“Hai!”
Yoshida’s eyes betrayed the madness behind them. His evil stare travelled through the hundreds of miles of the telecommunication system’s fibre optics and clutched Bond and Mayumi’s souls. They both felt a shiver run down their spines as he said, “Place them in the mosquito tank. Let them experience first hand the fruits of our work.”
TWENTY-FOUR
EARTH’S HEARTBEAT
WHEN BOND HAD STRUGGLED WITH THE GUARD FOR POSSESSION OF THE Palm Pilot, he had deftly managed to activate the timer for the builtin explosive. The problem was that he didn’t know exactly how long he had set it for. He had manipulated the device with his fingers, feeling for the correct buttons while at the same time pulling on the Palm to keep it out of the guard’s hands.
Tsukamoto walked away from the centre of the room and stood by the door. He pressed a button and the door slid open. Aida had remained close to the two guards, while the technicians who had elected to remain in the lab to watch the goings-on stayed at their workstations. The teleconference link was maintained so that Yoshida could view the festivities. Both guards pointed their guns at the captives and gestured towards the air lock attached to the chamber full of mosquitoes. Bond eyed the Uzi and calculated the odds of jumping the man, but ultimately decided that it wouldn’t work. Before Bond could wrestle the Uzi away from the guard, the other man would have shot him and probably Mayumi as well.
“Open the outer door,” Aida ordered.
A technician flipped a switch and the door to the air lock opened with a swish. One of the guards jabbed the barrel of his rifle into Bond’s back.
“James-san?” Mayumi asked. Her eyes were full of fear.
“It will be all right,” he whispered. “We’ll go together.”
She finally went into the cubicle with Bond right behind her.
“Close the outer door,” Aida commanded.
The technician obeyed the order—the door shut and locked. Bond and Mayumi were standing in the no man’s land of the air lock. For the moment, they were safe.
“I have yet to see how my mosquitoes will feed upon human beings,” Aida said. “So far we have used only laboratory animals for testing purposes. This will be a treat.” As a smile played upon his lips, Aida commanded, “Open the inner door.”
The technician reached for the control but at that moment the Palm Pilot exploded with such force that he was knocked off his chair. Three other technicians were thrown across the floor and one of the guards was engulfed by the blast. Tsukamoto ducked out of the room and shut the laboratory door.
Bond and Mayumi were unharmed. The reinforced door had protected them from the explosion, but the glass had cracked. In fact, the lock mechanism was disabled. When Bond kicked it the door opened and he ran to the guard who had dropped the Uzi. He was blinded, screaming in pain. Bond picked up the Uzi and used the butt to put the man out of his misery.
Bond felt a bullet fly past him, frighteningly close to his face. He turned and saw Aida crouching behind a workstation, pointing a handgun at him. Bond directed the Uzi at that end of the room and let loose with a barrage of firepower. The bullets hit the computers, creating bright eruptions of electrical discharges all over the machines. Aida, his body riddled with holes, screamed and fell to the floor. The technicians who were left alive crouched behind what cover they could find and raised their hands in terror. Bond swept the room with the gun and determined that there was no longer a serious threat.
Bond held out his hand for Mayumi. “Come on,” he said. Wide eyed, she stepped out of the chamber and clasped his hand tightly.
They went to the destroyed table that had held their weapons. It was such a mess that Bond couldn’t find any trace of their guns.
“Well, that’s two Walthers I’ve lost on this trip,” he said.
He did find the smashed DoCoMo phone in the rubble and picked it up. “It’s probably useless but you never know,” he said, putting it in his pocket.
The alarms in the building rang out.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!”
Bond ran to the door and slapped a button. The door slid open and he stepped into the corridor. Two more guards were rushing at him with handguns drawn. Bond dispatched them with the Uzi and then gestured for Mayumi.
“Coast clear, let’s go!”
They ran down the hall towards the offices and the employee entrance at the back of the building. Another guard appeared at the T intersection and Bond blasted him before the man could raise his gun.
