Trifecta (63 page)

E
ve stood in front of an open-air newspaper stand on Fairfax
Avenue.  She picked up a copy of the Wall Street Journal Report, memorizing stocks
and bonds listed in the tables.  Then she picked up a copy of U.S.  News and World
Report and memorized the world stock figures.  She did it so quickly that the busy
old man watching for magazine-lifters had no idea she was memorizing financial statistics. 
He did notice that the beautiful girl was not touching the fashion magazines her
sort usually stopped for.  He was small and stocky and he put on his meanest scowl
and waited for her gaze to lift from the page.  Then he was looking into porcelain
blue eyes, studying him back.

"You just reading, or you gonna buy somthin'?"

Her smile was a killer.  "Browsing." 

"Ah, well."  The man back-pedaled to collect
from a couple of skinny boys studying muscle magazines.  When he turned from the
cash register the girl was beside him.  She handed him a dollar and walked away.

"Hey, you didn't buy nothing."

The killer smile again.  "You let me use your magazines."

Hey, any time, the old guy whispered.

Eve walked back toward Sabrina's Fashions, aware that Ivar
and his partner were following in their car.  She would have to disappear for Ivar
too, and it suddenly felt like a knife would separate her from her own heart.  Tears
spurted abruptly out of her eyes.  She didn't know if most people had such terrible,
precipitous pains walking down sidewalks.  She had never seen tears fall as fast
and thick and sudden as hers did.  She took kleenex out of her purse and wiped her
wet cheeks.

The tears prevented her from noticing the hulking Japanese
men's approach until they were in front of her.  Three of the men had stopped on
the pavement in a line, their girth effectively barring forward progress.  She almost
growled.  They looked totally impassive.  One of them said that Mr.  Hashimoto would
like to talk to her, as she had left the luncheon precipitously yesterday.  If she
would please get into their car they would take her to him.  Then they would bring
her right back here and deposit her on the sidewalk, or anywhere she wished.

Eve couldn't go around them, but she amused herself with
the thought that she could jump over them, providing a rare spectacle to nearby
pedestrians, not to mention the heavy traffic in the area.  Jumping like a grasshopper
would prove she was different.  As would running away.  The Hulks were so bulky
she could easily outdistance them, but again, she would be noticeable if she really
put on some speed.  Of course, if they attacked she could undoubtedly break a few
legs and arms.  After all, there were only three of them.  She didn't seriously
think they would use force.  On the other hand, she didn't believe they knew which
one she was, and if she was Sabrina she would probably be intimidated.  She should
act like Sabrina.

A nanosecond had gone by when she said, "I'm sorry,
but there's so much to do at the shop, I really can't see Mr.  Hashimoto.  Perhaps
another time."

"Mr.  Hashimoto urged us to try to persuade you because
he's leaving later today." 

That was pleasant news.  The Hulk who was speaking possessed
excellent English and was very polite.  If she had not been so caught up with the
momentary blindness from her tears she could have prevented this whole confrontation. 
Sabrina would be worried if she was gone too long.

"Your sister agreed to come and meet with Mr.  Hashimoto. 
She's already on the way.  The meeting will be held at his suite, in the Century
Plaza Hotel."

Now, Eve understood.  They had Sabrina.  They had probably
used the same tactic on her.  Eve was furious with herself for leaving Sabrina alone
even for  few minutes.

The Hulks ushered her to the car.  One held her arm as
she got in the back seat.  Another had his hand above her to make sure she didn't
bang her head.  Eve thought, a Sabrina Thought, that these big men had much better
manners than Hashimoto or any of his petite and well educated staff members. 

She could see Ivar's car parked not far away.  She turned
and watched to make sure he was in pursuit.

Eve hoped the men would speak Japanese so she could learn
something from them, but they were silent.  The two sitting on either side of her,
uncomfortable with her proximity, were squashed against the doors.  The one driving,
who spoke such excellent English, had bruises under his eye.  She looked at each
man in turn and wondered how such big men could have all been beaten up.  Surely,
being employed as a bodyguard did not often entail physical assault. 

Then Eve noticed that the men on each side of her were
missing the little finger on their left hands.  They were special Yakuza, Japanese
bodyguards, who had shown Hashimoto their devotion by cutting off a finger.  She
wondered if they also possessed the characteristic body art, large tattoos of chrysanthemums
and snakes.  She did know that Yakuza were known to be killers as effective as Mafia
hit men. 

A
s Eve was arriving at the Century Plaza Hotel, Burgess
Whitcomb was sitting in his office, so angry he could imagine red clouds of steam
sizzling from his ears.  He took the flask of bourbon out of his bottom drawer and
took a large gulp; uncharacteristic behavior for him this early in the morning. 
He waited for the tendrils of searing heat to take effect and tried to breath slowly,
contemplating the ruins of his investigation.

