Trifecta (64 page)

Sabrina took out the gun.

"Look.  Look.  They have a gun.  Get them both." 
Hashimoto was screaming hysterically.  The bodyguards moved over to Hashimoto and
stood in a circle around him, as though they would protect him from Eve.

Eve turned and looked at Kokuro, who was bent over, recovering
his breath.  She turned back to Hashimoto.  "You hurt him, you brutal little
bully." 

She led Kokuro by the arm to the couch where Sabrina was
sitting.  "Are you going to be all right?"

"Oh, yes.  I'll live.  Hashimoto's doctor will fix
me up."

"And hush the whole thing up, too,"  Sabrina
said angrily.

Eve put her face very close to Kokuro's and started whispering. 
"I want to ask you some questions.  I will get the same answers from Hashimoto,
eventually.  I need to know when he's telling the truth.  I need the negatives of
those pictures on the table."

"He has them in a safe box.  In the lobby."

"Is there a key?"

"The drawer, in his bedroom."

"Thank you."

"You'll have to be quick,"  Kokuro said.  "He
has a meeting with his staff in a few minutes."

"Okay.  Sabrina, you hold them here.  Don't let them
use the phone or answer the door.  I'll get the negatives." 

Eve stood up and faced Hashimoto.

"As you can see, we have a gun.  And as you have witnessed
for yourself, I am also an expert in the Martial Arts."

"No."  Hashimoto was suddenly deadly calm.  "You're
inhumanly strong.  The one Alexander Steinbrenner told me about.  You are dangerous
and should be locked up.  If you don't come to Japan with me, I will advise the
American government of your attack.  You will be imprisoned.  And my pictures prove
you viciously bit another man in the neck.  And if...

"Please shut up,"  Eve said quietly, walking
a few steps toward him.  "We have a gun, and I am an expert in killing.  You
are despicable, but I will let you off with your life.  All I want are the pictures. 
Then we'll leave."

"You will come to..."

Eve shook her head.  "Not in a million years.  Tell
me where the negatives are."

"Not in a million years,"  Hashimoto shot back
sarcastically.

Eve turned and looked at Sabrina.  "Do you think you
can kill him without hitting anyone else?"

"Sure."  For good effect, Sabrina aimed directly
at Hashimoto, holding the rather heavy gun with her arm straight out.  The other
men in her line of fire moved rapidly aside.

"Either she will shoot you, or you could have a karate
match with me.  Either way you lose.  Tell me where the pictures are."

Hashimoto just stood looking at her.

Eve was standing beside the couch, near Sabrina, then suddenly
she ran toward Hashimoto.  Her speed was so unbelievable that the four bodyguards
unconsciously backed up even further.  Either Hashimoto was immobilized by surprise
or too scared to move.  Eve was in front of him, looking down at him menacingly.

"The negatives?"

Hashimoto glanced to the right and left.  He saw no help
from the large men assigned to guard him.  The woman towering over him appeared
unbelievably ferocious.

"A safety deposit box in the lobby."

"The key?"

"The desk by the bed."

I
var and Malcolm had taken up position in the lobby
of the Century Plaza Hotel.  Ivar was in a chair next to the elevators; Malcolm
standing near the entrance.  People were swarming the lobby as there was a Republican
Party lecture and luncheon in one of the banquet rooms on the ground level. 

Either Eve or Sabrina came out of the elevator alone after
they had waited about forty minutes.  Ivar shook his head at Malcolm, so he wouldn't
move from his position.  The two women had come to the hotel separately, and could
conceivably leave separately, but from what he had seen, Ivar was sure there had
been some coercion to get them there. 

As Ivar watched there was something about the way the woman
held her head, her sureness of purpose and physical grace that convinced him it
was Eve.  He knew when she grinned at him and then gave a very obvious wink.  He
glanced at Malcolm, who was also watching, but decided that he couldn't have seen
from his position across the lobby with all the people blocking his view.  It was
a typical Hollywood bash, everyone's kisses brushing air near the person fondly
greeted, with perfect make-up and coiffures the priority over false sentimentality.

