BORESIGHT

Theo ran the details through his head one more time on the way. 

As an incidental bonus, this helped him keep his bile down on the drive.

Everything about the op suggested a milk run; an joint US-Japan crackdown on the antiquities black market. They’d be tracking down artifacts, alright, only these might just do a hell of a lot more than look pretty behind glass. Though knowing that they didn’t cause any trouble in transit, they might just be that– inert, fake, or plain mundane.

He doubted if the traffickers behind it even knew what they were handling for that dumbass with more money than sense. Theo also doubted that they’d find him here.

More likely they’d pick him up trying for asylum in some authoritarian shithole down south or up north. Japan wasn’t a very good choice for a white guy looking to disappear.

It wasn’t long before they drew up on the curb at the apparent rendezvous, a side street lined with what looked like shops and restaurants. A few townsfolk milled around. 

Something about it seemed vaguely familiar, like Theo had just seen this exact vista in a fever dream. 

Just as he began to wonder where the contact could be, an unkempt man appeared from behind the entrance of a nearby building, an entrance that looked to Theo like someone had taken scissors to a curtain.

In similar attire as Maho, he was tall and thickset for a Japanese, only slightly shorter than Theo and about the same age as his liaison.

 A thatch of coarse black hair framed a carelessly shaven face, but the uneven grooming still bore traces of what once could have been poster boy material for up-and-comers in the force.

Maho rolled the windows down, and a whiff of tobacco stole into the car, before gruff Japanese issued from the man’s lips.

“Inspector Kirishima?”

The cop flashed his badge, and made a perfunctory attempt at a salute as he stooped down to speak.

“I’m Assistant Inspector Tokura.”

Identity confirmed, Maho presented her own ID before motioning her head for the man to take the backseat.

“Get in, Assistant Inspector.”

Tokura helped himself to the backseats without hurry, before reaching inside his suit and producing a few photographs and immediately launching into a monologue.

“Sorry you had to pick me up here instead of the station, but the whole department’s abuzz. We got old lady Hongo up to her usual tricks, some joker getting chased round town for stealing from the longliner guys and another one throwing himself off the bridge. The boss practically threw us out the door to start getting witness statements– goes to show you just how exciting it usually gets around here, huh?”

It seemed that the cop would continue, but he at last acknowledged the foreign company in attendance.

“Can he understand Japanese?”

“Never mind him.” Maho replied.

“He’s a real youngster isn’t he?”

He nodded enthusiastically at Theo, offering a hand and a greeting in broken English.

“Herro! Werukomu tsuu Japan!”

Giving away nothing of his cognizance, Theo simply nodded back, shook his hand, and replied in kind.

“Special Agent Theo Lovell, HSI.”

Doubling back to the subject of the photos, Tokura slipped back to Japanese as he handed them over to Maho. 

They were a set of blurry shots, showing a number of trucks as they passed through a tollgate.

“Kirishima-san. These were taken off CCTV on the highway off-ramp– we believe these are the ones from Yokohama. Got tagged passing through Adachi terminal and we’ve been tracking ‘em since. Went straight for a warehouse on the waterfront– still there.”

Reaching into his pocket again, Tokura folded out a set of papers and handed them over.

“Warehouse– leased by a legitimate shipping concern, America based. As far as we can tell, there are five individuals in the premises.”

Theo zeroed in on the only Latin text in the sea of Japanese characters: 

Glauber Holdings 

One of SHELLBACK’s shell companies. These were their trucks.

Maho shared the photos with Theo before turning back to Tokura.

“And what actions have you taken so far?”

“I have two men with eyes on the warehouse some distance away. That's it. Don’t want to spook them.”

“Good. Can you serve a search warrant by tomorrow?”

“I’ll have to clear it with my boss. It’s a bit too early to go in, isn’t it?”

“We already have all the evidence we need. Better we make our move before they displace again.”

Tokura’s eyebrows crinkled, like Maho was asking him for something unreasonable.

“Inspector, we’re dealing with some serious globe-trotting criminals here. The most action these town’s cops have seen is chasing after stolen air conditioners. Hell, if we leave it be, the local gangsters would probably do a better job of running these outsiders off their turf. ‘Expel the barbarians’, eh?“

This cop’s irreverence came as a surprise to Theo. 

Every example of Japanese lawman of the kind he’d encountered so far, from the straightforward run from the airport to navigating Japan’s byzantine rail network, gave him the impression that this country’s police were the most conscientious bunch of lawmen he’d yet seen. 

But this one was acting more like a sheriff in the Alaskan backwoods.

If it surprised him, then it was pissing Maho off. She took exception to her subordinate’s objection with a barbed glare, and Tokura shrank back to his seat in resignation. 

“But America wants its museum pieces back. Like I said, I need to speak to my boss first, who has speak to his boss, the mayor.”

The cop brought out one last thing from his seemingly bottomless suit pocket: a pouch that turned out to be full of pistachios. As the cop fiddled with his food, Theo’s initial impression solidified.

This guy was a spent force, a burnout– a victim of personal tragedy, a casualty of department politics, or simply a guy who once took things too seriously– who knows? 

Maho had made a good choice of contact. This wasn’t the type to ask too many questions.

“Will there be a problem with that?”

