Joker Game

In the daily lives of spies, there is no adventure, and nor is there romance.

After Gamou had entered the D-Agency, this conception was immediately indoctrinated into him, and was beginning to grow irritated at Graham.

An example would be when the female spy, “Mata Hari”, had been mentioned in the conversation of the Graham couple.

In the First World War, she had utilized her natural beauty and near-stark naked, alluring dances as her weapons, mesmerizing the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, military, and key members of the emba.s.sy, extracting confidential information from them, then secretly pa.s.sing it on to the Germans.

The notoriety of the glamorous “Mata Hari” had also been spread to j.a.pan.

In truth, the intelligence she had provided the Germans was mere second-rate information, and was not much different from news reports.

Long before the war had begun, the name “Mata Hari” had had been heard by many. Even when in bed, it was impossible for government and military officials to leak any intelligence to her. Personnel whose work revolved around cla.s.sified information had been warned to be aware of “s.e.x spies”. In any case, those who are so easily swayed by this degree of temptation had no capacity to be entrusted with the fate of their country.

Contrary to the handsome and glamorous impression many believe in, the nature of a spy is to, instead, have “an invisible, low profile”.

Hiding your ident.i.ty, infiltrating enemy countries on your own, absolutely allowing no one to know about your true self.

The purpose of a spy’s actions is to find people of use amidst enemies, approaching them in stealth, turning them into “sleeper agents” through methods such as bribery or threats. Bringing about the fragments of information obtained for the sleeper agents, determining its significance and worth. Secretly sending the information back to their own country without being discovered by the enemy, allowing absolutely no one to know that they, themselves are in fact, spies.

The fruits reaped from espionage would become trump cards in diplomatic wrangles, or prevail in military operations, and it is only then the enemy would realize that their own intelligence had been leaked unnoticed early on.

—There is someone working in the darkness, yet, no one knows of their ident.i.ty.

From this connotation, a true spy is similar to a ghost, or a grey figure of little prominence.

In short, “unnoticeable” is a prerequisite of a spy.

Gamou had returned to “Tailor Terashima” and entered his room, frowning as he recalled the events that had happened during the day.

The man who had intimidated the wife of the Consul had been dressed in workers’ clothing while observing the estate. Just two days ago, he had deliberately entered the backyard, disguised as a worker from Yokohama Waterworks.

—Laymen are just like that, only bringing in more trouble.

Gamou couldn’t help but let out a small string of curses.

A mediocre disguise that allowed even the Lady to see through would only raise the suspicions of the target, further complicating the situation. Jumping into the fray without fully mastering the art will only lead to death. If they were to monitor the estate, it would be far more effective for them to display themselves with their ident.i.ty as the military police rather than using a second-rate façade.

A number of the military police had recently taken interest in the activities of a spy.

It seems that the rumours are true. However, perhaps they had their eyes set on the path of spies like “Mata Hari”, completely disengaging themselves from the actions of a real spy.

Gamou cursed once more, and returned to his duties.

The duties as a spy.

Gamou had directly appeared before his target to investigate in this mission, but this particular method had only been used due to the limited amount of time. Under most circ.u.mstances, spies do not usually show themselves in front of their targets of double agents.

This time, observing his opponent to gather evidence while going against him in a game of chess only made up a small part of the mission. Gamou had spent more time on areas that could not be seen.

One of which was to look into his target’s history.

The actions of a person are not based on sudden impulses; the acc.u.mulation of experiences from the past had shaped their personality, thus driving them into their actions. Therefore, a spy must have thorough knowledge of their target’s past before carrying out a mission.

This mission was no exception. If Graham were involved in this conspiracy, signs his past may reveal themselves. Gamou had used every method to investigate Graham’s history.

Ernest Graham.

Born into poverty in central England, embarked on a long journey to India in his youth, acquiring wealth. His current position as the British Consul, and his wife of respectable descent, had all been attained through the large amount profit he had earned in India, otherwise known as “n.o.bbling”.

His image as of now was of a gentleman, but while he was in India, he had dared take part in all sorts of dirty business.

—A cunning old fox behind a gallant and honest façade.

A number of Graham’s British acquaintances had uttered these words with hints of disdain, and on the first day Gamou had started playing chess with Graham, he had immediately understood what they had meant.

During games, Graham’s presence would often be requested by the Lady, or leave his seat to go to the bathroom. In those periods of time, Graham would never allow Gamou to stay alone in the room. Graham would nonchalantly call for a servant as he leaves the room to observe Gamou’s every move.

Even though Graham had invited him to play chess, he had been looking into Gamou’s ident.i.ty in secret. While Gamou was at the estate playing chess, people from detective agencies had come to inquire about his background. Gamou had heard this from his fellowmen from the D-Agency who had been overseeing “Tailor Terashima” in the shadows, but that had early been within his expectations. Perhaps Graham would be more at ease knowing that Gamou had been working at the shop for numerous years.

Graham seemed to be a kind and good-natured old man on the surface, but in truth, he had an appalling dual-personality.

The social hierarchy of Britain was far more harsh than what it appeared to be, and had Graham been less crafty, it would be impossible for him to climb up to the high status he currently holds.

—If we were to really point out his weaknesses…perhaps it would be the Lady?

Gamou, who had been organizing his thoughts, paused his train of thought, squinted his eyes and recalled the appearance of the Lady.

