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The Company
Time: Sunday, August 8, 2010 (01:00).
Place: Tokyo, Japan.
Last Event: "Get face-down on the floor, or we'll start shooting."
The Agents assess the situation in the hallway. The 11 of them could probably overpower four gunmen if the only lives at risk were their own. However, nobody wants Asuka to get shot, whatever her father's profession. Moreover, evidence suggests that Chaturvedi is being held nearby . . . meaning that his life is in danger and that the armed goons have backup. In the end, everybody tosses aside rucksacks and goes prone. Nobody has a concealed weapon, but Vinnie does have his trusty lockpicks tucked away.
As soon as the Agents comply, the goons hustle Asuka down the hall. They don't treat her roughly, and she seems remarkably willing to chastise the gun-waving thugs. When that little drama ends, two more armed men step out of the utility room, one wielding a metal detector and the other carrying a kitbag. These new arrivals systematically search their prisoners under the watchful eyes of their four associates, confiscating phones, keys, watches, etc., but failing to find Vinnie's lockpicks. Then they dip into their bag and bring out police handcuffs for wrists and duct tape for mouths. It seems likely to all that Asuka's father is involved in this and wants his daughter's rescuers brought in alive.
Once all the Agents are searched, cuffed, and taped, two more armed men – bringing the total to eight – shove Chaturvedi out of Vinnie's hotel room. The handler is bound and gagged as well, and one of the thugs has removed his prosthetic leg, forcing him to hop and hobble. The other hoodlum is carrying the attaché case full of money (€1 million in cash) that Vinnie had stowed in the room safe.
The eight armed men proceed to ferry the Agents and Chaturvedi down to the hotel's parking garage. They use the service elevator to transport their prisoners a few at a time; the hotel's security staff are conspicuously absent throughout. The ultimate destination is a large delivery truck, where two more gangsters await, brandishing assault carbines. Asuka goes down with the first group of Agents, and Vinnie sees her get into an armored limousine containing even more thugs. The limo pulls out as soon as Asuka is aboard.
—
Anabel is in the hotel bar with Hideo the truck driver when this situation starts to unfold. After Wen messages her about trouble and then doesn't respond, she decides to take the initiative. She manages to convince Hideo to return to his truck and wait for her – "In case my next client is trouble." With that, she leaves the bar and heads for the elevators. As soon as she does, though, she sees two men in suits get up and follow her.
Initially, Anabel tries to lose the men in the hotel's service areas, but a hotel security guard – clearly assuming she's a prostitute, and uttering threats – foils that ploy. Anabel then tries to phone the "toughs" she met at the nightclub the other night while asking after Asuka, figuring that they might be a useful distraction. Unfortunately, there's no answer at the number she has. Eventually, she heads for the front desk, identifies herself as a guest, explains that some men are following her, and asks for an employee to accompany her through the lobby and make sure she isn't followed to her room. The clerk agrees, and soon one of the hotel's guards is walking Anabel to the elevators.
At the elevators, the two men who were following Anabel step out and flash police IDs. The security guard seems convinced and leaves the situation to the authorities. Anabel isn't convinced but can't prove that the men aren't detectives. The two "cops" tell Anabel that they need to speak with her, and agree to do so back in the hotel bar. As they walk and talk, it's clear that they know the assumed name Anabel is using in Tokyo, and quite evident that they aren't real policemen.
The three take a quiet table in the bar, even as Anabel's associates are being ferried to the garage by elevator. The fake detectives state loudly that they want to take Anabel to the station to identify the gangsters she saw earlier tonight. As they do, they push an incomplete printout of an INTERPOL Blue Notice across the table at her. It bears two grainy photographs of her. In a hushed voice, one of the men suggests that Anabel can either play along or keep pretending that she doesn't know what they're talking about . . . in which case they'll have to detain her in connection with her activities in Greece, and bad things may happen to her friends.
Anabel reluctantly agrees to go to "the station," although she knows that's not where she'll be taken. The two men promptly shepherd her to a car and hit the road. During the drive, they become much less menacing, even solicitous. One of them comments that she's very pretty for somebody in their line of her work, and adds that she must be good at keeping secrets if her gang is the subject of Blue Notices. When Anabel objects, he presses the issue: "Come on! We're all in the same line of work here!"
—
Eventually, all three vehicles – the truck transporting the bulk of the group, the car with Anabel and her two escorts, and the armored limousine – pull into an indoor parking area. Anabel knows only that she's in an underground garage beneath a high-rise; she doesn't know Tokyo well enough to find this place again. The other Agents know less than that. The Company personnel, including Chaturvedi and Anabel, find themselves being lined up against a wall with at least a dozen armed men watching them. Anabel manages to convince one of the gangsters to return Chaturvedi's prosthetic leg to him.
By the time the Agents are all unloaded and lined up, Asuka is gone, whisked out of sight by a couple of men in suits. An instant later, a well-dressed chap with long hair and an immaculate manicure steps through the same door. He chastises the armed goons for cuffing and gagging their "guests," and orders them to remove the bonds. Then he turns to the Agents and apologizes, explaining that these guys didn't know that their boss had hired mercenaries to rescue his daughter. The thugs grumpily get to work removing shackles and tape. When they get to Vinnie, he glares and hands them their cuffs, just to make a point.
Still without identifying himself or his employer, and voicing genuine regret over the circumstances of the meeting, the suave gangster explains that he can offer a place to wash up, fresh clothes, and even medical supplies for the group's scrapes and bruises. He immediately makes good on these promises. The Agents soon find themselves in a large, stylish lavatory, unescorted and free to tidy up, change, and converse.
