Kingmaker (25 page)

Alexei was watching for Atsuko Yoshida. She lived on Down Street and worked at Itsu Sushi a few blocks east, which made Alexei’s position facing north toward Dover ideal for spotting her on her way past. Although he was fairly confident in his ability to predict her route, it had been well over four years since Alexei had seen or even spoken to the girl, so he was a great deal less confident in his ability to recognize her. She was young enough the last time they were together that she would have probably grown up considerably. Her hair could be of any length now, and being a young woman living in central London, she might have adopted any number of various fashions. And if all that wasn’t enough, she would very likely be in a hurry due to the unpleasantness of this morning’s weather.

In addition to studying each pedestrian who passed in front of his car, Alexei used his handset to scan the street. Emma had records of all of
his students’ biometrics: fingerprints; DNA sequences; facial, voice, iris, retina, brain wave, and vein patterns; thermographic and olfactive signatures; and, for long-range identification, gait dynamics. Alexei had been trying to locate Atsuko on the street for two days now, and he was almost out of time. He knew that he could find her at work or by breaking into her flat and waiting for her to come home at night after her shift, but those were the two most likely locations to already be under surveillance. He had to make contact with her in a neutral environment—someplace unexpected and impractical to watch for long periods of time. It was critical that Alexei be patient and execute flawlessly since an opportunity like this would almost certainly never present itself again.

Atsuko was one of seven young Japanese women Alexei sent to live in seven different major cities around the world: Beijing, London, Moscow, New York, Paris, Seoul, and Tokyo. Each was set up in her own flat, and each took a job at a nearby Japanese restaurant with a popular sushi bar. The girls were instructed to remain exactly where Alexei had placed them—to keep their jobs, to forfeit all vacation time, and to avoid serious relationships. Most of them would never see or hear from Alexei ever again, and if—after five years—he had not shown up, their lives were their own to do with what they chose. Inside of that five-year window, however, Alexei might appear at absolutely any moment, at which point the chosen girl’s destiny was his alone to dictate.

Alexei lowered his window and flicked his cigarette away from the car. As he was fishing another one from the gold and black box, his handset chimed. It was highlighting a small girl dressed entirely in black, striding through the rain with her hands shoved down to the bottom of her coat pockets. Alexei opened the car door, stepped out onto the wet pavement, and called her name.

The girl stopped. In her face was none of the congenial neutrality that one tries to present to someone they have not yet recognized, nor the joyous bewilderment of unexpectedly running into an old friend or loved one. It was clear that the girl knew instantly who Alexei was as she stood there frozen and expressionless, and that she was struggling to process the implications of his sudden and unexpected appearance. Alexei wondered for a moment if she might continue right on down Piccadilly and force him to stoop to chasing her through the streets.

“Come on,” he called. “Get in.”

The girl looked up and down the street one last time, and only with obvious resignation did she finally approach the car.

She got in on the passenger side and pulled the door shut. Alexei was already back inside. He took his handset down off the dash, touched the screen, and the glass around them dimmed to its maximum opacity.

He turned to the girl beside him and smiled at her. “It’s good to see you, Atsuko,” he said. “It really is. How have you been?”

The girl had chin-length hair with blonde highlights, bangs, and a tiny bit of curl to it. She was wearing black jeans, a short black synthetic leather coat, and a cashmere scarf. Her lips were painted a glossy, ruby red, and the delicate curves of her narrow dark eyes were emphasized with meticulously applied liner. She was looking down at her hands in her lap and Alexei noticed that her nails were short but well manicured—painted the precise shade as her lips.

“Fine, I suppose,” the girl said. “Or at least I was a moment ago.”

Her Queen’s English accent was perfect. The girl’s nanny had been from central London, which is why Alexei had chosen to send Atsuko here. The less the girls stood out, the better.

“You’re not surprised, are you?” Alexei said. “You knew this day was coming, didn’t you?”

“I knew it
might
come,” the girl said, “but I’d obviously hoped it wouldn’t.”

Alexei nodded. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I’d hoped it wouldn’t, too.”

