"Impossible." I finally realized he was serious. "Whatever you're thinking, I'll tell you right now you don't have a chance. These outfits have lawyers. Hundreds of them."
"Ah, but that's why you are on our staff. This is your specialty." He smiled. "Remember the Book of Five Rings by the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi? In it he describes the three kinds of attack. There is the Ken no Sen, where you move first and catch your opponent unprepared; next is the Tai no Sen, whereby your initial move occurs a split second after your opponent's; and finally there is the Taitai no Sen, in which you and he attack at the same instant. What has happened up until today might be likened to the Ken no Sen. We have made sure that nothing was anticipated. Very soon, however, we will have to move to the Tai no Sen, responding with lightning speed to the moves of those who would thwart us. Miyamoto Musashi declared correctly that if you are attacked with force, you must counterattack with even greater force and thereby upset momentarily your opponent's rhythm. That moment can mean victory, but only if you are totally prepared." He leaned back. "We must be totally prepared."
"Why in hell would I want to help you? I guess you didn't hear me. I've just resigned." I turned for the door. "Besides, nobody could pull off what you're planning. You're going to have battalions of attorneys moving against you."
"I expect that." He stopped smiling. "But that area is your responsibility now, Mr. Walton. A good swordsman does not think, he acts. Intuitively."
"And if I refuse?"
"You cannot possibly."
"Try me."
"Only you can handle this, Mr. Walton. Betray us, and you may well witness the disappearance of America as an industrial nation. The time is now or never."
That zinger gave me pause. He meant it. But before I had a chance to tell him he was completely crazy, he went on to sketch out what he claimed was his objective. How he planned to address the American "crisis" and resolve it.
Let me tell you my first impression of Matsuo Noda's scenario. It was legal, it was legit, and it was—as Joanna's teenage niece used to describe notable phenomena—totally fucking awesome.