Barry Eisler - The Last Assassin

'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 disappointing, 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?'