Tokyo Surprise (5 page)

“He’s having a bit of an off day then, isn’t he? And how did the kidnappers know exactly where the car would be so they could jump in? And” – Jessica’s eyes
glinted with the excitement of a journalist onto a hot story – “why weren’t the car doors locked in the first place if they were so security conscious?”

Josh didn’t have an answer. There was no answer. Except... “It’s all lies.” Saying it out loud gave Josh shivers down the back of his neck, but there wasn’t any
other explanation. “Something happened to Kiki, and that bodyguard’s lying about it.”

“Look, he’s answering his phone,” Jessica said, pointing to the police barriers where the bodyguard was slipping away with a small black phone clamped to his giant ear.

“I wish I knew what he was saying—” Josh began, but Jessica was already dodging her way through the hysterical crowd. “Jess – wait!” Josh went after her,
catching up when she had to find her way through a circle of women holding hands and singing one of Kiki’s famous love songs. Together they ducked and weaved until they spotted the bodyguard
turning down an alleyway, still talking into his mobile phone. They ran after him.

The alley was dark and dingy, lined with large rubbish bins where the nearby shops dumped their waste. Graffiti was scrawled up the walls, a mixture of kanji and English-style graffiti
lettering.

The bodyguard had stopped a little way down. Josh and Jessica crept closer, darting from behind a pile of discarded boxes to leap into a hidden doorway, then racing to kneel beside a large green
rubbish bin. They had drawn near enough to hear what the big man was saying.

“Yes, Boss,” he said. “I did, Boss.”

“
Kiki?
” Josh mouthed. Jessica shook her head.

“
Don’t think so,
” she mouthed back.

“Yes, Boss,” the bodyguard repeated. “She is on her way.” Suddenly he laughed. “Ha! Ha! People are so stupid. They will all see Chiba and not know it! Very clever,
Boss.” He moved away down the alley.

“He knows where Kiki is!” Jessica hissed. “We have to go after him, maybe he’ll lead us to her.” Josh nodded. Carefully, the two of them followed, watching where
they put their feet in case they trod on something that would make a noise.

“You know, if this was a comic book, we’d be walking right into a trap,” he whispered.

“Oh
thanks
,” Jessica muttered. “I’m
so
much more relaxed now.”

They crept further into the alley, which looked like it was coming to a dead end, stepping over discarded bottles, keeping the bodyguard in sight. A rat scuttled under one of the bins, and Josh
suppressed a shudder. Suddenly Jessica poked him in the back.

“Ow – what?” he hissed. Then he turned to see what she’d seen: two more men in black suits coming down the alley after them. Josh looked back and saw that the bodyguard
had turned around and was walking towards them. They were surrounded.

“Not good,” Josh said through gritted teeth. “Really not good...” The men came closer, and Josh tried to stand up straight and not look like he was sneaking anywhere. He
plastered a bright smile on his face. “Hullo,” he began. “Um, my sister and I are lost...
hagu...re...ta
?” he said, making sure to pronounce the Japanese badly.

“Can you gents tell us the way back to the mall?” Jessica joined in. “Our father must be looking for us...”

The men in suits didn’t answer.

“We’ll be off, then...” Josh said. He grabbed Jessica’s hand and launched himself into a run, aiming straight between the two men and the alley entrance. But one of the
men shot out a huge arm and pushed him back. Jessica cannoned into him and they both almost fell to the ground.

“Hey—” Josh began, but then a familiar growling voice from behind cut him off.

“Stop them!” it said in Japanese. “I know them – meddling English from the plane.” Josh and Jessica turned to find Kiki’s bodyguard in front of them.
“We take them in,” he said. “Until it’s all over.”

A pair of strong hands came down on Josh’s shoulders. Josh wasn’t about to let himself be taken anywhere. He seized one of the man’s wrists and twisted away, holding on tight
and bending the arm around with him. The man let out a surprised yell, before grabbing at Josh’s throat with his other hand. Josh ducked away, and saw that Jessica had tried a similar move,
but not succeeded – her attacker had an iron grip on both her wrists. She writhed and pulled but couldn’t free herself. Then Josh choked as the bodyguard’s arm closed around his
throat.

