‘I’m sorry, I know this was an imposition,’ O’Hara said. ‘I’m grateful you took the time to talk with ne.’
Talking about Chameleon had at least cleared Hooker’s mind. Now his concern was dealing with O’Hara. ‘Perhaps another time,’ he said.
‘One last thing. Did Chameleon sabotage the Thoreau and the Aquila automobile?’
The general put his pipe aside and made a steeple of his fingers. He leaned forward, across his desk. ‘Mr O’Hara, I told you before, nobody in the business will discuss Chameleon. He’s a profit-terrorist. People are afraid of him. He’s vindictive. Most of my peers think that if they ignore him, he’ll ignore them. Talking about him gives his actions a certain legitimacy. Nobody wants to do that.’
‘No guts, no glory, General.’
‘Chameleon is an apocalypse.’
‘Were you warned about the Thoreau or the Aquila? I mean, was there extortion involved or was it simply sabotage?’
Hooker was becoming frustrated. he said sternly, ‘You can’t use any of this, young man, because none of it can be proven. The Thoreau lies in four hundred feet of Arctic sea. The Aquila’s back on the drawing board.’
‘He’s not going to stop, you know,’ O’Hara said. ‘He’s got a good thing going. Give me a deposition to the effect that you suspect Chameleon was responsible for just one of these accidents, and it will lend credence to the story. It would be a start. Get it out in the open. This guy feeds on secrecy.’
‘Mr O’Hara, do you know who Chameleon is? Where he lives, where he operates from? Anything about him at all”
‘Is he the same Chameleon who was on the list of war criminals in 1945?’ O’Hara asked.
Hooker tapped the ash out of his pipe and tamped down the remaining tobacco.
‘The man you refer to was killed at Hiroshima,’ he said. ‘His name was removed from the list in 1950.’
‘Do you know who he really was?’
‘His name was Asieda. His identity was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war. His specialty was espionage and he was accountable only to Tojo himself. He trained all the Japanese agents.’
‘Ironic, isn’t it?’
‘What?’
‘That the Chameleon we’re looking for and the war criminal should have the same code name.’
‘If there’s an irony, it’s that this fortress was once his headquarters. He trained his agents in these very buildings. And God knows what atrocities were committed in the three floors of dungeons below us. That’s how I found out about the place. I came here with the Occupation Forces in 1945. But there was nothing here. All the recor4is had been destroyed. In fact, there’s no record anywhere f Chameleon’s wartime activities. As far as the Army’s concerned, he never existed. It’s a closed book.’
‘Well, I think Chameleon’s here in Japan, no matter who he is. And if he’s here, I can find him.’
Hooker stood up, a tall and intimi1ating presence, his back as straight as the day he graduated from West Point. He stuck out his hand. ‘Good day, Mr O’Hara. We’ll talk about depositions when you have more than suspicions and theories. Quite frankly, I think your guts are bigger than your brains. But I still wish you luck.’
‘One more thing,’ O’Hara said as the general led him toward the door. ‘Do you know anything about a big oil strike called Midas?’
The old man stood at the door with his back to O’Hara. Fury blazed in his eyes as O’Hara asked the question. The pacemaker began to clatter again. He coughed, to cover the telltale rattle of his man-altered heart.
“Midas” you say? An oil field.’ He turned back to O’Hara once he had regained his composure - ‘Never heard of it.’
‘Perhaps the biggest in the world.’
Hooker chuckled. ‘And where would this be?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Nor do I, sir, and oil is my business. Mr O’Hara, I admire your imagination. But I think it’s a bit far-fetched to think there is an oil field of the size you suggest and nobody knows about
‘I know about it.’
‘Fine — then why don’t you go find it. I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me now. It’s time for my nap.’
After Garvey had ushered O’Hara out of Dragon’s Nest, he returned to Hooker’s office. The old man was sitting behind his desk, his face the colour of clay, the pacemaker hammering in his chest.
‘Take it easy, sir. I was monitoring the room, I heard it all.’
‘Did you hear him ask about Midas?’ Hooker croaked.
