"Why the sudden escalation?" Carter asked. "I don't understand."
Their waiter came and they placed their order for assorted sushi, beef teriyaki, rice and sake. A big lunch, but Carter had a feeling he was going to need it.
"I think I have an answer for that one," Kazuka said. "Did you have any dealings with a Lieutenant Commander Howard Peyton?"
Carter sat forward. "What happened?"
"It was on the wire this morning, Nicholas. He was found shot to death in his North Arlington home. It looked as if he might have been tortured."
"The bastards," Carter said half to himself.
"Hawk sent an advisory for you. He said Peyton was some sort of an expert on Svetlaya, the Soviet submarine base. Did you know him?"
"I met with him a couple of hours before my plane took off," Carter said.
"It could just be a coincidence," Kazuka said.
Carter shook his head. "No, they knew I met with him. They probably got it out of him. Bastards." Carter quickly explained his run-in with Major Rishiri, and the planned diversion in front of the Soviet embassy. "The Russian had his gun out. He was getting set to shoot me down in broad daylight in a Shinto park. That's crazy!"
"There would have been much diplomatic trouble for the Soviets."
"You're damned right there would have been trouble, which means they don't have the faintest idea where Lavrov hid the computer chip. When they found out from Peyton what I had asked about, they were frantic. They think I know where the chip is hidden."
"What?"
Carter explained about the delicacy of the tiny chip, and the suitcase that Peyton had agreed to build.
"If he told the Russians that he was building such a suitcase," Kazuka said, "they'd have to believe you knew what the chip was and where it was."
"Which also means that they haven't found it yet either," Carter said. "Otherwise they wouldn't be so frantic to stop me."
Another plan began to form in Carter's mind. Finding the computer chip in Tokyo would be next to impossible. Only a stroke of blind luck could help them now. The microchip could be anywhere, even at the bottom of Tokyo Bay. It was even possible that Lavrov had fooled them all — his own people as well as Paul Tibbet. It was possible he never had the chip. Or it was equally possible he had hidden it somewhere outside of Tokyo, only telling Tibbet it was within the city to throw him off.
The odds of finding the computer chip Lavrov said he had brought out weren't worth thinking about. However, Carter knew for certain where at least one chip was located.
Svetlaya.
After lunch they made their way back to Kyobashi, the huge television tower modeled after Paris's Eiffel Tower rising in the distance to the north. Kazuka made two passes by the AXE office, each time spotting a different Soviet team. She parked a block away and they made their way back to the tall apartment building next to the building that housed Amalgamated Press and Wire Services.
In the basement they hurried along the dimly lit maintenance corridor filled with cable runs, plumbing, and heating ductwork to a thick steel door that Kazuka unlocked.
Inside, they took the elevator up to her office.
Besides making this particular operation more difficult, the fact that the Russians were parked outside their front door was disturbing for normal AXE business. Something would have to be done soon to remove Amalgated Press from any suspicion. Their cover had been built too carefully for it to go down the drain because of one assignment.
Kazuka led Carter into the back rooms, which were screened from any electronic surveillance. The outer offices were busy. Besides AXE assignments, Amalgamated Press was a legitimate, working wire service that gathered and transmitted real news.
It was late evening in Washington when Carter's call to Hawk went through.
"You've heard about Peyton," Hawk said.
"Yes, sir. He was doing some work for me," Carter said, and he quickly explained what he and Peyton had discussed, and what the navy man had promised to do.
"What's your situation there, Nick?"
"Not good, sir. I don't think we have a chance of finding the Petrograd chip here. The Russians have no idea where to look. And they've become careless and trigger happy."
"I was afraid of that."
"I have something else in mind, sir," Carter said. He looked up. Kazuka was staring at him.
"Go ahead," Hawk said.
"I'll need the cooperation of our embassy and Arnold Scott, as well as the Japanese."
"Has Rishiri made contact with you yet?"
"He was waiting in the lobby of my hotel this morning."
"They'll have to be told, then. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes, sir."
"You want to set up a diversion there in Tokyo. Make the Russians think that the CIA and Japanese intelligence are mounting an intensive search for the chip. Meanwhile… you want to get into Svetlaya."
"Yes, sir," Carter said. "And for that I'm going to need a lot of help."
"You've got it, Nick. The President has given us a green light for anything other than an all-out shooting war. We want that computer chip!"
"I'll see if I can bring it back for you. Meanwhile, see if someone else on Peyton's staff can come up with such a suitcase. Get it over here to me as soon as possible."
"Good luck, Nick."
"Thanks, sir, I think I'll need some."
Carter hung up the phone, went to the one-way window, and looked down at the busy city. For what he had in mind, he would definitely need Major Rishiri's cooperation. A lot of pressure would have to be put on the Japanese to go along with this operation. The Soviet Union was barely two hundred miles across the Sea of Japan from Hokkaido, the north island. The huge Russian bear had always loomed ominously to the north.
"You're going to Svetlaya," Kazuka said softly.
Carter nodded, and then turned to her. Her face mirrored her fears. "We'll never find the chip here."
"Is it that important, Nicholas?"
Carter nodded.
She seemed to gather up her spirit. She smiled and nodded. "Then we will do it right so that you will come back. My uncle's house is still there in the mountains waiting for us."
"Who have we got up in Hokkaido?"
"We have a small listening post in a fishing village just south of Wakkanai… that's on the very northern tip of Hokkaido. Mostly brush country with the mountains inland. Very cold at this time of year."
"How about a fishing boat and crew?"
"To take you across to Svetlaya?" she asked. She shook her head. "You wouldn't get within fifty miles of the place. You certainly would never have a chance to land."
Carter smiled. "Who knows?" he said. "Set something up for me."
"When do you want to leave?"
"Tonight," Carter said, and Kazuka sucked in her breath.
"Have someone pick up my things at the hotel."
"Where will I see you?"
"How do I get up to Hokkaido?"
"By air," she said. She named the small airstrip outside of the city.
"I'll see you there, then," Carter said. "Ten o'clock."
"Where are you going now?"
"To set up another diversion."
On the way down into the basement, Carter thought about Major Rishiri. He had blamed American interventionism in the region for the loss of his hand. He would be the weak link in this operation, though in many respects he could be the most important.
Carter made his way to the American embassy in Kojimachi-ku without incident. Inside he was given the runaround for the first ten minutes by a junior staffer in Consular Affairs until someone began to realize that at the very least they had someone on their hands who knew the entire CIA operational chart for Tokyo. Arnold Scott was finally called down.