A/N: Apologies for the long wait for the update. Life Stuff sort of took over for a while; plus, I started working on a side project that I'm really excited about - hope to have some news to share in the next couple of months! In the meantime, enjoy the last of the setup chapters before we get into a bit of action...
April 29, 2008
To Misaki's intense frustration, two weeks later her team was still researching potential leads on the Sapporo servers. The IP addresses that Aisha recalled turned out to not be linked to any sort of physical address - no doubt an intentional precaution on the Syndicate's part. That meant that they were reduced to the old-fashioned, slow detective work of pouring over documents and records to find even the most tenuous connection.
Misaki had begrudgingly asked Kaede for his assistance after he'd returned to Tokyo; but thus far all he'd been able to do was suggest a couple of people to contact for information in the NPA's Sapporo intelligence branch - but Misaki didn't want to risk accidentally alerting the Syndicate to their progress until they actually had some progress. What they really needed was a lead on a Syndicate member in Sapporo, someone who they could keep tabs on and use as a starting point.
But until then, Misaki was trapped in an endless cycle of the boring, mundane administrative tasks that fell to her as the Acting Director of Foreign Affairs.
No wonder the Superintendent hasn't found a permanent replacement yet, she sighed to herself as she skimmed over the latest expense report from Section One. Who the hell wants to deal with this full-time? In each of the past two months Section One had gone over budget by about five hundred yen. It was an insignificant amount in the grand scheme of things, but still - five hundred yen was five hundred yen. They could start paying for their own damn coffee instead of charging it to the police. Instead of signing the report, she circled the total in red ink and wrote No beside it. Then she slipped the stack of paper back into its interdepartmental mail envelope, dropped it in her outbox, and pulled the next manila envelope from the waiting stack.
The return address was the offices of Yomiuri Shimbun. Frowning, Misaki opened the envelope and pulled out a two-page typed document. A blue post-it note was stuck to the top sheet: For tomorrow's front page - enjoy! Toda.
Misaki scowled and ripped the note off. Why hadn't he just emailed her the article? Because you've been ignoring all his emails, she answered herself with a sigh. She'd agreed to a ten-minute phone conversation yesterday morning after Section Four had made the official announcement of Hourai's death; and Toda had agreed to allow her to review the article before publication. It was in both their interests to keep the public informed without forcing the police to invoke the State Secrecy Law over a detail that was too sensitive. And Kan had made it clear to her that he wanted to avoid that if at all possible.
Idly she picked up the golf ball that she had brought back with her from Kan's office after meeting Ito, that now lived next to her computer monitor, and spun it on the desk as she settled in to read.
Former director of Foreign Affairs found dead in locked cell. Misaki grimaced. The headline was obnoxious, but unfortunately accurate. She read on.
On April 11, the body of Hourai Yoshimitsu, 62, was discovered hanging in the shower of his cell in the super-maximum security prison in Saitama Prefecture. Hourai was under investigation for his apparent leadership in the Syndicate, his role in the attempted genocide of contractors, and the murder of Pandora director Eric Nishijima.
Although the cause of death appears to be suicide, officials are treating the incident as a potential homicide. Kirihara Misaki, acting director of Foreign Affairs and Hourai's protege, is leading the investigation.
When questioned whether or not her former superior might have been the victim of contractor violence - for how else could an intruder have penetrated such a secure facility - Kirihara responded, "There is no direct evidence to suggest so thus far. But if such evidence exists, we'll find it."
When pressed for further details, she added, "Contractors aren't magic. They interact with the physical world just like you or I do, and leave evidence just like you or I would."
Hourai had served with the police for nearly forty years, and was the first and - until his arrest - only director of Section Four of the Foreign Affairs department since its formation ten years ago. Could a contractor holding a grudge against the former director have seen his imprisonment as an opportunity to act?
"Contractors don't hold grudges," Kirihara said.