Ivar watched Eve talk to one of the hotel's front desk
personnel, and then she was allowed behind the desk area and disappeared through
a door. 

Ivar was uneasy because he had been instructed to pick
up both Eve and Sabrina as soon as they left the hotel.  He would be the one to
flash his badge and advise them to come along.  Eve might lose all trust in him. 
She might hate him forever.  But Burgess Whitcomb would eventually bring them in. 
When it happened he wanted to be there.

The front desk woman led Eve down a corridor of offices. 
They stopped at a white telephone and the woman told Eve that they had to call the
room and make sure it was Mr.  Hashimoto's intention to let her procure documents
from his safe.  There was no answer from the room when the woman called.  She tried
again with the same result.

Eve told the desk clerk to call the room, ring one time,
then hang up and call again.  She hoped Sabrina would recognize her signal.

The clerk was very nice, but Eve could see she was getting
suspicious.  The phone rang about six times and then, finally, was answered. 

The clerk asked to speak to Mr.  Hashimoto.  There was
a long pause and then he was on the phone, telling the woman to let Ms.  Miller
take an envelope from the safe.

Eve was led into a small room with a bare table and chair. 
One entire wall was lined with wall safes.  The clerk left the room.  Eve kept glancing
at the door, which had a window in it, but no one was watching.  She found the right
box, opened it, and laid it on the table.  Inside, she found an envelope with the
incriminating negatives and put it in her purse.  Then she quickly flipped through
the rest of the documents.  She memorized everything. 

There was quite a bit of money in one canvas package she
ripped open with her teeth.  She figured the contents was worth about seven hundred
and fifty thousand dollars, when she fanned through the piles, with a ten percent
error either way. 

She found the CIA files.  There was information about Sabrina's
dental records, the blood typing and the handcuffs taken as evidence.  She folded
it and put it in her purse.

The front desk clerk was watching to make sure Eve went
up on the elevators, back to Hashimoto's room.  As she waited for the elevator,
Eve backed up until was standing directly behind Ivar's chair.  Eve took the envelope
of negatives and the CIA document out of her purse.  She slipped both down the back
of Ivar's chair.

Then she said very softly, "Ivar, I've dropped some
pictures and documents in your chair.  Please destroy them."

She turned around, as if to scan the lobby, and saw the
back of his head nod.  He rattled the newspaper, shaking it to fold to a new page,
holding it so that it covered his mouth.  Then she heard him say, "No matter
what happens, remember that the agent who shot Stephan Steinbrenner was bitten by
a large, tan boxer dog."

"All right, Ivar,"  Eve whispered, smiling. 

She walked to the elevator that was just opening up.

S
abrina had been left alone in the hotel room with five
bodyguards, Hashimoto, and the gun.  She had never felt so silly in her life.  She
had no idea how to use the thing and thought that there was usually some kind of
safety that had to be removed before it could be fired, but was afraid to study
the evil, slick looking weapon for fear that the men would notice that she did not
know exactly what to do with it.  Something had to be cocked, or pushed up, or arranged
so that it could fire, and although she had no intention of doing so, she wished
she could at least look professional while handling the nasty thing.  The situation
was ludicrous.

"You know, if you shoot that gun, the bullet would
go right through me.  It would also go through the wall and might kill someone in
the next room.  You're holding a lot of fire power." 

Sabrina believed Hashimoto, remembering the mess this very
gun had made of Stephan Steinbrenner's shoulder, and her own terror when the Russian
spy who shot him held it against her own ribs. 

"I know,"  Sabrina said, hoping she sounded confident. 
"So let's make sure I don't have to use it."

"Why don't you put the gun down.  It's making me nervous,
pointed as it is."

Sabrina felt like a fake gangster.  She hoped Eve wouldn't
be long getting the negatives.  Especially since the gun was so darned heavy.  She
tried to keep the tip from wobbling, but her arm was getting tired.  To keep them
from noticing she said, "Mr.  Hashimoto, would you please go and sit down against
the wall, across the room from me? Maybe all you other men could also sit down with
him."

