To the tourists who came to San Francisco, it was known in the guidebooks as Little Japan. To the rest of the natives of The City who went there to shop or eat out, it was simply J-Town. And to the 12 thousand or so people of Nesei Japanese descent who lived and worked there, it was Nihonmachi.
Whatever you wanted to call the district, it took up about thirty blocks, and acted as a buffer zone between the well-to-do Pacific Heights District and the Western Addition.
Nihonmachi is where Japanese businessmen re-settled after returning from the internment camps at the end of World War II. Now it was a thriving neighborhood of businesses both big and small, with pricey restaurants, high-end shops, noodle stands, video stores selling anime and manga and a whole lot of sushi bars.
At the corner of Post and Buchanan Streets is the Japan Center, a five acre sprawl of mall shops laid out like a Japanese village, dominated by the massive Peace Pagoda. Just across the street was the new Nakatomi Centre, a five story office building with the clean lines and minimalist architecture of a traditional Japanese building.
In his borrowed Mercedes, Jeb Stuart spotted a single --and quite rare-- curbside parking space right in front of Nakatomi Centre. As he accelerated for it, he had to slam on the brakes as a boss looking, black on red '71 Dodge Challenger ragtop rumbled into the spot.
Jeb grumbled as he pulled in next to a fire hydrant. He selected a card that read INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE - FIELD INVESTIGATIONS, and placed it on the dashboard. There, let's see someone fuck with that!
Jeb got out and headed for the Nakatomi Centre. He was still dressed in his good suit and tie. He noticed the driver of the Dodge Challenger had just gotten out of her car. She was a tall, good looking blonde woman wearing aviator framed, mirrored shades, a tan leather jacket, distressingly tight blue jeans and cowboy boots.
Gwen Sweet squinted at the tall, good looking man in the nice suit. "Sorry about the parking spot."
Jeb smiled. "That's okay."
"You know that you're parked illegally, don't you?"
"Not to worry," Jeb replied. "The cops in this town don't like to stray too far from their doughnut shops."
"Ha... ha." Sweet muttered.
They walked together to the corner entrance of the Nakatomi Centre. Pedestrian traffic was light, mostly Japanese office workers in a hurry.
"Nice car," Jeb said, nodding at her ride. "Always loved the Mopar musclecars!"
"Thanks," Sweet replied. "My husband restores and sells vintage cars for a living. Has his own shop and everything, if you're interested."
Jeb opened the door for her, and they both entered the cool lobby.
"Sounds nice," Jeb said. "Unfortunately, my work is sometimes a little hard on my vehicles."
They both looked at the Building Directory. Jeb saw that the computer check he had run on Dr. Yoshiko Katsuhara Roper had been correct, and that she had an office on the fifth floor.
He hurried to the elevators, the woman right on his heels.
They waited till an elevator heading up binged, and they both entered.
"Floor?" Sweet was next to the control panel.
"Five for me." Jeb replied. He saw her press for the fifth floor only. The elevator headed up. The elevator music was some Japanese flute and strings instrumental.
The doors opened on five. She stayed put. Jeb smiled at her and headed into the clean, impossibly white corridor.
"Excuse me, sir?" she called.
Jeb turned. The woman was holding the elevator doors open and was using them as cover. She had the right side of her leather jacket pulled back, revealing her seven pointed, silver SFPD badge on her belt and her still holstered sidearm, which she was gripping with her right hand.
"San Francisco Police," Sweet said with a quiet authority. "Do you have a carry permit for the weapon you're carrying, sir?"
"I'm a Federal agent," Jeb replied. "My ID is in my inside, left coat pocket."
"Get it with your left hand," Sweet said. "Slowly."
Jeb complied. He flicked open his fake ID that identified him as Special Agent Alvin Karpis of the FBI.
Sweet nodded and relaxed. "Nice to met you, Agent Karpis." She showed him her ID. "Officer Gwen Sweet. Sorry for the inconvenience."
