Tokyo
Galt and Meiko found Baroness Sachito seated on a stone bench, as if she were waiting for them, in the small formal garden behind the main house. A single lantern cast its flickering glow upon the quiet beauty of miniature trees, rocks and streams. Sachito sat, partly in shadow, before a bank of aromatic white star jasmine. She wore an apricot silk kimono, and wooden clogs. The weather was clearing. The first etching of dawn gilded the eastern clouds with silver. Starlight shone through scattering clouds, dancing off the raven's wing blackness of her hair. Hands folded in her lap, she raised her large almond eyes at their approach.
Meiko drew to a stop beside Galt, her back drawn straight as she regarded the woman. Galt saw a pistol at Sachito's side on the bench.
He said, "Good evening, Baroness. Or should I say, good morning? I assume you've received an update on current events." He was clad in dark jacket, T-shirt and jeans that helped him blend into the gloom. The Beretta rode in its shoulder holster, concealed beneath the jacket.
"Yes." Sachito spoke vaguely. Her demeanor was listless and drained. "Chai Bin is dead. America has reclaimed what remains of its space shuttle, and two surviving astronauts have been rescued, one of whom is your wife." Her gaze alternated between Galt and Meiko. "And I know that the two of you are more than mere friends. You are lovers. I needed no one to tell me that."
"Bitch," said Meiko in a harsh whisper.
Galt experienced a mental alarm bell going off at the naked, unfettered rage from one usually so composed under the most trying circumstances. Meiko was a Washington journalist, after all. She could only have the deepest of negative feelings against this woman. But Galt had invited her to accompany him here because, from past experience, he had expected her to sublimate the rawest of her emotions.
Sachito spoke to Galt as if she had not heard Meiko's insult. "You rescue your wife from North Korean mountain bandits, yet you arrive here with Meiko. Where is your wife, may I ask?"
"You may," said Galt. "Kate's waiting for us in a car parked on the road that fronts this property. She's about to be airlifted out of Japan. She has debriefings ad nauseam and a media circus to look forward to. When I told her that Meiko and I had one last part of this business to attend to, she asked to be a part of it. So we slipped away, the three of us." He saw no reason to tell her about the explosive charge that he had concealed in the middle of the front main driveway before he and Meiko had come to the garden, or about the detonation device that resided in his pocket.
"The three of you?" Sachito arched an eyebrow and regarded Meiko dispassionately. "You have confronted this man's wife… under these circumstances?"
"It was not a confrontation," said Meiko in a more subdued voice. "I greeted Kate when the rescue helicopter landed in Yokohama. Kate and Trev were separated when I met him. She and I embraced. It is an American custom, not Japanese, I know. I admire and respect Kate Daniels. She is an extraordinary woman."
Sachito considered this. "Indeed," she conceded. "And you're right, child. I don't understand."
"Then perhaps you will understand this. If Kate ever brings up the subject of Trev and me, then we will discuss it honestly. Or I will tell her. I don't know. I only know that she appreciated having a woman to meet her among all those bloodied male warriors when the helicopter touched down."
"You have a kind heart," said Sachito with no hint of irony.
Meiko's arms were held rigid at her side, the elbows bent, the fists clenched. "Not towards you," she spat. "I will report what I know and what I have seen to the world. My father's innocence. Your guilt. What happened to those aboard Liberty, and to those who made this happen."
Sachito peered at Galt. "Do you not risk greatly offending your superiors?"
He shrugged indifferently. "It won't be the first time. They'll get over it. And yeah, there are issues that Kate and I need to address and that's no damn lie. But right now, she's our lookout. She's going to tap the car horn at first sight of any vehicle approaching your property."
Sachito resumed alternating her gaze between them. "Have you come to kill me?"
Galt glanced at the pistol beside her on the bench. "It doesn't look like that will be necessary. You do understand that we didn't just take down Chai Bin, right? Thanks to information supplied by Meiko here, we're tracing down Ugaki and his yakuza and we're taking them down too, because they were behind everything." He paused, then added, "Along with you, of course."
Sachito's sigh was barely audible. "What you say is true." Her eyes rested on Meiko. "And you, stepdaughter? Do you wish to kill me?"
Meiko regarded Sachito with venomous contempt. "When we had dinner with you here, you told us you possessed intimate knowledge of my father's business dealings. You said that in his last days, his every decision was relayed to his subordinates through you. You abused that power, you and Anami, the acting CEO. But that's the least of your sins, bitch." Meiko's eyes narrowed. "You killed my father."
Sachito's gaze lowered to study her hands, clasped in her lap. "Your father was gravely ill. He had only months to live, and was in terrible, constant pain. For your father, death was a merciful release." There was a catch in her voice. "I loved him. I still do. You must believe that."
