Day 94

[from Don't Say a Word]

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2041

THREE MONTHS BEFORE RYUJI'S KIDNAPPING

Shizukesa's mission today seemed like a simple one, but it had taken a lot of planning. There were two targets: Kenji Hirayama and his wife, Aoko. They were both high-level researchers at Kasaiki Corporation, said to be working on something that could turn the tide of the battle for Japan in Kasaiki's favour. Mitsukashi were not prepared to allow Kasaiki to proceed with this research, and so the Hirayamas were to be put to death.

Tonight they had booked a romantic dinner for two at a restaurant on the sixtieth floor of one of Japan's tallest multi-purpose buildings. They had booked a table right next to the floor-to-ceiling window that took up an entire wall of the restaurant, providing them with a spectacular view of Tokyo at night. It was an excellent way to celebrate Valentine's Day, albeit a day late, though booking a table for the 14th would have been impossible, even for them. So the 15th was to be the date of their deaths; at least, if Shizukesa had anything to say about it.

After a intense discussion, it had been decided that the best way to kill them both at once without anyone realizing would be with a slow-acting poison, administered while they were at the restaurant itself. To this end, Shizukesa was currently impersonating one of the restaurant's waitresses, a woman named Rika Ochida. The real Rika Ochida was sleeping peacefully in her bed at home, having been administered some strong sedatives, and would wake up the following morning with no memory at all of the previous day. If anyone did end up suspecting Rika of the murders, she would have no way of defending herself. It was a clever plan, but it was by no means foolproof.

Shizukesa knew that, as with any of the plans Mitsukashi could have put into action that day, there were a million things that could potentially go wrong. It was impossible to prepare for all of them, but she had done her best. Her handgun was strapped to her thigh as ever, hidden beneath the knee-high skirt of her waitress uniform, and beneath said uniform she was wearing a prototype skin-tight bodysuit that Mitsukashi's R&D team had been working on. Theoretically, it was completely impervious to bullets, even machine gun fire, but it wasn't exactly comfortable. It was rather stifling, as well. She'd asked Mitsukashi to incorporate a cooling system into it, and they were working on doing so, but for the time being she was hot, sweaty, and chafing a little. Having to put on a smile and mime along to her holophone's pre-recorded speech snippets wasn't exactly helping her mood.

"Are you ready to order?" said the phone, in a voice completely different to the one she usually used. Her lips moved perfectly in sync with the synthesized voice, and to most people, it would be almost impossible to tell that she wasn’t the one actually speaking them. Almost.

The Hirayamas nodded in unison, putting aside their menus. "I'll have the chicken in the white wine sauce, please," said Kenji. "And you, dear?"

"I'll have the teriyaki, please," said Aoko. Good choices for a last meal, thought Shizukesa, as she typed the order onto the tablet computer that had belonged to the real Rika. It would then be wireless transmitted to the chefs in the kitchen, and when it was done, she would be notified automatically so she could bring it out to the waiting customers. It was a much more efficient system of ordering, but Mitsukashi had still seen fit to add something a little extra to it.

As Shizukesa pressed a button, a wireless signal was sent to the holophone in her breast pocket, telling it to play one of its pre-recorded messages. "And to drink?" mimed Shizukesa.

"One bottle of chardonnay, please," said Kenji. "Make it your best. We're celebrating tonight."

Shizukesa gave the couple a sickly-sweet false smile and typed a special message just for the two of them. "Oh, is that so?" she mimed. "Well, I hope you have a very special evening tonight, then!"

Kenji nodded in appreciation of the sentiment. "Thank you," he said.

Shizukesa bowed, and retreated to the kitchen to get the chardonnay bottle as well as two champagne glasses. This was the difficult part. The couple would no doubt want to open and pour the chardonnay themselves, so she couldn't simply pour two glasses and dissolve the poison into them. She couldn't inject the poison into the bottle, either, as the tampering would be spotted, nor could she tamper with the food, as she would have no opportunity to do so. The only way was to lace the glasses themselves with the poison, in such a way that the poison would not be noticed.

To this end, Mitsukashi had synthesized a tasteless, colourless powder that would dissolve harmlessly into the chardonnay once poured over it. For three hours, it would gestate inside them, doing nothing in particular. It would then begin to cause massive internal haemorrhaging that would kill them within minutes. Synthesizing such a poison hadn't been easy, and there was only enough for one go. In any case, if something went wrong, they wouldn't be able to try the same plan twice.