He managed to get one good backhand blow in on the bodyguard’s nose, and the big man dropped him. He rolled away from the other suited man’s boot as it headed for his face and heard
a loud, “
Hai!
” A second later he saw Jessica lash out with one foot getting her attacker between the legs with the pointy end of her shoes. The man crumpled to his knees with a
yell. Sensei Neil from their dojo would be proud.

“Yeah, go Jess!” Josh cried. He shot to his feet and managed to dodge the bodyguard. Jessica pulled away from the other man, and then they were sprinting away towards hope and
freedom and safety...and the brick wall at the wrong end of the alley.

They stopped and turned back. The three men were advancing on them with bared teeth.

“I knew you stupid children would be trouble,” growled the bodyguard.

Josh and Jessica both took up their ready stances, like Sensei Neil had taught them, with their weight evenly distributed and one hand up ready to parry a first blow. But Josh’s arms were
aching and he could hear Jessica breathing fast. It was two against three. Josh tried to push his brain into a higher gear, looking for a way out. But they were trapped.

Suddenly, Josh heard a noise above them. He looked to see something falling out of the sky. The bodyguard and the two men in suits looked up too, frowning in confusion.

“What’s that?” Jessica cried.

Josh could see that it was a person, dressed all in black, zipping down from the roof on a wire. About half a second later the figure’s feet landed right in the middle of the
bodyguard’s face. Josh pressed himself back against the wall as the bodyguard fell to his knees.

The mysterious figure used the bodyguard’s face like a springboard and leaped into the air. The attacker twisted and landed a kick on each of the other men’s necks before
somersaulting back to the ground with a graceful flourish.

The black-clad figure raised its hands in challenge to the thugs, who growled and rolled up their sleeves.

“Yay! Go...mysterious ninja!” Jessica cried.

The figure executed a perfect spinning high kick to the first thug’s face, sending him reeling. The second thug tried to grab hold but their rescuer used his momentum to bounce the
man’s head off the wall.

The bodyguard scrambled to his feet, blood streaming from a broken nose, and stumbled away down the alley.

Josh was stunned. This was a superhero. A real life, seriously for serious superhero had just rescued
him
! The person turned, hands on hips.

“Well?
Nigero!
” came the command.

“Okay, we’re going!” Jessica said. She grabbed Josh’s hand and tried to pull him away. He dug his heels into the concrete – there was no way he was going to be
yanked away before he found out who their superhero really was. “Come
on
, Josh, don’t upset the dangerous ninja,” Jessica said through her teeth.

No way
, Josh thought. The hero’s hood was coming loose from its top. If he could just reach it...

As Jessica dragged him past, he wrenched his wrist free, reached up and pulled the black fabric hood. It slid off, smooth as silk.

Underneath there was a flash of grey hair, pale skin, serious brown eyes...wrinkles...thin lips pursed in an expression of annoyance. Josh’s hero shot out a hand, quicker than the eye
could follow and grabbed him by the wrist.

“Josh Murata, you return that to me this instant!” said Granny Murata.

Josh dropped the hood. Granny scooped it up, brushing the dirt off. She sighed at Josh and Jessica, then her hands shot out and cuffed them both around the head.

“Foolish, foolish children!” she said. “You wander off alone; you follow a suspicious man three times the size of both of you put together; you do this—” She
brandished the mask. “Worst of all, you compromise my mission!”

“Your...” Josh croaked.

“Your
mission
?” Jessica asked.

Granny Murata sighed. “You think I do this for my health?” she said. She glanced around, checking for eavesdroppers. “We can’t talk about it here.” She unzipped her
black jacket, took it off and turned it inside out. Josh was amazed to see that the lining was made of light blue silk with a pattern of white flowers. She shrugged the jacket back on, and suddenly
she was no longer a secret ninja – she was just an elderly lady, dressed in a modern blue silk jacket over a black vest and black trousers. “Right. Home.”

