“It just keeps getting better and better.”

“We also have to assume that if they have nuclear defensive capability, they have nuclear offensive capability.”

“Missiles?”

“We don’t think so. It would be extremely hard to hide those kinds of installations. More likely suitcase nukes. My people believe that the Japanese could have easily developed something in the twenty-to-fifty-kiloton range.”

“Terrific.”

“Also, if they have a bioweapons program, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s not just defensive like Takahashi told you.”

“Any good news?” Castilla said. “Anything at all?”

“There is, actually. While we think they’ve developed the technology for all these weapons, manufacturing them in any large quantity would be extremely difficult. Not only because it would be hard to keep it under wraps, but because of the cost.”

Castilla suddenly stood and began pacing back and forth across the stone floor. “I sat three feet from Takahashi, Fred. I looked into his eyes. He didn’t build his army to defend Japan. He built it to annihilate China and to turn his country into a superpower. The government there will end up a military puppet and Takahashi will start his march across the East.”

He turned and looked back at Klein. “Wielding power is hard, Fred, but the US has struck a pretty good balance. Now, I’m not going to stand here and blow sunshine up your skirt. It’s true that some of our restraint has been because we have a strong belief in freedom—both our own and others’—but that’s not the whole story. A big part of it is that we live in a massive country blessed with enormous natural resources. For the most part, we haven’t had to go out and take what we need. Japan is different. It’s a small island with an aging population and a debt problem that makes ours look mild. Take my word for it—Takahashi wants to expand.”

Castilla started pacing again. “I’ve been thinking about this nanoweapon ever since you first told me about it. Have you considered what will happen if Takahashi actually uses it? Have you really thought it through? The entire Chinese power grid will go down when the plastic gets eaten off the wires. Dams will collapse and flood entire regions. Building will implode, machines will fall apart. And not just cars and tractors. Even the shovels people might be able to use to eke out an existence will crumble. We’re heading into winter and a billion people could be without heat, without shelter, without food. Six million Jews died in World War Two. This could make that look like a historical blip. There’s no way to spin this that we aren’t talking hundreds of millions of casualties, Fred. Hundreds of millions.”

“You spoke with him,” Klein said. “And like you say, you looked into his eyes. Where do we fit into all this?”