by Ashton, Hugh
“How much?”
“Brace yourselves. When I say the sum was considerable, I mean by today’s standards, not by those of half a century ago. I did some calculations on the back of an envelope, and I think that we’re probably talking about the best part of half a billion dollars’ worth of gold at today’s prices.”
Sharpe rocked in his chair and Kurokawa sat with his mouth wide open. Sharpe had just got used to dealing with millions of dollars through the currency exchange system. Now he had to raise his sights by a few orders of magnitude. Barclay grinned.
“Yes, it is a lot, isn’t it?”
“It’s a hell of a lot,” said Kurokawa.
“How did you find out about all this so quickly?” Sharpe asked.
“I’m not just a pretty face, Ken. Credit me with a little intelligence. I also have lots of interesting friends here in Japan, as well as in London and other places. Shall we simply say that my job may not be all that it says on the nameplate on my door, if such a thing existed?”
“It’s all in North Korea?” asked Kurokawa.
“Exactly. Holed up in North Korea, and no obvious way of getting it out. It seems there was no time for the family to move it to Switzerland before the bullet in the back of the neck. It comes to a fair bit over 14 tons of gold – I worked out how much just for the fun of it – and it wouldn’t be easy to shift that out of the country, would it?”
“You’d need to bribe a lot of people to look the other way?”
“Indeed you would. I’ve no idea where it actually is located, but I am sure it’s in a remote area, far from prying eyes, which means a lot of people going to a place where people don’t usually go. And you’d probably have to buy an Army regiment or two to do the heavy lifting and to fight off anyone along the way who thought they had a right to it. Not to mention hiring some sort of transport – almost certainly by sea – and bribing officials at both ends, not just the Korean one, to turn a blind eye.”
“The other end being Japan?” asked Kurokawa. “I’m not saying all Japanese officials are incorruptible, but I don’t see them going for that.”
Barclay shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not Japan. I would guess Vietnam or even Cambodia. I am sure it would be easier that way than through Japan. In any case, it would be an expensive operation overall.”
“About twenty-five million dollars?”
“Depending on what the going rate for bribery and securing the mercenary services of North Korean armed forces is, yes. Probably about that. Could be more, could be less. Don’t know, I’ve never tried moving half a billion in gold out of a Stalinist dictatorship.” He smiled.
“This is a rather different story to the one we were told,” said Sharpe.
“This is purely private enterprise – admittedly in a Stalinist context. My guess is that he wanted to see his family – and it’s still quite a wide-spread clan, it seems – restored to some sort of status. Whether he really wanted any real change from the status quo, other than toppling the Great Leader’s dynasty, is another matter.”
Sharpe considered what he’d just learned. Assuming that Barclay was right in what he was saying, he and his friends had been taken for a ride by Kim, who had taken advantage of their better natures.
“So where the hell does Katsuyama fit into all of this?”
“Oh, Katsuyama is a genius, no doubt about it. I am sure that Kim found out about this rising young star in the Japanese computer world and set his daughter to seduce him.” Sharpe’s illusions were being shattered one after the other.
“So Kim knew all about the currency trading system? He said that he only knew about the face-recognition program.”
“I’d bet my life that he not only knew about the currency program – he funded Katsuyama’s research at Stanford with that very object in mind.”
“In order to make money to get the gold out of Korea?”
“Right.”
“Dear God in Heaven.” Sharpe thought back. Had there ever been any time when Kim had betrayed any knowledge of the trading system other than what Sharpe had told him? Yes, he remembered, there had been at least one occasion when Kim had seemed to know more than he admitted about the basics of the operation. “And you think Jon knows all about this, and that’s why he killed Ishihara?”
Barclay nodded.
“It’s sick. Jon’s sick,” said Sharpe. He knew he was repeating himself, but there was no other word he could come up with that met the facts. “Ishihara knew nothing. What sort of person is Jon Campbell, anyway? I really don’t want to discuss the results of this psychopath’s mind at work. Let’s talk about how to nail the bastard.”
“That’s the way, Ken lad. What the three of us have to do is to put our heads together and come up with a way of stopping him. And if it can stop the North Koreans from going after you and your friends, so much the better.”
“I’m beginning to see what you’re driving at. Give him the Katsuyama thing so that he can make the money for himself when the market cools down a bit, and set the North Koreans onto Jon and Tomiko’s mob?”
“Give the man a Kewpie doll,” said Barclay. “Right first time. Set the bastards against each other to do our dirty work for us. Divide and conquer. Works a treat.”
“I don’t like it,” said Kurokawa. “Not at all. You’re providing an open invitation to some pretty bloody gang warfare in Japan, and we don’t want that to happen. We have a reputation for safe streets and we want to keep it that way.”
“But you agree that Ken here has got to get rid of the Katsuyama technology? Quite frankly, Ken, your life is in danger, as you know, and the danger gets more acute the longer you hang onto it.”
