The Last Assassin

able to drop him yet. We'll get him inside.'
    The buzzer sounded a second later. The security guy opened the door and bowed especially low, and four Japanese men in suits walked briskly inside. The first two she recognized from Rain's photos: Yamaoto was the older one, walking in front, his posture erect, projecting the kind of forceful personality you could feel from across a room. His clothes fit beautifully and she could instantly see from the tailored cut of the jacket and the movement of his shoulder blades beneath the material that he wasn't wearing armor. Kuro was softer-looking, with Brylcreemed hair and more the air of a businessman than of a gangster, coming along a half step behind Yamaoto. The other two, muscles bulging inside their suits and eyes darting from side to side as they struggled to keep up with their bosses, were obviously bodyguards. Like their Chinese counterparts, they had telltale bulges under their jackets.
    The hostess behind the island came around and started taking coats. The office door opened, and Kyoko came out with the other hostess. While the younger women helped the men with their jackets, Kyoko discussed something in Japanese with Yamaoto and Kuro. At various points the two men and Kyoko all glanced at Delilah, then went back to talking.
    This time Kyoko escorted the men inside herself. Delilah wanted to get up and see where they went in the main room, but that would have drawn too much attention to her. She'd have to wait for another chance.
    She whispered, 'No armor.'
    'Roger that,' Dox answered immediately.
    A minute later, Kyoko returned. She walked over to Delilah and said, 'We have… an interesting situation.'
    Delilah raised her eyebrows, thinking she might have an idea now what was going on. She wasn't yet sure whether it was an opportunity or a problem. Maybe a bit of both.
    'One of our guests,' Kyoko continued, 'is quite taken with you. And uninterested in anyone else tonight.'
    'But you tell him… I, not a job yet. Interview.' Rain and Dox would be wondering what was going on, but they'd catch on in a minute.
    Kyoko nodded. 'That seemed only to add to the attraction.'
    'Which guest?'
    'The Chinese gentleman. Mr Liu.'
    'Mr Liu wants me to hostess him?'
    Kyoko laughed. 'That's exactly what he wants. Look, this is an unusual situation. You haven't even been properly interviewed, let alone trained. But Mr Liu is an important guest. And the two members with him, Mr Yamaoto and Mr Kuro, want him to be happy.'
    If she said no, it would look strange. An applicant like Laure would jump at the chance to impress a bunch of important people during her interview. If she said yes, she wasn't sure what she'd be getting herself into. She'd know exactly where Yamaoto was and what was going on around him, true, but she wasn't sure how she'd extricate herself when the moment was right. Well, she'd figure something out.
    'Kyoko,' she said, 'do you think I should join them?'
    Kyoko sighed. 'Mr Kuro will treat it as the interview you came for. And if you make Mr Liu happy, I can't imagine you wouldn't get the job.'
    'Then with pleasure I will join all of them. Again, their names are Liu, Kuro, Yamaoto?' If they hadn't understood already, Rain and Dox would get it now.
    'That's right. Now, they know you're only an applicant, so they won't expect you to know everything about the club, our procedures, that kind of thing. So no need to be nervous. Come, I'll introduce you.'
    Kyoko took Delilah into the main room. It was more crowded than the night before, perhaps because it was later now, perhaps because Saturday was just a busier night. About sixty people, Delilah estimated, two-thirds of them hostesses.
    In the far corner, in the booth adjacent to the emergency exit, sat Big Liu, Big Liu's associate, Kuro, and Yamaoto. She was surprised by that — she had expected them to use one of the private rooms. But no, of course, Big Liu was obviously a lecher; he would want to sit wherever he could best drink in the parade of beauty around him. And Yamaoto probably wanted to indulge him, to use Big Liu's own appetites to distract the man from whatever concessions they were trying to wring from him. After all, that's why they were meeting here to begin with.
    Two of the bodyguards, one Chinese, one Japanese, sat across from each other in the outer seats of the adjacent booth. They were watching the room carefully, and each other as well. Understandable, under the circumstances. Their organizations