When nobody was looking, Shizukesa swiftly took the tiny sachet of poison out of her breast pocket, and sprinkled the colourless powder into both of the glasses. It settled nicely in the grooves in the bottom of the glass, and was completely invisible to the naked eye. From here on in, it was out of her hands. If the attempt was discovered, or they didn't drink the chardonnay for some other reason, she would have to resort to Plan B. For now, all that remained was to take the bottle and glasses out to them.

Carrying a silver tray with the chardonnay, poisoned glasses and her tablet all balanced on it, the fake waitress returned to the Hirayamas' table. "Sorry for the wait!" she said. "Here's your chardonnay and glasses! Can I get you anything else?"

Worryingly, Kenji proceeded to pick up the glass and examine it. "These glasses don't look clean to me," he said suspiciously. "Could we get some different ones, please?"

Shizukesa tried to keep her composure, typing a message she had been rehearsing beforehand though she had hoped she wouldn't be needing it. "I'm sorry," she said. "Those are the only glasses we have right now. I can assure you that they're nice and clean."

Kenji's eyes narrowed. It was clear that for some reason, he didn't trust her. "I'm not so sure," he said.

"Darling, if she says those are the only glasses, then there's nothing we can do," said Aoko. "They look clean enough to me-"

"Could you give me a minute to speak to my wife in private, please?" asked Kenji.

Shizukesa realized that things were starting to go south, but there was nothing she could do about it, short of switching to Plan B, which she wasn't quite willing to do yet. Instead, she simply nodded and moved away to another table. As a result, she didn't hear the resulting conversation between Kenji and his wife.

"Kenji, what's going on-?" asked Aoko, confused.

Kenji motioned for his wife to whisper, reaching across the table with his other hand and clutching his wife's hand tightly. He motioned at Shizukesa, speaking in hushed tones. "Listen to me very carefully," he said. "Do you remember we were warned about that assassin named Shizukesa? The one who might come after us due to our work? Well, I'm 99% sure that's her there. The waitress. I've suspected it ever since she first came to our table." He held up one of the glasses. "Don't drink the chardonnay, and don't drink from these glasses; she's probably poisoned them. The food might be safe, but we can't take that chance. Now-"

"Wait, wait, hold on," said Aoko. "You're telling me that this waitress is Shizukesa?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," said Kenji.

"But, how did she know where we would-"

"It's whatever corporation she works for," said Kenji. "Somewhere in that massive data cloud of theirs, they found out where we'd be today, and decided to use it to take us out."

"Well, what are we gonna do?" asked Aoko, starting to panic a little. "She's going to try and kill us some other way even if we don't drink the champagne, right?"

"Relax, it's alright," said Kenji.

"How is this alright?!" hissed Aoko. "An assassin is trying to kill us!"

"Keep your voice down," said Kenji. "We don't want to start a panic. Innocent people might get hurt. Now, listen to be very carefully. We're going to get out of here. I have a gun."

"You have a what?" repeated Aoko, shocked.

"Inside my jacket," said Kenji. "I bought it on the black market, so I could protect us, in case something like this ever happened. If she tries to stop us, I'll shoot her." He squeezed his wife's hand tighter, as she stifled a gasp. "We're going to make it out of here. I promise."

Before his wife could object, Kenji took a deep breath, and called Shizukesa back over. "Excuse me!" he called out.

Shizukesa put on her best false smile and returned to the table, tablet in hand. "Is there something I can help you with?" she asked.

"What did you say your name was again?" asked Kenji.

Shizukesa started to get a sinking feeling in her stomach, but she played along regardless. "Rika Ochida," she said. "It's been a pleasure to serve you today."

Kenji smiled wryly. "Are you sure it isn't Shizukesa?" he asked.

Rumbled. Somehow - perhaps simply through sheer paranoia and dumb luck - this man had seen through her disguise. But she still had the upper hand. Her smile slipped a little, but she remained fairly composed. "Quite sure," she replied. This was, technically, the truth: Shizukesa was only an alias, after all.

Kenji's hand disappeared into his jacket pocket, and Shizukesa watched as her covertly pulled out a gun, pointed it at her under the table, and audibly cocked it, while his wife looked on in mild terror. At this point, there was no sense in keeping up the charade any longer. Shizukesa's fake smile vanished completely from her face,  replaced by her usual cold, emotionless glare. Kenji's suspicions were confirmed.

"We're going to walk out of here now," said Kenji. "Me and my wife, together. If you try to stop us, I will not hesitate to shoot you. Is that understood?"

This time Shizukesa's lips did not move. "I'm afraid I cannot allow that," she typed.

