[Thomas Caine #1] Tokyo Black (31 page)

Caine nodded. “Thanks to you. You saved my life.”

Mariko brushed the hair from her eyes. “Kusaka’s paid off my superiors. They offered to put me back on duty, as long as I dropped this investigation. They think he’s just a rich businessman trying to avoid a sex scandal. You’re the only person I’ve met who knows that Kusaka is tied to Tokyo Black.”

“So, in other words, you were just doing your duty.”

She slipped a utility knife from her back pocket, and cut through his bonds.  “Of course. But if it makes you feel better, when this is all over, you can buy me dinner.”

Caine nodded, then groaned in pain as he flexed his wrists. The muscles in his neck and arms burned. “Deal,” he grunted. “Anywhere you want to go.”

Mariko took his arm as they limped towards her battered grey sedan.

“We’ve got about five minutes before the police show up. And based on what I told my director to go do with himself, I don’t think I’m going to be able to talk our way out of this.”

Caine let her help him into the passenger seat. As he buckled the seatbelt, she slid in and started the car. The engine sputtered and wheezed, then roared to life.

“What’s next?” she asked.

Caine was silent for a second. “Kusaka came to visit me, just before the security team showed up. Whatever he’s planning, it has something to do with China. He sounded obsessed. He blames China’s rise in economic power for all of Japan’s problems.”

Mariko maneuvered around the wreckage on the freeway and sped off down the expressway.

“Mmm,” she said with a nod, “that’s a common sentiment in Japan these days. We have always had an uneasy relationship with China. Many rightwing political groups feel our government has caved in to China’s demands. That we have allowed our shame for our actions in World War II to allow China to flourish, at our expense. But that still doesn’t tell us what he’s planning.”

Caine stared out the side window. “Right. Head for Roppongi.”

Mariko looked over at him. “What’s in Roppongi?”

He did not look back at her. Instead, he studied his reflection in the rain-spattered window. A ruin of cuts and bruises stared back at him.

“Apparently,” he growled, “Kusaka and I have a mutual friend.”

They parked in the alley outside the Yoshizawa koi farm. Caine drew his pistol and stalked towards the metal garage door.

“I thought we were visiting a friend,” Mariko whispered. She drew her own weapon, and scanned the alleyway for danger.

“Yeah, well, there seems to have been a slight misunderstanding. Just follow my lead.”

Mariko nodded and took up a position next to Caine.

Caine rapped on the door, following the same knocking pattern Koichi had used earlier. For a few minutes, nothing happened. Then the door began to roll up. Caine held his pistol ready. But as the door rose, he found himself staring into Koichi’s wrinkled face.

The man looked pale and withered, but his eyes burned with dark intensity. He was flanked on either side by Yoshizawa’s yakuza soldiers. Greased hair, shiny suits. Definitely armed.

“Koichi! I thought you’d be in the hospital. ”

“I was. Then some of my men called to tell me about what happened.”

Mariko looked Koichi up and down with surprise. “The hospital just let a gunshot victim walk? And the police didn’t stop you?”

Koichi made a dismissive gesture. “Cops? Who has time to talk to cops? That’s what lawyers are for. When the oyabun of a yakuza clan is murdered, his second in command can’t just lay resting in bed, now can he?”

The old gangster maintained his stone-faced expression, but Caine could see pain in the lines around his eyes. He knew it was not from the man’s injuries. “So it’s true?” he asked. “Isato is dead?”

Koichi nodded and hobbled away from the door. Caine and Mariko followed as he led them past the pools of koi.

Despite the death of Isato and the chaos that had followed, the old man in the blue windbreaker was still there. He was still singing to the fat koi as they swam in their pools. The old man looked up as they passed. A grave, serious expression hung on his face.

Caine felt a strange emptiness in the pit of his stomach. Isato had been a criminal. The yakuza liked to project an image of modern-day Robin Hoods, rebels who stood for the people of Japan. But he knew most yakuza clans were involved in drugs, prostitution, arms dealing….

To rise to a position of power as Isato had, the man certainly had blood on his hands. But then again, Caine knew he had spilled his share of blood as well.

Caine couldn’t say the world wasn’t better off without a man like Isato in it, but he also couldn’t deny there was something about the old man he had respected. And he was Kenji’s father. They were bound together in a debt of honor that night, years ago. The old bullet wound in Caine’s shoulder began to throb.

