"Mr. Ashikaga Enshu is waiting," announced Toshie.
"I don't recall the name."
"Mr. Enshu is an investigator who specializes in hunting down rare art and negotiating its sale for his clients," explained Toshie. "He called and said he'd discovered a painting that fits your collection. I took the liberty of setting an appointment for him to display it for your approval."
"I have little time," said Suma, glancing at his watch.
Kamatori shrugged. "Won't hurt to see what he's brought you, Hideki. Maybe he's found the painting you've been looking for."
He nodded at Toshie. "All right, please send him in."
Soma bowed as the art dealer stepped into the room. "You have a new acquisition for my collection, Mr. Enshu?"
"Yes, I hope so, one that I believe you will be most happy I was able to find for you." Ashikaga smiled warmly beneath a perfect mane of silver hair, heavy eyebrows, and full mustache.
"Please set it on the stand in the light," said Suma, pointing at an easel in front of a large window.
"May I draw the blinds open a little more'?"
"Please do so."
Enshu pulled the draw lines to the slatted blinds. Then he set the painting on the easel but kept it covered by a silk cloth. "From the sixteenth-century Kano school, a Masaki Shimzu."
"The revered seascape artist," said Kamatori, displaying a rare hint of excitement. "One of your favorites, Hideki."
"You know I am a devotee of Shimzu?" Suma asked Enshu.
"A well-known fact in art circles that you collect his work, especially the paintings he made of our surrounding islands."
Suma turned to Toshie. "How many of his pieces do I have in my collection?"
"You presently own eleven out of the thirteen island seascapes and four of his landscape paintings of the Hida Mountains."
"And this new one would make twelve in the island set."
"Yes."
"What Shimzu island painting have you brought me?" Suma asked Enshu expectantly. "Ajima?"
"No, Kechi."
Suma looked visibly disappointed. "I had hoped it might be Ajima."
"I'm sorry." Enshu held out his hands in a defeatist gesture. "The Ajima was sadly lost during the fall of Germany. It was last seen hanging in the office of the ambassador in our Berlin embassy in May of nineteen forty-five."
"I will gladly pay you to keep up the search."
"Thank you," said Enshu, bowing. "I already have investigators in Europe and the United States trying to locate it."
"Good, now let's have the unveiling of Kechi Island."
With a practiced flourish, Enshu undraped a lavish painting of a bird's-eye view of an island in monochrome ink with an abundant use of brilliant colors and gold leaf.
"Breathtaking," murmured Toshie in awe.
Enshu nodded in agreement. "The finest example of Shimzu's work I've ever seen."
"What do you think, Hideki?" asked Kamatori.
"A masterwork," answered Suma, moved by the genius of the artist. "Incredible that he could paint an overhead view with such vivid detail in the early sixteen-hundreds. It's almost as if he did it from a tethered balloon."
"Legend says he painted from a kite," said Toshie.
"Sketched from a kite is more probable," corrected Enshu. "And painted the scene on the ground."
"And why not?" Suma's eyes never left the painting. "Our people were building and flying kites over a thousand years ago." He turned finally and faced Enshu. "You have done well, Mr. Enshu. Where did you find it?"
"In a banker's home in Hong Kong," Enshu replied. "He was selling his assets and moving his operations to Malaysia before the Chinese take over. It took me nearly a year, but I finally persuaded him to sell over the telephone. I wasted no time and flew to Hong Kong to settle the transaction and return here with the painting. I came directly to your office from the airport."
"How much?"
"A hundred and forty-five million yen."
Suma rubbed his hands in satisfaction. "A very good price. Consider it sold."
"Thank you, Mr. Suma. You are most gracious. I shall keep looking for the Ajima painting."
They exchanged bows, and then Toshie escorted Enshu from the office.
Suma's eyes returned to the painting. The shores were littered with black rock, and there was a small village with fishing boats at one end. The perspective was as precise as an aerial photo.
"How strange," he said quietly. "The only painting of the island collection I don't possess is the one I desire the most."
"If it still exists, Enshu will find it," Kamatori consoled him. "He strikes me as being tenacious."
"I'll pay him ten times the Kechi price for the Ajima."
Kamatori sat in a chair and stretched out his legs. "Little did Shimzu know when he painted Ajima what the island would come to represent."
Toshie returned and reminded Suma, "You have a meeting with Mr. Yoshishu in ten minutes."
"The grand old thief and leader of the Gold Dragons." Kamatori smiled mockingly. "Come to audit his share of your financial empire."
Suma pointed through the huge curved windows overlooking the atrium. "None of this would have been possible without the organization Korori Yoshishu and my father built during and after the war."
"The Gold Dragons and the other secret societies have no place in the future Nippon," said Kamatori, using the traditional word, meaning "source of the sun."
"They may seem quaint alongside our modern technology," Suma admitted, "but they still share an important niche in our culture. My association with them through the years has proven most valuable to me."
"Your power goes beyond the need for fanatical factions or personality cults or underworld syndicates," Kamatori said earnestly. "You have the power to pull the strings of a government run by your personal puppets, and yet you are chained to corrupt underworld figures. If it ever leaked out that you are the number two dragon it will cost you dearly."