"Well then…" Kenji's finger tightened around the trigger, as he prepared to fire.

Day 38

[from Don't Say a Word]

That night, Shizukesa sat on the side of her bed for a while, thinking things over. While the mission seemed fairly straightforward, she was under no illusions about just how many things could potentially go wrong. It would take just one of those things to ruin the entire operation. However, it certainly wasn't impossible, and to their credit, Mitsukashi appeared to have taken a lot of time and effort to prepare her for what was supposedly an unimportant, low-stakes mission.

Inside the briefcase, as promised, was Shizukesa's payment: 40 million yen. There were also her funds for the trip, totalling about 5 million South Korean won, a fair amount for a tourist to be bringing in. There was a passport with her face on it, and her assumed name of Rei Kuroki. Since the corporations took care of everything these days, even passports, it wasn't a forgery.

The last item in the briefcase had been what appeared to be an ancient Game Boy Color handheld gaming console, nestled snugly inside a case with a few game cartridges inside a separate zip-up pouch. Attached to it, however, was a note that had explained exactly what it was:

"HEY SHIZUKESA. IT MAY NOT LOOK LIKE IT, BUT THIS IS YOUR WEAPON FOR YOUR FIRST MISSION. PLUG IN A CARTRIDGE AND IT TURNS INTO A POWERFUL ELECTROSHOCK WEAPON. SWITCH IT ON, HOLD THE TOP END AGAINST YUI AND PRESS THE A BUTTON, AND IT'LL DELIVER A 100,000-VOLT SHOCK. THE BATTERY HAS ENOUGH JUICE FOR FOUR SHOCKS BUT ONE SHOULD DO THE JOB. ENJOY! -J

P.S. BURN THIS NOTE."

An electroshock weapon was certainly not Shizukesa's weapon of choice. She would have to get up close to Yui to administer the shock, which would presumably mean having to gain entry to her hotel room. If a struggle then ensued, it was always possible that she could end up shocking herself by accident. Not to mention, 100,000 volts wasn't exactly going to be quiet.

There were, however, some advantages, the most obvious being that an inconspicuous-looking Game Boy could easily pass through airport security whereas a gun would never be able to. It wouldn't leave a mess like a gun or a knife would, either, meaning no blood spatters or shell casings. The shock would likely paralyze Yui's vocal chords, preventing her from screaming. All Shizukesa had to do was turn the TV up loudly and the murder would probably be drowned out.

Shizukesa checked to make sure there were no cartridges plugged into the console already. When handling a device this dangerous, she would want to take all necessary precautions to avoid accidentally shocking herself or, indeed, anyone else who happened to come into contact with it. Fortunately, James had even thought of this: though it had not been mentioned on the note, when one switched on the device they would be presented with a glitched, frozen logo screen, giving them the impression that the device was broken. This would, hopefully, deter any inquisitive youngsters from picking it up and playing with it, should they somehow manage to get their hands on it.

Having made sure the device was inactive, Shizukesa placed it on the side, and picked up the folder she had been given. As promised, her flight tickets were inside, along with the address of the hotel that she and Yui had been booked into, and  a set of detailed architectural plans of the hotel. Laying them out on the bed before her, Shizukesa began to plan. There was no way of knowing what hotel room she or Yui would have until she arrived there, so she couldn't take that into account, but knowing the general layout of the place would still be vital.

The first step, it appeared, would be to gain access to Yui's apartment. The easiest way would be to trick Yui herself into letting her in, which would first mean ascertaining which room she was in, and whether she was actually in it at the time that she tried to gain access. Neither of these would be particularly hard, and once she was alone with Yui, all that was left would be to administer the fatal blow and find a way to leave without arousing suspicion. With all that in mind, the plan slowly began to form itself in Shizukesa's mind. If all went well, this should be a fairly simple matter. If not, her first mission for Mitsukashi could very well end up being her last, one way or another.

Shizukesa continued to study the plans for a little while longer, making sure she had them ingrained in her memory, before clearing them away and getting ready for bed. She set an early alarm, allowing herself plenty of time to pack before heading to the airport, and headed off to sleep. The next few days were going to be very important indeed.

Day 18

[from Don't Say a Word] [note: you can read the story itself here]

"EPSILON YV BLUE 2. CONFIRM."

To anyone else, the message flashing up on Shizukesa's holophone would have seemed like gibberish. Indeed, only a few weeks ago the message would have seemed like gibberish to Shizukesa herself. However, with her training complete and the protocols for her assignment established, she was able to decode the cryptic message in a heartbeat.

