The End of an Era; Hideki, Gendo, & Marcus Lombardi.
"Goddamn, I think some bug flew into my ear or something," Hideki said, laboring to his feet and shoving the small radio portion of their electronic kit into his pocket, where it would transmit his signal up to Gendo from the street. "I thought I heard a fly with your voice say something stupid." He laughed and waved, offering Gendo a wink that he hoped was more reassuring than it felt when he did it. Then he strolled out of the room and down into the street.
It made him feel better, knowing that Gendo was up there, somewhere behind him with a gun. While Hideki had his automatic, of course, it was more likely that Gendo would be able to see trouble faster than Hideki in this situation, and his partner was quick and efficient. Getting up close enough to make the kill was going to be the hardest part.
He had to wait for a long time before he spotted the casual wear of the Oleander contingency across the street, and it was almost one o'clock by the time he could get into a position good enough to thoroughly assess the situation. Blood pumping, Hideki cleared his throat and spoke lowly into the microphone. "See him?" he said, "Your nine o'clock."
The parade started with a loud bang of drums that would have made Hideki jump three years ago, but which now didn't even make him blink. His eyes were fixed on the tall, straight-backed man with ink black hair who was wearing a genial smile and smoking a cigar. There were three men standing close around him, and Hideki had spotted four more scattered about in the crowd not far away. None of them seemed overly alert, but each one was packing. A butterfly of doubt fluttered through Hideki's mind before he caught it in a net and promptly disposed of it. Really, he'd done more dangerous things.
The timing had to be perfect, so Hideki waited. He pretended to watch the parade go by--prancing horses decked out in the city's red and gold, young girls twirling batons, Chinese dancers performing a complicated routine of twists and turns--until finally something caught his eye. Hideki only recognized the tubes of fireworks because he'd played with similar ones as a child; they were unobtrusive and most were concealed within a paper mache dragon that wound down the lane like a ribbon.
"I'm moving in." He flipped open his knife--a switchblade that he'd lifted from a Hibiscus thug nearly a year ago. The rumored murder of an Oleander subordinate had been circling through the wires for the last few days, a cultivated flower said to have been left with the body. A sign of Scarlet's making, though no one could be sure, yet it was still the perfect opportunity. That was why Hideki had suddenly chosen this date, this place. It was perfect.
A thunder of drums sounded, and then the first explosion went off. Heads turned and everyone looked down the street, away from the direction that Hideki was coming, though many were streaming in in his same direction, hoping to get closer to the show. More explosions, and he was behind black suits, stepping into the space created by natural boundaries between the public and the Godfather. At the apogee of the fireworks display, Hideki stepped up behind Marcus Lombardi and pulled the knife toward himself, aiming for the heart. When the blade pierced flesh, he buried it to the hilt and pulled down and out before the old man even had a chance to crumple. As the finale ended, Lombardi fell and Hideki was already sprinting into an alley, having no idea of the damage, only that he'd felt a pulse start to flutter. After a few moments of breathing, he realized it was his own.
He kept going, but slowed down. No doubt they were already searching the area, and in the distance, Hideki could hear sirens, though it would be impossible to get an aide car to the scene with any haste; there were just too many people. Seven blocks away, in an alley outside a Thai eatery, Hideki dropped against a brick wall.