“I agree with all that,” said Kurokawa. “I have a twist on your plan, Major. Mr Sharpe here decides to give the technology to Campbell. They arrange a meeting place, and the handover takes place. Then twenty policemen spring out of the bushes, and arrest Campbell and Mr Sharpe—”
“Hey!”
“—On suspicion of stealing Japanese trade secrets.”
“That would work,” said Barclay, rubbing his chin.
“Why the hell arrest me?” asked Sharpe. “What have I done to deserve that?”
“It’s for appearances only,” Kurokawa assured him. “If we only arrest Campbell, it’s going to look far too obvious that you’re working with us, and the Kim gang and the North Koreans are going to come after you as a traitor, or at least an enemy of their plans. But if they see that you’re on the same side as them, and that you’re not holding the technology, there’s no reason at all for them to come after you. We’ll get you off on a technicality. You’ll have to stand trial, of course.”
“Can’t you do it without putting me on trial? It really does seem to be taking things to extremes.”
“We can work something out, I suppose. And of course, could make sure that all records of the case would be eliminated so nothing would ever appear on future visa applications or anything like that.”
“You can promise that?” asked Sharpe.
“Not right now, I can’t. But give me a couple of days at the most to make the phone calls and to talk to the right people at the Ministry of Justice, and I think I can promise you that we can do it.”
“I want that in writing when you have it fixed up. I’m not going in there without a guarantee. Sorry. I trust you, but I don’t know if I can trust everyone in the whole of the Ministry of Justice sight unseen.”
“Wise man,” agreed Barclay. “You get that in writing.”
“No worries. I’ll get you something.”
“One other thing. Two other things.”
Barclay sighed. “What?”
“You know what? I’m not that keen on going on my own to meet a psycho who seems to think it’s fun to carve up other people. I’ll bet it was him who cut off Al Kowalski’s head.”
“The Major told me about that,” said Kurokawa. “We thought it was the work of Kim’s gang, but seeing what this lunatic
is capable of, I wouldn’t be so sure now.”
“Kim did know where the head was, though,” pointed out Barclay. “He gave you that locker key, Ken.”
“Doesn’t necessarily mean he put it there himself, though, does it?” said Sharpe. “Jon Campbell might have put it there and then given the key to Tomiko who gave it to her father. But that doesn’t alter the fact that I am not keen on meeting him in a situation where it’s quite likely that he’s in a position to do me an injury that I will regret for the rest of my life, however short that may be. You can bet that he’s not going to want my friend,” he indicated the police guard, “or any of his colleagues along with me.”
“We can take care of that,” said Kurokawa. “We can get a sniper team in place to cover the area at an hour’s notice if it’s in Tokyo, and two hours’ notice if it’s a bit further out.”
“Not the SWAT teams, please,” said Sharpe. He’d watched the Japanese SWAT teams on TV news reports, and they looked incompetent compared to their European or US counterparts.
“Not the SWAT teams,” Kurokawa agreed. “This is going to take surgical skill and not brute force.”
“Glad you have your head screwed on,” said Barclay. “Unlike Al Kowalski.” He grinned at Sharpe, who had started to retch at the memory of the contents of the bag at Tokyo station. “All right, sorry. Not that funny, really. I keep forgetting sometimes that this isn’t your usual line of business. Me, I’ve seen far too much of this kind of thing in my time. Doesn’t stop me feeling angry about it, though. You said you had two things. What’s the other?”
“I’m wondering just who Ishihara was and Kurokawa is, and all the rest of you. I mean, being able to pull in a sniper team at a moment’s notice, arrange diplomatic-level protection, and fix the results of trials means that you have a good deal of authority working outside the normal system, doesn’t it?”
“Ken lad,” said Barclay. “You really don’t need to know exactly who’s looking after you. Just be thankful that they exist. You’re really lucky, even though it may not seem like it right now.”
“One more thing, sorry. If I give Jon the gizmo and the CD-ROM, do you think he will think that’s enough?”
“Almost certainly not, now you come to mention it. It took you people some time to set up your operation, didn’t it? I think you are going to have to deliver either a working system or a full set of documentation. Or both.”
“That’s going to take time.”
“Better still,” said Kurokawa. “It means that while he’s waiting, he and the gang won’t do anything, because they know they’re going to get the goodies from you soon. And that allows us to focus on one enemy – the North Korean agents – and with luck we can eliminate the threat from them before you meet up with Campbell.”
“Good point,” said Barclay. “Excellent point, in fact.”
“So can we wait a couple of days while you get your guarantees in place, Kurokawa-san? I don’t think I should be making any moves until I see those.”
“Couldn’t you start things rolling now?” asked Kurokawa.
“No, he couldn’t,” replied Barclay. “Ken’s right. If you’re going to start playing silly games involving British subjects, I think the innocent parties need some sort of insurance against a massive foul-up. I don’t want to see Ken end up in prison for something he didn’t do. I’m sure we could get him out in the end, but I don’t want to have to do that at all. But Ken, I suggest you talk to Vishal about how to get the system onto some sort of disk or something that can be handed over easily. And start writing some sort of instruction manual for the bloody thing.”
