The Last Assassin

by Barry Eisler

  They walked over to the bar Midori had in mind. Delilah unobtrusively checked their surroundings as they moved. She noted that Midori did not.

  The bar was nice — a neighborhood place, as Midori had said. It was old and dark, with couches and other upholstered furniture arranged in clusters across an expanse of white tiled floor. The sounds of conversation and music were nicely balanced. You could talk here without shouting.

  They sat at a table in one of the corners. Delilah took one end of a couch, her back to the wall; Midori, an overstuffed adjacent chair, her back to the window. Delilah paused for a moment to listen, then said, 'Good song. Oystein Sevag. Learned about him from a friend in Oslo.'

  'So it's not just jazz, then?'

  Delilah smiled. 'Oh, no. I like everything.' She picked up a menu. 'Well? What do you feel like?'

  'Oh, I don't know. Probably just a glass of wine.'

  'Should we see if they have a Beaujolais? The Nouveaux just came out, and there are some fun ones this year.'

  'That sounds great.'

  Delilah looked at the menu and was pleased to see that they had the Domaine Dupeuble, which she thought was among the best of the recent harvest. When the waitress came over, Delilah ordered a bottle. That might have been more than Midori had in mind, but she didn't object.

  'How do you like New York?' Delilah asked. 'Your website says you're originally from Tokyo.'

  'I love it. This is the second time I've lived here, and it feels like another home.'

  'What brought you back?'

  'Mostly a job opportunity.' The reply had been smooth enough, but Delilah thought Midori's features had clouded just for an instant as she recalled the circumstances of that move. Interesting.

  The waitress brought the wine and moved off. Delilah picked up her glass. 'Cheers,' she said. 'It's very good to meet you.'

  'Likewise,' Midori said. They touched glasses and drank.

  Delilah knew to start slowly. The secret to seduction isn't really the target's attraction to the seducer. It's more how the seducer makes the target feel about himself. Or, in this case, herself. Yes, looks and appearance are important, but only as a foundation. What has to follow is the feeling of pleasure and flattery brought on by the notion that such an alluring creature could be so genuinely fascinated with me. Making someone feel important, worthwhile, the center of a universe to which he would ordinarily fear to aspire… that was a seduction.

  So during their first, and then their second, glass of wine, Delilah asked mostly about Midori's jazz background. Delilah was a fan, after all, and the questions were natural enough. Where did you learn to play the piano? What's the connection to New York? What attracted you to jazz? Who are your influences? What does it feel like to compose a song?

  Unlike most men, Midori wasn't entirely blinded by Delilah's attention. She asked lots of questions of her own. But Delilah always managed to turn the conversation back to Midori.

  When they had poured out the last of the bottle, Delilah glanced at Midori's hand, as though noticing for the first time that she didn't have a ring. 'Are you married?' she asked.

  Midori shook her head. 'No.'

  'Forgive me. You had mentioned a baby, so…'

  'Nothing to forgive. The father lives in Japan.'

  Delilah thought it had the feeling of a rehearsed response. It was just deliberately vague enough to ward off further inquiries without causing discomfort.

  'That must be hard,' Delilah said.

  'No. It's actually for the best.'

  Midori offered nothing further, and Delilah understood that, even buzzed from the wine and Delilah's evident interest, Midori wasn't inclined to talk about this.

  Change tack. Try a revelation, a shared confidence.

  'My mother raised me alone,' Delilah said, now entirely improvising. 'When I was a girl she wouldn't talk about my father.'

  Midori leaned forward slightly. 'Why?'

  'Well, I didn't find out until much later. My father left her pregnant with me for another woman.'

  'Did you… are you in touch with him now?'

  Hmm. Midori had just jumped about two conversational steps ahead of what Delilah had been expecting. Delilah's story had obviously tapped into something that was on Midori's mind.

  'I've seen him,' Delilah said, holding back to see whether her story provoked enough curiosity to get Midori to ask more questions.

  It did. Midori asked, 'How was that? I mean, if I'm not being too personal.'