"I am not chained to anyone," said Suma in a patient explaining tone. "What the laws call criminal activity has been a tradition in my family for two centuries. I've honored the code by following in my ancestors' footsteps and building an organization on their foundation that's stronger than many nations of the world. I am not ashamed of underworld friends."
"I'd be happier if you showed respect for the Emperor and followed the old moral ways."
"I'm sorry, Moro. Though I pray at Yasukuni Shrine for the spirit of my father, I feel no urge to venerate the myth of a Godlike Emperor. Nor do I take part in tea ceremonies, meet with geishas, attend Kabuki plays, watch sumo wrestling, or believe in the superiority of our native culture. Nor do I subscribe to the new theory that we are superior in our customs, intelligence, emotions, language, and particularly the design of our brains to people in the West. I refuse to underestimate my competitors and indulge in national conformity and group thinking. I am my own god, and my faith is in money and power.
Does that anger you?"
Kamatori looked down at his hands that lay open in his lap. He sat silent, a growing look of sadness in his eyes. Finally he said, "No, it saddens me. I bow to the Emperor and our traditional culture. I believe in his divine descent and that we and our islands are also of divine origin. And I believe in the blood purity and spiritual unity of our race. But I follow you too, Hideki, because we are old friends, and despite your sinister operations you have greatly contributed to Nippon's new claim as the most powerful nation on earth."
"Your loyalty is deeply appreciated, Moro," said Suma honestly. "I'd expect no less from one who takes pride in his samurai ancestry and his prowess with the katana.
"The katana, more than a sword, but the living soul of the samurai," Kamatori said with reverence. "To be expert in its use is divine. To wield it in defense of the Emperor is to ensure my soul's rest in Yasukuni."
"Yet you've drawn your blade for me when I've asked you."
Kamatori stared at him. "I gladly kill in
your name to honor the good you do for our people."
Suma looked into the lifeless eyes of his hired killer, a living throwback to the times when samurai warriors murdered for whatever feudal lord offered them security and advancement. He was also aware that a samurai's absolute loyalty could be reversed overnight. When he spoke, his voice was pleasantly firm.
"Some men hunt wild game with a bow and arrow, most use a firearm. You are the only one I know, Moro, who hunts human game with a sword."
"You're looking well, old friend," said Suma as Korori Yoshishu was ushered into his office by Toshie.
Yoshishu was accompanied by Ichiro Tsuboi, who had just arrived from the United States after his debate with the congressional select subcommittee.
The old man, a devout realist, smiled at Suma. "Not well but older. A few more passings of the moon and I'll sleep with my esteemed ancestors."
"You'll see a hundred new moons."
"The prospect of leaving all these age-inflicted aches and pains behind makes my exit an event I look forward to."
Toshie closed the door and left as Suma bowed to Tsuboi. "Good to see you, Ichiro. Welcome home from Washington. I'm told you gave the American politicians another Pearl Harbor."
"Nothing so dramatic," said Tsuboi. "But I do believe I put a few cracks in their Capitol building."
Unknown but to a select few, Tsuboi became a member of the Gold Dragons when he was only fourteen. Yoshishu took an interest in the young boy and saw to his advancement in the secret society and taught him the art of financial manipulation on a grand scale. Now as head of Kanoya Securities, Tsuboi personally guarded Yoshishu and Suma's financial empires and guided their secret transactions.
"You both know my trusted friend and adviser, Moro Kamatori."
"A swordsman almost as good as me in my youth," said Yoshishu.
Kamatori bowed to his waist. "I'm sure your katana is still swifter than mine."
"I knew your father when he was fencing master at the university," said Tsuboi. "I was his worst pupil.
He suggested I buy a cannon and take up elephant shooting."
Suma took Yoshishu by the arm and led him to a chair. Japan's once most feared man walked slow and stiffly, but his face wore a granite smile and his eyes missed nothing.
He settled into a straightbacked chair and looked up at Suma and came directly to the point of his visit. "What is the state of the Kaiten Project?"
"We have eighteen bomb vehicles on the high seas. They are the last. Four are destined for the United States. Five for the Soviet Union, and the rest divided up among Europe and the Pacific nations."
"The time until they're concealed near targets?"
"No later than three weeks. By then our command center will come on-line with its defense-detection and detonation systems."
Yoshishu looked at Suma in surprise. "The untimely explosion on board the Divine Star did not set back the project?"
"Fortunately I planned for a possible ship loss due to storm, collision, or other maritime accident. I held six warheads in reserve. The three that were lost in the explosion I replaced. After installation in the autos, they were shipped to Veracruz, Mexico. From there they will be driven across the Texas border into the U.S. to their target areas."
"The remainder are safely deposited, I hope."
"On a surplus tanker anchored fifty miles off a desolate shore of Hokkaido."
"Do we know what caused the detonation on board the Divine Star?"
"We're at a loss to explain the premature explosion," answered Suma. "Every conceivable safeguard was in place. One of the autos must have become thrown about in rough seas and damaged the warhead container. Radiation then leaked and spread throughout the cargo decks. The crew panicked and abandoned ship. A Norwegian ship discovered the derelict and sent over a boarding party. Shortly after, the Divine Star mysteriously blew up."
