CH 8

“And what’s Nathan Clark’s body doing all the way out here?” Paco asked.

“I don’t know. But that’s what I heard from the man who I think murdered Nathan. His information is credible, so I want to make sure.”

Despite Yuto’s explanation, Paco’s scowl remained. At the other end of their gaze were officers wearing jackets emblazoned with the LAPD logo, digging up dirt with spades.

Having received the news from Yuto, Paco had convinced his superiors to allow him to rush to the scene with a team of a dozen or so officers.

“Paco, I’m sorry for dragging you out here on short notice,” Yuto apologized, and Paco’s expression finally softened.

“No need to apologize. If there really is a body, it’s big news. The only thing I don’t like is those FBI guys. All they do is give orders and they don’t even lift a finger to help.”

True to Paco’s words, the FBI agents simply stood around watching the LAPD officers work, showing no signs of offering help; yet, they seemed to have no qualms about butting in and giving their opinion. This was one of the reasons for Paco’s foul mood.

After arriving at Gabriela Cemetery, Yuto and Rob had scoured the sprawling grounds and managed to find a gravestone marked with Nathan’s name. The year of birth matched, and the year of death was two years ago. There was even a tasteless epitaph that said, “Reborn, he will live on”. Yuto had called the LAPD for backup and also phoned Heiden back in DC, who dispatched FBI agents from the Los Angeles field office.

“I had the management company contact the owner of the plot, but they said they had no recollection of ever purchasing it,” said Paco.

“I guess they used his name without permission. Which means the death certificate and burial permit were probably faked, too.”

Mike, who had come along with Paco, shook his head in disbelief.

“Why would he go through all that trouble? If he needed to get rid of a body, he could’ve dumped it in the ocean or in the woods.”

“Who knows? Maybe it was the murderer’s way of showing respect.”

“That’s messed up. Hey, there’s the vault.”

From the soil emerged the burial vault which encased the coffin and prevented dirt and water from seeping inside. The vault was opened to reveal the casket. The officers tied up the casket with rope securely before slowly lifting it out with a crane.

Once the casket was laid on the grass, the officers and agents swarmed around it.

“Dear Lord, I ain’t having any meat for dinner tonight,” said Mike as he crossed himself. Yuto was also not looking forward to seeing a grisly body. Usually, a body would be embalmed before being buried, but in Nathan’s case, he was probably buried as is. After two years, there was probably nothing left apart from skeletal remains.

“Paco, we’re going to open it.”

The officers laid their hands on the lid of the casket. When Paco raise his hand, the lid came off and revealed what was inside.

“Whoa!”

“Holy…”

The officers holding the lid of the casket stumbled and fell on the ground in horror. They were not alone; Yuto almost yelled in shock.

Most of the men on the scene were used to seeing dead bodies. If they had found a rotting body or skeletal remains in the casket, they wouldn’t have been this shocked.

But the body that lay there before them was unlike anything they had expected. It was bizarre and unsettling, and the sentiment was no doubt shared by everyone there.

This was no dead body.

“H-Hey, are you sure this guy isn’t still alive?” Mike looked disturbed as he peered into the casket. He spoke for everyone there.

Nathan was laid in the casket with his eyes wide open. His cheeks were still rosy, and he looked like he would get up any minute.

There was a faint smile on his face as he looked up at the sky. It was a nightmarish sight.

“Someone check if he’s breathing, man,” said Mike.

“He’s dead. Clearly he’s dead. Look, there a bullet hole in his forehead,” Rob said.

“Yeah, but still,” Mike said, scowling. “You hear about it sometimes. People that are buried because they look dead, but end up coming back to life afterwards. Look at how clear his eyes are. I’ve never seen a body like this.”

“Excuse me,” said Rob as he pushed past Mike. He wrapped a handkerchief around his hand before inspecting Nathan’s eyelid.

“It’s a prosthetic eye,” Rob said. “He’s been embalmed with utmost care, that’s for sure, but it’s incredibly tasteless. All they had to do was insert eye caps if they wanted to prevent his eyes from sinking in. But this is almost like they didn’t want him to sleep, even in death,” he said angrily as he gently draped the handkerchief over Nathan’s face. Nathan’s body was placed into a body bag and taken away on the FBI’s orders to a transport vehicle.

“Professor, is it possible to keep a body in such pristine condition?” asked Mike.