“No, ma’am, not when the national police is throwing its weight around. Certainly, the old man up in city hall won’t let issues of jurisdiction sully his respectable name.”

“Right, then that’s done. Before we finish for the day, take us to your stakeout point, Assistant Inspector.” Maho demanded.

“Set that navigation thing to take you to the port area, and I’ll talk you in when we’re close.

Oblivious to the coming ordeal, Tokura was slightly confused when he saw Theo very visibly tensing up in his seat. 

As Maho slammed on the accelerator, he could count himself the second guy that day to get a taste of her unique driving style as they rolled out of the side street and into one of the main thoroughfares, wheels already hot.

He recovered quickly enough, and for that matter was looking pleasantly surprised at this development. 

Smirking Tokura then proceeded to try something that struck Theo as unwise.

“You know, it’s not often I’ve gotten to work with a woman, but I could’ve sworn I’d tagged every beauty in the force this side of Tokyo. This a first time for me.”

Maho’s eyes, reflected on the rearview mirror, spared Tokura little mercy before lighting back on the road.

“Is it your first time trying to hit on a superior?”

“Hitting a superior, no. Won’t be the first time one’s taken me on a ride too.”

Maho was about to snap back when a call came through on their contact’s cellphone.

He excused himself to pick it up, and coolly greeted the caller. The tinny voice on the other side was fraught, and a look of alarm crept into Tokura’s features as he told them to stay put.

When he hung up, the easy-going act was gone, as though the other party’s agitation had infected him.

He let out a curse then a blunt order, momentarily forgetting that he was technically the lowest in the pecking order here.

“Shit! Shots fired. Officer down by the target warehouse. Inspector, step on it!”

The pair in front looked to each other before the cop's urgency prodded both into action.

As Tokura called it in up his chain of command, Maho instructed Theo to switch the emergency light on.

From outside up on the roof, a rotating light began flashing, washing the windshield with red.

For a moment Theo was out of it– he could have sworn the roof on this thing was bare. Where did that come from? 

That was only for a moment, and then Theo didn’t have the luxury of thinking about it.

Released from the polite rules of the road, it was all that him and Tokura could do to hang on for dear life as Maho pushed the vehicle to its limit, tearing ass and asphalt all the way to the waterfront.

In what was probably record time, the trio made it to the scene of the shooting, rocketing down an access road that ran along the outskirts of the port to a series of warehouses and storage yards.

When the sedan rocked up to their destination and came to a stop, they were just a few meters away from two cops in suits, kneeling next to one in the bloodstained uniform of a patrol officer.

Wasting no time, Maho got out to take the medic bag from the trunk and scrambled to the cop’s side to begin first aid. Theo moved to assist, and Tokura made a beeline to his two guys, who were looking way out of their depth.

“What the hell happened here!?” Tokura demanded.

It had been a coincidence, really. A beat cop on patrol had been called in for a noise complaint. Unaware of his comrades on the adjacent building, he’d gone down from pistol fire when he tried to accost the warehouse’s inhabitants before they could wave him off.

That’s how Tokura’s men ended up down here, having dragged their fellow cop mewling behind a wall that separated the warehouse yard from the street. They could attest to at least one shooter, but there was nobody on the outside of the warehouse now.

Good news was that the unlucky patrolman was probably going to make it after a quick patch-up. Bad news, he’d stirred up the pot, and now whatever it was they were up against would be hunkered down, waiting and ready.

If they didn’t play their cards right, this could get real ugly.

“Maho, have Tokura ask his guys for an updated body count, and for any alternate ways in or out of that warehouse.”

Theo was already assessing his options before Tokura came back with a response.

“Five individuals on last count. My man says that all entrances and exits are facing the street, unless they’re up for an afternoon swim.”

Time to change tacks. 

So far he’d tried to act exactly as the cultural dossier and ops briefing had wanted him to, but nothing about them had prepared him for anything that had happened to him today. 

Damn the torpedoes, then.

He was going to do it his way. Theo stood.

“Stand your guys down Inspector– just make sure nobody slips past me. I’m going in.”

“What do you mean go in?”

“Twenty minutes– if I’m not back by twenty, you throw all caution to the wind. Let these cops and their backup have a run at storming this place.”

Maho was about to retort when Theo cut her off with a knife hand gesture.

“Look– If any of these guys even have the slightest clue, you can be damn sure they’re already burning the evidence right now, or worse, if they do know what they got.”

Theo got his kit from the trunk. Working straps and buckles with practiced ease, he was loaded for bear in one minute flat, listening with half an ear to Maho going on about waiting for backup.

Inadvertently he got another look at the car, and he finally saw where that emergency light had come from. The damn thing had popped up from a recess on the roof. That answered that question; add another odd detail to the growing list for this country. 

But now here was something he knew well.

Focusing himself for the task at hand, he moved down the compound wall and up before the wide-open gate. One more time, he performed a press check on his weapon.

Should have brought a rifle after all.

Theo looked back one last time. “Don’t translate that.”

“Agent Lovell!” but Theo had already turned the corner, and Maho’s cries met thin air.

On the other side of the wall, gears were already clicking into place inside Theo’s head, priming him for the savage intimacy of close combat.

Turns out he was wrong; he would get to be Wolf for this one.