Read Online [Thomas Caine #1] Tokyo Black by Andrew Warren - Free Book Online

at stake. I have to know you can do this, that you’re not just going to disappear again.”
    He thought for a moment. “I won’t. Not until it’s done. Fifty thousand, twenty-five up front. Cash.”
    “No.” Her voice became cold and hard. “Not on this job. You get paid when you find her. Then you can crawl back under your rock if you want. I’ll send a car for you tomorrow morning.”
    “You don’t trust me?”
    “Not yet.”
    He smiled. “Smart. And Rebecca?”
    “What?”
    He looked around the small, drab room.
    “Send the car now.”
    “I will.”
    Caine listened to the static on the phone for a moment, then hung up.  He walked back to the table and picked up the picture of Hitomi.
    He wondered who she was looking at. He had a feeling he would soon find out.

CHAPTER NINE
    It was about 5:00 pm when the plane landed at Tokyo Narita International Airport. It took another hour to clear immigration.
    In the men’s room, Caine splashed cold water on his face and scrubbed his skin. Then he ran damp fingers though his messy hair, slicking it back. He eyed his reflection in the mirror. The face staring back at him looked weary, on edge…. There was a hollowness to his features, a shadow that seemed to hang over the raw, tan skin of his face. His eyes twitched like those of a predatory animal, caged for far too long.
    He knew he was giving off bad energy, allowing the darkness inside him to creep its way onto his face, into his voice. Back when he had been operational, he could turn on and turn off the dangerous parts of his psyche, put the killer in the box until he was needed.
    But now … Lau’s setup, the fight in the prison, seeing Rebecca again after all these years … there was no box. The scars on his soul, only just healed, were torn open again. The darkness was out, for all to see—and that was dangerous. People keyed into that vibe, whether by training or simply an instinct for self-preservation.
    Caine had caught the hesitation in the immigration officer’s eyes as he handed over his carefully forged passport and visa. Luckily the official had decided it wasn’t worth his time to stop a lone American tourist with no criminal record.
    He took a deep breath. He hadn’t been on mission in years. His body and mind were not sharp, he knew. Not at their peak. But they were good enough.
    As he turned away from the mirror, he caught a look in his own eyes, a look he recognized. It was the same haunted, intense stare of the girl in the picture. Hitomi.
    He stopped in the shopping concourse to buy some clothes and other basics with the credit card Rebecca had provided. They had both agreed it was a bad idea for him to return to his apartment, in case Lau had people watching for him. Instead he’d travelled in some old clothes from a bug-out bag stashed at a local bar.
    He didn’t like using the card. He knew it was a data point. It could track his purchases and location, but he figured she already knew where and when his flight arrived. He wasn’t giving up any new details.
    The glass doors leading out of the baggage area opened with a rush of air. Caine carried his lone suitcase and shopping bags out onto the sidewalk. He took a deep breath. The smell of the air filled his brain with hazy images. He had spent two years here, most of it pretending to be someone else. The images in his mind flashed past, like a movie playing on a warped, translucent screen … a jumble of memories and lies. He couldn’t remember which was which anymore.
    As he joined the taxi line, he pulled out the phone Rebecca had given him. It was an older model from the agency, but still global and encrypted. And, of course, completely trackable. None of which matters , he thought. I’m going to use it only once .
    He dialed the number she had given him from memory. The phone rang twice before she picked up. He sighed and waited for her to speak the recognition code, as they had arranged.
    “I take it you landed. How was the