I was following the SUV carrying the rest of our group to the salon, jumping over the rooftops.

“Care to tell me what we’re looking for?” I asked into my earpiece.

“We got word that one of Julio Desandre’s daughters was patronizing the establishment a few times over the past two weeks and the owner didn’t tell us.” said Mitsuo

“Was she bringing anyone with her?”

“Someone took her there the first time, but the rest…she was bringing some of the other girls in the family to the spa.”

“Not the most solid proof they might be making a move on us.”

Their car pulled up near a place called ‘The Apple Grove’, a building with an apple tree as its logo. I jumped onto the roof, trying to avoid the security cameras. Even from my perch, I could hear the front door open and the sound of someone running out to meet my associates.

“Mr. Koizumi, please.” said a middle aged woman. “If this is about this month’s protection money I can assure you we have it. Business has been very good.”

“We’re just checking up on the place.” Koizumi replied. “You never know if some cop’s left a bug behind or if some other mobster’s snuck in here and wired the place.”

“We just want to make sure no one’s eavesdropping.” said Jiro.

“I…suppose it’s for the best.” the woman said. I found a locked hatch that led to the interior of the parlor. After picking the lock, I slowly descended into a hallway that seemed to have been taken right out of an onsen. The walls were made of a high quality wood that I remembered seeing back in Osaka and the air carried the faint smell of incense. The customers all seemed to be gone so I made my way to the manager’s office.

Or at least I would have if I wasn’t interrupted. A door suddenly swung open and I had to slide out of the way to avoid it hitting me. A lithe latina in a crew cut came out of the room and looked me right in the eye. She had a bathrobe on and a pistol in her hand.

“It seems this place has a problem with mice.” she said.

“Hello, Micaela.” I said back.

Micaela Alvarado was one of the top enforcers of the Colombian mob in Engine City and one of the few people I truly wished to avoid fighting. I’d only met Micaela once during a meeting my bosses had with hers at an Italian restaurant. She didn’t know about me because I introduced myself. She found out about me because she threw a combat knife at the pillar I was hiding behind and wanted to get a workout by fighting me. Her boss had to talk her down.

I didn’t know if the rumors about her being trained by native Amazonians were true but I didn’t dare take her lightly. She wasn’t just deadly, but sadistic too. When one of her bosses wanted a computer technician who leaked info to a rival dead, she showed up during the birthday party for her boss’s niece with the man’s head in a box and gave it to him. That we have been able to confirm.

“Here for a skin cleanse? I’m guessing your outfit really keeps you sweating. You must reek when you take it off.”

“It’s made to be easy to maintain, thank you,” I replied.

“Hmm. In that case are you here for a little…rendezvous?” She leaned a little closer to my face.”

“You must do a lot to keep such a slim figure. I’m guessing you’re pretty well built under that outfit too. To be honest, I can think of worse places to hook up at.”

“I can assure you I have no romantic intentions.” She shrugged.

“Fine then.” She went into the room for a moment and came out with a pair of headphones. She then headed off to get her clothes and left me alone. I looked inside the room she came from. It was big enough for five people but I didn’t see anyone else in it. Steam was coming off a pile of hot stones and there was a water jug nearby.

The rest of the place was deserted and I searched the manager’s room. She had a spreadsheet on her computer showing visitor logs from the past few days. I noticed that Micaela had come to the spa twice, with her first time being two weeks ago in the company of Fabiola Marco, who was the youngest daughter of a Colombian mob boss. This wasn’t an outright red flag, since we weren’t in conflict with the Colombians. However, it was enough for me to notify Koizumi about what I found.

Within two minutes, Koizumi came in with the head of the spa in tow.

“Explain,” he demanded, pointing at the entry on the spreadsheet.

“I…I felt like it might be beneficial for relations between the syndicates if this place could be a neutral ground. I know we’re still one of your businesses but it could help if the children of syndicate bosses could come here to socialize.”

“And you didn’t tell us?” Koizumi asked.

“Please understand, Mister Koizumi. If we raised the alarm about her presence we would have caused an incident. There wasn’t an option that didn’t put us into a difficult position. I couldn’t let an opportunity for this spa to be a social space to be ruined by mistrust.”

Koizumi stared at her for a moment.

“We will be copying the contents of your computer. If we find anything that indicates you have been disloyal, there will be consequences.” She bowed.

“I understand, sir.”

Some of Koizumi’s subordinates downloaded everything on her desktop onto an external drive within minutes and we were on the way back to the safehouse within minutes. I thought about what the spa owner said when we were questioning her. I felt her idea was overly idealistic, but I could understand her motives. There have been cases where friendships between the children of feuding warlords helped broker peace that was otherwise unobtainable. She really was between a rock and a hard place.

When I was eating dinner, I listened to some of the guys going over the files they copied. There weren't any emails exchanged with hostile crime families or any record of money being taken from them.

The one thing that did stand out a bit was the fact that the headphones were recently purchased by the spa. They made a bulk order for them three weeks ago to let customers choose the ambient noise they wanted to listen to during their treatments. Maybe I’ll swipe a pair. I don’t usually use music while meditating but I’m curious.