“That’s my job, I suppose. All right, I’ll proceed on the assumption that you’re going to give me my Get Out Of Jail Free card. But there’s no way I’m going to start talking to Jon Campbell until I have that in my hands. Oh,” as a thought struck him. “Extend that advance pardon to Mieko, Vishal and Meema. I don’t want them to be caught up in all of this and arrested in revenge for my getting out from under the court’s nose.”
“Not too shabby, Ken. I’m sure Kurokawa here would never do anything like you’re suggesting, but the final decisions may not be his.”
“I’ll make sure that it’s taken care of,” confirmed Kurokawa, writing in his notebook.
“All right, Ken,” said Barclay. “Your next job is to get back to the office and make sure that you get your people on your side about getting the technology over to Jon Campbell, God rot his soul. Then, as soon as Kurokawa-san gets you these assurances we’ve been talking about, you call him, or you might think about calling Tomiko – my guess is that it comes to much the same thing right now – and tell them that the whole lot is coming their way soon. Be vague about the delivery time.”
“Not hard to do. Being vague, I mean. Most computer projects take longer than they’re meant to.”
“Right. And then get on with it and make sure that you do it bloody fast.”
“What’s the point of actually doing it if he’s going to be arrested as soon as I hand it over?”
“That’s a good point, Major,” said Kurokawa.
“It’s got to be convincing bait, at least for a superficial look by the victim, but the main point is that it’s got to be convincing enough to convince the prosecutors when you’re both arrested,” pointed out Barclay. “Otherwise it’s never even going to come to court, and they’re not going to bother investigating Jonny-boy any further than they have to. And being a lazy bunch of sods, that’s not very far.”
“So you’re saying that we really have to get down and produce the real thing?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Don’t you agree?”
“I see your point, Major. Yes, I think there’s no time to waste, Mr Sharpe. Don’t worry about things – I’ll get my end of the matter sorted out in a day or two at the most.”
-oOo-
Chapter 18: Tokyo
“Vishal,” said Sharpe when he returned from Barclay’s. “How would you package our system if we wanted to move it to another computer?”
“Easy enough. Since we’re running Ubuntu Linux, I can get the whole thing, operating system and all, onto a memory stick. The 16 gigabyte ones now will do it with lots of room to spare. But you know we are needing the Katsuyama hardware to be installed in the PC, and there’s no way we can duplicate that. Why?”
“We’re going to hand the thing over to Jon Campbell. Lock, stock and barrel.”
Vishal stared at him. “Why the bloody hell are you going to be doing that?” he asked.
“Because,” Sharpe said. He went over the arguments that he’d just been through with Barclay and Kurokawa.
“I see. As long as you’re happy with it. We have enough money for my sister.”
“And that was the main thing, after all.”
“Well, you should come out ahead as well. Nothing would have happened if it hadn’t been for you.”
“Not convinced that it’s been a 100% success.”
“Come off it, Kenneth, thanks to you, my sister is probably going to have a new life. And Meema and I are a bit better off than we were, and so are you and Mieko.”
Sharpe sighed. “I suppose you’re right, but I really don’t feel like exposing everyone to these risks, and I don’t fancy being exposed to them myself.”
“It seems a shame, but you’re the boss. Do we tell the girls?”
“Of course. We know that Meema’s had enough of all this, and I am sure that Mieko will be relieved.”
“What are you going to be doing while I’m doing all this work of packaging the system?” asked Vishal.
“Doing what I do best. Writing sodding documentation, that’s what. And I don’t understand half of what you’ve been up to, so you’re going to have to explain it in words of one syllable.”
“It’s not as bad as that. Most of the hard work was the testing, and now we know what the answers should be, I think you’re going to find it quite easy to write about those proce
dures.”
“Hope so,” said Sharpe.
-o-
As he had predicted, both Meema and Mieko took the news with a sense of relief once he had explained the reasons, and reassured them that there was enough money to pay for Vishal’s sister’s treatment in the worst possible scenario, and still leave a little over.
He and Vishal worked together on making the Katsuyama technology into a product that could be easily transferred and operated by anyone with relatively little computer knowledge.
“We should be selling this,” grumbled Vishal. “Think how much it’s worth to someone.”
“There are two good reasons why not,” said Sharpe, glad of the chance to take a break from the business of writing about market data feed installation. “One, it’s not our technology to sell.”
“You think Katsuyama’s going to object? He’s a bloody psycho from what you say, and the police will have him in jail PDQ if he comes to Japan.”
“Even so, it’s not ours, and we couldn’t run the risk. And, more importantly, the way it makes profits depends on only one of these systems being around. If everyone has the same technology, it’s not going to work. No-one has the advantage over the others. Come on, Vishal, this is why Meema was developing all those trading strategies at the bank. To give your bank an edge over the others. There’s no advantage if we’re all on the same playing field. The free market’s a myth – always has been – someone is always the leader with an unfair advantage.”
