Convinced something was amiss, she gathered her faxes, purse, and coat, and sped out the door.
Chapter 52
Secretary Stone pulled a rumpled pack of Camels from his top desk drawer and shook it until two cigarettes revealed their crushed filters. He had been smoking like a fiend since the beginning of the crisis. Grabbing one butt with his large, fleshy fingers, Stone stuffed the white stick in his mouth and lit it with a shaky hand.
Coughing smoke, he said, “It’s a different world, this post-Nine-eleven thing, you know?”
“Yes, I know,” Kaitachi responded, watching the smoke billow from Stone’s rotund face. “But we need your help. Not only with the Philippines, and the China situation, as you might suspect, but with Korea as well—”
“What the hell does Korea have to do with this?” Stone retorted, the cigarette jumping wildly in his mouth.
“The North is playing with nuclear weapons and, we believe, is trafficking nuclear materials. How would it look for North Korea to be passing nuclear weapons to our enemies? And with Islamic fundamentalism threatening our sea-lanes, we now feel threats on all of our borders, so to speak,” Kaitachi said.
Stone looked at the other man, Takishi. This should be good!
“Mister Secretary, on behalf of Prime Minister Mizuzawa, I must also convey our deep concerns over the situation in Korea. He believes, rightfully so, that both countries on the Korean peninsula pose a significant threat to Japan. And we both know that we can have no satisfaction that way,” Takishi said.
Diamond and Fox listened intently as Stone entertained the Japanese delegation. Fox’s years as an academic had prepared him for his vaunted position as the Deputy Secretary. That morning he sat quietly in Stone’s office, listening to a new Japanese argue about issues in the Pacific.
Diamond and Fox were beyond concerned. With the nagging issue in the Pacific, their theories and musings about Iraq might not come to fruition, their quest for eternal fame left unrealized.
“What are you talking about?” Stone responded. “We’re all part of the United Nations. We won’t let that happen anymore. Even with everything going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, we won’t let it happen, I’m telling you.” As Stone spoke, Kaitachi and Takishi looked at each other with reassuring eyes.
“One final protest over Korea—”
“Why the hell are you so concerned about Korea all of a sudden?” Stone demanded, his chin rattling around his neck and growing red where his shirt collar chafed. He looked at Diamond and Fox and shook his head. “Can you believe these guys?”
“It is not a new concern of ours, and we have reason to believe China may be orchestrating the events,” Takishi said. He crossed his long legs as he spoke and used his hands to animate his point.
“The Japanese people are beginning to feel increasingly threatened and confined. Almost surrounded, you might say. Without your help, we feel the region may grow unstable,” Takishi continued, doing nothing more than creating white noise. This scene was all being orchestrated by the dumb-as-a-fox Stone.
Stone lit another cigarette and thought for a moment, then said, “Look, we’ve got hostages to get out of the Philippines, then we’re off to Iraq. We don’t have time to worry about some back-burner problem of yours.”
“We can help with your hostage situation,” Takishi said. Kaitachi let the Prime Minister’s representative continue. “We have established contact with Commander Talbosa, the senior Abu Sayyaf commander, and can arrange for all Western and freedom-seeking peoples to depart the country by way of Subic Bay Naval Base.”
Stone leaned forward, acting almost jubilant, as if the albatross that had nested on his neck had flown out of the window and across the brown waters of the Potomac.
“Are you serious? Why the hell didn’t you mention that first?” Stone said, smiling.
“This would be huge,” Fox said, entering the conversation for the first time.
“Timely,” Diamond concurred.
“Yes, timely,” Fox added.
Takishi and Kaitachi exchanged knowing glances; their approach was having the proper effect.
“Wait,” Stone said, sitting back in his leather chair, suspecting something. “What’s it going to cost us? What’s the trade-off?”
“Talbosa simply wants a guarantee of no American intervention in exchange for allowing anyone who wants to leave the country. He sees this as a domestic situation and claims there is no threat to United States’ interests. Of course, we have tacked on our interest in the shipping lanes to the negotiations,” Takishi said.
“That sounds too easy,” Stone said. He was really thinking: That’s not part of the script. American intervention is the entire purpose, you moron, Charlie Watts.
“It may be. We are still highly concerned about our shipping lanes, and as I mentioned earlier, all of the other threats we perceive,” Takishi said, increasing the level of static.
“Yeah, okay,” Stone responded, confused. “One thing at a time.” Is Watts double-crossing me?
“Of course. We need to close the deal with Talbosa, secretly. Give us a day, then you will need to start sending airplanes into Subic Bay and arranging for the withdrawal of your people. Talbosa has indicated he will give you two days,” Takishi said.
“Two days!” Stone shouted.
“Talbosa was adamant. He will not reconsider. Better two days than none,” Takishi said flatly.
Kaitachi and Takishi stood, straightened their pants and coats, and bowed slightly toward Stone, who crushed a smoking butt into the ashtray and followed the two men to the door.
“At a later time, we will discuss our concerns about Korea and China,” Kaitachi said as the two men walked past the administrative assistant and a disheveled-looking blonde clutching a stack of papers and books to her breast.
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you about Korea. They are our allies and yours too, I might add. I mean we all want satisfaction, don’t we?” he said, looking at Takishi
“That we do,” Takishi replied. “But we all have our beasts of burden.”
The two men departed, and Stone reentered his office as Fox commented, “I think we can see our way through this, Bob. We get the hostages back and evacuate the Philippines, then we continue to steam toward Iraq. We can’t let Saddam think that we are weak. Plus, Talbosa’s demand gets us off the hook. We’d love to send in more troops, but hey, we can’t.” Fox mocked himself, shrugging his shoulders as if he were helpless.
Stone looked at the diminutive man and said, “You know, Saul, I think you’re right. I just hope this thing in the Philippines doesn’t get any worse.”
Diamond leveled his judgmental eyes upon Stone and asked, “Are we protesting too much, Bob?”
“Why are you saying this to me?”
“We just believe that this situation in the Philippines seems a bit, how shall we say …” Diamond said, looking at Fox, who finished the sentence for him, “… contrived.”
“Well, call whoever contrived it and tell him to turn it off, so I can get some sleep at night,” Stone retorted angrily.
Diamond and Fox stood in unison and began to exit through the side door into Fox’s office. Diamond stopped, turned around, and said, “What is it that gathers no moss?”
Stone watched the two men depart and stood there dumbfounded.
Had he been compromised? Or was Diamond picking up on his code with Takishi and simply toying with him? Possibly warning him?
His intercom buzzed, and his secretary said, “Sir, I think you’ll want to see Miss Morris.”