  Yes, this subject was definitely on the woman's mind. Interesting. Delilah shook her head and said, 'It was okay. He'd like to have a relationship now, but I don't know. I grew up without him and never missed him. At this point, I don't know that I need him in my life.'

  Midori nodded. 'So you didn't miss him when you were a girl? You didn't wish… you know, that he and your mother had reconciled, that kind of thing?'

  'No. I think it was better that they didn't. Some things shouldn't be forgiven.'

  'Not even for the children?'

  'No, of course for the children. But the question is, what's best for the children.'

  Midori took a sip of wine. 'You're right. That is the question.'

  There was a long pause. Delilah said, 'It sounds like this is something you've been thinking about.'

  Midori nodded. 'Just recently, the father showed up unexpectedly and paid us a visit.'

  Delilah felt her heart beat harder, but her face betrayed nothing.

  'Really? How was that?'

  Midori sighed. 'Confusing. I thought I'd made up my mind, but now… I don't know.' She took another sip of wine.

  Delilah saw an opening. 'Well, if he's the father, why isn't he in your life?'

  'It's a long story, actually, and not something I'm comfortable talking about.'

  Okay, that wasn't the right approach. She would have to find another way. 'I'm sorry.'

  'No, it's all right. It's just… you know, when he saw the baby, that's what really turned my head around. He cried. I'd never seen him cry before. He's not the crying type. And then, two minutes later, we were kissing like I couldn't believe. I don't know how I managed to ask him to go. If he'd pushed it a little harder… I don't know. I just don't know.'

  Delilah's face went hot with jealousy and anger and she hoped she wasn't flushing. She had always assumed that, when he wasn't with her, Rain had other women. She certainly had her fill of other men. They didn't get to see each other frequently, and she didn't expect either of them to remain celibate during the other's absence. But a passionate kiss with an ex-lover, which sounded like the start of something much, much more? That was totally different. After all, he had said he was coming to New York to see his child, not to fuck his old girlfriend. And he would have, that was clear, he'd been trying to do just that but Midori had turned him away.

  She let out a long breath and took a sip of wine. 'Sounds like you have a pretty strong connection.'

  'I don't know what we have. Good chemistry, definitely. And we went through this really intense… experience together once. But now, for me, it's really about the baby. I worry about him growing up without his father. I worry about what I'm going to tell him.'

  Delilah shrugged. 'Don't tell him anything. That's the way my mother handled it with me.'

  'That's what I was planning on, more or less. Now I don't know.'

  Delilah's heart beat harder and she said, 'Well, when you saw him, where did you leave it?'

  'I don't even know exactly. He lives in a different world than mine. I told him if he ever gets out of that world, he could call me then. But I don't think he can get out of it. He's been in it forever, and I actually think… ah, I don't know.'

  'What?'

  Midori took a sip of wine. 'I think he likes it. I mean, he says he wants to get out, but if he really wanted to, he could, couldn't he? And he's had good reasons. The baby being the most recent.'

  Every piece of information Delilah had teased out so far had been disappointi
ng, even painful to hear. Still, there was that one thing, the one she'd wondered about in Paris, that might trump all the rest. She had tried for it subtly a moment ago, but Midori had blocked that approach. Well, subtlety was only a tool. There were other tools available. She felt a flush of adrenaline in her torso as she prepared to strip away the cover she had been wearing and emerge from beneath it.

  'Maybe he's reticent because he knows he can never completely get out,' Delilah said, looking at Midori intently. 'And if he tries to live like a civilian, with a civilian, he'll always be a danger to that person. And she'll always be a danger to him.'

  Midori shook her head slightly as though to clear it. 'What?'

  'You know, a man like Rain has a lot of enemies.'

  Midori looked at her. A long, silent moment spun out.

  'And even if he could get out of the life,' Delilah went on, 'his enemies won't.'

  'I'm sorry. You… know him?'

  Delilah nodded. 'I know him well.'

  'You… oh, my God.'

  'Listen. If you do care about him, if you care about yourself and your son, you'll know to stay the hell away from him.'

