Tokyo Surprise (7 page)

Josh peered down the hole. It was a sheer drop – he couldn’t tell how deep it was, but he could see something blue at the bottom.

“Follow me,” Granny said, and she stepped gracefully into the hole and disappeared.

Josh and Jessica exchanged shrugs and jumped. Cold air whipped past Josh and it all went dark for a few seconds before suddenly space opened up all around them and they found themselves falling
through a huge underground chamber and onto a large, bouncy blue crash mat. Jessica giggled as she rolled off the crash mat. Josh got to his feet and jumped after her.

Granny Murata was standing beside the mat with her arms folded, waiting for them to join her. Josh looked around, and found they were in a cavernous room that had the crash mat at its centre and
four corridors leading off in different directions. But unlike Team O’s control room, this space was filled with people. Men and women in suits, martial arts uniforms and even riot gear
bustled about, crossing the room from doorway to doorway.

“They don’t seem bothered that there are two kids down here,” Jessica observed, as Granny led them down one of the corridors.

“This is a top secret government facility, of which Team O is only a small part,” said Granny smoothly. “My grandchildren dropping in are the least of their worries.”

Everyone who passed bowed respectfully to Granny, even the giant man in anime-style mecha battle gear with what looked like a rocket launcher strapped to each arm.

“
Ohay
ō
gozaimasu
, Murata-san,” he said, his huge suit of armour clanking.

Finally they reached a double door at the end of the corridor, and Granny threw it open. Josh gasped. He’d expected more screens and dials, gleaming high-tech robotics – instead they
seemed to be transported back into the samurai dojos of ancient Japan, but on a massive scale. There were tatami mats on the floor, kanji paintings on the walls, and martial artists practising
their skills. As Granny led them across the room, they passed two black belts sparring, aiming swift kicks to each other’s heads. Their high-kicking style told Josh they were probably
tae-kwon-do experts.

“This is
so cool
,” Jessica whispered to Josh. “Imagine if Sensei Neil could see this? He’d have a fit!”

“Through here,” said Granny, gesturing to a sliding door to their right, “you will find uniforms to fit you. You have five minutes to get changed. And then,” she said,
“your training will begin.”

“So, can we learn to fight with any of these?” Josh asked, glancing at the racks of weapons laid out along the side of the dojo. There were staffs, daggers, pairs
of nunchakus and wooden tonfa with their polished handles, even a row of gleaming katanas.

“No,” said Granny Murata. “Hand-to-hand only. Weapons are only tools – it is no use picking up a weapon if your body is not absolutely under your control. Now, I believe
you have had
some
training in London.”

“Yes,
obaasan
,” Jessica said. “We attend classes...once a week.”

“Hmm,” said Granny, unimpressed. “I am going to teach you ways to escape an attacker. Remember, the first thing you should do if you are in danger is run away and call for
help. If you cannot do that, perhaps this will be useful. Josh, stand there. Don’t move. I will be your attacker.” She started to walk around him, moving slowly and silently, graceful
and catlike. Josh planted his feet as firmly on the floor as he could and didn’t move his head to follow her. He could sense her moving, was aware of the distance between them. He followed
the shift of Jessica’s eyes as she watched where Granny was going. He judged he had a few more seconds until she was—

Ack!

Suddenly Granny’s arm was around his throat. He felt her arm pressing against his windpipe and had to concentrate not to start hyperventilating. He twisted his head to one side, to ease
some of the pressure.

“Good,” Granny said. “Now, try to free yourself.” Josh kicked back with one leg and then the other, but Granny neatly sidestepped. He put his hands up to try to pull her
arm away, and then hesitated. “Do not hold back, Josh, you cannot possibly hurt me,” she said. He grabbed her arm and pulled. It was like iron, totally immovable. He could feel the
muscles beneath her sleeve. How could his frail grandmother have body tone like this?

Finally, she let him go.