“Yeah,” Rob said simply. “Depending on the condition of the body, a normal embalming will make it last for a few years at least. If done perfectly, it would have looked like that for thirty to fifty years.”

“And that’s the murderer’s way of showing respect, huh,” muttered Mike.

“No, it’s not,” Rob spat. “He’s humiliated a dead man. He’s toying with the body – that’s the only way I can see it. You can tell by the fact that he deliberately didn’t touch up the bullet hole in his forehead, the most noticeable mark on his body.”

The cemetery instantly turned into a crime scene, the site of a body dumping. Police tape criss-crossed the site as it was cordoned off, and a flurry of activity ensued. Yuto took Rob off to the side.

“Did you see Nathan’s clothing? It was the same outfit he wore to your interview.”

“I noticed that, too. He might’ve been killed right after he met with me.”

Yuto’s phone rang. Again, the number displayed started with 0.

“Is that from Corvus?”

“Probably,” Yuto said before answering.

“Hey, Yuto, did you get to see the real Nathan?” asked Corvus lightheartedly, as if he were asking Yuto if he was enjoying the party.

“Tell me why you went through the trouble of burying Nathan,” Yuto said.

“Well you know, as they say, the best place to hide a leaf is in the forest. No one’s going to question a body in a cemetery.”

“Then why did you wait until now to tell me?”

“Because I no longer need to be Nathan. I also thought it would be a nice accomplishment for you to put on your record. I can only imagine how difficult it is being an agent who can’t produce results.”

Yuto wondered how Corvus knew that he had joined the FBI.

“I also told you I have a gift for you, didn’t I? Try to find a grave with a bouquet of red roses. Oh, wait, but first — listen carefully.”

He heard a click, like something being pressed.

“Did you hear that? I just pressed the detonator switch. You have one minute until the bomb in the bouquet explodes.”

Yuto could hardly believe his ears. Corvus chuckled quietly on the other end.

“Isn’t there anyone around? You have fifty seconds.”

Yuto sprang into action. With his cell phone in hand, he shouted at Paco, who was talking with another officer a distance away.

“Paco! There’s a bomb somewhere in this cemetery! Look for a bouquet of red roses! Get everyone evacuated!”

“What?”

“There’s no more time! It’s going to explode soon!”

A look of shock rippled through the officers at Yuto’s words.

“Hey, anyone find red roses?” Paco said as he glanced around. The others followed suit. There were a few graves with flowers laid on them, but no bouquet of red roses could be spotted nearby.

The clock was ticking. Yuto gripped his cell phone as he jogged around the area.

“Yuto, look over there,” Rob said as he pointed. Yuto followed his finger and saw Mike walking toward them. He was adjusting the fly on his pants, apparently returning from reliving himself.

“…!”

Yuto swallowed. He could see red flowers behind Mike. He couldn’t tell if they were roses, but there was no time to hesitate.

“Mike! There’s a bomb!” Yuto yelled at the man as he strolled leisurely toward them.

“…Huh? What did you say?”

“Get down! There’s a bomb planted in the red roses behind you! Get down now!”

Mike looked behind him. When he saw that there were actually red roses there, he gave a yell and dove head-first onto the grass.

A second later, an ear-splitting explosion ripped through the air. Yuto instinctively turned away and protected his head with his arms. Fragments of blasted gravestones and dirt rained down upon them.

Amidst the stench of gunpowder, Yuto pressed his hands over his ears as he ran up to Mike.

“Mike, are you alright?”

“…Shit, my ears are ringing.”

Paco also came running over, and the two helped Mike to his feet. Fortunately, Mike showed no signs of major injury. If he had been standing, the wind from the blast would have sent him flying.

“Contact headquarters! Now!”

“Call the bomb squad!”

First the body, and now an explosion. The cemetery was overrun with activity. Yuto glanced at the cell phone in his hand. The call was still on the line.

“…Corvus?”

“I hear you,” murmured Corvus. “Nice sound, wasn’t it? But that’s just the beginning. I’ve got a proper present lined up for you next. This one’s going to be big. Once this explodes, lots of people will die.”

Yuto felt a chill run down his back.

“Stop. This is insane!”

“I can’t stop it now. It’s a timed bomb, and it’s already set to go off at three. Initially, Alpha was going to be the finale, but I wanted to leave a mark in LA for your sake. I really like you, you know. Even though you were unjustly hurt, you never succumbed to the darkness. You continued to struggle to return to the light. Foolish, but I loved that about you. —You know, Yuto, I feel so nostalgic about the times we spent together. I’m genuinely glad I didn’t kill you that time. You’re always in my thoughts, Yuto, and I want me to be the only one in your thoughts, too.”

