Rules of the Hunt (71 page)
"Suspecting Katsuda and proving it were two different things.
Of course, Katsuda could theoretically have
been arrested and subjected to interrogation, but, frankly, with his political
backing — and I include here the Minister of Justice, who receives handsome
campaign contributions from him — such interrogation was not possible.
"As any good policeman does, Adachi-
san
went over the case file and other evidence again and
again.
Previously, he had had some
success in enlarging the Hodama security videos.
There he was convinced that the evidence he
had uncovered was planted, but in subsequent viewings he concentrated on the
other figures."
Here the Spider smiled.
"Adachi-
san
made the
perceptive observation that it is a natural human tendency to focus on
movement, on the action, if you will.
This time he studied every figure individually, regardless of whether
that figure was doing anything significant or not.
He came to an interesting conclusion.
One of the figures was a
gaijin
" — the Spider looked apologetically at Fitzduane — a
foreigner."
"I saw the video," said Fitzduane.
"The attackers all wore suits and were
masked.
How could he possibly
tell?"
The Spider felt very proud of Adachi.
The Spider was a self-made man and the organization that had given him
his opportunity was the Tokyo MPD, so he took a strong personal interest in the
achievements of its personnel.
Superintendent Adachi, he felt, was in the tradition of its very finest.
"It has to do with body language," said the Spider.
"The superintendent examined the video
enlarged and in the minutest detail.
From it, he could see clearly that there was a leader and a group of
subordinates.
The leader was easy to
pick out, and in contrast his men stood and moved in a particular way.
Let me summarize it.
Their demeanor, through how they stood and
held their hands and numerous other small signs, conveyed respect.
It demonstrated the natural ranking that
underpins this society.
Except for this man."
The Spider pushed a rather grainy print across the table.
It was a printout from a video recording that
had been enlarged so the image was slightly blurred.
Nevertheless, Fitzduane saw instantly what
the Spider meant.
This man stood as an
impatient equal, and, examined closely, his build was decidedly not Japanese.
This man carried more body weight than would
be normal for a Japanese of that height, and his neck was thicker.
Further, the camera had caught him as he was
carrying out a gesture that was somehow familiar.
The Spider tossed a second print on the table.
This was a close-up of the man's hands.
It showed the right hand pulling at a fold of
the skin on the back of the left in a nervous or impatient gesture.
"Holy shit!" said Fitzduane.
He looked back at the first print and studied the suit.
All three buttons were done up.
He looked closely.
The buttons were covered with the same fabric
as the suit.
Suddenly, the masked figure
was clearly recognizable.
Once you made
the connection, it was not hard to identify the characteristic strutting
stance.
"Schwanberg!" he
breathed.
"The
decidedly unlovable Schwanberg.
I
guess he could not resist seeing someone boiled alive."
The Spider nodded.
"It took
Adachi-
san
longer to identify Mr.
Schwanberg.
A great
deal of work, in fact.
But
eventually he came to the same conclusion.
And then, at last, the significance of the timing of the Hodama killings
became clear.
Katsuda had been let off
the leash by his CIA masters.
The
killing was Katsuda's revenge, but really that was secondary.
The prime motive was a bigger game.
And that game was political.
Adachi-
san
did not know the precise reasons, but he suspected that it was merely that
Hodama-
san
and the Namakas had
outlived their usefulness.
They were
well-contaminated by their money-politics reputations.
It was time to reshuffle the deck and put
some more-acceptable faces on the top."
The Spider looked at Fitzduane, almost as if accusing him.
"Superintendent Adachi now knew who had
killed Hodama and his people and why, but this very discovery made the whole
business vastly more dangerous.
It now
appeared that he was no longer just up against one of the most powerful
yakuza
leaders in
agency of the
This was very difficult.
The relationship of this country with
he paused, searching for the appropriate words — "friendly but not
entirely harmonious at all times.
There
are certain areas of friction."
Fitzduane sipped at his brandy.
Dawn was breaking outside.
It was
still raining.
"Deputy
Superintendent-General-
san
," he
said.
"A couple
of points.
Firstly, I am the
wrong man to blame for the policies of the
States
Frankly, I think the
good reasons to be sore, but that is neither here nor there.
The bottom line is — I'm Irish.
"The second point is that Schwanberg is not advancing the policies
of the
He has his hand in the
cookie jar, and Uncle Sam has found out and is moving to do something about
it.
Which means he is
vulnerable.
"
There was an intake of breath from Yoshokawa, and then a burst of
Japanese directed at the Spider.
The
conversation hurtled back and forth.
