The Last Assassin

40

Yamaoto seized Delilah by the wrist and stood, pulling her halfway out of her seat and across the table. His grip was hellishly strong. He brandished the earpiece and shouted, 'What's this? What's this?'

'C'est un appareil!' she screamed. 'A hearing aid, you

Pig!'

'Why did you say, "It's hot in here"? Why did you say

that?'

Big Liu and Kuro seemed horrified by Yamaoto's behavior. Maybe it was a hearing aid, they might be thinking, see, that explains her conversational difficulties, it wasn't just a language problem…

Yamaoto grabbed the halter top again and pulled. Delilah got her hand over the transmitter and pulled back — too hard. The fabric tore, and the transmitter detached. She heard it fall to the ground.

Yamaoto shouted, 'Where's Rain? Tell me, you whore, where is he!'

Delilah, staying in character, used her free hand to hold up what was left of the dress and screamed, 'Aidez-moi! Somebody help me, please!'

The bodyguards had all surrounded the table. Their guns were out now, but they were confused. They didn't know whether to focus on the table, on somewhere else in the club, or on one another.

Delilah looked around. Everyone in the club was watching, trying to see what was going on. About half of them were out of their seats.

Big Liu stood. 'Yamaoto…' he started to say.

'Shut up!' Yamaoto yelled. Then he looked around, too, and seemed for the first time to understand the commotion he was causing. He turned to Kuro and barked something in Japanese. Delilah had a feeling she knew what it was: he wanted to take her somewhere he could control better, where he could get rough and get the information he wanted without frightening the patrons.

She made no move for the knife on her thigh. She was boxed in now and it wouldn't do her any good. When they tried to take her somewhere else, though, there would be an opening, and she was going to cut right through it.

Yamaoto still had her by the wrist. He said to Big Liu, 'Get out of the way.'

Big Liu made no move to comply. He said, 'Bad business you do. This is nice girl. You very rude man.' He called to his associate, who got up and ran over.

More of the patrons and hostesses were getting nervously to their feet. A few had started backing toward the swinging doors. Delilah thought she heard a woman scream from near the front entrance, but the sound was faint and she wasn't sure.

Yamaoto, obviously making an effort to calm himself, said, 'This nice girl is a danger, as you'll see in a moment. Now, if you'll just…'

And then the lights went out.