“It’s not,” the girl said quickly. She looked at Alexei and water dripped from the tips of her wavy hair onto her lap. “Why don’t we skip the pleasantries and sentimentality and get right to the point. What do you want from me?”

Alexei reached into his coat, then passed the girl a small black canister. When she got the top off, she lurched back in her seat. Inside was a human thumb.

“What the bloody hell?”

“It’s OK,” Alexei said. “It’s a prosthetic.”

Atsuko glared at Alexei. “You might have warned me.”

Alexei tried not to smile at the girl’s reaction. “I’m sorry.”

“What’s it for?”

“I’m meeting someone for lunch at Itsu tomorrow—someone I need to make a final decision about. I need you to be our server. At the end of the meal, if and only if I ask you for your most expensive bottle of sake, I want you to slip that on over your right thumb and press it
hard
against the inside of his glass. Then
immediately
place it back in the canister, seal it, and wash your hands. I’ll come by your apartment tomorrow night to pick it up.”

Atsuko slipped the prosthetic on over her thumb. The size, texture, and shade made it a perfect match. It had clearly been custom fabricated.

“What if I say no?”

Alexei drummed on the steering wheel with his fingers. “You knew going into this that saying no wasn’t an option, Atsuko.”

The girl’s delicate features became defiant. “What if I decide to
make
it an option?”

Alexei shrugged. “If you say no, then you say no. I’m not going to try to force you to do something you don’t want to do. But I think you’ll help me.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because this is your time,” Alexei said. “This may be your chance to change the entire course of human history. The whole thing will be over in no more than a few seconds, but I promise you that this will be the most important and significant thing you do in your entire life.”

The girl looked back down at the thumb. “I’ll have to remove my polish to make it match.”

“Paint the thumb instead. It won’t hurt it, and it’s less obvious.”

“What’s in it?”

Alexei studied her for a moment. “Do you really want to know?”

“I’m assuming you’re asking me to take a man’s life, not flavor his drink with artificial sweetener. I think I have a right to know how he’s going to die.”

“OK,” Alexei conceded. “It’s a substance called polonium-210.”

“What does it do?”

“It causes a very severe case of acute radiation syndrome. I’m happy to give you the details if you want, but it’s probably enough to say that he’ll be dead in three weeks, and there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do to stop it.”

“Will it be painful?”

Alexei watched her for a moment before responding. “Yes. Very.”

“Are you certain it’s safe to handle?”

“Absolutely. Polonium-210 doesn’t emit any gamma rays whatsoever, so it’s completely undetectable and perfectly safe to handle as long as you don’t ingest it. You have my word on that.”

The girl nodded. She put the prosthetic back in the canister, sealed it, then handed it back to Alexei. Alexei looked down at the canister, then back up at the girl.

“What’s the matter?”

“It isn’t going to work,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Because Florian Lasker isn’t coming.”

Alexei’s expression went from shock at hearing Florian’s name to quiet fury. He reached for the panel beside him and locked both doors. “How did you know it was Florian?”

“Because he came to see me the day you got in touch with him.”

Alexei’s face was flush but he spoke calmly to the girl. “Tell me
exactly
what he said.”

The girl looked out her window at the rain. “He said you left him a message claiming that you heard he was in London on business, and that you happened to be in town, as well. He said you invited him to catch up over sushi, coffee, and a game of chess.” She paused, then turned to look at Alexei. “And then he offered me five million NGD to poison you instead of him.”

Alexei narrowed his eyes. “What did you tell him,” he asked her. “Did you tell him you’d do it?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why are you just telling me this now? Why’d you wait until I gave you the polonium?”

“Because,” the girl said, “I was hoping the poison would be quick and painless enough that I could use it on myself.”

All the anger drained from Alexei’s face and he looked at the girl with anguish. “My god, Atsuko. Why would you say that?”

“Please don’t act like you suddenly care about me,” she said. “A minute ago, you were trying to talk me into doing something that would have probably either gotten me killed or thrown into prison for the rest of my life.”

