The Devil's Footprint (13 page)

The Spider
looked straight at her.
 
She nodded
slightly, and he understood.
 
Now she was
ready to be told.
 
There was no gentle
way.

"Tanabu-
san
," he said, "Reiko Oshima
is not dead."

Chifune's eyes
widened.
 
"But...
Sensei
, I was there when she was killed,
as you know.
 
Fitzduane-
san
, and Lonsdale-
san
riddled the helicopter with fire and it exploded over the
sea.
 
It was not possible that she could
have survived.
 
The aircraft blew apart
completely."

"Nevertheless,"
said the Spider firmly.

Feeling
suddenly sick with a terrible premonition, Chifune knew that what he said was
true.
 
A hundred questions sprang into
her mind.

"
Sensei
," she said.
 
"How did you hear...?"

The Spider
made a gesture to silence her.
 
It was
the merest twitch of his arm, but it was enough.
 
He wanted to tell the full story without
interruption, and in his own way.

"I have
consulted with experts," he said, "as to what may have happened, but,
in truth, their opinions are academic, because we know without doubt that she
survived.

"The
helicopter was low over the water when it was destroyed, and its side doors
were open.
 
The theory is that an initial
explosion inside the cabin blew her out and into the sea.
 
The after-action reports spoke of multiple
explosions.
 
By the time the main
explosion occurred, perhaps only a second later, Oshima was almost certainly
already in the sea.
 
Alternatively, when
she realized that the helicopter was certain to be destroyed, she may have
jumped.

"She was
picked up by a small fishing boat some hours later.
 
She had disfiguring facial injuries and had
minor burns and was exhausted, but she could function.
 
To conceal her survival, she killed all the
crew.

"At his
point we might have lost track of Oshima completely, except that luck was on
our side.
 
Normally, she is
extraordinarily secretive and contacts only proven members of the inner circle
of her organization.
 
In this case, she
was penniless, injured, and on the run, so she headed for the nearest haven,
the home of a purported Yaibo sympathizer and right-wing extremist, Shuo Hori.
 
She did not know Hori well, but Yaibo had
supplied him with weapons in the past and she had every reason to think that he
would be trustworthy.

"As it
happened, Hori-
san
was a deep
penetration agent of Koancho and had been in place for many years.
 
His main role was to keep an eye on
extremists rather than terrorists.
 
No
one dreamed that he would come across a terrorist as significant as
Oshima.
 
But he is a resourceful man and
he responded well to the challenge of what to do.
 
He took her in and cared for her, and when he
got a chance he contacted his superiors.

"Our
immediate reaction would normally have been to pick up Oshima and that would
have been that," continued the Spider, "but Hori-
san
saw Oshima's arrival as his big chance to make a mark, the case
of a lifetime.
 
He proposed to his
control that he befriend Oshima, work his way into her confidence, and thus
penetrate the very heart of the terrorist movement.

"Given
Oshima's violent record, it was a very risky strategy.
 
Not only was Hori-
san
personally in danger, but it would mean leaving a known
dangerous terrorist loose — and one who almost
certainly
 
would
want revenge.
 
She had nearly been killed, and many of her
group had been destroyed.
 
It seemed
unlikely that she would let this pass without a response.

"Hori-
san
's proposal was referred to the
highest levels, where it was considered for several days.
 
The initial reaction was to reject it, but
then it was suggested that it Oshima could be encouraged to flee this country,
we would have a chance to learn about Yaibo's international network without
putting Japanese citizens and property at risk.
 
Of course, this would only work if Hori-
san
fled with her."

Silently
furious though she was at not having been included in the operation, Chifune
could not argue with either its daring or its logic.
 
It was also quite cynical.
 
The unstated corollary of letting Oshima flee
was that if Japanese interests were not harmed and, indeed, advanced, it was of
no concern that other nationalities might suffer.
 
But such cynicism was not unique to Japanese
security.
 
It was fundamental to her
trade in every country.

"A
complex operation was mounted to make fleeing
Japan
seem a highly desirable
option for Oshima and her new friend.
 
Normally, such an intensive series of raids might have aroused suspicion
of Hori-
san
, but in this case
considerable police activity was to be expected.
 
Oshima had been shot and many Yaibo members
killed during an attack mounted in the very center of
Tokyo
.
 
A major response from the authorities was both inevitable and
expected.
 
The trick was to bracket
Oshima and Hori-
san
without actually
capturing them.
 
Thanks to Hori-
san
's information, that is exactly what
we were able to do.

"They
fled initially to the
Middle East
, as
expected.
 
Oshima has never stayed in one
place for too long, so she and Hori-
san
flitted from
Libya
to
Lebanon
and then
Syria
, and we received much good
intelligence.
 
But then there were some
unexpected developments.
 
First, she met
a renegade American scientist in
Libya
,
Edgar Rheiman, who was on the run from the
U.S.
authorities, and then a
Mexican general, Luis Barragan, arrived on the scene.
 
He was buying arms and recruiting mercenaries
to protect his base in the state of Tecuno run by a certain Governor Diego
Quintana.