  Midori's eyes narrowed and some of the color drained from her face. 'Listen to me, you bitch. I don't know who you are. But if you ever threaten my child again, I will hunt you down and I will fucking kill you.'

  Delilah held up her hands, realizing she had dangerously misspoken. 'I'm not threatening anyone. I want you and your son safe. My point is just that Rain can be a danger to the people around him. Haven't you noticed that?'

  There was a long pause. Midori said, 'So you're part of his world, is that right?'

  'Yes.'

  'And… you're involved, in some way?'

  Delilah shrugged.

  'So… Jun must have told you about the baby, told you he was coming to see us. And you came here, you met me tonight with this bullshit story, because you were jealous. Is that about right?'

  'I came here tonight because I don't want to see anyone get hurt. You and Rain together is an accident waiting to happen. I saw you on the way over here, and forgive me, but you don't have a clue. You never once checked your surroundings, you didn't look at the vehicles around us, nothing. I told you I'm no threat, but what if I had been? What would you have done? You're going to live like that with Rain? And if he starts living that way, how long do you think he's going to last?'

  Midori said nothing. Delilah knew that right now, the woman's thoughts would be swirling around inside her head like a whiteout blizzard. This was the moment.

  'Besides,' Delilah said, 'what kind of future can you have with him after what he did to your father?'

  Midori flinched as though she'd been slapped. She stared at Delilah for a moment, and the shock and hurt in her eyes were palpable. Then her expression hardened and she stood up.

  'I'm sure there's nothing else we have to say to each other,' she said. She turned and walked out.

  Delilah watched her go. She felt suddenly off balance. Maybe it had been the abruptness of the woman's departure. Maybe its dignity.

  But that was it, then. Rain had killed Midori's father, and Midori knew it. The look in the woman's eyes when Delilah spoke had confirmed it as definitively as a signed affidavit.

  That was exactly what Delilah had come here to learn. It suggested that Rain's attachment to the woman had something to do with guilt, which could be managed. And it suggested that no matter what else might attract Rain and Midori to each other, there was one fundamental thing that would always keep them apart.

  All of which was good news. She finished her wine and signaled for the check.

  Good news, she told herself again.

  So why did she feel so horrible?

  Midori paced back and forth in her living room. Digne had left. Koichiro was sleeping peacefully.

  She felt violated. How could the woman have known about her father? Had she been involved in his murder? No, that didn't seem right, a blonde like her would stand out in Tokyo, and besides, Midori had a feeling the woman's acquaintance with Rain was more recent. But how, then? The only way she could think of was that Rain must have told her. My God, was that his idea of sharing intimacies? Was that their pillow talk?

  She sat down and breathed deeply, in and out, trying to quell a rising feeling of nausea. The thought that she had been half-consciously looking for some way to forgive Rain suddenly shamed her. And here he was discussing the source of her shame with some new lover. How could he? How could he?

  She tried to focus on her breathing, but she couldn't calm down. Why had the woman come here? To warn Midori off, that was clear. To tell her Rain would always be a danger to her and Koichiro. Tell her, hell, the woman had proven it. What had it been — forty-eight hours since Rain had shown up in Midori's life? And already his world was trailing after him like some foul wake.

  And why would the woman have told her that she knew about her father? To get me to react exactly like this, Midori thought.

  But that realization didn't change the fundamental fact that Rain had discussed the most intimate secret Midori could imagine, discussed it as though it was just some common problem he'd had with a woman from his past.

  She hunched forward, her eyes squeezed shut, fistfuls of hair balled in her hands. She'd actually been hoping. She had. She realized that now.

  Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. Maybe Rain didn't tell the woman. Maybe she found out some other way.

  But that didn't matter. It didn't even matter what the woman wanted. What mattered was that she had been telling the truth. Rain was a danger. And he always would be.

  She wanted him out of her life. Hers and Koichiro's. Forever.