Lady Graham had amber eyes, blonde hair that was always neatly styled, and perhaps, due to the fact that she had never given birth, she looked a great deal younger than her actual age. Graham’s love and care for his respectable and n.o.ble wife was undeniable.

In addition, the Lady’s resentment towards the actions of the j.a.panese army in mainland China was obvious.

Having to deduce whether Graham was guilty or not from the above points over the short course of two weeks was no easy feat. Searching for critical evidence related to the conspiracy in Graham’s past proved to be a very difficult task as well.

His suspicion still remained in the grey area…

To be frank, Gamou did not hate Graham.

Due to poverty, Graham had not been able to receive a proper education, but he had later built a family with his own hands, taking a wife of respectful descent through wealth, and even earned the seat of the British Consul. Beneath the surface of the benevolent old man was a cunning face which fascinated and excited Gamou, however…

To a spy, personal preference and feelings are separate from a mission.

A disguised spy in foreign land must spend a few years, or longer carrying out missions alone on unfamiliar ground. At times they would even marry local women and have children. All of this occurs naturally to mask yourself from those who surround you.

Once a mission has been completed, the spies would leave without a trace.

Should their families discover their secret, whether it be their wives or children, they are to be dispatched of without question (of course, it must be under the guise of an accident or suicide).

Gamou’s mission this time was to confirm of Graham’s guilt.

For this, he had used all means at his expense.

Gamou had been tracking Graham right from the beginning of his mission.

From Graham’s departure from the estate to take a car to the emba.s.sy, followed by his visits throughout the day to contact the public, right until his return to the estate in the evening, almost not a single moment had been out of Gamou’s sight.

The chances of having people aside from spies who were to observe the members of the D-Agency behind them was highly unlikely, but Gamou had dressed himself in different disguises while he had been tracking Graham for precaution.

For days, Graham had telephoned “Tailor Terasima” to invite Gamou for chess games once he had returned to the estate.

After Gamou had confirmed of this, he had nonchalantly accepted the invitation and made his way to the estate.

Gamou had discovered some things that struck his interest during his investigation as he tracked Graham earlier.

Concealing their pasts was a common distinctive trait among upstarts, disguising themselves as conservatives completely, and Graham was no exception. He would never forget to dress the part of an English gentleman: a hat, a starched shirt, a herringbone or a navy blue three-piece suit, and a pocket square. When he went out, he would always have an umbrella which replaced a walking cane hanging on his arm.  

Coming to j.a.pan, far from Britain, where the customs and climate are vastly differently, Graham seemed like caricature of an English gentleman, even appearing as slightly comical. Graham would often go out dressed this way, and the places he went to were…

An office of a British company, a bank, a customs house, a news agency, a coffee house…

Many of which overlapped with the communication posts of the terrorist organization the man had provided before his death.

And the frequency of his outings seemed a bit much even for the usual work for a Consul General.

Aside from that, Graham’s stubborn habit of tipping even in j.a.pan posed another troubling issue.

Door-opening, luggage delivery, services.

Graham would leave a tip every time he was attended to.

Did Graham simply tip the person, or had he brought along something else (a letter for example) with him this time? Gamou, who had been following behind Graham, had not been able to make an immediate judgment. He had even suspected that the habit of tipping was a practice developed by spies to make the exchange of information seem natural, which irritated and caused him concern.

Judging from the state of his actions, Graham has a certain secret mission in j.a.pan.

This would provide a logical reason for his suspicious movements.

Yet, consuls or diplomats stationed in foreign countries are, in truth, “overt spies” recognized by both sides, and was nothing out of the ordinary.

The question lies in the information which they handle.

As long as the information does not bring about serious harm to j.a.pan, severe restrictions should not be imposed upon their activities, because when viewed from a certain angle, they all stood in the same situation.

But should they be a.s.sociated with the organization that had planned to a.s.sa.s.sinate prominent members of the government with a bomb, it would be an entirely different matter. In the current situation, the possibility of the British, in the name of the government, planning a terrorist bombing that emphasized on important j.a.panese government officials was very low. On the other hand, if a bombing were really to occur, and the British Consul General had been confirmed to be a.s.sociated with the incident, the diplomatic relations between Britain and j.a.pan would be severed, or cause the outbreak of war.

Meaningless activities of some organizations that would bring about war to both countries must be avoided no matter what.

—Since suspicion is present, a thorough investigation should be done immediately.

It was not as though Gamou did not understand the views of those members of the military police.

But if Graham was confirmed to be innocent, interrogating him with the charge of involvement in terrorism would be a lethal hit to the already tense Anglo-j.a.panese relationship.

After an investigation that had lasted for a week, the suspicion placed on Graham was still ambiguous.

—Should I continue using this method of investigation, or should I come up with something else?

Gamou laid on the tatami with his arms folded at the back of his head, looking up at the ceiling.

He had thought of setting up a trap, and wait for Graham fall into it himself, yet, if Graham really proved to be innocent, it would only allow the invisible foe to see through the actions on his side.

—And time is running out.

Gamou furrowed his brows.

Based on the current situation, the General Staff Headquarters are unable to suppress the military police much longer. The latter had already started causing trouble, a solution must be found before the incident goes beyond return.

—It’s me who has to personally confirm of this in the end…

This was the best approach he had thought of just then.