but in close-up the artificiality was always detectable. It was a bitter disappointment, but he persevered. One day, he thought, they would get it right, and it was undeniable that makeup skills were steadily improving.
For the meeting with Fumio Namaka, such an artifice was arguably not necessary, but it appealed to his sense of theater.
It would be an entirely appropriate way to lead into the final act of his destruction of the Namaka clan; and the actual execution method he planned to employ deserved such a buildup. Decades ago, Hodama and the Namaka brothers had eliminated Katsuda's family in a locked, burning house. Now the last of the Namakas would also die in flames.
Katsuda was very aware that Fumio might have a few tricks up his sleeve, so had devoted a great deal of time to taking precautions. He had studied the plan of Hodama's residence for several days and finally had come up with something that he was sure beyond any doubt at all would guarantee surprise. And, of course, his own preparations were in addition to the fire support he would be getting from Schwanberg in the airship.
Nothing was certain, but as his limousine approached the gates of Hodama's house, Katsuda was as sure as any reasonable man could be when making a major movie that his preparations would ensure success.
'See anything?' said Fitzduane.
'Negative,' said Chifune, what was all business when operational.
'A lot of pebbles,' said Lonsdale, who felt the mood could do with some lightening.
Both Chifune and Lonsdale were professional and would report instantly anything untoward, but Fitzduane was getting increasingly concerned and a little strain was showing. He could still see nothing but Fumio standing beside the open-sided summer house where they were to have the meeting and Katsuda being checked in and searched at the gate. Surely, he should have detected something else by now. He could not see the pair of them meeting and just sticking out their tongues at each other.
He had two snipers, Lonsdale and Chifune, eyeballing the confrontation, but their vision was severely restricted because their eyes were glued to their telescopic sights. That had been the original plan and had made sense with Fitzduane and Mike Bergin and the pilot monitoring the bigger picture, but it was somewhat problematical now they were short two pairs of eyes.
It was time to make a change in the arrangements.
Lonsdale was targeted, but Chifune was not yet allocated, and right now it was not much good having an extra sniper if she had nothing to shoot at. Also, in training he had noticed that Chifune was about as fast as anyone at acquiring a target, so if she had to return to her scope in a hurry, it should not cause any serious grief. Chifune was not as good with the Barrett as Al, but she was one hell of a combat shot p to about a kilometer.
For both of them, five hundred yards, with precision equipment, made for virtually guaranteed single-shot kills. The best of special-operations people were somewhat frightening.
'Chifune,' said Fitzduane. 'Try binoculars. We need a second kibitzer. I think I'm missing something here.'
'Affirmative,' said Chifune, and put down her rifle. Her binoculars gave her a much wider field to examine, and the brilliantly lit triangle seen from above was easy to search.
She followed the driveway in and searched the open garden area to the right. There was a bench, some stone pots containing dwarf plants, and a couple of stone lanterns strategically placed on a bed of pebbles. It was very simple and beautiful, and the thought came to her that whatever villainy Hodama had been up to, he had good taste. The entire garden was an exercise in simplicity. Which meant there were very few places to hide in, and the house had already been searched by representatives of both sides and sealed. No, Fitzduane was right to worry. Something they had not anticipated was going to happen.
She swung her binoculars to the left of the driveway and began searching the much larger area of garden there. Her glasses rested on an ornate well with a small pagoda top, but she was looking diagonally and could not see down it.
'The well,' she said. 'It's a possibility. It's big enough.'
'Maybe,' said Fitzduane, 'but it doesn't lead anywhere and it was searched and sealed when they did the house.'
'They're going to zap each other with telepathy,' said Lonsdale.
'Shut the fuck up, Al,' said Fitzduane politely. 'Please,' he added.
Chifune scanned to the open-sided summer house. Still nothing, except Fumio Namaka standing there and Katsuda, still about thirty yards away, walking toward him on the irregular stone path that circumscribed the house. By agreement, their respective drivers had both stayed with the limousines.
She was running out of time. She searched the bank of ornamental plants. No room to hide even a midget here. She swept on past another ishi-doro to a decorative pond which was positioned to the side of the house fairly close to the surrounding wall. A stone bridge led to a miniature island which actually touched the perimeter wall.
'A way-out thought,' she said. 'Could they have tunneled under the wall?'
'Supposedly not,' said Fitzduane. 'There are sensors against that possibility and the police have the outside walls under observation.'
Chifune did a quick sweep along the back of the house past an inscribed Garden Tablet and then moved on to a boulder garden. Still no sign of anything except what was supposed to be there.
Something niggled at her.
The circling airship had now moved on so that she could see not only Hodama's residence, but also the adjoining house and gardens. This was an area of luxury residences. The neighboring house also had a pond and it was on the other side of the wall from Hodama's Neither actually touched the wall, but the congruence looked more than coincidence.
Suppose they shared the same water? A culvert between them or maybe just a grating. Sensors in the water with goldfish and turtles paddling about the irises? Unlikely!
'The pond,' she said urgently, her binoculars now focused on the black surface of the water. 'Hugo, LOOK AT THE POND!'
Fitzduane had been concentrating on Fumio Namaka and the approaching figure of Katsuda, but at Chifune's shout he looked quickly at the black water. Something was decidedly odd about it.
As he watched, it began to undulate, as if it was coming to a boil or was haven to a mass of writhing snakes.
Suddenly, he understood at least part of what was happening. And he had an uneasy feeling that this was only the beginning.
'Hold your fire, people,' he said. 'But stand by on my mark.'
This was a scene that had to be played out. Chifune returned to her. 300 Winchester Magnum.
Fitzduane focused on Namaka and Katsuda and the summer house with its broad-eaved thatched roof. Katsuda, unaware of the airship on high and assuming support from Schwanberg, knew better than to go inside. His guardians had to be able to see him.
It was going to start happening any second now.
'Fitzduane- san,' the Spider's voice sounded in Fitzduane's headphones urgently. 'Something we did not expect in central Tokyo. I have received reports of two Huey helicopters without lights approaching low and at speed. No flight plan has been filed and they are headed precisely in your direction. ETA within two minutes, perhaps sooner.'
Civilian helicopter overflight was supposed to be banned in central Tokyo, particularly in Akasaka, where not only did Hodama have his exclusive residence but so did the Emperor of Japan. Clearly, the imminent arrivals were no respecters of the rules.
A neat operation looked like it was turning very messy; or maybe a great deal worse.
Their invisible airship suddenly felt like the very large target it was.