When they got back to the apartment Granny led them straight to Josh’s room. He was a bit embarrassed that he’d left books scattered over the floor. Granny stepped neatly over them
and approached the bookshelf. If she was surprised to see that he’d already found the secret safe, she didn’t show it.

“Move these, please, and stand back,” she said, gesturing to the books. Josh and Jessica scrambled to pick up the books. Granny Murata reached over the shelf and tapped out a code on the keypad. Josh saw the red light go out and the green
light flicker on, and then there was an enormous
clang
and the whole bookshelf started to swing outwards. Josh and Jessica watched as the secret door revealed an elevator with shiny silver
panelling and a set of gleaming multicoloured buttons.

Granny entered the elevator and stood there, eyebrow raised and arms crossed.

“Come along, then,” she ordered. Josh hurried in and Jessica followed, hastily dumping the books. The bookcase door swung back and the elevator started to descend.

An illuminated map of the building was etched into a glass panel on one wall. As Josh watched, a floating blue light travelled down the map from Granny’s third floor apartment. One floor,
two, three...they were beside the lobby now but the elevator kept on falling, down below the basement and the car park level. The light kept moving too, into the unknown blank space under the
Sakura Apartments where there was nothing marked on the glass.

“This is amazing,
obaasan
,” said Jessica. “Where does it go?”

“You’ll see,” Granny said. Josh saw her cheek twitch as if she was trying not to smile at some private joke.

The light reached the bottom of the glass panel and the elevator stopped. The door swung open, and in front of them...

“Now that,” Josh said, “is
incredible
.”

The room looked like it had been designed by a manga artist. Giant screens showed infrared and 3D views of Tokyo buildings, swish black leather chairs were pulled up to glittering control
panels, and the far wall was filled with racks of weapons – gleaming katana, polished tonfa and pairs of elaborately painted nunchaku.

A figure was standing in front of the racks. He slotted a sword into its place on the wall, and turned around. It was Mr. Yamamoto. He was standing perfectly straight, looking fit and healthy
and definitely not bedridden! His eyes met Josh’s, and he grinned. He picked up a long wooden staff and rolled it in his hands before twirling it over his shoulder and around his waist so
fast it became a blur. The old man with the junk collection looked like he could do some serious damage!

Josh felt his face go bright red. “I suppose he can probably feed himself his own rice, then,” he muttered.

“Ah, Josh-kun,” Mr. Yamamoto said, with a theatrical wink at Granny Murata. He finished his display and put the staff back on the rack. “Mimi, a pleasure as always,” he
said to Granny, bowing low. “But perhaps your age is showing, being unmasked by a child.”

Granny rolled her eyes. “Yamamoto-san is my weapons expert,” she said, steering Josh and Jessica into the room.

Josh remembered the weapons he found in Mr. Yamamoto’s apartment.

“And this is Sachiko-san,” Granny said, indicating the grey-haired lady seated in front of a bank of CCTV screens with a massive, complex selection of buttons and slides at her
fingertips.

Sachiko-san was the little old lady from the parking garage. She looked different now – she had one arm draped over the back of her chair in a very un-grandmotherly way, and where the
bandages had been wrapped around her arms the wrinkled skin was covered in ancient tattoos. She grinned at them with a set of sparkling false teeth.

“Sachiko-san is my disguise technician and an aikido master,” said Granny. “Are the others out on a mission, Sachiko?”

“Others?” Josh said, still confused.

“They’re sparring next door,” said Sachiko, punching a few buttons on the control panel. “I’ll ask them to come in – I’m sure they’re dying to
meet your grandchildren.”

“My grandchildren who may have compromised our mission,” Granny said.

Josh swallowed hard.

“Sachiko, please show us the footage,” Granny ordered.