I flick my gaze off the woman before me to see who’s finally come out of the café to help. ASI is normally more on to it than this, but maybe Ben and Abi’s news this evening has everyone letting down their guard. Everyone except Koki Tanaka, I notice. A sound to the side grabs my attention, or perhaps just the woman herself, it’s hard to tell. She’s bending down and picking up the nunchucks. And I watch, mesmerised, as she slips them away into a hidden pocket on her figure hugging dress. It takes a second for me to realise the nunchucks are hers not the Triads’. Idiot. Nunchucks originated in Japan. “Momoko,” Koki says. His voice is hard and unyielding. Then he spurts out a torrent of words in Japanese. The woman, Momoko, snaps back at him in an equal flurry of harsh sounding vowels and consonants. For a second, I wonder if I should just back away and let them have at it.
