Zero. Part 41

Stared up into the shadows, a face without features, the tongue extended grotesquely between slack lips. The noose tight around the neck.

Swinging like a pendulum off the floor.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

"Michiko!"

It was a scream to disturb the dead.

"Here, Philip-san." The voice, watery, ethereal. "I am here." Echoing through the deserted corridors of the stadium.

With an inarticulate cry, he turned the body into the light. It was a male figure. With a sickening lurch, he recognized the face of Ed Porter, bloated, drained of blood.

He wheeled from the grotesque corpse, saw by the dim light Michiko huddled in a comer. There was wire flex wrapped around her wrists and ankles. Her skin was broken and bleeding where she had tried to free herself. The Sesh was already black-and-blue, puffed up in furrows.

"Michiko!" Took her head in his hands. "Thank G.o.d you're alive!" He was weeping with relief. He kissed her cheek, felt wetness, and a salty taste on his tongue.

He turned her head fully into the light, and she gave a tiny cry of pain.

"Michiko! What is it!"

She did not, or could not, answer.

Her head was trembling. There was blood on her face.

In a mounting frenzy, Philip began to wipe it away. It continued to seep out.

"Oh my darling, what have they done to you?" But, his heart lurching, he knew, and an icy fear stole through him. He remembered the fable of Megami Kitsune, the fox-G.o.ddess, and Michiko's fear of retribution for the sin of loving him.

"Nothing," she whispered. "Nothing." And then, her head bowed against his breast, she broke down at last, sobbing like a child. "Oh Philip-san, they have taken away my sight! I am blind!"

"Acting on the information Michiko gave me," Wataro Taki said, "I havediscovered who David Turner really is."

"But Michiko-"

"I do not wish to speak of her." Wataro Taki poured more tea. They were sitting facing one another in a tea shop in Tokyo. It was the day after the incident at the sumo stadium. Philip had not seen-or heard from-Michiko since he had delivered her to her father.

"Is she all right?" Philip persisted.

Wataro Taki stared down into the dregs of his tea. "No," he said at last, "she is not all right. Her wounds will heal in time," he said hastily, seeing the alarm on Philip's face. "On that matter you need have no worries."

"But her sight-" He could not bring himself to go on.

"Her sight, Doss-san, is lost to her forever. We must all get used to that now."

"Because of me, she went to the furo. And that led her to the sumo stadium."

"This is all a matter over and done with," Wataro Taki said. "Don't you agree?" There was a note of warning in his voice.

Miserably, Philip nodded.

"Therefore," Wataro Taki said, "as to the matter of David Turner. Your suspicions of him were quite well founded, I am afraid."

"Who is he?" Philip asked. "Really."

"His name is Yvgeny Karsk," Wataro Taki said. "He is a colonel in the Soviet NKVD. He was meeting the Soviet first attache at the furo. Karsk, it seems, was trained inside Russia to be as American as you are, Doss-san."

"Jesus." He was an explosion of breath. Philip shook his head. "Then I was right-and so was Ed Porter. Turner-Karsk was the link to the Jiban. He always was. He laid the false evidence for me to find that implicated Silvers."

"He knew you were becoming suspicious of the intelligence he was bringing to the CIG from the Jiban. He knew that you were suspicious of the Jiban's motives," Wataro Taki said. "Turner-Karsk cleverly provided an appropriate quarry."

"Silvers was murdered before he could refute the false evidence," Philip said.

He remembered General Hadley telling him that he had told Jonas and Turner of the evidence that Philip had found implicating Silvers. That had been the night before the murder. So Turner knew what was going to happen, and had the time to do something about it.

Wataro Taki nodded. "It seems clear now that Turner-"

"Don't call him that!"

"That Karsk murdered your Colonel Silvers."

"But what I can't understand," Philip said, "is why Kozo Shiina, the leader of the Jiban, a radical reactionary clique of high-level j.a.panese ministers, would hook up with a Russian agent."

"That is simplicity itself," Wataro Taki said. "Kpzo Shiina is the heart and soul of the Jiban. It is his brainchild. Shiina has built a kind of philosophical cult around himself. He sees capitalism-the American brand of capitalism, with its em- phasis on free enterprise for the individual gain-as particularly pernicious to the j.a.panese way of life. After all, here in j.a.pan, we strive together as a nation, for the good of the nation-and the Emperor. The individual is nothing.

