The two men hurried out the door.

CHAPTER Nine

“I’ve made a very bad mistake, ” said Fugisawa as he took his

seat in the back-of the limo. Wyrdrune and Kira got in, as well. The

soundproof divider partition was up, so the chauffeur couldn’t hear

them. “I thought I could control Kobayashi. I should have known

better.”

He briefly told them what had transpired during the meeting. As

he spoke, unknown to any of them, the men sent to follow

Wyrdrune and Kira carefully noted the vehicle’s license plate and

went back into the club to report to Shiro.

“Unless they are fortunate to have the advantage of surprise and

manage to kill Kanno right away, ” said Modred, “the Yakuza

assassins won’t have a chance against him. Assuming he is the

necromancer.”

“It certainly looks that way, ” said Fugisawa, “but Kobayashi

could be wrong. Those men of his could just as easily have run

across the killer while they were following Kanno. There isn’t any

proof. But Kobayashi is not concerned with proof.”

“Proof isn’t a problem, ” Wyrdrune said. “At least, not for us. Do

you know where Kanno’s shop is?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Why don’t we go there and have a look?”

Fugisawa gave them the address in the Shinjuku district and

Modred picked up the phone, switched it to intercom, and told the

driver where to take them.

“Tell me about the Bureau agent who’s in charge of the case, ”

said Modred as the limo headed away from the Ginza toward the

Shinjuku district. “What is your assessment of him?”

“Akiro Katayama, ” Fugisawa said. “A good man, steady, by the

book, but he’s out of his depth. He’s never failed to solve a case

before, but then he’s always worked with white-collar crimes in the