Reactions to the situation vary. The Agents who've been through worse shrug it off as a misunderstanding: We're being treated nicely now, and we would have been just as cautious. Others are less forgiving, and Chaturvedi is visibly angry: The Company was bound to attract the attention of powerful organizations like the CIA and nosy ones like INTERPOL, but being used as the private army of Yakuza gangsters and possible human traffickers is another matter. The Company is supposed to vet its backers better than that, meaning that changes are clearly needed. Regardless, the whole team is acutely aware that their "freedom" is rather tenuous given that the other guys have all the guns.
When everyone has cleaned up, the gangsters usher the Agents to the penthouse via a couple of elevators. On arriving upstairs, everybody is searched again, this time by considerably more skillful hands. Once that's done, most of the armed men from the garage are dismissed, while the Agents are shown into a long and very expensively appointed room with a spectacular view of Tokyo. One end looks like a lounge, where Asuka is sitting and having drink; the middle is a sunken dining or meeting area of some sort; and the other end is a well-appointed bar. The décor is a strange mixture of Western and Japanese themes, exemplified by a jukebox parked next to a katanakake.
The suave gangster invites the Agents to be seated. When they are, an attractive woman glides over from the bar to take orders for drinks. Shortly after that, the number of guards in the room quietly triples. Then a well-groomed Japanese man in his 50s shows up. He gestures ever-so-slightly to the servants, who pull sliding partitions across either end of the central area to create some privacy, and then greets the Agents: "You can call me Toru. I am eternally in your debt for having rescued my daughter."
As a sumptuous late-night feast is brought in by a small army of pretty serving girls, Toru apologizes for the circumstances of the Agents' arrival. He explains it away as the result of regrettable misconceptions on both sides. He was led to believe that the group consisted of mercenaries, possibly dangerous ones, and thus overemphasized the need for caution to his men. However, he suspects that his guests view him as an unethical gangster, like some Yakuza chief out of a bad action movie, rather than as a businessman.
When it's their turn to speak, the Agents do what they can to pry information out of Toru. In particular, they demand the truth about his involvement with the Filipino human traffickers, and ask him point-blank what he knows about their missing ship. The boss claims that the Filipino gangsters lied. He states that they grabbed Asuka not because he had anything to do with stealing their ship, but because they were losing a gambling-related crime war that had turned bloody, and wanted a trump card – insurance against him revealing information on or otherwise interfering with the Filipino gang's involvement in trafficking women for prostitution.
The Agents aren't convinced that they're hearing the truth, but realize that pressing the matter might not be wise when sitting unarmed in a penthouse on top of a tower swarming with armed Yakuza gangsters. They let Toru go on, and he obliges: He outright asks the group to go on retainer for him, to take on future "special operations" outside Japan, where his reach is more limited. He explains that he has read the INTERPOL reports from Greece and the U.K., and knows what the team is capable of. He especially admires their ability to vanish and reappear at will despite their presence on watch lists and lack of legitimate identities. He could use such ninja.
Several of the Agents vocally object, saying that without knowing for sure that Toru's people aren't involved in human trafficking, they couldn't work for him in good conscience. Toru brushes this off again, claiming that they stumbled upon a turf war over gambling, and that if the Filipino gang is involved in trafficking, he'd be more than happy to see "his mercenaries" hit them hard. When accused of nearly getting the team killed by supplying them with bad TASERs, Toru merely smirks at Chaturvedi . . . who reluctantly admits that he got the bad weapons from a Chinese dealer in Yokohama, not from the Yakuza.
It's Vinnie who eventually speaks for the group, picking his words carefully based on half a lifetime in the mob. He thanks Toru for his candor, hospitality, and kind words about the team's skills, and then explains that he and his associates would be willing to keep Toru in mind, keep his secrets, and consider future contracts, but not hire on full-time. Vinnie declares that Toru is right and that he and his friends are mercenaries. However, their unique selling proposition is stealth on an international scale, and permanent associations would compromise that. Still, if Toru wouldn't object to the squad hunting down the Filipino gangsters' ship, then they would be willing to put him at the top of their client list.
"If you have a job for us, submit it through the same channels you used to procure our services to rescue your daughter," Vinnie explains. "It's no secret that you back the Company here in Tokyo and know how to reach Mr. Chaturvedi. Simply get in touch with him and he'll pass along your proposition. If we're in a position to act, then we'll act."
To the surprise of some of the Agents, Toru agrees. With that, the important business is concluded and the meal becomes a more-or-less social occasion. Eventually, the Agents take their leave. The Yakuza men return all of their possessions – including the €1 million in cash – and drive them back to their hotel before sunrise.
In the rising sun, Vinnie explains to the others that the deal he cut was the only way to get out of there alive. Toru isn't the type to take "no" for an answer, but as he seemed genuinely grateful for the rescue of his daughter, Vinnie gambled that he would accept a less-than-airtight "yes." He points out that once the team leaves Japan, the Yakuza won't be able to put much pressure on them. That is, as long as Chaturvedi can clean up the Company's vetting process. Chaturvedi seems fiercely committed to this last point.
Away from Toru's soldiers, several Agents express the belief that the entire human-smuggling angle here could have been little more than a setup to pull the team into the rescue operation. After all, the Yakuza clearly had INTERPOL notices that made plain that the group acted against a Russian prostitution ring with extreme prejudice, which means that they might well have engineered a cock-and-bull story to play on Company sympathies. On the other hand, the Filipino gangsters seemed rather adamant about the existence of a shipload of contraband, which could be women, arms, drugs, or any number of other things. That certainly bears investigation.