Linnear 01 - The Ninja (70 page)

It was a hot burst of green-white-yellow, behind which came the concussion, the almost physical wave of sound and, just afterwards, the soft pattering of the wrecked furniture like sleet on a frost-filled day.

Nicholas turned over on his back, sat up.

‘What- ?’

He put his hand on Tomkin’s head, keeping it down. ‘Shut up,’ he growled thickly.

He saw Croaker’s head peering out from behind the top of the long sofa.

‘Jesus Christ 1’ He stood up. ‘Is Tomkin okay?’

‘Unharmed,’ Nicholas said, thinking about how close it had been. Bitterly, he regretted letting Saigo get away. After so many years he wanted only death for death. But the decision had been inconclusive. In one sense, he knew he had been lucky. He had seen the shock in Saigo’s eyes as he had learned that Nicholas was ninja. Well, that was some compensation, but it only made the next confrontation that much more dangerous. Tonight he had been unprepared…

‘Christ!’ Croaker said again and Nicholas followed his incredulous gaze. ‘I wasn’t sure that I had seen it just before the blast but now -‘

Where the third window panel had been there were now merely shards of glass. Glass littered the carpet, as the night wind had brought some of it back inside.

‘Nuts,’ Croaker said, slipping his .38 back into its holster. ‘The guy must’ve been nuts - or suicidal.’ He turned as the metal door burst open and he waved the men off. ‘Downstairs,’ he said to a tousle-haired sergeant. ‘See what’s left of the bastard for the M.E. to scrape off the sidewalk.’

Nicholas had gone to the broken window and was peering out. Croaker came up beside him.

‘Can’t see anything from this vantage point,’ he said, ‘but the goddamned red-and-whites from the cars.’ He meant the revolving lights.

Tomkin was up behind them, brushing off his suit. It was ruined, whitened from the blasts, as if it had abruptly aged.

Croaker left the room without looking at him.

‘Nick.’ For the first time in his life he seemed to have trouble talking, and his legs felt rubbery. ‘Is he gone?’

Nicholas continued to stare out and down. He could see movement now and lights coming on. They had found the body.

‘You saved my life.’ Tomkin cleared his throat. ‘I want to thank you.’ Maybe Nicholas had not heard the exchange he had had with that madman. He had been mad himself to trust him. He knew with a grinding certainty that tore at his guts that, without Nicholas’s intervention, he would be dead now. He was in Nicholas’s debt and this worried him. He felt anger forcing its way upwards and, for the briefest of instants, he detested himself in precisely the same way he had detested himself as he had arisen, sticky and panting, from the supine body of his daughter so many years ago, in a summer filled with heat and the pounding of the surf. On Gin Lane.

On the street, Nicholas saw that they had already put the corpse into a body bag. He stopped them before they could load it into the ambulance. It was only one of a long line. The associate

M.E., a light-haired woman with a pink complexion, glanced at Croaker, who nodded.

‘Not much left after a fall like that,’ Croaker said with a curious lack of emotion.

He was right. There was not much left of Saigo’s head, his face pulped. One shoulder seemed crushed and the neck at an odd angle.

‘Legs’re like jelly,’ Croaker said as if he relished the thought. ‘Not a bone in them how over an inch in length. That right,

Doc?’

The associate M.E. nodded wearily. ‘Take it away,’ she said. ‘It’s been tagged. I’ve got more work here.’ She turned away and Nicholas could see the parade of stretchers being brought out from the bowels of the building.

Croaker’s face was white and drawn as his eyes ticked over the casualties.

‘Four dead, Nick.’ His voice was a rasp. “That we know about for sure. There are two others missing and a couple more arc down recovering from gas inhalation. Jesus, your friend Saigo kills like other people eat.’ He rubbed his fingers over his face. ‘I’m glad it’s all over. Glad as hell.’

‘I’m sorry it had to be this way,’ Nicholas said.

‘Don’t say “I told you so”.’

‘I wasn’t thinking of that at all. I was thinking he’s gone now. I can get on with my life. I just want to see Justine.’

‘What would make him jump?’

‘He was a warrior. To the in battle was what he lived for.’

‘I don’t understand that kind of philosophy.’

Nicholas shrugged pragmatically. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ He looked around. ‘Did you find his katana? I’d like to have it.’

‘His what?’

“The sword.’

‘Oh, that. No. But I don’t think they’ve found all of him yet either. It’s here, somewhere. We’ll find it.’