“Cut the bullshit. Tell me where the bomb is.”

“Don’t worry, you still have over an hour to find it. You’ll be able to stop the explosion if you work hard enough.”

“Damn you…!” Yuto’s fist was shaking in anger.

“Just think of it as a game. Remember how we used to play poker in prison? Wasn’t it fun, no matter who won? If you want to join the game between Dick and I, I’d love to welcome you.”

Yuto took several deep breaths, trying to calm his roiling emotions.

“Where did you set the bomb? If this is a game, you need to deal me a hand.”

Corvus chuckled quietly.

“Indeed. A game isn’t fun unless all players are dealt equal hands. I’ll give you a hint: it’s somewhere downtown.”

“That’s not enough. You’re putting me at a disadvantage.”

“Fine, then one more hint. The bomb is placed at an appropriate place for a Japanese-American like you.”

“What…?”

“I remember you once telling me that you lack a Japanese identity. That’s very unfortunate. Even if you don’t feel Japanese, your blood still carries the history of your people. Go to this place, and feel the painful past of other Japanese-Americans before you. Good luck.”

“Wait—“

The line went dead again.

“Fuck…!” Yuto slammed his fist against his thigh in anger.

“Yuto, what’s wrong? Who were you talking with? Does it have something to do with the explosion?” Paco said, grabbing his arm to calm him down. Yuto bit his lip as he looked back at Paco.

“Paco, there’s another bomb that’s been set downtown. It’s a lot bigger than this one, and it’s set to go off at three.”

“What…?” Paco said, looking stunned.

“We need to go downtown now,” Yuto said quickly. “We need to find the bomb, or else we’ll have a catastrophe on our hands.”

“An appropriate place for a Japanese-American, huh,” muttered Rob, deep creases forming between his eyes as he gripped the steering wheel of the Camry. “I wonder where it could be. Little Tokyo? A Japanese corporate building? The New Otani Hotel? The Japanese Consulate-General? Hmm.”

In front of them was a police car with its sirens blaring. Yuto and Rob were in the midst of following the police as they headed downtown.

Yuto chewed on his nail in the passenger seat. His mind was completely occupied by what Corvus had said to him.

“He said that my blood carries the history of my people. ‘Feel the painful past of other Japanese-Americans before you,’ he said. I’m wondering if it might be a historically significant location.”

“Historically significant, huh,” Rob repeated pensively. “When I think of ‘painful past of Japanese-Americans’, the first thing that comes to mind is the internment camps during the Second World War.”

When the USA commenced war following the Japanese Army’s attack on Pearl Harbour, they rounded up the Japanese people and sent them to ten internment camps across the country in 1942. About 120,000 people are said to have been sent there, and the interned Japanese-Americans lost their companies and all of their property. Japanese immigrants weren’t the only ones. Even second and third-generation Japanese-Americans with American citizenship were subjected to internment.

“But there aren’t any former internment sites downtown.”

“…Then how about a historical museum?”

The answer clicked in Yuto’s head as he whipped around to face Rob.

“That’s it!”

“What?”

“The Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo. They have a lot of cultural and historical things on display. It seems like the best fit for what Corvus was describing.”

“Sounds like it. Alright, Yuto, call Paco and tell him that we’re heading straight to the Japanese American National Museum. Get them to lock down the inside of the museum and the area around it.”

“What if we’re wrong?”

“As long as there’s nowhere else you can think of, we’ll have to put our best bet on this one. It would be impossible to evacuate the entire downtown area, anyway.”

Encouraged by Rob’s tone of conviction, Yuto made a call to Paco’s cell phone. Paco agreed immediately to send a team of officers to the site. The Japanese American National Museum was a stone’s throw away from the LAPD. Anyone inside the museum would be evacuated immediately.

The police car exited freeway and turned south on Alameda Street. Rob followed closely behind. Soon, they could see the museum in front of them.

When they arrived, there were already several police cars surrounding the museum, and traffic was being redirected away from the site. A tense atmosphere permeated the whole area. Yuto and Rob got out of their car and met up with Paco before heading inside the museum.

“If you see anything suspicious, don’t touch it! Send more people to the second floor!”

