Milton smiled and said that would be fine. He doubted that Sakura had access to that much money, given that she appeared to have been held in servitude by the Nishimoto-kai for months, and, even if she did, he wouldn’t have allowed her to give it to him. He had meant what he said: he had never been motivated by money, and, so long as he could afford food and shelter and travel, that was enough. He knew that there was a very good chance that she was going to have to leave Tokyo with her son, and, if he was right about that, she was going to need as much money as possible.

“Are you sure?” Jean-Michel asked.

Milton said that he was.

Jean-Michel nodded. “So I’ll tell my brother to set it up.”

“What will we need to do?” Sakura asked. “I mean—how do we get on the boat? I’m guessing this isn’t legal.”

“No,” Jean-Michel said. “It’s not. But I’ll have to ask him. It isn’t something I’ve done before.”

“We’ll take the bare minimum with us,” Milton advised. “A change of clothes and some toiletries. One bag between us if we can. It’s not going to be the most comfortable way to travel, but it’ll be discreet. And that’s what we need—discretion. We want to get back into the country without anyone knowing that we’re there.”

“And then?”

Milton glanced over at Victoria and then back at Sakura. “We’ll figure that out along the way.”

54

Sakura heard a soft knocking on the door. She glanced at her watch; it was coming up to nine, and Smith—she caught herself: Milton—had said that they would be leaving at ten. He had also said that he had things to do before they left, and had been gone all evening.

“Who is it?” she called out.

“It’s Victoria.”

Sakura opened the door. Victoria was standing outside with a medium-sized suitcase behind her.

“Come in,” she said, stepping aside.

Victoria walked in, leaving the suitcase on the step.

“Are you ready to go?”

“I think so. I still don’t know what to expect.”

“My brother-in-law will make sure you get on board. You can trust him.” She turned and pulled the case in after her.

“I’ve got some things for you and John in the suitcase. Clothes, toiletries—that sort of thing. Stuff for the journey.”

“Thank you.” She sighed. “All I seem to be doing is saying thank you.”

She waved that off. “Forget it.”

Sakura sat down on the sofa. “Can I ask you a question about John?”

Victoria shrugged. “Sure.”

“You’ve known him for a long time?”

“I knew him,” she said. “That was years ago, though. He wasn’t like this then.”

“How?”

“It’s like I said. I can’t say much about—”