The line of Meiko's mouth quivered with emotion. "You're a vile monster. You want to rationalize what you've done?"
"I did love your father." Sachito's eyes remained downcast. "Yes, I am evil. I have done evil things. But I did love him. It broke my heart to see him dying a little every day, his vitality and life ebbing from a spirit once so commanding and powerful. He was ashamed to be an invalid, did you know that, Meiko?"
Galt growled an interruption.
"Let's get off the feelings and back to the facts. Baroness, that was quite a grieving widow act you put on for us, when you had us here to spend the night, considering that you were part of a plot to bring down an American space shuttle. That's the biggest hijack in history. Ugaki lines up a corrupt North Korean military commander, Colonel Sung, who operates with autonomy in a remote province, and personally oversees the construction of a landing strip large enough to accommodate the shuttle. This was accomplished without the central North Korean government knowing about it. Ugaki plucked a stripper from one of his joints in Tokyo and sent her to America to seduce a NASA space scientist, who programmed the Liberty to land at that airfield. But Ugaki needed a legitimate front to exploit and profit from what he salvaged on the shuttle. That's where Kurita Industries came in. Ugaki already had Anami in position as acting CEO. You, Baroness, were handling Mr. Kurita's business affairs. You were his one link to the outside world. The shuttle deal sounded like a good deal to you. You and Ugaki thought you had all of the bases covered. You even had a White House contact."
Meiko's brow furrowed. "They had a connection in the White House?"
"In a manner of speaking," said Galt. "That contact was you, Meiko."
He had never seen her so startled. "Me?"
"It's no coincidence that you and I met," he told her. "You're too close to this for you to be a White House correspondent without more than coincidence at work, and I don't believe in coincidence." His eyes remained on Sachito, particularly on the nearness of the gun next to her on the bench. He said to Meiko, "Without your knowledge, strings were pulled by Ugaki and Sachito, in your father's name, to have Stan Hakura assign you to the White House press corps. It would have been done indirectly, with a great deal of subterfuge and subtlety. Hakura wasn't knowingly a part of this. There are ways. There's no way they could have foreseen what happened personally between us, Meiko, but everything else was stage-managed. They would use every minute of your uncut satellite feeds to Tokyo for Hakura to monitor my government's response to this crisis. Someone on the scene, particularly a trained journalist, would be perfect. This was done without your father's knowledge. They didn't want to kill him, because it would draw attention, as it did. Because as sick and weak as he was, your father somehow pierced his pain-and-medicated fog and he learned of what they were doing in his name, or at least enough for him to cause trouble. He would try to contact his old-time loyal allies within the corporate hierarchy of Kurita Industries. That's the only motive strong enough to justify them taking the risk of resorting to his murder after the hijack was operational. My hunch is a poison was administered that wouldn't be evident to his physician. Either that or your father's attending physician was bought off by Ugaki."
Sachito asked Galt, "Is there any legal proof of what you say?"
"You know there is. That's where Meiko comes in. She's already started tracing this on her father's computer. But for me, there doesn't have to be proof. I'm no court of law. If there's enough to convince me, that's all I need, because what's between you and me, Baroness, it's personal."
"I understand. Your wife."
"And my best friend," said Galt, "a brother from a different mother named Barney Markee. Barney was killed because I went to see him first thing after I arrived in Tokyo; and his death, and my responsibility in it, is another issue I need to work on. I brought death to his door."
"I did not kill your friend."
"No, but your gangster friend, Ugaki, ordered it done, and that's enough guilt by association for me. Barney was on the fringes of the Tokyo underworld for years, but someone waits to kill him until just after he's talked to me? That's too damn much coincidence. I was followed from the airport by a yakuza hit team sent by Ugaki. And they were damn good, because I didn't realize they were onto me until I left the cemetery after the funeral. I lost them at that time, but by then it was too late for Barney." Galt felt a bitter taste in his throat. "Ugaki's men were on me from the minute I touched down at the airport. That's the only way it makes sense. I was a wild card and, considering that I was White House-level, Ugaki was hesitant about killing me unless he had to directly, because of the police scrutiny that would bring. So they killed Barney instead, as a safety measure. Ugaki thought that taking out Barney would shut down my intel source. But Barney did what I asked him to do before they blew him up with a car bomb. He contacted a friend of mine who happens to be a general and can make things happen, and that got me back on track. So you see, Baroness, the yakuza killed Barney for nothing."
"I am sorry about your friend," said Sachito. "But I hear of nothing resembling legal proof against me."
"I told you, I don't need proof. I went straight to Barney after leaving you and Meiko at the airport, and that, Mrs. Kurita, puts my friend's murder right at your feet. You were the only one Meiko told about our flight number and time of arrival. You passed that information on to Ugaki, so he could have his hit team in place when we touched down. That's the vital piece of the puzzle that took awhile to click in my mind, but once it did, I had all the proof I needed to convict you in my mind, Baroness."
