“SPEAR are in Kobe,” Hibiki was saying. “But the Yakuza have taken Mai to their HQ, not the compound. And the HQ,” he shook his head. “It’s pretty much impregnable.”
Chika felt a bolt of fire. “What are you saying?”
“That this is going to take all of us, working together, and that the risk… is high. Higher than high, it’s off the scale.”
“Of course it is.” Chika said. “This is the Yakuza in their own city.”
Hibiki spun on the spot and walked over to a window. Beyond the lawn and the road outside, the city of Tokyo sprawled, a forty minute plane ride from Kobe. Chika walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“What is it? Is this story the only reason you pulled me out of work?”
Chika had recently landed a job with a video games designer, one of the biggest in the world. Working her way up to chief publicist would be tough, but it was her ultimate goal. Somehow, she loved the idea of being the spearhead for a new game, the public image, the influence and drip-feed behind a new release and the person who stoked and watched the hype intensify.
“No,” Hibiki said softly. “You’re going to have to take some time off.”
Chika sat down as Dai explained his plan, that she gain access to the Yakuza headquarters alone by posing as a… as a what?
“Are you saying you want me to be a Geisha?”
Hibiki wouldn’t look at her. “Something like that.”
Chika tried to adjust. “Because… because it’s the only way in?”
“No. Because it’s Mai and she will be safely locked away somewhere. We can’t make our move until we know where she’s being held.”
“But how would I… where would I… what—”
Hibiki still didn’t turn around. “The girls stay for the night. There are so many of them, you should be able to wander a little. They change the girls every day. And you have an excuse if you are seen. We believe Mai’s trial is tomorrow, so…”
Chika fended off a dagger of ice that threatened to split her heart. “Tonight? You’re telling me I have to go in tonight?”
“Nobody wants this—”
“Oh. Do you think?” Chika shouted at her boyfriend and then felt instantly sickened. Not because of what she was being asked to do but because she hadn’t agreed immediately. This is Mai. My sister. She’s already gone through Hell a dozen times for me.
Hibiki’s head fell. “I’m sorry I’m asking, Chika.”
She turned his face around so that their eyes finally met. “Do you know what you’re asking? I mean, forget about Mai for just one second, but… do you know?”
Hibiki tried to turn away but she held on. “Of course,” he hissed. “Of course I fucking know what could happen in there.”
“I have to ask, since you’re a policeman, is it because you don’t want the force involved that you haven’t found someone else?”
“Not only that,” Hibiki said. “Yes, the force all the way from Tokyo to Kobe and way beyond are probably compromised in some way, but even with the best intentions word of our operation could get back to the Yakuza bosses. And it’s also because I don’t trust them with Mai’s life. I don’t trust them to put everything on the line for her. I don’t trust them to push and push and search every square meter.” He licked his lips. “That’s it.”
Chika’s own mouth was dry. She poured them both a glass of fresh mango. “SPEAR don’t have a contact?”
“They have Lauren Fox, but she’s too far away and an American. It’s you or we go in blind, Chika, and we are going in. But you don’t have to do this. Nobody is forcing you.”
Chika set her glass down hard. “Mai is as much my responsibility as I am hers. And we’re more important to each other than even you could imagine. You really think there’s a choice? That I want a choice?”
“I—”
“Just get me on the damn plane. We’ll talk tactics on the way.”
Chika turned away before Hibiki saw the fear in her eyes, the twitch in her grim smile. She turned away before she started to cry. She turned away to let the fighter live once more.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Before darkness fell over Kobe, Chika Kitano made herself ready to join a fresh group of girls being admitted to the Yakuza building. Exiting out of a line of limos they would look like party girls, intoxicated by the night, but nobody was really fooled. The cops turned a blind eye and the girls were gone come the dawn. The Yakuza’s security remained intact because they used their own sources; nothing was left to chance.
Hibiki’s face changed from passive to surprised, to scared and then terrified as Chika changed from city business woman to Geisha girl in a little over thirty minutes. Then, a little more conservatively, the six-inch heels were changed in favor of three, the hemline lengthened, the lipstick applied a bit less gaudily.
Alicia gave the finished girl a critical once over. “Y’know, I’ve done this a million times. The question is — do you want your suitor to be the weaselly little ferret-boy with the nasty glint in his eye or someone with a bit more sophistication? Deck’s loaded either way.”
Dahl reached for an apple. “A million times? Whoa.”
“Not the sex act,” Alicia quickly amended. “I meant getting through security and into the building.”
“Of course.” The Swede kept a straight face. “Sex act, maybe only half a million, right?”
“Fuck you. Hey, I just heard a click. Was that your wife snapping her fingers? Better get running, Torsty.”
Chika felt a freezing sensation in the pit of her stomach that deepened with every passing second. “If we could focus on the building and the blueprints again maybe that would help take my mind off things.”
Alicia smoothed out the plans across a table. “Entrance. Elevator shafts. Recreational area.” She tapped the drawings as she worked. “Twelve potential upper levels. The building does have lower levels but they’re not detailed. My guess is, because that’s where they take the girls and other, um, guests.”
Drake stepped into view at that moment. “And Mai, we hope. It’s unlikely that they’ll be holding her inside the business levels of the building.”
“Can you be sure?”
Drake shrugged. “Not really, love. She could be anywhere.”
“And you’ll be coming?”
“Right when you tell us to.”
“You’re sure you can get inside?” Chika tried to shut down her fears but hearing Drake reassure her was already helping.
“Yorgi can, Spidey style. And Hibiki’s plan for our entry is sound.”
Chika smoothed out her skirt and stood in front of a floor-length mirror. “Oh wow, I look so… different.”
Alicia held out a little blue pill. “If you get chance, slip this into the bastard’s sake. It’ll dissolve fast and put him out like a light. For the entire night.”
Chika reached for it with relief. “Thank you. I think I can make that work.”
Hibiki stared at Alicia. “Have you done that before too?”
“Why Dai, don’t you remember?”
The cop managed a smile. “Not the time, Alicia. So not the time.”
“Hey, nobody ever said I was the insightful type.”
Drake handed her a small handbag. “No tracker. No weapon. They’ll search you pretty thoroughly. Just remember who you’re doing this for and it’ll be a doddle.”
“I’m not likely to forget,” Chika said a little haughtily. “Is it time?”
Hibiki nodded. “I have an arrangement with one of the traffickers who supplies the Yakuza. We busted them a few months ago. I can get you in through him.”