“The kidnapping of Kabayashi and Hironaka,” McGarvey said. “Have you worked out a scenario?”
“Yes.” Adkins handed across a file folder.
“I’m putting this one on hold for the moment, but I want our Tokyo COS to be made aware of what might be coming his way.”
Adkins looked relieved. “Okay.”
“Anything else, even of a peripheral nature in the region that we should know about?”
Adkins shrugged. “Just the upcoming space launch from Tanegashima.”
McGarvey zeroed in on him. “The launch of what?”
“They’re putting up a component for the international space station. Should be launching in four days unless there’s a delay. NASA has a team of inspectors over there helping out.”
“Has the countdown been delayed because of the North Korean situation?”
Adkins spread his hands. “Unknown.”
“Find out,” McGarvey said. “And I want to see the file on it, including dossiers on the NASA team as well as the Japanese launch director and his staff.”
“I’ll get on it as soon as possible—”
“Now,” McGarvey said. “Anything having to do with Japan, China or North or South Korea is priority one. I want everything, no matter how insignificant or off the wall it might seem. Clear?”
Everyone around the table nodded.
“All right, we have another investigation I’m throwing into the mix. Dick will have someone liaise with Fred Rudolph’s staff over at the FBI. We’re going to look into the background of a Taiwanese businessman by the name of Joseph Lee.”
“We’re already on that,” Whittaker said. “Dennis Ford, my Taipei COS, has his people digging around at the Bureau’s request, but we weren’t giving it a very high priority.”
McGarvey eyed him. “Does that have anything to do with the fact that Lee is a personal friend of Jim Lindsay?”
“Hell no. I’m a born and raised Republican,” Whittaker said. He was a large man with a square, honest face. “I didn’t think the CIA needed to get involved with another investigation of this nature. We could spend all of our time doing them.”
“I agree, but this time it’s different,” McGarvey said. “There may be a connection between Lee and the Georgetown bombing to stop me from becoming DDO. The Bureau identified one of the shooters as Akira Nishimura, a Japanese who was fired two years ago as a security guard at the Pacific Rim Development Institute in Hong Kong. Pacific Rim is a Joseph Lee enterprise.”
Whittaker whistled long and low. “I’ll be a sonofabitch. I’ll light a fire under Dennis and have Hong Kong station get on it too.”
“Make it an all stations flash bulletin. Lee has similar operations in Seoul, Bejing and Tokyo.”
“Where are we going with this, Mac?” Adkins asked. “Let’s say for some reason Lee wants you dead. Are you looking for a connection between him and the military situation out there?”
“I don’t know, Dick. But I don’t like coincidences, and right now Joseph Lee’s name keeps popping up all over the place.”
“Could be a connection between him and Kamiya’s old zaibatsu.”
“That’s a start. Lee’s supposedly in Taipei right now, so we’re going to keep him on a tight rein until he comes back here where Fred Rudolph’s people can take over. Do we have the manpower to do that?”
“No problem,” Whittaker said. “I’ll get the word out as soon as we’re finished here.”
“Okay, is that it for now?” McGarvey asked, looking around the table. Everyone nodded. “I have a three o’clock with the general. I want you there, Dick.”
“I’ll be there.”
Taipei, sparkling like a million diamonds scattered across a black velvet cloth, was spread out below Joseph Lee’s sprawling Japanese-style house on Grass Mountain. It was two in the morning, the night air warm and soft with humidity and the odors of night-blooming flowers. He stood deep in thought sipping jasmine tea from a delicate porcelain cup on one of the balconies when Bruce Kondo, his chief of staff, joined him. They had been together for ten years now. Lee had hired him from the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry with the blessings of Tokyo because of certain financial considerations. Japan was also more than happy to be rid of Kondo, who had been one of the men instrumental in the debacle at Yokosuka. He’d become something of an embarrassment. Since that time Lee had never had reason to doubt the man’s loyalties or abilities until now.
“The last of your board of directors has gone,” Kondo said, his voice cultured. He’d received his education at Oxford.
“It went well,” Lee said coolly, not turning to the man.
“As it should have. You’ve done a magnificent job, and they’re happy with the results. They’d be fools to feel otherwise.”
“But they also understand the problems we’re facing.”
“I believe you made that quite clear,” Kondo said. “But they still have complete faith in you. Nine U.S. senators, nineteen representatives and the ear of President Lindsay and much of his staff, all in less than six years. Stunning.”
Lee finally turned to face him. Kondo, like many Japanese, was short of stature, but wiry, with a round face that was almost always devoid of any expression. Lee, whose father had been Japanese, still harbored a deep-seated dislike of the arrogant home island Japanese, which was why he had changed his last name as a young man, but he was pragmatic enough to make use of talent no matter what disagreeable package it might come in. “Do you still have complete faith in me?”
“As always,” Kondo said. “But I think that your trust in me has wavered because of my failure in Georgetown.”
“I’ve learned that McGarvey has finally accepted the post as deputy director of Operations, and may in fact already be busy at work. Now with a clear purpose in his heart because of the injuries to his daughter and the death of his French whore.”
“He cannot work miracles,” Kondo said indifferently.
“I wouldn’t be so certain of that. But it has become a delicate matter of timing. Everything we have worked for is finally coming to fruition. All the chess pieces are in play, and it will be only a matter of days before the end game begins.”
Kondo shrugged. “Killing McGarvey now would create an even bigger storm. He’s no longer a maverick; he is the third most powerful man in U.S. intelligence. There would be repercussions.”
“Are you telling me that you are no longer capable of fulfilling your responsibilities?” Lee demanded harshly.
“Not at all. But the stakes have increased by a quantum jump. There will be a backlash, killing someone so highly placed.”
“Nonetheless it must be accomplished, and within the next three days.”
“With such a deadline the job becomes even more difficult.”
“Impossible?”
“No,” Kondo said looking Lee directly in the eye. “Merely more difficult than before.”
“Then it’s settled. You will personally see to McGarvey’s death and the elimination of another, potentially even more harmful person. A man who has the President’s ear and who may just have stumbled on the key that could unlock all our work, making Morning Sun impossible.”
Kondo’s eyes narrowed for the first time. “Who is this second target?”
Lee took Kondo’s arm. “It’s more secure in my study, less chance of us being heard. It’s time that you were told about the next step and the reasons why both of these men must be eliminated.”
“Skipper?”
“Come,” Captain Harding said, looking up from the letter to his wife he was still trying to finish. It was coming up on 1900 GMT.