Last Stop Tokyo

by James Buckler

  Alex could feel his cheeks flush, the skin stinging hot across his bones. He let the words hang between them for a moment, then he stood and faced her directly.

  ‘Who were you thinking of when you denounced me to the police? How was that an unselfish act?’

  ‘I’m sorry. I made a mistake. But that was why I asked you to stay away from the gallery that night. If you had done as I asked, none of this would ever have happened.’

  ‘I came there on impulse. I just wanted you to know that the stories Hiro had been telling you were wrong.’

  ‘But why do it then? On that particular night? It’s like a sixth sense you have, Alex. You’re always drawn to danger. Look at where we are now.’

  ‘I certainly didn’t get here on my own.’

  Naoko stepped towards him and placed her hands on his shoulders. ‘I know. It’s my fault. I made this happen. But why don’t we just flush this stuff down the toilet and get rid of it? Then we can go home and forget this madness.’

  ‘I can’t, Naoko. There’s too much at stake now.’

  ‘If it’s just about the jidan money, I can find a way to borrow it to pay these people back.’

  ‘It’s not that simple any more. I’ve offered to repay it and they just kept increasing the debt to make it impossible. There must be two kilos of meth in that bag. That’s got to be worth four or five times the money I borrowed. That’s a serious amount. If I carry this stuff back to Tokyo and deliver it as arranged, then it’s all over. We can forget everything that’s gone wrong between us and start again. If I don’t do it, then I am just making more trouble. I’ve got a good chance of making it back if I try. The bag is wrapped to fool the X-ray machine at the airport. They’re looking for weapons and explosives at the boarding gate, not drugs. There’s got to be a fifty–fifty chance of success. Maybe better than that. Everything considered, I’m going to take those odds.’

  Naoko looked into his eyes. ‘You really believe that?’

  Alex felt the room grow smaller. He knew this was the worst time to start looking for alternatives. He had to keep his resolve for both their sakes.

  ‘It’s just a question of nerve,’ he said.

  29

  HE WOKE WITH a headache in the stale room. Naoko was taking a shower in the bathroom and he sat up to look at the clock on the nightstand. It was 6.15 a.m. and their flight was at nine thirty. He rubbed his eyes and slowly climbed from the bed. His limbs were heavy and his joints ached. From the window, he could see the first commuters of the day start to emerge from the metro station twenty-seven floors below. The streets were full of gridlocked buses fighting their way slowly forwards while tuktuks weaved nimbly around them, racing through the narrow gaps. Life was continuing, Alex thought, despite his problems. No matter how desperate the situation seemed, he knew he had to carry on.

  He slid open the wardrobe door and took out the heavily bound package from the shelf. His holdall was at the foot of the bed and he emptied the contents out and spread his clothes across the sheets. The bag was too small to contain everything so he began to select clothing that could be discarded to make room. There wasn’t any time to be sentimental so he gathered up some T-shirts and underwear at random and tossed them into a pile on the floor. Spreading out a thick beach towel, he picked up the package and laid it in the middle. The corner was torn so he peeled back a strip of the silver tape and tucked it over the gap to seal it. He wrapped the package inside the towel so it was tightly covered and then stowed it at the bottom of the empty holdall. He began to stuff his clothing into the spaces around it to make sure it was hidden, leaving a layer of neatly folded shirts on the top. He zipped the bag closed and tested the weight. It was heavier than before but not noticeably so and he appeared natural as he moved with it in his hand.

  ‘Naoko?’ he called. ‘We need to hurry now to get to the airport on time.’

  He tried to sound positive, conscious of not giving her any excuse to get upset again. When there was no answer he walked to the bathroom door and opened it gently.

  ‘Naoko?’ he called out again.

  The shower was running inside the glass cubicle, the water pounding on the screen and steam billowing out into the bathroom. There was no one inside.

  He checked each way, peering around the frame of the door into the corners of the room. The bathroom was empty. His fatigue instantly disappeared as his adrenaline surged.

  To make sure he wasn’t deceiving himself, he walked over to the balcony and slid the door open and checked outside on the patio. The morning sun seared into his eyes as he scanned the balcony. Content that Naoko wasn’t there, he closed the door and looked around the room. He opened the wardrobe again and checked inside. Nothing. Knowing how foolish he looked, he knelt down and checked under the bed, but there were no clues there either.

  Now he was starting to panic. Where the hell was she? Maybe she’d gone for breakfast without him. But why would she leave the shower running? Why wouldn’t she wake him and ask him to join her? He started to worry she had done something really stupid.

  He walked back out to the balcony and stood at the railing and looked directly down into the street. Smartly dressed office workers meandered down the wide pavements and hawkers carried baskets of fruit and soft drinks along the lines of cars stopped at the traffic lights. There was no sign of any commotion, no shouts or crowds gathering, as if someone had leaped from twenty-seven floors above. He stepped back inside the room and closed the door.

  It was when he returned to the bathroom, reaching inside the shower cubicle to shut off the water, that he noticed the piece of folded paper on the glass shelf above the sink. He took it and unfolded it carefully, almost fearful of what he might find. There was a note in Naoko’s neat handwriting. He began to read.

