Red Shark

“I’m briefing the president on it shortly,” Radford said, a rasp of controlled anger coloring his voice. “Now, we’ve looked at that plant every way you can, and it’s nothing but a bunch of rickety old buildings where they assemble cell phones for EuroCom. As for a bunch of ex-Soviet nuclear weapons designers building mini-nukes in that place, that’s bullshit. The other thing that’s bullshit is the idea that even if the NKs had mini-nukes, they’d be able to smuggle them into the U.S.”

“They didn’t have any trouble smuggling two truck bombs into Manhattan.”

When Radford spoke, the anger coloring his voice was razor sharp and unmistakable. “Commander, listen to me, and listen to me carefully. The director general of JDIH wants you out of Japan in twenty-four hours. As for the reasons why, he seems to have plenty, starting with all the trouble you and Ms. Kida stirred up. If you’re not out in twenty-four hours, he’ll have you arrested, and if he does, there’s not a hell of a lot I can do about it without going through diplomatic channels, which the president will not permit.”

“Sir, perhaps you didn’t hear me. I’m convinced that Tokugawa’s people killed Mr. Higashi and tried to kill us. They didn’t kill us and instead kidnapped Fumiko. I’ve got to find her if I can — I owe her that. If I wait too long, they may kill her.”

“Goddamnit, Scott, you don’t seem to understand that we can’t end up in a fight with the Japanese. Try getting that through your head.”

“Sir, the Japanese are covering up for Tokugawa and the North Koreans. Fumiko’s kidnapping is all the proof you need.”

“Scott, I want you out of Tokyo and at Yokosuka for debriefing ASAP.”

“What about Fumiko?”

“I’ll spell it out for you: She’s expendable! Just like Higashi. Do you understand that?”

Scott said nothing.

“Did you hear me, Scott?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’ve got twenty-four hours. What happens to Ms. Kida is none of our business. That’s how it is.” Radford signed off.

Scott looked at the dead cell phone in his hand. “That’s not how it is,” he said to the room.

* * *

He heard the young whores cavorting with their johns. He tried to ignore them while he reran in his mind the events of the last two days and sorted out as best he could the mess he’d gotten mired in. He knew it wouldn’t take long for the man tailing him to find the cab driver who had dropped him in the Pink District at Sammy Shin’s: He gave him two hours at the outside. Enough time to make Yokosuka, or…

He reviewed notes he’d made from Fumiko’s file on Tokugawa, then looked at a map of Tokyo and its suburbs. He found Noda, a city twenty-two miles north of Tokyo. A cab or subway was out of the question; so was a bus. Which meant there was only one way to get there. He activated his cell phone and made a call that was answered by voice mail. He left detailed instructions, then settled down to wait.

35

The White House

Despite his stay in Key Largo, the president looked worse than he had before leaving Washington for a rest at his Florida mansion. Radford and Freidman had discussed his condition via SVTC, while they’d waited on the chief executive’s arrival in the Situation Room, where the teleconference had been set up.

“Sir, are you feeling all right?” Freidman asked when the president strode in.

“How I feel is the least of our worries,” he snapped and took a seat. He looked at Radford’s image on the video screen, piped from Crystal City. “Karl, have you located those nukes?”

“No, sir. The images sent by the Global Hawk are inconclusive. We don’t see the trucks in Najin, nor do we see them anywhere near Vladivostok.”

“Then for sure the warheads have been moved and we didn’t see it happen.”

“But how?” Friedman asked. “We’ve had that area under surveillance for days.”

The president turned his head to the national security advisor but kept his eyes on Radford. “If those nukes can be made as small as Commander Scott and this Dr. Kida claim, how hard would it be to walk them out of Russia and back to North Korea? Not too hard, I’d say.”

Radford gestured to get the president’s attention. “Sir, we’re reviewing all of our Global Hawk takes, looking for something we may have missed. I think the warheads are still there, we just haven’t found them. As I said earlier, I wouldn’t put too much stock in Scott’s claim that Tokugawa has the means to miniaturize them.”