"That's how we see it too," she said. And nothing more.
"What are you two suggesting?" He was visibly rattled. "Noda'd never
pull anything that crazy."
"Bill, with all due respect, let's proceed one step at a time here with
this hypothesis," I went on. "Assuming, just for purposes of
discussion, he did decide to do something like that, unload everything,
what's the fastest way?"
"Hell, I'd have to think."
"Come on, man. Financial derring-do is your special trade," I pressed
him. "What if DNI's mainframe was used to set up a global trading
network? Began dumping worldwide?"
"Well, that'd probably be the quickest approach." He was slowly coming
awake. "Jesus Christ! It's not Noda we're talking about." He looked at
me, then at Tam. "It's you. You're going to try and . . ."
"Possibly."
"Then we sure as hell are talking theory, 'cause you'd never be able to
do anything like that without Noda's gettin' wind of it."
"Henderson, as usual you're not listening. Plausibility is not the
topic under discussion. Right now we're looking at the impact."
"Well, you'd damned well better start with some plausibility." He
settled back. "Say you could get around Noda. The next problem is, the
minute word hits the Street DNI's dumping, all hell's liable to break
loose. It'd be front page. And first thing you know, the market's going
to be headed the wrong way. If you've got a heavy block of shares you
want to divest, you damn well do it on the QT, 'cause its price can
start to nosedive. Folks tend to figure you know something they don't.
The Street's about ninety percent psychology and ten percent reality .
. . if that much."
"Just concentrate on the technical part, Henderson."
"Well, friends, any way you cut it, we're talking what I'd call a very
dubious proposition. Those Jap institutions would lose their shirt if
DNI dumped all at once." He exhaled quietly. "You start rolling
billions and billions in Japanese money, how you plan on keeping the
thing from blowing sky-high? You'd have Nips climbing all over your ass
in ten minutes flat, you tried something like that."
"Henderson, relax. What if we did it anonymously? Like I said. Used the
DNI mainframe, funneled orders through accounts everywhere, dummy
accounts in banks all over the place? Wouldn't that give us some elbow
room?"
"Maybe, maybe. If you played it right. I'd guess a few wise guy
analysts would probably sniff something in the wind, but nobody'd have
a handle on the real action, at least not for a while. Things might
stay cool temporarily."
"Are you saying that, in theory, the market side is doable, at least
initially?" Tam pressed him.
"I'm just guessing it's vaguely conceivable." He got up to freshen his
drink. "Be that as it may, though, the real problem is the Japanese
end. I'd guess the shit's going to be all over the fan in Tokyo the
minute you start selling. Those pension funds are not going to roll
over and let you wreck their portfolio."
"Bill"--I spoke up--"they're not going to be able to stop us. Count on
it. DNI holds the stock as trustee. Noda's rules. Ironclad power of
attorney."
"So?"
"So," I said very carefully, "we are going to take over Dai Nippon."
"What the hell are you talking about!"
We told him. The Rambo part.
"Jeezus!" He stared at the two of us. "What you're proposing is a major
felony. I could get accessory and five years for just listening to
this."
"Who's going to file charges?"
"How about Mr. Matsuo Noda for starters?"
"Bill, we just happen to have a little leverage with Mr. Noda-san at
the moment. The minute he finds out we're still alive--"
"You'd damned well better, or you could be looking at a long interlude
of pastoral delights up at the Danbury country club." He was still
dumbstruck. Finally he grinned. "After parole, though, you could
probably sell your memoirs to Newsweek for a couple of million and land
a guest slot on Carson."
There was a long pause as silence filled the room, broken only by the
distant sound of a siren from the street below. For a minute I had the
paranoid fantasy it was the first wave of the police SWAT team heading
downtown to shoot it out with us.
Finally Bill turned back and fixed me with a questioning look. "Are you
really serious about this asshole idea?"
"It's not without appeal."
"Walton, you dumb fuck, do this and you'll never work in this town
again."
"I'm well aware of that."
"Nobody'd hire you to fight a dog summons, let alone a takeover." Bill
turned to Tam. "Talk sense to this man."
"It was my idea."
"You're both crazy." He walked over to the bar and poured some more
Scotch into his glass. "But what the hell. I've seen enough to know
we'd damned sure better start taking this country back into our own
hands one way or another."
"So you'll help?" She was watching him like a hawk.
"Well, now, what's life for, gentle lady"--he grinned--"except to kick
ass now and again. Somebody's got to throw a monkey wrench into Noda's
operation. If you think you can do it, then count me in. If nothing
else, maybe we can cause a few waves down on the Potomac."
What am I hearing? I found myself wondering. Dr. William J. Henderson,
capitalism's pillar of sober reappraisal, entertaining a scenario
straight from a CIA handbook?
Of course, Bill still hadn't heard the second half of the play.
"Fine, we could use your help on the setup." I glanced at the row of
CRT screens behind the bar. "First there's the matter of getting
control of DNI's supercomputer, and then we'll need somebody with
trading experience. Is there any chance you could bring in one of your
boys to oversee that end?"
"How do you figure on running it?"
"I'd guess our best shot is to stay off-exchange as much as possible.
Use Jeffries, third-market outfits like that. And also keep the money
offshore, international, with a lot of separate bank connections to
handle the transfers. Maybe also float some of the interim liquidity in
overnight paper to cover our tracks, just so we can generally keep the
lid on everything as long as we can."
"Then it so happens one of my boys might just fill our bill. That's his
thing. He operates freelance now, but he's good. Damned good. Trouble
is, he knows it, and he don't come cheap anymore."
"I think we can cover a few consulting fees. Can he keep his mouth
shut?"
"If he couldn't, we'd both probably be in jail by now." He drained his
glass. "Though remember, you'll be moving a lot of bucks, and there are
folks who keep track of such things. But I know a few smokescreens
that'll hold the SEC and that crowd at arm's length for a little." He
looked at me for a second, his face turning quizzical. "What was that
you said just now? About parking the money overnight? What are you
going to do with it after that?"
"You're getting ahead of things," Tam replied calmly.
"Bill, why don't we head on over to Mortimer's?" I looked out at the
park one last time. "You may need a stiff drink for the rest of this."
"Jesus, I'm dealing with maniacs." He got up and headed for his coat.
"Let's move it."