"Not at all," Jeb nodded. "That was pretty slick of you, spotting my shoulder rig like that."
"It throws off the lines of your suit," Sweet replied.
"I'll have to remember that," Jeb replied.
Together they both walked down the long corridor, passing dentists' offices, attorneys' offices, CPAs'... A young Japanese secretary carrying an armload of legal papers bowed slightly to them as they passed.
"You wouldn't by chance be seeing a Dr. Roper, would you?" Jeb asked.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Sweet replied.
They arrived at the double doors to Dr. Yoshiko Katsuhara Roper's office. The doors were solid bleached oak, while the walls beyond were made of panes of frosted glass made to resemble the ricepaper walls of a Japanese home. There was a hastily scribbled sign taped to the door which read, closed until furthir notice!
"Someone needs to brush up on their spelling," Sweet observed in a whisper.
"Yes," Jeb whispered back. "It might be best if you go to one of those offices and call for some back up. We're probably dealing with multiple perps and a hostage situation."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going in."
"Then I'd better stay here and back you up."
Jeb looked at her and nodded. "Your call. Care to step back? We might have some trouble here."
Jeb knelt to one side and took out his lockpicks. Sweet drew her stainless .40 caliber S&W semi-auto pistol and took a step back.
Jeb worked the lock, it opened with a loud double click.
Over a dozen silencered rounds from a submachine pistol punched through the wooden doors from inside the office, spraying splintered wood everywhere. If Jeb hadn't been standing to one side, he would've been dead.
He shoved the sliding wooden door open, going bellydown on the carpet as the shooter kept firing on him across the door and the adjoining wall of frosted glass panes, which shattered and sprayed down on top of Jeb.
Gwen Sweet stepped forward and dropped to one knee, using the door for cover. She spotted a young, wide-eyed Japanese woman bound and gagged to an office chair. The shooter --a young Arabic man with long, curly black hair-- was using her for cover as he emptied the clip to his Uzi machinepistol at Jeb.
Sweet waited til he ejected the spent clip and had a fresh one in his hand.
"POLICE OFFICER!!! DROP IT, ASSHOLE!!!" she shouted.
With blinding dexterity, Haytham --the Young Hawk-- had the loaded magazine in and had jacked back the bolt of the Uzi by the time Sweet fired. The heavy thump of her pistol seemed impossibly loud in the office. The first round caught him in the shoulder, kicking him back into the wall. The second and third shot took apart his face, spraying blood, brains and skull fragments all over the impossibly white wall.
The Young Hawk of the Fist of Allah was dead.
Sweet yelped as a another round smacked into the door right by her face, spraying her with splinters and leaving a fist sized hole where her head had been a split-second ago.
The cannon-like report of this weapon seemed to blow out her eardrums even as it echoed down the corridor. Sweet ducked behind the door as Gamal stood at the doorway to the inner office, aiming his massive Taurus .480 Magnum revolver.
As he fired again, Jeb aimed through the broken panes of frosted glass and kicked off three shots from his silencered Hk-23.
The big .45 ACP rounds hit Gamal in the upper leg, the arm and the chest. He grunted and fired back wildly, but with no report or muzzleflash, he had no idea where Jeb was firing from. He stumbled away from the door.
Jeb tracked him and put three more rounds into the wall at chest level. One of holes started to bleed.
"Agent Karpis!" Sweet yelled.
Who? Jeb thought. Oh yeah, me!
"I'm here!" he shouted. "You okay?"
"I'm good. What now, G-man?"
"Call for back up!" Jeb replied. His ears were ringing something fierce from that damned cannon. "I gotta get in there before they kill the hostage."
Jeb got up and knocked away what was left of the glass to enter the outer office. The Japanese woman who was tied to the chair was humming frantically into her gag but appeared unhurt.
Sweet came through the door, pistol aimed at the other door.
