Change of Heart by Jack Allen Read online

  Maybe his old desk was still here. He wandered over to the corner where it used to be, but it was gone, replaced by a table with a coffee machine and a microwave and a stack of boxes. He sighed. So much for nostalgia.

  Josh sat at the nearest desk, picked up the phone, dialed the local operator, asked for the international operator, and gave the number for Walt’s office in Washington. There was a long pause and a few clicks, then finally it rang. The clock on the phone said eight thirty Tokyo time. What time did that make it in Washing-Change of Heart

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  ton? About fourteen hours difference, he figured, but ahead or back he couldn’t remember. That was another thing he used to know and had since forgotten. Either way, he was pretty sure Walt would be at his office at six thirty in the morning. He always was. The phone rang several times and Josh began to doubt that assumption. Finally Sally answered.

  “Hi, Sal,” Josh said.

  He heard footsteps and turned around. Mariko came in.

  “Josh! Where are you?” Sally said.

  “I’m in Tokyo right-”

  “Hold on,” Sally interrupted.

  Josh heard another click, then Walt’s voice.

  “Josh, where the hell are you?”

  “I’m at the Embassy at Tokyo.”

  Josh imagined Walt wondering how he had wound up there.

  “Ok, listen, I’ve got something very important for you. Mironov is gone. We don’t know where he went or why. Somehow he got away from our guys. We think he may be coming after you or the girl.”

  Josh cringed. Telling him the bad news was not going to be easy.

  “That’s not good,” he said.

  He looked at Mariko. She sat in a chair beside him with a concerned look on her face.

  “Why?”

  Josh hesitated, unable to make the words come out.

  “I lost her.”

  “What! What do you mean you lost her?” Walt shouted.

  Josh held the phone away from his ear.

  “She ran,” he said.

  Walt’s tone changed and he sounded puzzled.

  “Why would she run? She’s out in the cold.”

  “I was hoping you’d be able to tell me.” Walt was silent. “I think we’ve been set up,” he said, his voice grim.

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  “Set up how?”

  “The Russians are accusing us of busting the girl out of prison.”

  “Well, we did. But we’re denying it, right?”

  “Right,” Walt said.

  Josh could see where this was going.

  “So you think the Communists are trying to create a rift between the U.S. and the new Russian Democracy?”

  “Something like that.”

  Josh nodded. “Good theory. But I don’t buy it.”

  “Why not?”

  “You’re assuming Valeria’s in on it with them.”

  “Oh, I know she is.”

  Walt sounded very sure of his decision, and that did not please Josh.

  “But she’s not.”

  Walt sighed on the other end.

  “Josh, you’re not using your head. The girl is manipulating you, and you fell for it. Think about it.”

  “I did think about it.”

  He remembered the look in her eyes as she walked away in that club. There was no hint of victory there. He was furious with her for what she did, but he didn’t think she was working with Mironov. He suspected she had her own motives for bolting.

  “Look, Josh. You lost her, now go find her. Bring her in, no matter what. In pieces, if you have to. Just bring her in. I have to call Katherine. She’s going to be a little upset about this.” He hung up and Josh put the phone down. He looked at Mariko.

  “I’m in big trouble.”

  “What happened?”

  “It’s kind of a long story. I was sent out here to pick someone up and take her back to Washington and she ... well, she got away.

  Now I gotta find her.”

  “How did she get away?” Mariko said.

  Josh held his breath for a second. How was he supposed to Change of Heart

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  tell her that he fell in love with her?

  “She ... hit me on the head with a bottle,” he said, pointing to the stitches in his head. “I chased her and that’s when I got hit by the bus.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Mariko said. “How are we going to find her?”

  “Well, actually, I’m the one who has to find her, but I’d appreciate your help.”

  “That’s what I’m here for,” she said, spreading her hands in a gesture of offering.

  Of course. Don’t patronize.

  “Ok. What I’m thinking is, she can’t get out of Japan without a passport, right? And she has no money to buy a ticket. She could be anywhere inside Japan, but she’d still need money for transportation, which might mean she’s still back in Sapporo, unless Hidaka picked her up.”

  “Would he let us know if he found her?” Josh shook his head. “I don’t think so. And I don’t think he has her. I think she’s on her own. I also think she’s waiting for someone.”

  An idea sparked in Mariko’s eyes.

  “You think she called someone to pick her up?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who?”

  Josh shrugged. “Maybe a friend, maybe her family, maybe even her agency, but I doubt that. I think she called somebody, though.”

  Mariko leaned forward, becoming determined.

  “So what do we do, check every phone call from here to Russia?”

  Josh considered the idea. “That’s a good place to start. Can you do that from here?”

  Mariko grinned and pulled her seat closer to the desk. The computer terminal was running, but the monitor was off. She switched it on.

  “Anything you need to know. If it happens I can find it. What 210

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  do you want me to look for?”

  Josh squinted, as if he might be able to see the answer through the screen.

  “Get a list of every international call in the last twenty four hours to anywhere in Russia.”

