“Judging by his reputation, he is the next best thing, ” said

Nishikawa.

“According to what my father told me about him, ” replied Shiro,

“he is relatively young. In his mid-forties. That would make it

impossible for him to have carried off the contracts on which his

reputation largely rests. Clearly, this is another Morpheus, a son,

perhaps, or someone who has been trained by the one who has

retired to carry on in the tradition. Doubtless, he has accomplished

some contracts of his own, but he is living on the reputation of his

predecessor. And I have my own people in my father’s organization,

people I’ve brought in whose first loyalty is to me and not my

father. They are very capable professionals in their own right. Once

this new Morpheus is located, eliminating him will not be difficult.”

Nishikawa thought this over. What young Kobayashi said made

sense. He was a loathesome creature, but he was clearly not a fool.

He knew what he was doing. He was nowhere near the man his

father was, but he had an aptitude for devious double-dealing. He

would, thought Nishikawa, make a very successful investment

banker. And he would also have to be watched carefully. His very

presence here demonstrated that he was clearly not a man to be

trusted. He could be trusted to serve his own best interest, nothing

more.

“How will you manage to locate him if you’ve never even seen

him?” asked Nishikawa.

“I have a good description of him from my father, ” Shiro replied.

“And I believe that he is here with some accomplices. There were

three people in the shop at the time the meeting took place. A

young American warlock, perhaps the one who was responsible for

the spell, and two others. When we recovered from the spell we had

been placed under, all three of them were gone. They were rather

distinctive in appearance. They should not prove too difficult to

find.”

“If you were caught, it could be very inconvenient for me, ” said

Nishikawa, weighing the possibilities.

“I’ve told you, I’m not a fool. I have no intention of coming

anywhere near Morpheus myself.”