Hard Rain

him dead," I said. "A nice, quiet suicide to
    preempt a scandal."
    "Biddle would meanwhile destroy the receipts and any other evidence of
    Crepuscular's existence."
    I thought for a moment. "There's something off, though."
    "Yes?"
    "Biddle's a bureaucrat. In the ordinary course of things he wouldn't
    just resort to murder. He'd have to be feeling desperate."
    "Just so. And what produces desperation?"
    I looked at him, realizing that he'd already put it together. "Personal
    reasons, as opposed to institutional ones."
    "Yes. So the question is, what is Biddle's personal stake in all
    this?"
    I considered. "Professional embarrassment? Problems with his career,
    if Kanezaki were burned and a scandal erupted about the CIA's Tokyo
    Station?"
    "All that, yes, but something more specific'
    I shook my head, not seeing it.
    "What do you think precipitated Biddle's request for those receipts,
    and his request that you assist with Kanezaki's "suicide"?"
    I shook my head again. "I don't know."
    He looked at me, perhaps mildly disappointed that I hadn't managed to
    keep up with him. "Yamaoto got to Biddle the same way he got to
    Holtzer," he said. "He created assets that Holtzer and Biddle believed
    were real. They basked in the reflected glory of the intelligence the
    "assets" produced. Then, when he judged the time was propitious,
    Yamaoto revealed to them, privately, that they had been duped."
    I imagined Yamaoto's conversation with Biddle: If word gets out that
    your 'assets' are all run by the other side, your career is over. Work
    with me, though, and "I'll keep things quiet. "I'll even make sure
    that you get more assets and more intel, and your star will keep
    rising.
    "I understand," I said. "But somehow Yamaoto miscalculated this time,
    because Biddle thinks he's got a way out. Just get rid of Kanezaki and
    destroy all the evidence of Crepuscular's existence."
    He nodded. "Yes. And what does that tell us?"
    I considered. "That Crepuscular has an unusually small distribution
    list. That Langley doesn't know of it, because if they did, Biddle
    wouldn't be able to contain it just by eliminating Kanezaki and burning
    some paperwork."
    "So it seems that Mr. Biddle has been running Crepuscular on his own
    initiative. He told you the program was terminated six months ago, did
    he not?"
    I nodded. "And Kanezaki told me he discovered cable traffic to that
    effect."
    "Biddle's story is that Kanezaki has been running a rogue program since
    that time. Given that Tanaka has only been dealing with Biddle, it
    seems likely that the rogue is in fact Biddle, who was using Kanezaki
    as his unwitting front man."
    Yamaoto wouldn't know that Crepuscular wasn't officially sanctioned," I
    said, nodding. "He would have assumed that the program was within the
    knowledge of Biddle's superiors back at Langley. But it sounds like,
    outside of Biddle and Kanezaki, no one on the U.S. side is aware of
    it."
    He bowed his head as though acknowledging the valiant efforts of a slow
    student who had shown a hint of progress. "Which is why Yamaoto missed
    the possibility that Biddle would see Kanezaki's elimination as a
    solution to Yamaoto's blackmail."
    You can't really fault Biddle's reasoning," I said, looking at him
    closely. "With Kanezaki gone, Yamaoto's blackmail evidence would lose
    most of its power. Meaning your network of reformers would be a lot
    safer if Kanezaki exited the scene."
    He grunted, and I realized that I was enjoying the sight of him
    struggling with what for him was a moral dilemma. "What about the
    reformers Kanezaki's been meeting with?" I asked. "If he gets
    exposed, they'll be at risk."
    "Several of them may be."
    "An acceptably small number?"
    He looked at me, knowing where I was going. I said it anyway. "What
    would you do if there had been five? Or ten?"
    He scowled. "These are decisions that can only be made case by
    case."
    "Yamaoto doesn't make these decisions case by case," I said, still
    pushing. "He knows what needs to be done and he does it. That's what
    you're up against. You sure you're equal to the task?"
    His eyes narrowed slightly. "Do you think I seek to be this man's
    "equal"? Yamaoto would not account for the fact that these politicians
    are themselves to blame for their current predicament. Or for the fact
    that Kanezaki's motives are essentially good. Or for the fact that
    this young man presumably has a mother and father who would be ruined
    by his loss."
    I bowed my head, acknowledging his point and the