First, the complete files had been shredded, stolen, or
both.  Then, this morning, Sergi Malcovich had changed his story.  He would not
press charges against Sabrina Miller, saying a dog had bitten him.  He had written
up a report with that statement, which was in direct conflict with his previous
report, which was, of course, missing.  Ivar Cousin was backing him up.  To top
it all, the computers were coming up with astounding changes, showing that there
was a person named Eve Miller with a paper history.

This morning, when two of his agents had gone to Sabrina's
Fashions to pick the women up for questioning, three huge Japanese men had taken
one of them, practically from under their noses.  They had taken each women separately
to some suite at the Century Plaza Hotel.  There was no way to find out what was
going on inside there.

Ferd Steinbrenner was still in the hospital and could not
be questioned.  He had brain damage from the stroke.

The bourbon and deep breathing was making Burgess calmer. 
He would wait until the women came out of the hotel room, but he vowed he would
pick them up then.

Burgess was still awaiting the investigative results in
Washington for possible incrimination of Willard Modert, Sergi Malcovich and Ivar
Cousin as KGB spies.

A
t the Century Plaza Hotel, two of the Japanese bodyguards
led the way up the stairs.  Eve followed, holding the arm of the man with the good
English and the big bruise under his eye.  She noticed he had all his fingers.

The two leading were speaking very quietly in Japanese.

"Her sister arrive?"

"Yes.  Hashimoto wants a match.  Put it off till now. 
Probably to impress them."

"Sadistic bastard.  I hope he picks me.  Kokuro's
wasted."

They entered through the large glass doors and walked through
a luxurious lobby to the elevators.

"What's your name?"  Eve asked the man whose
arm she was holding.

"Kokuro."

Eve smiled at him and he smiled back.  Maybe Hashimoto
felt beating up the Hulks was tolerable because he employed them.  And he was so
small.  Eve thought about David and Goliath, but the story was not morally appropriate. 
She was getting angry.

"What is your name?"

"Eve.  But don't tell Hashimoto."

Eve saw the big man smiling to himself and said, "What?"

"I have a daughter.  I bought her a doll last Christmas. 
My daughter is very bossy and quite irresistible, like all three- year-olds.  I
resisted buying it.  It has blue eyes and blond hair.  The doll my daughter adores
looks just like you."

Eve smiled at the enormous man and imagined a tiny daughter
bossing him around. 

Hashimoto answered the door to the penthouse suite himself. 
He was wearing white pajamas with a black belt tied around his middle.  He nodded
at the Hulks and they all disappeared.  Then he motioned Eve grandly through an
entrance hall into a large sitting room.  Most of the furniture had been removed.

Probably thinks he looks virile and manly in the pajamas,
Eve thought to herself.  Thinks we're impressed with the black belt.  Right.  He
steals Sabrina's store, plans to make me into a vegetable, caused Ferd's stroke
and beats up the Hulks.  She was definitely getting angry.  Especially when she
saw Sabrina huddled on a couch in the corner of the room.  Her level of body tension
indicated that she was frightened.

On a table in front of Sabrina, snap shots were fanned
out in chronological order.  The picture sequence showed various stages of the event
when Eve had bitten the Russian spy.

"Revealing,"  Hashimoto said, nodding at the
pictures. 

Sabrina and Eve said nothing.

"There are many more."  Hashimoto patted his
pockets. 

He's enjoying this, Eve thought.

He pulled out a picture, scanned it, then threw in front
of the two women.  It showed Eve and Ivar, standing in an embrace, beside a taxi.

"Do you need to see more?"

"All,"  Eve said.

Hashimoto made a superficial show of reluctance as he emptied
his pocket.  There were pictures of Eve and Sabrina together in many locations,
pictures showing Mark and Ivar and the Steinbrenner brothers, even pictures of Bea. 

"You don't think I would really come all this way
on what could be a gigantic hoax?"

"And yet you did,"  Eve said.

"I don't believe so.  Your American CIA would pay
a bundle for these pictures.  Also, the Russians are quite intrigued.  These pictures
do not only implicate you two...sisters.  They implicate your friends."

"Here comes the blackmail,"  Eve said to Sabrina.

"No, no.  Nothing so sordid.  I merely present options. 
Eve comes to work for my corporation at a very lucrative salary.  I can even make
it open-ended.  She stays as long as she wants to, leaves when she wants to."

He must be planning the surgery right away, Eve thought.