  Alex,

  I’m truly sorry. I really am. But there’s no way I can go through with this. I know if I try to talk you out of it, you will just do your best to convince me and eventually you will make us both go to the airport and fly back to Japan together. I think that will be a big mistake for both of us. I’ve got a chance now at a new life and I can’t risk it because you’re too stubborn to see sense.

  I’m going to find another hotel and stay in Bangkok for a few days. I need some time to think. I’m sorry to leave you but I can’t see any other way.

  Naoko

  He was reading at speed and when he reached the end he went back and read the message again. He couldn’t believe it. Now who was being left behind? he thought.

  He found his phone and rang her number and listened to her voice inviting him to leave a message. He hung up without speaking and tried again. There was no way to tell what time she had left. She must have crept out like a thief while he was sleeping. It was all so well orchestrated she must have spent half the night planning it.

  Alex knew there was no time to try to think her actions through. Before him lay the task at hand, cold and implacable like the face of a mountain. He dressed in a hurry and took one last look around the room and closed the door behind him. The corridor was busy with housekeeping staff pushing their laundry carts along the hallway. They all smiled and wished him a good morning as he passed and Alex tried to smile and return their greetings. He realized he needed to stay calm. From now on, he was out in public and any sign of anxiety was the surest way to get caught. He was going to prove Naoko wrong, just to show that her wild theories about him were off the mark. He pressed for the lift and rode down to the lobby.

  ‘How was your stay?’ the receptionist asked as he returned his room key.

  ‘Very good, thank you,’ Alex said, and keeping his tone as casual as possible added, ‘Have you seen Ms Yamamoto this morning?’

  ‘Yes, I have,’ the receptionist said. ‘She came down and asked for a taxi to take her into the city a little earlier.’ Her teeth were straight and white, with a gap at the front that showed when she spoke.

  ‘Into the city?’

  ‘Yes. She said she was going
downtown alone this morning. She said you would be down to check out later.’

  ‘What time was that exactly?’

  She glanced at the clock behind her. ‘About half an hour ago. Just after 6 a.m.’

  ‘Oh. I see.’

  ‘Is everything all right?’

  Alex waved away the suggestion that it could be otherwise. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Everything’s fine.’

  He settled the bill and the desk clerk called for a porter to assist him. The porter insisted on carrying the holdall out to the taxi rank and Alex released it from his grip reluctantly. He followed him outside and watched as the bag was placed in the boot of the cab at the head of the rank. In a strange way, he felt relieved at being parted from it, if only for a few seconds.

  The driver headed beneath the monorail tracks and followed the downtown traffic towards the expressway. Alex tried to call Naoko again but there was no answer, just the same invitation to leave a message in her bright, cheerful voice. He hung up again, without speaking. The city outside the window passed in a haze of dust thrown up by passing cars, the old colonial-style buildings crumbling gradually beside the new office blocks and department stores. Soon the airport came into view and the deep turbine roar of passenger jets filled the cloudless sky. The pavement was full of travellers unloading their baggage and wheeling trolleys along the transit area and in through the automatic doors. The driver pulled up between two coaches and stopped the engine. He stepped out on to the kerb and opened the boot. Alex paid the fare and tipped the driver as he accepted his bag, clenching his hand around the worn leather handles. From the corner of his eye, he could see uniformed Thai policemen as they patrolled along the line of vehicles. He turned quickly and followed the crowds into the terminal.

  He found the desk for his flight and joined the queue to check in. There were posters mounted on every wall detailing the punishments meted out for customs violations and Alex tried not to read them. When he reached the head of the line he presented his passport at the desk.

  ‘Are you travelling alone today, Mr Malloy?’ the young attendant asked. She was wearing heavy foundation and dark lipstick that made her look much older than she probably was.

  ‘Yes. I am.’

  ‘Do you have any bags to check in?’

  He needed to be certain about his decision. If he checked the bag into the hold, he knew it would be screened in his absence. That way, he would never know if there was a problem until he felt a hand on his shoulder as he boarded the plane. If he kept the bag with him, at least he would be aware of prying officials and could do his best to avoid them. He knew he was taking a risk either way.

  Finally, he said, ‘I don’t have any bags to check in, only carry-on luggage.’

  She looked down at the holdall. Satisfied it was within the size restriction, she asked, ‘Did you pack this bag yourself?’

  Alex nodded. ‘Yes, I did.’

  ‘Have you left your bag unattended anywhere today?’

  ‘No,’ he said.

  ‘Are you carrying any of these prohibited items?’

  She indicated a sign on the counter with symbols of various types of contraband. Her movements were cursory and robotic.

  ‘No, I’m not,’ Alex lied.

  The attendant barely listened to his answer. She reached down quickly and wrapped a cabin tag around the handles of his holdall and held out his passport and boarding pass.

  ‘Enjoy your flight,’ she said without conviction, already looking to the next passenger in line.

