Ten days ago he'd received the
Lamplighter
newsletter from Washington, D.C., which had started him thinking about the threat from Japan.
Last night he'd watched CNN's report on the incident in the Tatar Strait.
At 3:00 this morning he'd sat straight up in bed out of a sound sleep and went to his computer to look up something he'd suddenly remembered. The Japanese, who were trying to develop a new generation of commercial jetliners, had been rumored to be poised to take over Guerin Airplane Company. It had been mentioned in a short article in
Aviation Week & Space Technology
a few months ago. Zerkel had lifted the story because InterTech supplied a subassembly for Guerin. In 1990, after the crash of a Guerin airliner outside of Chicago, an NTSB investigator had shown up at InterTech to ask a few questions. It was routine, and the man had left within a half-hour, but Zerkel clearly remembered the incident.
By 3:30 A.M., he was inside InterTech's mainframe and had managed to pass through the security lockouts, something that had never occurred to him to do before now, and he'd found his first anomaly.
InterTech supplied a subassembly to Guerin that monitored critical heat measurements at a couple hundred spots in the Rolls-Royce engines. But in 1985, before the Chicago crash, one of the CPU modules had been redesigned. Searching through deeply encoded and hidden invoices revealed that the modules, along with one of the engine-mounted sensor brackets, and its complex wiring harness actually came from Japan, developed and manufactured by Tojii Corporation, a subsidiary of the Mintori Assurance Corporation.
Digging even deeper, Zerkel came up with the schematic diagrams of the subassembly, all of the diagrams, that is, except for the replacement module. Backtracking, he came up with the schematic for the old module and by comparing it with the replacement discovered that the new module used twenty-six of the mother board's thirty possible connections. Two more than the old one. One of the extra pins was wired back into the module's input section, and the second was routed directly to the wiring harness that appeared to deadend
as an extra common ground connection to the engine-mounted sensor bracket that the Japanese supplied.
Something was wrong. Not only were the module connections wrong, but the fact that the Japanese were supplying some of the parts ran contrary to InterTech's contract with Guerin. It also struck Zerkel as all wrong that, except for the module change, the electronic subassembly had not been updated in nearly ten years and yet it was being used in Guerin's new project, the one unveiled yesterday.
There was a plot here, all right, and hurrying across the parking lot, Zerkel was determined to get to the bottom of it. He'd not been a part of the design team for that particular assembly, but he sure as hell could find out more about it.
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By the time McGarvey deplaned at Portland International Airport and got outside to the cab ranks, it was noon. With all the east-west flying he'd done over the past few days his body clock was screwed up, and he just wanted to get some rest. But he wasn't surprised that someone had come for him.
“You look like hell,” Kennedy said, as McGarvey got in the Range Rover and tossed his bag in back.
“It's not going to slack off now.”
“It was Al's call, Mac,” Kennedy said, pulling away from the curb and getting around a shuttle bus. “And I see his point. If there's going to be a fight, let's get it out in the open where everybody can see what's going on. Maybe Washington will finally sit up and take notice.”
“For someone who's so smart, you're dumb. They're not going to mount some frontal assault. But when they hit you, and they will, it'll be decisive. Like 1990.”
“I wasn't the only one who tried to talk him out of it. But he's a gutsy old bastard, and once he gets something stuck in his craw he's not about to back down. Besides, that's the way he's always fought his battlesâhead on.”
“He's fighting this one because of a fifty-year-old grudge, and you all know it. This time there's a good chance it'll rise up and bite him in the ass.”
“You can tell him that yourself tomorrow morning.”
“Why not right now?”
“He's up in Seattle talking to Frank Schrontz at Boeing.”
“They work with the Japanese.”
“Exactly.”
McGarvey shook his head. “You don't understand what you're facing. If Washington decides, for some political expediency in Tokyo next month, to sell you down the river, this President will do it without blinking an eyelash.”
“He'd put more than eighty thousand voters out of work.”
“He'd point them toward Boeing, and you know damned well he would,” McGarvey said. “Look at them. They understand the global economy we're in, and they're prospering. Wake up to the realities, David, or you might just lose the entire shooting match.”
Kennedy turned off the airport road to Interstate 205 and took the access road directly across to Guerin Headquarters.
“Well, that's a cheery thought before lunch. Are you telling me that you're writing off the Russians?”
“Not yet,” McGarvey said heavily. “But we may already be in some trouble.”
Kennedy looked at him. “How so?”
“Dominique Kilbourne's apartment was broken into the other night, and the place was bugged. My guess is they were Japanese, but she won't tell me. Fact is, they may have heard everything that went on there.”
Kennedy was suddenly subdued. “What happened?”
“She said that she came home and caught them in the act. Apparently she wasn't hurt. She didn't call the police.”
“She shouldn't stay in Washington.”
“Somebody is going to look out for her, and for the moment she's staying at a hotel under an assumed name ⦔ he trailed off. Kennedy was shaking his head.
“Mac, I just talked to her at her office. She was on her
way out the door. Said I could call her at home tonight. She told me to tell you not to worry.”
“Shit,” McGarvey said.
