Debt Of Honor by Clancy, Tom

was, confounded all computer models and preconceptions.

“Well, pilgrim, that’s why we’ve got brains and guts,” George Winston

responded deadpan.

“But what are our markets going to do?”

Winston grinned. “Sure as hell we’re going to find out in, oh, about seven

and a half hours. And you don’t even have to shell out for the E-Ticket.

Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“I’m glad somebody’s happy about this.”

There were worldwide rules for currency trading. Trading stopped once a

currency had fallen a certain amount, but not this time. The floor under the

yen was yanked out by every European government, trading didn’t stop, and

the yen resumed its fall.

“They can’t do that!” someone said in Tokyo. But they were iloiiifj il. and

he reached for a phone, knowing even then what his instructions would IHV

The yen was being attacked. They had to defend it, and the only w;iy was to

trade the foreign-currency holdings they already owned in order to formn the

yen holdings back home and out of the playing field of international specula

tion. Worst of all, there was no reason for this action. The yen was strong,

especially against the American dollar. Soon it would replace it as the

world’s benchmark currency, especially if the American financial markets

were foolish enough to reopen later in the day. The Europeans were making

a sucker bet of such magnitude as to defy qualification, and since it didn’t

make sense, all the Japanese traders could do was to apply their own experi-

ence to the situation and act accordingly. The irony of the moment would

have been delicious, had they been able to appreciate it. Their actions were

virtually automatic. Francs, French and Swiss, British pounds, German

D-marks, Dutch guilders, and Danish kroner were disbursed in vast quanti-

ties to purchase yen, whose relative value, everyone in Tokyo was sure,

could only appreciate, especially if the Europeans pegged their currencies to

the dollar.

There was an element of nervousness to it, but they did it, acting on the

orders of their superiors, who were even now leaving their homes and catch-

ing cars or trains to the various commercial office buildings in which world

trading was conducted. Equities were traded off in Europe as well, with the

local currencies converted to yen. The expectation again was that when the

American collapse resumed, the European currencies would fall, and with

them the values of stock issues. Then Japan could reacquire even larger

quantities of European stocks. The European moves were a sad case of mis-

placed loyalty, or confidence, or something, the people in Tokyo thought,

but sad or not, it worked in their favor. And that was just fine. By noon

London time a massive movement had taken place. Individual investors and

smaller institutions, seeing what everyone else had done, had moved in-

foolishly, the Japanese knew. Noon London time was seven in the morning

on America’s East Coast.

“My fellow Americans,” President Durling said at exactly 7:05 A.M. on

every TV network. “On Wednesday night I told you that today American

financial markets are going to reopen …”

“Here it goes,” Kozo Matsuda said, just back in his office and watching

CNN. “He’s going to say that they can’t, and Europe is going to panic.

Splendid,” he told his aides, turning back to the TV. The American presi-

dent was smiling and confident. Well, a politician had to know how to act,

the better to lie to his citizens.

528 TOM CLANCY

“The problems which the market experienced last week came from a de-

liberate assault on the American economy. Nothing like this has ever hap-

pened before, and I am going to walk you through what happened, how it

was done, and why it was done. We’ve spent an entire week accumulating

this information, and even now Treasury Secretary Fiedler and the Chairman

of the Federal Reserve Board are in New York, working with the heads of

the great American financial institutions to set things aright.

“I am also pleased to report that we have had the time to consult with our

friends in Europe, and that our historic allies have chosen to stand with us as

faithfully in this time of difficulty as they have in other times.

“So what really happened last Friday?” Roger Durling asked.

Matsuda sat his drink down on his desk when he saw the first chart appear

on the screen.

Jack watched him go through it. The trick as always was to make a complex

story simple, and that task had involved two professors of economics, half of

Fiedler’s personal staff, and a governor of the Securities and Exchange

Commission, all working in coordination with the President’s best speech-

writer. Even so, it took twenty-five minutes, six flip charts, and would re-

quire a number of government spokesmen talking who were even now on

background to reporters whose briefings had started at 6:30.

“I told you Wednesday night that nothing-nothing of consequence had

happened to us. Not one piece of property has been affected. Not one farm

has lost anything. Each of you is the same person you were a week ago, with

the same abilities, the same home, the same job, the same family and friends.

What happened last Friday was an attack not on our country itself, but on our

national confidence.

“Our confidence is a harder and tougher target than people realize, and

that is something we’re going to prove today.”

Most of the people in the trading business were en route to their offices

and missed the speech, but their employers had all taped it, and there were

also printed copies on every desk and at every computer terminal. The trad-

ing day would not start until noon, moreover, and there were strategy ses-

sions to be held everywhere, though nobody really had much idea of what to

do. The most obvious response to the situation was indeed so obvious that no

one knew whether or not to try it.

“They’re doing it to us,” Matsuda said, watching his screens. “What can

we do to stop it?”

“It depends on what their stock market does,” his senior technical trader

replied, not knowing what else to say and not knowing what to expect, ei-

ther.

DEBT OF HONOR

529

“Do you think it’ll work, Jack?” Durling asked. He had two speeches sil-

ting in folders on his desk, and didn’t know which he would be giving in the

evening.

The National Security Advisor shrugged. “Don’t know. It gives them a

way out. Whether or not they make use of it is up to them.”

“So now we just get to sit and wait?”

“That’s about it, Mr. President.”

The second session was held in the State Department. Secretary Hanson

huddled with Scott Adler, who then met with his negotiating team and

waited. The Japanese delegation arrived at 9:45.

“Good morning,” Adler said pleasantly.

“A pleasure to see you again,” the Ambassador replied, taking his hand,

but not as confidently as on the day before. Not surprisingly, he had not had

time to receive detailed instructions from Tokyo. Adler had halfway ex-

pected a request for a postponement of the session, but, no, that would have

been too obvious a sign of weakness, and so the Ambassador, a skilled and

experienced diplomat, was in the most precarious of diplomatic positions-

he was forced to represent his government with nothing more to fall back on

than his wits and his knowledge. Adler walked him to his seat, then returned

lo his side of the table. Since America was the host today, Japan got to speak

first. Adler had placed a side bet with the Secretary as to the Ambassador’s

opening statement.

“First of all it needs to be said that my government objects in the

strongest terms to the attack on our currency engineered by the United

States …”

I hat’s ten bucks you owe me, Mr. Secretary, Adler thought behind an im-

passive face.

“Mr. Ambassador,” he replied, “that is something we could say just as

easily. In fact, here is the data which we have developed on the events of last

week.” Binders appeared on the table and were slid across to the Japanese

diplomats. “I need to tell you that we are now conducting an investigation

that could well lead to the indictment of Raizo Yamata for wire- and securi-

ties fraud.”

It was a bold play for a number of reasons. It showed everything that the

Americans knew about the attack on Wall Street and pointed to the things

vel to he learned. As such, it could have no effect other than to ruin the crim-

inal case against Yamata and his allies, should it come to that. But that was a

side issue. Adler had a war to stop, and stop quickly. He’d let the boys and

^’irls at Justice worry about the other stuff.

“It might be heller of course for your country to deal with this man and