A Lonely Resurrection

tables and chairs, alongside a grand piano. Only when I was actually standing in front of him did he raise his head from his reading. It took him a half second to recognize me. When he did, he recoiled. “What the hell!” he stammered.
    I sat across from him. He started to get up. I restrained him with a firm hand on his shoulder.
    “Stay seated,” I said quietly. “Keep your hands where I can see them. I’m only here to talk. If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.”
    His eyes bulged. “What the hell!” he said again.
    “Calm down,” I told him. “You’ve been looking for me. Here I am.”
    He exhaled sharply and swallowed. “Sorry,” he said. “I just didn’t expect to see you like this.”
    I waited.
    “All right,” he said, after a moment. “The first thing I should mention is that this has nothing to do with William Holtzer.”
    I kept waiting.
    “I mean, he didn’t have many supporters. He isn’t missed.”
    I doubted Holtzer’s own family would miss him. I waited some more.
    “So what we want, the reason we’ve been looking for you,” he went on, “is, we want you to, ah, interfere with someone’s activities.”
    A new euphemism,
I thought.
So exciting.
    “Who?” I asked, to let him know he was finally on the right track.
    “Well, just a second. Before we talk about that, I need to know, are you interested?”
    I looked at him. “Mr. Biddle, I’m sure you know I’m selective about whose activities I’ll ‘interfere’ with. So without knowing who, I couldn’t tell you whether I’d be interested or not.”
    “It’s a man. A principal.”
    I nodded. “Good.”
    “‘Good’ meaning, you’re interested?”
    “Meaning you haven’t made me uninterested, so far.”
    He nodded. “You know the person we’re talking about. You met him recently, when he was following an acquaintance of yours.”
    Only long-practiced discretion prevented me from showing my surprise. “Tell me,” I said.
    “Kanezaki.”
    “Why?”
    He frowned. “What do you mean, ‘why’?”
    “Let’s just say my unhappy history with your organization necessitates higher than usual levels of disclosure.”
    “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you more than I have already.”
    “I’m sorry, you’ll have to.”
    “Or you won’t take the job?”
    “Or I will take your life.”
    He blanched, but other than that kept his composure. “I don’t really think this conversation calls for threats,” he said. “We’re discussing a business proposition.”
    “‘Threats,’” I said, my tone thoughtful. “I’ve survived for a long time by identifying and preemptively eliminating ‘threats.’ So here’s my business proposition to you. Convince me you’re not a ‘threat,’ and I won’t eliminate you.”
    “I don’t believe this,” he said. “Do you know who I am?”
    “Tell me, so we can get it right on the headstone.”
    He glowered at me. After a moment, he said, “All right, I’ll tell you. But only because it makes sense for you to know, not because of your threats.” He took a sip from the china cup. “Kanezaki is a rogue. He’s been running a secret program that would cause a lot of embarrassment on both sides of the Pacific if it were to get out.”
    “Crepuscular?” I asked.
    His mouth dropped open. “You know. . . how could you possibly know about that? From Kanezaki?”
    Y
ou dumb bastard,
I thought.
Whatever I knew, you just confirmed it.
    I looked at him. “Mr. Biddle, how do you think I’ve lasted as long as I have in this line of work? I make it my business to know what I’m stepping into and whether the reward is worth the risk. That’s how I stay alive and my clients get their money’s worth.”
    I waited while he digested this new worldview.
    “What else do you know about this?” he asked after a moment, trying to be shrewd now.
    “Plenty. Now tell me why you’ve decided that Kanezaki has become a liability. From what I understand, up until now he’s been your golden boy.”
    He crinkled his nose as though at an offensive odor. “In his own mind he’s golden. Forgive me, but simply having Japanese blood doesn’t give someone special insights into this country.”
    I waved a hand to show that of course his comment didn’t offend me.
    “Insight into this country, any country, takes years of education, experience, sensitivity,” he said. “But this kid, he thinks he knows enough to design and run his own damn foreign policy.”
    I nodded to