They made it to the back door with no further hindrance. Bond punched the button on the wall and the door unlocked.
“James!”
Bullets exploded around their heads. Bond grabbed Mayumi and pulled her to the floor. Then, on his side, he fired the Uzi at the guards who had just appeared at the opposite end of the hall. They jumped, taking cover around the corner. Bond reached up and opened the door.
“Stay down!” he cried.
They both rolled out of the door. Bond slammed it shut and helped Mayumi stand. “Are you hit?”
“No.” She was panting.
“We have to run. Can you make it?”
“Yes.”
They ran across the dark car park and onto the dirt road, but more men had come out of the front of the building, circled around to the road and blocked their escape. Bond attempted to fire at them and found that the Uzi was out of ammunition. He tossed it behind him.
“Into the woods!” Bond led her through the trees, off the main path and into the pitch-black forest. They couldn’t see a thing. Gunfire erupted around them, but they had the satisfaction of knowing that the guards couldn’t see them either.
Then Mayumi tripped over an exposed tree root and cried as she fell hard. Bond stopped to help her up. “Hold my hand. We have to keep going,” he said.
“I … I can’t!” she gasped.
“You have to!”
More gunfire. Bark flew off of the trees around them. Mayumi struggled to her feet and began to run again at Bond’s side.
They bolted through the forest, not knowing in what direction they were headed. They cared only about losing their pursuers and, after a while, it seemed that they had done so. Bond stopped and told Mayumi to be quiet so that he could listen to the sounds around them. In the distance, they heard shouts and some gunfire, but the noise seemed so far away that they might actually be safe.
They continued on, now treading carefully and quietly. The shouts of the guards seemed to fade further in the distance.
“Where are we?” she whispered.
“I have no idea,” Bond said. “Let’s just keep going. We’ll come out of these woods eventually. We are still in Noboribetsu, or certainly on the outskirts.”
He led her through the forest but they couldn’t help getting scraped and cut by branches and bushes that were too dark to notice. Every now and then Mayumi made a sharp exclamation of pain.
“I think there’s a clearing ahead,” Bond said. There were some lights glinting through the mass of foliage ahead of them. When they emerged, they found themselves on the main road that led back to the Dai-ichi Takimotokan.
“You are a genius, James-san!” Mayumi said.
“Animal instinct,” he said, wryly. “The wounded fox always finds its way home. Come on, let’s hope our friends have given up.” They started down the road just as the sound of engines could be heard coming towards them. Bond could see headlamps coming from the direction of the laboratory.
“Damn,” he muttered. He took her hand and ran toward the hotel, but a Jeep that pulled out of nowhere blocked their way, some fifty feet ahead of them. Three men got out and gestured at them. One of them began shooting at them.
“Run!”
Bond and Mayumi bolted across the road and found themselves at the edge of the Jigokudani, the Valley of Hell. A sign made it perfectly clear that it was very dangerous to go further. Large spotlights illuminated the area, accentuating the multitude of colours
in the rocks and soil. Smoke billowed out of holes in the ground and small bubbling pools of sulphurous water dotted the landscape. Bond estimated that the entire valley was almost half a kilometre across.
“We haven’t any choice. Come on!” Bond said, then climbed over the wooden fence that kept people out of the property.
“I’m not going in there!” Mayumi cried.
The continuing gunfire convinced her otherwise. She climbed over the fence and took Bond’s hand.
“Tread carefully!” he warned. They stepped gingerly onto the ashen rock. A piece of it gave way under Mayumi’s foot.
“Oww, that’s hot!” she cried.
“Try to stay off the white rocks. They’re fragile,” Bond said.
As they zigzagged their way across the alien landscape, the stench of the sulphur made breathing ragged and difficult. They could also hear a faint, deep beating coming from the ground, as if someone were hitting a drum. Bond realised after a few minutes that it was the sound of water squirting out of the holes.
“It’s the earth’s heartbeat,” Mayumi said. She had read his mind.