"He found
more than he could have hoped for in his wildest dreams.
 
The American scientist, Edgar Rheiman, had
some very specialized weapons expertise he was trying to sell, and General Luis
Barragan was in the market and had the necessary capital.
 
And to round everything off, Oshima and
Barragan became lovers.
 
All of them,
including Hori-
san
, decamped for
Mexico
and
suddenly the operation crossed the line between acceptable risk and out of
control.
 
And to make it worse, our
agent's ability to communicate from
Mexico
is very limited."

The Spider
paused and sipped his tea, and Chifune understood that it was now acceptable
that she should ask questions.

"
Sensei
, I am not sure I fully
understand.
 
What is the significance of
this scientist Edgar Rheiman, and why is the operation now no longer
acceptable?"

The Spider
spoke without emotion for about ten minutes.
 
Chifune's mind raced as she pieced together the elements and assessed
the various possible implications.
 
This
was not just a case of an operation going wrong.
 
It was a veritable nightmare.
 
It was just horrendous.

She was quite
shaken.
 
It then came to her that she was
not just receiving a background briefing.

"Tanabu-
san
," said the Spider quietly,
"though the circumstances dictated it, I regret deeply that you were not
fully informed earlier.
 
But that is in
the past.
 
Now the situation has to be
resolved as discreetly as possible."
 
He then told her exactly what he had in mind.

Chifune's
heart leaped when Fitzduane's name was mentioned.
 
Then the complexities of the task ahead of
her hit home.
 
It was probably the best
way to achieve the desired result, but it would be a very difficult operation.

"You may
take Inspector Oga with you," said the Spider in conclusion, "and
such other sources as you
may need
will be
provided."
 
He indicated a thick
file on his desk.
 
"This is the
operation file.
 
I think you will find it
helpful."

The meeting
was at an end.
 
Chifune stood up and
bowed respectfully.

The Spider
stood up also and returned her bow.
 
This
was not the dismissal of an employee but an acknowledgment of a different,
stronger relationship.

"Tanabu-
san
," said the Spider.
 
"You must know that despite appearances,
I have never doubted you."

Chifune bowed
again and left.
 
She felt drained,
exhilarated, awed, and confused.
 
She
fought to get control of her feelings.
 
The sight of a sensible, solid, reliable Inspector Oga was like a breath
of fresh air.

"Oga-
san
," she said.
 
"You must practice your already
excellent English."

Oga
contemplated Chifune's face.
 
It was
slightly flushed.
 
There was a mixture of
emotions coming from her.
 
Her normal
reserve was missing.
 
Whatever had been
said by the Spider was rather more than
routine
.
 
He suspected it might involve the
gaijin
.
 
He said nothing.

"We are
going to
America
,"
she said.

"North or
South," said Oga lightly.

Chifune's face
clouded over as the significance of the mix of Reiko Oshima and Edgar Rheiman
hit home.
 
"Probably both," she
said grimly, and strode off down the corridor.

Oga, the smile
gone from his face, walked after her.

5

General Shane
Kilmara, commander of the Irish Rangers —
Ireland
's elite counterterrorist
and special-operations force — sipped at his brandy and smiled.

"One of
Washington
's
finer French restaurants
and
a
private room.
 
And this from a man
who normally forgets to offer me a hot
dog,
and always
forgets the mustard.
 
What is on your
mind, William?"

The man with
the thinning hair and high domed forehead sitting on the other side of the
table blew a smoke ring into the air.
 
Neither man normally smoked, but good cigars were an occasional
exception.
 
Both had a weakness for
Cuban, and Kilmara had brought a box when he had flown in from
Ireland
.
 
Since he was received personally by Deputy
Director for Operations of the CIA, clearing customs with such embargoed goods
was not a problem.

They had known
each other since both the Irish and the CIA had been knee-deep in the
Congo
in the
1960s.
 
The
Congo
operation was long in the past — the country had even changed its name to
Zaire
— but the
relationship had endured.
 
Each man
considered it more an alliance than a friendship, but mutual regard had sneaked
in nonetheless.
 
You tended to learn the
true worth of someone over a quarter of a century.

In Kilmara's
opinion, the CIA was much maligned.
 
They
were very far from perfect and they had their fair share of self-serving
bureaucrats, but they had some very good people.
 
Even more to the point, imperfect or not,
they were necessary.

William Martin
was not quite ready yet to get to the point.
 
"What is the
U.S.
doing wrong on counterterrorism, Shane?" he said.
 
"You've got more experience than
most.
 
I'd value your opinion."

"You
already know my opinions," said Kilmara.
 
"Too many cooks and not enough terrorists.
 
Closing down an airport when there is a bomb
scare is not counterterrorism.
 
Crucially,
your political direction is weak and you don't approach the whole thing at the
right cerebral level.
 
You've got to know
your enemy,
really understand the
fuckers!
 
Fundamentally, you don't
think there is a real threat.
 
The
U.S.
is too big
and too strong.
 
Even if there are hordes
of bad guys running around doing their worst, you don't think they can do more
than inflict the occasional pinprick.