"Jim Bob, these might be a good place to start." I tossed the sheet
down beside his keyboard. "Why not just set up a lot of buy orders to
hit the market tomorrow at the opening? Doing it all at once should
drive the prices straight up."
"Right." He leaned back, twitching. "Wonder how much buying it'll
take?"
"Well, why not play it safe? Use the computer and just boost DNI's
high-tech portfolio another . . . oh, five percent, straight across the
board. Every issue. Program it and let her rip. You've already got
Tam's sell setup. All you have to do is turn it around."
"Sounds good to me." Now he was swaying to and fro, humming tonelessly.
"Then let's get rolling. You hit AMEX and the Big Board; Tam and I'll
see if we can't drop orders for a few blocks on Jeffries, the off-
exchange network. We have to make waves at the opening bell tomorrow."
"Hear you talkin'. These issues gotta look like major movers." He was
beaming from ear to ear as he revolved shakily back to his terminal.
"Damn if I don't jus' love screwing the market."
We went to work, and for the next half hour we transmitted buy orders
to the farthest reaches of the globe. Once they were posted, it didn't
matter when they'd be executed. Even if Noda killed us, a hand from the
grave would come back and destroy him. The time bomb I'd set would blow
the minute the SEC tallied up DNI's new holdings. There were about to
be a lot of rich, happy workers in this Land of the Free. But the one
man certain not to be among their number was Matsuo Noda. Speaking of
which . . .
"Mr. Walton, would you kindly explain what you are doing?"
I froze, realizing he was standing directly behind my chair. How long
had he been there? I'd been too absorbed to pay attention. Stupid,
Walton, extremely stupid.
"Tell you the truth, Noda-san." I wheeled around and looked him in the
eye, shielding the screen. "Sometimes you have to make the best of
things. Discretion's the better part of valor, so we're told."
"I'm familiar with the expression." He appeared less than convinced.
"Who knows? Maybe Nipponica is the way to go." We needed time, just a
little more time. "In any case I'm a firm believer in riding the horse
the direction it's going. So I persuaded Jim Bob to buy a few options
for me. Trouble is, the guy's a little tentative on reality just now."
"Decidedly." He glanced over at our mutual friend, now typing away
obliviously, then turned and moved on toward the water cooler next to
my office. Did he believe me? Maybe he actually thought we would just
roll over and give up.
Or possibly Noda was in that unconscious mind-state that goes along
with real mastery in swordsmanship. When a Zen archer discharges an
arrow, his concentration must never be on that shaft. It must be on
nothing. And the same is true with swordsmanship. Your mind must be in
its natural state, empty of distractions. So if Noda allowed himself to
focus on the small stuff right now, he'd forfeit his "no mind" edge.
Well, we were about through anyway. The only thing left was to keep him
occupied just long enough for Jim Bob to finish sending out the last of
our buys.
"The sword was a masterful idea, Noda-san." I got up and walked over to
join him. "How'd you manage it?"
"Mr. Walton, what exactly do you know about the Emperor Antoku's
Imperial Sword?" He sipped from a plastic cup, eyes squinting behind
his rimless specs.
"Probably more than I should."
'Then you will understand its recovery is a turning point in the
history of Japan."
I looked at him and realized he believed it. Actually believed it.
Matsuo Noda had become a legend in his own mind. Why tamper with
perfection?
"Have to admit, too, the idea of using our international bank cover to
gobble up America's blue chips incognito was a stroke of genius.
Congratulations. You're about to scare MITI and the rest of Japan half
to death. Not to mention the world. With DNI heading up the management,
who knows what could happen? You can probably write your own ticket
back home after this."
"Your friend Dr. Henderson's young colleague was invaluable."
Was?
Alas, poor Jim Bob. Did that mean he wasn't going to live long enough
to spend the new fortune he thought he was about to make? Maybe Noda
was planning to do half of my work for me.
"I guess a few of those phone taps you like so much led you straight to
him, right? You were probably at least a day ahead of everything we
did."
"Good intelligence is vital to any successful endeavor, Mr. Walton. You
should remember that from Sun Tzu's classic Art of War."
The man was right on.
"All these dummy corporations." I was still running the stall. "A
little stock bought by each one, the SEC will never suspect. You just
roll trades worldwide, till--"
"As long as necessary."
"Who knows you're doing this?" Was it possible some rogue financier
such as Noda really could pull a fast one on the whole world, use
Japanese institutional money for whatever he pleased? "Have you cleared
this with the fund managers . . . ?"
"It was not necessary, Mr. Walton. I have long since earned the trust
of my colleagues." Again he had a weird look in his eye. Matsuo Noda, I
realized, was currently operating from a distant planet.
Needless to say, our dialogue hadn't done a lot to calm my nervous
system. The obvious solution to Noda's secrecy requirements didn't
include a lengthy life span for a lot of loudmouthed gaijin. Time to
wrap up the stock market games and get back to swordsmanship.
"At this point there's only one problem left, but I suppose
you've already thought of it too. If word of this anonymous takeover
breaks too soon, the exchanges might just decide to shut down trading
and stop you. Which means we're all a threat to you at this point."