Rules of the Hunt (19 page)
"The first item," said Fumio, "concerns the death of
Hodama-
sensei
.
His passing means that we have lost our most
influential friend.
The manner of his
passing gives some cause for concern."
He stood up and bowed his head in silence, and all the others followed
suit.
After several minutes, he sat down.
The mention of Hodama was enough to get everyone's attention.
The
sensei
had been the behind-the-scenes fixer for the Namaka brothers and had helped to
give them a charmed life with the authorities and the competition over the last
three decades.
His untimely death was proving a disaster.
The
kuromaku
had been an
unparalleled protector but had been jealous of his power and influence, and now
there was no obvious candidate to replace him.
Despite his age, he had not nominated a successor.
Because of his age and his sensitivity on
that matter, the Namakas had not pushed the subject.
The Namaka brothers' position had been that of two men in a sturdy boat
in a shark-infested sea, with Hodama representing the security of the
boat.
Now that boat had been arbitrarily
removed and they had been dumped unceremoniously into unfriendly waters to swim
with the sharks.
It was going to take a
period of adjustment.
There was also the matter of the Hodama's killers' methodology.
After the
sensei
,
who was next for the cooking pot?
The
assassins were efficient, brutal, and did not seem to be deterred by the status
of the victim.
These were disconcerting
thoughts.
"It would be helpful," said Kei to the gathering, "for the
corporation if your thoughts on the current implication of the passing of
Hodama-
sensei
could be
prepared."
The assembled
buchos
bowed
their head respectfully in acknowledgment.
They knew exactly what the chairman wanted.
He was asking for a detailed paper and
proposals on the full consequences of the Hodama affair.
The procedure was known as
ringi seido
.
It referred to a circulated written proposal
which would be signed by the assembled team but only after a great deal of
informal and behind-the-scenes discussion, known as
nemawashi
— literally, ‘binding the roots.’
The
ringi seido
system could be
slow and bureaucratic.
At the Namaka
Corporation, particularly in the General Affairs department, the system had
been refined to an art.
"Next item," said Kei.
He was wearing a Savile Row — tailored dark-blue pinstripe suit and a
handmade silk shirt.
His tie was
regimental
.
His hair,
though streaked with gray, was still full and he wore it brushed straight back,
the wings meeting behind his head.
He
had a high forehead, a strong nose, and firm, regular features.
He looked every inch the chairman of the
board.
Fumio was very proud of him.
"Our obligation in
Kaicho-
san
," said Fumio, with
the appropriate honorifics.
Privately,
his brother was called by his first name.
In public, the formalities were always followed.
There were no fewer than seven different ways
to address different social ranks.
It
was an area where foreigners — even if they spoke Japanese, a rare occurrence —
normally fell down.
Well, what could you
expect
?
No
gaijin
could ever really understand
One of the
buchos
, Toshiro
Kitano, Vice President for General Affairs, cleared his throat.
He was a slight, studious-looking man with
thinning hair in his late fifties; he reminded some people of a priest or
monk.
There was an ascetic, spiritual
quality about him.
It was not entirely
misleading, since he was a martial arts master — a field in which the spiritual
was regarded as at least as important as the physical.
Kitano's role in the group was security.
Within the ethos of the Namaka culture, that had less to do with
conventional industrial security than with the direct application of force
against those who opposed the wishes of the brothers.
Kitano was an enforcer and assassin, and had
been with Kei and Fumio since the early years.
These days, he rarely carried out assignments himself.
He was now an executive, and in Fumio's view
had made the transition rather well.
He
was an invaluable man, with the advantage of hands-on practical experience and
organizational talent.
Skilled killers with the administrative talents required by the corporate
environment were not easy to find.
"Kitano-
sensei
?" said
Kei respectfully.
Although Kitano was an
employee and his junior in the Namaka Corporation, the master was his mentor
and trainer in the martial arts field and as such was treated with an
appropriate deference.
"Several years ago, we had dealings with a terrorist, a
gaijin
, known as the Hangman," said
Kitano.
"He had many names and we
never did find out his real background.
But we cooperated on several assignments.
It was a successful partnership."
"He approached us, I recall," said Kei.
He did not add that it had been a major
breach of security.
It was not
appropriate to embarrass Kitano in front of his peers.
Anyway, the
sensei
, once he had recovered from the shock, had handled the
situation extremely well.
"He had extensive connections," said Kitano.
"A number of apparently separate groups
in different countries reported to him.
Some of his people trained with some of ours in the
East
This led to his
attempting to penetrate our organization to find out more about us.
Fortunately, we were able to block this
infiltration, but not until he had learned rather more than he should.
The situation was difficult.
The solution was cooperation.
