"The thing of it is, I'm more comfortable dealing with reality," he
went on. "I like to kick the tires, check under the hood, so that index
crap's not my style. Like I always say, if you've got hold of something
you can't figure out how to drink, drive, or screw, maybe you oughta
ask yourself what you're doing with it."
A pragmatic criterion, I agreed. 'Though it's rather a pity you didn't
cut me in on the play. I could have used the money."
"Walton," he replied, "it downright pains me to have to be the one
breakin' the news to you, but you could have used the money more than
you think. Whose bank balances do you figure I've been using to test
out that platinum program?"
"In the spirit of intellectual curiosity, Jim Bob, does our new system
for blowing capital show promise?"
"From the looks of my early churning, I'd say you got yourself a
winner."
The fucker. How in hell did he get access to my money? I decided to
just ask, whereupon he obligingly explained.
"Well, we're hooked into every bank computer in town." He was
unblinking, a drugged-out zombie. "Account numbers aren't exactly a
state secret, given the right phone call. Same goes for trust funds."
Trust funds?
"Let me be sure I've got this straight. You've also wiped out my
daughter Amy's college money? She's now penniless too?"
"We're close, real close." He reached down and retrieved the bottle,
then sloshed more of the cheap bubbly into his glass. "I'm figuring I
can have everything down to a goose egg by sometime round about . . .
lunch, probably."
I decided then and there I was going to kill him, and Matsuo Noda, with
my own bare hands. The only question was whether to do it at that
moment or later.
"Jim Bob, for the record, you two've just fucked with the wrong guy.
When somebody starts messing with Amy's future, I tend to lose my sense
of proportion."
"Nothing personal, Walton. You just had to be stopped, that's all." He
grinned. "Figured it'd get your attention. Besides, way I see it, this
man here's absolutely right. He's got the only answer that makes any
sense."
"As long as sellout artists like you get rich in the process."
"It's in the grand American tradition, buddy. Enlightened self-
interest, better known as looking out for number one. Everybody else
here's hocking this country's assets to Japan and gettin' rich doing
it. So why not? Besides, we've still got a ways to go. Time to give
you-all a piece of this thing too."
"If we play ball?"
"Exactly."
"You greedy prick." I was considering just strangling him on the spot,
nice and uncomplicated. "Noda's not here for anybody but himself. He's--
"
"That's not the way I see it." He glanced over toward The Man, who was
still silent as a sphinx.
"You wouldn't have the brains to understand even if we told you. But
maybe there's something you can comprehend." I glanced at the metal
grip of the Uzi on Noda's desk. One lightning move and it was in my
hand. "I'm not going to let you do this."
"It's already done, pal." He lifted his own Uzi and leveled it at my
forehead, grinning, his little idea of a joke. "I've got that NEC
mainframe out there programmed for weeks of trading. Billions . . .
Pow!" He jerked the barrel upward, then continued, "Way I've got it
rigged, ain't nobody can turn it off now. We'd just as well all go
fishing."
"Jim Bob, take care with that gun. Somebody might just decide to ram it
down your scrawny throat."
"Ain't gonna be you, buddy." He reached for the champagne bottle again,
no longer grinning.
"Mr. Walton." Finally Noda spoke again. "I assure you this is for the
best. What you two were planning was very ill-considered. Not to
mention that, if I'd actually permitted you to sink Dai Nippon's
capital into some volatile commodity and then manipulate the markets,
you might have given our institutional investors an enormous loss of
confidence in my program. I have a responsibility to make sure that
never happens." He studied Tam. "Dr. Richardson, you especially
disappointed me. You betrayed my trust, something I always find
unforgivable."
"You betrayed my trust." She looked ready to explode. "Lied to me,
exploited me, used me. You perverted everything I had planned--"
"As I've explained, this had become necessary. There was no other way."
"How about Ken, and probably Allan Stern?" she interrupted. "Was taking
their lives 'necessary' too?"
"You have no proof of that," he continued smoothly. "I would further
suggest that too much speculation is not a healthy pursuit, Dr.
Richardson. In the marketplace or in life."
"I'm not speculating."
"As you wish. In any case I think we both realize it is never prudent
to meddle in matters beyond one's concern."
"There's a small detail you may have overlooked, Noda-san," I broke in.
"That bogus sword. What are you planning to do when we blow the
whistle?"
"My timetable for Nipponica is now proceeding on schedule, Mr. Walton."
He glanced at the Uzi on the desk, his voice ice. "Consequently you are
expendable as of this moment."