The Last Assassin

Yamaoto wiped a hand over his face and thought, Komatta. Shit.

'Kito and Sanada are reliable men, sir,' Kuro continued after a moment. 'I'm certain…'

'For the moment,' Yamaoto said, cutting him off, 'it doesn't matter what we're certain of. It's what the Chinese think that matters. You heard this from them?'

'Yes, sir. From the pilot of the boat. He called just five minutes ago.'

Kuro had spent several childhood years in China when his father's employer had sent the man there to work in a fan factory, and as a result Kuro spoke excellent Chinese and was the perfect conduit to United Bamboo. Yamaoto had been happy having Kuro run that operation and the man had been doing well, but there were times when the boss had to become personally involved, if only to convey the appearance of proper concern to the other side. Kuro would understand that.

'You have men looking for Kito and Sanada?' Yamaoto asked.

'Yes, sir.'

'Make that a priority. All your resources. Find those men and find out what happened.'

'Yes, sir.'

Yamaoto clicked off. He sat for a few minutes, thinking. What the hell had happened? Kito and Sanada were indeed reliable. Even if they weren't, they would know stealing from Yamaoto would mean at best a paranoid life as a fugitive, and more likely a swift death.

Still, with the amount of drugs and cash involved, the temptation would have been substantial. And if they were innocent, why didn't they come to him?

The moment he posed the question to himself, he knew the answer. The Chinese would want blood. Whether his men were guilty or innocent, Yamaoto was almost certainly going to have to sacrifice them if he wanted to prevent a war. Kito and Sanada would understand that. They would know their deaths now represented the quickest and surest way of resolving the matter.

He got up, used the bathroom, and pulled on a robe. He went to his study and took a codebook out of his wall safe. Inside was the mobile number for the man called Big Liu, the head of United Bamboo in Taiwan. Yamaoto input the number and waited.

A moment later, a deep, gravelly voice came through on the other end. 'Weiwei.' Hello.

'Hello, this is Yamaoto Toshi,' Yamaoto replied slowly. Big Liu's English wasn't good but it was their only common language.

There was a pause. Then Big Liu said, 'We have big problem. Fucking big.'

'I know. I just received a phone call from one of my men.'

'This… very bad.'

'Yes. We're looking for the missing men right now. We will do everything we can to find them.' Not my missing men. The missing men. Better to imply some distance. The subtlety might be lost on Big Liu, but it couldn't hurt, either.

'You find missing men,' Big Liu said, 'you give to me. And you pay missing money. And you pay interest for dead men. Then I think, 'Okay, this was bad men problem. Not Yamaoto problem. Yamaoto and Big Liu, still friend.''

Yamaoto understood the implication without Big Liu having to spell it out: Protect your men, and I will hold you responsible for what they did.

And that would mean only one thing: war.

Yamaoto thought for a moment. If he pushed back too hard, things could easily spiral out of control. If he gave in too easily, Big Liu would ask for more. The trick was to find the right middle ground, something that would satisfy Big Liu without seeming weak, something that would preserve Yamaoto's room to maneuver depending on what happened next.

'I understand your concerns,' Yamaoto said slowly, 'as I'm sure you understand mine. I know that neither of us is the kind of man to give in to immediate suspicions or otherwise leap to conclusions. We don't want things to get out of control.'

He paused to let Big Liu internally translate the words into Chinese, then said, 'I think the main thing now is to find the missing men. I'd like to keep you informed of that effort. Would it be all right if I called you several times a day, just to make sure you know what's going on?'

Under the circumstances, the two of them would have to be stupid not to talk frequently. This sort of polite conversation was an effort for both of them, Yamaoto knew, but they were going to need a good deal more of it if they hoped to prevent suspicion and anger from festering. But by phrasing the thought the way he had, Yamaoto had made it seem that he was both offering a concession and requesting permission. There was no nourishment in any of it, but Big Liu might like the taste enough to bite.

Big Liu said, 'Can give only forty-eight hours for this. Not because distrust Yamaoto. Because… very angry men in Big Liu group. Men now saying, 'Blood! Revenge!' Can't control angry men so long.'

It was more or less what Yamaoto had been expecting, although he'd been hoping for longer. The 'it's not that I don't trust you, it's my constituents' approach was something Yamaoto himself used all the time. And in this case, in all likelihood, there was a lot of truth to it. Yamaoto had to find Kito and Sanada before things got worse.

'I understand,' he said. 'I'll call you later today with an update.'

'You find missing men,' Big Liu said, 'you no kill. Give alive. Want to… talk with them.'

This gambit wasn't unexpected, either. Yamaoto expected Big Liu to push until he encountered resistance. Now was the time to offer it.

'I can't promise that,' Yamaoto said. 'First, because anything could happen when I find them. And second,