The Last Assassin

that day. There was nothing to report, but it was important to keep the channels open, to let Big Liu know that Yamaoto was on top of things, that he was concerned.
    Yamaoto's men had been to every one of Kito's and Sanada's known associates. Someone had even flown to Fukuoka, Kito's hometown in Kyushu, to interview the man's parents. But the sumos seemed to have become invisible. Yamaoto was beginning to grow concerned. Maybe they really had stolen the money and drugs and were embarked on some long-planned escape route.
    He was at his desk, getting ready to call Big Liu for another uncomfortable 'no news' discussion, when his mobile phone rang. Kuro's name appeared on the caller ID.
    Yamaoto opened the phone. '
Hai
.'
    'They're here,' Kuro said. 'They came in.'
    Yamaoto leaned forward, relief flooding through him. 'Where?'
    'My place in Shinjuku.'
    'I'll be there in twenty minutes. Don't let them leave.'
    'Understood.'
    Yamaoto hung up. He called his driver and had the man bring around the armored Mercedes S-Class that he'd taken to traveling in after his last encounter with John Rain.
    Twenty minutes later, he walked into a popular 'Fashion Health' massage place Kuro ran in Shinjuku. Kuro had a way of managing these kinds of establishments. The man was a good earner. Reliable.
    The doorman recognized Yamaoto and welcomed him with an obsequious bow. Yamaoto ignored the women lounging on red velour couches in the subdued light and headed straight through a door into the back office.
    There they were, occupying opposite ends of a gray leather couch, heads hanging and hands twisting in their laps as though they were the world's largest errant schoolboys. It was a wonder the furniture could support their combined bulk. Kuro was off to the side, seated behind a metal desk. Yamaoto knew he kept a gun back there, highly illegal in. Japan, and that if Kito and Sanada had tried to leave, Kuro would have used it.
    The men looked up when Yamaoto entered. They both shot to their feet and bowed deeply.
'Moushiwake gozaimasen, kumicho!'
they cried in unison. We humbly beg your forgiveness, boss!
    Yamaoto stood silently, looking from one to the other. Eventually they straightened and met his eyes.
    'What the hell happened in Wajima?' he asked. 'And where the hell have you been?'
    The men looked at each other, then back at Yamaoto. They were plainly terrified.
    Kito spoke first. 'We… we're not sure,
kumicho.''
    Sanada added, 'We arrived on schedule. The Chinese signaled from off the coast and came ashore. We walked over to do the exchange, then… something happened.'
    Yamaoto said, 'What?'
    Kito said, 'We think someone shot us with a drug. Each of us felt a… a slap in the neck. Then we were waking up in the mud. It was dark, but we saw two men. We tried to fight them, but we were groggy and they shot us again. When we woke up the second time, the Chinese were dead and the shipment and payment were gone.
Kumicho,
we swear to you this is the truth!'
    Sanada stuck his chin high and gestured to his neck. '
Kumicho,
look, you can see the marks! They shot us with tranquilizers or something.'
    Yamaoto looked at Sanada's massive neck. The skin was indeed discolored in two places, and there were red marks in the center of the discolorations, like the result of a hornet's sting. But what did that mean? They could have made the marks themselves.
    'And here,' Kito said, lifting his shirt and exposing a planet-sized belly. He had an identical mark there.
    'You didn't get a good look at the men?' Yamaoto asked.
    'No,
kumicho
,' Kito said. 'It was dark.'
    'Nothing that could help us identify them? Did you hear them talking?'
    The men looked at each other. Sanada said, 'I think I did, I remember hearing yelling, but I was confused from the drug.'
    'Was it Chinese? Japanese?'
    'I think Japanese, but also there were parts I couldn't understand. Maybe some English. At one point…'
    'What?'
    'At one point, I thought one of them was yelling "I love you" in Chinese. But I… I'm just not sure,
kumicho.'
    Yamaoto wondered if the man was becoming unhinged. Or perhaps they had indeed been drugged. 'Did you tell anyone beforehand about the meeting in Wajima?' he asked.
    'No,
kumicho!'
Kito exclaimed. 'Not a soul!'
    Yamaoto looked from one to the other as though having trouble believing their story. As indeed he was. 'Why did you wait to come in?'
    The men looked at each other, then back to Yamaoto. Sanada said,
'Kumicho,
we're… we're afraid. We know