 First and foremost, the message itself meant that she had her first assignment, and there would be a meeting today between her and her handler to discuss the details. "Epsilon" referred to one of several meeting places known only to Shizukesa and her handler; in this case, it was the Special Observatory near the top of Tokyo Tower. "YV" were the second and fifth letters from the end of the English alphabet; together they corresponded to a meeting time of 2:30pm. "Blue" meant her handler would be wearing a blue shirt, allowing her to identify him. "2" was the importance of the mission, on a scale of one to five. It seemed they were easing her in, to an extent.

Shizukesa checked the time; it was just after 11am. Plenty of time to prepare herself. She typed out a simple reply - "I ACCEPT" - then headed off to the indoor shooting range tucked away inside a corner of her hideout, an old abandoned warehouse that had been secretly converted by her employers for her to live in. She was going to need all the practice she could get; after all, practice makes perfect.

***

Shizukesa arrived at the Special Observatory, 250 metres above the Tokyo streets, at precisely 2:30pm. Through the thickened glass windows, she had a spectacular view of the surrounding city. To her right, in the distance, she could see Mitsukashi HQ, the headquarters of her employer; at eight-hundred metres tall, it dwarfed the very observatory she was standing in. But she was not here to admire the scenery. She was here for business.

There were very few other people around, and so Shizukesa quickly located her handler, standing over on the far side of the observatory. Though Shizukesa often interacted directly with the Mitsukashi board members, any actual missions went through him, presumably to reduce the chance that the assassinations could be traced back to the company. He had short black hair and tanned skin, and usually had a cigarette dangling from his lips, but since the observatory was a no-smoking area, he had had to go without. As Shizukesa approached him, she saw he was chewing gum instead.

As Shizukesa approached, she pulled out her phone, opened her text-to-speech program and started to type. "Good afternoon," came the cool female voice from the phone.

The man nodded in her direction. "Hey," he said. "Glad you made it on time."

"So am I," said Shizukesa. "So, my first mission. Who's the target?"

"Straight down to business, huh?" The man smiled. "Alright then." The man produced a small folder from inside his shirt, and handed it to Shizukesa. Holding it in one hand, she flipped it open with her thumb; on the first page was a picture of a middle-aged woman whose name and face Shizukesa did not recognize.

"Her name's Yui Okazaki," he said. "She's the head of a marketing firm used by Kasaiki Corporation. Thanks to her, Kasaiki's sales have gone up by as much as 20% in some sectors over the past year. With her out of the way, their marketing strategy will be destabilized. Good place for you to start."

Shizukesa nodded. "Not critical enough for it to matter if I mess it up, but still worth doing. Do we know where she is?"

"In two days' time she'll be attending a conference in Seoul," said the man. "The address of her hotel is listed in the folder. We've taken the liberty of booking you into that same hotel, under the name of Rei Kuroki; your flight to Seoul leaves from Narita at noon tomorrow. Your tickets are also in there."

"How am I supposed to get weapons into South Korea?" asked Shizukesa.

"Oh, we got a little something in mind," said the man. "Don't worry."

"I'll stop worrying when I have a weapon in my hand," said Shizukesa.

"Relax," insisted the man, "you'll get your weapon. You'll get your money as well. When you leave, head for the rightmost elevator; a man will get on with a briefcase and hand it to you. Don't open it until you leave; it contains your payment, as well as some other essentials for the mission."

Shizukesa nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best."

"We can't expect any more than that," said the man. "As long as you stick to your training, you'll do fine."

"I'm sure I will," said Shizukesa, nodding.

"Okay," said the man, "that's all. This is a pretty straightforward mission; anything else you might need to know is in that folder. Good luck, Shizukesa."

"Thank you, sir," said Shizukesa.

With that, Shizukesa took her leave. As instructed, she took the rightmost elevator back down, closing the doors manually before anyone else could enter. As she reached the Main Observatory, one hundred metres below the Special Observatory, a man in a tuxedo who looked like an ordinary businessman entered the lift, carrying a briefcase. Without saying a word, he handed it to Shizukesa.

As the elevator arrived at FootTown, the building beneath the tower, Shizukesa and the tuxedoed stranger departed in different directions, Shizukesa heading for her car, a custom-built model derived from the latest Nissan sports car. It was time to head home and prepare for her mission.

Upon reaching her car, parked in a nearby car park, Shizukesa popped the trunk and stowed the briefcase away inside. Closing the trunk again, she got into the driver's seat, started the silent electric engine and drove away.