At 11:10 p.m. on December 29, 2019, Michael Taylor took off from Osaka Airport in a Bombardier Global Express business jet, registered TC-TSR. The former American green beret converted into clandestine operations had just succeeded, with his son Peter Taylor and one of his loyal associates, George-Antoine Zayek, the most spectacular exfiltration in modern Japanese history.
A few minutes later, in the back of the luxurious device, he was going to “release” Carlos Ghosn, still huddled noiselessly in a large black trunk usually used to transport large audio equipment. Sitting in his cream-colored leather armchair, the 60-year-old barbouze could look out the porthole for the last time at the shores of the archipelago, convinced that he would never come back.