Fitzduane felt very weary.
He
stood up and beckoned to Chifune, and side by side they looked out through the
picture window at the end of the conference room at the emerging
The sky was gray and the street below was black with rain.
Across the street was
and that was green and verdant from the rainy season.
He was reminded for a moment of
Green.
And then he thought of his island
and the unspoiled land in which he lived, and he felt homesick.
He missed his castle and he missed Boots and
he was mixed up about women.
He missed
Kathleen, and Etan was God knows
where,
and right now
Chifune needed him.
But soon she would
not.
She was very strong.
And then he thought about Adachi.
"It's a commodity in short supply," he said.
Chifune turned to him, and at that moment, though there was no physical
contact, they were as close as they had ever been.
As close as either had ever
been to any other person.
"Adachi-
san
?" she
said.
Fitzduane nodded.
"Decency," he said.
"Basic human decency.
That's what Adachi had more of than many of us.
He was a decent human being.
He tried to do the right thing, he cared
about people, he reached out and he cared."
"And I deceived him," said Chifune.
"No," said Fitzduane, "I don't think we deceived him.
That is useless guilt he would not want you
to feel.
But I think we made him
unhappy.
And that is a sad thing."
"I feel he's still here," said Chifune.
"I feel I could reach out and touch
him."
She started to cry, and
Fitzduane put his arm around her, and they stood silent together as
and the rain never ceased.
Chifune, his
arm around her, gripped his hand.
"Adachi-
san
had a strong
spirit," said Fitzduane.
"That's not going to go away."
Then he thought of Christian de Guevain and other friends he had lost
and he grew angry with people who played with human life.
He thought about what had to be done.
The conversation ceased behind him.
The Spider cleared his throat.
"Fitzduane-
san
, Tanabu-
san
, I think you should know that the
people who killed the superintendent did not find what they were looking
for."
Fitzduane thought of Adachi's wrecked apartment.
It was, without doubt, the most thorough search
he had seen.
He doubted very much that
the intruders had missed anything.
And
he said as much.
"Adachi-
san
found eight
tapes that Sergeant Fujiwara had concealed," said the Spider.
"He believed that they might prove to be
conclusive evidence against Hodama-
san
's
murderers, but he had not listened to most of them when he left me.
They were certainly found by the
attackers."
Fitzduane looked at the Spider.
"That's what I feared," he said.
"No, Fitzduane-
san
, you
don't understand," said the Spider.
"The superintendent was a
professional.
He followed
procedure.
He made copies and left them
with me."
"Have you listened to them?" said Fitzduane.
"Not yet," said the Spider.
"There has been no time.
Fitzduane smiled grimly.
"Well, let's get to it, Deputy Superintendent-General-
san
.
If there is one place that should not be short of tape recorders, it is
There were eight tapes.
The fifth
tape they played recorded Schwanberg's abortive attempt to extract more money
from Hodama and the Namakas.
Matters
were now very clear.
Yoshokawa caught the Spider's eye, and the Spider nodded.
"Fitzduane-
san
," said the Spider.
"You outlined a plan of action to resolve this matter to Yoshokawa-
san
and requested Gamma's backing to
implement it."
Fitzduane nodded.
"There are
quite a few players in this game," he said.
"We use one another's strength against
the other and then cheat a little as well.
We want a predictable outcome.
Following the rules really doesn't come into it."
"This is an exceptional situation," said the Spider.
"We have discussed it.
Fitzduane-
san
,
you now have the backing of Gamma."
"It's going to be bloody," said Fitzduane bluntly.
He wanted no hesitation once the plan was
under way.
"Are you sure you can
handle that?"
"Both the Spider and Yoshokawa nodded.
Fitzduane looked over at Chifune.
"Let's go to work," he said.
"We'll start with the airship."
23
July 11
"Who?" shouted Fumio Namaka into the
phone.
He was completely taken aback and then felt sudden anger at this
incompetent private-switchboard operator who had undoubtedly misunderstood her
caller.
"You must be mistaken,
woman.
That
gaijin
would never call direct.
It's impossible.
Quite impossible."
There was a silence at the end of the line, as the operator tried to
figure out what to do.
She knew she had
not misunderstood, yet Namaka-
san
,
normally a quiet-spoken man, sounded ready to strangle her.
She was tempted to cut the connection to the incoming caller, but then
decided to have one more try.
"I am
very, very sorry, Namaka-
san
,"
she said quietly, the respect evident in her voice, "but the
gaijin
insists that he is Fitzduane-
san
and that he must speak to you as a
matter of urgency."