But the backup man was still not out. His arms whipped into a defensive position as he stood and then just as quickly he tried his own side kick to O’Hara’s ribs and followed with combinations, an elbow shot followed by a two-fingered thrust up under O’Hara’s chin that snapped his head back and missed his windpipe by a fraction of an inch. Backup’s mistake was overconfidence. As O’Hara’s head jerked backward, the backup stepped in and tried a back fist strike.
O’Hara landed flat on his feet, saw the peculiar auguring punch coming, moved backward with it, let it glance off his cheek, slashed down with his own arm and locked Backup’s elbow under his own. He spun him around, snapped a knee into the man’s groin, and as he arched forward, got his other hand under Backup’s chin and twisted. The elbow snapped and O’Hara let the arm go, completed the move by swinging Backup in a full circle, letting him loose and hitting him twice with two spear hand punches. Backup dropped in a heap at his feet.
O’Hara turned toward the other two. It was all over. He instantly shook out the aches, massaged the pain from his kidney as he ran out of the passage, leaving the three attackers behind, and continued his journey back to the hotel.
He entered the hotel and found a quiet place near a rock garden in the corner of the lobby. Focusing on the water, he went to the wall and, entranced, began playing back everything he knew so far. The chain was becoming clearer to him. Chameleon, Hooker, Danilov — they were the keys. And one other. Dragon’s Nest.
Everything led to Kyoto and beyond, to Tanabe. They were getting close, the attack proved that. He didn’t know how long his three assailants had been following him, but it was safe to assume that they knew about Eliza and the Magician. They were all in danger.
It was Eliza who broke his concentration. ‘What happened to you?’
She was standing over him, looking at the torn jacket, the two bruises that were beginning to appear under his jaw line.
We’re shaking them up, whoever “they” are,’ O’Hara said. ‘I just got jumped by three pros a few blocks from here. I don’t know how long they’ve been following me, but the message is perfectly clear. Somebody’s nervous.’
She was more concerned about O’Hara than about the implied danger to all of them. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m fine. I may have a sore throat for a couple of days, but other than that I’ll live. Have you heard from the Magician?’
No, but I have some interesting news,’ she said and recounted her conversation with Yerkes. ‘And there’s one other thing,’ she added.
‘What’s that?’
‘You remember the notation in Lavander’s book about Midas? It said ‘lgr. Ghawar.’ Remember that?’
O’Hara nodded.
‘O’Hara, Ghawar is the largest oil field in the world. It’s in Saudi Arabia. Maybe Midas is an oil field and the ‘lgr.’ means larger than. Larger than Ghawar.’
‘Which would make Midas the largest oil field in the world.’
‘Right!’
‘Well, where is it?’
‘I don’t know the answer to that one.’
‘You just can’t hide the largest oil strike on earth.’
‘Maybe the Magician’s turned something up,’ she said. ‘I’ll check the message desk.’
‘Wait,’ O’Hara said. ‘When you find the Magician, I just want you both to get out of Tokyo. Get the Howe satellite van and drive down to Kyoto tonight. I’m going on ahead by train.’
‘Can’t we all go together?’
He shook his head. ‘I’ve made arrangements to talk to Hooker. The sooner I get there, the better.’
She touched the bruises on his throat. ‘You’re sure you’re all right?’
‘I’m okay. I just want you two out of Tokyo. Besides, the answers aren’t here, they’re at Dragon’s Nest.’
She kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘Look, I’ll just check the desk...’
‘I’ve got to go,’ he said, ‘or I’ll miss the train.’
‘But—’
‘I’ll make reservations for you at the Royal Hotel. You should be there by morning.’
‘But—’
‘Just check out the van, round up the Magician and do it.’ He kissed her on the cheek.
‘But—’
He was gone.
God, she thought, he’s maddening the most impulsive man I’ve ever met. She went to the desk and checked both her messages and O’Hara’s. There was an urgent message to meet the Magician at a street whose name she could not pronounce. She rushed out to try and stop O’Hara, but he was gone.
‘Shit,’ she said aloud and hailed a cab.
The place was near the waterfront, do.vn a dirty rut road that led across the railroad tracks and past a coal shack. The place was a dump, an overgrown lean-to with a red, white and blue sign that said ‘Harry T. ‘s.’ Rusting metal beer signs pockmarked the place, while behind it the sprawling Bridges shipyard obscured the bay.
The Magician was standing near the door of the place with his hands in his pockets looking forlorn. The sleeve of his Suit was torn loose and there was a large rent in his pants.
‘My God,’ said Eliza, ‘you look like an eighteen-wheeler backed over you.’
‘Worse,’ he said.
‘Worse?’
‘Worse. I got attacked by a bear.’
‘By a bear?’
‘I’ll tell ya all about it. Where’s the Sailor?’
‘He got this hot flash. He went to Kyoto. We’re supposed to meet him there tomorrow night.’
‘Shit. What am I doin’ here?’ the Magician said to nobody in particular and looked off into space shaking his head. ‘The last thing I needed was that fuckin’ bear, I’ll tell you that.’
‘Magician, what in hell are you talking about?’
‘What happened is, I was doin’ these waterfront bars down here tryin’ ta get a lead on Red Bridges. I mean if there’s one, there’s fifty bars down here. I was just hopin’ to, you know, luck into something, I am, after all, a piano player, not fuckin’ Front Page Harry.’
‘Maybe the next time there’ll be something you can do on the piano.’
‘I can piss on it, if it’s anything like the piano in there,’ he said, jerking his gloved thumb toward Harry T’s. ‘Anyway, they’s a lot of American sailor types around here, workin’ these yards, and everybody is telling me if I want info on Bridges, I need to talk to Kraft American.’
‘Who?’
‘Kraft American.’
‘Is that somebody’s name or what you had for lunch?’ “It’s the guy’s name, okay? What do I know. So that’s how I wound up here.’
‘Why here?’ asked Eliza.
‘Because Kraft American owns the joint.’
‘So? Is that it?’
‘No, there’s more. I just didn’t get to it all yet.’
‘Why?’
‘I had a run-in with this bear in there. Y’know, four legs, lotsa hair, long nose, big teeth, big fuckin’ teeth.’
‘What kinda bear?’
‘I dunno, a Japanese bear, I guess. He’s wearing this little straw hat that says “Win with Nixon” on the brim.’
Eliza started to laugh. ‘I don’t believe a word of this.’
‘Look, what are we standin’ here talkin’ about it for? There’s a fuckin’ bear at the fuckin’ bar drinkin’ a fuckin’ beer. Go see for yourself.’
‘I’m just going to take a look inside,’ Eliza said.
She took a look. ‘My god, it is a bear! That’s a big damn bear, too! I mean, look at that son of a bitch!’ Eliza said.
‘I wouldn’t talk about him like that,’ said the Magician.
‘What the hell is a bear doing drinking beer in a bar?’
‘How the hell do I know? Ask the bartender, he used to work for Bridges. He’s the one we need to talk to.,
‘That’s Kraft American?’
‘That’s what I understand.’
The bartender, a barrel of a man with a crew cut, a nose that had been broken so many times it wasn’t sure which way to point, and arms as thick as a tire tube, was wearing a black T-shirt with ‘Hot Tricks at Budakan’ stencilled across the front in bright-yellow letters. The tattoo on his left arm, an anchor embroidered with roses, had ‘USS Billfish’ bannered across it. A toothpick lingered forgotten in the corner of his mouth.