Kokuro got up to go with the others.  Sabrina almost stopped
him, but decided to let him go, too.  She did not wish to show favoritism, but what
if a rib had punctured his lung or something? He seemed all right, but he was stoic
by nature wouldn't show pain unless he was terminal.

Sabrina leaned forward and rested her elbow against her
knee.  She felt her tension relax a bit as the men all seemed to settle down.  They
were docile enough, but they were talking among themselves very quietly in Japanese,
and she just knew they would all jump up suddenly and make a run at her. 

The telephone's ring made her jump.  Hashimoto stood up
to answer it.  It looked like an automatic reflex, but she jumped up, holding the
gun straight out in front of her and said, "Hold it right there."

Hold it right there? I not only feel stupid, I'm talking
like B-picture gun moll.

Hashimoto sighed and sat down with little dignity, acting
reluctantly resigned for the time being. 

The phone rang for a long time and finally stopped.

Then someone knocked on the door, but she could tell it
wasn't Eve, who always used three knocks.  A key was opening the door. 

Horrified, Sabrina ran and looked out.  She managed to
hide the gun behind her and told the maid pushing a rolling cart full of sheets
and towels that they wouldn't need room service today.  She thought the maid smirked,
and felt slimy with innuendo.  She restrained an urge to slam the door.

The telephone rang again and seemed to go on forever until
it stopped, shrilly, mid ring.

The men against the wall were still talking quietly among
themselves.

The phone rang once and stopped.  It started again.  'One
ring, then call again.' It was Eve.  She ran for it.  She kept her gun on the men,
telling them not to move a muscle, feeling like she was in some kind of hallucination.

The person on the telephone said she had to ask Mr.  Hashimoto
if Ms.  Miller could procure documents from his safe.  Good, Eve would get the pictures
and relieve her of the pressure of holding six men against the wall with a lethal
weapon.

Sabrina explained the situation to Hashimoto, saying she
would shoot him in the gut if he tried anything.

Sabrina placed the receiver on the little telephone table
and backed up, so she could cover him.  He did just as she asked and then went back
to his place against the wall. 

Sabrina kept glancing at her watch.  The minute hand was
definitely stuck because it never seemed to move.  Finally Sabrina heard three knocks
and got up to answer the door.  Three knocks, one ring, and pretty soon a secret
handshake.  She was getting hysterical.

Sabrina opened the door, but it wasn't Eve, it was Hashimoto's
staff of three, who didn't notice that she quickly moved a gun behind her back. 
They were all busy bowing.  Sabrina quickly pulled the door almost shut to hide
the men lined up against the wall.  She told them that Hashimoto wanted them to
come back in one hour, please.  They were still discussing contracts she tried to
explain, but they all smiled and said, Ah yes, nodding knowingly at each other. 
There was more bowing and the little Japanese men smirked too.  They left Sabrina
feeling more indecent with unsubtle insinuations.  First a maid and then a bunch
of little, educated, dirty minded Japanese twerps.  She wondered if Hashimoto routinely
kept his staff waiting while occupying his time with loose women.

Sabrina sat down again to wait for Eve.  She must have
found the pictures by now.  It was only a matter of a few more minutes.  Sabrina
wondered what Mark was doing and what he would think of her sitting here with a
gun, holding six men against the wall and threatening to shoot.  She also wondered
if he was miserable and suddenly, fiercely, hoped he was.  She knew that if you're
in love with someone you shouldn't hope that they are miserable, but she did.  She
wanted him to suffer, and damned with wanting the person you loved to be happy without
you.  She wanted to be the pain that would never leave; the sun that never shone
on him again; the thirst that never quit, and the hunger that never ended. 

Her thoughts sounded like a bad country song, but she put
it down to lack of sleep.

She was so sad she could hardly believe she was actually
living through it, almost surprised that the sadness hadn't killed her off as she
lay in her bed last night.  She thought that maybe she was a little weird today
because of the sleepless night.  She also thought that anyone who wished their loved
one happiness after they were gone was brainwashed with somebody's silly saccharine
notion of goody-goodness.

Not that she wanted Mark to be miserable forever, but a
few years, at least, would be a rational length of time.  On the other hand, men
didn't get all that miserable, did they? They just went out and found someone else. 
It was awfully depressing.

