A practiced user of kiai, with the motive power to raise himself to a fighting fury, and a fiery resolve to overwhelm his opponent, Kamatori deeply inhaled a breath, gave a bansheelike cry, and leaped, hoping to fall upon his hated foe at the exact moment Pitt exhaled his breath.
But there was no Pitt.
The small clearing looked like the aftermath of a massacre. Blood was splattered everywhere, on the robodog, the rocks, and tiny splotches ran down the cliff face. He studied the ground. Pitt’s footprints were deep and scattered in convulsive disorder, yet no drenched trail of blood led away from the clearing. He peered down at the sea and rocks below and saw a tree pulled out by the receding water only to be swept in again by an incoming wave and thrown onto the rocks. He also studied the ragged hole and torn root system on the edge of the drop.
For several minutes he regarded the scene, examining the chewed tree limb, the rock lying next to the tracking robot. The robodog was not designed to destroy, only to pursue and locate. Pitt must have turned and fought, damaging his pursuer and somehow altering its computer programming and turning it into a vicious killer.
The robodog had then gone on the attack and savagely slashed at Pitt’s flesh. With nowhere to run and no way to fight the horror, Pitt must have tried to escape by climbing out on the tree. But his weight was too much and together they fell onto the rocks below. There was no sign of Pitt’s body, but no man could have survived. He had either been swept away by an undertow or finished by sharks attracted to the bleeding body.
Kamatori exploded in blind rage. He picked up the mechanical dog and flung it over the cliff. Pitt had defeated him. The adventurer’s head would not be mounted on the walls with the other grisly trophies. The samurai butcher felt shame at being cheated. No one had ever escaped his sword.
He would take his revenge on the other American hostages. He decided Stacy was to be his next prey, imagining with great delight the horrified faces of Giordino, Weatherhill, and Mancuso as they viewed him hacking her to pieces in vivid color.
He held his sword blade up in front of his eyes, experiencing a feeling of euphoria as the new sun glinted on the blade. Then he flourished it over his head in a circle and slipped it into its scabbard in one smooth instantaneous motion.
Still angered and disappointed at losing the one man he desperately hoped to kill, he headed back into the craggy landscape toward the resort, his mind already relishing the next chase.
50
THE PRESIDENT STOOD on the green grass of the Congressional Country Club engaged in a late afternoon round of golf. “You’re sure about this? There is no mistake?”
Jordan nodded. He sat in a golf cart watching as the President studied a fairway from the fourteenth tee. “The bad news is confirmed by the fact the team is four hours behind their scheduled contact time.”
The President took an offered five iron from his caddie, who rude in another cart with a Secret Service agent. “Could they have been killed?”
“The only word we have from the British agent inside the Dragon Center is that they were captured soon after exiting the undersea tunnel into the command center installation.”
“What went wrong?”
“We didn’t take into consideration Suma’s army of robotic security forces. Without the budget to place intelligence operatives in Japan, we were ignorant of their advancement in robotics. Their technology in developing mechanical systems with human intelligence, vision, and superphysical movement came as a surprise.”
The President addressed the ball, swung, and stroked it to the edge of the green. Then he looked up at Jordan. He found it difficult if not impossible to comprehend a mechanical security force. “Actual robots that walk and talk?”
“Yes, sir, fully automated and highly mobile and armed to the teeth.”
“You said your people could walk through walls.”
“There are none better at what they do. Until now there was no such thing as a foolproof security system. But Suma’s vast technology created one. Our people met a computerized intelligence they weren’t trained to bypass, that no operative in the world is trained to overcome.”
The President slipped behind the wheel of the cart and pressed the accelerator pedal. “Any hope of a rescue mission to save your people?”
There was a moment’s silence as Jordan hesitated before continuing. “Doubtful. We have reason to believe Suma intends to execute them.”
The President felt a wave of pity for Jordan. It had to be a bitter pill for him to swallow, losing almost an entire MAIT team. No operation in national security history had suffered from such incredibly rotten luck.
“There’ll be hell to pay when Jim Sandecker hears that Pitt and Giordino are going down.”
“I don’t look forward to briefing him.”
“Then we must blow that damn island under the sea, and the Dragon Center with it.”
“We both know, Mr. President, the American public and world opinion would come down on you like a ton of bricks despite your attempt to stop a nuclear disaster in the making.”
“Then we send in our Delta Forces, and quick.”
“Delta Force teams are already standing by their aircraft at Anderson Air Force Base on Guam. But I advise we wait. We still have time for my people to accomplish their planned mission.”
“How, if they have no hope of escape?”
“They’re still the best, Mr. President. I don’t think we should write them off just yet.”
The President stopped his cart beside the ball that sat only a few centimeters from the green. The caddie ran up with a nine iron. The President looked at him and shook his head. “I can putt better than I can chip. You better let me have a putter.”
Two putts later the ball dropped in the cup. “I wish I had the patience for golf,” said Jordan as the President returned to the cart. “But I keep thinking there are more important things to devote my time to.”
“No man can go continuously without recharging his batteries,” said the President. He glanced at Jordan as he drove to the next tee. “What do you want from me, Ray?”
“Another eight hours, Mr. President, before you order in the Delta Forces.”
“You really think your people can still pull it off.”
“I think they should be given the chance.” Jordan paused. “And then there are two other considerations.”
“Such as?”
“The possibility Suma’s robots might cut our Delta Forces team to pieces before they could reach the command center.”
The President grinned dryly. “A robot may not go down under the assault of a martial arts expert, but they’re hardly immune to heavy weapons fire.”
“I give you that, sir, but they can lose an arm and still come at you, and they don’t bleed either.”
“And the other consideration?”
“We have been unable to uncover the whereabouts of Congresswoman Smith and Senator Diaz. We suspect there is a strong case to be made for them being held at Suma’s retreat on Soseki Island.”
“You’re stroking me, Ray. Brogan over at Langley is certain Smith and Diaz are under guard in Edo City. They were seen and identified at Suma’s guest quarters.” There was a long pause. “You know damned well I can’t afford to give you eight hours. If your team hasn’t resurfaced and completed their operation in four, I’m sending in the Delta Forces.”
“Suma’s island is bristling with defense missile systems. Any submarine attempting to land men within twenty kilometers of the shore would be blown out of the water and any aircraft dropping parachutists shot out of the sky. And should the Delta Forces somehow gain a foothold on Soseki, they’d be slaughtered before they could get inside the Dragon Center.”
The President gazed out on the course as the sun was settling into the treetops. “If your team has failed,” he said pensively, “then I’ll have to doom my political career and launch a nuclear bomb. I see no other way to stop the Kaiten Project before Suma has a chance to use it against us.”