‘I guess it’s not very important either.’

Croaker’s gaze swept over Nicholas’s shoulder. ‘Your boss is looking for you, I think.’

Nicholas swivelled and grinned back at his friend. ‘Ex-boss, you mean.’ Tomkin, his suit streaked with grey and black, stood at the open door to his limo. Tom stood at his side, obediently holding the door. The motor seemed to be running. Sirens wailed in ululation for the dead and the night, where they stood at least, seemed very bright.

‘Listen,’ Croaker said, taking Nicholas’s arm and leading him a few paces away along the avenue. ‘Before you go. I want to tell you I got that call I’ve been waiting for. The other woman in Angela Didion’s apartment the night she was murdered. I know where she is.’

Nicholas looked at him, then at Tomkin waiting silently beside the limo. ‘You’re not going to let that go, are you?’

‘I can’t. I’ve gotta nail him on this. You should be able to understand. It’s a matter of honour. If I don’t do it, nobody’s gonna be able to.’

‘But are you sure of what you’ve got?’

Croaker stuck a toothpick in the corner of his mouth. His eyes were dark pools. His face seemed more lined tonight than it had two days ago, but perhaps it was only the harsh light. He told Nicholas about his conversation with Matty the Mouth. ‘You thought I was just shooting off my big mouth with Tom-kin, didn’t you? Matty didn’t know who else was nosing around about this broad but I’ll bet it’s Frank who’s doing it. You seen him lately? No? Why don’t you ask your ex-boss, then, where Frank is, okay?’

‘You won’t know anything until you talk to the woman, right?’

‘Right. That’s why I’m taking off for Key West right away. But as far as the department is concerned, it’s just a long-overdue vacation.’

‘I hope you know what you’re letting yourself in for.”

The last ambulance started up, its siren screaming. For an instant they were bathed in the intense crimson glow from its revolving light. Then it had turned a corner and was gone. The night darkened as if from a swiftly advancing storm.

‘That’s an odd thing to say,’ Croaker said, ‘coming from you.’

‘Nick! Are you coming?’ Tomkin’s face floated across to them as if from another world.

‘In a minute,’ Nicholas called without looking over. To Croaker he said, ‘You going to sec Gelda before you leave?’

‘Can’t take the time. I’ll call her. Anyway, the number she

gave me has a 516 area code. She’d never make it in.’ He looked down at his feet for a moment. ‘I just want to tell her that everything’s okay now. And hey,’ he said as Nicholas turned to leave, ‘you ought to do the same. Justine’s probably worried sick.’

When Tomkin saw Nicholas coming, he ducked his head, slid into the limo. Tom held the door until Nicholas got in, then he shut it softly and went around the front.

All the night sounds were gone in the thick, quiet interior. The motor purred richly. The air-conditioning was on.

There was still a lot of police activity going on outside. Nicholas could see Croaker talking to a father young-looking patrolman. He shook his head once in response to a question and pointed into the bowels of the tower.

‘I’m grateful, Nick.’ Tomkin put his arm along the top of the back seat, his thick fingers partially curled. ‘I mean it. Tomorrow you’ll come up to the office for your cheque. Plus a bonus. You deserve it.’

Nicholas sat silently with his scabbarded katana across his knees. He put his head back and closed his eyes.

‘And we can talk,’ Tomkin continued, ‘about you staying on in the firm.’

‘I’m not interested,’ Nicholas said. Thanks just the same.’

‘Oh now, I wouldn’t make a decision like that so hastily.’ His voice had lightened somehow. But it was still as deep, ringing with sincerity. ‘I could use you. Somewhere high up. You’ve got remarkable talents.’ Tomkin was silent for a time. Even with his eyes closed, Nicholas could tell that he was studying him. ‘How’d you like to go back to Japan?’

Nicholas opened his eyes, stared directly ahead at the plastic partition. ‘I don’t need you for that,’ he said slowly.

‘No,’ Tomkin admitted. ‘Decidedly not. You could jump on a plane tonight and be there in ten hours. But if you went with me, it would mean a minimum of, oh, say, a quarter of a million dollars,’

Nicholas turned to look at Tomkin.

‘Oh, I am perfectly serious. Just because this ninja has been killed doesn’t mean my problems over there are solved. Far from it. I need an expert who -‘

Nicholas raised a hand. ‘Sorry, Tomkin.’