Kirihara had visited the prison and conversed with Hourai the morning of his death. While she refused to disclose the details of that conversation, it would not be too far of a leap to presume that her visit may have been the impetus for the murder - or suicide. Kirihara declined to comment on that subject.
An independent team from Interpol has been tasked with the investigation of the Syndicate and their links to the National Police Agency; this team is being consulted on Hourai's death, as it may have significant ramifications for their investigations and the actions of whatever Syndicate members remain at large in Japan and elsewhere in the world.
Indeed, a further shake-up occurred the day after former director Hourai died, when Kirihara Naoyasu, 55, Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and thirty-year veteran of police, was arrested after confessing to involvement with the Syndicate.
When questioned as to whether or not Kirihara Misaki was the right person to be leading this investigation, considering that the mentor she arrested is now dead and her own father is facing charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy, PSB Superintendent Kan would only say, "Acting Director Kirihara has shown exemplary initiative in bringing the Syndicate out of the shadows thus far, and I am sure that she will continue to do so."
For more stories of contractor-related violence, see pages 2 and 4; for an update on Interpol's investigations into the UK and Russian Syndicate branches, see page 5 of International News.
Misaki continued staring at the last lines of the page long after she'd read them; a brisk knock on her office door brought her back to the present. "Come in," she said, and Kaede entered. His jovial expression turned wry at the look on her face.
"What's eating you?" he asked, shutting the door behind him and striding to one of the two chairs in front of her desk.
Misaki snorted and tossed the pages down on her desk in disgust. "Nothing," she said irritably. Realizing that she was now gripping the golf ball so hard that it was leaving an impression in her hand, she forced her fingers to relax. "Just Toda's new article."
Kaede leaned forward and picked up the document. "It doesn't look so bad," he said, scanning the text. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Declined to comment?"
"Oh, I commented. Toda apparently decided that my language didn't meet the standards of his precious paper."
Kaede laughed, annoying Misaki even further. "Well, there's nothing here that's factually inaccurate, is there? And nothing that could comprise your investigation?"
"No," she admitted grudgingly. "I'll have to let him print it as-is. I just wish he would stop glorifying Hourai and vilifying contractors."
"I think you're reading too much into it; you're just annoyed that you don't come across as a shining paragon of virtue. And you know perfectly well that everyone is asking those same questions - you've asked them yourself. This is just further confirmation that Kan has your back, whether you want to believe it or not."
Misaki scowled at him. Kan had certainly done an excellent job thus far of walking the fine line of supporting her without committing to her - if things went well, he could claim that he'd been right to trust her. If the investigation blew up in her face, he could just as easily point to his vague statements as evidence of caution on his part. "Was there a reason for your visit? I have quite a lot of paperwork to do this morning."
"Actually, I wanted to get an update on how your new employee is coming along."
Misaki raised an eyebrow. "Why the sudden interest?"
"Why not? It's a fascinating experiment." When Misaki continued to gaze at him skeptically, Kaede continued, "And, I had a casual chat with Zaro this morning; he was curious, but I couldn't tell him much, because I don't know much."
"Alejandro Zaro? The deputy commissioner-general for the UN?" Misaki leaned back in her chair. "You two have been quite buddy-buddy since the Geneva summit."
Kaede merely shrugged. "Contractors are first and foremost in everyone's minds these days, and the UN has a vested interest in the investigations here in Tokyo."
"So you told him about Aisha?" Inwardly, Misaki was fuming. She'd wanted to keep that information from the public for as long as possible - or at least until the experiment, as Kaede put it, had proved successful. When she could show the world that a contractor could be a valuable member of a law enforcement team, hopefully other countries would consider following suit.
Kaede held up a hand. "No, I didn't - he'd heard about it internally; from someone with connections to the Interpol team, maybe."
