Part 41 (1/2)
”Credibility. And low profile for MITI's grab. By sending you out to meet the victims, they've thrown the hounds off the scent. Dr. Save- American-Industry has come to help. You're so G.o.ddam clean, Tam.
Impeccable credentials. You're gold to those guys.” I was set to give her a blast, but I decided to try keeping the lid on for once. ”Maybe a better question than why they chose you is why you went for it. How did they brainwash you?”
”n.o.body brainwashed me. I still think Noda's being straight. He can think in global terms. That's a rarity.”
”And how about this Asano character? You sure gave me the message to back off when I questioned his intentions.”
”Maybe I've been thinking with something besides my head.” She sighed and leaned back. ”But then, maybe not. I have no reason to believe he'd mislead me.”
”Look, I don't know anything about the situation. But I respectfully suggest you ought to reflect on that possibility.” I looked at her. ”By the way, I seem to remember you said there was something else about the list that struck you as odd.”
”It has to do with the kind of research being done by those new firms on the list. A pattern.” She paused.
”What pattern?”
”I'd rather not say just yet. Until I'm sure. It's probably just my imagination.”
Something snapped inside me about then. Anger. Tam Richardson, I was rapidly concluding, was being used by those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. And as best I could tell, this idealistic woman couldn't let herself believe it. The situation royally p.i.s.sed me off. Even more when I also suspected this Asano operator had somehow been playing fast and loose with her heartstrings. I decided then and there I wasn't going to let them get away with it.
A strange psychology takes hold of you when you sense you've been temporarily outflanked; I think it's that primal human response somebody once dubbed flight or fight. You realize you've got two choices: you can either stand your ground, or you can make a run for the sidelines. So what to do about Dai Nippon and Noda and Mori and Asano? Right then and there I made a tactical decision. I decided that-- like the caveman facing the saber-toothed tiger--the best defense would be to try and make the beast back off.
More to the point, it wasn't merely Tam that was imperiled. Maybe Henderson's suspicions were right; maybe this was the handshake that turned into a karate flip, the beginning of World War II, Part B. So I figured I owed it to myself and everybody else to at least uncover the truth.
No ent.i.ty, I've always believed, is unstoppable, no matter how ma.s.sive.
There's always a soft underbelly somewhere. After a while any big organization gets c.o.c.ky and makes a blunder. Sometimes, in fact, you can lure them into it. I concluded there was only one way to go, head- to-head with Dai Nippon. You want peaches, you shake the tree.
”Okay, you've got your theories, I've got mine. But for both our sakes, I think it's time we moved on them.”
”What do you mean?” She looked up.
”I suggest we start with a little information gathering.” I turned on the hot water again, nice and noisy, then continued. ”What do you say we go up and take a little private look around the offices.”
”Tonight?”
”What better time. Weather alert, right? n.o.body's there. It's perfect.
We can fast-talk the security, get in, and check the place over.”
”And where, exactly, do you propose we look?” She examined me skeptically. ”I'm there every day.”
”How about that new office Mori commandeered for herself. I think we ought to poke around and see what she's got. Maybe try and locate the rest of that doc.u.ment, if nothing else.”
”I'm not sure we ought to be doing anything quite that drastic, at least not just yet.”
”I didn't claim it was approved by Amy Vanderbilt. I just say we ought to give it a shot. If we don't look into this, who will? Maybe we'll find something to explain the so-called pattern you think you see.”
”Matt, for all I know, that may be nothing more than a coincidence. If Noda found out we'd done something like this, the whole ball game would be over.”
”That's the chance we take. Let's just see what we can come up with, okay? Personally, I'm beginning to think Noda and your pal Asano are both world-cla.s.s con artists.” I poured a little more cognac for us both. ”But whoever's right, we should at least try to find out. Who knows? What if it's becoming a MITI show now, for some purpose neither of us can imagine?”
”All right.” She looked apprehensive for a second, only a second, and then her eyes hardened. ”You know, Noda and Mori claim I'm Fujiwara ...