The Key to Midnight

fighters underneath.'
        Alex wondered if the courier was delirious. 'I know all that, Wayne. Why do you think I hired you? I knew you'd be the same kind of field op that I was when I started.'
        Grinding the words out between clenched teeth, Kennedy said, 'So I'd like to suggest… when you get back to the States… you've got to make a decision about filling Bob Feldman's job. Don't forget me.'
        Bob Feldman was in charge of the company's entire force of field operatives, and he was retiring in two months.
        'I get things done,' Kennedy said. 'I'm right… for the job… Mr. Hunter.'
        Alex shook his head in amazement. 'I can almost believe you traveled around the world and arranged to be hit by that car just to trap me in here for this sales pitch.'
        'Bob Feldman… retiring… keep me in mind,' Kennedy said, his speech beginning to slur.
        'I’ll do better than that. I'll give you the job.'
        Kennedy tried to raise his head but couldn't manage to do so. 'You… mean it?'
        'I said it, didn't I?'
        'Every cloud,' Kennedy said, 'has a silver lining,' and at last he relinquished his tenuous grip on consciousness.

----

    24
        
        After Wayne Kennedy was taken into surgery, Alex used a hospital pay phone to call Joanna.
        Mariko answered. 'She's still asleep, Alex-san.'
        He told her what had happened. 'So I'm going to stay here until Wayne comes out of surgery and the doctors can tell me whether the leg stays or goes.'
        'It's that bad?'
        'Yes. So I won't be able to get there by one o'clock, like I promised Joanna.'
        'You belong with your friend. She'll understand.'
        'I don't want her to think I'm backing out.'
        'She knows you better than that.'
        'Does Joanna have a spare bedroom?'
        'For your Mr. Kennedy?'
        'No. He'll be staying here. The room would be for me. Neither you nor Joanna should be alone until this is finished. Besides, it's better strategy to work out of one place. Saves time. I'd like to check out of the hotel and move in there - if it won't ruin anyone's reputation.'
        'I'll prepare the spare room, Alex-san.'
        'I'll be there as soon as I can. Keep the doors locked. And Mariko… we aren't quitting until we know what was done to Joanna and why.'
        'Good,' Mariko said.
        'We're going to nail these bastards to the barn wall.'
        'Nail them to a barn wall? Whatever that means exactly, I think it will be most excellent,' Mariko agreed.
        Alex was far more energized than he'd been in years. Until this moment, he hadn't fully realized that all his financial success had to some degree dampened the fire in him. His fortune, his twenty-two-room estate, and his pair of Rolls-Royces had mellowed him. But now, once again, he was a driven man.

PART TWO
        
    CLUES
        
    The hanging bridge
    Creeping vines
    Entwine our life.
        

    -Basho, 1644-1694

----

    25
        
        At six o'clock the chief surgeon, Dr. Ito, came to the hospital waiting room where Alex was pacing. The doctor was a thin, elegant man in his fifties. He had been working on Wayne Kennedy for five hours. He looked tired, but he smiled because he had good news: Amputation would not be necessary. Kennedy was not entirely out of danger; all manner of complications could yet arise. More likely than not, even without complications, he would have a pronounced limp for the rest of his life, but at least he'd walk on his own two legs.
        Dr. Ito was leaving the lounge when Mariko Inamura arrived to take over the vigil from Alex and free him to move his belongings from the hotel to the spare bedroom above the Moonglow Lounge. When Wayne Kennedy came out of anesthesia, he would need to see a friendly face other than those of the nurses and physicians, and he would want someone close by who spoke fluent English. Dr. Mifuni was staying with Joanna until Alex could get to the Moonglow.
        Alex led Mariko to a corner of the waiting room. They sat on a yellow leatherette couch and spoke in whispers.
        'The police will want to talk to Wayne,' Alex told her.
        'Tonight? The way he is?'
        'Probably not until tomorrow when he's got his wits about him. So when he wakes up and you're certain he understands what you're saying, tell him that I want him to cooperate with the police-'
        'Of course.'
        '-but only to