They heard shouts behind them. Two guards had jumped the fence and were now running recklessly in their direction.
“Don’t look back, just keep going!” Bond said.
The heat was intense and almost unbearable. Every now and then Bond stepped on a blazing hot rock. He would curse, quickly spring off it, and keep going, directing Mayumi away from the worst places. They eventually came to a wooden wishing well. A planked bridge led from it up to the pedestrian walkway that encircled the valley. Unfortunately, the guards had taken that route and were headed their way.
Bond pulled Mayumi down behind the well. The smoke issuing from the rocks around them was fierce and they found it difficult to breathe. He held his finger to his lips to quiet her and waited until he heard the guard’s boots on the walkway near the well.
Wait for it … A bit closer …
Bond leapt up and grabbed the man. The guard shouted, but Bond managed to hit him hard, knocking him over the rail and into the well. His body fell into the bubbling, green boiling water. He screamed horribly as Bond grabbed Mayumi’s hand and led her further out into the valley. They were halfway across.
The remaining two guards stumbled along the rocks in pursuit, every now and then firing blindly at the dark figures who were at least fifty metres away. The floodlights illuminated the valley well enough to expose the spectacular colours and geysers, but they weren’t sufficient to adequately light their targets. Bond used this to his advantage by moving in diagonal patterns and staying low.
They reached the top of a hill and she slowed, completely out of breath. “I must rest a second, please.”
“We can’t stop, Mayumi.”
But she turned her ankle on a rock and stumbled, striking her bare forearm on the ground. She cried out in pain and immediately jumped to her feet, holding her arm. Even in the dim light, they could see that her skin was seared.
“Right,” she said, “let’s keep moving.”
They rounded the hill just as they heard a guard scream. Bond turned to see that the man had stepped onto one of the fragile ashen rocks. It had collapsed and he had fallen into a pit of blazing hot stones.
They moved on, finally out of Hell Valley and on to a steep hill. He couldn’t hear any gunshots or shouts behind him, so when they got to the top of the hill he stopped to scan the landscape.
“Do you think we lost them?” she asked.
“Let’s hope so,” Bond said. “Come on, let’s keep going this way. I want to put as much distance as possible between us and them before we stop to rest.”
She sighed and followed him without complaining. She limped a little, not only because of the twisted ankle she had experienced a few minutes ago, but also because the gash in her calf was throbbing. Mayumi wondered if her stitches had loosened.
As they came over the hill, they saw a paved road at the bottom. Beyond that was an empty car park next to a small lake surrounded by a fence. The unusual thing about the lake was that it was emitting smoke.
“That’s Oyunuma,” Mayumi said. “It’s always boiling. Another tourist attraction, like Jigokudani. ”
“Remind me to buy a postcard,” was all that Bond could say.
They made their way down to the edge of it. Even though it was very dark, Bond could see that the pond’s sickly, greenish surface was bubbling violently and producing an immense amount of steam. They could feel its heat from where they were standing.
“I can’t go on,” Mayumi said as she walked to a bench that was situated on a platform built near the pond. This time, Bond could see that she had no choice but to rest.
“At least we know the road goes back to Noboribetsu,” she panted. “We’re not lost.”
Bond removed the mobile from his pocket and shook it. It rattled, useless. “So much for calling a taxi,” Bond observed.
“You may have spoken too soon, James-san. Look.”
She pointed to the end of the road. Headlamps came around the bend and headed towards the car park.
“Quick, hide!” he said as he pulled her behind the bench. He peered around to watch the vehicle approaching. Was there an available escape route? The only way out was back up the hill, but that was in full view of the car park. The boiling lake was behind them. They were trapped.
Once it was close enough, Bond saw that it was a Mazda Bongo Friendy, a conventional mini-van with a camper popup roof. Not a typical yakuza mode of transportation.
Bond watched as it pulled to the edge of the car park and stopped. The driver got out and shone a torch over the area. There was something familiar about the figure.
It was Ikuo Yamamaru, his arm in a sling.
