Barry Eisler - The Last Assassin

There was only one way to prevent that. None of the three men could leave here tonight. She had to tell Rain and Dox, but couldn't until she could excuse herself.

Big Liu was frowning, either at Yamaoto's tone or because he didn't understand, Delilah wasn't sure. Yamaoto barked a few curt words in Japanese to Kuro, who translated.

The men were focused on each other now. They seemed to have forgotten her entirely. But she was aware of exactly how that could change. And how quickly.

Big Liu was quiet for a moment, then said, 'New York and Wajima… far apart. Seem…'

'They're not far apart at all. Rain must have gone to New York to see the woman and the child, as we had hoped. He spotted your surveillance and eliminated it, either by accident or design. And then Wajima…'

He paused there, then sat back in his chair and was quiet, his head tilted forward, his hand rubbing his chin. Delilah knew he was just a thought or two short of a dangerous epiphany. He would either hit it, or skip right over it, she judged it fifty-fifty.

'You see,' he said, to no one in particular, 'Rain must have had access to someone who had information about Wajima. And…' He looked at Delilah, as though noticing her for the first time. 'There are people who knew about Wajima who also know about this very meeting. Tonight.'

Big Liu started to say something, but Yamaoto stopped him with a raised hand and continued looking at Delilah.

'You came to the club just last night, is that right… Laure? And tonight you came back to interview with Mr Kuro, yes?'

She knew he knew, or almost knew. But she gave no sign of it. She thought, It's hot in here, but wanted to be sure before she said it.

'That's really a remarkable coincidence,' he went on, with a chilling smile.

The extra comment suggested to Delilah that he wasn't quite certain of himself. He was probing, trying to get her to react and confirm his suspicions. She sensed she could bluff her way through.

She smiled and dipped her head as though pausing to digest his words, then said, as though her substandard English hadn't been adequate to the task, 'Thank you. It's very nice to be here.'

Yamaoto nodded and started to turn back to Big Liu. Then, without warning, he lunged across the table and grabbed the front of her dress. He yanked it hard toward him and the straps gave way, exposing her breasts and belly. Delilah, not expecting the move, gasped. Before she could react, Yamaoto had grabbed her hair and slammed her face into the table. She saw a flash of white light, then felt Yamaoto's fingers digging into her ears. She twisted her head and jerked back, but too late. Yamaoto pulled out the earpiece and shoved her away from him.

'What the hell?' Big Liu shouted. 'What the hell?'

Yamaoto held the earpiece up so Big Liu could see it. 'She's wired!' he said.

The bodyguards had all come to their feet and were looking around wildly for the source of the threat. Their hands were inside their jackets, on the verge of bringing out hardware.

Delilah swept the front of her dress back up and held it against herself. A natural enough reaction, under the circumstances, but she wasn't thinking about her exposed body. The microphone was attached to the halter top, and it wasn't going to pick anything up if it wasn't close to her mouth.

'It's hot in here,' she said.

Delilah had been in there for almost a half-hour, and I was getting antsy. I could hear her talking periodically, and from what I could tell she was still at the table. She must have had a good reason for the delay, but I couldn't imagine what it was. The generator was out, she knew exactly where Yamaoto was, all she had to do was get up and give me the word and we could finish this damn thing.

Several times, I considered pushing her, but always decided against it. I didn't want to distract her, for one thing. She had a lot on her hands and needed to focus, to stay in the role. Also, she had a tendency to get prickly when she thought I was telling her how to do her job, and, although I wouldn't have admitted it, Dox's comments about 'micro-management' had stung a little. Anyway, there was nothing I could tell her that she didn't already know.

I cracked my neck and bounced on my toes to stay limber. I'd been out here longer than I'd first expected, and it was cold.

In my ear Delilah said, 'It's hot in here.'

My heart froze. I felt blood draining away from the skin on my face and hands.

'Fuck!' I said. 'I'm on my way.' I sprinted along the west side of the building, the night-vision goggles dancing around my neck.

Dox said, 'I'm coming, too.'

'No, stay put! Cover me at the entrance, I'm going in the front.'

'But…'

'Don't argue with me, just do it!'

There was no time to think, but I was aware on some level of just how much danger she must have been in to call for help. Danger I had put her in. And the comforting, back-of-my-mind notion I'd been carrying around, that at least if I died here it would end the threat to Midori and my son, was useless now. Killing myself in front of Yamaoto would do nothing to save Delilah.

I cut right onto the street that led to the front path. The two valets were standing there as Delilah had described in her briefing, watching me approach.

'Drop the valets,' I said. 'Now.'

If there had been another way, I would have used it. But I wasn't going to waste one second getting to Delilah. And I couldn't take a chance on these two using their lapel transmitters to warn anyone of what was coming.

The near valet's head erupted and he slid to the ground. The other guy didn't even have time to register surprise before he was down, too.

I pulled out the Benchmade Dox had given me and thumbed it open without slowing down at all. I leaned over one of the bodies, cut the cord around his neck, and took his magnetic keycard.

I put the knife back in my pocket. My mind was screaming for me to get inside, but I needed just one more second. My hand shaking, I pulled out my cell phone and hit the speed dial I had created for Tatsu's man in the substation.

He answered on the first ring. ' Hai .'

'You ready to cut the power?' I asked, in Japanese.

'Yes, I'm ready.'

'Do it exactly thirty seconds from now. Got it?'

'I'm looking at my watch,' he said. 'Twenty-nine, twenty-eight…'

I closed the phone and dropped it back in my pocket. I took two deep breaths, in and out, in and out, and moved up the path toward the front entrance.

Yamaoto seized Delilah by the wrist and stood, pulling her halfway out of her seat and across the table. His grip was hellishly strong. He brandished the earpiece and shouted, 'What's this? What's this?'

'C'est un appareil!' she screamed. 'A hearing aid, you

Pig!'

'Why did you say, "It's hot in here"? Why did you say

that?'

Big Liu and Kuro seemed horrified by Yamaoto's behavior. Maybe it was a hearing aid, they might be thinking, see, that explains her conversational difficulties, it wasn't just a language problem…

Yamaoto grabbed the halter top again and pulled. Delilah got her hand over the transmitter and pulled back – too hard. The fabric tore, and the transmitter detached. She heard it fall to the ground.

Yamaoto shouted, 'Where's Rain? Tell me, you whore, where is he!'

Delilah, staying in character, used her free hand to hold up what was left of the dress and screamed, 'Aidez-moi! Somebody help me, please!'

The bodyguards had all surrounded the table. Their guns were out now, but they were confused. They didn't know whether to focus on the table, on somewhere else in the club, or on one another.

Delilah looked around. Everyone in the club was watching, trying to see what was going on. About half of them were out of their seats.