Meiko clenched her fists, her eyes blazing.
"Between you and Ugaki" she said to Sachito, "who initiated the germ of this grand scheme? Before you murdered my father, you were unfaithful to him with Ugaki. You and a yakuza contaminated the sanctity of my father's world. You let this yakuza filth into your bed."
Sachito again lowered her eyes. She said nothing.
Galt told her, "If you and Ugaki were lovers, you should know it won't stop him from coming after you. This shuttle hijack, luring that NASA scientist astray, personally coordinating the construction of an airfield in North Korea, it's got to be the biggest deal Ugaki has ever undertaken. He's got a lot of face to save after fumbling this one, if he intends to hold onto his power in the yakuza, and he will take severe measures. To him, you're a liability, Baroness. And you're the perfect scapegoat. And he may know that you double-crossed him. You saw how hot Meiko was to learn the truth, after she saw Ugaki and Anami together at her father's funeral. You allowed her complete access to her father's computer files. That's how you double-crossed your lover boy. You wanted Ugaki the yakuza to take the whole blame, if everything fell apart. Ugaki may be in the hospital, but I'll wager he's got a team on its way here right now. And if I'm a judge of the character of a guy like Ugaki, he'll be riding in the car with his hit team when they show up here, even if he had to be carried out of the hospital. He'll want to be here when his men pay you back for your betrayal. You know how much stock guys like him put in personal loyalty. And you know how far-reaching his power is. There's nowhere for you to escape from him anywhere in the world, and you know this." He nodded to the pistol. "That's what the gun is for."
Sachito looked up at him. Her eyes were sorrowful. "Do not attempt to dissuade me from taking my own life."
Meiko snorted. "Hardly that. You have not lived your life honorably, but you can still end it honorably. You are Japanese, after all."
"Frankly, Baroness," said Galt, "we came here to encourage you to take the honorable way out. Meiko wants that because of what you did to her father. As for the authorities, your suicide will be tied to your grief for your departed husband. Unfortunate and sad. But the Kurita name will be spared scandal and humiliation. Everything can be pinned on the CEO, Anami. He's too dead to defend himself."
"And you, Trev Galt," said Sachito, "will you have your vengeance and be satisfied?"
"I don't deal in vengeance, lady," said Galt. "I owe this to people who died because of you, and what you and those yakuza scum have done. But to answer your first question, yes, there is enough electronic and paper trail evidence to bring you to court and you know it."
A tear formed in the corner of one of Sachito's eyes, and glided down her cheekbone. "The humiliation of a public trial would be unbearable."
Galt reached down and picked up the pistol, a petite snub-nosed.22 revolver with a pearl-handled grip.
He broke it open with a flick of his thumb across the latch and a shake of his wrist, revealing a single cartridge chambered in a cylinder that could hold six bullets. He snapped the cylinder back into the frame with another sharp flick of his wrist and replaced the pistol upon the bench, inches from her right hand.
"We're done here," he said to both women.
A car horn beeped once in the near distance.
Sachito glanced into the darkness, in the direction of the sound. "Ugaki," she said.
Galt nodded. "Or the police. Goodbye, Baroness."
"I am sorry." She spoke softly, in a voice that ached with infinite weariness. Her sad eyes turned to Meiko. She asked, "Can you forgive me?"
Meiko spat upon the ground between them. "Never, you worthless, murdering whore."
Galt's eyes tightened. Meiko deserved to be in on this, and she was certainly entitled to her emotions. But until now, since he had known her, Meiko had always been the one in control of her emotions, not the other way around. Her outburst surprised him, and there was no more for him here. He walked away.
Meiko followed Galt's cue, withdrawing with him from the garden, along the flagstones, past the bronze statue of the Buddha, to the grove of katsura and birch. They retraced their line of approach. The manicured lawn was slippery with moisture.
From the direction of the Zen garden, Galt heard a single gunshot.
From the direction of the road, he saw headlights turning into the Kurita driveway. He gauged that the headlights would belong to a compact sedan. He hesitated, and Meiko drew up beside him. The car traveled alone up the gravel driveway lined with chestnut trees. There were no flashing lights. The headlights were on high beam, approaching a vapor lamp that was midway between the road and the main house. When the car passed through the circle of light cast by the lamp, Galt had a clear view of a white Toyota compact with a dented right front fender. He had seen the same car before, when he had exercised such ingenuity, or so he thought at the time, in evading this yakuza hit team; it was the same Toyota seen speeding away after the murder of Barney Markee.