“You know I wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Why not? I wouldn’t have been of any use to you anymore. I’m just a pawn in the latest game of chess between you and Florian, and we both know what happens to pawns.”

“We’re all pawns in someone’s game, Atsuko. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about each other.”

The girl looked at Alexei with disbelief. “You really expect me to believe that?”

“That I care about you? I raised you, Atsuko. Of course I care about you.”

The girl laughed scornfully. “You didn’t
raise
me, Alexei. You
paid
someone to raise me. And you
paid
someone to train me to be a bloody
assassin
.”

“Atsuko—”

“And then you sent me away just in case you might have some need for me at some unspecified point in the future, and now that it turns out you don’t, I’ll never see or hear from you again. I understand that you’re Russian, Alexei, but that’s not exactly the way most normal people show that they care for one another.”

“We’re not exactly normal people, though, are we?”

“No, we’re not. You certainly saw to that.”

Alexei squinted at the girl. He knew this could be the last time he ever saw her, and he did not want their relationship to end in anger, but this was something he could not let go. He realized that he used almost everyone in his life, but he was proud of the fact that he also never took without giving something back.

“Atsuko, if you think you’re somehow missing out on something that everyone else in the world has, believe me when I tell you that you’re dead wrong. In fact, you have far more than most people.”

“Do I? You mean my extra thumb?”

“I mean that you have a purpose.”

“To pretend to live a normal life while I wait for the closest thing I ever had to a father to show up out of nowhere and ask me to murder someone? I suppose you could call that a purpose.”

“Your purpose isn’t to kill,” Alexei said. “Your purpose is to help change the world, and if that means having to kill someone, then so be it.
I thought you could handle that, but if you can’t, then I’m sorry I overestimated you.”

“What I can’t handle is being treated as nothing but a resource. I want to hear you admit that we’re all expendable to you. I want to hear you admit that in your mind, all that matters is your own grand plan for the universe, and anything that gets in your way is simply collateral damage.”

“OK,” Alexei said. The anger was rising in him again and he leaned closer to the girl. “You are expendable to me, and all that matters is my own grand plan for the universe. Anything that gets in my way is simply collateral damage. Including you.”

The girl watched him silently. She blinked and a tear ran down her cheek. “I guess I should be relieved to finally hear you say that. Let me out, please.”

“You can get out now and never see or hear from me again, or you can listen to what else I have to say.”

He reached for the panel and unlocked the doors. The girl did not move. She picked at the rubber gasket between the door and the window with her fingernail.

“Atsuko, what you have to understand is that the only thing worse than death is having nothing to live for. The most important thing I’ve given all of you isn’t clothing, or shelter, or food, or training. It’s purpose. I’m sorry that I never told you this before, but I am
very
proud of you, Atsuko. I’m proud of the girl that you were, the woman that you’ve become, and I’m sure I’ll be proud of you no matter what you choose to do with your life from now on.”

The girl wiped her cheeks with her palms. She looked up at Alexei and when he smiled, she leaned over and put her arms around his neck. He rubbed her back as she clung to him.

“Please forget about Florian,” she said. “You can’t get to him. If you try, he’ll kill you.”

“No, he won’t,” Alexei said. He pushed the girl gently away and held her shoulders as he looked at her. “This isn’t a game of chess. This is
my
game,
my
rules, and I can beat him.”

The girl shook her head. “You’ve been planning this for almost five years. You had people all over the world waiting for just the right moment to strike, and he still saw it coming. I think he knew that I wouldn’t turn
on you, but next time, he’ll find someone who will, or he’ll kill you himself.”

“Atsuko, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t walk away from this. Florian is far too dangerous, and it’s entirely my fault. I created him, and now I have to find a way to stop him.”

“Why?” the girl asked. “What did he do?”

“It isn’t what he’s done. It’s what he’s capable of doing. I created an opening for him to become CEO of Pearl Knight before I realized how out of control he was. If he takes it—and I’m virtually certain he will—he will not only have direct access to the president of the United States, but he could very well be in line to
become
the next president of the United States, at which point I won’t be able to get to him anymore. I have a very short window of time in which to act, and I intend to take it.”