In Cold Blood [Ash Lynx] - Banana Fish

Twenty-Five - In Cold Blood

Along the length of the back wall are more chairs for translators and secretaries to take a seat —this being Tora's role for the meeting.

Conversations are being had and Tora's eyes dart around the room in hopes of anything jogging her memory or any yakuza members she remembers from years ago.

"Anyone sticking out?" Blanca asks her as he takes his seat at the table.

An older woman sits in the corner, typing away on her laptop as more people enter the room and take their seats. Tora's eyes flicker over to her and Blanca spots her.

"That's Ayaka Fukami. She was a doctor who worked with my parents."

"No loyalty towards them?" He mutters close to her ear.

Tora turns away from Ayaka's direction, pushing her glasses up her nose as she looks down at him and mumbles a response. "She never had a backbone to begin with, let alone if she was threatened for information."

As Blanca opens his mouth to answer, an older well-dressed Japanese man walks in and the room suddenly turns quiet, Tora taking that as her cue to sit down on the chair behind Blanca.

Dressed in a black pin-stripe suit, white shirt, black tie and brown shoes, he greets a few of the guests as he enters the room. He walks over to the end of the long table by Ayako, who quickly closes her laptop and stands up as the man turns to the large group.

"Good afternoon, thank you all for coming along to this last-minute meeting," He greets them all. "Thank you Dr Fukami for attending this meeting."

She nods feebly. "Thank you, Mr Sato."

Who is this man? —Tora silently questions.

"This meeting is to discuss our next port of call, regarding the recent developments in the Banana Fish case." He continues. "As you all know, Dino Golzine is no longer with us, as well as Colonel Foxx and his mercenary group."

Tora's ears perk up at the mention of Golzine.

"You may see this as a setback. However, the work that the Corsican Mafia had been doing for the last few months was subpar, to say the least. Despite the military taking matters into their own hands, the results were still not up to our standards."

The group look between each other, silently agreeing —Blanca playing along.

Mr Sato places his hands in the pockets of his suit trousers. "As the second in command of the Daikoku-Kai syndicate, I believe I must see that the group of individuals sitting in front of me continues to pull its weight in the Foundation to further the development and production of Banana Fish."

A hand is raised across from Blanca and Mr Sato nods in his direction. "Yes, Colonel Bremovych?"

The grey-haired Colonel nods, his accent German as he speaks in English. "Danke, Mr Sato. Can you release the names of those killed in New York recently?"

"Yes, for those who aren't aware, a few members and associates of the Foundation were murdered in New York over the last month," Sato explains. "These men include Simon Jones, a valued investor of Banana Fish and Senator Mark Stevens."

Another hand is raised and they speak up. "Are these not coincidences?"

Sato shakes his head. "They are not. They're all linked to very specific jobs within the Foundation and we believe they were killed by the same person who killed Liu Chang, another of our associates who was a regular attendee of these meetings."

"And who is this?"

"An assassin by the alias 'Tigress'."

They all look between each other and Tora's heart begins to thump in her chest.