A Lonely Resurrection

running a rogue program since then. Given that Tanaka has only been dealing with Biddle, it seems likely the rogue is in fact Biddle, who was using Kanezaki as his unwitting front man.”
    “Yamaoto wouldn’t know Crepuscular wasn’t officially sanctioned,” I said, nodding. “He would have assumed the program was within the knowledge of Biddle’s superiors back at Langley. But it sounds like, outside of Biddle and Kanezaki, no one on the U.S. side is aware of it.”
    He bowed his head as though acknowledging the valiant efforts of a slow student who had shown a hint of progress. “Which is why Yamaoto missed the possibility that Biddle would see Kanezaki’s elimination as a solution to Yamaoto’s blackmail.”
    “You can’t really fault Biddle’s reasoning,” I said, looking at him closely. “With Kanezaki gone, Yamaoto’s blackmail evidence would lose most of its power. Meaning your network of reformers would be a lot safer if Kanezaki exited the scene.”
    He grunted, and I realized I was enjoying the sight of him struggling with what for him was a moral dilemma. “What about the reformers Kanezaki’s been meeting with?” I asked. “If he gets exposed, they’ll be at risk.”
    “Several of them may be.”
    “An acceptably small number?”
    He looked at me, knowing where I was going. I said it anyway. “What would you do if there had been five? Or ten?”
    He scowled. “These are decisions that can only be made case by case.”
    “Yamaoto doesn’t make these decisions case by case,” I said, still pushing. “He knows what needs to be done and he does it. That’s what you’re up against. You sure you’re equal to the task?”
    His eyes narrowed slightly. “Do you think I seek to be this man’s ‘equal’? Yamaoto would not account for the fact that these politicians are themselves to blame for their current predicament. Or for the fact that Kanezaki’s motives are essentially good. Or for the fact that this young man presumably has a mother and father who would be ruined by his loss.”
    I bowed my head, acknowledging his point and the firsthand knowledge behind it. “Those men are finished, then?” I asked.
    He nodded. “I have to assume Yamaoto owns them now, and warn the others.”
    “What about Kanezaki?”
    “I’ll brief him on our meetings with Biddle and Tanaka.”
    “Tell him his boss tried to put a contract out on him?”
    He shrugged. “Why not? The young man already feels indebted to me. This sentiment might prove useful in the future. No harm in reinforcing it now.”
    “What about Murakami?”
    “As I said, we will continue to question the man we took in. He may provide us with something useful.”
    “Contact me as soon as you have something. I want to be there when it happens.”
    “So do I,” he said.

CHAPTER 20
    I checked the Imperial voicemail account from a payphone. A mechanical female voice told me I had one message.
    I tried not to hope, but the attempt felt pretty thin. The female voice instructed me to press the “one” key if I wanted to hear the message. I did.
    “Jun, it’s me,” I heard Midori say. There was a pause, then, “I don’t know if you’re really still staying at the hotel, so I don’t know if you’ll even get this message.” Another pause. “I’d like to see you tonight. I’ll be at Body & Soul at eight o’clock. I hope you’ll come. Bye.”
    The female voice told me the message had been left at 2:28 P.M. , that I should press the “one” key if I wanted to repeat it. I pressed it. And again.
    There was something so disarmingly natural about the way she called me Jun, short for Junichi. No one calls me Jun anymore. No one knows the name. I had been using Junichi, my real name, selectively even before leaving Tokyo, and had discarded it entirely afterward.
    Hi, Jun, it’s me.
Such an ordinary message. Most people probably get ones like it all the time.
    It felt as though the ground beneath me had borrowed some extra gravity from somewhere.
    The part of my brain that’s served me well for so long spoke up:
Place and time. Could be a setup.
    Not from her. I didn’t buy that.
    Who else might have heard that message, though?
    I considered. To intercept the message, someone would have to know where I was staying and under what fictitious name, and they’d have to be able to hack the hotel voicemail system. Outside of Tatsu, who wasn’t a current threat, there wasn’t much chance of that.
    A chance, though.
    My