He looked at his watch. A little after five. The freighter was due to dock at midday. He would find them, follow them, and deal with them. He would be on a plane back to Tokyo with Sakura before the end of the day, and hoped that his actions here would be enough to temper the punishment that he knew his father would mete out for his failures.

69

Sakura followed Milton as he led the way down into the bowels of the boat. They descended several flights of stairs before following a passageway that led them to an open door. The man who had been helping them on the ship was waiting there. The door looked out into darkness, but she could smell the salt and felt the droplets of water that were whipped inside by the wind.

“Be careful,” the man called out over the sound of the ship’s engines. “You’ve got a drop to the tender. There’s a rope ladder—you’ll need to go down backwards.”

Milton went first. He left the suitcase with the man, turned around and then climbed down, quickly disappearing beneath the lip of the door. The man picked up the suitcase and lowered it over the side; when he leaned up again, the case was gone.

“Your turn, mademoiselle,” he said. “Be careful. The ladder will be a little slippery.”

Sakura walked up to the door and looked out. There was a rigid inflatable boat alongside, much smaller than the freighter. The tender had been tied up alongside with two hawsers, close enough to the bigger ship that there was almost no gap between them. A rope ladder dropped down six or eight feet to the deck. Milton was standing below, one foot braced on the splashguard and both hands holding the ladder steady for her.

Sakura turned around, held onto the ladder with both hands and started to descend. The wind whipped at her as soon as she was outside the door, and the rope was wet and a little treacherous underfoot, as the man had warned her. She made slow progress, making certain that each foot was secure, carefully going hand over hand until she was close enough for Milton to reach up for her. She felt his strong hands on her hips as he guided her down the last few rungs.

“That was fun,” she said.

A middle-aged man in uniform stepped around them, clambered up the ladder and disappeared through the freighter’s door. Sakura looked up as the man reappeared, untied the hawsers and tossed them down to Milton. He raised his hand in farewell, then stepped back and closed the door.