“I’m sorry, Koichi. I know he was like a father to you. But you must know I didn’t kill him.”

Koichi uttered a short, pained laugh. “Of course I know. You think we’d be standing here talking if I thought you had?” The old man shook his head. “I wish you had killed him. That would be far less painful than the truth.”

Koichi looked over at Mariko. “
Chotto Matte
… she’s a cop, right?”

“I’m suspended from duty,” she said. “I’m just here as an observer.”

“Then observe the fish,” Koichi said to her. “They’re beautiful,
ne
? Caine-san, come with me.”

Caine turned to Mariko. “You mind waiting here?”

“Of course not,” she answered, her voice polite but cold. Her shoulders stiffened, and she turned on her heel a little too fast.

As soon as Caine followed Koichi into the back room, two yakuza thugs took up sentry duty by the door. Mariko sighed and looked down at the bubbling pools of water.

She watched a fat white koi lazily beat its fins in the water. It looked up at her, black eyes glittering, wide mouth gulping. She remembered Hitomi’s words in the car, outside the capsule hotel.

Two sides of the same coin, she had said. Always touching, but never standing together.

Kenji sat before them, sullen and slightly pale, tied to a chair in Isato’s office. He looked up, and Caine saw his pupils were wide and dilated. He was in shock but otherwise appeared unharmed.

The room smelled of soap and bleach, and a large screen television now stood in the corner. Koichi limped over to Isato’s desk and picked up a remote.

“Isato was no fool,” Koichi muttered. “He used this warehouse to meet with rival yakuza, other crime syndicates, dirty cops. He had a security camera installed in that sculpture up there.”

Koichi looked up at the large, wood carving of the swimming koi, hanging on the wall behind Isato’s desk. “Thing ran twenty-four, seven, just in case he needed leverage, or a record of what was said. Take a look. I’ll show you what I showed the men when they called me down here.”

The old man clutched his stomach and groaned as he sat down in Isato’s chair. Kenji looked away from the screen. Koichi pressed play.

Caine watched as the security footage played on the monitor. The video was grainy and washed out, but the images were clear enough.

He saw himself enter the room, as he had several days ago. Kenji walked out, as he and Isato talked. Caine blinked. It had only been, what, a couple days ago? It felt like another lifetime.

Koichi pressed a button, and the footage blurred as the images shifted to fast forward. A time and date stamp in the top right corner of the monitor advanced to the previous evening. The footage returned to normal speed, and Caine watched as Kenji entered the room.

The audio was muted, but it was clear they were arguing. He saw Isato hang up the phone. Looking at the time stamp, Caine realized he had been on the other end of the phone call, asking Isato for back up. Now he knew why it never arrived.

On the screen, he saw Kenji raise the pistol. From the high angle of the camera, the image looked surreal and impersonal, like a video game come to life. He saw the explosive puff of the bullet leaving the gun as Kenji fired. Isato slumped over and fell to the ground. The video continued playing.

“Admit it, old man.” Kenji spoke up. “You’re getting off on this, aren’t you? This is what you wanted all along. Now you’re finally in control, instead of just being my father’s bitch.”

Koichi pressed a button, and the TV went black. He did not look at Kenji.

“I would have given my life for you. Or your father. As for who will take control of this family, that is not for me to decide. I have reported your actions to the Yamaguchi-gumi. The heads of the families will meet and decide what is to become of the Yoshizawa clan. For all I know, they may disband our whole goddamn organization. Absorb us into another family.”

Caine’s voice was quiet. “Kenji, why? Why did you do it?”

“I was trying to do it for him.” Kenji’s eyes were wide, damp, pleading. “It was all for him. To show him I wasn’t just an accountant, that I could help him.”

Koichi slammed his fist on the desk. Caine was reminded for a brief second of Isato and his rare bursts of emotion.

“Help him? You helped him to the grave! You may have destroyed everything he spent his life building! If you were anyone else but the oyabun’s son, you’d be chopped into little pieces by now. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

Kenji sobbed. “I didn’t mean to…. I just snapped. I thought this time would be different. I thought he’d listen to me. And when he didn’t, it was like I wasn’t even in the room anymore. Like I was watching as someone else pulled the trigger.”

