Chapter Two: Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Youji came back into the Koneko walking like a man on the brink of death. He pushed the door opened by leaning against it and his feet scraping the smooth floor. He stumbled down the stairs, leaning against the wall just outside the door of the briefing room, then took a deep breath and walked in.

"I was too late," he said. "The Frenchman's got Ken."

"Are you sure, Youji-kun?" Omi asked.

Youji just nodded. "What did you find out?"

"You were right," Omi told him. "The records I got from the embassy were false. I only just found his real records. I'm going through them now."

Looking over his shoulder, Youji could see a screen full of Roman letters. Beside the computer, there was a page of notes written in Omi's precise kanji, all but the four Roman letters in the middle that Youji had been afraid he would see.

He lit a cigarette and scanned the notes. It worse than he had thought, much worse. He raked his other hand through his hair and stared at the back of Omi's head as he went on working through the translation. Then he heard a sound on the steps behind him and spun to see Aya standing in the doorway with Manx. The woman was standing there watching them as if it was just another day, as if nothing was wrong. As cool and calm as ever. And though the day before Youji had found this intriguing, now it made him furious. Before he realised what he was doing he had crossed the room and was standing a few inches from her.

"A spy," he hissed. "The artist isn't the problem. You sent us after spy."

"I'm sorry," Manx said.

"You're sorry?"

"Our information was incomplete," Manx said. "I'm sorry we couldn't get you all the data before you were assigned the mission."

"Tell that to Ken."

Youji wanted to hit her, he wanted to grab her, he wanted to shake her until he saw the facade crack and finally found out if there was anything human behind those cool eyes. And he hated himself for it.

"Look at this." He shoved Omi's notes in her face and stepped back. "He's not the embassy cultural attaché. You see those Roman letters in the middle? He works for the DGSE, the French secret service. He's a legal spy with the cover of a job title that doesn't say anything about what he actually does. All the embassies have got one, the Americans have a CIA man, the British have one from MI6 and we've got someone from the DIO in ours. This guy has been trained by the best; he was running Cold War counterintelligence operations before any of us were born. He'd have made Ken immediately, the boy's good but he's just a kid."

"How do you know that?" Aya inquired.

"I read a lot of books," Youji told him.

He dropped heavily onto the sofa and raised the cigarette to his lips, but stopped before he could take a drag. The cigarette had burned down to the filter, there was nothing left now but ashes. He stared at it sadly and then stubbed it out and lit another one before looking up at Manx.

"Tell the man behind the desk he's fucked up this time."

Omi looked up from the computer "Do you think Ken-kun is alive, Youji-kun?"

"He's alive," Aya said.

"How do you know, Aya-kun?"

"Because the Frenchman won't kill him," Aya told him. "He'll want to know why Hidaka was following him. He won't stop until he knows. He won't kill Hidaka until he's certain he has no more use for him."

"Ken-kun wouldn't tell him anything," Omi said.

Youji looked up. "Yes he will. The Frenchman's not going to stop if Ken just tells him 'no'. He'll find a way to make him talk, especially once he realises that his life's at stake. And once he finds out about us..." He tailed off and suddenly the full implications of what this meant hit him. "Oh no..."

He looked up at Manx, and he could see she knew it too, as did Aya. An instant later, he heard the sharp intake of breath to his left as Omi realised the unthinkable: what Ken knew could destroy them all.

"Evacuate." Aya spoke first. "Tell Persia to get every Kritiker agent out of Tokyo. Especially you and Birman. Then he has to leave too. You're all in danger."

"How much does Ken know?" Manx asked.

"He knows you," Youji said.

Manx held his eyes for a second and then nodded. "We'll evacuate."

"We've got to figure out how to get Ken back," Youji stood up again. "If the Frenchman wants to interrogate him then he's got to be keeping him somewhere. He can't keep him at the embassy without someone asking questions, so that leaves his own house, or the artist's place. But he's probably holding him wherever they held the other kids they took so –"

"No."

Youji rounded on Manx. "No?"

"Siberian's recovery is not your mission," Manx stated calmly. "Until you are told otherwise your priority is still the termination of the targets. Do you understand?"

Aya nodded.

"Yes, Manx," Omi said.

The woman's gaze turned to Youji. "Balinese?"

Youji stared angrily at Manx, but he couldn't hold her gaze. Worse still, he knew she was right. Capture or death was a risk they took every time they accepted a mission, and the rest of the team would carry on regardless. The words from the old American TV show came back to him: if any of you are caught or killed, the secretary will disavow all knowledge.

He dropped his head in surrender. "I understand."

"We need a plan quickly," Aya said. "Morin can't go to war with Kritiker if he's dead."

Omi nodded, turning back to the computer. "But if he's interrogating Ken-kun, why would he come out? Especially if he knows that we're looking for him."

"He won't come out if he knows someone's looking for him," Youji sighed. "And neither will Nakajima. We're going to have to find a reason for them to come out... and I think I know one."

"What is it, Youji-kun?"

"Sumiko told me that Nakajima is having a private viewing of his sculptures tomorrow night. It'll in a new gallery near the French Embassy, and it's being hosted by the embassy itself. So the artist will have to be there, and so will the Frenchman, because there's no way Nakajima can't be there, and if one is there then the other will."

"Tomorrow night?" Aya inquired. "What if he breaks Ken before then?"

"He won't."

"What if he does?"

"Manx, go now," Youji told her. "Warn everyone, then get out of the city. Buy a plane ticket to somewhere far away and if you haven't heard from us by Sunday, get out of the country. We'll have to keep on going as usual. Aya, ask Momoe to go home and we'll mind the shop for today and tomorrow."

Aya shook his head. "We should close. We should be ready."

"Aya, we shouldn't attract attention if we don't have to, and he's not attack a shop full of schoolgirls in broad daylight in the middle of Shibuya."

"How do you know, Youji-kun?" Omi asked.

"We wouldn't."

Manx nodded, satisfied that they knew what they were doing. "Kritiker will prepare for the worst. Good luck."

"Thanks." Youji smiled. "And Manx... I'm sorry."

She might have smiled, she was gone before Youji was sure. As she went out the back door and Aya went to talk to Momoe, Youji turned back to Omi.

"Please, Omi, please think of a plan before tomorrow night. And please try to come up with a way we can find Ken along the way."