Chapter 649

A luxurious hotel suite in a small country.

Tanaka and his primary attorney sat in the living room of an ultra-expensive resort hotel suite in a small country that did not have an extradition treaty with the United States. Neither man was intoxicated — far from it — but for what the barely touched bottle of Louis Xiii Legacy Cognac on the table cost, a family of four could have lived for several months, and very well, indeed.

Ostensibly, the two men were there for the final negotiating stages of an acquisition that would add to the line of small businesses Mr. Tanaka already owned. This was the fourth such meeting with various representatives in as many weeks. One small company had been bought outright with Tanaka’s accountants assuring him the company would show a profit with the changes he had instituted at their direction.

This time, as in the original meeting here a week prior, this contact could easily pass for a high-level executive similar to the ones he had been dealing with for the last couple of weeks. With the amount of monetary involvement, he would certainly qualify. In their initial meeting, the person had blatantly asked if they were cops, and brusquely stated that he didn’t want to be involved in anything illegal. He stressed that he was a businessman who made a small profit from making buyers aware of businesses which were for sale.

When they denied being law enforcement, he asked for and received grudging permission to search the suite for listening devices. A few moments later, he had scanned seemingly every inch of the room they were in before doing a sweep of the adjacent rooms. After placing devices in the adjoining doorways to the other rooms of the suite, he returned to Tanaka and his lawyer where he motioned for them to stand.

“As I did the first time, I either make certain there are no recording or other spy devices on you and your lawyer, or I’m out of here.”

Tanaka was just shy of having one of his temper fits, but he wanted his ex-wife dead even more. Practically gnashing his teeth, he stood and held his arms out, as did the lawyer.

His precautions satisfied a few minutes later, the man returned to his seat and motioned to the bottle on the table. With Tanaka’s impatient nod of permission, the man poured for all three. When Tanaka and his lawyer picked up their glasses, the representative swapped with Tanaka, then waited for both men to drink before he did.

Now that he was certain the room was bug-free, his demeanor changed, “With the information you gave me, I have researched the ... problem. As you are doubtlessly aware, she is protected at this Retreat, as they refer to it. The price you are offering is acceptable — barely — but there will be an additional fee of another million to cover operating costs.”

“What?” Tanaka screamed as he came to his feet.

“Sit or I am out of here,” the person quietly said. “I am not interested in your histrionics.” The person calmly sipped his drink and waited.

Eventually, Tanaka returned to his seat, his face beet red.

“Five million dollars to eliminate one little woman certainly should easily cover any operating costs. I was not born yesterday,” he hissed out while trying not to scream at this person’s stupidity. “I am an entrepreneur who has made...” Tanaka suddenly stopped when he realized that the man had gotten up with the obvious intention of returning his equipment to his briefcase.

“Wait. What are you doing?”

“I do not deal with children who have temper tantrums. I thought we achieved that understanding during the previous meeting. You need to find someone else to eliminate your ex-wife.”

It infuriated Tanaka to ask the man to stay, but he had exhausted every other recourse. Most, after some time to investigate, had turned him down flat, saying the hit was impossible. Others, after finding out where she lived, just laughed and jokingly wished him luck in the next life — which of course made his temper flare yet again.

“Sit, and we will continue our conversation — please, “ Tanaka asked, his face red from having to humble himself to this man.

The representative just stared at Tanaka for a moment before he finally returned to his seat. Calmly, the man refilled his glass before stating, “The place might as well be a fortress, and the area is even listed as a no-fly zone. There is a small army base adjoining the property. I have discovered that the area can’t be photographed from the ground because of all the trees, and for some reason, not from the air, either. I was, however, able to find a picture of this building in an older trade magazine; although, it seems to have been named after this Matthews person bought it and moved in.

“There are only two ways to enter the area. One is a near-vertical driveway to a sort of plateau that is part of the mountain itself. The ‘Retreat’ sits in the middle of this plateau with the only other approach through at least five miles of mountainous terrain that a mountain goat would reject. I sent in a drone from the backside of the mountain. It was warned when it was still ten miles away. Ten seconds later, it no longer existed. I didn’t see a missile trail or hear any rounds hitting the drone from its camera microphone. One second it was there and transmitting, then the next it didn’t seem to exist. Even so, I should have been able to get a decent view of the area with the video system zoomed in, but the transmitted video of the entire mountain is too blurry to be of any use. The same thing from Google Earth — just a blurry view of the whole area.”

“What? That does not make sense.”

“Sense or not; it is what it is.”

