The Samurai Inheritance

XXVII

They arrived in Tokyo two days later after an overnight stop at Beijing airport. Jamie’s hip throbbed and he barely registered the low descent over the grey waters of Tokyo Bay with the city’s soaring skyline a spiky, gap-toothed rampart painted stark against the low hills beyond, and both dwarfed by the snow-dusted vastness of Mount Fuji in the far distance.

When they reached the multi-storey Hyatt hotel in Minato, Magda insisted on sending for an English-speaking doctor to examine him and a young Japanese man arrived at their suite within thirty minutes. He probed the area around the puncture mark with a gloved finger and frowned at it for a while before asking Jamie to remove his shirt and checking his heart and lungs. Then he wrapped an inflatable bandage around the Englishman’s arm to take his blood pressure. Another study of the wound was necessary, this time with the help of what looked like a pair of binoculars, before he made his prognosis.

‘I think you’ll live, Mr Saintclair,’ he announced, with what Jamie felt was a rather casual air given the circumstances. ‘Your blood pressure is a little low, which would account for the lack of energy you’re feeling, but that’s probably a result of the shock you had and I’ve no doubt it will pass.’

‘You’d have been shocked too if you’d been stabbed by a hypodermic syringe of unknown origin.’

The doctor picked up his odd-shaped binoculars again. ‘I don’t think either the dimensions or the characteristics of the wound would suggest a syringe. It’s also quite shallow. You’re worried about HIV, I take it?’

‘Wouldn’t you be?’ Jamie said.

‘I suppose it’s possible that someone could contract HIV from something like a nail, or more likely the pin of a belt buckle.’ He shrugged. ‘On balance, I’d say the odds are against it. I’ll take a blood test, of course, but …’

With a wince, Jamie remembered the jacket the drunk had been wearing when he barged into him — the one festooned with straps and buckles. He ignored Magda’s raised eyebrow.

‘That won’t be necessary …’

‘Oh, I insist,’ the young man said gravely. ‘I wouldn’t be doing my duty as a medical practitioner otherwise. It won’t take long. If you’ll just roll up your sleeve again.’

Magda waited until the doctor was gone. ‘Buckle?’

‘You were the one who said it looked like a puncture,’ Jamie complained. ‘How was I to know what caused it, especially with all that stuff about people following us?’

‘You should be glad someone is keeping their eyes open on this trip.’ She tilted her head to study him. ‘Am I right in thinking the patient is about to make a remarkable recovery?’

‘Oddly enough, he is.’ He smiled. ‘All down to the wonders of medical science and your nursing skills.’

‘In that case, we should get back to business,’ she said decisively. ‘I noticed they had some decent maps of the city down in reception. Why don’t you give Fiona a call while I get one? She must be wondering what’s happened to you?’

Jamie looked at his watch. It would be early evening in Sydney. Worth a try. He punched in the mobile number, but the phone immediately went to a disembodied voice that informed him the person he was attempting to call was not available to answer. Disappointed, he tried again, with the same result. Given that Fiona had probably had similar problems phoning him in Russia, the lack of communication didn’t seem anything to worry about. Still, he thought he’d mention it to Devlin. He called the Australian to let him know they’d arrived in Tokyo and a secretary informed him the mining tycoon was in an important meeting. She promised to call Jamie back as soon as Devlin was available.

The phone went while he was still in the shower and he shrugged on a robe.

‘Saintclair.’

‘What have you got for me?’ Jamie detected an abrupt edge to Keith Devlin’s voice, but he replied in his usual amiable tone.

‘Russia was a dead end, I’m afraid. We’ve just arrived in Tokyo.’

‘Why am I just hearing this now?’

‘Because we had a few problems in Krasnoyarsk.’ Jamie explained about the drunk and his fears he’d been attacked.

‘And that was all?’

The disbelief in Devlin’s voice was clear. Jamie frowned; this was beginning to feel like an interrogation. ‘Why should there be anything else?’

‘I had this Berzarin bloke checked out.’ The other man didn’t hide his anger. ‘It turns out he’s in the same business as Devlin Metal Resources. If he happened to get wind of why we really want the head he could be a problem.’

‘I think you’re over-reacting, if you don’t mind me saying so.’

‘Well I bloody do mind,’ Devlin was plainly unconvinced. ‘I didn’t get what I have today by letting other people make the running. From my point of view he’s like a little bit of grit under the eyelid. You always feel better when it’s removed.’

A long silence followed while Jamie contemplated the significance of the word ‘removed’. ‘Look, Mr Devlin,’ he said slowly, ‘I’m sensing an undercurrent to this conversation I don’t very much like. If you don’t trust me all you have to do is say and I’ll be on the first plane back to Sydney.’

