He had stirred together a little baby rice cereal with warm water, placing the tiny spoon into her mouth. She just glared back at him, the sludge dripping back out and down her chin. Not today, Dad. Nice try.
The side door to the carport opened and his wife and oldest daughter came in. “Hello, Dad. How’s the feeding going?”
“Well…”
Lindsay made eye contact with the six-month-old, who smiled wide at the sight of her mother. David used the opportunity to stuff a little more food into her mouth. She made a face, but he was pretty sure at least something got in there. Little wins.
“Have a good class?”
“Yeah, actually. Thanks for letting me go.”
Lindsay had taken Maddie to the gym nursery while she took a class. David had stayed home with Taylor and made breakfast, catching up on a little Saturday-morning SportsCenter on ESPN.
“I made some eggs. They should still be warm. And the bacon is in the pan.”
“Mmm. Thanks. I’m just going to jump in the shower. Can you see if Maddie wants any? She didn’t really eat before we left.”
David’s phone began buzzing on the kitchen counter. Lindsay stopped walking and eyed him as he picked it up.
“This is David.”
“David, it’s Susan. We need you to come in. Sorry for the short notice, but something big is going on and we need you.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I’ll see you when you get here. Actually — David, pack a travel bag. You’ll be flying out tonight.”
The phone call ended, and David gave his wife a look that she was beginning to know all too well.
She put up her hand, rolling her eyes. “Don’t apologize. Just let me shower. Five minutes, then you can go.”
“David, your debrief from the island says that you befriended him while you were there.”
“Yeah, but then Natesh betrayed me. He betrayed all of us.”
Susan folded her arms, looking at General Schwartz. “The psychological profile we have on him says he’s susceptible to recruitment. You have a relationship with him. Our source says that he was showing signs of cracking up, and that’s why he’s being sent to Japan. To work with a logistics company that runs Jinshan’s shipping operators.”
David said, “Look, Susan. I’ll do whatever you want, but I don’t see how much I’ll be able to help. I have zero training in this kind of thing.”
“You would be surprised how much a friendly face can do when trying to turn someone. You’ll have someone good there. Tetsuo is one of our best operations officers. He’ll brief you. Just follow his lead.”
David was incredulous. They were going to send him to Japan to meet with Natesh Chaudry. The Silicon Valley consultant who had partnered up with Lena Chou and Cheng Jinshan. The architect of many of Jinshan’s war plans. David understood the value in recruiting him as an agent of the CIA. He would be able to provide insight and information that would be immensely valuable, especially given that Jinshan was now the most powerful man in China. But David knew nothing about how to play these spy games. His expertise came from watching a lot of James Bond movies when he was younger.
“Your flight leaves as soon as you get to the airport, David. A car is waiting outside to take you there right now. Sleep on the plane. You’ll need to move fast once you get to Tokyo.”
When Natesh arrived in Japan, he immediately felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. He felt free. It was the first time he hadn’t had Lena or any Chinese soldiers looking over his shoulder in months. He used the payment cards and IDs that Jinshan’s people had provided to check into his hotel. He wasn’t back in America, but it was better than it had been.
Still, there was the knowledge that every person he passed on the street was at risk. He knew what Jinshan was planning to do with the nation of Japan. At least, he thought he knew. They would be given an ultimatum, just like several other Pacific Rim nations. Stay out of this, or be obliterated. Natesh’s money was on Japan staying neutral. He hoped to God they would. He hated to think of the alternative.
In the morning, he was taken to the logistics company. He met the chief of sales, one of Jinshan’s men. The executive provided Natesh a private office in a modern high-rise building, along with a staff that was sworn to secrecy. The technology was first-rate, and Natesh quickly had his team plugged into the supply chain, planning for the next year. Food, petrol, parts, men, tanks, aircraft, bullets. Everything needed a demand estimate, a demand signal, and a corresponding product that it was tied to.
Each item was tagged with a reference code. A specific type of rifle was 80282071. Within that rifle were dozens of parts, each with their own reference codes. The Chinese reference codes were used. That was not suspicious, since the company already did so much business with China. The products formed little tree graphs, and through each branch, Natesh’s demand signals flowed. The Chinese war machine’s supply chain would be optimized, reacting quickly to any change in the battlefield.
After the first day of working with his Japanese team, he was pleased. They were able to take the information he had been working with, first at the Red Cell Island and then in Manta, and get it transferred over to the servers in Tokyo.
After a few days of this, Natesh might even forget that he was working to supply a war. They were just numbers. And he needed to make sure that demand never outstripped supply. If one ship full of parts and materials didn’t make it to a destination, he would work on alternatives. Everything must be optimized for time and cost. He wouldn’t think about why that ship hadn’t gotten there, or about how many lives had been lost when it had sunk to the bottom of the Pacific.
He ate at the sushi bar in his hotel and smiled for the first time in a long time. The food was good. He was at peace.
A man next to him said, “You American?”
Natesh froze, not sure what to say.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt your dinner. It’s just that I used to work in Seattle. I think I might have heard you speak to my company once. Natesh Chaudry, right?”
Natesh flushed and shook the man’s hand. “Oh. Sorry, yes. That was probably me.”
“Man, small world, huh? I’m over here for a few weeks doing work and… sorry, where are my manners. My name’s Tetsuo.” He stuck out his hand.
Natesh signaled the man behind the bar to get his check. A blur of dark fabric as someone sat down in the seat next to him, on the opposite side of the talkative American.
Natesh turned to see who was sitting so close, when there were plenty of other open seats at the sushi bar.
He saw the face, but it didn’t click in his brain for a half second. Then his mouth dropped open as he realized who was sitting right in front of him.
That was impossible.
“Hello, Natesh,” said David Manning. “My friend here and I would like to buy you a drink. How about we go upstairs where we can talk in private?”
Natesh said, “You must despise me.”
They were in a room on the third floor of his hotel. Tetsuo had rented it out earlier that day, just before he’d picked up David at the airport. The tech team had come in, checked it for bugs, and then installed their own video and audio equipment. CIA countersurveillance teams were scattered around the block and in the hotel. A large portion of Agency resources in Japan were on this case now. If they could get one of Jinshan’s inner circle to turn and could extract what he knew, that could be a game changer.
Tetsuo said, “The important thing is that you’re here now, and you’re willing to help. Is that an accurate statement?”