Miakahashi was insed. His dark rugged face had turned a crimson red and the veins in his neck pulsed like worms in a bait box. One of his key lieutenants, his wakagashira and sed in and, had been murdered in a way that was so shameful that he was tempted to order the whole gang, who had been at the exclusive Cherry Blossom club in downtown Tokyo that night, to it seppuku, the ritual slig open of their own stomachs, instantly. But Nobu Takahashi atient man, a virtue that had seen him rise from the son of a lowly Kyoto shopkeeper to one of the most important men in Japan. He had ordered the gang, through his saiko-komon or personal adviser Hirayama, for the oyabun himself had minimal tact with the Yakuza, to leave no stouro find the killer and bring him to a swift and bloody justice.
But that was the least of Takahashi』s problems. Upon news of Yamamoto』s embarrassih, Hirayama had discovered a list of Yamamoto』s tacts around the world and the deceased』s laptops had revealed a side ihat threateo destroy everything that Takahashi had worked so hard for. There had always been rumors, denied religiously of course, that Takahashi was the head of the powerful Yamaguchi-gumi Yakuza fa to which Kenzo Yamamoto belonged. And Yamamoto』s blackmail victims included powerful people in Japanese and iional society. Luckily, the deceased wakagashira had kept extensive records of his activities, encrypted and protected by mega-viruses but twenty puters and twenty-four hacker hours later, the extent of Yamamoto』s betrayal was clear to see.
It appeared from Kenzo Yamamoto』s unication logs that the vast majority of his tacts where basic mules, hackers and informants who had no idea what the information they provided would be used for. What worried the minister however, were the receipts for two mailed DHL packages that Yamamoto had sent abroad just hours before his death. The receipts had been found on Yamamoto』s body but the stubs for the packages, the ohat would list the names and addresses of the recipients, were missing. It appeared Yamamoto had destroyed them. And why would Yamamoto have the receipts in his wallet? That suggested that he had sent the packages personally. Why do that when he could have instructed any one of an army of Yakuza to do it for him. Takahashi wao know what was in the packages.
The ese had actually doakahashi a favor. Without Yamamoto』s death, the scale of his betrayal would have remained a secret eating away at his legacy. Withiy-four hours, the Yamaguchi-gumi』s army of hackers had gained access to Yamamoto』s Swiss Bank ats and security deposit boxes and discovered assets and credit to the tune of one billion Euros. The scale of it was shog. Mohat should have goo the collective pocket of the Yakuza had been siphoned off for Yamamoto』s personal be. Takahashi was determio see the credit land in his own myriad set of Swiss credit ats.
Hopefully his adviser Hirayama would bring him some good news before they departed his secluded mansion oskirts of Tokyo. The minister was soon to leave Tokyo for a rented luxury hideaway on Guam Island where he and a few of his most important kyodai, his blood brothers, had plao spend a few days of extra-curricular activities and a little business before returning to Tokyo. Yamamoto, if he were still alive, would have beeoo helping to keep the barking dogs among the ranks at bay. He might have to cel the trip.
He had already spoken privately to the prime minister and