Laura Rowland: The Dragon King's Palace

“That stretch of the Tōkaidō runs through mountainous terrain,” Hoshina said. “There are places where the road is bordered by a high cliff on one side and a steep drop on the other. Someone put up roadblocks made of heavy logs at two of these places. The procession was ambushed between them.”

Personally unaffected by the crime, Hoshina seemed to relish it, and Sano disliked him even more than their history of bad blood merited. They’d first clashed during a murder case in Miyako. Ever since the chamberlain had appointed him police commissioner, Hoshina had considered Sano a rival, sought to prove himself the superior detective, and constantly undermined Sano. Of course Hoshina would welcome Sano’s misfortune.

“No one passed during the attack because traffic was backed up at the roadblocks until the highway was cleared,” Hoshina finished.

Someone had employed many men and gone to great lengths to engineer the ambush, Sano observed.

“You’re dismissed,” Chamberlain Yanagisawa told Lieutenant Ibe. “You’ll stay in the castle barracks in case you’re needed for further questioning.”

No sooner had a guard ushered Ibe from the room than the shogun burst out, “I don’t understand how you can all, ahh, sit and chat while my mother is, ahh, at the mercy of such cruel villains! Are you so heartless?”

“We must all keep calm so we can absorb the facts and decide what to do,” Chamberlain Yanagisawa said.

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi glared at him. “It’s easy for you to be calm. We all know you’re a cold, selfish brute who wouldn’t care if your wife, ahh, dropped off the face of the earth.”

The shogun doted on Yanagisawa, almost never criticized him, and usually seemed oblivious to his faults, but anxiety had sharpened the shogun’s wits and tongue. The elders winced at the personal insult, but Yanagisawa appeared unruffled. “I am very concerned about my wife’s safety,” he said.

Although he didn’t love his wife, she was a Tokugawa relative and therefore a valuable possession that comprised his family link to the regime, Sano knew. And woe betide anyone who stole anything that belonged to Yanagisawa.

The shogun rose awkwardly to his feet. Puffed up with rage, he declared, “I shall send out the army to rescue my mother!”

Sano and Hirata beheld him with consternation. Chamberlain Yanagisawa frowned, while Hoshina watched everyone with the air of a theatergoer enjoying a good play. Murmurs arose from the Council of Elders.

“With all due respect, Your Excellency, I must advise against sending the army after the kidnappers,” said Senior Elder Makino, a crony of Chamberlain Yanagisawa and persistent detractor of Sano. He had an emaciated body and ugly skull-like face. The letter expressly instructs you not to pursue them.”

“Those villains do not command the supreme dictator of Japan!” roared the shogun.

“They might make good on their threat to kill the women,” Makino said.

“They wouldn’t dare!”

“They’ve already dared to kidnap your mother and murder her entourage,” Chamberlain Yanagisawa pointed out.

“Even if we knew where the kidnappers went, we can’t mount an assault without endangering the women’s lives,” Sano said, and Hirata nodded.

“Ahh, yes. You are right.” Unhappy comprehension deflated the shogun. He wailed, “But we must do something!”

“May I propose an alternative to the army?” Chamberlain Yanagisawa said deferentially. “Police Commissioner Hoshina and I have formed an elite squad of troops who are trained to handle dangerous, sensitive missions. We can employ them to find and rescue the women.”

The very idea repelled Sano. He knew those troops were assassins whom Yanagisawa employed primarily to keep himself in power. Though Sano respected their skill, he didn’t trust them.

“I’ll lead the squad,” Hoshina said, his face alight with eagerness. “The kidnappers won’t even see us coming. Just leave everything to us, and the Honorable Lady Keisho-in will be back in Edo in no time.”

Nor did Sano want Yanagisawa and Hoshina to take charge of the situation. Their sole concern was rescuing Keisho-in, and perhaps Lady Yanagisawa. They wouldn’t care if the other women got killed in the process. Sano burned with hatred toward Hoshina. The police commissioner saw the kidnapping as his big chance. He would climb to power over the corpses of Reiko and Midori!

The shogun brightened, ready as usual to believe someone could solve his problems for him. Before he could speak, Sano turned his rage on Chamberlain Yanagisawa. “I won’t let you shut me out of this,” he said.

“I’ll do what’s best,” Yanagisawa said with equal ire. “And you’re forbidden to object.”

Bushido-the Way of the Warrior-demanded a samurai’s unswerving obedience to his master and superiors. Yet in this situation, Sano must defy the code by which he lived. “Hirata-san and I aren’t leaving our wives’ fate in your hands,” Sano declared.

“I suppose you’d rather entrust the rescue to those hundred reckless amateurs that you call your detective corps?” Police Commissioner Hoshina sneered. “You might as well condemn the women to death right now.”

The elders conferred among themselves. The shogun’s gaze moved from one man to another as he tried to follow the argument.

“We shall compromise,” he said, waving his hands to silence the assembly. “I’ll send out the army.” He thumped his chest. “You lead your, ahh, elite squad, and you take along your detectives,” he said, pointing at Hoshina, then Sano. “Together we’ll hunt down the kidnappers and rescue my mother.”

The shogun swelled with authoritative pride. But Sano saw his dismay mirrored on the faces of his companions as they all imagined the chaos that would result from their lord’s plan.

“That’s a brilliant idea, Your Excellency,” Chamberlain Yanagisawa said in the warm, admiring tone he used when he disagreed with the shogun and meant to have his own way.

“But… ” Police Commissioner Hoshina began cautiously.

Sano had no patience for the process of manipulating the shogun. He said, “Pardon me, Your Excellency, but we don’t know who the kidnappers are or where they are, or anything else about them except that they’ve already murdered a hundred people. To launch any attack is too big a risk to our women.”

“You’re a coward who fears any risk, and too incompetent to deserve any part in this matter. Do not listen to him, Your Excellency,” Hoshina said, leaping to defend his own plan and make Sano look bad.

“Don’t you insult my master!” Hirata glared at the police commissioner.

With great effort, Sano ignored Hoshina and said to the shogun, “We must obey the kidnappers’ instructions.”

A storm of voices raised in protest greeted his words. “But if we, ahh, wait for a letter, what might those, ahh, criminals do to my mother in the meantime?” the shogun wailed.

“Surely you don’t expect us to give the kidnappers whatever they ask in exchange for the women’s release,” Chamberlain Yanagisawa said in outraged scorn.

“Or to let them get away with their crime.” Hoshina matched his lover’s tone.

“To bow down to the kidnappers would portray the Tokugawa regime as weak and vulnerable,” Senior Elder Makino said, and his colleagues nodded their agreement.

Hirata turned a wounded gaze on Sano, as if Sano had betrayed him. “We can’t just do nothing. Let’s fetch our detectives and go!”

Sano hated to deny Hirata’s wishes. He hated to bide time while Midori and Reiko were in peril; yet he believed he must convince the assembly that they had no reasonable choice but delay.

“The women are the kidnappers’ insurance against retaliation from us,” he said. "Criminals who are intelligent enough to plan and carry out that ambush know better than to kill the hostages. They won’t harm the women as long as they think they can get what they want.”