Sergeant Hague, Paco’s superior, as stood in the lobby with wearing a tense expression as he barked orders. Yuto greeted him briefly before scanning the premises. Although he told Rob to stay outside because it was dangerous, the man insisted on joining the search, arguing that the more hands on deck they had, the better.

They thoroughly checked the exhibits as well as the gift shop and office, but were unable to find anything resembling a bomb. Yuto moved from the main wing to the new wing, and wove between the other officers as he searched tirelessly. He checked his watch every few moments to gauge the time he had left.

Fifteen minutes. Panic began to eat away at him.

“Yuto, we’re getting out in five minutes,” said Paco with a frustrated look as he came running, sweat glistening on his forehead. “We’re going to get everyone out ten minutes before detonation, save for the bomb squad.”

There was no choice. Otherwise, many officers would become casualties.

Just as Yuto was about to nod, they heard an excited shout from the bottom of the stairs.

“There it is! I’ve found it!”

They turned around to see a young officer peeking underneath a large display case. Paco and Yuto scrambled down the stairs and crouched down at the same time to peek underneath the display case.

“Plastic bombs…?” Paco growled. It was a chilling sight. The entire bottom of the display case was covered in wrapped white packets that were duct-taped to the display case, and a detonating cord extended from the mass. There was what looked like a detonator switch and timer attached just beside it as well. This many bombs would be enough to blow the whole building up.

Paco radioed his colleagues to let them know that they had discovered the bomb, and the explosive disposal unit showed up immediately in their bomb suits and got to work. Everyone else was ordered to evacuate outside, so Yuto and the rest crossed the street opposite from the museum and watched the new wing anxiously from outside.

Yuto’s watch showed that there were four minutes left. They had yet to receive word that the bomb had been defused.

“Hey, is everything alright in there?” Mike said anxiously.

“With a normal plastic bomb, all you have to do is remove the fuse, but there might be a special mechanism that they added to make it tricky,” piped up Rob from beside him.

“Two minutes left. Time’s up,” said Yuto to Paco, “The bomb squad needs to evacuate—“

Just then, Paco’s radio received a message. It was good news: the explosive disposal unit had successfully defused the bomb.

“Yes! We did it!” Mike exclaimed, striking a victory pose. A cheer erupted from the officers around them, and many shook hands or hugged, sharing in their elation.

Yuto breathed a sigh of relief and sank to his knees on the ground. He had been on-edge the whole time, ridden with the guilt that he had provoked Corvus to cause such an incident.

Thank goodness. They had been able to prevent an explosion without a single casualty.

Once his nervousness subsided, Yuto began to feel an indescribable rage toward Corvus welling up inside him.

Perhaps Corvus’ purpose had been to taunt him and the police. If he had really wanted to bomb the museum, he wouldn’t have given a hint about the location.

Corvus would likely not have minded if the bomb exploded. Yuto had a hunch that the man was more after the thrill of finding out whether he or Yuto would win.

Dick had once told him that Corvus bombed his friends for fun, and now Yuto could see firsthand that it was true. Corvus was the kind of man deranged enough to toy with the life and death of other human beings.

Whenever Yuto thought of Corvus, he couldn’t help but remember glimpses of Nathan’s kind face, and in his heart somewhere he considered them different people. But after this incident, the two separate faces of Corvus aligned perfectly into one person.

“Good job, Yuto.” Paco shook him so hard that his head jerked back and forth. When Hague appeared, Yuto stood up to give his thanks.

“I’d like you to come over to the station later,” said Hague. “We’d like to hear why the bomber called you to give notice—“

“No need,” interrupted Jefferson from the FBI, who came up from behind. “It’s the same perpetrator that’s been behind the serial bombings across the country. The FBI is already investigating the incidents, so there’s no need for you to take a statement from Agent Lennix. We trust that the LAPD will act under our directions. —Hey, put all the seized items in the FBI vehicles.”

Without even waiting for an answer from Hague, the FBI agents began to direct the officers to transport the evidence to their vehicles. As Hague watched them irritably, Yuto gave a heartfelt apology.

“I’m really sorry. If it weren’t for the LAPD’s cooperation, we wouldn’t have been able to prevent this bombing.”

“No use griping,” said Hague gruffly. “We can’t go against the feds. I guess we should be thankful that there were no casualties,” he said, nonetheless looking frustrated as he clapped Yuto’s arm and walked away.