25

Tokyo
Japan

When General Takahashi entered the office, the two men inside immediately stood. Prime Minister Fumio Sanetomi walked quickly toward him and bowed before extending his hand—an American custom he’d adopted in recent years.

“How are you, General? I’m happy to see that you look well despite your recent ordeal.”

“I’m fine, thank you for asking, sir. I was extremely lucky. Many others weren’t.”

Sanetomi nodded gravely and swept a hand toward the other man in the room. “You know Akio Himura.”

Takahashi bowed respectfully to Japan’s intelligence czar. Of course, the prime minister had no idea of their close relationship. Politicians were men without honor who came and went with the whims of the Japanese people. Admittedly, Sanetomi was better than most. His economic policies had accelerated Japan’s escape from recession, and he seemed to have at least a vague notion of his country’s potential to again rise to world prominence. Like his predecessors, he had supported the growth of Japan’s defense forces—but also like his predecessors, he had been kept in the dark as to the full scope of that growth. In the end, neither his conviction nor his courage could be counted on.

“Please,” the prime minister said. “Sit with me.”

Takahashi and Himura did as they were told. Sanetomi poured them tea.

“I think you both know that I believe it’s time for Japan to step out of America’s shadow to pursue its own interests. And I’ve taken whatever political risks are necessary to start us down that path.”

Takahashi fought back a smirk. Political risks.

It was considered the grandest of sacrifices by people in Sanetomi’s profession. Takahashi thought of the two pilots who had happily died to carry out the test of their new air defense system and felt sickened by the man sitting before him.

While the veneer of politeness demanded by their culture obscured it, Takahashi despised the prime minister and was certain that the politician felt the same way about him. It mattered little, though. The power and wealth of the Takahashi family combined with his popularity would make it political suicide to try to remove him from his position as the commander of the defense forces.

The prime minister put down the teapot and continued his thought, choosing his words carefully. “You’re pushing too hard, General. You’re fanning flames that could consume us all.”

Takahashi responded only with a brief, properly contrite nod.

“And you,” Sanetomi said, shifting his gaze to Himura. “The leak from your organization that China may have been involved in the attempt on the general’s life was unforgivable. Demonstrations in China and at home have grown in size and intensity. There are concerns of civil unrest.”

“My apologies, Prime Minister. I assure you that we’re doing everything in our power to track the source of the leak.”

Sanetomi leaned back in his chair and examined both men for a moment. “It matters very little at this point. The damage is done and I find myself forced to be the first to pull back from the brink. After all, we can’t have the Chinese making another attempt on the general’s life. He is far too important to Japan for us to lose.”

Takahashi nodded the appropriate acknowledgment of the man’s words, but saw them as a hollow piece of flattery. “And what will that entail, Prime Minister?”

“I’m working directly with President Castilla to put together a series of concessions on both sides in order to calm the situation.”

“Concessions?” Himura said.

“We will propose that the Chinese use their censorship capabilities to extinguish anti-Japanese sentiment on the Internet and to crack down on demonstrations. They’ll pull back their military from the Senkakus and agree to join us in face-to-face talks regarding those islands. They’ll also cancel their most offensive anti-Japanese television programs and agree to work with some of our entertainment people to develop ones with a more modern outlook.”

Takahashi didn’t bother hiding his contempt. After everything that had happened, the prime minister’s answer was to develop television programs? It was beyond absurd.

“I assume we will have to provide similar concessions,” Himura said, clearly concerned that Takahashi wouldn’t be able to control his tongue. And on this occasion, the intelligence chief might have been right.

“It’s the nature of politics, I’m afraid,” Sanetomi said calmly. “We will publicly remove a number of the people they consider war criminals from the Yasukuni Shrine. We will work with their historians to rewrite the sections of our school history books in order to…” His voice faded for a moment as he again considered his phrasing. “To more neutrally reflect our soldiers’ actions during the war.”

Takahashi opened his mouth to protest, but the politician silenced him with a raised hand. “Further, we’ll promise to agree to some level of resource sharing with regard to the Senkaku Islands. And finally, we will agree to scrap our new battleship out of respect for their concerns about its offensive potential.”

