For Sandra because she had the faith in me to pick up this manuscript, get it finished and then published.

Prologue

The twelve women stood in the early evening Tokyo drizzle waiting for the security guard to open the bank’s door. It was an autumn evening and darkness had come early with black clouds scudding across the sky. They all had umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain but still managed to laugh and joke about their daily lives, children, television, husbands and boyfriends. At 8:00 pm precisely the guard opened the side door of the National Bank of Okinawa to let the cleaning staff in. Although he knew them all the guard carefully checked each ID until he came to a strange face. He eyed her from top to bottom noting that she was taller than most Japanese women, mid twenties, with a good figure, and her face was set in a seemingly permanent smile. Although she dressed the same there was something different from the other women, a look of quality, her skin and hair looked more cared for, and she had a cheeky sparkle in her eyes. She was a woman for a good night out, someone to show off to your friends, not one for taking home to the family.

“Who are you, where is Maika?” He questioned.

“She is sick so the company sent me over to replace her; here look at my ID it’s all in order.”

“Miss Sako Abe,” he said looking from her face to the security pass, “this is most irregular.”

She shrugged, “do you want the office cleaned or not, I’ve plenty of other things I can be doing.” She turned to leave.

“No, no, come back here I suppose you’ll have to do.”