write about the flow of
Japanese government funds unless he got confirmation through a
press club. Will admitted he would have to do some more digging
before he had a story, but the press club wasn't on his list of
sources.

They went back and forth for a while without progress. It
was hard to tell if Ueno was trying to bluff Will or if he actually
believed that Will wouldn't file a story that hadn't been approved by
a press club.

It looked like Ueno didn't have much else to say about the
payments, so I dropped the photos of him and Ito on the table and
spread them out.

I had his attention now. His expression went from placid to
scowl.

"Ito is holding Sayoko against her will. I want you to
intervene."

"Why should I?"

"Because you're the reason she's being held." I took the
safety deposit key out of my pocket.

Ueno moved nothing but his eyes. They followed the key
until I laid it on the table about six inches from his hand. For a long
while, he sat still as a predator and stared at it. His index finger
twitched. It twitched again, and he took a long breath. He raised his
hand slowly from the wrist.

I leaned forward.

He ran his thumb across his fingertips.

I reached out and little by little nudged the key back toward
me.

Ueno squeezed out a faint sigh.

I picked up the key. "This opens a safe-deposit box that
contains a tape. It's yours as soon as Sayoko is with me."

"If I were interested, how would I know it's the key I
want?"

"We'll go to the box together. You can check the tape."

"You've seen it?"

"We haven't found it, yet. We will."

He looked down and touched his fingertips to his mouth like
he was praying.

"Will you let her go?" I said.

"It isn't my decision. I'll contact you."

The woman who had brought coffee was waiting outside the
door. I wondered if she was afraid he'd get lost.

Or maybe take a fall.

Despite our lack of hard evidence that Sayoko was actually
missing, Yuri tried to file a report. The police weren't
interested.

"We should call Kuroda," I said.

"He's working on an internal investigation. He's basically a
bureaucrat. I don't think he'll be much help," Yuri said.

He wasn't.

Because of the innovative way he took to get to me,
longnecks and an old-time Texas swing band, I thought he might
have some ideas or at least sympathy. Instead, he was coldly
disinterested. A word he'd used,
kankenai
, means "no
relation." If it wasn't on his agenda, it wasn't his affair. He gave us
another Police Department number to call. It was one Yuri had
already tried.

"What about her parents? They could file a report," I
said.

"Do you have a sister named Pollyanna? From what Sayoko
says, we'd have trouble getting them to cooperate. Even if they
did..."

Yuri stuck out her lower lip and shook her head. "Some time
back the papers ran a story about a young man who was kidnapped
by bullies. He had a mobile phone and called his parents for help.
They begged the police to try to rescue him. Boys in blue did
nothing."

"What happened?"

"After a few days, he was found murdered."

It didn't look like my take-charge approach would get us
very far. "Maybe you should turn your phone back on."

"I already have." Yuri took it out of her coat pocket and
entered Sayoko's number. There was no answer.

"How's the hunt for the safe-deposit box going?" I said.

"Morimoto hasn't gotten anywhere. I personally checked
every bank that we know Hosoi used. No luck."

"Wait a minute. They're all in Tokyo?"

"One was in Yokohama."

"But they're all here, close."

"Yeah, what are you...?"

Yuri's phone rang. This time it was a voice call. She spoke
more softly than normal, like she was trying to calm a nervous
animal. After a moment she covered the mouthpiece with her palm.
"It's Sayoko. She wants the key tonight."

"Tell her I have it, and you haven't seen me. Tonight's
impossible."

Yuri talked a long time with lots of pauses. Eventually she
cut the connection. "It sounded like Sayoko was being told what to
say. It took her a while to respond to anything I said. She told me we
have until tomorrow to give them the key."

"What time?"

"I don't know. They'll call again. What do we do now? We
can give the key to the lawyers. Let them issue subpoenas. Probably
our best chance to nail these people and get Dorian off."

Dorian. Had he been holding out after all? There wasn't time
to confront him with the latest evidence. "What about Sayoko?"

"Well, we could also give them the key and hope they let her
go."

"Worst case scenario. The bad guys skate, Dorian hangs and
Sayoko disappears into a mossy forest. You said the banks you
checked were all in the Tokyo-Yokohama area. That's where
Morimoto was looking. Let's call her brother and see what bank she
used in her home town."

"If her brother knew about any accounts, they would have
gone to the estate."

"Right, but accounts in her real name. Okay, skip her
brother. We know she had at least one account under an alias. Ask
Morimoto to help you check every bank in her hometown for a
safe-deposit box registered under her own name or the alias. The town's
not that big. Book two seats on whatever transportation will get us
there the fastest."

"I'd better stay here to respond to calls in case they demand
a face-to-face meeting," Yuri said.

"Yeah, I guess you had. We'll need a Japanese woman with
the proper ID to pose as Maho and open the box, if we find it. Can we
do that?"

Yuri smiled. She was ahead of me again. "I've already had
IDs made, one with Maho's name and one with the alias. They've got
my photos on them, but we can swap them for photos of whoever we
can find to go with you."

It was too late to catch a flight to Morioka, so Yuri ordered
tickets for two cabins on an overnight sleeper. The train would
arrive at seven-thirty in the morning. Banks wouldn't open until
nine. We also had airline reservations for a late afternoon flight back
to Tokyo. Not a lot of time. It was all we could spare. Assuming
everything ran on schedule, we still wouldn't get back to Protect
Agency until after 6:00 p.m.

