“It appears that you were identified, but the Chinese government isn’t sure yet how to handle the situation. After all, you were the one who was attacked and you showed impressive restraint. My guess is that the Chinese will be happy to let this just fade away.”

“You said we had to move on this thing,” Randi explained unnecessarily. “Yoshima seemed like our best lead.”

“I agree.”

It was clear that she was blaming herself for the man’s death, and Smith sympathized. He’d been in the same position more times than he wanted to remember. “It’s not your fault, Randi. If anyone understood the risks of this kind of life it was Kaito. I’m not even sure he cared.”

Her face fell a bit and she eased silently into a chair.

“Were you able to learn anything?” Klein prompted.

“I’d say he was behind the attempt on Takahashi’s life. But he didn’t know anything about Fukushima.”

“You’re sure?”

“Not a hundred percent. He could have been playing me but my gut says he wasn’t.”

Klein let out a long breath and reached for his pipe. “So not back to square one, but close.”

“None of this makes sense to me,” Smith said. “No matter how many ways I look at it, I can’t get the pieces to fit.”

“How so?” Klein said.

“According to your people, there’s no damage at the other Japanese nuclear plants, right?”

“We went over all of them looking for any sign of the kind of structural weakness you and Greg Maple described and came up empty.”

“So the Chinese develop some kind of new weapon and they use it on that particular plant and only that plant.”

“It could have just been the first one,” Randi interjected. “Then the tsunami hit.”

“But why Japanese nuclear power plants? What was their play?”

“To discredit them?” Klein said. “Make them lose face?”

“A serious nuclear incident would also keep the Japanese pretty well occupied,” Randi added. “And let’s not forget that killing Takahashi would throw a wrench into their defense forces’ readiness. Maybe they were setting up an attack.”

Klein shook his head. “The Japanese have other competent generals—and let’s not forget our treaty. In a war with Japan, the Japanese defense forces are the least of China’s problem. I can tell you that the president intends to honor our agreement to protect the Japanese in the event of an attack. We already have two carrier groups in the area as a display of that commitment.”

“I agree,” Smith said. “The Chinese government is drumming up all this hysteria to divert attention from the slowdown in their economy, not because they want to go to war. But they’re not entirely wrong to be worried about Takahashi. A remilitarized Japan would completely disrupt the balance of power in the Pacific, and the general isn’t exactly a dove.”