Red Shark

Scott thought for a moment, then brightened. “How would you like to talk to the president of the United States?”

32

Central Tokyo

It was morning in Washington. The president and his advisors — Friedman, Ellsworth, Radford, SecDef Gordon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Webster, and Deputy Chief of CIA Paige — listened as Scott wrapped up the briefing he’d given them over a secure voice-sleeved cell phone.

Fumiko, pressed against Scott, who was sitting on the edge of the bed in his cheap Tokyo hotel, listened in. She heard the president, his voice bleeding from the cell phone, say, “I must tell you, Commander, and Ms. Kida if you can hear me, that we appreciate your analysis of the situation but will need time to digest it. There are some differences of opinion to consider.”

Scott felt Fumiko take hold of his hand as she listened.

“Frankly, what you’ve told us seems far too speculative, and I would be reluctant to initiate any military action against North Korea based on such information. What I need is ironclad proof of what Marshal Jin intends to do. As far as we can tell, the weapons are still in trucks sitting on the border. Question is, what’s he going to do with them?”

The president sounded fatigued and hoarse; he cleared his throat before continuing.

“Furthermore, we can’t ask the Japanese to detain and question one of their leading citizens and a friend of the prime minister’s without good reason. We have no proof that he’s plotting with Marshal Jin. That’s all I have to say for now. General Radford wants to talk to you.”

The line rumbled and Radford said, “Scott, there’s nothing more you can do in Tokyo, so I want you back in Yokosuka. I’ll have a chat with DG Kabe, and of course I’ll not mention anything of what Ms. Kida has told us. I may be able to persuade him to take a look at this Tokugawa, tell Kabe we came up with his name ourselves. I was told we don’t have much on him in our files, but we’ll wring them out again anyway. Incidentally, Admiral Ellsworth tells me that Deacon’s wife had a breakdown, that ComSubPac has a new skipper headed for the Reno, but that we can pull your rabbit out of the hat instead.”

“General, I can do more good here than I can aboard the Reno.”

“Scott, you have my orders and—”

“Sir, I don’t know all the facts, but we’re on the scene here, where Fumiko has access to information and contacts the SRO and CIA don’t have. I believe we could run down intel and deliver the ironclad proof the president needs to confront Jin and to persuade the Japanese to arrest Tokugawa.”

He heard Carter Ellsworth talking heatedly in the background. Then he heard a sharp exchange between Gordon and Webster.

“General Radford?” said Scott.

“I’m here.”

“Sir, time’s running out. Give us a chance to run this down, see what we can find. We’ll keep under the radar, no one has to know.”

A pause. “Stand by, Scott. I’ll get back to you in a couple of minutes.”

“They don’t believe us,” Fumiko said. She realized she’d been squeezing Scott’s hand and now released it.

“It’s not that they don’t believe us, they don’t want a pain-in-the-ass like me and a bright Japanese intelligence agent telling them what to do. But if we give them the proof they need, they can get a bust on this Matsu Shan plan, take it down before it starts so we aren’t forced to launch a preemptive nuclear strike on North Korea.”

Fumiko looked very worried. “Jake, you made it sound like I have special access to information and people that will prove our case. I don’t have any information like that.”

“We’ll come up with something…”

The cell phone chirped. Radford said, “Scott, how much time do you and Ms. Kida need to do what you say you can do?”

“Seventy-two hours.”

Fumiko covered her mouth with a hand.

“All right, you’ve got it.”