‘Don’t get all shirty with me, son.’ The tone changed instantly and the old chirpy Devlin reappeared. ‘I apologize if I’ve been abrupt, but it’s been a tough day. Remember, you owe those little ladies of yours a bit of pampering.’

Jamie frowned. ‘By the way, I haven’t been able to get in touch with Fiona. Do you know how she is?’

‘Last I heard she was having a great time with a couple of aunts out in Perth and the kid was being treated like a princess. You just leave them to me and find that fella’s bonce and get straight back here.’

Jamie assured him he’d get to work the next day. ‘All I have is an address. I was under the impression that one of your people was going to meet us with more information.’

He heard Devlin grunt. ‘There’s been a change of plan,’ the Australian said. ‘We’ve had a little trouble in one of our Philippines operations and my man’s had to fly to Manila to sort it out. Turns out he didn’t have much to give you anyway. This Yoshitaki crowd are proving a harder nut to crack than the bloody Russians. Your major became a war hero, but when it was all over he disappeared into obscurity. Turns out it happened to a lot of prominent Japs. They couldn’t stand the dishonour of defeat, so they gave up public life. The last he’s heard of is in a short and not particularly revealing obituary after his death in ’fifty-five. We might have been able to squeeze a bit more out of the Tokyo cops if Bill had still been in town, but to be honest he wasn’t hopeful. The address is the only thing we have for the Yoshitaki family, and that could be out of date by as much as a decade.’

‘You’re not exactly raising my expectations.’

‘I’m just telling it like it is, son.’ There was a moment’s hesitation and Jamie had a feeling that, on the other end of the line, Devlin was smiling, and not in a nice way. ‘Maybe you’ll have to go an extra mile just to prove or disprove whether the head is in Tokyo.’

‘What do you mean by that, Mr Devlin?’ he said carefully.

‘Just that you have a reputation as a resourceful man, Jamie. From what I hear you had to cut a few corners when you were going after that Raphael painting. Maybe even crossed a line or two.’

‘The one thing I’ve learned, Mr Devlin, is that when you cross that line you have a tendency to also be putting your neck on a block. Maybe I was prepared to do that for a hundred million pounds’ worth of Old Master, but I’m not sure a smelly old shrunken head is worth the same risk, no matter what you’re prepared to pay for it.’

‘Well, that’s for you to decide, Jamie boy,’ there was an emphasis on the last two words and Devlin’s voice held a hint of something indefinable that might have been menace, ‘but when you’re making your decision just spare a thought for those two little ladies of yours.’

‘What is that supposed to mean, Devlin?’

‘Just what I say, Jamie boy. If you don’t come up with the goods over the next few days I have a feeling that Fiona and Lizzie are going to be a mite disappointed in you, and we don’t want that, do we?’

The phone went dead in Jamie’s hand and he sat for a moment tempted to throw the oblong of plastic against the wall. He wasn’t one hundred per cent certain what he’d just been told, but instinct told him the stakes had just got a lot higher than he’d bargained for.

‘Jamie?’

He looked up to find Magda in the doorway. ‘Something has changed,’ he tried to explain. ‘I have a feeling my client in Sydney doesn’t trust us. Maybe he didn’t trust me from the start. If I’m right he knows I went off the radar in Moscow. Possibly he knows about our Chinese visitors too. Suddenly he may not be the only player in the game. A man like Keith Devlin isn’t going to take that lying down. I’m pretty sure he just threatened Fiona and her daughter.’

‘Why would he do that?’ She sounded sceptical.

‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘It’s as if what started as a game has suddenly turned much more serious. I took a look at the business pages in the paper earlier and Devlin Metal Resources shares are about as popular as the Black Death. There are rumours of an announcement, which is generally a bad sign.’ He went to the window and looked out over the skyline towards the distant mountains. ‘Remember what Berzarin said about almost going bust in the crash. What if Devlin is in the same position? What if this Bougainville deal isn’t about putting a jewel in the crown of his glittering business career, but survival? Devlin might be close to losing everything he’s worked for and the company that’s been in his family for three generations?’

When he turned she was staring at him with a frown of indecision. For a moment he thought she might be about to say something important, but eventually she just shrugged. ‘That might be enough to push him over the edge. But what can we do?’

Jamie picked up the map she’d brought from reception. ‘We can knock on the door of the Yoshitaki place first thing tomorrow morning and suggest that the late major’s relatives might want to send the head back to its homeland.’

She looked doubtful and he didn’t blame her. He had a distinct feeling Devlin was right. He was going to have to go the extra mile before the job was done. But if that’s what it took to keep Fiona and Lizzie safe he knew he wouldn’t hesitate.