Misaki had to force herself to loosen her grip on the golf ball yet again. She really ought to invest in one of those stress relievers - every little thing seemed to set her off lately. "Who I hire for my team has nothing to do with Interpol's investigation - they can't - "
"I know," Kaede said, holding up his hand once again. "But there's no such thing as a leak-free department; you ought to know that by now."
Misaki sighed, defeated. "I know. It's just irritating." She spun the golf ball on the desk, watching as it rolled into a stack of papers. "Well, if you want to know how Aisha's doing, we can head down and talk to her."
For some reason this suggestion seemed to startle Kaede. "Talk to a contractor?" he asked, blinking.
"Of course."
He blanched. "Well, I'm sure she's busy…"
Misaki snorted. "Don't be such a baby, she's perfectly friendly."
Kaede brushed a piece of lint from his lapel self-consciously. "I don't want to upset her with a visit."
"She's a member of my team, not a zoo animal."
"I have an appointment across town to get to - another day, perhaps." He smiled, but Misaki could see a hint of nervousness.
"It's up to you," Misaki shrugged; she glanced at the clock. "Well, I'll walk you out - it's about time for me to head downstairs for an update anyway."
If this was how everyone in the government was going to react to the idea of working with contractors as colleagues, there wasn't much hope for an integrated society, Misaki thought despondently as they headed down the hallway to the elevators. "Did Zaro have any detailed information about Aisha - what exactly did he ask about?" she asked.
The elevator doors pinged open as Kaede shrugged. "He'd just heard a rumor that there was a contractor working with Section Four - I don't think he knew anything more than that. All I told him was that yes, there was, and as far as I knew she seemed to be getting along well. That's it."
"Well, that's not too bad, I suppose," Misaki mused, jabbing the button for the fifth floor. "But I don't want you telling him - or anyone - any more than that. I need to keep Aisha's involvement quiet, away from the Syndicate's ears."
Kaede nodded. "Of course." He paused awkwardly for a moment, then said, "How's your dad holding up?"
Misaki stared forward at the dull gray metal of the elevator doors. "Fine, I guess." He'd finally answered one of her calls a few days ago; the conversation had been short and impersonal. When she'd asked if he wanted her to stop by for a visit, he'd claimed to be too tired from his discussions with his lawyers. Misaki wasn't sure what he was more upset with her for - pushing him to turn himself in, or her own situation.
"Oh. Well, good." Another awkward pause. "I wouldn't have guessed him for a Syndicate member."
"Yeah. Me either."
The elevator thankfully arrived on her floor; Misaki excused herself from Kaede and headed into the access-only offices of Section Four.
As usual, there was a clear line of division between the two police groups. Navid and Francesca were hunched over their computers, backs to Section Four's side of the room, while Captain Gmerek had ensconced himself at a cubicle in the far corner, speaking low and intently on the phone.
And, as usual, the members of Section Four were clustered around their own cubicles, chatting. The only concession that they were making to the presence of Interpol was to lower the volume of their voices - but only slightly. Aisha was seated just next to the group, staring intently at a cell phone in her hand. She had yet to master the concept of professional dress, Misaki noted at the sight of the contractor in jeans and a knit shirt covered in pattern of colorful hearts, along with her ever-present pink baseball cap.
"Yeah, but it's weird, right?" Kouno was saying.
"Well," Matsumoto mused, "it's not like we track these things normally; it may only look strange because we're paying attention. Just because you see a pattern doesn't mean one exists."
"I'm with Matsumoto on this one," Saito put in. "There's nothing here that points to a contractor."
"What doesn't point to a contractor?" Misaki asked; everyone except for Matsumoto and Aisha jumped.
"Just a wild theory of Kouno's -" Saito began as Kouno said, "Someone breaking into all the city's pharmacies."
Misaki folded her arms. "One at a time. Matsumoto?"
The older man took a sip from his coffee mug. "A buddy of mine had mentioned that there've been a couple of reports about someone breaking into pharmacies around Shinjuku. So far no one's reported anything stolen, and there haven't been any signs except for things like a broken window, or forced entry. Kouno thinks they're related to that tip we got a while back on the contractor hotline."