The other man shrugged. ‘Well, you think about it, anyway. There’s plenty of time now.’

Behind them, Nicholas could see Croaker climbing into his car.

Tomkin spoke to Tom. ‘Let’s go over to Third. I want to get a bite to eat before we drop Mr Linnear off.’

The limo started up, heading left on Park, around the median so that they could take the eastbound street fronting the south side of the tower. Nicholas saw Croaker right behind them as he prepared to head back downtown to file his report before driving out to LaGuardia.

‘How is Justine?’ Tomkin asked.

He really is beneath contempt, Nicholas thought. He wanted to get home so that he could call her. ‘Did you have me followed to the disco?’

Tomkin tried to laugh. ‘No, no. I knew I could never get away with that. No. Just a father’s intuition.’

If it had not been so sad, it might have been funny, Nicholas reflected. He just does not understand. ‘She’s fine.’ ‘Good. I’m glad.’

The light changed and they went across the avenue. Tomkin cleared his throat. He almost said something, then seemed to change his mind. They came abreast of the tower. The last few patrolmen were grouped on the broken sidewalk, talking amongst themselves.

‘Nick, I know you don’t like me much but - still - I’d like to ask you a favour.’

Nicholas said nothing. He watched as through the window the tower began to slide by.

‘I want - that is, I don’t want Justine to be estranged from me. I’ve done - well, I don’t know what to do any more and I thought maybe you could help - bring us together -‘

This side of the building was filled with trucks and, midway along the block, a metal and wooden overhang three storeys high that jutted out past the kerb, used to manoeuvre the enormous panes of tinted glass into place.

‘I think,’ Nicholas said, ‘that that has to be between the two of you.’

‘But you’re already involved,’ Tomkin said in his million-dollar-deal voice.

The limo passed beneath the overhang and the night seemed to darken.

Nicholas turned away from the window to look at Tomkin. ‘By the way,’ he said, ‘I haven’t seen Frank around for a couple of days. Where is he?’

There came, at that moment, a tremendous crash as the left side of the windshield shattered inwards. Tom seemed to leap from behind the wheel as if he were a speared marlin. He slammed backwards with such force that the plastic partition cracked. His arms fluttered like wings and Nicholas heard a soft moaning sound like a child sick with fever.

Abruptly, Tom’s suit jacket ripped and fully three inches of steel rammed itself past his spine. Blood spurted like a geyser and a terrible stench invaded the limo’s interior.

‘Oh, my God! What -?’ Tomkin’s face was pale.

The limo continued to head east along the street, passing the corner and crossing Lexington Avenue.

A great thrashing was coming from the front seat but Tom no longer screamed. Something or someone was squirming its way inside through the great rent in the windshield.

Driverless, the limo wandered to the left, running up on the kerb until its front end smashed into a light stanchion that was part of the new building on the corner.

Blackness in the front of the limo as if the night itself had stolen in.

Nicholas had already taken the katana off his lap and was holding it in his left hand. No use drawing it in such a confined space. Beside him, Tomkin was scrabbling at the door handle but it would not open. The automatic door locks were controlled from up front. It had been a security precaution. Now Tomkin cursed it.

Tom’s corpse was flung to one side. The smell was so overpowering, it seemed as if there was nothing else in the world.

Something dark pounded at the cracked partition,- vibrating it. Nicholas waited until the third blow, timing it in his mind. Then as the fourth blow came he met it with a powerful kick with both feet flat against the plastic.. The partition came apart at the force of the blow and Nicholas leaped into the front of the limo.

Saigo had come off the face of the tower, sliding carefully along the narrow ledge from which he had thrown the already dead body.

He had stayed in place long enough to ascertain that the decoy had worked, then slowly made his way within the shadows down the face of the building. Even those few cops still looking up at the shattered window in Tomkin’s top-floor office had not seen him. Only Nicholas, had he been down on the street, would have had a chance.

Crouching in the blackness, he had cursed silently for now he felt the sudden touch of fear. Nicholas a ninja I His mind reeled and he popped another rough brown cube into his mouth, chewing on it to make it work all the faster.

Soon the psychedelic was flowing through his system, speeded by the out rush of adrenalin pumping through his veins. Now the sky seemed to explode in a crimson and black mushroom cloud, his muscles bulged; his neck swelled with the power and his vision dazzled as it reached his brain. He was frying in energy.