East is East Page 13

  Kruger grinned. “That’ll teach them to point the finger at me. And now Yonezawa can start using a little muscle. I just hope Arai doesn’t want a pound of flesh for his efforts.”

  The thought disturbed Kruger, but it set Pamela’s eyes dancing.

  “Then let’s disabuse him of that notion right away,” she said blithely. “You’re not the only one who’s been thinking, Remember the last time I was in England there were some Koreans sniffing around MR? And I told them you weren’t interested?”

  It took Kruger a moment to realize where she was heading. Then he sat upright so suddenly his chair thumped.

  “Wait a minute!”

  But Pamela was rushing on. “By now the whole world knows that MR is on the auction block.”

  “And they know the price I’m asking is the Japanese market.”

  “After our troubles in Tokyo, the Koreans can’t be sure that’s the only offer you’ll take. What if I zip over to England and suggest showing them around the facility? I can make such a splash that Yonezawa’s London office will pick up the rumor within hours.”

  Kruger was nodding like a wound-up toy.

  “I like it, I like it a lot,” he breathed. “It dovetails beautifully,”

  “You want to bet on Arai’s reaction?” she asked smugly.

  Kruger chuckled. “He’ll go after the whole damn Diet.”

  “And they’ll like the idea of the Koreans getting steel robotics even less than he does.”

  ‘It’ll knock on the head any thought about squeezing the price.”

  They were chanting rhythmically back and forth.

  “And between your invitation and Arai’s pressure . . .”

  Kruger spread his hands a foot apart, then snapped them together with a crack.

  “We get them on both flanks in a classic pincers,” he finished for her. “In a way, Pamela, it’s a shame you got hooked on business. You could have taught them a lot at West Point about diversionary tactics.”

  “The tactics are great,” she agreed without false modesty. “So long as Arai has clean hands.”

  “I know.”

  For a moment their eyes locked.

  “I got a rundown on the Japanese press from Benny’s people,” Kruger said.

  She had no difficulty following him. “So did I,” she admitted “I even called Stan Zaretski in Osaka. According to him, Matsuda took the bribe but the police don’t have a clue about who gave it. With luck there won’t be any unpleasant surprises.”

  “Unless the police are keeping something under their hats. We just have to take the chance that they don’t know more than they’re saying.”

  Bennet Alderman’s first reaction to the news about Shima was a vast sigh of relief. He knew just how to capitalize on it.

  Kruger was less enthusiastic “We’re not trying to sway the man in the street, Benny,” he said. “The only two groups that count now are the procurement boys at DOD and the cabinet in Japan.”

  “So? They follow public opinion too,” Alderman replied confidently. “Now you’ve got a chance to tell your side of the story while everybody in the world wants to grab you for some airtime.”

  Today Kruger was willing to be persuaded.

  “Not a bad idea,” he said cheerfully. “But Pamela’s come up with a real wingding. She’s going to make overtures to the Korean competition.”

  Bennet Alderman had not fought his way to the top by admiring other people’s achievements. “That can’t do any harm,” he said perfunctorily. “But let’s finish off this business of your TV appearances. How about a one-two shot on Tuesday and Wednesday? I could put you on a breakfast show and a talk show.”

  After two years of the Alderman treatment, Kruger was a paraprofessional about the distinctions.

  “I’ll go with the morning show,” he decided almost instantly. “That way I won’t get stuck batting around the history of Japanese corruption with some professor. I’ll be one-on-one with the host, and I can give it the old personal touch.”

  “That would be good timing,” Alderman approved. “My sources say Shima is taking out full-page ads tomorrow in all the big papers. You know the sort of thing—black borders, profuse apologies, and so forth.”

  “Great!” Kruger was looking into the future. “After the show we’ll be in a countdown for England, if all goes well. I’ve given MITI the date for a demo in Birmingham, and I don’t see how they can get out of it.’’

  Shocked, Alderman reared back.