With her thoughts thus diverted, Sabrina didn't notice
that Kokuro was painfully and slowly getting up.  He did though, and took a few
steps toward her.  Then he seemed to reluctantly sink back down.  Two of the men
helped ease him back again.  He leaned against the wall. 

A few of the men muttered to themselves and then another
of the Hulks got up.  Holding his arms out from his sides, palms toward her, positioned
as if to say he would not harm her, the man started moving toward her. 

"Wait, now,"  Sabrina said.  "Don't come
any closer.  Doesn't he understand English? Mr.  Hashimoto, tell him to stop."

The man kept walking toward Sabrina.  She stood up and
motioned him back with her gun.  She pointed at the wall, but he kept coming.  Then
Sabrina knew.  This was the Kamikaze.  He was the sacrifice to see if she would
really pull the trigger.

Sabrina aimed the gun at Hashimoto.  "Tell him to
stop or I will shoot you, Mr.  Hashimoto.  Not him.  You."

Hashimoto said something that sounded harsh and the man
stopped moving, but the men against the wall all shifted, so that Sabrina could
not get a clear shot at Hashimoto.  Then the big Hulk started slowly moving toward
her again.

Sabrina looked around wildly for a place to go.  Hashimoto
was a despicably fine general.  Kokuro was hurt and he rightfully believed that
she would never shoot him, so Kokuro had been the logical person to disarm her. 
Then Hashimoto had to use someone else when Kokuro was unable to be the sacrifice. 

Sabrina looked for a place where she could be safe from
the gigantic man moving slowly toward her.  He didn't look mean, but he came forward
implacably.  Sabrina could not read his face.  He really was inscrutable.  He didn't
look threatening, determined or afraid that she would kill him.  He just slowly
kept coming.

Sabrina could not back up except to go into the bedroom. 
She couldn't give up the gun and she looked around the bedroom as she slowly inched
her way back into it.  She couldn't hide under the bed, so she did the only logical
thing she could think of.  She retreated ignominiously into the bathroom.  Then
she slammed and locked it in the advancing Hulk's face.

Sabrina sat down on the toilet cover and noticed that her
hands were shaking uncontrollably.  The gun was slippery from perspiration in her
grip.  She washed her hands and wiped off the gun barrel.  Then she sat down on
the toilet to wait for Eve.

Suddenly there was music.  It was very loud and energetic
sounding, like a dance band.  It went on and on and Sabrina checked her watch. 
She must have missed the three knocks.  Eve had been gone at least twenty minutes. 
She must be here by now.  Sabrina unlocked the door.  It would not open.  Sabrina
pushed, but the door seemed to be stuck.  She turned the knob, but the problem was
not the lock or a stuck doorknob.  They must have placed a chair under the knob
outside.  Or else one of the Hulks was leaning against it.  Sabrina called out for
them to let her out and pushed with all her weight, but it was unmovable.  She looked
around the small space.  There was no way out of the room except that door. 

Sabrina knocked again.  When no one answered she finally
started pounding.  She stepped back for another assault and then stopped.  This
was crazy.  She was shaking again and starting to panic.  Small spaces had never
bothered her before.  She should check out the gun.  Figure out how to shoot it
and then shoot the door.  It would just be too bad if someone was standing on the
other side.  Serve them right for locking her in.

Sabrina spread out a towel and placed the gun on it.  She
started sliding different parts.  Everything would be fine as long as she didn't
touch the trigger and kept the hole where the bullet came out pointed away from
herself.  A part came sliding out and several bullets fell out and bounced on the
tile floor.  She retrieved them and slipped them back into place.  Now she knew
how to unload. 

She wouldn't really know if she undid the safety unless
she pulled the trigger.  If she needed to attract attention she could just unscrew
the silencer.  She was sure a gun shot within the hotel would bring help quickly.

Assuming that the safety was off, she aimed at the corner
of the bathroom wall, cringing and squinting.  The trigger was surprisingly stiff
and hard to move.  Finally she pulled it all the way and heard it click. 

Nothing happened.