“Now,” she said, “look at my arm.” Josh turned as she held her arm up, rolling the sleeve up to her elbow. “Somewhere in my grip there is a slack point,” she
said, clenching and unclenching her fist. “There is always some place in a person’s grip that you can exploit. In almost all cases, grabbing an attacker’s little finger will
trigger their slack point and cause their grip to fail.” She moved like lightning and then she suddenly had Josh by the throat again. “Try it,” she said. Josh reached for the
little finger of Granny’s hand and pulled. To his amazement, he felt the muscles in her arm twitch and then relax, and he stepped out of her grip as easily as if he was shrugging off his
jacket.

Next, Granny stood back and asked them to spar with each other.

“I wish to see what they teach in London,” she said. Josh and Jessica found a space on the floor and bowed to Granny, and then each other. Josh took up his ready stance and
nodded.

For a second, neither of them moved. Then Jessica hit out with her right hand, aiming squarely for his chest. He dodged, grabbed her hand and tried to pull her into a throw. But too late, he
realized she was going with it, throwing all her weight into it and holding onto his arm so that she rolled straight onto her feet and he was thrown over backwards. He hit the mat with a thud and
all the breath rushed out of his lungs. He’d fallen badly. He risked a glance at Granny. Her face was almost blank but she gave Jessica a tiny nod.

Frustrated, Josh stood and dusted himself down, determined to get a hit in on Jessica. Sure enough, she came at him again, but she was just a bit too cocky, and when she threw a high kick to her
left he ducked under it and placed a back kick solidly to the middle of her back. She stumbled forwards but didn’t go down. He followed it up with a low punch to the stomach but she turned
and blocked and then he realized she’d grabbed his hands and she was trying to push them up so she could get a chest hit in. They struggled together for a moment, and then Josh saw
Jessica’s eyes flicker over to Granny Murata.

Now’s my chance!
He twisted his hands away to break her grip and got two good hits in on her chest with his elbow and the flat of his hand. Jessica backed off, gasping. Josh relaxed
and shook out his shoulders, which was a bad idea because Jessica suddenly leaped into a jumping high kick. The sole of her shoe swept past Josh’s face, millimetres from his nose.

“That’s enough,” said Granny. They both turned to look at her. She wasn’t looking at them – she was reading the screen of a small gadget she had pulled out of a
concealed pocket. “I have a message from Nana-san. I must go to work.” She looked up. “You both have much work to do to improve. But I must admit, your skills are...serviceable.
For now.” Josh and Jessica grinned and then bowed to each other. “You both show promise. Indeed, together you could be a quite formidable team – in twenty to thirty years’
time, after some extensive training. For now, you’re good enough to look after yourselves if you need to.”

They got changed back into their normal clothes, and when they came out of the changing rooms they found Granny had also changed out of her black Team O uniform and into the traditional lilac
kimono.

When they arrived back at the central space with the big blue crash mat, Granny opened a panel in the wall and pressed some buttons.

“Does that call an elevator to get us back up there?” Josh asked, squinting up at the square of blue sky opening up above him as the surface of the pond slid back again.

“No,” said Granny. As Josh watched, something dropped down the hole, twisting and uncoiling as it went. It was a rope.

“We’re going to climb back up?” Jessica asked.

“It will be good for your arms,” said Granny, in the same tone of voice as she always used to tell them to eat their vegetables. “And you know there is no danger.”

“Not unless Jess falls on top of me,” Josh muttered.

Granny was already nearly at the top of the rope by the time Jessica had found a way to pull her weight off the floor. Josh looked up. The square of daylight seemed a very long
way away. He grabbed hold and pulled his legs up. His arms started to ache almost straight away. Jessica wasn’t doing much better. She was only a couple of metres above and groaning with the
effort. It wasn’t long before the muscles in Josh’s shoulders were trembling and his fingers burned with the strain of holding onto the rope. But he thought of Mr. Yoshida’s
Yakuza goons coming up behind them with their samurai swords, and managed to make himself keep going.