Caine turned to Koichi. “I need answers. Kenji has them. People are going to die if I don’t get them. Do you understand?”

The older man grimaced and gave an uneasy nod. “I understand. Do what you have to.”

Caine kneeled down in front of Kenji. A twitch of fear shivered through the young man’s features as he looked into Caine’s eyes.

“Kenji, what’s your connection to Kusaka? What the hell are he and Bobu planning?”

For a second, Kenji’s face flared with anger and determination. He stared hatefully at Caine and kept silent.

Caine did not blink. “I’ve been trying to keep the shameful things I’ve done buried, Kenji. Don’t make me add more to the list.”

Kenji’s head rolled forward, and the determination drained from his features, like a balloon deflating. His voice was quiet and meek. “I interned with Kusaka Industries during my senior year in the United States. When he visited his US offices, he seemed to take an interest in me. Took me under his wing.”

Koichi threw the TV remote against the wall. The young man jumped as it shattered into plastic shards and clattered to the ground. “You idiot! What are you, a schoolgirl? He knew who you were. He took an interest in you because he wanted influence in the Yoshizawa clan.”

Kenji laughed. “Then he picked the wrong kid. You know better than anyone, my father never listened to me. Kusaka respected me more than my father ever did. Anyway, when Bobu was released from prison, Kusaka shifted his attention to the Shimizu clan. He helped Bobu splinter the clan and reshape it into Tokyo Black. He financed them, gave them direction. Used his government connections to keep them out of jail. He said he needed an army of pawns and Bobu’s fanatics fit the bill. Christ, what those men did to themselves … they’re all fucking crazy!”

“But what does Kusaka want?” Caine asked. “What is this all about?”

The young man took a deep breath. “I don’t know all of it, but one of his deep sea salvage operations recovered a damaged Chinese drone. They dredged it up in the waters between China and Japan. He’s managed to keep his political leanings quiet, and he has powerful business connections to Chinese aerospace industries. He found out where it crashed and was able to recover it before the Chinese government did. They didn’t report it missing because it went down in disputed territory. It’s a prototype, some kind of advanced stealth technology.”

Caine stared at Kenji in shock. “A prototype? Is it armed?”

The young man shook his head. “No, it wasn’t carrying any weapons. But Kusaka-san had his engineers gut it. They ripped out any non-essential systems and packed the body full of explosives. Whatever that thing hits … it’s over, vaporized. It’s just a big, flying bomb now.”

Koichi leaned forward in his chair. “So he’s turned a billion-dollar Chinese drone into a hi-tech kamikaze? And just what does he plan to do with it?”

“All I know is he’s going to use it to attack a target in Japan. With all the tension between China and Japan right now over the Senkaku Islands … I mean, the Japanese government is just looking for an excuse to take a harder stance against China. Something like this….”

“The match that lights the fuse,” Caine finished. “But those drones use encrypted control signals. Even with his industrial connections, I can’t imagine the Chinese government would give him access to those codes.”  

 “That’s where Allan Bernatto came in. Kusaka had already been working with him as a CIA asset, reporting on Chinese industrial espionage. Bernatto wanted the CIA to start taking Chinese cyber-terrorism seriously. So he helped Kusaka. Apparently, he had a Chinese state-sponsored hacker stashed in a black site somewhere. Renditioned the guy out of Hong Kong. He got him to crack the drone’s encryption.”

“That’s what was on the hard drive,” Caine said. “Kusaka needed it back to control the drone.”

Kenji nodded. “When Hitomi stole it, he flipped the fuck out. Tore up the whole city looking for her. And I guess Bernatto got cold feet… He said Kusaka changed the target, that it was too high profile now.  He tried to get the drive back, pull out of the whole thing.”

“So he had Rebecca send me,” Caine said. “Once I found Hitomi and the drive, he would have sent in his private mercs to kill us both and take the drive back. Keep himself from getting exposed if the whole plan went south.”

Koichi sucked air through his teeth. “So you’re not just a traitor to this family, Kenji. You’re a traitor to Japan as well. What was in it for you?”

“Once this thing blows up, China’s economic relations with Japan and the West are gonna tank. I mean, even if they blame it on hackers or rogue terrorists or whatever … it’s going to set back trade relations for years. Kusaka’s shorted all his Chinese investments.”