Katsuro flinched as he heard the sharp crack of automatic gunfire from close by. He reacted instinctively, ducking down in the car and reaching for his own weapon. He looked left and right as he tried to locate the source of the noise. He peered through the rain and saw two small motorcycles driving slowly past the police station. Each of them bore two young men, and the pillion passengers were both armed with short-barrelled machine guns. The men were focused on the police station. The lead motorcycle turned in a lazy circle as the passenger struggled to change the magazine. Whoever they were, Katsuro saw, they were far from expert. His assessment was confirmed as the other shooter squeezed out a burst in the general direction of the police station. The stubby gun rose in his hands during the burst and, while the first few rounds might have hit their target, the majority of them certainly went high.

He remembered the truck and the two Westerners and joined the dots.

This is a diversion.

He sat up.

They’re going to try to get Sakura out.

Katsuro opened the door of the car and eased himself out, staying low. He crept to the side of the road, keeping his head down and working around to the rear of the car. The ripping sound of both shooters firing another long, wild burst was followed by the distinct, individual cracks of more controlled return fire from a police pistol. He looked through the cabin and saw a muzzle flash as someone inside the building squeezed off a round, and then another and another.

He was sure now: this was an attempt to draw the police away from the building so that an attempt could be made to break Sakura out of her cell. Katsuro knew where she was now, but that situation would change if she was allowed to escape. He thought of his father’s disapproval and knew that he could not let events unfold without him.

He took a breath, gripped the Glock in a steady hand and then scurried across the road, his head down, and through the gap in the wall that led to the restaurant’s parking lot.

40

Sakura shivered on the concrete bunk. It wasn’t particularly cold, but then she wasn’t wearing anything warm. She got to her feet and paced the small cell, wondering what would happen next. Smith had promised that he would come back for her. He hadn’t said when or how, save that it would be soon. She could hear the rain teeming down outside. An occasional flash of light flickered through the window, followed by thunder. Her father had taught her how to calculate how far away a storm was by counting between the flash and the rumble, and now she found herself counting off the seconds.

She thought she could hear something else. Another rumble, this one constant.

A truck or a lorry?