The Sun had gone down by the time Sei pulled the trailer up to the barricades at the end of the street where the Opera House restaurant was located. Leo and Amy came aboard, and Amy darted into the cockpit and pulled up information on the eatery. It was a one story building in the middle of block with 2 and three story buildings around it. Jo and Meg joined them once Jo had backed Django into his hanger.

"Leo," Sei said, "make whatever repairs you can make. I want Django ready to go out five minutes ago if necessary."

Leo put a hand on her shoulder. "How are you holding up?"

"Leo. Please. I appreciate your…concern, but your energies would be better spent on Django right now."

"All right."

No sooner had he headed for the rear of the trailer then there was a knock on the door. It was Captain Kobayashi.

He had three bullet-proof vests. "Sei, Jo, and Meg: Put these on and come with me."

As they followed Kobayashi to RAPT's command van, they met Kyohei's parents.

Mrs. Tachibana was contrite. "I'm sorry, Sei," she said. "I thought you were a monster-"

"No, you were right about me," Sei said. "You were just worried the wrong monster."

"Just bring my boy home."

"I will."

In the van, they found Don Laoban.

"Grandfather?" Sei said.

He came over to her. "I have just got off a long conference called securing RAPT's cooperation. In any case-"

"Grandfather, if you are going to tell me to watch out for Bailan's interests, at the moment, I couldn't care less."

Laoban nodded. "Just…do the best you can."

Sei nodded, then went through the cluster of RAPT and NPA officers around the holoprojection table in the center of the van, to stand just behind where Kobayshi stood with Jo and Meg. Kobayshi snapped his fingers and someone handed him four wireless headsets. He put one on and handed the others to Jo, Sei, and Meg. Bando and Suzuki were present, too, both wearing bullet proof vests.

Kobayshi said into his mike, "I trust you have all been briefed, so I will get to the point. By the authority of the minister of justice, and on the recommendation of one of my senior detectives, I am turning command of this joint NPA-RAPT-Bailan operation over to the Bailan expert known as Jo …"

Sei turned to Suzuki. "This was your idea?"

He nodded. "Don't let it go to your head. I still don't like you, Sei, but I like being played for a fool even less."

" …. I realize we all have some history," Kobayashi went on. "I could care less. Our only purpose here is for the safe return of Kohei Tachibana and the apprehension of his abductors. Anything else has no place here. I will now turn you over to Jo. Jo?"

Jo nodded. "Gentlemen," she said into her mike, "I have two rules: Kyohei goes home and the bad guys go down. Anyone who gets that backwards should just abandon his post and run for his life now. Am I clear?"

Affirmations came back over the radio.

Jo turned and looked at Sei. "That being said, Kyohei's mental state is in question. He is armed and should be considered extremely dangerous. If he can not be safely recovered…I and I alone will take the shot. Clear?"

As the officers on the radio affirmed again, Sei's eyes met Jo's. The mob princess gave a curt nod.

Jo said, "Sitrep now."

Sei could only watch as Jo digested reports from the officers and techs around her as a schematic built up on the table: The Opera House sat on to of a cluster of underground room, linked by a tunnel to a warehouse blocks away. Another RAPT team had scanned it from the outside, and though it looked like a hangar, there was no trace of the cybot.

"….We even hit the place with sonar," the RAPT tech finished, "and fired tear gas into the room for good measure. It may be invisible, but it can't conceal its mass. It's not there."

Jo nodded. "I didn't think it would be. Have your men hold position outside the hangar. What about the restaurant? Have you cut the power?"

"Tried," the tech said, "but they have some kind of internal generator. I'm reluctant to do more; there's a lot of wireless traffic in there I don't want to mess with in case the place has been booby trapped. There's one life sign in the restaurant; we think it's the owner. Looks like she closed the restaurant and sent everyone else home before we arrived. The individual appears to be in the dining room. Our snipers do not have a clear shot."

"Communications?"

"Their landline, data, and wireless communications have been routed through us."

"Dial the land line."

A tech keyed in a command. They heard the phone ring. And ring. And ring. And ring some more.

No answer - not even voice mail.

"Kill it," Jo said.

The tech cut the line.

Jo shifted her weight, impatient.

The RAPT SWAT commander asked, "Full breach?"

"You want your men to die?" Jo asked.

"You think this is a trap?"

"You don't?"

"How could …'Eriko' know you'd be here?"

"Why else have Kyo break off when he did? He had the drop on us; there was no tactical reason to run off. But Eriko knew this was the first place we'd come."

"All right. What now?"

"Only one option." Jo spoke into her mike: "All units, hold your positions. Detectives Suzuki and Bando will come in with Meg and me-"

"No," Sei said.

"What?" Jo said.

Sei checked her handgun. "Meg, stand down. I'm going in with Jo and the detectives."

Jo looked at Sei for a long moment, then said, "You do what I say when I say it."

"Of course."