"I told you to get backup!" Jeb hissed.
"Twenty people have called by now," Sweet replied. "You need me to back you up, G-man. Now lets do it!"
Jeb smiled at her and nodded. He moved along the wall with pistol drawn. He and Sweet burst into the inner office, sweeping the room with their guns.
The perps were gone and the office was a mess, with papers strewn everywhere and furniture kicked over.
However, there was a pretty, well-dressed Japanese woman in her early forties, who was strapped down with duct tape to her black leather analyst's couch. Tape was wound about her neck, shoulders, belly, knees and ankles, with her arms taped behind her. She was humming into a duct tape gag that covered her entire lower face.
"Dr. Roper I presume?" Jeb asked as he checked the open door to another office, where the perps had bugged out.
"Don't worry, ma'am, I'll get you loose!" Sweet said as she flicked open her Bali Song folding lockblade.
"No!" Jeb shouted. "Don't touch her! I know how these perps work! The only reason they'd leave a hostage alive is because they've left her boobytrapped!"
"Jezzzuz!" Sweet muttered as Jeb closed and blocked the door. "Who are these guys?"
"The Fist of Allah, Saudi mercenaries," Jeb replied. He walked over Dr.Roper, who looked back at him with wide eyes. "Konichiwa, Dr. Roper. Now, I am a professioal, and I know your daughter, Tai Anne. Has an explosive device been placed on your person?"
She blinked back tears and nodded yes.
"Okay, give a hum when I reach the spot where the charge has been placed." Jeb started at the top of her head and ran his hand down about six inches above her body.
She gave a loud hum when he reached her midriff.
"Okay..." Jeb muttered. He knelt beside her and gently unbuttoned her white cotton blouse along her belly and pulled back the cloth.
Lying on her belly, across her navel was what looked like a stainless steel pencil box, six inches long and two inches wide.
"That's it?" Sweet said, looking over his shoulder."
"Yeah." Jeb took out a leather pouch from a side pocket and opened it up. Inside was what looked like fine watchmaker's tools. He took one out and clicked the tab on the pencil box, flipping it open.
The inside was filled with a gel-like putty and what looked like a calculator watch. The digital numbers were running, 41... 40... 39...
"Awwww shit!" Sweet said. "Please tell me that's a really cheap watch!"
"Sorry." Jeb took another small tool out and started unscrewing the faceplate of the calculator. "Better get outta here, Officer Sweet. Try to evacuate as many people off this floor as possible."
30... 29... 28...
"Are you nuts?" she replied. "In --oh fuck-- twenty-six seconds?"
"Then save yourself and get the hell outta here!" Jeb felt sweat springing up on his face.
"Can't you just... move it offa her?"
22... 21... 20...
"'Fraid not. This model has a liquid crystal movement sensor... if it shifts left, right, up or down. it goes off." Jeb took a breath. "Now please get outta here. I... I'm not sure I can do this in time."
12... 11... 10...
"Fuck that," Sweet said. "You're my partner. And I never give up on a partner."
9... 8... 7...
The faceplace popped off, and Jeb reached inside and pulled a wire loose with a pair of tweezers.
"There!" Jeb said.
"You got it?"
"We'll know for sure in..."
2... 1... 0...
***
Langley was just sitting down to a late lunch at Alioto's Restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf, when his cellphone trilled the opening theme to the James Bond movies.
He clicked on. "This better be good."
"Langley. Jeb here."
"What's wrong, guy? You sound funny."
"That's cos I nearly had a close encounter of the explosive kind," Jeb said. "I'm in the office of Dr. Yoshiko Katsuhara Roper, fifth floor of the Nakatomi Centre in J-Town. Get here ASAP with some sweepers and a helluva cover story. I just had a run in with the Fist of Allah. One hostile dead, two hostages unharmed. I also have a disarmed mini-bomb. Looks like that new plastique gel I've been hearing about." He took a deep breath. "Hey, you there?"
