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The Company
Time: Saturday, July 23, 2011 (late at night).
Place: Moscow, Russia.
Last Event: Debriefings with V in person, Chaturvedi by phone.
The Agents realize that before spiriting Asuka off to London, they require a plan of action where she is concerned. Anabel, Jili, Qoqa, and Wen – presenting themselves as "the girls" – take Asuka aside (from Hamid, Vinnie, and Zhang, if not from FSB listening devices) for a discussion. They ask her point-blank whether she sees herself assuming control of her father's legitimate business empire. Through leading questions, they also attempt to discern whether she would be up to the challenge, both psychologically and practically.
It seems that on paper, at least, Asuka may be a worthy successor. Toru sent her away to high-priced schools her whole life, during which time she earned a business degree. In Qoqa's opinion as a headshrinker, Asuka is also intelligent, if shallow, and unbroken by recent events. As for the girl's motivations, in her own words, she would love to be "a wealthy and powerful businesswoman, not a boring CEO." Most important, the team's best judges of character and motivation – Anabel and Qoqa – detect neither deceit nor any love for criminals in Asuka's statements.
In light of all this, the Agents propose a deal to Asuka. They'll make sure that "their people" (i.e., the Company) support her covertly if she encounters problems claiming her inheritance, ensuring that she has good lawyers and obscuring any connection between her and her father's killers. In return, they want the support of her business empire: financial backing, high-tech equipment, and assistance entering and operating in Japan. That is, they want what Toru promised to provide before he betrayed the Company.
Asuka listens intently and then gives a straight answer: She'll go along with the plan if the Agents are willing to serve as her bodyguards in the immediate short term and come in response to residual trouble in upcoming years. Her logic is that the people who killed her father should clean up their own mess – in this case, the inevitable Yakuza reprisals directed at her. She makes it clear that her deal would be with the team, the people who rescued her twice, and that she'll communicate with them but not with their shadowy handlers.
The Agents decide that they can live with such an arrangement. Staedert will doubtless be livid when she gets wind of mere field operatives bargaining with potential sponsors . . . but improved operational clout in East Asia, backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in legitimate assets, is likely to extinguish that fire. After a huddle, "the girls" tell Asuka that she has a deal. They also warn her that everything is conditional on her inheritance working out, to which end she must never again breathe word that she has doubts about Toru being her biological father.
With that, the closing details of the group's recent operation against Georgi and Toru are largely tidied away: The FSB has paid up as promised and the Asuka situation is resolved as well as it can be for the time being. The Agents' thoughts then turn to downtime. They call the FSB contact number that V left and let their local contacts know that they wish to leave Moscow for London in the morning. The people on the other end state that this won't be a problem.
On Sunday, the Agents head out on a legitimate flight. Unfortunately, it's a cargo run without luxuries or amenities – and to Manchester, not London, because that's where the freight is headed. Still, the Russians do their homework and the group enters the U.K. unchallenged. Before long, everybody is on a train to London. The Las Vegas crew arrives at Heathrow on Monday morning. By afternoon, the entire team is reunited at their downtown condos.
Over the next few weeks, Klas, Lev, Paul, and Wen recover from their injuries under Qoqa's watchful eye. Everybody heals quickly; in particular, Klas' leg and Paul's arm return to full strength. Qoqa also does some work on Anabel's grazed arm and Wen's chest to minimize scarring. The Agents who aren't busy getting better or taking care of the wounded move Asuka into one of the unoccupied condos in the Company-owned building, ensuring that she gets everything she needs to settle in comfortably for what might be a while.
For the next few months, the Company pulls strings in Tokyo while the Agents and Asuka keep a low profile in London. Klas and Lev get the job of being Asuka's full-time bodyguards (and it seems to some of the group that Klas' relationship with the girl might be more than professional). The others do their share of security work, but have time for outside activities:
• Anabel rekindles her sideline as a jazz singer and pianist, playing several low-profile club gigs, occasionally accompanied by musically inclined fellow Agents.
• Hamid frequents casinos and clubs, improving his game in several senses of the word.
• Jili and Wen take intensive Japanese lessons, on the theory that it would be good for a few more squad members to speak that language. They come home in the evening to try out their lessons on Asuka, who is very good about not laughing at them.
• Paul and Zhang hit the gym a lot, in anticipation of needing to take more bullets and climb more towers.
• Qoqa takes more Spanish lessons. Given the group's recent work for the Russians in Mexico and its business with the FSB's Mexican forgers, she suspects there's likely to be more Spanish in any future that involves more work with V.
• Vinnie takes lessons in flying helicopters, cutting through the extensive red tape with a combination of a new Company identity and a genuine knowledge of aircraft.
It's late November when the phone rings about the first complications in Tokyo.