The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler Page A

be doing them in return.”
    â€œTold you he’s got a grudge.”
    â€œI swear, man, you’ve got an uncanny knack for getting people pissed at you. You ever considered charm school?”
    â€œYeah, it’s on my to-do list.”
    He paused as though considering. “One thing we might not have thought of. Has her building got a doorman? Those boys aren’t paid the best wages in the world, and…”
    â€œYeah, I’ve thought about that, too. There is a doorman, and it’s possible someone got to him. But I think the odds of that are low. If Yamaoto had the doorman in his employ, why would he need to bother with the Chinese? We know they’re costing him more than a bribed doorman.”
    He nodded. “Well, what does all this mean for you and Delilah?”
    I hesitated. “I don’t know.”
    â€œGuess you couldn’t ask for her help on this one, under the circumstances.”
    â€œVery funny.”
    â€œIf she dumps you for me, you won’t be bitter, will you? She’s bound to get tired of your Hamlet routine, and I can tell she’s secretly in love with me.”
    I looked at him, but he didn’t flinch. Dox always liked to push things.
    â€œI’ll find a way to adjust,” I said.
    He laughed. “All right, I’ll remember you said that. Now, what’s the plan?”
    â€œWe start with the public performances. They’re the easiest approach. It’s where they’ll be expecting me, so we’ll know to expect them.”
    â€œAnd who are we looking for, exactly?”
    â€œMy guess would be a lone Chinese man, age eighteen to thirty. At any given performance, you’ll find only a relatively small percentage of Asians. Among them, a smaller percentage of males in the right age range. Among those, if you see a guy by himself, he’s the one we want.”
    â€œWhat about you?”
    â€œI’m the one they’re looking for, so I can’t go in. But you can. We’ll get you an escort from one of the services so you’ll have a date and won’t stand out.”
    He grinned. “I’m liking the sound of this more and more.”
    â€œI’ll wait outside. If we see our man, we’ll follow him after the performance to learn more about who we’re dealing with and what kind of coverage they’re employing. We’ll get you a digital camera, something that works well in low light. If you can take his picture, we can send it to Tatsu. He might be able to match it to something in a database.”
    â€œHe’ll be able to recognize a lowly foot soldier?”
    I shrugged. “What Tatsu doesn’t know, he always knows where to ask.”
    â€œWhat about commo?”
    â€œI don’t have the gear we were using in Hong Kong, but we ought to be able to manage with cell phones and wireless earpieces. Here.” I pulled out one set of the equipment I had picked up and slid it across the table to him. “That’s a prepaid unit. Sterile, for now. I’ve got one like it. Just to be on the safe side, let’s stay off your personal phone.”
    â€œYeah, I’ve learned my lesson there. Still, I’ll have to insist on one thing.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI get to choose the escort.”
    â€œAbsolutely. But I think she ought to be female this time. It’ll be lower profile.”
    We both laughed, remembering Dox’s accidental come-on to a katoey, or lady-boy, in Bangkok. I planned to harass him about it as long as there was breath in my lungs.
    â€œYeah, poor Tiara,” he said. “I reckon she’s pining for me still. She was a near miss. ‘Near miss,’ you get it?”
    I closed my eyes as though in pain and nodded. “I get it,” I said.
    He chuckled. “All right, where’s the first performance?”
    â€œZinc Bar. Just a few blocks from here. She’s there four nights in a row starting