_If the swordsman casts aside two thoughts, life and death,
nothing can defeat his mind.
_That was the credo of the formidable warrior-samurai Bokuden, who
lived during the early seventeenth century. Focus on Noda, I told
myself, not on staying alive. What we had to do was overcome him and
the money of Japan by the power of mind. By beating him at his own
game. That was the only way we could win.
As I saw it, we might actually have the advantage. We knew his
strategy, so all we had to do now was move inside his defense
perimeter. In a way we were even closer than he realized. Noda was
obsessed with Nipponica, and a samurai concentrating on his sword is
not able to attack. The thing to remember was rhythm, the beat. We had
to get out of sync with him, disrupt his pacing.
When Tam and I retreated to my office, I noticed that my _katana _was
missing. No surprise, but it didn't really matter. We would be using
the "no sword" technique anyway, moving under his hilt, then going in
for the kill. Jim Bob would be our new weapon.
At the moment Noda's new hatchet man was strolling around the floor in
his dingy white suit, toting his Uzi and monitoring us with an
occasional vacant stare as he watched the terminal's flash. His bumpkin
facade, incidentally, had to be the best acting job I'd seen since the
Royal Shakespeare. He may have been a spaced-out options hustler at
heart, but he could coach Machiavelli on duplicity. A worthy opponent.
"Just hit nine percent of IBM." He glanced at a CRT screen as he ambled
down the row next to my office, swinging the automatic. "Telephone
looks good for twelve percent by
opening bell tomorrow. Good thing we've got a computer and these fake
accounts. Otherwise we might have to cut the SEC in on the news a
little too early."
Well, DNI was nothing if not organized; "global trading" was on a roll.
There would be no way to trace Noda--or to stop him. By the time anybody
realized what was afoot, he'd be well on the way to having us literally
bought out. God knows, Japan had the money.
"Jim Bob," I yelled across. "Mind telling me what the hell it is you
really think you're up to?"
"I'm making history." He grinned and waved his Uzi in the air. "You're
getting to watch the dawn of a new age."
"For your wallet." I beckoned him over. "Tell me something. You didn't
actually sell any of the high-tech stocks on Tam's list after all, did
you?"
"Hell, no." He was still grinning. "All we did was play games a little.
Whenever I sold anything, I just turned around and bought it back a few
minutes later."
"So where's all the money coming from for this big blue chip takeover?"
"We got a whole new financial network in place. Mr. Noda worked it out
with the pension funds over there."
"Well, it seems to me you ought to be doing this thing right. Why think
small? Pick up some more shares of those high-tech issues in the old
portfolio too."
He stared at me with his bloodshot eyes. "How come we'd want to bother
with that?"
"Just thought maybe you'd like to make a score."
"Huh?"
"Besides, down the line it'd probably impress hell out of Noda. The man
admires initiative."
"What was it you said about a score?" He was blinking in erratic
bursts, still flying on uppers.
"Forget it. Just a crazy idea that crossed my mind." I turned and
walked back into the office . . . where Tam was waiting.
"What was that all about?"
"Tam, did you hear what those bastards did?" I was steaming. 'They blew
my daughter's college money."
"I heard."
"Well, it pisses me off like I can't begin to describe."
"I gathered that." She looked at me strangely. "He finally
got to you, didn't he? Noda finally pulled your cork. No more Mr.
Cool."
"You got it, lady."
She continued to study me, and into her eyes crept a kind of affection
I didn't even know they possessed. "Guess that makes two of us, Matt.
He found out how to get to me, and now he's found out the one thing you
care about."
"Guess he did at that."
"Well, now you know how I feel."
"He broke the rules, Tam. That's not part of the game. But do you
understand what this means? Now I'm free to do anything I want. Honor
is out the window."
"This isn't a game."
"You're right. It's a battle. But even battles have rules."
"My God, macho to the end."
"Call it what you want. But I am now going to destroy them both,
totally. Wipe them out. They've given me no choice."
"How exactly do you propose doing that?"
"I made the opening move just now. Next I'm . . . later." I glanced up
to see Jim Bob approaching. He was staring at me, glassy-eyed.
"What was that you were saying a while ago?"
"Don't remember, Jim Bob."
"Something about a score."
"Oh, that. Nothing really."
"Don't start getting cute, Walton." He sighted his Uzi around the
office.
"Nobody screws with you, right?"
"Better believe it, sport."