  16

  The next morning, I used the Watanabe identity to rent a van at a place in Shinjuku. After that, I shopped for some supplemental items: warm, dark clothing; waterproof boots; two-way radios in case cell phone coverage was lacking by the Sea of Japan. I spent the balance of the day sleeping. Not an ideal way to adjust to the local time zone, but I needed the rest and Dox and I were going to be working at night, anyway. I woke up just as the sun was setting, and after the proper procedures to ensure I was alone, I went out to a pay phone to tall Kanezaki.

  'Hai,' he said, after the customary single ring.

  'You get what I asked for?'

  'It's all right here. Oplus-XT Gauged CO2 rifle with AN/PVS-17 Mini night-vision scope, two SOCOM HK Mark 23s each with Trijicon night sights, AN/PEQ-6 infrared laser aiming module, Knight's Armament suppressor, spare mag, one hundred rounds of Federal Hydra-Shok, and Wilcox tactical thigh holster, two pairs of AN/PVS-7 night-vision goggles, Agency-designed GPS transmitter with magnetic mounts for surreptitious emplacement and accompanying monitor with mapping software. The only thing I couldn't do was the ten darts. Turns out we only had five on hand.'

  'Shit,' I said, and started running through the plan to see how we could adjust.

  'You were lucky we even had the rifle and the five darts. This kind of stuff is used mostly for rendering bad guys in Europe and the Middle East. The only reason we had any of it is because someone in the embassy must have realized there was some counterterror money left over in the budget and wanted to use it up.'

  'What's in the darts?'

  'Some commercial variation of liquid succinylcholine chloride. There's a small explosive charge that injects the drug on impact, so pulling the dart out won't help. Very fast-acting, depending on where you place the shot. The neck is best.'

  'Is weight a factor?'

  'No. These things are rated for anything up to a rhinoceros.'

  'All right, five will have to do it.'

  'This is some expensive equipment, you know. I'm going to be in major shit if any of it goes missing.'

  'I can tell you you're not getting the darts back.'

  'I'm not talking about the darts. Or the ammo.'

  'Where do I pick it up?'

  'Wherever you want,' he said, knowing I'd be more comfor
table choosing the place.

  I considered. I knew I was clean at the moment and didn't need time to run a route. And I didn't want to give Kanezaki time to set anything up. Not that he would — especially if he assumed I was on the hook now for a 'favor' — but it always pays to be careful.

  'JR Harajuku Station platform,' I said. 'Thirty minutes from now.'

  'Okay.'

  Twenty minutes later, I stepped off the Yamanote onto the platform at Harajuku. Nothing pinged my radar. Crowds were moderate, and divided more or less equally between teenagers heading to nearby Takeshita-dori, the grunge/retro/hip-hop shopping strip, and smartly dressed adults heading to the bistros and boutiques of adjacent Omotesando-dori. That the two disparate groups and places existed side by side in parallel dimensions would never cease to please me. It was part of what made Tokyo tick.

  Kanezaki arrived on time, stepping off a Shinjuku-bound train with a medium-sized blue duffel slung over his shoulder. He was wearing a dark suit and, but for something detectably western in his posture and gait, could have been just another young Japanese corporate samurai.

  He saw me and headed over. I scanned the other people who had gotten off the train. I noted no problems.

  He put the duffel down and we shook hands. The bug detector my late friend Harry had made for me slumbered in my pocket. Kanezaki was clean.

  'How've you been?' he asked.

  'All right,' I said, looking him over. 'You?'

  'Fine.'

  'How's the Global War on Terrorism?'

  He smiled. 'These days we call it the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism.'

  I liked that he didn't get defensive. Not so long before, he would have taken my derisiveness personally. I wondered if his people knew how capable he was becoming. Probably not.

  'Yeah, GWOT just wasn't a winning acronym,' I said. 'I'm sure it'll go better now that you've renamed it.'

  He chuckled. 'You want to tell me what all the hardware's for? And who you're working with? Two of this, two of that, it's not like you.'

  I looked at him. Yeah, he was capable. But maybe getting a little full of himself, too.

  'You're charging me a "favor" for this,' I said, my voice cold, 'and now you're asking for freebies?'