"Which didn't pan out," Saitou interjected.
"Probably because they didn't want to report what was stolen! I'm telling you, it's an underground drug ring," Kouno said.
"Even if it is, that has nothing to do with contractors."
"We don't know that. They could -" Kouno broke off when Misaki held up her hand.
"Do we have any data on how many of these break-ins there have been, or whether they line up with any contractor activity?" she asked.
Her team exchanged glances, then shook their heads.
"It'd take a couple days to go through all the B&E reports," Matsumoto said.
"And if there isn't a narrow time window," Ootsuka added, "the star data won't be much use."
"I can scan the system for reports," Aisha said mildly, without taking her eyes from the phone. "What's a milf - that's not English. Is it Dutch?"
Kouno lunged across the desk and snatched the phone out of her hand. "It's nothing," he laughed nervously.
"You text it a lot," Aisha said. "It must -"
"Aisha," Misaki said sternly, "I'm adding going through colleagues' personal items without permission to the list. How long will it take you to go through the B&E reports?" She was still a bit leery about letting the contractor into the police databases, but thus far Aisha had proved to be a minor yet important help in collating information on EPR members from the star report archives and hadn't yet abused her privileges. Still, Misaki was keeping a close eye on her.
Aisha appeared unaffected by Misaki's rebuke. "Maybe an hour. Depends on how far back you want me to look."
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to look at the past month or two; since we don't have any progress on the server location." Misaki hadn't meant that as a criticism, but her team all took on slightly dejected looks at the statement. "Ootsuka, any new activity from HG-139?"
The Astronomics liaison shook her head. "Some occasional low-level activity pops up above the signal noise, but nothing big."
"But he's definitely still in town?" She sighed at Ootsuka's nod. "Well, maybe we'll get lucky and the doll network -"
"Director, may I interrupt for a moment?"
Everyone's expressions turned frosty at Francesca's question. Misaki turned, annoyed, to where the red-haired star analyst was seated on the other side of the room. "Of course - what is it?" She kept her voice level, but stayed where she was.
When it became clear that Misaki wasn't going to come to her, Francesca rose from her chair and crossed over to the cluster of Section Four members, a sheaf of papers in her hand.
"Preliminary star reports from Interpol's Southeast Asia center," she said, offering the papers to Misaki. "I thought you might be interested in taking a look at the data before the weekly packet goes out."
Misaki didn't move to take them. "Ootsuka is our Astronomics' liaison," she said simply. "You can deliver them to her; thank you."
Francesca's lips pressed into a thin line. She shifted her arm a few degrees, so that now the sheaf was within Ootsuka's reach. Ootsuka took it without a word, her jaw tight.
Misaki resisted the urge to rub her temples as her irritation rose once again. If I tell everyone that I'm pregnant, can that give me an excuse to slam some doors right now? Despite her earlier admonishment, her team was not making much effort to work congenially alongside the Interpol team. They were no longer openly hostile, but it wasn't much of an improvement. And Misaki was at a loss as to how to force a friendly interaction.
"Oh." Ootsuka's soft exclamation reclaimed Misaki's attention.
"What is it?" she asked, noting the rather smug set of Francesca's shoulders as the star analyst returned to her desk.
"The observatory in Bangkok has picked up what looks like two…maybe three dozen stars that appear to be co-localized in northern Cambodia."
Kouno gave a low whistle. "Three dozen? We haven't seen a gathering like that outside of a major city since Heaven's War."
"I recognize some of these Messier codes," Ootsuka said, running a finger down the list. "A lot of them were involved in EPR's attack on the Gate."
Interesting. Misaki glanced across the room; seeing that Gmerek had finished his phone call, she strode over to his desk and asked without preamble, "Have you seen the report that Francesca just received?"
