He frowned. “Leah Ledbetter. Single lady, lived alone. Quiet. Her son was in and out of jail, though. Maybe he got mixed up in a kidnapping plot.”
“The son’s name?” Spencer murmured, already typing.
“Leo.”
“Got him. Released from jail about six months ago. Rap sheet consistent with low-level gang crime. There’s a note in his record that he’s tattooed consistent with membership in the Oshiro gang.”
“Who are they?” Chas blurted.
Drago typed a bit, and then read off the screen, “Yusi Oshiro founded the Oshiro gang in 1985 in Brooklyn, New York. It spread to other major cities, including Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Its largest concentrations are in New York City and San Francisco. Thought to be primarily a drug smuggling enterprise. Gang membership is estimated at between three and five thousand.”
“Five thousand!” Chas exclaimed. “And they’re after Poppy?”
Drago responded, “Three to five thousand is small as gangs go. Some of the big ones in the US are ten times that size.”
Chas frowned. “If they’re drug smugglers, what do they want with Poppy?”
Silence met that question.
Eventually Spencer said, “If the Oshiro gang is doing business with the Tanaka Clan—maybe distributing drugs for them in America—the two gangs could have a beef. Or, if the Oshiros are looking to expand into Asia, they could have run afoul of the Tanakas.”
Gunner commented, “If these Oshiros have decided to tangle with the Tanakas, we know one thing about them. They’ve got cast iron cojones.”
“Why do you say that?” Chas asked.
Drago answered the question. “Clan Tanaka is one of the biggest, oldest, and most powerful Yakuza clans in Japan. Tangle with them and you will pay a steep price. These modern Yakuza outfits aren’t like old-school Yakuza families. Nowadays they’re more like Western-style mafias, motivated by profit and power. They’re well trained, well armed, and violent.”
“How violent?” Chas asked warily.
“As violent as any South American drug cartel.”
“Holy cow,” Chas mumbled.
Gunner added quickly, “Before you freak out, Chas, Japan is a significantly more lawful part of the world than certain Central and South American countries. Gang violence is tightly controlled in Japan, and because Japanese officials are generally not corrupt, the gangs don’t have control of the government.”
“Still,” Chas retorted. “Poppy is related to these Tanaka mafia dudes?”
Drago shrugged. “Spencer’s trying to find out if this Kenji guy is one of those Tanakas.”
Chas glanced over at Poppy, who was sitting on a blanket playing with a set of stacking blocks. “Assuming she is one of those Tanakas, how did she end up in Misty Falls?”
Spencer fielded that one. “Let’s assume the Oshiros have some problem with the Tanakas. What better way to hit them where it hurts? Kidnap Grandpa Tanaka’s cute little granddaughter. The Oshiros snatch Poppy in Japan. If they’re smuggling drugs, they obviously have shipping conduits from Asia to the United States. They smuggle her over here, hand her off to Leo Ledbetter to hide. He knows squat about caring for a baby, so he takes the kid home to his mom. And voilà, Poppy is in Misty Falls.”
“Then who shot up the town and tried to grab Poppy?” Chas asked logically.
Chas looked around at all the other men, and finally Drago muttered, “I’ve got nothing.”
Spencer added, “We’re obviously missing a piece of the puzzle.”
Gunner said grimly, “I don’t care who all is coming after our girl. Nobody gets near her until we hand her off to her parents—Tanaka or not.”
Drago fiddled with his laptop for a bit and then announced, “I’m guessing our guy Kenji is one of those Tanakas. He’s in construction, they’re in construction. He’s rich, they’re rich. His great-great-grandfather has the same name as a founder of the Tanaka Yakuza family.”
Spencer asked, “Are the guys pursuing you Tanaka guys who want Kenji’s kid back, or are they from some rival clan?”
Gunner frowned. “If it’s Kenji’s guys, it seems to me they’d be coming in a whole less hot than these guys are. When they entered the hotel the first night we were on the run, they were wearing full tactical gear and carrying Uzis and AK-47s. Would you send in armed guys with itchy trigger fingers after your kid?”
Chas answered promptly, “No way. I wouldn’t want weapons anywhere near my kid. I wouldn’t want to chance an accident.”
“Or a stray bullet or a ricochet,” Spencer added.
“So Daddy’s enemies are chasing Poppy?” Chas asked.
The little girl looked up at him, and her face started to crinkle pre-tears. Did she sense his distress? Chas scooped her up off the floor into his lap and bounced her on his knee. “It’s okay, squirt. Nothing’s wrong.” She started pulling at the buttons on his shirt, and he pretended to bite at her fingers until she was giggling happily.
“What else can you tell us about Kenji Tanaka?” Gunner asked.
Spencer typed some more, read some more, then typed some more again. “He’s not married. Never has been.”
“Who’s her mother?” Gunner blurted, glancing at Poppy.
“Looks like he might have adopted her, or maybe he used a surrogate. The Japanese press is being cagey about how Kenji came into possession of a baby he seems to be treating as his own.”
“They probably don’t know,” Drago responded. “They’d have printed it if they did.”
“So DNA testing might not tell us if he’s her papa,” Chas added.
“Not if she’s adopted,” Spencer agreed.
“What are we supposed to do with her, then?” Gunner asked. “I’m not keen on handing her over to the first Yakuza types to catch up with us.”
“I’m not keen on handing her over to anyone until I’m convinced she’s going back to her actual family and she’s going to be safe,” Chas said vehemently.
Spencer glanced over at Drago. “Your instinct in the embassy was a good one.”
“How’s that?” Gunner asked.
Spencer explained, “Drago didn’t tell the Japanese embassy staffer that we might know where Poppy was and that she might be the missing Tanaka baby. He… prevaricated… a bit.”
Gunner nodded. “So he bought us some time. But to do what? Draw in the guys who’ve been following us and ask them which gang they work for?”
Drago snorted. “That would not go well.”
Gunner snorted right back. “Not for them. I doubt they’ve ever run up against SEALs. I’m confident we can take them in a straight-up fight.”
Catching the other men’s speculative looks at Poppy, Chas stated firmly, “We’re not using her as bait. No way.”
Spencer shrugged. “We could use the idea of her as bait, though.”
“I beg your pardon?” Chas asked sharply.
“We can stash Poppy somewhere safe. Out of the way. But if you and Gunner go on the run with a Poppy-sized mannequin in a car seat, your pursuers would be none the wiser. We could lay a trap for them.”