The Devil's Footprint (11 page)

"This is
cuckoo land," Said Kathleen.

"It's
Washington
," said
Fitzduane, "a land of shifting alliances.
 
A kind of architecturally superior Wonderland.
 
And Maury is certainly the Mad Hatter."

"So who
gets their head chopped off?" said Kathleen without thinking.

It broke the
mood.
 
There was a break in the
conversation.

"That,
unfortunately, we already know," said Fitzduane grimly after the
pause.
 
"But who or where is to be
next is an open question."

"Why do
these people do these things?" said Kathleen quietly.

"Because
for a host or reasons we let them," said Fitzduane.
 
Because they can."

He put his
arms around her.

I am glad you
turned them down, Hugo, said Kathleen silently.
 
You have done enough
.
It's not your war.
 
I want you alive with me and our
children.
 
I need you alive.

Let someone
else do it.

4

Chifune Tanabu
regarded the serried ranks of Kidotai drawn up in full riot and combat gear in
the narrow lane and sighed.

In their kendo-like
helmets and body armor and shields, it appeared almost as if a company of
medieval
samurai
had invaded suburban
Tokyo
.
 
They looked truly magnificent.

Unfortunately,
seventy-five
fine
, upstanding members of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Police Department's heavy squad was not exactly what she had in
mind when she had called for backup.

The
good-looking young — very young — police inspector who was her new liaison with
the security unit was carrying his protective streak too far.
 
Evidently, he had not much faith in her
ability to look after herself, even though he had been briefed that she was a
senior agent in Koancho, the Japanese internal security service, and had dealt
with more armed terrorists than he had years in the force.

Well, Japanese
men.
 
What else could you expect?
 
Sexism did not even begin to describe
it.
 
They did not seem to realize that
times were changing.
 
A Japanese woman
today did not have to set her sights on becoming an office decoration while
waiting for the right salaryman to marry.
 
Some even carried guns, and right now Chifune felt very much like using
hers on that well-meaning idiot.

She breathed
in and out a few times, resolved to keep her temper under control, checked her
automatic, and replaced it in the holster in the small of her back.
 
Her suit jacket hung over it nicely.
 
She looked like an elegant career woman in
her mid-thirties, she hoped, since that was exactly what she was supposed to
be.
 
Not the kind of threat who might
alarm the suspect.

On the other
hand, if she arrived at the meeting with seventy-five robocops clanking behind
her, even the dumbest contact might suspect something.

Inspector Oga,
standing beside Tanabu-
san
, chuckled
to
himself
quietly, thought there was no physical
change of expression on his face except his eyes.

He had first
encountered the Koancho agent while acting as bodyguard to the
gaijin
Fitzduane, and since it had been
a notably successful partnership, they had been assigned to continue to work
together.
 
People continually
underestimated the beautiful and decidedly feminine Chifune, he reflected, and
quite a few undesirables were with their ancestors as a result.
 
She looked a mere slip of a thing, but
appearances in this case were deceptive.
 
This was one tough and resolute human being.
 
Oga, happily married to a good strong
countrywoman though he was, was devoted to her.

Chifune
beckoned the Kidotai sub-inspector to come over to her.
 
He was huddled with his sergeants, and there
was much saluting as he broke up the semicircle.

She fought to
remember his name.
 
She had christened
him ‘Apple Cheeks’ for obvious reasons, and
that
she could recall, but it did not seem quite the right name with which to
preface a little lecture.
 
Also, to call
him by such a nickname in front of seventy-five macho security police would
make him an enemy for life.
 
She had
enough problems without adding to them.
 
And they were supposed to be on the same side.

No, a degree
of tact was called for, though she would not overdo the pleasantries.
 
This young policeman had to learn.
 
This mission was not riot control, where the main
threat was having your armor dented by a brick.
 
Their current targets were terrorist suspects, and that was a serious
business.
 
These people could kill you.

"Oga-
san
," she hissed.
 
"What is...?"

Oga leaned
toward her.
 
He was used to this.
 
Chifune rarely forgot anything about a case,
but she had a terrible memory when it came to the social conventions.
 
"His men call him Apple Cheeks," he
said, "but his real name is Noda."

Chifune raised
her eyebrows.
 
"Really, they call
him ‘Apple Cheeks’ too?
 
Maybe they are
not as dumb as they look."

Oga made a
noise that managed to convey the polite disapproval of a concerned colleague
both at Chifune's remarks
about
the
Kidotai, and the fact that she was talking near them.
 
Oga rated the unit highly whatever his
reservations about any individual officer.

Chifune turned
to Oga and flashed her devastating smile in acknowledgment of his
protectiveness, then turned serious as Sub-Inspector Noda clanked over to
her.
 
She had never seen so much
equipment on one man.
 
He looked massive
in his helmet, body armor, and webbing, but he was probably a mere shrimp.

Sub-Inspector
Noda saluted before Chifune could stop him.

"Sub-Inspector
Noda-
san
," said Chifune
formally, her eyes slightly narrowed.
 
She was furious, but it was important to respect his dignity.
 
Chewing out a subordinate in the brutal
manner seen so often in American police movies was not the Japanese way unless
there was extraordinary provocation.

She
continued.
 
"I appreciate your
courtesy, Sub-Inspector-
san
, but
behavior which is appropriate in conventional policing is not necessarily
practical during an internal security operation.
 