"For now, at least, the Soviet way of thinking is enough like Shiina's to allow him to enlist Russia's aid. The Russians can be powerful allies."

"And dangerous foes," Philip said, picturing the ascetic profile of David Turner-Yvgeny Karsk in his mind. "Karsk is a murderer. Who knows what else he's capable of?" Then, in a flash, be remembered the silhouette in the sumo stadium. "My G.o.d, Karsk was there last night!" he said breathlessly, "when they blinded Michiko."

"Now both Karsk and Shiina are your bitter enemies," Wataro said.

"Why?" Philip asked. "Karsk may know me, but Shiina does not."

"Perhaps that was so up until last night," Wataro Taki said. "The fight at the sumo stadium changed everything. You see, Philip-san, the young man you killedduring the fight at the stadium was Kozo Shiina's son."

"Jesus!" Philip let out a heavy breath.

"It is fortunate that Zen G.o.do is dead, neh? Otherwise, I am convinced that Michiko would be dead now. But as far as Shiina-and everyone else but you and Michiko-is concerned, Zen G.o.do and Wataro Taki have no relationship to one another.

"Kozo Shiina has been my mortal enemy for years. Now he is yours as well, neh, Doss-san? Shiina is enough to think about. Now a new foe has entered the arena. Yvgeny Karsk. It is clear that, together, Karsk and Shiina must have masterminded the entire affair to permanently cripple the CIG. It seems to me, Doss-san, that in Yvgeny Karsk we have made a most powerful and dangerous enemy."

"Only," Philip said, "until I hunt him down, and put a bullet between his eyes."

"If I cannot have him, I will kill myself."

"You are talking nonsense."

"I mean it," Michiko warned. How had her father found out about her affair with Philip? she asked herself. They had been so careful.

Wataro Taki shook his head. "Then you are a foolish, foolish girl."

"It is not foolish to know what I want. What I need."

He stared at her uncomprehendingly. "What you want. What you need. This is totally unimportant." He wore a Western business suit. His hands were manicured, his hair pomaded. He was a man of the new, prosperous age into which, he was certain, he and j.a.pan would be entering. "What this family needs should be your only concern."

"He would leave his wife for me," Michiko said. "I know it."

"What Philip Doss would or would not do is immaterial," Wataro Taki said sharply. Looking at her sightless face, swathed in bandages, he wished to cry.

But that would be a mistake. He must be strong so that she would remain strong. He knew that any sign on his part of how he was feeling, and she would break down utterly. Far better, he thought, for her to learn to cope from the outset. "Have you forgotten your own vows? What about n.o.buo? Have you thought of him? Bad enough that you have had to spend so much time away from your husband. Now you wish to dishonor him completely."

"I never loved n.o.buo, Father. You knew that when you set the marriage with the Yamamotos."

"It has turned out to be the best decision I ever made," he said. "The Yamamotos have been my staunchest allies through the worst of times. They have shown their loyalty to me time and again. Which is more than I can say for my own daughter's filial piety. What would your mother have thought of this rebellious behavior? I am glad that she is not here to witness it."

"How convenient," Michiko cried, "that you invoke the memory of my mother only when you need it."

Anger and duty rose simultaneously within him. His heart broke to see his only daughter sightless. In his heart, the need to revenge himself upon those who had mutilated her was a living thing, pulsing, crying out for release. But he knew that he was standing on sand, as his father used to say. Dangerous territory, for here the footing seemed falsely secure. At any moment a wave could rise up and suck the sand from beneath your feet.

Wataro Taki knew that if he made a move against Kozo Shiina or any of the Jiban now, their suspicions would be aroused. Who was this man who had moved against them? What were his motives for revenge? They would begin to dig and, with the vast resources at their disposal, he would be in danger of being exposed.

He thought of Philip Doss. It was Philip Doss who had suggested that Michiko follow David Turner. It was Philip Doss who, in a sense, must share culpability for this tragedy. Let Philip Doss become Wataro Taki's stalking horse. Let Philip Doss be the sword of his revenge against Kozo Shiina and the Jiban.

This decided, he said, "I forbid you to continue this liaison with PhilipDoss." It would now be far too dangerous for Michiko to be near Doss. Michiko had already been blinded by his enemies; Wataro Taki did not want her dead.