  Mariko started to work. She moved quickly and confidently with the mouse, scanning through official records and narrowing her search until she produced a list of three hundred fifty four calls.

  “That’s all of them,” Mariko said.

  Josh blew a deep breath in exasperation. He didn’t expect so many. He didn’t want to spend all night on this since it would only tell them whether or not she made a call, not where she was at that moment, and even then they had no way of knowing if one of those numbers was actually dialed by her.

  “Ok, let’s narrow it down,” he said. “Eliminate all the calls made from this building.” Mariko went through the procedure again and the list went down to two hundred ninety three calls.

  “Ok. Is there a Russian Embassy in Tokyo?”

  “Down the street,” she said with a jerk of her thumb.

  “Of course. I should know that,” Josh said, feeling dumb.

  Mariko laughed. “Eliminate all the calls from their building, please.” The list that came back had only twenty one calls. Josh’s eyes lit up in hope. “Great. How many of those were made from Sapporo?”

  Mariko studied the numbers.

  “Two. Both yesterday. One was last night. The other was from the police station.”

  They looked at each other.

  “Hidaka,” they said at the same time.

  “I think we can assume she called somebody last night to come and get her. That somebody probably wired her some money.

  Now we have to figure out who that somebody is.”

  “How?”

  Josh shrugged again. He wasn’t sure any of this was even right. It was all just a shot in the dark.

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  “I’m assuming whoever it was had to fly in, so if we can, let’s find out if anyone interesting arrived on
any international flight since that call was made.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to just check the passenger lists for the flights from Russia?”

  Josh shook his head. “If someone came to get her I don’t think he took a direct flight.”

  Mariko’s fingers stopped over the keyboard.

  “You think it was an agent?”

  “Could have been.”

  Mariko frowned. “That’s easy. We do this all the time,” she said and went to work. “The biggest job we have is to try to keep track of agents coming in and going out on phony passports.”

  “I remember,” Josh said.

  She smiled without looking away from the screen.

  “This is going to take a while. All the information is cross referenced with the data base at CIA headquarters in Langely, but you probably knew that, too.”

  Josh sat back in his chair, wincing in pain.

  “How’s your shoulder?” Mariko asked.

  “It hurts. A lot. I’ll be fine as long as I don’t play any hockey.”

  Mariko snickered. “Did you play hockey?”

  “A long time ago.”

  She looked away with a dreamy look in her eyes.

  “I never watched hockey. I love football. I used to watch it all the time. The Seahawks were my favorite team, of course. I miss it being over here.”

  “I used to feel the same way about hockey when I was here.”

  They were quiet for a couple of minutes. Josh began to think about hockey again. The playoffs were starting soon and he was anxious to get back home to watch.

  “Who is this girl we’re looking for?” Mariko said, snapping him out of his dream.

  He sat up in the chair.

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  “Her name’s Valeria Konstantinova. She was a KGB agent a few years back.”

  “Oo, real spy stuff,” Mariko said, her eyes growing wide with excitement.

  “Yeah, well, lately I’ve been getting real tired of this spy stuff.

  I’ve been thinking maybe it’s time to take a desk job.”

  “How boring. I have a desk job. I’d love to do what you do, except for the getting hit by a bus part.” The computer beeped.

  “It’s done,” she said, as if they were waiting for cookies to bake.

  “What’d we get?” Josh asked, leaning forward.

  Mariko read from the short list on her screen.

  “They picked up two known agents, one Russian citizen who came on a direct flight, and a suspected member of a Russian mafia family who came in on a flight from Hong Kong.”

  “Russian mafia? Where is he now?”

  Mariko scrolled down the list of information.

  “He’s registered at the Atakai Hotel, right here in Tokyo. Just checked in about an hour ago.”

  “I’ll be damned,” Josh muttered.

  “You think he’s the one we’re looking for?”

  “I’m willing to bet on it.”

  “But the Russian mafia?”

  “They’re no different from the Italian mafia,” Josh said.

  Mariko shook her head. He could see she was skeptical. Josh was unsure himself. He was acting on a hunch now. He had no evidence to connect Valeria with the mafia. If his hunch was wrong, where would he go from there? One of the others might be the one who came to get Valeria. Then again, maybe none of them did.

  “Is anyone doing anything about the two agents?” Mariko nodded as she read the screen.

  “They’re being watched by our people.”

  “And the other one came on a direct flight, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Ok. Let’s assume he’s here on business, which leaves the mafia guy, right?”

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  “Right,” she said, still with some skepticism.

  Josh felt no more confident about it than her, but it was the only thing he had to go on.

  “Can you take me to the Atakai Hotel?” he asked.

  “Sure. We can be there in a few minutes.”

  “Does that information include a room number?”

  “I can do better than that,” Mariko said, working rapidly over the keyboard. “We always make a copy of the passport photo.” Josh watched an image appear on the screen, a black and white photo of a small, unassuming man with light colored hair.

  They both stared at it.

  “He doesn’t look like a mafia type,” Mariko said.