"I will lease a store in Tokyo for Sabrina.  Or, if
Sabrina stays here, I will make sure she can keep her shop where it is presently
located.  If you would like to add amenities to the package, you have merely to
ask.  I don't believe my employees should want for anything."

And a good beating now and then to keep them in line.

Hashimoto went on, "Eve will be in a unique position
to learn many things at a salary which we will negotiate, but which would not be
under one hundred thousand dollars a year.  She will oversee many of my properties,
working as my personal consultant, accompanying me in my extensive worldwide travels."

He wants to see what it's like to have a mistress with
a computer in her brain, before he scoops it out for himself.

Hashimoto pushed a long thick document toward the two women. 
"Please read this agreement for your signature, outlining the details.  You
can talk it over and amuse yourselves, watching a Karate match."

When he smiled Eve wondered how his thin jaw could hide
all the teeth.  His face had split shockingly into two halves, his thick lips stretching
back to reveal an improbable amount of hideous teeth, severing the top and bottom
of his face into that of a loathsome crocodile-like caricature. 

Hashimoto's ghastly smile lasted only a second.  He walked
over to the entrance of the suite and opened the door.  The bodyguards were outside. 
All had changed into their karate outfits.  The Hulks stood in a line in front of
Hashimoto and he rocked back and forth, toes to heels, looking at each one in turn,
frowning.

"I have the gun in my purse,"  Sabrina whispered
to Eve.

"His thing is power,"  Eve said.  "He wants
control of us and he wants the computer.  He won't sell the pictures for any amount. 
Unless there are no other options.  We have to get the negatives."

As Hashimoto rocked back and forth he was wondering which
of the women was Eve.  Both were identically beautiful, but very strong willed,
an attribute he did not condone in his women.  He was curious about the results
of brain surgery on Eve's personality.  The computer was probably attached to all
areas of her brain by now, but especially in the frontal cortex where reasoning
is believed to be located.  His mind had pictures of a beautiful and vacant woman,
a blond American woman; his woman after the surgery.  She would not have much mental
acuity left.  He would expect severe brain damage, and therefore she would be totally
amenable to anything he suggested.  She would not understand the difference between
what was considered morally right and wrong, and that thought struck his imagination. 
She would do anything he pleased.  He would have to make sure his surgeons understood
that he did not want her mutilated.  Hopefully she would retain some of her natural
grace.  He did not care if she lost her speaking ability, as long as she was docile. 
He frowned to hide the pleasure this fantasy provided.  He motioned his head toward
Kokuro.

Kokuro bowed and the other men moved to the walls around
the room.

Eve watched the karate match with interest as she scanned
the long document in front of her.  For about ten minutes both men circled each
other and then, like lightening, one would strike with an arm or leg.  It was like
an arranged dance.  Both men seemed to anticipate the other's move, so that each
strike was deflected and no one was physically touched.  After that length of time,
though, it seemed as though Hashimoto was getting tired.  Eve could tell that Hashimoto
was very inferior in expertise, and as he got tired he was not as careful.  Kokuro
was receiving kicks and punches that actually landed on his body and limbs.  He
was so fast that at first Eve didn't think he was being harmed.  When struck, many
times he would fall to the ground and roll, then come up with a strike of his own.

Another aspect of the sport which kept Eve from thinking
that Kokuro was getting injured was that Hashimoto was very noisy.  His breathing
was loud, and each time he kicked or punched he would give out the cry Martial Arts
devotees use to gather their strength and concentration.  Hashimoto's yell was a
high, shrill sounding scream, that lasted through each strike.  But Eve had enhanced
auditory abilities, and sometimes she could hear Kokuro grunt. 

Knowing that a karate match did not traditionally condone
any of the strikes hitting an opponent, Eve was shocked.  It was too deadly a sport
for such apparent mistakes.  Either Hashimoto had no moral feelings for the ancient
traditions, or he was clumsy and inept and brutally sadistic.  She found herself
getting very angry as Kokuro received what looked to be harmful injuries.

When Eve saw Kokuro stagger and shake his head for an instant
she was suddenly afraid.  She stood up and yelled, "That's enough."

Both men stopped.  They were breathing deeply, but only
Hashimoto's lungs hissed with a whistling sound with each breath.  Eve guessed he
was easily twenty years older than Kokuro.  Hashimoto glanced at the women and then
checked his watch, obviously angry at the interference.  "We have another fifteen
minutes.  Do not concern yourselves.  We have done this hundreds of times."

