courtesy of the American taxpayer.”
“You are violating international law,” Suma said nastily. “And if you do not release us, vengeance shall be swift and many of your countrymen will die.”
Penner turned to Weatherhill. “Can he back up the threat?”
Weatherhill looked at Suma. “Sorry, you can forget about the Dragon Center. Its juice has been cut off.”
“You were successful?” asked Penner. “Ray Jordan and Don Kern are clawing the walls, waiting to hear.”
“A temporary fix. We only had enough explosive to blow out a fiber-optic bundle. They should be back in business in several days.”
Dr. Josh Nogami exited the plane and was greeted by Penner. “A real pleasure to meet you, Doc. We’re grateful for your efforts in getting information out to us. Your help was invaluable.”
Nogami shrugged modestly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t have saved Jim Hanamura.”
“You might have given yourself away and been murdered too.”
“Mr. Pitt did his best to prevent that.” Nogami glanced around, but saw no familiar faces. “It looks as though I’m an agent without an assignment.”
“When our Deputy Director of Operations, Don Kern, learned you were on board, he requested that you be temporarily assigned to us. Your superior agreed. If you don’t mind working with a bunch of colonials for a few days, your knowledge of the Dragon Center’s layout would be very helpful.”
Nogami nodded. “The weather here beats rainy London any day.”
Before Penner could reply, Giordino leaped from the tilt-turbine and ran toward a squad of air police that were herding Suma and Toshie to the waiting C-20. He rushed over to the officer in charge and asked him to hold up the procession for a moment.
Giordino was only half a centimeter taller than Toshie. He looked straight into her eyes. “Dear heart, wait for me.”
She stared at him in angered surprise. “What are you talking about?”
“Courtship, amorous pursuit, nestling, endearment, proposal. As soon as I can catch up to you, I’m going to make you the happiest woman alive.”
“You’re mad!”
“Only one of my many charms,” said Giordino engagingly. “You’ll discover lots of others in the years to come.”
Amazingly, Toshie wavered. For a strange reason she couldn’t comprehend, she began to find Giordino’s very un-Japanese approach appealing. She had to struggle to suppress any friendliness she felt toward him.
Giordino recognized her uncertainty and grasped her slender shoulders in his beefy hands, kissed her briefly on the lips, and smiled. “I’ll catch up to you as soon as I can.”
She was still staring at him wordlessly over her shoulder as Penner took her by the elbow and brusquely led her away.
Pitt escorted Loren to the C-20 jet after Suma, Toshie, and Diaz were seated aboard. They walked in silence, feeling the warmth from the sun and the humidity stroke their skin.
Loren stopped several meters from the aircraft and stared into Pitt’s eyes. “It seems one of us is always coming and going.”
He nodded. “We lead busy, separate lives. Our schedules never mesh.”
“Maybe someday…” Her voice died softly.
“Someday,” he said in understanding.
“You’re not going back?” she asked hesitantly.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Al and I have been ordered to remain behind.”
“They can’t send you back to that island. Not now.”
“I’m a marine engineer, remember? I’m the last man they’d ask to assault the Dragon Center with six- shooters blazing.”
“I’ll talk to the President and request you and Al be sent home.”
“Don’t put yourself out,” he said easily. “We’ll probably be on the next flight east.”
She stood on her toes and kissed him gently on the mouth. “Thank you for everything.”
Pitt smiled. “Anything to please a pretty lady.”
Tears began forming in her eyes. Loren had a feeling of dread in her stomach. Somehow she knew he wouldn’t be following her anytime soon. Suddenly she turned and hurried up the boarding stairs into the aircraft.
Pitt stood there looking after her. Then he waved as her face appeared in a window, but when Loren looked for him again as the plane taxied to the runway he was gone.
61
TSUBOI COULD NOT believe it. After leaving Yoshishu and rushing from Tokyo to Edo City and then to the Dragon Center to take personal command, he stood in the control room tense with growing rage.
“What do you mean you cannot detonate any of the bomb cars?” he demanded.
Takeda Kurojima, the Dragon Center’s chief director, was stricken. He looked around helplessly at his small army of engineers and scientists for moral support, but they all stared at the floor as if hoping to be swallowed by it.
“Only Mr. Suma knows the codes,” Kurojima answered with a patronizing hands-out shrug. “He personally programmed the code system for the prime and detonate signals.”
“How long will it take you to reprogram the codes?”
Kurojima stared at his staff again. They began muttering rapidly between themselves. Then, seemingly agreeing on something, one stepped forward and murmured so softly Tsuboi didn’t hear.
“What… what was it you said?”
Kurojima finally stared into Tsuboi’s eyes. “Three days, it will take three days minimum to erase Mr. Suma’s command codes and reprogram the systems.”
“That long?”
“It is not a quick and simple procedure.”
“What is the status of the robotic drivers?”
“The robot program is accessible,” replied Kurojima. “Mr. Suma did not insert the codes to set in motion their drive and destination systems.”
“Two days, forty-eight hours. That’s all you have to make the Kaiten Project fully operational.” Tsuboi tightened his mouth and clenched his jaws. He began to pace the control room of the Dragon Center. He cursed the serpentine mastermind who had outfoxed them all. Suma had trusted no one, not even his oldest and closest friend, Yoshishu.
A phone buzzed and one of the technicians picked it up. He went rigid and held out the receiver to Tsuboi. “Mr. Yoshishu in Tokyo for you.”
“Yes, Korori, Ichiro here.”
“Our intelligence people have intercepted a report from the American ship. They claim Hideki’s plane was shot down. Did our pilots actually see Hideki’s aircraft go into the sea?”
“Only one returned. I was informed the surviving pilot reported that he was too busy evading return fire from the ship to witness his missile strike the target.”
“It could be a bluff by the Americans.”
“We won’t know if that’s the case until one of our observer satellites can be programmed to pass over the ship.”
“And if it shows the plane is on board?”
Yoshishu hesitated. “Then we know we are too late. Hideki is lost to us.”
“And under tight security by American intelligence forces,” Tsuboi finished.