Bond jumped up and called to him. The Ainu jerked his head around.
“Bond-san!” he called. “I have been searching for you!”
“I should have guessed from that tin can of a car that it was you,” Bond said. “We’re very glad to see you.”
“The homing device in your mobile led me to you,” Ikuo said. “It works like a charm.”
“I thought the damned thing was demolished.”
Ikuo chuckled. “The police band has been going crazy. I heard someone ran across Jigokudani! Was that you?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Are you mad? You could have been killed!”
“We had no choice. Don’t worry, we’re all right. Just lightly chargrilled.”
“Quick, get in the car,” Ikuo said. “Ryujin-kai are all over the place. They have every road covered that the police don’t. This is going to be tricky.”
They piled into the van and Ikuo got behind the wheel.
“How’s the bullet wound?” Bond asked.
“They took some metal out of me,” the Ainu said. “I was very lucky. It just damaged some muscle. It didn’t hit my collarbone or anything else important. I have to wear this sling for a few days, though.”
Ikuo pulled out of the car park and got on the main road.
“Do you see the mobile mounted on the side there?” Ikuo asked Bond.
“Yes.”
“Take it and punch Memory Zero.”
Bond did as he was told and held it to Ikuo’s ear. When the other party answered, Ikuo spoke a language into the phone that was unfamiliar to Bond but it was similar to Japanese. When Ikuo was finished he listened and then replied affirmatively. The Ainu nodded at Bond, who lowered the mobile and shut it off.
“My friends are expecting us,” the Ainu said, smiling broadly. “Now if we can just make it through town without being seen. All day long I think I have been watched. They may know my affiliation with you, Bond-san, so before nightfall I changed cars with a friend. I hope they’re not looking for a van like this one.”
He turned the van onto the main street through Noboribetsu and said, “Perhaps you should keep down.”
Bond and Mayumi got on the floor of the van as they drove past t
he Dai-ichi Takimotokan. A black Mercedes and a motorcycle were idling on the other side of the street.
“Enemy spotted,” Ikuo reported. “One Mercedes and a Kawasaki … uhm … what is that … ? Oh, it’s a Z400FX! Huh. I haven’t seen one of those in a long time. Looks like two men in the car.”
When the van passed them, the yakuza reacted and pointed. The man on the Kawasaki burst away from the kerb and rode close behind the van.
“I was afraid of that,” Ikuo said. “We have been seen, Bond-san.”
The tyres screeched and the van lurched forward. Ikuo looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the Mercedes pull out and join the chase. The biker was gaining on them easily.
Hoping to divert them, Ikuo swerved off the road toward the statues of oni that guarded the edge of town. The King of Hell, angry and demonic, loomed over them as they circled the display. The Mercedes and biker were right behind, but Ikuo made a sudden swerve and doubled back with a screech. When the Mercedes attempted to do the same, it collided with the statue. The oni toppled, landing on the bonnet of the car. The biker pulled around the wreckage and stayed on the Mazda’s tail, not easily shaken off.
“I’m sure those fellows in the Mercedes are radioing for back-up,” Bond said. “And we still have company behind us.”
“See if you can get rid of him,” Ikuo suggested.
“I’ve lost my gun,” Bond said, looking back at the rider.
“Ah. Look under the seat.”
Bond reached beneath and felt a cloth bag containing something very hard. He pulled the bag out, opened it, and removed a shiny new Walther PPK.
“Don’t tell me,” he said. “It’s from Tiger.”
Ikuo grinned and concentrated on driving. Meanwhile Bond checked the firearm, loaded a magazine and then leaned out of the window. The Walther recoiled with a familiar jolt and the rider was knocked off the motorcycle as if he had been kicked in the chest. The bike ran on and crashed into the trees on the side of the road.
“Nice work, Bond-san!” Ikuo said. “You got him on the first shot.”
Bond sat and holstered the gun. “Many thanks, Ikuo. I felt naked without one.”
The Man With The Red Tattoo Page 23