“It is entirely correct. We must get these lab books.”
“What kind of lab books are they?”
“I am not authorized to say.”
Louie was taken aback. He stared at Hideki. Here the guy was going to the extent of trying to extort Louie into helping him obtain lab books but wasn’t willing to say anything about them. It was irritating to say the least. And what was more irritating was that after speaking with Paulie, Louie knew the basis of the extortion was, in Louie’s vernacular, a crock of shit. There’d be no way that Hideki’s Aizukotetsu-kai would be able to team up with Dominick, because it would mean teaming up with the hated Yamaguchi, which would never happen. Louie felt himself getting more angry but more curious, too. Why were these damn lab books so important?
“What do they look like? I mean, once inside the office, my guys and your guys are not going to have a lot of time. Everybody will have to look for the missing books.”
“I was told they were dark blue, but the most important way to recognize them is that they say ‘Satoshi Machita’ in yellow letters on the front cover. They will be easy to recognize.”
“What the hell?” Louie questioned. “You said they were stolen.”
“They were stolen. They were stolen by the man who owns iPS USA.”
Louie rubbed his forehead roughly. Nothing was making sense. He was beginning to believe Hideki was teasing him, making fun of him, but for what reason he had no idea.
“I think we should stop talking about the lab books and get on with the plans for tonight,” Hideki said.
“Just a few more questions,” Louie said. “I gotta have some sense of what we’re after. I mean, we’re taking a risk here for you.”
“I’m not authorized to discuss the lab books.”
“Look!” Louie said suddenly. “You’re pissing me off. Up until these lab books, you and I have gotten along superbly. We’ve never had a disagreement, and we’re making money together hand over fist, which means we’re making a lot. Either you answer my questions or we’re out, and you can get the lab books on your own. The trouble is, you didn’t level with me about Satoshi right from the beginning. You said it was a shakedown, making me believe it was a gambling debt or something. But it turns out it’s a lot more, and I want to know what it’s about.”
“You are going to make me turn to your competition,” Hideki warned.
“Bullshit!” Louie scoffed.
Sensitive to a sudden change in atmosphere, Susumu and Yoshiaki slid off the barstools and stood. Simultaneously, Arthur and Ted slipped from their booth. Each twosome eyed the other.
“You’re not about to go to Vinnie any more than I am,” Louie rejoined. “I learned something today. You Aizukotetsu-kai and Yamaguchi-gumi get along like oil and water.”
For a few tense minutes, no one in the room moved. It was like those charged moments just before a summer thunderstorm, when lightning was on its way but no one knew exactly when. Then suddenly the atmosphere lightened as Hideki audibly breathed out and said, “You are right.”
“Right about what?” Louie demanded. He’d gotten himself worked up that Hideki had been playing him for a fool.
“Everything you said. I have not been truthful with you. I had been given orders to kill Satoshi and get his lab books. I had hoped I could achieve both goals at the very same time, but it did not work out that way. I do not know all the details about the lab books myself, as it is a complicated story related to who will own the very important patents for the next kind of stem cells, the induced pluripotent stem cells.”
“Slow down. What was that?”
“What do you know about stem cells?” Hideki asked.
“Nothing,” Louie admitted.
“I’m no expert, but it’s a topic covered constantly in the Japanese news media,” Hideki said. “We’re constantly reminded that it was a Japanese scientist named Shigeo Takayama who produced the first pluripotent stem cell. Kyoto University patented the process on his behalf. Then my oyabun learned that another researcher, Satoshi Machita, had actually beat Takayama in creating the special cells, which was proved by his lab books. Although during the day he’d been working on mice under Takayama’s tutelage, during the night he was working by himself on his own mature fibroblasts, creating human iPS cells before anyone else.”
“So the man your guys killed yesterday is considered the grand-daddy of these special cells.”
“That’s correct.”
“Which makes the lab books quite valuable.”
“Yes. In Japan they are to be used to challenge Kyoto University patents, and here in America they are to be used to get the patents. Same with the European patent office and the WTO.”
Louie pondered this revelation for several beats and thought about its money-earning potential, then tucked it into the back of his mind. There was no way he would consider actively going through with the planned break-in at iPS USA. Then Hideki told him something that totally shocked him.
“My oyabun learned these things from the government.”
“The government?” Louie questioned with surprise. “Which government?”
“The Japanese government.”
“Now, that’s hard to believe.”
“But it is true. A vice minister met with my oyabun and told him all of this, including the fact that Satoshi had fled the country illegally with the help of the Yamaguchi-gumi. They were the ones who engineered the theft of the lab books from Kyoto University. It was Kyoto University which had physical but not legal control of the lab books, as Satoshi had been an employee. It is the Japanese government who wants the lab books.”
“Good grief!” Louie said. “I can’t believe the Japanese government approached your leader for help. What’s his name again?”
“Hisayuki Ishii-san.”
“Our government would never come to me for anything,” Louie said, laughing heartily.
“There has always been give-and-take between the Yakuza and our government. That’s how we operate so openly in Japan. The Japanese government has found us useful on occasion, and we Yakuza are generally left alone by the authorities. It’s the same with the Japanese people; they too find us useful as an out in an otherwise strict and stratified culture.”
“If that’s true, why did the Yamaguchi-gumi go against your government by helping Satoshi to flee the country and help iPS USA, presumably to get the lab books?”
“We are not sure,” Hideki said, “but it is assumed by my boss that the Yamaguchi-gumi is financially associated with iPS USA as a way of laundering money.”
“That’s not working together.”
“No, it’s not,” Hideki admitted. “You have to remember that the Yamaguchi-gumi is a younger organization than other Yakuza, and not bound as tightly by tradition. They are also much larger, almost double the size of the next smaller.
“Now that I have been fully open with you,” Hideki continued, “how about we get back to discussing tonight’s break-in?”
Before speaking, Louie silently questioned himself if there was anything else he wanted to know about the lab books and their backstory, but nothing came to mind. As up-front as Hideki had seemingly been, Louie was glad that there weren’t plans to kill him after all. Killing the two out-of-control enforcers would be enough.
As concisely as possible, Louie then went on to describe that night’s faux plans, including the pickup location and time, and the fact that the robbery was designed around a diversionary explosion to preoccupy the police, to be set off on Fifth Avenue, south of the break-in location, perhaps at the New York Public Library. When he was finished, he paused to give Hideki time for questions. He felt confident the plans sounded real.