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“I figured you might want some help,” Joe said. “I’m setting up the launch tray now.”
“Two minutes,” Kurt repeated. “Not a second more.”
Joe confirmed and hung up. Kurt put the phone in his pocket, straightened his cuffs and walked out of the washroom.
Akiko waited outside chatting quietly with Gao. Walter Han was nowhere in sight.
“Are we still on for dinner?”
“I’ll take you to the dining room,” Gao said. “Mr. Han will join you shortly.”
Kurt nodded and took Akiko by the hand. “Lead on.”
Gao took them across the garage toward the inner doors. Kurt spent every second scanning for the items he needed. Workbenches surrounded them. Tool chests filled with every implement known to man covered an entire wall, but Kurt was looking for the simplest of items.
Spotting what he wanted, he squeezed Akiko’s hand ever so slightly.
She looked over at him.
He nodded toward Gao.
Her eyes widened.
He held up one hand. Wait.
They reached the inner door. Gao pulled out his key card and held it to the sensor. The light on the door went green and the bolt disengaged with an audible click.
Before he could pass through it, Kurt clubbed him between the neck and the shoulder with a knifehand strike. The blow landed hard on Gao’s suprascapular nerve, rendered the right side of his body numb and dropped him to the floor in a daze. A right cross to the jaw put him down for the count.
“He’s out cold,” Kurt said, checking on him and grabbing the key card. “Find something to tie his hands with.”
She grabbed an electrical cord and began binding Gao. “What are we doing?” she asked. “You know they’re watching. There are cameras everywhere in here.”
“Which means we have to move fast.”
Kurt ran to one of the workbenches. Oily rags filled a garbage bin on one side. Spray cans of WD-40 stood nearby.
“Spray the WD-40 into that pile of rags and keep spraying,” he told her.
All he needed was a spark. He found it with the battery cart they’d used to start the race cars.
While she soaked the rags with the lubricant, he wheeled the cart over to the workbench, switched it on and scraped the terminals against each other. Sparks shot in all directions.
“Are you about to do what I think you’re about to do?”
“They burned you and Kenzo out,” he said. “Now we’re going to return the favor.”
Stepping around her, Kurt brought the cables up and placed them in line with the mist blasting from the can. A single touch released a new wave of sparks and the spray can was transformed into a miniature flamethrower.
Akiko held the nozzle open for several seconds before releasing it. By then, the garbage bin full of cotton rags had become a burning cauldron.
Kurt shoved it beneath a workbench so that it wouldn’t go out when the sprinklers came on. Akiko tossed the can of WD-40 inside for good measure.
“Let’s go,” he said, rushing to the door.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To the southwest corner of the building,” he said. “Joe saw a van pull up with Superintendent Nagano inside. Let’s just say he didn’t come here of his own volition.”