  “Now wait a minute, Carl, you haven’t thought this thing through. I wish you’d talked to me first. We’re presenting you as a clean-cut American businessman who is being victimized and exploited by the Japanese. How the hell can we do that if you’re willing to climb right back into bed with them?”

  Growing heated, he failed to notice the half-smile on Kruger’s face until he had finished.

  “My God, what’s funny?”

  “Benny,” Kruger asked curiously, “have you ever looked at what’s out there?”

  Turning in his chair, he waved at the plate glass behind him.

  “It’s the same view I’ve got,” Alderman muttered, without joining the inspection of smokestacks and grimy brickwork.

  “That’s where we make things to sell,” Kruger continued gently. “The more things we sell, the better for Lackawanna. And Japan has a lot of people with a lot of money to buy things. That’s why we’re going through with the Birmingham demo.”

  The ABC instruction might have offended some people, but Alderman continued his attempts at dissuasion.

  “You’ve missed my point. You’re like a wife who moves back in with her husband just as she’s filing for divorce,” he insisted. “At the very least we lose momentum. If we don’t watch out, we lose credibility too. I say we hold off.”

  “And I say we don’t,” Kruger retorted in a voice that brooked no argument.

  Bennet Alderman was taken aback. He was always casual about the fundamentals of Lackawanna’s existence. This time he had almost forgotten them.

  Don Hodiak, of course, knew all about those fundamentals. His face, which had been sinking into deeper and deeper lines with every passing day, had shed years overnight.

  “I just got off the phone with DOD,” he announced buoyantly. “They’ve stopped acting as if I’ve got leprosy.”

  “Did they say anything about this Shima business?” Kruger asked.

  Hodiak preened himself.

  “Hell no! They pretended they were asking about our delivery to Redstone Arsenal. So I told them we’ll be shipping two days before due.”

  “Attaboy!”

  They grinned at each other.

  “When I got in this morning, I was afraid for a minute that Bennet was going to kiss me,” Hodiak recalled.

  “You should have come straight here. Then you would have gotten Pamela. She’s feeling pretty good too.”

  Overflowing with energy, Hodiak had flung himself into a chair. Now he picked up a ruler from the desk and began flexing it.

  “Well, I’m all for celebrating. This one has been a lot too close for comfort.”

  “You can say that again. But everything’s beginning to fall into place now. Even that lousy trip to Washington is paying off.”

  Hodiak produced his own corroboration. “The boys at DOD sounded downright chummy.”

  “Oh, them. They were just scared of being sucked into the swamp. By the way, Pamela’s doing an end run on Arai with the Koreans. He may not fall for it, but he’ll damn well use it.”

  “Who cares about Arai now?”

  When Kruger explained his invitation to MITI, Hodiak’s expression turned to dismay.

  “What’s gotten into you, Carl? Two days ago you agreed that this whole idea of going to Japan was a loser. We’ve squeaked through by the skin of our teeth. For God’s sake let’s get out while the getting is good.”

  “Oh, no we don’t. How often does somebody hand you a second chance like this?”

&nbs
p; “A second chance to throw ourselves into a meat chopper,” Hodiak retorted.

  But Kruger was impervious to barbs. “There isn’t going to be any trouble this time around, now that everyone knows shima was trying to fix the race.”

  Nobody knows that. Bennet fed me the same line, but you and I know better. All we’ve seen is a lot of PR hype. First Tokyo was trying to twist things to make us the goat. Now Shima’s getting the same treatment over here. But what does it all boll down to? Somebody in Shima’s San Francisco office thought they could slip a few microchips to Russia. Big deal!”

  “There was bribery, wasn’t there? It shows how Shima does things.”

  Hearing the weakness of his own argument, Kruger looked almost sulky.

  “Somebody spilled that poor guy’s brains all over the floor at MITI,” Hodiak reminded him. “That’s a long way from passing a few bucks to a customs clerk. Or have you forgotten what really went on back there?”

  “I saw the body too,” Kruger said shortly. “I don’t know what the hell you’re getting at, Don.”