General Takahashi’s jaw clenched, but beyond that he kept his face opaque. More apologies. More crawling. Mao had eradicated the opium dens from his worthless country, but his people had simply replaced that addiction with a new one: endless Japanese penitence. And like all addicts, the more they filled their veins, the more they needed.

“Am I to understand that you find this arrangement acceptable?” Takahashi said.

“I find it inescapable,” Sanetomi replied. “And if you’ll excuse my frankness, your behavior is not an insignificant part of what put me in this position.”

“My behavior? The Chinese government creates a constant stream of lies to divert attention from their own towering incompetence and corruption, and I am responsible? For what? For believing in my country? For honoring those who’ve given their lives for it? For not having the courtesy to die at the hands of their assassins?”

Himura gave him a cautioning stare and he knew the man was right. Soon, none of this would be of any importance. Still, some insults were too great to swallow.

Sanetomi stared into his teacup as silence once again returned to the room. “You must accept my apologies, General. I did not call this meeting to assign blame. I called it to discuss a situation that’s spiraling out of control more quickly and more dangerously than either of you know.”

“Sir?” Himura prompted.

“I recently received a disturbing call from the Americans. They’ve found evidence of possible sabotage at Fukushima Reactor Four. The structure was weakened in a way that they don’t yet fully understand.”

“Do we have samples for our own analysis?” Himura asked smoothly.

“Unfortunately, no. The debris on our end has been disposed of and the Americans haven’t offered to provide any of theirs. We’ve examined all the other reactors in the country, though, and found no problems. So for now it appears to have been isolated to that single reactor at Fukushima.”

Takahashi remained silent, satisfied to let the intelligence man control the conversation. The prime minister was completely ignorant of the fact that Dr. Ito had been using Reactor Four as a lab and of what was being developed there.

“This is most serious,” Himura said. “It could have been an attack by Chinese sa—”

“We cannot allow ourselves to jump to conclusions,” Sanetomi interrupted. “The Americans haven’t yet determined the cause of the damage. It could have been some kind of chemical or radiation issue, or even some unexpected result of the tsunami.”

“How did they get these samples?” Himura probed.

“I’m not sure why that’s important, Akio. The Americans are our allies and are keeping us fully informed.”

Takahashi leaned forward in his chair. “Both Akio and I would be negligent not to bring up the possibility that this was the first salvo in a Chinese attack. It’s completely plausible that the tsunami interrupted their plans and that now, with the attempt on my life, they’re moving forward again.”

“Again, I caution you about jumping to conclusions. Having said that, I’ve spoken to President Castilla about that very possibility and he’s reaffirmed America’s commitment to us. In fact, he’s moving another carrier group into the area to join the two here already.”

“So you trust the Americans to intervene on our behalf against their most significant trading partner and the country whose loans keep their government from collapsing?”

Sanetomi gave a short, confident nod. “I do. But I’m not as naive as you believe me to be, General. It’s clearly time to do a detailed assessment of your forces’ ability to defend us from a Chinese attack. While I believe that President Castilla is a man of his word, the Americans have a limited presence in this part of the world. Even with them fully committed, we will not abdicate our right—and our responsibility—to defend ourselves.”

“I will begin immediately,” Takahashi said, surprised that the politician was even willing to go this far.

“But quietly, General. No. Silently. I’m not ready to put our defense forces on any kind of alert. The Chinese have agreed in principle to talks that I believe may de-escalate this situation. We can’t afford to do anything to jeopardize that.”

“I believe that to be extraordinarily unwise,” Takahashi said, only because Sanetomi would expect it. The idea of putting their forces on alert in the traditional sense was a quaint anachronism now that they consisted largely of computer networks and autonomous systems. “The Chinese may just be agreeing to negotiations in order to further lull us into complacency.”

“It’s a risk worth taking, General. And I’m sure that I don’t have to remind you that it’s my decision to make.”

Takahashi gave another contrite nod. The prime minister could play whatever political games he wished. They no longer had any meaning. While it appeared that the Americans hadn’t yet discovered the truth about Fukushima, they would soon enough.

The point of no return had been crossed.