The Last Assassin

'What about Yamaoto?' Delilah asked.

Dox told her what had happened. I could tell he felt bad he hadn't gotten a confirmed kill.

'That was a hell of a shot you took,' I said. 'Moving, only a second, all those people running around in a panic…'

'Yeah, but…'

'Yeah, nothing. You hit him badly, no one could have done better.'

'Not as bad as I'd like, but that was a hollow point round and he's wearing a hell of a hole somewhere on his chest right now. Only thing that got that boy to his car was a bucketful of adrenaline and a shitload of luck. I just hope there aren't any hospitals nearby.'

Hospitals, I thought. Of course.

I pulled out the cell phone and called Tatsu.

44

I briefed Tatsu on everything that had just happened. He was weak and groaning in pain, but his mind seemed alert as ever.

When I was done, he said, 'Don't worry about Kuro. He can be handled. It's Yamaoto who's the concern. And from what you just told me, within a very short while he'll either be in a hospital or a morgue. I'll find out which and call you back.'

I clicked off and said to Dox and Delilah, 'My source is having his people check all the area hospitals. If Yamaoto shows up in an emergency room, we'll know about it.'

We drove around for an hour, taking turns filling each other in on our different perspectives of what had happened at the club. Tatsu didn't call.

When we were done, it was past midnight and there was nothing else to do but wait for Tatsu. I drove into Akasaka and dropped Dox off first, near the Akasaka Prince Hotel, where he'd reserved a room earlier. After the kind of op we'd just pulled, it was best for all of us to move. Delilah opened the door and he climbed out over her, then turned back to us.

'The second you hear something, you call me,' he said.

I nodded. 'I will.'

'I'm serious. Don't go running off on your own again, like you did in New York.'

'Okay.'

He looked at me, obviously doubtful, then turned to Delilah. 'Will you talk some sense into the man? He has this lone wolf complex.'

Delilah smiled. 'I'll try.'

He patted her on the knee and looked at her. 'Delilah, I'd trust you to watch my back anytime. And you can count on me to watch yours.'

She smiled again. 'You got to see quite a bit of my back tonight.'

Dox blinked and his cheeks flushed crimson. 'What I meant was…'

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. 'I know what you meant. And thank you.'

He looked at me and said, 'I have good bones, you know.' Then he closed the door and was gone.

I drove off. Delilah said, 'There's one thing. I didn't want to say in front of Dox, because I can tell he feels bad he didn't finish Yamaoto.'

'What is it?'

'Yamaoto got ahold of me at one point, and I slashed him twice across the arm with the Hideaway. That might have been part of the blood on the street, I don't know.'

I nodded, feeling grim. 'Well, we'll find out.'

'Yeah.'

I parked on a quiet side street near the New Otani, her new hotel. 'I would walk you,' I said, 'but we still need to be careful about being seen together. Especially now.'

She started to answer, but then one of us or maybe both of us leaned in and we were kissing like a pair of drowning victims getting their first taste of air.

She pulled me into the back of the van, where Dox still had his mattress pad laid out. The jacket I'd thrown over her shoulders came off easily. And the dress was half gone anyway. I hiked what was left of it up to her belly while she kissed me and got my pants open. We were breathing hard and my head was pounding and when I touched her and felt how wet she was it drove everything else from my mind. She pushed me back onto the mattress pad and there was no time to get her panties down her legs so I just pulled, hard, and they were gone. She leaned over and straddled me and then I was inside her and I'd never felt anything so good. I thought, Fuck, not again, not without a condom, and it was the most fleeting and inconsequential thought I've ever had in my life.

It was as brief as it was furious. Our hands were everywhere and we never stopped kissing. When she came, she groaned something in Hebrew, groaned it right into my mouth, and I came with her.

I settled back onto the mattress pad, spent. She stayed as she was, looking down at me, hands on my shoulders.