Stephen Mertz - The Korean Intercept

"Yes, sir."

The president set down the towel and commenced some knee bends. "Wil, I know that you and Galt are often at odds. You're my right hand, because you're so damn organized and by the numbers. But Wil, this operation illustrates exactly why it's good to have a kick-ass wild card on our side, even if he is too loose-gaited for the West Wing."

Fleming cleared his throat. "Uh, that does bring us to one remaining problem, sir. I, uh, received a communication from General Tuttle in Yokohama just before coming in to see you."

"What's the problem?"

"It's Galt, sir, and Kate Daniels."

The president paused in his knee bends. "What about them?"

"Put simply, sir, they've disappeared. General Tuttle is not pleased. We have absolutely no idea where they are."

Tokyo

Galt and Meiko found Baroness Sachito seated on a stone bench, as if she were waiting for them, in the small formal garden behind the main house. A single lantern cast its flickering glow upon the quiet beauty of miniature trees, rocks and streams. Sachito sat, partly in shadow, before a bank of aromatic white star jasmine. She wore an apricot silk kimono, and wooden clogs. The weather was clearing. The first etching of dawn gilded the eastern clouds with silver. Starlight shone through scattering clouds, dancing off the raven's wing blackness of her hair. Hands folded in her lap, she raised her large almond eyes at their approach.

Meiko drew to a stop beside Galt, her back drawn straight as she regarded the woman. Galt saw a pistol at Sachito's side on the bench.

He said, "Good evening, Baroness. Or should I say, good morning? I assume you've received an update on current events." He was clad in dark jacket, T-shirt and jeans that helped him blend into the gloom. The Beretta rode in its shoulder holster, concealed beneath the jacket.

"Yes." Sachito spoke vaguely. Her demeanor was listless and drained. "Chai Bin is dead. America has reclaimed what remains of its space shuttle, and two surviving astronauts have been rescued, one of whom is your wife." Her gaze alternated between Galt and Meiko. "And I know that the two of you are more than mere friends. You are lovers. I needed no one to tell me that."

"Bitch," said Meiko in a harsh whisper.

Galt experienced a mental alarm bell going off at the naked, unfettered rage from one usually so composed under the most trying circumstances. Meiko was a Washington journalist, after all. She could only have the deepest of negative feelings against this woman. But Galt had invited her to accompany him here because, from past experience, he had expected her to sublimate the rawest of her emotions.

Sachito spoke to Galt as if she had not heard Meiko's insult. "You rescue your wife from North Korean mountain bandits, yet you arrive here with Meiko. Where is your wife, may I ask?"

"You may," said Galt. "Kate's waiting for us in a car parked on the road that fronts this property. She's about to be airlifted out of Japan. She has debriefings ad nauseam and a media circus to look forward to. When I told her that Meiko and I had one last part of this business to attend to, she asked to be a part of it. So we slipped away, the three of us." He saw no reason to tell her about the explosive charge that he had concealed in the middle of the front main driveway before he and Meiko had come to the garden, or about the detonation device that resided in his pocket.

"The three of you?" Sachito arched an eyebrow and regarded Meiko dispassionately. "You have confronted this man's wife… under these circumstances?"

"It was not a confrontation," said Meiko in a more subdued voice. "I greeted Kate when the rescue helicopter landed in Yokohama. Kate and Trev were separated when I met him. She and I embraced. It is an American custom, not Japanese, I know. I admire and respect Kate Daniels. She is an extraordinary woman."

Sachito considered this. "Indeed," she conceded. "And you're right, child. I don't understand."

"Then perhaps you will understand this. If Kate ever brings up the subject of Trev and me, then we will discuss it honestly. Or I will tell her. I don't know. I only know that she appreciated having a woman to meet her among all those bloodied male warriors when the helicopter touched down."

"You have a kind heart," said Sachito with no hint of irony.

Meiko's arms were held rigid at her side, the elbows bent, the fists clenched. "Not towards you," she spat. "I will report what I know and what I have seen to the world. My father's innocence. Your guilt. What happened to those aboard Liberty, and to those who made this happen."

Sachito peered at Galt. "Do you not risk greatly offending your superiors?"

He shrugged indifferently. "It won't be the first time. They'll get over it. And yeah, there are issues that Kate and I need to address and that's no damn lie. But right now, she's our lookout. She's going to tap the car horn at first sight of any vehicle approaching your property."

Sachito resumed alternating her gaze between them. "Have you come to kill me?"

Galt glanced at the pistol beside her on the bench. "It doesn't look like that will be necessary. You do understand that we didn't just take down Chai Bin, right? Thanks to information supplied by Meiko here, we're tracing down Ugaki and his yakuza and we're taking them down too, because they were behind everything." He paused, then added, "Along with you, of course."

Sachito's sigh was barely audible. "What you say is true." Her eyes rested on Meiko. "And you, stepdaughter? Do you wish to kill me?"

Meiko regarded Sachito with venomous contempt. "When we had dinner with you here, you told us you possessed intimate knowledge of my father's business dealings. You said that in his last days, his every decision was relayed to his subordinates through you. You abused that power, you and Anami, the acting CEO. But that's the least of your sins, bitch." Meiko's eyes narrowed. "You killed my father."

Sachito's gaze lowered to study her hands, clasped in her lap. "Your father was gravely ill. He had only months to live, and was in terrible, constant pain. For your father, death was a merciful release." There was a catch in her voice. "I loved him. I still do. You must believe that."

The line of Meiko's mouth quivered with emotion. "You're a vile monster. You want to rationalize what you've done?"

"I did love your father." Sachito's eyes remained downcast. "Yes, I am evil. I have done evil things. But I did love him. It broke my heart to see him dying a little every day, his vitality and life ebbing from a spirit once so commanding and powerful. He was ashamed to be an invalid, did you know that, Meiko?"

Galt growled an interruption.

"Let's get off the feelings and back to the facts. Baroness, that was quite a grieving widow act you put on for us, when you had us here to spend the night, considering that you were part of a plot to bring down an American space shuttle. That's the biggest hijack in history. Ugaki lines up a corrupt North Korean military commander, Colonel Sung, who operates with autonomy in a remote province, and personally oversees the construction of a landing strip large enough to accommodate the shuttle. This was accomplished without the central North Korean government knowing about it. Ugaki plucked a stripper from one of his joints in Tokyo and sent her to America to seduce a NASA space scientist, who programmed the Liberty to land at that airfield. But Ugaki needed a legitimate front to exploit and profit from what he salvaged on the shuttle. That's where Kurita Industries came in. Ugaki already had Anami in position as acting CEO. You, Baroness, were handling Mr. Kurita's business affairs. You were his one link to the outside world. The shuttle deal sounded like a good deal to you. You and Ugaki thought you had all of the bases covered. You even had a White House contact."