Rhapsody in Red

Chapter 21

A moment of silence followed the director's comment, while everyone meditated on the news heard that morning. Finally Matsumoto spoke.

" The situation that we have in front of us keeps on enlarging and getting more complicated. Let's review what we know so far." He coughed and continued." We started with an inquiry about the activities of the Aum Shinrikyo sect in the United States for its possible implications in terrorist activities in this country, Canada and Japan. Taking advantage of Aiko's presence among us, we threw the fishing net in a chain of restaurants where many members of the Japanese community in New York usually meet and when we lifted the line, what we found on the hook was a Korean allegedly involved in the theft and transfer of nuclear technology to North Korea."

The director paused and then said with a gesture of perplexity.

"They are disconnected facts that appear at random or is there a connection among them?"

" At this moment, and with the available information, your question is impossible to answer." reasoned Yoshida. "What remains for us is to continue monitoring the restaurants where Aiko works. As Shinzo explained earlier  this character Kang has disappeared and one of his skills is surely to erase his trail, which is demonstrated by what little is known about him. I think that the only link that can reconnect us with Kang is precisely Aiko's place of work, that is, if he reappears in the restaurants."

"If this happens this time we must be sure not to lose the trace again." affirmed with energy Matsumoto. Then he spoke specifically to Kato." Do we have cameras mounted in the three premises of the chain where Aiko works?"

"Yes, Matsumoto San, and we are controlling them permanently."

"How many people do you have in that task?"

"Another agent and me."

"All right. I'll send you another technician. We cannot allow Kang's trail to cool. If he reappears in our radar we must not lose his clue again." Then he addressed Mrs. Yamaguchi.

"We must move all our influence to obtain information about the owners of that chain of restaurants and their connections. It is evident that Kang has showed up in one of the premises to interview with one of them."

"Or with someone who is behind the apparent owners." Yamaguchi said.

" Well said Harumi. Take care of that, then."

"Leave it in my hands."

Having been exhausted the topics of the meeting Yoshida got up from his chair.

"Well Aiko, let's go back to the training room, I want to show you the use of a new recorder we have just received."

Leandro had moved to Philadelphia on one of his periodic work trips that Tuesday so Aiko was looking forward to seeing him again the following day and thinking about what kind of program they could carry out together, since the boy was not very inclined to plan distraction activities and seemed to be only interested in s*x. All those ideas were spinning around the young woman's head while she was preparing to sit down at the piano, after one of the ten minute breaks she took every now and then; those breaks were destined to put her thoughts in order since the execution time required absolute concentration. The woman had just sat on the bench when she heard the soft hum of her cell phone announcing the arrival of a what's app message. She quickly glanced at the screen and saw that the sender was Shinzo Watanabe, who as usual was controlling the entrance to the premises from some hidden spot outside, since one of his skills was to integrate into the darkness of the street.

"Kang is entering."

A brief chill ran down the girl's spine as she remembered the Korean's record that had been shown the previous day. With a certain fear of what she could see, Aiko looked up at the restaurant's front door, located in a straight line from her piano, although quite a distance away. She had quickly connected the camera function of her cell phone and graduated the zoom to record in detail the events that might occur. Then she watched as Mr. Suzuki, manager of the restaurant, approached the door and opened it giving way to three men dressed in dark suits. A new sting went through her body when she recognized Mingyu Kang in the midst of two stocky characters to which Aiko immediately assigned the role of bodyguards. Contrary to the expectations of the woman and to what had happened the previous time in which the Korean had been in the restaurant, this time Suzuki did not lead him to the tables but to the office sector where they promptly disappeared behind the opaque glass doors. Aiko started playing of the musical segment that she had prepared, every so often taking a quick look at that door and after a couple of minutes afterwards she saw the manager emerge from it.

Only then did the young woman realize the true role of her boss Suzuki, who until then seemed like an important manager but in reality was just a pompous luxury valet. Aiko reflected that the piano bench was a privileged point of observation since it dominated the scene of the whole place while the performer went unnoticed, as if she were transparent, once all the diners had gotten used to seeing her in that place.

After about a quarter of an hour of music the sound of the what's app marked the entry of a new message. The girl could not stop the execution of the melody that she was playing to read it, but guessing its possible content she turned her gaze again to the entrance door of the restaurant. What she then saw was a repetition of the previous scene; Suzuki obsequiously opening the door to another character that Aiko recognized immediately and guiding him to the glass door of the office sector. From a distance the girl could appreciate the cold and distant treatment that the manager received from the newcomer.

"Hisao Nakajima"

The woman immediately recognized the only one of the owners of the restaurants she had seen before on one of his rare visits to the premises. She quickly took charge of the events she had witnessed, uniting the isolated photos in a continuous film and drawing the first conclusions. At that very moment the alleged Korean spy Kang was meeting alone with the representative of the restaurant chain in which Aiko worked. The meeting took place on the site presumably safe from prying eyes for being a reserved area of a public place frequented by many people of Eastern origin. Aiko remembered the expression that the best place to hide a particular elephant was in the middle of a herd of elephants.

"At sight and yet hidden ... but not from Aiko Teruya and the Mount Fuji Association." thought sarcastically the girl.

Arriving again at the new interval Aiko took her purse and discreetly kept the cell phone that had been activated recording what happened at the entrance door of the premises during those fifteen minutes. She walked in the direction of the ladies room and once inside entered one of the WC compartments. There she looked for the filming in the photo gallery of the mobile phone and played it back until the moment of Kang's entrance and then moved quickly forward until the moment of Nakajima's entrance. Aiko verified that the video obtained was quite clear and allowed to clearly identify all the actors. Then she returned to the restaurant and placed the purse in the same position it was located before in order to record what happened later.

The Korean left almost an hour later accompanied by his bodyguards, walking quickly with the obvious purpose of reducing the time of his public exposure thus exhibiting a different behavior than the first time he had been in the premises, when he had been with other diners during a prolonged time in the main room, although in a relatively isolated place inside it.

A minute after the departure of Kang, Suzuki entered again the office sector, where his presence had undoubtedly been required. Shortly after he left, accompanying Nakajima with his usual servile gesture.

"Hopefully this time Watanabe can follow Kang without losing his track."  Aiko thought with satisfaction. "And we will see what was registered by the cameras installed in the owners' office. Matsumoto will have a lot to entertain himself."