The lawyer pursed his lips. "Hmpf. In a closed military tribunal that'd be fine. In open court, a defense might challenge it. But considering these bozos were conspiring with foreign agents, I can likely justify it under national security exceptions." He scribbled again: Justify wiretaps – NatSec clause. "We'll need documentation of Makima's order to include in evidence, to foreclose any argument about illegal eavesdropping."
Kishibe raised an eyebrow. "We can get that. She'll have it drawn up if not already."
Tachibana moved on. "Now, the honeytrap and Dr. Schneider's boasts." He looked at Himeno and Power. "Marvelous work, truly." He gave a thin grin. "You got him bragging about selling illegal tech and naming Shijō's involvement. But…" – his grin faded – "please tell me you recorded video, not just audio."
Power snorted. "Of course we did, old man. High-def and from two angles." She tapped her clutch, which still housed one of the microcameras. "Got his face clear as day while he ogled Miss Himeno here and the briefcase."
Himeno blew a strand of hair from her face, smirking. "He practically signed a confession on camera."
Tachibana's stern face cracked into a brief smile. "Excellent. That one will stick – especially if we catch him with the money and prototype at the exchange tomorrow. You will catch him, yes?"
Hiroshi answered firmly. "Yoshimura's teams have the Yokohama lab under surveillance already. Schneider will be arrested mid-handover, in possession of everything."
The lawyer's grin was downright wolfish. "Nothing like a full hands-in-the-cookie-jar arrest to make a prosecutor's job easy."
He moved down the list. "The photo and guilt call – the Hayase case." He nodded at Aki. "Your forged photo trick was clever. And since he called IA himself and volunteered info, that is admissible." Tachibana tapped a page. "We'll list him as a cooperating witness. But we must protect him until trial."
Aki confirmed. "Hayase's family is already relocated to a safehouse. He's under discreet watch."
"Good," Tachibana said. "His testimony will corroborate the timeline of the traitors delaying that raid and tie Mori directly to those officers' deaths." His expression darkened. "Murder by willful neglect… that's a heavy charge. Well deserved."
A heavy silence followed as all remembered the fallen comrades. Himeno glanced down, absently fingering the lighter she carried in memory of a partner lost. Kishibe's single eye gleamed with quiet rage.
Tachibana cleared his throat and continued. "Now, evidence aside, let's talk procedure. When this goes down, we need arrests done by the book. No excessive force that isn't justified, no warrantless searches beyond the scope, no procedural missteps the defense can cry foul on." He eyed Denji in particular, recalling the hothead's impatience. "That means you bring them in alive, conscious if possible, and with their rights read. You don't give their fancy lawyers any excuse to claim police brutality or tainted confessions."
Denji bristled, but Aki placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "We'll be careful," Aki said. "We've waited this long; we won't mess up at the finish line."
Tachibana gave a curt nod. "I'll be coordinating with law enforcement to have holding cells and immediate indictment paperwork ready. We're not giving these bastards a second of breathing room to lawyer up and wriggle free." He began pacing, the old litigator in him coming alive. "We hit them with everything simultaneously: arrest warrants, search warrants for their offices and homes, asset freezes for their accounts, and charges ranging from treason, espionage, corruption, conspiracy to murder." He almost growled the last word. "Overwhelm them legally so no single influence or ally can swoop in to save them without implicating themselves."
Makima had chosen well – Tachibana was a veteran of such operations. He had taken down yakuza kingpins and corrupt governors in his heyday, and his approach was as subtle as a sledgehammer: bury the accused under so many charges and airtight evidence that no high-priced defense attorney or political connection would dare try a rescue.
He stopped and fixed Hiroshi with a firm gaze. "One more thing. Chain-of-custody on physical evidence. The moment you seize a document, a device, anything – log it, tag it, and hand it to a responsible officer to seal. Defense loves to claim evidence was 'planted' or 'altered' if there's any gap in the custody log."
Hiroshi responded, "We've prepared labels and logs. Every team member has been drilled to record timestamp and signatures on seizure." He gestured at a stack of forms on a side table – each labeled PSIA Evidentiary Chain Log already filled with case headers for each suspect.
The lawyer's eyebrows rose approvingly. "You young folks sure do your homework."
Kobeni mustered a tiny, proud smile at that – she had spent hours printing and organizing those forms.