While Yuri was making arrangements and finding someone
to go with me, I talked to Nozaka. We didn't know when Yuri would
get another call or when Ito and her boys would want to meet. When
we did find out, we'd have to make quick contingency plans. They
would be expecting Yuri and me. A surprise guest could be a
help.

He was game. I'd rather he was bringing the Marines.

Yuri introduced me to Mai Ota, my traveling companion. She
was in her mid twenties, spoke only Japanese and wore black
trousers and sneakers. Perfect. Yuri also handed me a carrying case
holding two digital video cameras and a cable to connect them.

"Yamazaki didn't look angry until he opened the card deck.
Odds are pretty good what you're looking for fits a mini-cam. Can
you work these?"

The controls were marked in Japanese. Yuri gave Mai and
me a brief lesson. If we found a digital videotape, we would make a
copy and put the original back in the safe-deposit box.

When Mai went to pack, I hung around. "Promise me you
won't go anywhere alone until I get back," I told Yuri. "No matter
what they say. Take Nozaka with you or call Kuroda."

"Don't worry. I think I can stall until you get back. I'll just tell
them you're too thick-headed to understand what's going on. Should
be an easy sell."

I ran my fingers behind her ear and kissed her forehead, the
tip of her nose and her lips.

"Thanks for that vote of confidence." I picked up the camera
bag and headed for the door.

"Hey, Mick." Yuri was smiling. "Don't let Mai take advantage
of you."

"No problem, I'm not her type."

"How do you know?"

"She already told me."

I heard a pencil strike wood as I closed the door behind
me.

* * * *

On the train, I asked Mai what she did at the agency. She was
a fact checker and thought playing operative was exciting.

"I like your enthusiasm. We just need you to act cool."

"Got it." Mai lowered her eyelids and puffed an imaginary
cigarette.

"I mean natural," I said and hoped she got that.

Mai went to her cabin, but I stayed in the car and watched
landscape roll by in the black of night. At some point, I dozed and
when I opened my eyes the sun lay red on the horizon.

Mai bought a map of the town, and we found a coffee shop
for breakfast and to plot bank locations. At 9:00 a.m. Yuri and
Morimoto started checking the outlets of national banks, while Mai
called regional banks. It was only a mid-size town, but there seemed
to be a bank outlet on every corner of the business district. It was
after one o'clock before I got a call from Yuri.

"Bingo." A safe deposit box was registered under Maho's
alias.

I spent the taxi ride to the bank telling Mai that she would
do fine and that the ID with the alias was a masterwork. I didn't
know whether it was any good or not, but it had gotten Yuri's
okay.

It passed the bank's scrutiny too.

Mai went in alone, while I waited nearby. As we had
guessed, the tape fitted a mini-cam. Mai had been able to make a
copy, but she didn't look happy about her success. I asked her what
was on it. She wouldn't answer. She just shook her head.

On the way to the airport, I checked it for myself and
understood Mai's reluctance to describe it. Maho was performing
some bondage and light S&M. She had been either a deeply
disturbed or a highly cynical young woman, but not as disturbed as
the old man with her. He played both ways. Maho had
accommodated him with the help of a strap-on accessory.

"If we don't have a plan for a lie, we might as well tell the
truth." Yuri passed the camera with Maho's video to Morimoto. Ito
had demanded a meeting on neutral ground. "With both of us there,
thinking of different ways to hedge our bets, they'll see it. If they
separate us, our stories won't match."

"No separation," I said. "You don't leave my sight."

"You can't tell what we'll run into."

"Could you for once, just say, okay?" Frustration was
gnawing away my sense of reality, not a good sign.

"Okay." Yuri reached up and patted me on the head. "I said
it. Everything's going to be fine, Mick, just fine."

"Thanks." I choked back an urge to shove her into a chair
and strap her down. "You don't have to go."

"They wanted both of us."

"Only because they think it's to their advantage. We don't
have to play by their rules."

"How are you going to find them? How are you going to
understand what they say?"

"I'll go where they say and give them the key."

"They won't give you Sayoko for the key. There'll be
dickering. This is a first step, and you can't handle it. Besides, I'm the
one they contacted. If anyone should stay out, it's you."

I let the retort slide. "I'll get ready."

Yuri and Nozaka had already made some preparations.
She'd sewed a location transmitter into her homemade sap. When
they searched us, the sap would probably be taken for what it was
and nothing more. Nozaka would have a receiver and follow us. Yuri
and I had been warned not to carry recorders, so he would bring a
parabolic microphone that would let him home in on our
conversation and record it. He had a video camera and another mike
that picked up vibrations from solid objects. It would let him listen
through walls, but it wasn't fully reliable.

No one asked for Morimoto's help, and he didn't volunteer
any.

Except for the sap, neither Yuri nor I planned to carry
weapons. They'd be found and wouldn't do us any good anyway. The
only thing that I felt sure about was that we would meet
overwhelming force. Nevertheless, I asked Nozaka to lend me his pen
with the triangular blade, two inches of steel to shore up my
courage.

He didn't mind. He was armed to the gills: knives, nunchaku
and brass knuckles, along with light body armor on his torso, shins
and forearms. He even had a high-performance slingshot and a sack
of steel Pachinko balls for ammo. He said he could put a ball clear
through an inch-thick pine board at twenty paces.

Impressive. As far as I knew, all Yamazaki carried was a
short-barrel thirty-eight.

Mai stopped in to ask if there was anything she could do
before she left the office. I gave her Kuroda's phone number and
asked her to call him if we didn't return by the next morning.