"One must pay respects to old friends."
"I'm here to find 6ut about Paul Tibbet's murder."
"Just so," Rishiri replied. "But you bother me, Nicholas-san. Everywhere you go, death and destruction follow." He held up his black-gloved metal hand. "It's not been so long I still don't remember the pain."
"You could always have me expelled."
"The thought has crossed my mind, believe me. But I think I might run into some trouble." Rishiri shook his head. "Instead I think I shall just watch and wait."
Carter smiled. "For what?"
"For you to uncover the real reason Paul Tibbet was killed in Ueno Park. And why just now there are so many Russians running around my city." Rishiri stepped a little closer. "It strikes me, Nicholas-san, that they are rather frantically looking for something. I wonder what it might be?"
"I don't know," Carter said.
Rishiri laughed out loud, stopped a moment, then laughed out loud again as he turned and climbed into the back seat of his car. Before he left he looked out at Carter.
"This is my city now, Carter. You would be wise not to forget it."
"And you would be wise, Major, not to forget that I am your friend, not your enemy."
Rishiri powered up his window, and the car pulled smoothly away from the curb, merging with the heavy traffic.
For a moment or so Carter remained standing where he was. Undoubtedly Rishiri's men were nearby, watching him. This was indeed the major's city. Rishiri could put so many teams on one man that it would be virtually impossible to shake them all. But the Russians had fielded a lot of men as well. It was time for a diversion, Carter thought, that could very well kill two birds with one stone.
The Soviet embassy was housed in an imposing brick building that bristled with antennae in Kojimachi-ku, the diplomatic section of Tokyo. Carter took a cab crosstown from Kanda, instructing the driver to drop him off a couple of blocks away from the embassy.
Paying the driver, Carter was able to spot at least three of Rishiri's teams: one across the street in a black Toyota Celica; one behind in some make of windowless van with a lot of antennae; and ahead a cab whose sign was lit for occupied but whose back seat was empty. Carter had to smile. Yet Rishiri had warned him, so they didn't feel it was necessary to hide themselves. There would be others, though, Carter suspected. Others who would be less obvious.
He stepped around the cab, but instead of continuing down the crowded sidewalk, Carter turned, watched for a break in traffic, and hurried across the street.
As everywhere in Tokyo, this area was extremely busy, the streets filled with people, cars, trucks, and buses.
He ducked into a small shop that sold leather goods. A couple of customers inside looked up in surprise as he apologized profusely in Japanese, then stepped around the counter, through a curtained doorway, and out the back into a narrow alley.
Rishiri's men appeared at both ends of the alley, as Carter suspected they would. He turned and raced toward one end of the alley, the two men there waiting calmly for him. At the last moment he ducked into the back entrance of another shop — this one a florist-raced through to the front and emerged on the sidewalk just as a cab was discharging a passenger. He climbed in and ordered the driver to the Soviet embassy. Rishiri's men from the alley appeared at the front of the shop as the cab pulled away.
Carter looked out the rear window, smiled, and waved.
It only took a couple of minutes to reach the Soviet embassy. Time enough, Carter figured, for Rishiri's teams to regroup and come after him in force. Exactly what he wanted.
Carter paid the driver and stepped out across the street from the embassy, at the entrance to a small park with a Shinto shrine in the back.
Nearby was a stand selling fish, rice, tea, and beer. Carter walked over to it, ordered a beer, and lit a cigarette as he waited for the diversion to begin.
It didn't take long. The black Toyota Celica cruised by, the driver spotting Carter. A few seconds later the van pulled up fifty yards away and parked.
Carter was in plain view of anyone inside the embassy. By now his face was known from the airport. It wouldn't take the Russians very long to spot him and come running.
The same Mercedes from the airport pulled out of the embassy gate and headed slowly up the block. One of Rishiri's teams in the cab was just passing, and it took off after the German car.
A few moments later, four legmen emerged from the embassy gate. Two of them walked to the corner, while the other two headed directly across the street toward Carter.
Rishiri's men in the Celica and the van got out and were nervously watching Carter who held fast for another couple of seconds while he finished his beer.
He looked up, directly facing the Russians crossing the street, tossed away his cigarette, turned, and walked into the small park.
The Russians at the corner broke into a run, as did the ones crossing the street. Rishiri's men fell in behind them.
Inside the park, Carter ducked around the back of the shrine where he scrambled up over a tall brick wall. At the top he looked back just as the first Russian was crossing the park, a silenced gun held close to his body.
The Russian spotted Carter, brought up his gun, and was about to shoot, when a shot rang out and he was driven forward onto his knees, the back of his head exploding.
Carter dropped down into the small garden of a private home as a woman screamed in the park, someone swore in Russian, and more shots were fired.
As he was hurrying across the garden, a sliding rice-paper door at the back of the house opened and a pretty young woman dressed in a kimono stood in the doorway.
She had heard the shots. She looked from the wall over which Carter had come, and then back at Carter. She hesitated a moment, but then she beckoned and stepped aside, indicating that he could pass through her home.
Carter quickly pulled off his shoes, bowed deeply to the woman, wished her well, and then hurried through the house, two children in the living room watching him with wide eyes.
In the front garden area, Carter donned his shoes again and peered out the gate. The street was busy there, but he could see no sign of Rishiri's men, or the Russians, though he knew it would only be a matter of a minute or so before they'd be coming over the wall, or at the very least coming around to that street.
He looked back. The young woman and her children were looking out at him. The children waved and smiled. Carter waved back, then stepped outside, crossed the street, and turned the far corner where he caught a cab.
It wouldn't take Major Rishiri very long to pick up his trail again, and this time Carter didn't think the man would be as cordial.
One thing puzzled him, though. He had expected the Russians would want to follow him once he had been spotted in front of their embassy. But the one coming into the little park had drawn his gun. He had orders to shoot.
Three
Kazuka was ten minutes late. Carter was beginning to get worried about her, when she finally showed up out of breath. She was troubled.
"They're out in force," she said, kissing Carter on the cheek and sitting down.
They were at a small restaurant in the Ginza, the section of Tokyo where most of the nightclubs and fun spots were located. The area was a combination of London's Soho, New York's Times Square, and Berlin's Ku'damn. The area never slept.
"Russians?" Carter asked.
Kazuka nodded. "They were on me from the moment I left the hotel."
"Did you have any trouble?"
"I shook them on the way to the office, but when I came back out they were there. It wasn't so easy to lose them coming here, but I did. We are safe for the moment."