Barry Eisler - The Last Assassin

'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.

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 CO 2rifle 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 comfortable 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.