Katsuro watched over his shoulder. “The fire started in there? The bathroom?”

Takashi watched, with a growing sense of panic, as Shinoda followed Kodama across the lobby to investigate. He, too, went into the restroom.

Neither man came out.

Takashi tapped the mouse to jump forward for another minute and saw the rider emerge into shot once again. The man crossed back to the desk, went around it and activated the alarm on the wall. He still had not removed his helmet.

He tapped the icon to return to a live view.

Tsukasa and Genzō were in shot now. They must have gone down to investigate.

Genzō was behind the desk, fiddling with the alarm control board.

Takashi took out his phone and called him.

“Yes, Oyabun?”

“There was a fast-food delivery rider. I watched on the camera. He set the fire and activated the alarm. Look in the restroom.”

Takashi watched as Genzō left the desk and started toward the elevators. He crossed the lobby to the restroom door and disappeared out of shot, but came back out and reported almost immediately.

“Oyabun, they’ve both been—”

Genzō didn’t get the chance to finish the sentence. Takashi watched as the delivery rider stepped out from behind a pillar and closed quickly on where Genzō was standing. He had taken off his helmet and swung it against the side of the guard’s head. Takashi saw the impact on the screen and heard the crunch on the open line, then heard the clatter of the phone as it fell to the floor. Genzō toppled sideways, his head bouncing off the floor. He spasmed once, then lay still. The man who had struck him knelt down and frisked him, moving from pocket to pocket with brisk efficiency. He took a square of plastic—Genzō’s key card—and then turned and looked straight up into the lens of the camera.

It was the gaijin.

Takashi watched as he went to the elevators. He held a key card to the reader, but the car did not arrive. He opened the door to the emergency stairs and disappeared from view.

“I’ll get Tsukasa and Wakabayashi,” Katsuro said.

Takashi made a fist and slammed it against the table.

I must be cursed, he thought. My first son betrayed me and my second is a fool.

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