"Well, I was just wondering, since Noda's tied up at the moment, if you
might want to go ahead and make a little money on the side."
"I'm not doing so bad."
"Fine. Since you're not interested anyway, we can just skip it. No big
deal."
"Hang on a second." His eyes seemed to be trying to focus as he stared
through his gunsights. "What's the play?"
"Merely a wild idea, that's all. I was wondering what would happen if
you bought a few call options on those stocks already in the portfolio,
then boosted the prices on those too?"
"You mean on those high-tech outfits we were supposed to start
selling?"
"Well, the setup's just sitting out there. You've got all that
Japanese pension money and Noda's computer. No reason not to kite those
high-tech issues a little and pick up some pocket change. Fun and games
to while away the time. But then maybe you've already made all you want
to."
"Hey, asshole, there's two things you can't ever get too much of, and
one of them's money." He was rocking mechanically. "Matter of fact,
this action we're generating is driving up the March calls for our new
buys to the point where the price is getting way out of line."
"Had to happen. Everybody else in town has figured out somebody's
driving the market. They're getting on the options bandwagon too,
bidding them up. So why not play a little market shell-game with those
issues already in the portfolio, buy some calls and then kite the price
on them as well? Show Noda a thing or two."
"Kind of stick it to the boss man." He paused.
"Think of it as insurance. Just to make sure you come out of this play
whole. Tell you a secret about Noda. With that guy, you know you've got
a deal when the check clears."
"He's a crafty fucker, grant you."
"You might want to give it some thought. But if you're going to make a
move, it's probably now or never. Be the early bird or forget it."
All this time Tam was looking at me as if I'd gone over the edge. I
began to deeply regret not having filled her in on the fallback
scenario.
The door to Noda's office was now closed, his two guards posted
outside. Guess even a samurai needs some rest and tranquility after
flying halfway around the globe in a chartered Concorde.
"Well, gotta admit it's an idea." Jim Bob continued to weave
unsteadily. His motor mechanisms were now on automatic, along with his
venal corn-pone brain.
"Matt, what in hell are you doing?" Tam was pulling me back into the
office.
"Stay cool. Swordsmanship is like Zen. You can't ever let your mind get
attached to anything. Do that and you're stuck; your mind stays with
the past and makes you neglect what lies ahead. So I figure the best
thing to do here is to adjust to the new 'prevailing conditions.'" I
glanced out at Jim Bob, now just beyond the door and absently humming
some Waylon Jennings tune as he swayed solo.
"Well, I want to know what you're up to."
"Okay, here's the play. While you were setting up your sell-off scheme,
I did some fiddling on my own. Remember back when we started out, I
fast-talked Noda into giving me power of attorney? Well, it finally
paid off. Last week I convened an instant shareholders' meeting for
every company where DNI owns a majority of the stock and personally
voted through a new set of resolutions."
"Mind filling me in on what they were?"
Before I could reply, Jim Bob came dancing in, licking his pale lips.
"Walton, tell you what. Think I'm gonna go for it."
"What?" I looked up.
"That options play. Comes a time you gotta look out for yourself and
fuck everybody."
"That's the kind of thinking made this country what it is today, Jim
Bob. Right on."
"Fuckin' A, baby." He did a quick dance step. "Go for the gold."
"You know, as long as we're at it, how about a little piece of the
action for me too? Nothing big. Just a couple of bucks for old times'
sake."
"Why the hell not!" He let out a whoop as he turned and headed for a
terminal. "Give you sloppy seconds on this one, ace. Just long as I get
first pop."
"Matt, I don't know what you're up to, but I'll kill you if you start
helping him." She looked like she would too.
"You know, you once said you wanted to drive a stake into DNI's heart."
I turned back. "Well, this is your chance. But we've got to get moving
and do it before Noda catches on."
Whereupon we joined Jim Bob in front of his monitor. He was now busy
pulling up quotes for March calls on the Chicago Board Options
Exchange, the CBOE. He checked them over, then got on the phone
directly to the market makers on the floor. When you're operating in
hyperdrive, you don't dawdle around with brokers.
"Jim Bob, while you're doing that, I think I'll just start setting up
the buy orders for the stock. If we want to move prices, we've got to
have coordination."
"Yahoo. Let's kick some ass." He'd just entered a wholly new dimension
of exuberance. "Shit fire and save your matches; fuck a duck and see
what hatches."