“You’ve always been a twisted man, General—obsessed with a world that’s been gone for more than half a century. I should never have let you remain in a position of responsibility. I and my predecessors believed that it was time to relieve the Americans of their responsibilities toward us and to create a Japan that could be a positive force in the world. But it’s clear that you see things very differently and that we allowed you to drain money from our economy for too long. You seem to believe that we can actually win a war with China. That is a delusion, General. Even with the weapons you’ve developed and the help of the Americans, our country would be decimated. Millions would die on both sides to achieve an even more acrimonious stalemate. The time for war—the time for men like you—is past.”

“And so we’re left with men like you. Men who will give away our country piece by piece. First to be run from Washington and now to be run from Beijing. Men who will turn our people into slaves in order to cling to their own false sense of power and prestige.”

“This conversation is over!” Sanetomi said, the volume of his voice rising. “You will—”

“I will do nothing!” Takahashi responded, slamming a hand down on the table hard enough to turn the heads of the security men on the jet. “You are an arrogant and stupid child. You think I’ve told you and the pitiful men who preceded you the full extent of what I’ve accomplished? You think I would trust the future of my country to speech makers and whores?”

Sanetomi shrank back in his seat. Takahashi was, at his core, a man of violence. But on the surface he had always been careful to maintain the appearance of placidity.

“We will not fly to your ally Yandong’s retreat,” Takahashi continued. “Nor will I be resigning my commission. We will fly to Chengdu where I will release the weapon I have in my briefcase. And then either you will decide to preside over a victorious Japan or you will be tried and executed as a traitor.”

Sanetomi looked at the black leather briefcase, and then back to Takahashi. “You…you brought a nuclear weapon on board this plane?”

The soldier laughed. “Nothing so crude, Prime Minister. What I have inside is a nanoscale weapon that will take hold in Chengdu and then spread throughout China, quietly destroying everything in its path. All you have to do is continue to be convincing in the role of frightened appeaser. By the time the Chinese understand what’s happening and who’s responsible, it will be too late.”