The Interpol captain nodded, looking grim. "I was just on the phone with the Bangkok office about it. It's not certain that they're actually gathering together, but there's nothing but wilderness in that area. There's no other reason for so many contractors to be in such close proximity, unless they're holding some sort of meeting."
"Are they forming another resistance group?" Navid asked.
"That's what Director Sutabuhr is worried about," Gmerek said, nodding his head at the phone. "What do you think, Director Kirihara? Are we looking at another crisis in the making here?"
Misaki's brow furrowed as she thought. "I don't think this is another resistance group at all."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, before EPR, we'd never heard of contractors self-organizing before. They only did it here in order to stop the Syndicate from killing them all, and they lost their leader during the attack." At least, that was what everyone was assuming. UB-001's star hadn't fallen; rather, it had simply winked out of existence at the moment the Syndicate initiated the Jupiter Ring system. Nothing like that had ever been observed before, but the general conclusion was that she had died. "From everything I heard, she was the one who was actively recruiting for her organization. Without her, without the threat from the Syndicate, I don't know what purpose they would be gathering for."
"But half those stars are former EPR members," Navid said. "What else would they be gathering for, if not to renew their war or avenge UB-001? After all, a number of governments are actively considering anti-contractor laws. They didn't get the equal rights that they wanted - not yet, anyway."
"They won their war," Misaki pointed out. "The Saturn and Jupiter systems both failed, the Syndicate has fallen apart except for one or two pockets scattered across the globe." She noticed then that Aisha had drifted up to listen, the other members of Section Four trailing behind. "Aisha, what would you do in this situation? Say you were a member of EPR; you got what you wanted in the fight, but your side sustained heavy losses and the future isn't exactly what you were hoping for."
The contractor frowned, idly twisting a lock of curly hair. "I'd want to go home," she said at last. "Except, contractors don't have homes."
Everyone was silent for a long moment after Aisha's pronouncement. Then Ootsuka spoke up hesitantly. "Maybe they're trying to make their own home?"
"That's what I'm inclined to think," Misaki agreed. "They're in the jungle, far away from any city - they're probably just looking for a place to rest, away from humans. I could be wrong; but that's what my instinct is telling me."
"And what about BK-201?" Gmerek asked.
Misaki's heart skipped a beat. "BK-201?"
"This last report has him in Ho Chi Min City - or nearby, anyway," Francesca said. "Bangkok doesn't have the kind of resolution that your observatory has," she added with a grudging shrug in Ootsuka's direction. "But he appears to be heading in the same general direction as this gathering."
His star had moved out of range of Tokyo's observatory a week ago. Misaki was finding herself torn between the anxiety over no longer having daily updates so that she knew he was alright, and the anxiety of knowing that now other agencies had their eyes on him.
"He was a part of EPR before - if he rejoins them, rallies them to action…we could be facing another crisis here," Gmerek said.
Misaki shook her head. "He was never part of EPR. He may have joined at the very end, to stop the Syndicate; but despite being approached by UB-001 to recruit him, he wasn't involved."
Gmerek raised an eyebrow. "How sure are you? Contractors are notorious for playing both sides against the other, and according to our records, BK-201 and UB-001 were teammates in South America. It would be perfectly reasonable for them to have been partners in this."
"On the surface, yes - but whatever happened during Heaven's War left the two of them enemies. Hei's only goal was to take down the Syndicate." Using his name with the police and Interpol never failed to sound strange; but Misaki hadn't been able to think of a good excuse to leave it out of her reports on her supposed interactions with him, so she'd included it. Hourai had told it to her, after all; it wouldn't have made sense to claim that Hei never had. "I doubt that he knew that UB-001 shared the same goal. He wanted to kill her - the reports on BK-201's assault on EPR's headquarters the night before the Tokyo Explosion, by myself and MI-6 agent April, bear that out."
