Land of the Gods

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Scarlet’s half of the ECHO team landed at Narita Airport in a pink Tokyo dawn. The discovery of the second ring in Malaysia had been welcomed in Washington and London but no one was celebrating yet. With six more rings to locate there was still a lot of work to do, no one could be sure the Oracle hadn’t already secured any of the others.

At least they still had the idols.

Taking a cab to the Shinjuku Gyoen Park just south of central Tokyo, they were soon strolling along a tree-lined path waiting to meet their contact. The sun streamed through the cherry leaves and blossom blew on the breeze. People talked quietly as they passed them by, and no one had the faintest idea why these strangers were in their land, or what was at stake for the world.

Scarlet took a brief call. “That was Jack,” she said. “As in Camacho, not Brooke, and he says they’re just about to take off for Washington. When they get there the plan is to go straight to the White House. When they meet with Alex and the President someone will get back to us. Now, where the hell is Rich’s contact?”

“What about that guy?” Zeke pointed at a man sitting on a nearby bench.

“Did you not hear Eden’s briefing?” Ryan said. “We’re looking for a woman.”

“Story of my life,” the Texan drawled.

“There,” Lexi said sharply. “She’s over there, in the denim jacket. Three o’clock.”

“Ouch,” Zeke said. “No longer any need to look for a woman.”

“Do try and contain yourself, Ezekiel,” Scarlet said. “Or I’ll be forced to give your bollocks a squeeze until you start behaving.”

“Double ouch,” Ryan said.

“And I’ll raise you a goddam,” added Zeke as they walked to the woman.

She looked up and removed her earbuds. “You are the people who need information regarding a certain ring?”

“Only if you’re Hiroko Adachi.”

She nodded. “We should talk over here.”

The small party sat in the shade under a cherry blossom tree far from any paths and Scarlet kicked things off. “Your father was Tōru Adachi, the famous treasure hunter?”

“Yes, he was.”

“And he had one of these?” Scarlet turned to Ryan and snapped her fingers in his face. “Picture of the ring, boy.”

Ryan frowned at her and then showed Hiroko his phone’s screen and a photo of the ring they had secured in Malaysia.

“Yes, but ours is different.”

“They’re all different,” Ryan said.

Lexi leaned back on the grass. “Where did your father find it?”

Hiroko smiled. “I knew you would ask this, but he did not find the ring.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Scarlet asked. “You just said he did.”

The Japanese woman looked at her with a frown. “No, he did not find the ring — the ring found him.”

“You’ll have to explain that,” Zeke said. “I ain’t the fastest horse in the stable but I’m no dummy either.”

“He was not searching for the ring when he found it. Normally, his treasure-hunting missions are meticulously planned down to the last detail, but on this occasion, he was simply on holiday in India. He was in a junk shop in Shimla in the north and there it was, sitting in a box of other rings. He knew at once he had something special. How long had it sat in the box among all that other comparatively worthless gold and silver? I do not know, and neither did he.”

“It has some kind of engraving on its face,” Lexi said, hope rising in her voice. “Can you remember what it looked like?”

“Etched into the gold was a very complex pattern, yes. Lots of lines and shapes. It was very beautiful. My father loved all of his treasures and treated them with reverence.”

“If he loved them so much, then how come he sold the ring?”

“He did not sell the ring. Categorically not.”

Hiroko was silent for a long time as she watched a man in a surgical mask slowly cycle toward them on the path. For a few seconds, Scarlet wondered if she had even heard the question. Then she said, “Have you heard of the Japanese concepts of giri and ninjo?”

“Can’t say I have, darling,” Scarlet said.

Hiroko gave a sage nod. “Loosely translated they mean obligation and human feeling, and they are very important in Japanese culture. Together they create a force of feeling that means debts of treachery or kindness to one must always be repaid, no matter the cost.” She paused a beat and the gentle smile fell from her face. “And particularly important to the Yakuza.”

“Not liking where this is going,” Lexi said.

“Quite. I am very ashamed to say that my father got into some financial trouble with the Yakuza and caused a lot of trouble for our family.”

“I see.”

“He became heavily in debt in the pachinko parlors and then made things much worse by trying to recover his money playing mah-jong in an illegal casino in Susukino. Unfortunately the casino was owned by the Yakuza. They were very clear about what they were going to do to him if he did not pay them back what he owed.”

Lexi knew all about the pachinko parlors. A two hundred billion dollar a year national obsession, half of Tokyo was full of the places. The sound of the ball-bearings crashing about inside the machines could be heard up and down many streets in every Japanese city.

“I thought you said he never sold the ring?” Lexi asked.

“He didn’t.”

“So what happened?”

She sighed and started plucking at the grass near her knees. “The Yakuza demanded the ring as part of my father’s giri — the obligation he owed them for waving his debts. They did this because they knew he was a treasure hunter and something more valuable may come along in the future.”

“A lifelong debt?”

Hiroko nodded.

“It wasn’t so bad. He had many more items he coveted more. But the ring was the single most expensive piece he owned. His choice was to give the ring to the Yakuza and clear the debts, or he would be forced to choose from several items he held much more dearly. Now you know the story of Tōru Adachi and his daughter Hiroko.”

“He paid his debts,” Lexi said. “Why didn’t he use his skills to get the ring back?”

“He was a treasure hunter,” Hiroko said quietly. “Mostly he dived into wrecks but he wasn’t above digging holes in the dirt. What he didn’t do was break into the private residences of Yakuza bosses to steal back relics they had taken from him.”

Scarlet got the picture. Hiroko’s father had been a treasure hunter of some repute during his salad days, but had fallen on hard times and turned to gambling in his desperation to improve his life. A brief encounter with the Yakuza had ended with him handing over much of his life’s work to keep them at bay.

Including the Ring of Cyrus the Great.

“What was this Yakuza man’s name?”

“A man? I never said it was a man.”

Scarlet frowned. “I thought Yakuza were always men?”

“Then you thought wrongly. Most are men, but there have been women leaders in its history.”

“In that case,” Lexi said. “What is the woman’s name?”

“Her name is Makiko Jojima, and I would think very carefully about crossing her if I were you. She inherited her empire from her father when he died in a gangland shooting. She is bitter and impulsive. Ruthless. If she finds you in her home trying to steal the ring, she will kill you, and it will not be fast or painless.”

Hiroko paused to watch as a couple walked along the path with a little girl. She was holding a pink balloon and singing a song as her mother unwrapped an ice cream for her. “Only if this ring is of greater value than all of your lives should you pursue it.”

“It is,” Ryan said bluntly. “Where does this woman live?”

“The answer to that is, wherever she desires. All I can tell you is that the last I heard she lives at a luxury address here in Toyko — Izumi Garden Tower in Roppongi.”

“And you know where this is?”

Hiroko nodded. “Do any of you speak Japanese?”

“I do,” Lexi said.

“Then you don’t need me.”

“When we get what we want,” Scarlet said, “we’re out of here, no looking back. It’s always that way with us. If you want any of your father’s relics for yourself then your only chance is to come with us.”

Hiroko thought about it for a while. She drew in a deep breath and then blew it out. “There is only one item I would like back. A jewellery box that belonged to my mother. It has a tiger carved on the front. They took that too.”

“It’s yours if we find it.”

“Then I will come. I will take you to the address in Roppongi.”