  “No, he doesn’t. He looks more like a shoe salesman.” Mariko giggled, and Josh was struck by her beauty. In the short time he had known her, Josh had become quite attracted to her. She was bright and cheerful, whereas Valeria was brooding and sexy. He fell for Valeria in a short time, too, and look where it got him.

  “What’s his name?” Josh asked.

  “Yuri Kurchenko.”

  “Let’s go see if we can find him.”

  The drive to the Atakai Hotel was just long enough to make it easier by car. When they arrived, Josh got out and went in while Mariko found a place to park. Josh walked in the front doors of the hotel not knowing where he should start. He couldn’t be sure Yuri Kurchenko was even there.

  The Atakai Hotel was not the mid-range hotel he and Valeria stayed at in Sapporo. This was an upper class hotel, a place where the wealthy slept.

  Josh walked by the front desk. The lobby was busy with people coming and going and he didn’t think anyone would notice him walking through. Mariko’s information told them Kurchenko was in room 417. Josh scanned the boxes on the wall behind the desk, looking for 417. The box was empty. That was encouraging, but Josh knew it didn’t necessarily mean anything.

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  Kurchenko may have taken his key up to unlock his room, or he may have left already and taken the key with him.

  There was a chance he might not be in his room but hadn’t left the hotel. Valeria might have come here to meet him, and they might be having a drink in the bar, going over business or whatever it was they had to go over.

  The bar and restaurant were opposite the front desk. He approached carefully, in case Valeria was there. She would be watching the door. He didn’t want her to see him and bolt again.

  He wasn’t in the mood for any more chases.

  Josh scanned each face at the bar and the faces at the tables.

  Valeria wasn’t among them. The maitre’d came toward him so he turned and walked out. He saw Mariko come in the front doors and went to her, guiding her to the sofas in the vast lobby.

  “Is he here?” she said in a low, clandestine voice.

  Her eyes narrowed and searched the lobby. Josh shook his head. She was getting a little carried away with this spy stuff.

  “I don’t know, yet. I’m gonna go up and see if he’s in his room. I’d like you to stay here in case he comes down while I’m going up,” he said.

  “If he does, what do I do?”

  “Follow him, find out where he goes, then call Bo at the Embassy.”

  “What if he’s got a gun?” Mariko said, her eyes wide with apprehension and excitement.

  “Just stay away from him and don’t get in any trouble. If you lose him don’t worry about it.”

  “Ok,” she said.

  Josh touched her shoulder, then went up the stairs to the fourth floor. Room 417 was to the left of the stairway, halfway down the hall. The luxury of the lobby was carried through to the hallways and the rest of the hotel. The carpeting was thick, the walls were covered with expensive wallpaper and the quiet halls were lit with ornate light fixtures.

  Josh found 417 and walked past. The hall was empty except for him. He noticed a light from under the door. He came back Change of Heart

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  and put his ear to the door.

  From inside he heard a television. It sounded like the news.

  Josh looked around, expecting someone to see him and ask what he was doing. Still there was no one in the hall, so he put his
ear to the door again.

  The television had stopped. He heard footsteps on the other side of the door. Josh turned and went to the door across the hall, holding his hands over the doorknob like he was putting a key in the lock. The door to room 417 opened and Yuri Kurchenko stepped out. Josh recognized him from the grainy black and white image on the computer screen, although he was surprised by how short and simple the man appeared. He looked more like an accountant than a crime family operative. And if he was the accountant, why would he make a trip to Japan to meet a former KGB agent?

  Yuri stopped and looked at Josh. Josh grinned real big, as if he’d just found a long lost brother.

  “Hey y’all,” he said with a thick Texas drawl.

  Yuri gave him a funny look and walked away, past the stairway to the elevators without looking back. He pushed the button, waited for the elevator, then got on.

  The door Josh was pretending to unlock opened and the doorknob was yanked out of his hand. A young, pretty Japanese woman stood on the other side, demanding in an angry tone to know what he was doing. On the bed in the room behind her Josh noticed a young man in his underwear.

  “Wrong room,” Josh said in Japanese, and went to the stairs.

  He ran down to the lobby as fast as he could, hoping such a luxurious hotel would have slow, gentle elevators. He also hoped Kurchenko went down and not up, where he could go to any other room on any other floor. If he did, Josh was screwed. He couldn’t search every room on every floor. He would just have to sit in the lobby and wait for Kurchenko or Valeria or both to show their faces.

  Josh got to the lobby just as the elevator doors opened, and 216

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  stayed out of sight on the stairway. To his relief, Kurchenko got off and walked through the lobby to the front doors with a purposeful stride. Josh stayed with him, keeping a few paces behind.

  They approached Mariko. She was sitting on the sofa against the wall, which gave her a good view of people coming in and going out. She glanced up and did a double take when she saw Kurchenko. Then she saw Josh. He pointed to Kurchenko and mouthed the words, “That’s him”.

  Mariko nodded once and looked back down at the magazine before Kurchenko noticed her. He went out the front doors, oblivious to either of them.