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DCI Roland Murphy was the last to arrive for the 2:00 P.M. meeting at the White House just behind General Anthony Podvin, chairman of the Joint Chiefs. They met in the cabinet room, although the only cabinet members in attendance were Secretary of State Jonathan Carter and Secretary of Defense Paul Landry, who along with General Podvin sat on the President's left. Murphy took his place on the right with National Security Adviser Harold Secor. The afternoon sun streamed in the windows, but the mood in the room was somber.
“I would like to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible, so let's get started,” the President said. “The Russian ambassador has requested a meeting for tomorrow morning at 9:00 sharp. And we all know what he's coming here to talk about, so let's start with you, Jonathan.”
“Other than the first message from Tokyo the Japanese have been silent,” the Secretary of State said. “We expected some announcement after CNN broke the story, and we even made a few private and discreet inquiries through unofficial channels, but there's been no word.”
“Has there been anything from Moscow?” Secor asked. “Other than from their ambassador?”
“We've made a couple of back-burner inquiries at the Kremlin with the same results. Nobody is talking.”
“How about the Agency?” the President asked Murphy.
“Nothing at all from the Japanese, although it's my understanding that Naval Intelligence at Yokosuka is on the lookout for the submarine.”
“The
Samisho
,” General Podvin said. “It was picked up by the SOSUS network in the strait, probably heading back to port. But so far the MSDF hasn't said a thing.”
“What about the Russian Navy?” Murphy asked.
“That's a problem at this point. They've concentrated a lot of power in what's technically international waters but what's very close to the Japanese home islands.”
“What?” Secor demanded.
“The sub has a good head start, so it's not likely the Russians will catch up with it, but their ships are going to come damned close to Hokkaido.”
“What have they got out there so far?” Murphy asked.
“Two attack submarines, three boomers, and at least eight destroyers and guided-missile frigates.”
“There are plenty of Russian Air Force bases and missile squadrons along the mainland coast there as well,” Murphy added. “How much time do we have before it gets critical?”
“Thirty-six hours, give or take,” the general said. “Question is, are the Russians willing to use all that firepower?”
“More to the point, if they do start shooting, will we come to Japan's defense?” the general's boss, Paul Landry, asked.
“That's what we're here to discuss.” The President turned back to Murphy. “You said you've learned nothing about the Japanese. What about the Russians, other than their naval buildup in the strait.”
One of the things Murphy liked about the President was that the man never missed a beat.
“We've gotten nothing
directly
from the Japanese, or the Russians for that matter, Mr. President, but there has been a development, of sorts, concerning both of them. My people briefed me this morning.”
“Get to the point,” the President warned.
“Guerin Airplane Company believes it may be the target of an unfriendly takeover attempt by a consortium of Japanese companies.”
“We're not getting ourselves involved in business,” the President cautioned. “Not unless it concerns our national security. Does this?”
“I'm not sure,” Murphy admitted. “But a Guerin
executive hired one of our ex-field officers to go to Moscow to offer the Russians an airplane assembly plant.”
The President looked sharply at his secretaries of defense and state. “We've heard nothing about this?” Both men shook their heads, mystified.
“For what type of airplane?” the National Security Adviser asked.
“From what we can tell it's to be a next-generation jetliner.”
“But not a military aircraft?”
“There could be a military application, but we don't have that information yet. The point is what the Russians are apparently being asked to do in exchange for the assembly plant.”
“Which is?” Secor asked.
“They want the Russians to spy on the Japanese for them. Specifically to find out about this possible takeover move.”
The President sat back in his chair and stared across the table at his DCI. “Have they broken the law?”
“Damned if I know, Mr. President,” Murphy said.
“Have the Russians agreed to do it?” Secor asked.
“I don't know that either,” Murphy admitted. “But someone bugged the apartment here in town of Dominique Kilbourne. She runs the airlines and manufacturers' lobby, and coincidentally her brother runs Guerin's prototype and new product development division. In addition, she's had a long-standing relationship with the Guerin executive who sent our man to Moscow to negotiate the deal.”
“Are you saying that the Russians are spying on her?” Secor asked.
“Not the Russians,” Murphy said. “At least we don't think so. Three of the devices were taken from her apartment and were handed over to my Technical Services people who say the bugs are Japanese.”
“Would Guerin's plans have been discussed in her apartment?” Secor asked.
“It's certainly possible.”
“Who is this former employee of yours, General?” the President asked.
“His name is Kirk McGarvey. He was dismissed from the CIA in the eighties by mutual agreement. Since then, however, we've used his services on a contract basis.”
“What services?”
Murphy had expected the discussion to lead to this point. The problem was he didn't know what to tell the President other than the truth.
“He is ⦠or was ⦠an assassin.”
“Well,” the President said. “I see.”
“It shows how difficult Guerin believes the situation is.”
“Do we have any control over Mr. McGarvey?”
“He is an independent operator, Mr. President,” Murphy said. “But there's never been any doubt that he is anything but a completely loyal American.”
“There'd be hell to pay if this got loose on the Hill.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You say that the Japanese are spying on us?”
“We've handed this to the Bureau. John Harding says that his counterespionage people have tracked an increasing number of industrial espionage reports, but this particular case was a new one for them.”