  With a visible effort at control, Hodiak laid down his ruler and spaced his words.

  “They could be turning over some rocks in Tokyo.”

  “Let them. It’s got nothing to do with Lackawanna.”

  “So you think this was all a piece of wonderful luck?” Hodiak asked sardonically.

  “I’m not exactly saying that. I’m just not looking a gift horse in the mouth.”

  “There’s a lot you’re not exactly saying, Carl.”

  Kruger shifted uneasily. “Come on, Don, you know how these things work. The feds have probably been digging into Shima’s exports for months. I happened to talk to a few people in Washington, and it paid off. Someone decided to move things up the calendar.”

  “And they were ready to go to the grand jury in days? Who do you think you’re kidding?”

  Hodiak caught himself, then began again on a more conciliatory note.

  “Carl, why don’t you listen to yourself? You didn’t know what was going on in Tokyo. You didn’t know what was going on in San Francisco. And you sure as hell don’t know what’s going to break next week. Ever since this whole business started, it’s been one rocket after another whizzing over our heads. The sooner we put distance between Lackawanna and Japan, the better.”

  Carl Kruger tried to be patient.

  “I suppose you think I’m going too fast and we ought to delay the next round.”

  “To hell with delays. We ought to scrap the whole idea.”

  This was worse than Kruger had expected.

  “Now? When I’ll have Arai with his tongue hanging out?”

  “If he wants MR’s technology, we could make a bundle licensing it to him.”

  “MR has always been just bait,” Kruger snapped. “Our goal is to sell generators to Japan. And I shouldn’t have to explain it to you as if you were poor Benny.”

  Since entering, Hodiak had been on an emotional nosedive, passing from elation to despair. Without pausing to think, he spoke his mind.

  “You know what’s really happening? Somebody out there is pulling a lot of strings, and they’ve got you jerking around like a puppet.”

  It was a serious error. Instead of flicking his adversary, Hodiak had hit a nerve.

  “We’re going ahead, and that’s final!” Kruger snapped in a cold fury.

  They were both sitting upright, rigid as ramrods. Suddenly Hodiak’s doubts congealed into determination.

  “Then I want to take this to the board,” he declared.

  Kruger’s eyebrows lifted arrogantly. “And what’s that in aid of? By the time the board meets, I’ll be back from England with the deal of a lifetime.”

  “Somebody’s got to keep you from wrecking Lackawanna,” said Hodiak, unyielding as stone.

  “That’s my board you’re talking about. You won’t get one vote.”

  Having crossed his Rubicon, Hodiak relaxed. “Maybe not,” he admitted. “But you’ve forgotten how much can happen in a week.”

  “You want to make a fool of yourself in public, that’s your lookout.”

  Everybody in the building soon learned about the quarrel, including Bennet Alderman.

  “I just heard. So you think you’re going to shiv Carl with the board,” he said, storming into Hodiak’s office an hour later.

  Hodiak barely acknowledged his presence. “That’s what we do in those meetings—discuss policy.”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit! You think you can use the Tokyo mess to score points for yourself. Well, forget it. You’re either with us or against us on this one.”

  “Will you stop sounding as if this is D-day, Bennet?” said Hodiak, looking bored.

  Alderman, stung by the lack of response, was hanging menacingly over the desk.

  “I don’t give a damn what parlor games you play when it doesn’t count. Right now the important thing is showing the world that Carl is on top of things.”

  “You don’t know how funny that sounds. Besides, I got the idea you weren’t so hot about this plan yourself, Bennet.”

  Alderman’s eyes narrowed into slits. “My job is keeping Carl in the saddle, and I’m not sitting still for any sabotage.”

  With a sigh, Hodiak marked his place with a pencil and faced the man hovering over him. “You’re going to have to, and call it what you like.”

  “I’m warning you, Don, I’ve taken out bigger threats than you.”

  “Sure,” said Hodiak indifferently. “Now will you get out of here so I can go back to work.”

  Alderman marched stiffly to the door, where he turned for a final shot.