Finally he came to the top, grabbed onto the handhold imbedded in the ground at the edge of the pond, and half-hauled, half-rolled himself onto the grass. By the time he’d made it Jessica
was already standing up, massaging her forearms with a pained expression on her face.

“I will be performing reconnaissance,” Granny said, as Josh staggered to his feet. “My first step will be to follow that bodyguard. Nana-san has been examining his movements,
and we think we know where he is going. You can return to my apartment. You will be safe there.”

Jessica frowned at her shoes. Josh thought he could tell what she was thinking – with Team O on the case, it shouldn’t feel like abandoning Kiki if they just did as they were told.
But it
did
feel like that.

“No,” he said.

“Excuse me?” Granny frowned at him.

“We can’t just hide in the apartment,” Josh went on. “We helped you before, by following that bodyguard – and you’ve seen we can look after ourselves. You
have to let us help.”

“I cannot allow that,” Granny said. “I appreciate your passion, but—”

“We can be useful to you,” Jessica said. “We can be...Team O in training. The next generation of agents.”

“Out of the question!” Granny said. “I’m surprised you would even ask me. Imagine what your parents would say if you were hurt.”

“But we won’t go rushing into danger,” Jessica insisted. “I absolutely promise that we won’t do anything you don’t want us to do – but we have to do
something
.” She looked Granny in the eye. “I know we only met her yesterday, but Kiki’s our friend. We can’t abandon her to the Yakuza. And – and if you
won’t let us help you where you can keep an eye on us, we
will
investigate on our own, and you can’t stop us.”

Josh nearly choked.
Argh, Jess
, he thought,
did you have to make that sound so much like a challenge?

Granny stood very still for a moment. She looked at Jessica, and then at Josh. Then something happened that Josh was totally not expecting. She smiled.

“You would risk yourselves for the life of a friend you have only known for a few hours,” she said. “That is foolish. But it is also very honourable.” She nodded.
“Perhaps we can find you some way to help us. Indeed,” she added to herself, “a family outing may be a good cover for this location. But you are
only
to go where I tell
you, keep watch and listen for any suspicious conversations. And you must never tell your parents of any of this.”

“
Hai!
” Josh and Jessica chorused.

“Very well. Come with me.”

“Granny,” Josh asked, as they got back into the lift and Granny Murata pressed the button for the lobby. “Where are we going?”

He watched as a smile spread over his Granny’s face. “To sing some karaoke.”

An hour later, Josh found himself in a glass elevator zooming up the side of a skyscraper with Jessica, Granny, and three elderly ladies.

“These are my neighbours, Miou-san, Yoshiko-san and Hina-san,” Granny Murata had said, when they all met up in the Sakura Apartments. Then, while Miou, Yoshiko and Hina had their
backs turned, Granny had continued. “They are ordinary ladies from the building, not members of Team O. They are karaoke enthusiasts,” she whispered. “Their singing should provide
enough cover for me to slip out and look for the bodyguard. You two will stay with me – you may be able to sneak in somewhere where I would be noticed.”

Josh gazed out of the elevator at the centre of Tokyo spreading out beneath them, with its gleaming skyscrapers, crowded shops and ancient shrines all huddled together. The elevator finally
reached the thirtieth floor and the doors swooshed open to reveal a reception area, with marble flooring and arty black and white photographs of singers hanging on the walls. Jessica looked at him
and mouthed a silent “
Oooh!
” Josh nodded. This was one of those really swish karaoke lounges he’d heard about – very expensive, very serious, and a billion miles away
from the raucous fun of the karaoke club the Murata family sometimes visited in London.

The receptionist ticked the group off on her list and gave them directions to their private room. They went through a pair of double doors and found themselves in a large, plush lobby with a
deep maroon carpet and leather sofas next to massive flower arrangements in antique vases. There was no sign of the bodyguard.