"And the escaped crew?"
"No trace. They vanished during the storm.
"What is the total number of cars in the system?" asked Yoshishu.
Suma stepped to his desk and pushed a button on a small handheld control box. The far wall rose into the ceiling, revealing a large transparent screen. He pressed another command into the box and a holographic image of the global earth appeared in pulsating neonlike colors. Then he programmed the detonation sites that burst into tiny points of gold light at strategic locations around nearly twenty countries. Only then did Suma answer Yoshishu's question.
"One hundred and thirty in fifteen countries.
Yoshishu sat silent, staring at the little beams as they flashed around the room with the rotation of the globe like reflections on a mirrored ball above a dance floor.
The Soviet Union had more light clusters than any other nation, suggesting a greater threat to Japan than her trade rivals in Europe and the United States. Strangely, no military installations or major cities were targeted. All of the lights appeared to emanate from barren or lightly populated areas, making the Kaiten menace all the more mysterious as an extortion tool.
"Your father's spirit is proud of you," Yoshishu said in quiet awe. "Thanks to your genius we can take our rightful place as a world power of the first magnitude. The twenty-first century belongs to Nippon.
America and Russia are finished."
Suma was pleased. "The Kaiten Project could not have been created and built without your support, my dear old friend, and certainly not without the financial wizardry of Ichiro Tsuboi."
"You are most kind," said Tsuboi with a bow. "The Machiavellian intrigue of arranging secret funding to build a clandestine nuclear weapons plant came as a great challenge."
"Soviet and Western intelligence know we have the capacity," Kamatori said, bringing a realistic bent into the conversation.
"If they didn't know before the explosion," added Suma, "they do now."
"The Americans have suspected us for several years," said Suma. "But they have been unable to penetrate our security rings and confirm the exact location of our facility."
"Lucky for us the fools keep searching horizontal instead of vertical." Yoshishu's voice was ironic. "But we must face the very real possibility that sooner or later the CIA or KGB will track the site."
"Probably sooner," said Kamatori. "One of our undercover agents has informed me that a few days after the Divine Star explosion, the Americans launched an all-out covert operation to investigate our involvement. They've already been sniffing around one of Murmoto's automotive distributors."
A worried crease appeared on Yoshishu's face. "They are good, the American intelligence people. I fear the Kaiten Project is in jeopardy."
"We'll know before tomorrow just how much they've learned," said Kamatori. "I meet with our agent, who has just returned from Washington. He claims to have updated information."
The worry in Yoshishu's mind deepened. "We cannot allow the project to be endangered before the command center is fully operational. The consequences could spell the end of our new empire.
"I agree," said Tsuboi grimly. "For the next three weeks we are vulnerable while the warheads sit useless. One leak and the Western nations would band together and strike us from all sides, economically as well as militarily."
"Not to worry," said Suma. "Their agents may stumble onto our nuclear weapons manufacturing plant, but they will never discover the whereabouts of the Kaiten Project's brain center. Not in a hundred years, much less three weeks."
"And even if fortune smiled on them," said Kamatori, "they can never neutralize it in time. There is only one way in, and that's fortified by massive steel barriers and guarded by a heavily armed security force.
The installation can take a direct hit by a nuclear bomb and still function."
A tight smile cut Suma's lips. "Everything is working to our advantage. The slightest hint of an attempted penetration or an attack by enemy special forces, and we could threaten to detonate one or more of the auto warheads."
Tsuboi wasn't convinced. "What goo
d is an empty threat?"
"Hideki makes a good point," said Kamatori. "No one outside this room or the engineers in the command center knows our system is three weeks away from completion. Western leaders can easily be bluffed into thinking the system is fully operational."
Yoshishu gave a satisfied nod of his head. "Then we have nothing to fear."
"A guaranteed conclusion," Suma stated without hesitation. "We're making too much out of a nightmare that will never happen."
Silence then in the richly decorated office, the four men sitting, each one with his own thoughts. After a minute, Suma's desk interoffice phone buzzed. He picked up the receiver and listened a moment without speaking. Then he set it down.
"My secretary informs me that my chef has dinner prepared in the private dining room. I would be most happy if my honored guests will dine with me."
Yoshishu came slowly to his feet. "I happily accept. Knowing the superb culinary qualities of your chef, I was hoping you'd ask."
"Before we break off," said Tsuboi, "there is one other problem."
Suma nodded. "You have the floor, Ichiro."
"Obviously we can't go around exploding nuclear bombs every time an unfriendly government rattles a saber over trade restrictions or increased import tariffs. We must have alternatives that are not so catastrophic."
Suma and Kamatori exchanged looks. "We've given that very situation considerable thought," said Suma, "and we think the best solution is abduction of our enemies."
"Terrorism is not the way of our culture," objected Tsuboi.
"What do you call the Blood Sun Brotherhood, my son?" asked Yoshishu calmly.
"Crazy fanatical butchers. They cut down innocent women and children in the name of some vague revolutionary dogma that makes no sense to anyone."
"Yes, but they're Japanese."