He turned and strolled to the window, pensively. "That may not always be possible."
"Then you've got a potential problem."
He revolved back and studied me a second, finally taking the bait. "There is, of course, one very simple solution. I can merely assign you power of attorney, allowing you to act in my name if I cannot be reached."
"That would do it. But you'd be handing over a lot of authority."
"I envision no difficulty." He looked me over with the self- assurance of a tiger contemplating a haunch of beef. "I have every reason to believe you would always act in DNI's best interest, Mr. Walton."
It was possible he knew a few things I didn't. On the other hand, maybe Matsuo Noda had just overreached, taken too much for granted. Whichever it was, the maneuvering just completed had been one small step for Tam, and Matthew Walton. Should we ever need them, I'd just conned Matsuo Noda into giving me duplicates of the keys to his Kingdom. It was our protection and, in a way, my secret price for putting our heads into Dai Nippon's noose.
"Then it looks like we have everything we need to move forward." I nodded.
"Excellent."
Upon which I absented his office, safety net in place. The play was on.
Which brings us to Tam Richardson. If my approach to this new job was a little unconventional, what about the college prof who showed up in jeans as she readied to renovate corporate America? One thing, we suited each other. It was a tag team made in heaven. After I'd pried open the door to the companies DNI was buying, she was going to roll in, guns blazing, and shove everybody against the wall.