"You cannot do this," Michiko whispered. "Please, Father. Oh please! I beg you!"

He ignored her. "Arrange it. Say your goodbyes to your lover and then return to your husband."

Michiko bowed her head. "Now I will have nothing. You have condemned me to a life of ashes and dust."

"Then that will be your own doing," Wataro Taki said. "You have your sins to contemplate and your punishment to serve. It is your liaison with Doss-san that led to your blindness. Nevertheless, you are my daughter, and I know that you will obey me. Your first-and only-duty is to your family. I am confident that you will never forget that, Michiko." He straightened his tie, pressed the palms of his hands against his shiny hair. "n.o.buo knows nothing. He will continue to know nothing; I will see to it. As for Philip Doss, you will put your personal feelings aside. As of this moment, it is over."

But, of course, he could not know how wrong he was. He would never know that in disobeying him, Michiko would one day save his dreams.

Jonas called. Philip had just gotten home. He could hear Lillian in the bedroom, stirring. She called out to him, and he said, "I've got it."

He could tell immediately that a wheel had come off. "Where the h.e.l.l've you been? I've been trying to get you for a half hour?" Jonas was in a sweat.

"It's happened, buddy," he said in a breathless voice. "The worst nightmare you could imagine."

"What is it?"

The line was secure, so they could talk directly.

"The safe house where we've been keeping the ministers on the Jiban's. .h.i.t list has been breached."

"Jesus! What happened?"

"They're all dead, Phil," Jonas said. "Every single one of the ministers.

Someone got in and detonated a half dozen grenades. There isn't enough left to sc.r.a.pe off the rugs."

"Where's Turner?"

"What?"

"Turner!" Philip was shouting now. "Where is David Turner?"

"In charge of the preliminary investigation. He's at the safe house."

"I'm going down there," Philip said.

"It's security city there," Jonas said. "I'll call and clear it. I'm on my way there anyway."

"No," Philip said. "I want you to get over to Turner's apartment."

"What for?"

"There's no time," Philip said impatiently. "Turner's a Russian spy, Jonas. He killed Silvers, and it's a sure bet he masterminded the safe house break-in as well. Just do as I say. And for Christ's sake be careful!"

Philip checked his service revolver before going up the steps to the safe house. As Jonas had said, the place was alive with soldiers and CIG personnel.

Fire trucks were parked half on the sidewalk, and hoses snaked in through the front door.

He used his credentials, but it was still a tough job getting through. Inside the safe house, an iron-jawed sergeant stopped him in the foyer, got one of his men to keep Philip there while he went off to find Turner. An efficient forensic team was at work. The place smelled like a chamel house. Somewhere the remnants of a fire were still burning, and Philip saw several firemen rushing through.

The sergeant came back, a puzzled look on his face. "That's funny," he said.

"Lieutenant Turner was here a minute ago. I was here when he took a phone call."

"How long ago?" Philip barked at him.

"Couldn't have been more than five or ten minutes," the startled sergeantsaid.

"Do you know who he was speaking to?"

The sergeant shrugged. But Philip was already racing outside, back to his car.

He approached Turner's apartment on foot. There was only one entrance and, as was typical of j.a.panese apartment buildings, there were no fire escapes. One way in, one way out.

It was clear to him that someone had tipped Turner off that Philip was on his way. That meant two things: that his phone line wasn't secure after all and that Turner had an accomplice at CIG headquarters, because that was where Jonas had phoned him from. Philip filed the knowledge away.

It was Turner-Karsk he was concerned with now. Karsk, who had set him up to point the finger at Silvers. Karsk, who had murdered Silvers. Karsk, who had murdered Ed Porter. Karsk, who had blinded Michiko. Karsk, who had blown away four top-level ministers at the CIG safe house.

Philip went in the front door, his revolver drawn. The small lobby, dim and cool, loomed empty. Turner-Karsk lived on the fourth floor. The elevator was open in the lobby. Philip found a maintenance mop and wedged it against the door to keep it open so no one could use it. Then he took to the stairs.

Sounds echoed up the open s.p.a.ce of the stairwell. None of them were recognizable. Philip kept himself against the inner wall as he went up. He came out onto the fourth-floor landing. Crouching, he looked first one way, then the other. The hallway was clear.