"Michael, no one dares question him. You know that." His voice grew formal. "It's the Yakuza way."
"Well, you're in London now. A free man."
"It's not that simple. You may not know—it's a very well-kept secret—that he capitalized my takeover of the Westminster Union Bank here. He put together a consortium of private financiers for me. A lot of the money was actually his. The whole thing had to be low profile, since none of our banks dared have its name associated with a hostile takeover in London. Our institutions are still squeamish about such things. They all cheered me on in private, but in public they didn't know anything about it."
"Maybe he had this little return favor in mind all along."
"To tell you the truth, I've since wondered that myself. Anyway, now he's calling in my obligation. We Japanese call it giri. I have to play. But either way I'm ruined. If I do it, I'll become a pariah in the European banking community. If I don't . . . well, the consequences are almost unthinkable."
"Ken, I don't know how to say this, but there's a chance this whole scenario is bigger than anything you can imagine."
Nogami turned to stare. "What do you know?"
"Let's just say I hear things. But first we need to strike our deal."
"Of course. As I said, I'll send a telex, from my secure trading room, for what good it may do. But you've got to help me too. Please." He turned back to the river. "You know, Michael, I like my life here. More and more. Even given all that's going on here these days, the pace is still much more civilized than Tokyo. For all our prosperity back home, I think we've traded something very valuable. Call it our soul perhaps. Here I feel almost free from the old days, part of a real, legitimate world. I hated all the money laundering, the shady deals. These days I can look myself in the face."
"I was temporarily changing professions myself, until about a week ago. Then this problem came up." He waved to a pleasure boat slowly motoring up the river. It was only a thirty footer, but the lines reminded him of the Ulysses. It made him suddenly homesick for real sunshine and real air.