"It's Ugaki's hit team," said Galt. "They beat the police here." He withdrew the triggering device, no larger than a cigarette lighter, from one of his pockets, and thumbed open the cap that covered a toggle switch.
"Ugaki is in that car." Meiko's ragged whisper hardly sounded like her: the throaty rasp of a feline with fangs and claws bared. "He is the one who plotted with the whore to kill my father."
"Keep it together, Meiko," he said. His thumb moved to the toggle switch.
"This is a blood debt," she said.
She seized the device from his fingers with a ferocity that caught him by surprise.
He mouthed a silent curse. The headlights were almost, but not quite, to where he had set the charge of high explosives. It would do no good for the HE to be detonated prematurely.
"Meiko, don't do this. Give me that. This is my job."
Her beauty was unrecognizable, a mask of hatred. "This is a blood debt," she said again, this time in a detached voice. She flicked the toggle switch.
The red-orange explosion thunder-clapped an instant prematurely, and the Toyota's front end lifted, rather than the car being blown to pieces as Galt had intended. Then the secondary explosion came and the gas tank erupted. A fireball engulfed the Toyota and those in it. Someone in the car was screaming as it fell back to the ground like a burning log. From within the inferno, the screams ended abruptly.
Meiko's hand, holding the detonator device, drooped to her side. She offered no resistance when Galt retrieved the device. He started to speak. This was no time for a breakdown. There were still the authorities…
A shot rang out before he could speak.
Meiko's body jerked violently. Her arms twitched like the wings of a dying bird, and her knees folded. And Galt knew from the way she fell that Meiko was dead.
Oh God, no! he thought. No!
Instinct sent him into a sideways dive, and from a prone position he steadied his aim. Meiko had caught the first round, but many bullets were zipping past. His Beretta sought and found targets.
Three men stood perhaps a dozen feet away, limned in the firelight of the burning Toyota. In the flickering light, Galt recognized Oyabun Ugaki. The yakuza boss of bosses leaned on a cane. Ugaki wore a hospital-issue robe. He looked pale, bent over, nothing like the glimpse Galt had caught of him before tossing a high explosive into that yakuza meeting in an executive penthouse. But Ugaki's compact, physically slight stature still radiated a palpable sense of power and command. He had a gunman to either side, and one of these-it didn't matter to Galt which-had killed Meiko. Both gunmen were firing at where Galt had been heartbeats earlier. The flames cast angry shadows across Ugaki's features. He held a pistol that was pulling in Galt's direction.
Galt assessed the younger, healthier, faster gunmen to be his primary threat. He shot one of them between the eyes. The other gunman triggered a round, hastily aimed, that came nowhere near Galt, who squeezed off a second shot that took out this man with another not-so-clean head shot. Before either dead man could hit the ground, Galt was bringing the 9mm back on Ugaki, when the yakuza fired faster than Galt had expected. He felt the searing burn of a bullet crease across his upper right shoulder, a flesh wound that made him lurch, losing target acquisition.
Ugaki laughed and aimed for a better shot. He shouted, "Die, gaijin dog!"
Before either man could fire, there was a shot from a third pistol.
A round, black hole appeared in the center of Ugaki's forehead. He crumpled, seeming to curl languidly downward, around the hospital cane, to the ground.
Kate materialized into the fading glow of the flames, lowering a.38 revolver. She wore the military-green coveralls that had been provided for her in Yokohama.
"I owed him," she said. "That son of a bitch caused me a world of trouble. Trev, are you all right?"
He holstered his pistol. "I'm all right."
The truth was, he felt dazed, winded, and it had nothing to do with the scratch where a bullet had creased him. His attention, his very being, telescoped to the fallen form of Meiko, and he went to her. He fell to his knees beside her body.
He eased his arms around her and held her. For the last time, he thought. He could not see the wound that had killed her, and for that he was grateful. Her eyes were closed, as though she were asleep.
Police sirens shrilled in the distance, drawing closer from several directions.
Kate stood beside him, touching him delicately. Her eyes were pools of understanding. "Trev, honey."
It was difficult for him to concentrate on anything but the lifeless body in his arms.
"She was a good woman, Kate."
"I know, hon." Her eyes flicked to the sprawl of gangster bodies. "Meiko doesn't deserve to be found with this filth. She was my friend."
Galt thought, How we love defines who we are.
He had come halfway around the world to find his wife, to learn how much he loved her. And he had just lost a woman he loved.
He blinked away the emotion and rose to his feet, lifting Meiko with him, cradling her in his arms. When he looked at Kate, he was grateful for what he saw in her eyes.
They withdrew and, before long, left a stand of conifer and bamboo and crossed the road in the light of dawn, to where the rental car was parked.
The sirens were drawing closer.
A gentle, fine mist began to fall.