His people were not known in some areas; our
people were not known in others.
By
exploiting this we were able to carry out a number of assignments
successfully."
There were approving noises from around the table.
The
buchos
were all aware that the subject was difficult for Kitano, and they were anxious
to show support.
The harmony of the
group —
wa
—
was very important.
"I remember," said Kei.
"It was an excellent solution,
sensei
."
Kitano bowed slightly in acknowledgment.
Actually, the whole business had been extremely serious.
He had never been able to identify that
damned
gaijin
, whereas the foreigner
had penetrated the entire Namaka organization and their direct-action arm.
The operations they had carried out together
had been successful, but they had all been planned by the Hangman and carried
out on his own terms.
Then the fates had
intervened.
Just when the security chief
had been at his wit's end, the Hangman had vanished.
Subsequently, they had learned that he had
been killed.
It had been the best news
of the decade, as far as Kitano had been concerned.
Unfortunately, the Hangman's death was not the end of it.
He was a player of games and a man with a
warped sense of humor.
He had left
behind a request in the form of a video sent only to Kitano.
If he was captured, he was to be freed.
If he was killed, he was to be revenged.
If his request was ignored, there would be
one warning, then the detailed information he had on the Namaka Corporation
would be given to the authorities and there would be other unpleasant
consequences.
Above all, the security
chief would be disgraced in front of his colleagues and the brothers themselves.
The brothers knew about the request; Kitano
had not told them about the threat.
They
might consider it his fault, since the
gaijin
's
infiltration was his responsibility — and Kitano shuddered to think of the
punishment.
No, he had to take care of
this himself.
"This
gaijin
was killed
three years ago," said Fumio.
He
had more serious matters on his mind, and as a result was more direct than was
customary in a formal discussion.
"I am a little puzzled as to why the matter of this obligation has
come up now."
"It was a small matter," said the security chief, "not
worthy of the meeting's attention.
As to
the passing of time, it was difficult to ascertain who had been responsible for
the Hangman's death.
Then there was the
matter of finding an appropriate team to do the job.
And there was not urgency.
It was a matter of little operational
consequence.
It was delegated to
Yaibo.
The team they allocated was then
held by the security forces for some time.
All of these matters contributed to the delay.
If it had been a priority, we would of course
have acted sooner."
Kei wanted to move on to other things.
The security chief was an experienced enough man.
A routine action six thousand miles away
should not be occupying the time of the meeting.
Delegation was about someone else getting on
with it while you did what was really important.
But still he hesitated.
The security chief himself had put the item
on the agenda.
Kei looked at the security chief.
"There is something you want to say, Kitano-
sensei
?"
"The assassination attempt took place as planned," said the
security chief, "but it was not entirely successful.
Our team, it appears, was killed.
The target was merely seriously wounded.
Our lack of complete success is
regrettable."
There was a palpable feeling of relief around the table.
The loss of a killing team was something they
had to be made aware of, but it was not something to be concerned about.
There was a steady supply of young men who
wanted to prove themselves in action.
Casualties in the field were almost inevitable these days, given the
ever-increasing expertise of counterterrorist units, but were just an overhead
of doing business.
And it was infinitely
better that the team were dead rather than captured.
Dead men were poor material for
interrogation.
"We thank you for reporting this matter, Kitano-
sensei
," said Kei, "but we have confidence that you will
resolve it satisfactorily."
Kitano acknowledged the confidence.
"What is the name of the target,
sensei
,"
said Fumio.
"Is he of any
significance to us?"
"The target is an Irishman called Hugo Fitzduane, Namaka-
san
," said the security chief.
"He is of no significance.
It is merely a matter of
giri
.
Further action is
being implemented."
"Next item," said the chairman.
8
February 1
Kilmara surveyed Fitzduane's hospital room.
Fitzduane, propped up into a sitting position by his bed, was wearing a
T-shirt over his bandaged torso and actually did not look medical for a
change.
He was pale and had lost weight,
but there was some color in his cheeks and his eyes were sharp and alert.
The T-shirt had a picture of a group of
skunks on the front and was printed with the word "SKUNKWORKS!"
Fitzduane noticed his glance.
"The Bear sent it over," he said.
Kilmara grinned.
"And while
we're on that substantial subject, how is the Bear?"
Police sergeant Heini Raufman, the Bear, was a large, overweight Bernese
policeman with a heavy walrus moustache, a gruff manner, and a taste for large
guns, which.
like
many Swiss, he shot exceedingly
well.
He and Fitzduane had become very
close during the hunt for the Hangman in
and they had fought together during the siege of Fitzduane's castle.
Subsequently, the Bear, a widower, had
remarried.
Fitzduane had been the best
man.