  As he approached the security gate, the holdall seemed to grow heavier in his hand. He tried to focus on Jun’s words from the night in the bath house, his insistence that the package would be insulated so that the contents wouldn’t show up on the screening equipment. Do you think the authorities care about people smuggling drugs out of the country? Jun had said. They’re only looking for explosives and weapons – anything that can endanger the plane or the passengers. It’s at the other end that you need to be wary. Just keep calm in Bangkok and there won’t be any problems.

  He lifted the bag on to the conveyor belt and watched as it disappeared into the heart of the machine. He placed his phone in a plastic tray, along with the coins from his pockets and waited to be called forward through the metal detector. When he was summoned, Alex stepped confidently through the archway and handed his passport and boarding card to the official. The young officer staring at the X-ray screen looked bored and weary. His chin was propped up on his hand, as if he was nearing the end of a long night shift and the items moving across the monitor before him had long ago merged into one another. Alex took his documents as they were returned and waited at the end of the conveyor belt. He watched as the holdall rolled along the channel, followed by the plastic tray containing his other possessions. He calmly fastened his belt and walked into the busy departure area.

  He found a quiet corner in a café and sat at a table with his bag beneath his chair, watching the cup of coffee before him. People were milling in and out of fast-food restaurants and discount cosmetics shops, trying to kill time before their flights were ready to board. Every face seemed to watch him with furtive glances. The skin on the back of his hands grew tight and cold. He waited patiently, braced for disaster.

  When his flight was announced, Alex gathered himself and followed the signs to the gate. The white hull of the Boeing gleamed in the sunshine beyond the window. The flight attendants called the passengers forward by rows, filling the plane from the rear. When his row number was called, he presented his boarding pass and walked along the gangway towards the open hatch. He resisted the temptation to check back over his shoulder as the stewardess welcomed him on board.

  He shuffled along the aisle and found a space in the luggage container above his seat. He stowed the holdall and slipped along the row and buckled himself in. The plane was filling steadily with young western backpackers and distracted Japanese parents attending to their children. Alex waited as the last remaining seconds slipped by, still refusing himself the luxury of believing he was safe.

  Then the cabin door was sealed and the plane began to back away from the gate and taxi to the end of the runway for take-off. He felt his tension dissipate as the engines started to whine and the plane gathered energy. The fuselage began to vibrate as the engines powered up and then the plane began to accelerate down the tarmac. There was a surge and a moment of weightlessness and then they were airborne. The ground slipped away and Alex looked down at Bangkok as the pilot banked hard above it. Naoko was down there somewhere, he thought. He pictured her face as she’d lain sleeping in the bungalow, the sound of the water moving across the rocks below their room. He wondered if he would see her again.

  Turbulence over the East China Sea. The cabin lights were dimmed as the plane pitched and bucked, the steel skeleton groaning as it struggled through the buffeting cross wind. Babies cried and passengers gasped aloud as they were pummelled in their seats, drinks spilling in the aisles. Alex felt himself relax internally as the ordeal worsened, the sound of freight shaking in the hold beneath his feet like handfuls of dropped cutlery. He took Naoko’s letter from his pocket and read it again.

  How had he ended up here, he thought, shuttling narcotics across international borders? Was this really how low he had sunk? What a waste of everything he could have achieved. Naoko was right about that, at least. It was little wonder she had deserted him.

  The weather cleared as they approached the southern tip of Japan and the flight eased down smoothly from the storm at high altitude, beginning the long descent to Narita. The thick white deck of clouds had broken up to the south and rays of sunlight formed flares on the glass.

  Alex stood up from his seat and walked along the aisle to the toilet at the rear of the cabin. He locked himself in and ran some cold water into the bowl and splashed it on his face and neck. Hunched slightly in the cramped cubicle, he stood before the small mirror and watched his reflection.

  This is how it’s
going to happen, he thought. You’re going to remember that luck is on your side. You’re going to take your bag and carry it from the plane like it’s some kind of trophy. You’re going to look every customs officer and border official in the eye and answer every question without hesitation. You’re going to walk through the airport like it was a day at the park and out through the exit gates and on to the express train back into Tokyo. Then you’re going to call Hiro and you’re going to go out and get drunk.

  He kept his resolve as the passengers left the plane and he followed the pack into the terminal. Electronic announcements in Japanese marked their progress as they funnelled through the gleaming corridors and endless doorways of Narita. It was at the passport desk that he sensed the period of high danger had begun. There was no other choice but to travel through the cogs of the machine now, all ability to control his fate beyond his grasp. Alex knew his only choice was to surrender.

  He selected a customs desk and headed towards it.

  30

  AS THE DOG began to bark and snarl, Alex felt all eyes in the terminal turn to him. The handler paid out the leash and the German shepherd reared up at the end of the line, using all of its strength to close in on the scent. The other passengers froze around him, fearful of moving in the presence of such controlled fury. Alex stood and waited. No one was in any confusion about its target.

  The handler reined the dog back and gave it the command to rest, and it sat quickly, its long tail sweeping excitedly over the floor. Two young officers left their station at the nearest customs desk and approached cautiously. They looked at each other, unsure of the correct procedure. They both had adolescent complexions and cheap blue uniforms that were too large for their youthful frames.