“Tanaka,” the person quietly said after taking another sip of the excellent Cognac, “let’s cut to the chase. You have already contacted and have been turned down by several individuals in the trade. All have told you the hit is impossible, except for the one who disappeared with your money. My ... employer has researched the problem and has a solution, but it will take time and money. You have offered five mil for the job — which is acceptable — but he requires an additional mil for operating costs. I have researched your finances.” When Tanaka started to bluster, the man waved negligently. “Don’t even start. Neither of us is a fool, and we want to know our customer before we accept a proposition of this nature.”

Tanaka interrupted, his voice just shy of snarling, “The mil for ‘operating costs’ is a rip-off, as you well know. Half the five million up front, and the other half after the bitch is dead, and that is final.”

“I am only the contact. My instructions are a mil for operating costs up front and he will accept half the five mil at the same time, with the rest upon completion of the job. If you are backing out of the deal, I am wasting my time.”

The contact thanked Tanaka for the excellent Cognac and began gathering his equipment.

“All right. All right. You leave me with no choice. A million in operating costs, but I want it done this week,” Tanaka snapped out.

The contact glared back at Tanaka. “It will be accomplished at the proper time, and that time will be determined by my employer. Obviously, you have already tried and failed. My principal told me to assure you that he would not fail, but it would take time. He also mentioned that supposedly several persons, including at least two experienced assault teams, have gone missing, presumably after botched raids directed at this Retreat.”

“That may be, but a million dollars operating costs is still absurd, and you know it. Can’t you drop a few mortars on the building? That should off the bitch.”

“And get the operator turned into paste before he could even launch the second mortar. Any decent computer defensive system could track the launch site and retaliate before the first mortar even landed. This is a fucking Colonel in the army who is shielding this woman — you didn’t bother to mention that in our first meeting, by the way,” he said grimly.

After a moment’s hesitation while he glared at Tanaka, “I strongly suspect that the army base is there for one primary purpose — to protect this Colonel Matthews guy. Even you acknowledged that Matthews has taken her under his wing. There have been too many failed attempts at attacking the Retreat already to even think about going that route. It has to be a lot more subtle than a frontal attack.

“Besides, there is a fortress that you didn’t bother to inform me about. I now understand that it was used to shelter this Matthews’ people and a number of the public during the alien attacks.”

“I know nothing of that,” Tanaka lied. “Why can’t you just sneak in and blow the damn place up?”

“I know nothing about how my principal will go about this. Even I have never seen him face to face. How many times do I have to tell you that I am only your contact with the person who will carry out the mission? I gave you what he gave me to prove his credentials. I saw to it that he received the sealed letter you gave me describing what you wanted done. He has agreed, and he gave me the conditions that I have, in turn, given to you. I will give him your response. He will send you instructions about the payment via this e-mail address,” he said as he handed Tanaka a card bearing only the address. “Once I deliver your acceptance of the contract, I will be out of the loop. You may follow the instructions at the email address or not. I do not care. It is not my job to care. You will not see me again after I leave today.”

“How do I know that this isn’t some elaborate ruse to sucker me for six million dollars?”

“That is not my problem. You have seen my principal’s particulars. I know that he is excellent at what he does. And, as far as cheating you is concerned, he certainly would not want cheating a client to be on his record. Now, I have completed my job. The next step is up to you.”

After returning his devices to the briefcase, he consulted a list. Satisfied he had secured everything, he dropped the list into the briefcase before closing and locking it.

Without uttering another word, he left, closing the door quietly behind him. Tanaka exploded into a string of curse words; at least, that was what the lawyer assumed the string of Japanese was. “If he thinks...” but the lawyer leaned to cap a hand across Tanaka’s mouth.

Before Tanaka could explode, “Remember, we agreed not to discuss any of the details of the purchase in a hotel room,” he said for any possible listeners. “This business, like the others, will make us a substantial profit with the right person in charge, but should word get out that the owners are considering selling for the price we are offering, there will be others who will offer more. We cannot make a decent profit if we pay more for the business, so for safety’s sake, we need to assume we are being overheard.”

Tanaka sucked in a breath. They had agreed on the ruse in case the assassin was being investigated by the police. If all they mentioned was the purchase of a business, and they were purchasing small companies to add to what Tanaka already owned, it would be difficult to prove any involvement in their primary objective. Providing I am able to keep the idiot’s temper controlled until we are out of this shitty little country.

The lawyer begrudgingly admitted that Tanaka’s idea about extending his portfolio by purchasing small businesses that were in financial trouble should give them a credible excuse for being in the country, particularly if they bought at least three businesses while they were here. Now, if this person didn’t just rip them off and disappear ... They had purchased one small company. If they could buy two more, their alibi should be believable — if Tanaka didn’t lose his temper and get them jailed, or killed by a pissed-off assassin.