The Last Assassin

I looked at him and he nodded. 'Onegai shimasu,' he said. Please.

All at once I realized why he had been asking me if Yamaoto would suffer.

I shook my head. 'Don't ask me to do that. Tatsu, please.'

'With Yamaoto done, I have nothing to concentrate on to get me past the pain. I can't take it anymore. And I don't want to spend my last days in a morphine haze.'

'Tatsu, I can't.'

'This is killing my family, too. My wife sits with me and I hear her crying when she thinks I'm asleep.'

'What about your grandson? You said…'

'God help me, it's not enough anymore.'

'But you talk to him. I've seen you, whispering to him.'

'Yes. And tonight I said good-bye. And that I would try to watch out for him.'

I looked around, trying to find an argument. I gestured to his chest. 'Look, they've got you hooked up to the heart monitor. They'll just rush in here and resuscitate you. I don't…'

'If you're telling me you have no way around something like this, I'm going to be very disappointed.'

I shook my head and didn't speak.

'Is there a way around it? Rain-san, please.'

I closed my eyes and nodded.

He reached over and took my hand in his. 'Then do it.'

I waited for a long time, looking into his eyes, hoping I would see his resolve slacken. It didn't.

I undid the two top buttons on my shirt, reached over, and took hold of the adhesive pad over his heart. I looked at him. He nodded.

I pulled the pad free and stuck it onto my own chest.

We sat like that for a minute, very still. I looked up at the monitor and watched the tracings of my own heart. It was beating as fast as it was hard.

The nurse stuck her head in. 'Ishikura-san, are you all right?'

Tatsu smiled. 'I'm fine.'

My back was to her. She couldn't see the wire snaking into my shirt.

She nodded. 'There must have been a glitch in one of the machines. Sorry to disturb you.'

Tatsu said, 'That's all right. Could you send my man in, please?'

She nodded and left.

The bodyguard came in a moment later. Tatsu said, 'It's late. Why don't you take the rest of the night off?'

The bodyguard said, 'Sir, my replacement won't be here for another thirty…'

'It's fine. My friend here will watch over me until then.'

'Sir…'

Tatsu looked at him, and for a moment he seemed his old formidable self. 'Don't make me ask you again,' he said.

The bodyguard nodded crisply and walked out.

Tatsu settled back in his bed and groaned. The effort of momentarily projecting that fierce persona had exhausted him.

'All right,' he said, gesturing to the IV line in his arm.

I filled the syringe and pushed the needle into a distal port on the main line. The tears I'd been fighting welled up in my eyes and spilled over.

'I've always wondered how you go about your work,' he said.

I looked at him. 'I don't usually cry while I'm at it.'

He laughed weakly. 'I won't tell anyone.'

I kinked the main IV line above the port and closed it with the string from the package. We were ready to go. But still I hesitated.

'Rain-san, what are you waiting for?'

I squeezed his hand hard and looked at him. 'You've been a good friend to me,' I said. 'Thank you.'

He smiled. 'And you to me. There's no one else I could ask. You know that, don't you?'

I nodded, but couldn't speak.

'Take care of your family now,' he said. 'There's nothing more important than that. Watch over your boy.'

I nodded again, the tears running harder.