"Right here." He already had another cellphone out and was punching in a number. "Don't move from where you are. When the SFPD shows up keep 'em away from the scene. Dazzle 'em with bullshit, boyo. Don't let anybody near the crimescene. See you in ten minutes max."
The phone clicked off. Jeb pocketed it and turned around. He had cut away most of the duct tape from Yoshiko Roper's body, and she was sitting up. trying to pull the last few strips off her clothes and hair. She was wearing a white cottom blouse, a simple knee length black skirt that showed off her trim legs and low heels.
"Are you alright, Doctor?"
"I am fine," she said gently, looking at Jeb. My God, he thought. She does remind me of Tai Anne! "Domo Arigato. You saved my life. May I know your name?"
"My name is Jeb Stuart," he replied. "I used to work for the CIA... I'm now in private practice. I assist your daughter Tai Anne on occasion."
"Are you helping her now?"
"Not so that you could notice," Jeb said. "Can you tell me what happened here?"
"Hai," Yoshiko nodded. "Three men burst into this office and took my secretary, Kei, hostage. They pointed guns in my face and tied me up with this tape. One went to the outer office to stand guard. Another, a tall dark man, wanted to know where Tai Anne was. He also wanted to know where a woman named Drew Thrasher was. Also two people he called... Fiendly and Wenche?"
"Yes, go on."
"I told him quite truthfully I had no idea where my daughter was, and simply did not know the others. He did not believe me, and so He took out these... steel instruments, to force me to tell him. That's when you and the policewoman showed up."
"Can you describe the other two men?"
"As I said, the one who was asking the questions was tall and dark. Quite young though. The other was older... and a hulking brute. He just watched. He was the one who shot at you from the doorway, and was shot himself. Both of them ran into the next office. The young one placed that device on me." She sighed. "All appeared to be of Arab descent."
Jeb nodded. "Try to take easy, Doctor. I'l be back with you shortly."
He got up to leave and was stopped by Yoshiko.
"Tai Anne," Yoshiko whispered. "She is in danger, yes?"
"I think she's safe for the moment," Jeb replied. "But we have do have to find her."
Yoshiko brushed away a tear. "Simply put, Mr. Stuart... she is my life."
Jeb nodded. "She means a great deal to me as well."
Jeb strode into the outer office, where a crowd of people were milling about the corridor, peeking through the shattered panes of glass. Sweet was sawing through the last of the phone cord holding the young, Japanese secretary to her chair. Jeb had already checked her for any boobytraps.
She got up, looking scared and confused.
"Kei?" Jeb said. "See if you can assist the doctor, okay?"
"Hai hai!" she nodded and hurried into the inner office. Jeb noticed Sweet was looking at the body of the man she had killed.
Jeb sighed and dropped to one knee, he started going through the man's pockets. "First time?" he asked.
"Seven years of the force, first time I ever had to drop the hammer on a man," Sweet said. tonelessly. She sniffled and turned away.
"If you're human, it's a hard feeling to live with," Jeb said. "If it makes you feel any better, if this little bastard had capped us, he'd still be laughing about it."
Jeb got up. He'd found a wallet with excellently forged fake ID, some Egyptian cigarettes and a good Dunhill lighter.
"Also you saved my ass," Jeb said. "Thanks for the back up... partner."
A couple of cops finally showed up, pushing their way through the corridor. Jeb met them at the door with his FBI credentials.
"Clear the building," Jeb said to them. "We have a UXB on premises that could still be remotely detonated. Federal agents are in route. Consider this a sealed operation of the Anti-Terrorist Strike Force, Office of Homeland Security."
That was all he needed to say. The cops began clearing the hallway and radioing other officers to evacuate the building. Jeb closed the bullet-ridden sliding doors as best he could.
"What was that all about?" Sweet asked.
