Free Linnear 03 - White Ninja by Eric Van Lustbader Page B

seemed to generate beams of invisible light that probed the darkest recesses of the soul. He possessed great hara - great inner strength - and Nangi was instantly wary of him.
    Tanzan Nangi, it is an honour to meet you,' Kusunda Ikusa said with a slight formal bow of his head. 'I bring the presence of Nami. When I speak it is with the voice of Nami, all as one.'
    Hits ritual greeting was delivered in a deep, almost grating voice, oddly inflected with the singsong tempo of the Shinto priest.
    'Kusunda Ikusa, it is an honour to meet you,' Nangi replied in kind. 'The presence of Nami is felt, its voice heard.'
    Kusunda Ikusa nodded, satisfied that the preliminary rituals had been properly observed. He lifted an arm dense with muscle and fat. 'I have reserved a private space so that we may speak freely.'
    He led Nangi into the pool area, an enormous place with an overarching ceiling dim with height. The pool was echoey, filled with hushed, murmuring voices which were nonetheless thrown back and forth in the space by the curved, tiled ceiling and walls.
    Ikusa stopped at a small alcove. Tiny, pale green wavelets licked at the green tiles. Seven feet into the water, a pebbled glass screen had been erected. Light passed through this translucent barrier, bringing with it anonymous shadows moving slowly, somnolently in the enormous pool beyond.
    Ikusa slipped effortlessly into the water, and Nangi, placing his cane on the tiles beside the pool, climbed in with some difficulty. Nangi wondered whether Ikusa's choice of venue was deliberate. Nangi had to put his physical disability on public display.
    For a time, they floated in the deliciously warm water, shedding like dead skin the memory of the frenetic world outside. Here, they were at peace, enwombed in the buoyant water. This was, at any rate, the atmosphere that Ikusa apparently wished to manufacture.
    Nangi closed his good eye and, gripping the side of
    the pool, thought of nothing. He did not open his eye, or focus his mind until Ikusa cleared his throat.
    Then he saw those laser-beam eyes contemplating him, and he blinked as if he could not bear their scrutiny. Reflected light coming off the water in patches illuminated Ikusa's face as if it were a screen upon which sun and clouds chased one another in ever changing patterns.
    And, indeed, it was a land of screen, reflecting more than light. Nangi knew that he would need to read that face if he were going to hold his own in this conference.
    'Nangi-san,' Kusunda Ikusa began, 'Nami wishes to speak with you concerning a matter of the utmost urgency.'
    'So you indicated in our telephone conversation,' Nangi said neutrally.
    'Nami has some concerns - some significant concerns - regarding the way you run your business.'
    Nangi showed nothing on his face. 'I was not aware that Nami had any reason to scrutinize Sato International.'
    'Two events made it necessary,' Ikusa said. 'The first is your involvement in Tenchi. The exploratory oil release programme is government-sponsored, so it is natural that Nami should be involved.'
    When Nangi saw that Ikusa was not immediately prepared to continue, he closed his good eye again, as if he were alone, relaxed and meditative. He did not care for the way this meeting had begun: there was already an accusatory tone hi Ikusa's voice, non-specific and, therefore, particularly offensive. Now Ikusa was deliberately baiting Nangi by failing to provide the second reason for Nami's interest in Sato International.
    It occurred to Nangi that, from the first, Ikusa's tactic had been to provide offence. What did he mean to gain by this? Was it merely an attempt to establish control, a sense of territory? Or was there another, more sinister motive?
    Nangi cleared his mind, aware that one could spend all one's time asking questions, when what he needed to do was to watch Ikusa, listen to him as Nangi sought to draw him out. Only then would the answers come.
    'Three years ago,' Ikusa said at last, 'the Tenchi