The Samurai Strategy Part 72

Amy. What was she doing today? I wondered. This was, what? Tuesday? So she must be back at school, probably thinking about lunch. Strawberry yogurt and a bar of Tiger's Milk "health" candy. G.o.d, I loved that little dark-haired prize more than life itself.

Where were we headed, she and I? Was I going to learn to let go? Maybe that wasn't going to be the problem, I thought, at least for her. Face it, I was about to become a fixture, just a stuffy impediment to nature's raging hormones. She'd already started rehearsing feminine wiles on me, practicing that coy, downcast glance that didn't quite break subliminal eye contact. Where did she learn stuff like that? And she almost had it down cold. Next it'll probably be eye shadow and colored bras.

d.a.m.n. This Christmas was going to be my last real chance to get to know her, to bore her silly with all my eminently ignorable fatherly advice.

And I blew it. That in itself was enough to make me want to deep-six Matsuo Noda forever, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d. The money I fully planned to recoup; her thirteenth Christmas was gone forever.

With which somber thought, I returned to buying puts. By the time I'd finished, Tam had her "death wish" list ready. And Jim Bob was just wrapping up his new program of call-option acquisition. Now for phase two.

I strolled over to his monitor, carrying her paper.

"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.

"d.a.m.n if I don't jus' love s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g 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 j.a.pan."

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 j.a.pan 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 cla.s.sic 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 j.a.panese inst.i.tutional 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."

He stood unmoving. "That matter will be addressed presently."

How soon, I wondered, was "presently"?

"But haven't you forgotten somebody? Bill Henderson. The man's no fool.

The minute he figures out your play, which he surely will, he's going to start blowing word all over the newspapers. You'll never get away with this."

Noda smiled lightly. "It would be helpful if he were here now. Perhaps you could be good enough to arrange for it."

So with Matsuo Noda standing over me, Uzi next to my head, I called Henderson on my speakerphone. He picked up after eight rings.

"Bill. Getting rich?"

"Walton, what time is it? G.o.ddam, you woke me up." He yawned into the receiver. "Jesus, I feel like h.e.l.l. What's going on? Everything still looking okay?"

"Couldn't be better. Quite a party around here. Want to come back down and help us celebrate?"

"Well . . . what the . . . ! It's after eleven already. Hey, let me check out the market first. Be down there in a little."