Chameleon

said.

‘Do you know for sure the American would kill you, or does the fear in your heart speak for you?’

Okari hesitated, staring hard at the green-eyed American.

‘He is not a spy and he does not kill,’ said the old man. ‘And he is not one of them. He came back to expose them’

‘He does not deny he is Chameleon,’ said O’Hara.

‘Yes and no,’ said Kimura. ‘He is Chameleon and he is not.’

‘Yeah, the Chameleon is never what it appears,’ O’Hara said.

‘This time it is quite true. The Chameleon is certainly not what you believe him to be. You both have much to learn. When you both have taken the Walk of a Thousand Days, and the special powers of Zen have been revealed to you, perhaps then your wisdom will be less cloudy. For now, we must decide on our next step. May I suggest we have some tea — all this talk has made me thirsty.’

10

‘This is Chameleon, but not the Chameleon you seek,’ Kimura said, putting his hand on Okari’s shoulder,

O’Hara had called the hotel. As planned, Eliza and the Magician had taken the late-afternoon train to Kyoto and they were in the bar waiting for him to return from Tanabe. He did not explain where he was and what had happened, he merely gave them the address. Now they were all seated in a square. O’Hara and Gunn faced Kimura and Okari, The Magician was seated at one end of the square and Sammi faced him. Tension still crackled between O’Hara and Okari, but they listened intently as Kimura spoke.

‘Imagine that I have several boxes,’ he began. ‘Each is made of glass, so we can see through it, and in each box there is an event. In each box we have placed a moment of history. But to consider these moments in their proper order, we must suspend the boxes in air so we can see each in relationship to the others. Only then can we have a true understanding of what has happened and why. Only then can we see what lies behind each event. Only then will we understand everything. If there is something significant we don’t know, it will become obvious in its absence.

‘So, let us begin with the first box, the one we see most clearly. In it we will put what you have learned, Kazuo, so you must tell us what you know, not what you think.

‘What we know is that a consortium of several petroleum companies was formed. It was conceived by General Alexander Hooker, who was president of Intercon Oil. During the three or four years Hooker was negotiating this deal, the heads of all of these companies either died of heart attacks or were killed in accidents. This includes Shichi Tomoro, the head of the Japanese combine San-San, which has just become a new member of AMRAN. An experimental oil rig was also sabotaged in Alaskan waters.’

‘Excuse me,’ Eliza said, ‘the same thing happened with the Aquila Milena, the car Marza was driving when he was killed. We don’t know why yet. And the Aquila Motor Works is now part of AMRAN, and the consortium is financing work on the car.’

‘Don’t forget the guy in Hawaii,’ said the Magician.

‘Yes ,“ said O’Hara. ‘A man was apparently murdered for some pictures that were taken aboard the oil rig. But all they wanted to do was destroy the film.’

Kimura, like a mime describing a story with his hands, hung invisible glass boxes in the air each time they brought up a new point. ‘It is important to remember in what order these things occurred. The dates do not matter so much as the order,’ he said.

‘Another element in the sequence is Red Bridges,’ Eliza went on. ‘He was a salvage man in Japan right after the war. He went from that to shipbuilding and then became involved in developing a large underwater living environment. It was designed by the scuba scientist Kaginakas. Both he and Bridges later died of heart attacks. The dish, as it was called, has since been completed and taken to... somewhere.’

‘He was also involved in refitting old Liberty ships, turning them into tankers,’ the Magician said.

‘And we learned yesterday that Bridges was part of San-San, which is now part of the consortium,’ Eliza added.

More boxes in the air. Kimura leaned back, concentrating on the imaginary complex he was building. ‘A question: Is there any doubt in your minds that these corporation people who died were actually killed by the mad one with the umbrella?’

O’Hara, Eliza and the Magician all shook their heads.

‘The accidental deaths were probably executed by someone other than Danilov,’ O’Hara said. ‘Falmouth, maybe, or a Frenchman named Le Croix, who is also a faceless one, although his reputation as a sadist is well documented. But the heart attacks were caused by Danilov, there is no question.’

‘And why has AMRAN been singled out as a victim of this terrorist you call Chameleon?’ Okari said.

‘Extortion,’ said O’Hara. ‘AMRAN refused to play ball.’

‘Play ball?’ Okari asked.

‘A beikoku no expression,’ Kimura explained. ‘It means they would not cooperate.’

‘There is another box we left out,’ Eliza said. ‘The oil consultant, Lavander. He had worked for all of these companies during the past year or so, including San-San, and he was murdered too, after they went to a lot of trouble to free him from a terrorist kidnapping in South America.’