Saluting prioritized targets.
 
The person who is being most saluted is most
likely to get shot.
 
These people are not
ordinary criminals.
 
They are terrorists,
they have firearms, and they use them.
 
You must believe me."

Sub-Inspector
Noda-
san
blushed with embarrassment
and then went pale as Chifune's words sank in.
 
He looked like a traffic light changing signals.
 
He most certainly did believe this ogre
disguised as a woman as she fixed her gold-flecked eyes on his.
 
"Shshsh... shot, Tanabu-
san
," he stammered in
reaction.
 
"I am sorry.
 
I did not understand."

Chifune began
to feel almost sorry for the man.
 
He had
been assigned to her to learn, after all, and one had to start somewhere.
 
On the other hand, you did not need formal
training to acquire common sense.
 
Mama
and Papa Noda had slipped up somewhere.
 
These days no one should be tossed out of the family nest into the
police force, of all institutions, without being equipped with some street
smarts.
 
Even in lower-crime
Tokyo
.
 
Low crime, after all, was relative.

"It would
appear that you were not properly briefed, Sub-Inspector-
san
," said Chifune in a mollifying tone.
 
She could feel Oga radiating approval beside
her.
 
The sub-inspector's face was being
saved.
 
The integrity of the group was
being preserved.
 
She was not quite sure
how long she could maintain this.
 
She
was aware that she had the most unfortunate talent for slipping in a sting at
the tail end of a conversation.
 
It was
most un-Japanese.
 
Fitzduane had enjoyed
it.
 
She missed that man.

"Inspector
Oga will fill you in," she said.

Oga was
normally a man of few words.
 
This was a
longer speech than most, but it was right to the point.

"The
senior-agent-
san
and I are due to
meet two members of the Yaibo terrorist group in an apartment about two blocks
away in fifteen minutes.
 
They say they
want to give themselves up.
 
They have had
enough.
 
They think we are staff members
of a radio station acting as honest brokers.
 
They say they don't trust the security forces.
 
In this kind of delicate situation, you don't
want a highly visible cordon around the block.
 
You leave it to us, but half a dozen of you, heavily armed and in plain
clothes, should stay close and we will be in radio contact.

"If
things go wrong, it will be surprise, speed, and firepower that will make the
difference.
 
And three busloads of
uniformed Kidotai do not constitute surprise.
 
Understand?"

Sub-Inspector
Kanji Noda snapped to attention.
 
"
Hai
!
Inspector-
san
," he replied.
 
His
right hand vibrated, but he did not actually salute.
 
There was hope for this young man, Oga
thought benevolently.
 
His own sons were
growing.
 
Soon enough they would be
Noda's age, and Oga hoped they, too, would enter the police force.

There was the
slightly muffled
whump
of an
exploding rocket-propelled grenade and then the first bus in the parked Kidotai
convoy blew up.
 
Burning fuel and debris
showered the narrow street.

A second bus
caught fire from the explosion of the first and then sprouted lines of holes as
automatic fire swept the narrow street.

An
armor-piercing rocket hit Noda's body armor on the left side, plowed right
through his body on the diagonal, and exploded just before it exited.

The
sub-inspector came apart, as if made from a kit like some medical teaching aid
designed to show you what was inside the human body down to the entrails.

"
Kuso shite shine!
" cursed Oga as he
leaped for cover in a doorway.
 
The expletive
literally meant ‘shit and then die’ and it came to him with some force that he
was not even going to have time for the former if they did not suppress the
incoming fire.

He saw Chifune
flat on the ground behind their parked car.
 
She would be out of the direct line of fire, he thought with some
relief, and then he saw her arm com up and flame spurt from her automatic
pistol as she fired half a clip into the lock of the trunk.

The retaining
latch blasted away, the trunk flew open, and Chifune jumped to her feet and
removed one of the long cases from inside.

She was just
turning to throw the case to Oga when another rocket hit the front of the car
and blew it backward, hitting her below the waist and knocking her to the
ground.

Oga ran for
the rifle case, grabbed it, and rolled for the protection of the opposite
door.
 
Chifune lay with her legs under
the rear of the car, motionless.
 
There
was blood coming out of the side of her head.

The weapons
case had been designed by Chifune and Oga to protect the weapon inside, but to
allow it, when required, to be brought into action as fast as possible.
 
A hundred-round C-Mag was already
loaded.
 
Forty-millimeter grenades were
tucked into the retaining pouches of a load-bearing belt.

Oga clipped on
the belt, slid a grenade into the under-barrel launcher, and closed the
breech.
 
He pulled back the cocking
handle and an SS109 5.56mm round slid into the chamber.

Chifune was
still lying there.
 
As he looked and was
about to run out to her, she raised her head and one arm and made a negative
sign and pointed upward.
 
He understood
immediately.

Two Kidotai
came crashing through
he
doorway, submachine guns in
their hands.
 
They had discarded their
helmets and leg armor to move faster.
 
Both looked resolute and experienced.
 
A rookie officer did not, fortunately, mean
untrained men.

"Sergeant
Tomoto reporting, sir," said one man.
 
"The
unit have
pulled back out of the line
of fire.
 
The men are breaking out
heavier weapons and then fanning out to encircle these fucks.
 
Reinforcements are on the way.
 
It shouldn't take long."