The match continued.  Eve glanced at Sabrina.  She had
her hands almost covering her eyes.  Eve realized that Sabrina had known before
she did that Hashimoto was physically damaging the man he was fighting.  She should
have realized just how badly by the velocity and arc of the kicks and punches. 
She could do the mathematics in her head, and she counted the amount of times the
man had been struck.  It was amazing that Kokuro was still standing, but he did
continue.  It looked like he would not stop unless fatally wounded.

Eve stood up and prepared to run and defend Kokuro, but
one of the men put a restraining hand on her arm, motioning her down.  She was getting
more and more angry at the little bastard beating the hell out of Kokuro.  She found
herself having trouble breathing, and could almost feel the blows Hashimoto was
delivering, she empathized so much with his burly opponent.

Sabrina leaned toward Eve and said in a low tone.  "He's
trying to bait you.  Waiting for the one with the computer to intervene.  Then the
sadistic bastard can try to hit you.  See if you heal."

Eve could feel herself shaking and knew adrenaline was
pumping her out of control.  She breathed and tried to calm herself, thinking it
couldn't last much longer.  Hashimoto had repeatedly hit Kokuro on the bruised side
of his face.  It was bleeding freely, flowing on his white Gi.

Then Kokuro made a mistake.  He was getting up from a kick,
a near miss that would have killed him.  As he rolled up he leaned forward for balance
and raised himself, using only one leg in an amazing show of sheer strength, and
with the other foot, as he rose, he kicked at Hashimoto's chest. 

Hashimoto was totally unprepared, he had been moving forward
in preparation for another strike himself.  The flat of Kokuro's foot hit him fully
in the chest.  Hashimoto was thrown backwards, landed on his rear, and skidded across
the floor until he hit the wall.  The breath was knocked out of him.  He really
was not hurt, but Eve was genuinely worried when she saw him smile.  In her short
acquaintance with Hashimoto, she knew his facial expressions were the opposite of
his thoughts. 

Eve knew that the flat of Kokuro's large foot landing on
his chest would be harmless.  It covered a lot of area and diffused the strength
of the kick.  What Hashimoto would hate was the humiliation in front of witnesses,
skidding on his behind, and his helplessness.  And the look of defenseless surprise
during his backward fanny ride.  It was quite comical and Eve would have laughed
under other circumstances at the tiny bully.  She felt like cheering.

Kokuro ran to Hashimoto.  He deferentially helped him up,
but Eve knew she had not been mistaken about Hashimoto's smile when she heard a
sharp crack.  With Kokuro's back toward her, she could not see that Hashimoto had
hit him as he bent down to help Hashimoto up, but she heard the ribs crack.

Both men walked slowly to the center of the room.  Now
Kokuro was only using one arm, the other was braced against his chest.  Still, he
was a better fighter, and even badly hurt and using only one arm he would have won
the match.  Hashimoto was taking advantage of the man's lack of both arms for defense. 
Kokuro could not drop and roll, and he received punches in the stomach, the ribs,
on his arms.  There were many swift brutal kicks.  Then Hashimoto's foot caught
Kokuro clean on the jaw.  Eve saw Kokuro's head snap back with the impact.  Something
inside her also snapped.

Eve was not aware she was growling as she ran.  She took
the other men round the room totally by surprise.  She heard Sabrina scream 'Eve,'
and it brought her partially to her senses.  She just flicked Hashimoto in his large,
ugly adams apple.  She felt she was in control.  It was only a tap with her fingers,
after all, but Eve underestimated the amount of energy she had built up into that
little swat.

Hashimoto was flung backward like a puppet and landed on
his back.  He was holding his neck with both hands, choking with a horrible sound
as his heels drummed the floor.  His face got very red for a moment and then seemed
to turn absolutely white as he tried to get his breath.  As he struggled his thick
lips turned an ugly blue.

No one in the room moved.

The adrenaline was still pumping in Eve's system.  The
puny little whack she had given Hashimoto did not help to dissipate it at all. 
She wanted to hit him again and again and again.  She felt like smashing something. 
She wanted to kill. 

Eve bent down and pulled Hashimoto up with one hand by
the front of his cloth Gi, shaking him in the air.  She growled like a dog with
a bone in its mouth.  Finally, she dropped him to his feet.  He stood in front of
her, staring up at her in horror.

Eve thought she must have scared the breath back into Hashimoto
because he was breathing again, raspingly.

No one in the room moved.

Hashimoto started screaming thinly, trying to get control
of his voice and looking around at his bodyguards, "Get her.  She's going to
kill me.  Get her."

Eve turned and nodded at Sabrina.  Then, realizing that
Sabrina didn't understand, she looked at the purse Sabrina was holding in her lap
very significantly.  She saw Sabrina's eyes widen, as if in query.  Eve nodded.