  “You’re going to regret this,” he promised.

  Chapter 15

  Pamela Webb had not wasted any time. By the next morning she was instructing a hotel clerk in Birmingham.

  “Mr. Dong is a Korean guest of Midland Research,” she explained. “He will need a room for the one night, and we will appreciate any courtesies shown to him.”

  The Albany was suitably impressed. During the last five years, Lackawanna and Miss Webb had become valued customers.

  “Oh, you can rely on us. We’ll take good care of Mr. Dong.” Indeed, the Korean’s discomforts were going to come from a different quarter.

  “Welcome to Midland Research, Mr. Dong, “ Ali Khan greeted him. “We’re very pleased with the way our work is going, and I hope you will be too. We thought we’d begin by having Miss Webb show you the extent of our operation, and then you can get down to the real business with the head of our test laboratory.”

  Several hours later, Mr. Dong was warmly expressing his appreciation to the crew that had put the prototypes through their paces.

  “That was very satisfactory, and my principals will be extremely interested in my report.” He beamed as he glanced at his watch.

  Pamela had more in mind.

  “Mr. Khan has arranged a dinner in your honor, which will also give you an opportunity to meet key management personnel at Midland.”

  Mr. Dong’s face fell as he absorbed the fact that his working day was going to stretch well into the evening.

  “How gracious of Mr. Khan,” he said unenthusiastically.

  At eight o’clock Mr. Dong was put on view in Birmingham’s flossiest restaurant. Not one single diner there could possibly have missed the fact that the front office of Midland Research was wining and dining a distinguished Korean guest. And Ali Khan, in the role of host, would have been an eye-opener to Bennet Alderman. Here on his own turf, he was not a technical genius at loose ends; he was a man of substance summoning the best for his guest.

  But restaurants were only part of the great plan for public display of Kwai Dong. Ali Khan had also been busy setting up appointments with Birmingham authorities.

  As Mr. Dong worked his way through breakfast the next morning, he found that Pamela Webb was taking an expansive reading of what would interest his clients.

  “Naturally they will be concerned
with conditions in the area—which couldn’t be better from their point of view. Any substantial expansion of MR will receive a good deal of governmental assistance.”

  “There has been no discussion as yet of expansion.”

  “Nonetheless the economic climate is very important,” she replied with brutal common sense. “I think you’ll find that your people are very impressed by the possibilities here. And while primary attention has to be focused on the labor force, I’m sure you’ll agree that we also have to consider . . .”

  Within the hour Mr. Dong had begun a dizzying round of municipal offices. He was lectured about availability of labor, subsidies for training programs, building codes, environmental restrictions, and proposed industrial parks. Everywhere he went he met friendly faces and persuasive tongues. In Birmingham, the mere hint that a modest R&D company might launch into production was enough to bring out the troops in full force.

  But every expert at the hard sell knows there is a time to put away graphs and statistics and introduce the warm personal touch. Mr. Dong was only human. After he had been battered all morning with information he did not want, his spirits lifted at the introduction of two city councillors who suggested that they put their cares aside in favor of a long, relaxing lunch.

  And they were as good as their word. Not one syllable fell from their lips about grants-in-aid or the possibility of building variances. Instead they discussed the amenities of English life.

  “A very enjoyable luncheon,” Dong said to Pamela in parting, scrubbing all reference to the morning that had preceded it.

  “I thought the whole trip went well. Thank you for giving us so much of your time. I hope we didn’t waste any of it.”

  “Quite the contrary,” he said feelingly. “I have more than enough material to satisfy my clients.”

  Pamela, however, was already thinking about her own report. She had done all that was possible at her end. Now it was up to Mr. Arai.

  Ever since the Shima indictment, Mr. Fumitoshi Arai had been waiting for the ideal moment to make his move. The time had now come. After sympathizing with the minister, he moved decorously on to muted encouragement.

  “Perhaps the event will be less unfortunate than you anticipate,” he suggested. “An accusation has been made, but an adroit defense can do much to mitigate the consequences.”