'Yeah,' he said, 'the first time I gave him a hug you should have seen him, he was so tense I thought he would pass out. The second time he tolerated it better. Shoot, by the fourth or fifth time, damned if he hadn't started to like it. Now if a few days go by and I forget to throw an arm around him, he actually starts to mope.'
Delilah covered her mouth and looked down. She stood like that for a moment, very still, and then she started laughing. I looked at Dox, half incredulous, half enraged at the shit he was constantly pulling, but he didn't even notice because he was laughing, too.
There was nothing I could do but stand there while their laughter fed on itself and grew. Dox was wiping his eyes and saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' while Delilah just stood shaking with her arms crossed and her head down.
After an unpleasantly long time, it subsided. Delilah breathed in and out deeply a few times, then said to me, 'I'll call you tomorrow?'
I nodded and said, 'Yeah. Sure.'
'Good night,' Dox said, and I could tell he was struggling to hold it in.
She made it out without either of them losing it again, but I had a feeling she laughed all the way to the elevator.
I looked at Dox.
'I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry,' he said. 'There's just something about you that brings it out in me!'
'I think that's known as blaming the victim.'
'Go ahead, make fun of me for hitting on Tiara the tranny, it'll make you feel better.'
'No, it would make
'Ah, you're a hard man, John Rain, a hard man,' he said, and this time I couldn't help it, I started laughing with him.
34
The next morning, I took a quick run past Whispers, just a local guy out for his morning jog in his shoes and tracksuit, a hat pulled low against the chill air.
I followed one of the alleys to the back of the club. Given their business hours, I doubted anyone would be about this early, but if I were seen, a jogger looking for a place to take a leak wasn't about to raise anyone's hackles.
In keeping with that possible cover story, I paused and started undoing the snaps on the pants of the nylon tracksuit while I scanned the perimeter for cameras. I saw none, just a windowless concrete facade with an emergency exit door on the left, plain steel with no handle or other hardware. A cement path ran the length of the building.
I resnapped the pants and walked over to the door. As I had expected, the hinges were on the outside. A one-meter steel bar jammed in tight at a low angle, with the bottom in one of the expansion joints in the path, would seal it.
I repeated the procedure on the west side of the building, where the basement exit was located at the bottom of a utilitarian concrete stairwell. This door was identical to the first one. Okay.
I continued on my morning run, stopping at Aoyama Park to call Tatsu at the hospital. The phone rang several times, then I heard his voice, almost a groan: '
'It's me,' I said. God, he sounded terrible. 'I'm sorry to bother you.'
He said nothing for a moment, and I could tell he was trying to catch his breath. 'Bother me?' he rasped, finally. 'These calls are all I look forward to. And visits from my grandson.'
'Any further word on tonight's meeting?'
'Yes, the informant just confirmed. No wonder I'm in pain, no one will let me get any sleep. The meeting is at ten o'clock.'
'Good. We're done with the initial pass. And I'm going to have that man inside tonight, after all.'
'What else do you need from me?'
'Like I told you last time, someone positioned to take out the place's power on my signal.'
'You want the lights out.'
'Yes.'
'What about the backup…'
'It's taken care of
'I have a man who can help with this. But… you're going to have to work fast.'
'What do you mean?'
'From the substation my man can access, he can't shut down power to individual buildings, only to entire blocks. And if the power goes out on an entire Tokyo block for more than two minutes, city regulations require an investigation.'
'Can't you just…'
