The Samurai Strategy Part 64

"h.e.l.l, 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 h.e.l.l 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 d.a.m.ned 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 h.e.l.l'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 d.a.m.n 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 j.a.p inst.i.tutions would lose their shirt if DNI dumped all at once." He exhaled quietly. "You start rolling billions and billions in j.a.panese money, how you plan on keeping the thing from blowing sky-high? You'd have Nips climbing all over your a.s.s 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 a.n.a.lysts would probably sniff something in the wind, but n.o.body'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 j.a.panese end. I'd guess the s.h.i.t'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 h.e.l.l 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 d.a.m.ned 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 a.s.shole idea?"

"It's not without appeal."

"Walton, you dumb f.u.c.k, do this and you'll never work in this town again."

"I'm well aware of that."

"n.o.body'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 gla.s.s. "But what the h.e.l.l. I've seen enough to know we'd d.a.m.ned 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 a.s.s 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 offsh.o.r.e, 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. d.a.m.ned 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 gla.s.s. "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."

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Bushido. Take it apart, _bu-shi-do_, and you have "military- knight- ways," the rules of chivalry that governed every moment of a samurai's existence. This code of honor of the warrior cla.s.s, this n.o.blesse oblige, was also known as 'the way of the sword.' For a samurai the sword was a sacred icon, an emblem of strength and inner resolve.