"I need to tell you a few things," Jeb said. "For starters, my real name is Jeb Stuart. And I'm not FBI, I'm former CIA. But I do have connections with the government. Right now a group of agents are enroute to clean up this mess."
"Clean up?" Sweet was incredulous. "What about crimescene and forensics and the Medical Examiner?"
"My guess is that instead of preserving this crimescene, a group of 'sweepers' wll go through this place so that in a few hours no one will know a firefight ever took place," Jeb replied. "As far as the record will show... you never killed anyone."
"And what about me?"
"You're in the mix now. You killed a member of a tight knit, Saudi mercenary hit squad," Jeb said. "The only thing we can do --and I'm including Dr. Roper in this-- is to combine resources... and work together."
Jeb started back to the inner office to include Dr. Roper in any further discussions. Sweet hung back.
Jeb smiled. "Coming, partner?"
***
Actually it took fifteen minutes for Langley and his crew to make it to The Nakatomi Centre and up to the fifth floor to Dr. Roper's office.
Jeb used this time to fill Dr. Roper and Sweet in on everything he knew, holding nothing back. Sweet reciprocated by telling them everything, including her upcoming meet with Stoner at The Brickyard to free Iwana Binder.
"Hey, nice use of pastels," Langley commented as he entered and saw the gore splattered all over the office wall. "Aterial red and brainmatter gray. Kooky!"
"Langley," Jeb said. "I want you to meet Dr. Yoshiko Katsuhara Roper..."
"Any relation to..."
"Tai Anne's mom. The Fist of Allah came here to pump her for information on her daughter's whereabouts," Jeb said. "And this is Officer Gwen Sweet of the SFPD, who has also found herself entangled in this mess."
"Pleased t' meecha," Langley nodded at both of them. "Hey Jeb, you cap the towelhead out there? If he's Fist of Allah you just made yourself fifty thousand bucks tax free, ole buddy!"
"He's Fist of Allah," Jeb said. "But Officer Sweet was the one who capped him."
"Good for you, honey!" Langley grinned. "You got any family in-city?"
"Only my husband," Sweet replied. "Why?"
"Better get him to a safe house es muy pronto!" Langley said. He turned to Jeb. "I'll have my own people pick him up."
Jeb looked at Sweet. "It's for the best, if Fist of Allah went after Tai's mom, they could come after your family for taking out one of their own."
"Okay," Sweet nodded. "But if someone has to watch my husband, then I want it in-house. SFPD only. No CIA spooks."
"Y'know, Officer," Langley said. "Calling us spooks is so... eighties. Don't you trust us?"
"I trust him," Sweet replied, nodding at Jeb. "But only him. Meanwhile, I know at least twenty cops I would trust with my life, and therefore the life of my husband."
Langley frowned. "Jeb? Wanna help me out here?"
"Make your calls, Officer," Jeb said to her. "See to your husband's safety. Just keep the particulars out of it."
"Thanks." Sweet nodded and headed off to a corner to make some phone calls on her cell.
Langley sighed and looked at Jeb. "So how you wanna handle this, buddy?"
"My way," Jeb replied. "The remaining four fingers of Allah are now angry and off balance. I have a feeling they'll show up sooner or later."
"And you expect me to just sit around and cool my heels?"
"That's what you're best at," Jeb replied. "I would suggest you scramble a Federal REACT team with full gear. Keep them close. I'll call if things... get out of hand."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah, I need a ride. I'm parked downstairs by a fire hydrant in a tan Mercedes sedan. Sweet is parked nearby in a black over red '71 Challenger," Jeb said. "Have both vehicles swept for explosives. I'll bet you a doubleheader at Pac Bell Park both are now wired to blow."
Langley tossed him a set of keys. "Got a fully loaded agency Suburban doubleparked out front. Lotsa gear and all the 'options'. Don't scratch the paint."
Jeb nodded.
"What about her?" Langley nodded at Dr. Roper.