"Yes, I've read them," Gmerek mused. "It's fascinating - contractors don't hold grudges, yet you say that BK-201 held one for five years…did you ever find out what the reason was?"
"He was my confidential informant; that didn't make me his confidant," Misaki said, hoping that no one could hear the regret in her voice. "I asked him about it once; he wasn't willing to tell me. Maybe if he'd known would have joined them sooner." That was a lie; Misaki doubted that anything Amber told him would have convinced him to work with her. She was at a loss as to what had finally swayed him. "UB-001 must have found a way to tell him about the Syndicate's plan after his attack on the office building."
"Lucky for us," Kouno commented in the background.
Misaki nodded absently, her mind once again traveling back to the last time she'd seen Hei, before the Tokyo Explosion. Something had been weighing heavily on him, but he hadn't confided in her. Maybe he'd known about the Syndicate's plan already; she wished that he'd told her. No doubt he no longer trusted her after the terrible accusations she'd made the night before.
Once again, she wondered if things would have been different that night if she hadn't been so focused on her work, and payed closer attention to herself. If she'd realized by then that she was pregnant, and had the chance to tell him. Would he have left her for the Gate? Would he have left Tokyo?
He had to leave; she knew that. She'd kept a close eye on the string of stars following his trail, and falling where they met. He was safer out there, on his own, where star tracking systems couldn't pinpoint his location. The police couldn't protect him in Tokyo. Misaki couldn't protect him.
"So what's your take, Director?" Gmerek was asking, snapping Misaki back to the present. "Is BK-201 heading to this gathering of contractors, to spur them into action or gain protection from the Syndicate's assassins?"
It took her a moment to catch up with the conversation. She shook her head. "I would be extremely surprised to hear that he had any intention of joining any other contractors." A group of contractors, in the jungle - it sounded like South America and Heaven's War, a time in his life that had left him waking up from a dead sleep with nightmares and terrors almost every night. There was no way that Hei would voluntarily seek that out. "Honestly, he's probably just looking for a place to rest, just like they are."
Gmerek pursed his lips, but nodded. "Well, when it comes to BK-201, you're the expert. I'll call Director Sutabuhr and let him know your opinion, and recommend that Interpol not mobilize against this group until we know something more concrete."
Misaki exhaled in relief as Gmerek picked up his cell phone. I hope he doesn't have a habit of leaving that lying around, she thought as she returned to the other side of the room, Aisha just in front of her. The last thing I need is an accidental breach of international security because our contractor doesn't understand the meaning of privacy.
Then a sudden thought struck her. "Aisha," she said.
The contractor stopped abruptly and turned, and Kouno walked right into her. He jumped back, smoothing his hair and apologizing. Aisha ignored him, intent on Misaki.
"Can you track a cell phone's location based on past calls from another phone?"
Aisha pursed her lips, considering. "Depends on the security protocols. Most normal phones, probably. The cell signal -"
"I don't need the technical details, I just need to know if you can do it."
"What are you thinking, Chief?" Saitou asked.
"It might be a long shot," Misaki said, folding her arms, "but what we really need is a concrete lead in Sapporo. The Syndicate probably has a few members there, especially if the servers are still there. And if Hourai was in contact with any of them prior to the Tokyo Explosion -"
"Maybe Aisha can find them!" Kouno exclaimed.
"The data analysts went over the call logs from his phone; we've already gone through those contacts," Matsumoto said.
"But data analysts can't talk to a cell tower," Aisha pointed out. "I can. Do you have the phone? I can try right now."
Misaki nodded, a sliver of hope emerging in her mind. "Put everything else on hold until you get as much information as possible from his cell phone. It's in the evidence locker - I'll go sign it out."
One lucky break, she thought as she hurried towards the elevators. That's all we need. One thing had to go right in her life. Just one thing - then everything else - the Syndicate, her father, Hei, the pregnancy - would fall into place.
At least, she could keep telling herself that.