"Typical," Mel muttered.

"Understandable," Av countered. "The Japanese live in dread of war on the peninsula and the possibility that it will spread."

Greg Kidd said, "There's something else to consider. Failing neutrality, it's very likely that Japan will side with the North."

"Against us?" Hood asked.

"Against us."

"Typical," Mel reiterated.

"The financial ties between Japan and the DPRK go deeper than most people realize. The Japanese underworld has been investing drug and gambling profits heavily in the North we think with the tacit blessings of Tokyo."

"Why would the government sanction that?" asked Hood.

"Because of their fear that the North Koreans have Nodong 'Scud' missiles capable of crossing the sea. If there were a war, and the North Koreans wanted to play that trump card, the Japanese could take quite a pounding. Despite the great PR, our Patriot missiles took out a very small number of Scuds during the Gulf War. The Japanese will back us so long as they don't get their hair mussed."

Hood was silent for a moment. It was his job to pull threads and see where they took him, regardless of how bizarre it seemed on the surface. He turned to Deputy Assistant Director McCaskey.

"Darrell, what's the name of the super-nationalists in Japan, the ones that blew up the Mexico City stock exchange when Bush started pushing NAFTA?"

"The Red Sky League."

"That's the one. As I recall, they oppose close Japanese ties with the U.S."

"True, though they've always taken immediate credit for anything they do. But you've got a point: this may be a third party operation, maybe arms dealers in the Middle East looking to make a killing selling to the North. I'll put some people on it."

The ex-FBI agent went to the computer on the other side of the room and began E-mailing his sources in Asia and Europe.

"That's an interesting notion," Greg Kidd said, "one I had as well. But arms sales may not be what's behind this. I've got people looking into whether someone is trying to draw us into a war while they go hog wild somewhere else, Iraq or the Haitians, for example. They know the American public would never stand for our soldiers fighting in two wars at the same time. If they can get us waist deep in Korea first, that'll leave them free to fight their own war."

Hood regarded Bugs Benet's small image. "Put those in the Options Paper as a footnote under PROBLEM. Whenever the hell Rodgers gets here, he and Martha can hammer out an addendum." He looked back at the monitor. "Av, where do the Chinese stand in all this?"

"I spoke with their Foreign Minister just before the meeting. They insist they don't want war on their Manchurian border, but we also know they don't want a unified Korea there either. In time, it would grow into a capitalistic powerhouse that would spur envy and unrest among the Chinese. In the first case, you have refugees streaming into China, and in the second, Chinese trying to sneak into Korea for their bite of the apple."