"Like Officer Sweet, I trust Mr. Stuart," Yoshiko replied. "I will go with him as well."
"Well, buddy-boy!" Langley smirked. "Aren't you the ladies man! Hubba hubba!"
***
A block away on Post Street, the burgundy Savannah Van was parked at the curb. Gamal was sitting in the back, using the knife he had taken from Tai Anne Roper to pry the the last bullet out of his body. That infidel son of a bitch had nailed him four times. Once in the upper leg, twice in the arm and once in the chest.
The last slug was wedged between his ribs. he grunted and finally popped it loose, looking at it in the light.
"Damned copper-jacketed hollowpoints!" he hissed. "They always hurt like hell!"
Also in the van was Fahd and a sulking, angry Haytham.
"Are you sure it was the woman who killed my brother?" Haytham hissed.
"For the tenth time, yes!" Gamal replied.
"Calm down, Haytham," Fahd said.
"Fuck that!" Haytham shouted. "You know what the Imans say... that no Muslim murdered by a mere woman wil be allowed to take his place beside Allah!" He looked up at a freeze frame on the video monitors that showed Sweet and Jeb Stuart walking towards the doors of the Nakatomi Centre. "Every second that infidel bitch lives... keeps my brother away from his rightful place in heaven."
At that moment, Abbas re-entered the van and started it up. "And I have just taken care of both of them! I managed to place a device on her car... and her partner's vehicle, just before the authorities arrived."
"Abbas," Fahd said. "What do you make of the fact that she is the same woman who was the police officer who wrote us a ticket for that 'accident' we got into with Fiendly and his bitch?"
Abbas shrugged. "As I suspected, Fiendly is really working for the authorities in this matter. This confirms what Samarkand told us less than an hour ago... That Fiendly was the one who blew our cover when we arrived here."
"So what's the plan now?" Gamal asked as he flexed his sore arm.
"Find out where Fiendly and Wenche are hiding with Roper and Thrasher... and kill everybody except the valuable Miss Thrasher and get out of town."
"And how do we find this Fiendly?" Fahd asked.
Abbas smiled as he flipped open his cell as he drove. He quick-called a number and got an answer right away. "Hello... Mr. Tanner-Hyde?"
***
"And why did I have to give that Fed the keys to my car?" Sweet whined as she, Jeb and Yoshiko walked down out the double doors of Nakatomi Centre.
"Because our vehicles are probably wired to blow," Jeb replied, loosening his good tie. "Here's our ride."
"Very nice!" Yoshiko said, admiring the tricked-out, black Chevy Suburban with the tinted, dark glass. "Does it have all the gizmos that James Bond has in his car?"
"Come now, Dr. Roper!" Jeb said as he chirped off the alarm and unlocked the doors. "That's only in the movies... but I do promise to be careful with the ejection seats..."
"You're a real funny guy," Sweet groused as she got in the passenger side, while Yoshiko got in the back and Jeb got behind the wheel.
"If it makes you feel any better, my wife and three daughters are in hiding as well, just like your husband," Jeb said.
"And at least you two know where your loved ones are," Yoshiko said quietly from the back. "My Tai Anne is a captive... somewhere."
Sweet turned in her seat. "I am sorry, Dr. Roper. I promise you, we will find her."
"But first things first," Jeb said. "Its after 4 pm. We have to meet this Inspector Stoner over at The Brickyard to negotiate Iwana Binder's release."
"Yes, freeing Iwana is our priority now, Mr. Stuart!" Yoshiko said.
"Friends call me Jeb."
"Gwen." Sweet said.
Yoshiko nodded. "Very well, Gwen... and Jeb. You may call me Dr. Roper."
They looked at her.
"Chiksho! That was just a joke!" she said. "Now drive!"
Jeb chuckled as he started the big SUV up and pulled into traffic. "One for all..."
"...And all for one," Sweet finished.
Chapter Thirty-Four