business with a person.
Nevertheless Hank smiled as he took the drink.
"Pretty much what I expected to him to say," he replied. Young nodded.
"So he's buying spot."
"Yes," replied Hank as he finished taking a sip of the Kentucky bourbon, enjoying its taste before continuing, "but I didn't expect him to murder his partner though," with a slight shake of his head.
The Secretary of State laughed then replied.
"You should have asked your Head of Security for his opinion," he said, teasing him.
"Why?" queried Hank who to his annoyance for the second time that evening found that the former CIA Director-cum-politician ignored his question with the classic line he always used.
"That's classified!"
"That said, I am sure Mr. Singh should be able to give you an overview without breaching National Security," Young said before closing down the discussion by taking a sip of his own glass of Bourbon.
Hank pondered on Litchfield for a moment. Earlier, when the Indian had rang him on one of the many burner phones the man had, to tell him that his partner's colleagues in Japan were demanding Thomas's head on a platter because the Turkmen had been an important part of their transportation business into Europe, he had cursed his name from hell to high water. It wasn't the fact that the Japanese wanted to kill Litchfield that bothered him; it was the timing. That was why after this meeting he intended to travel to Mexico to tell him not to, at least until the operation was underway.
The words of the Secretary of State brought Hank back to the moment.
"Litchfield has a habit for doing the unexpected, I did warn you," Young lectured in a manner that reminded Hank of his old schoolteacher at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the military school he attended as a child.
"Anyway," The Secretary of State delivered in an almost dismissively manner and continued, "I will continue to ensure that our friends in the media continue with their assault on his character." He was referring to the State Department Briefings he had ordered to run against Litchfield over the past week.
"But I will need a timetable as to when the Japanese intend to make their move so I can ensure the President has a position ready," Young ordered and then paused for a moment. "Hank," he said, "I don't need to reiterate that this requires very delicate handling."
Hank acknowledged the comment with a slight nod of his head.
"That was certainly one-way of putting it!" Hank muttered as he paused to ponder on the build-up that had led him to this moment. For the first time in recent history the American government was going to have to choose between their two allies in South East Asia. The affair, despite Japan's claim, was a tricky one. It was something Young had taken the time to explain to Hank when he had first brought the plan to him.
During that meeting, Young had made reference to the fact that within the State Department some of its specialists argued that if the case were brought before the International Courts of Justice then it was likely South Korea would win.
When the Secretary of State had made reference to the Island of Palmas dispute of 1928 between the Netherlands and the United States and that of Clipperton Island in 1932 between Mexico and France at the time, Hank thought that had meant he was going to be forced to turn down the opportunity, despite the huge sums he had spent getting them elected. However to his delight he couldn't have been more wrong.
"The major difference to both those incidents," the Secretary of State had explained and as such had identified the peg to hang on when it came to supporting Japan over Korea, "Was that Japan's claim was not merely the claim of discovery as had been the case in the two previous incidents involving the islands but rather an actual annexation of the Rocks into its territory in 1905, which, at least, lasted effectively and peacefully until 1945, or arguably until 1954."
Playing to Young's ego, Hank had asked him why this was important.
He had earned a condescending smile and the response.
"That's easy! It gives the President a get out of jail card. He can stand up and say although he is unhappy that Japan has decided to act in this manner he can see and understand her position."
"How is that possible, David?" Hank had asked, fanning his ego.
"You're an oil and gas man," answered Young. "So you don't understand the factors that truly drive a nation."
Despite being furious at the insult, Hank had kept his anger in check as Young had continued.
"You only see money. A nation's population really only cares about things like the economy, housing, and employment security; everything else that politicians put forward are versions of those issues. A nation's government is only concerned with two things: 'Energy Security' and 'getting re-elected'!"
Hank had sniffed at that statement and had confirmed, "So economy, housing, and employment security are just proxies for those two issues for you!"
It was Young's turn to smile before he had continued with his lecture.
"During the period when the North and the South were divided, the solution in the dispute had always been one of silence, as stopping the threat of the North was deemed more important, however, since the reunification of Korea the islands have become an increasing issue of national pride to the Japanese people and one of energy security for its government." He went on to tell Hank that this was made more complicated by the fact that trade had tripled between the Korea and Japan courtesy of the free trade agreement that had been agreed as part of the six party talks.
"The Nationalists of Japan use this as evidence of their countries over reliance on outside influences. The decision taken by the Vice President O Su Lee to grant TLH and its Korean partners the rights to explore the natural gas rich islands has only fanned the flames. Therefore this proposal of yours has legs," Young had declared.
The proposal had been simple in design. It would see CORETEXAS take over the exploration and production rights of the islands once they had been retaken from the Koreans.
"So I am prepared to assist you on the basis," Young had continued, "because it enables our country to protect and develop its National Security Objectives in the region."
"Thank you, Mr. Secretary," Hank had replied at the time with a beaming smile despite thinking the man was an arrogant prick. He could not stand Young at the best of times. The fact that he had started on yet another lecture again only pissed off Hank even more.
"I am least twenty years older than him and he is lecturing me!" Hank had fumed silently. "Money!" Hank had contemptuously thought with a smirk, "You couldn't be more wrong boy! Money wasn't the only thing that mattered in life to men like him. The only thing in life that really mattered was time and how you were viewed after you were gone and what mark you left."
"Nobody in today's generation remembered who came after George Washington" Hank had continued thinking before acknowledging maybe that was a touch unfair on Lincoln and Roosevelt or maybe Kennedy from his own generation.
But Hank was absolutely certain on one thing: none of today's children could name America's Secretaries of State over the years but he would bet his last dollar they could name companies that affected their daily lives.
"Men like JP Morgan, Henry Ford, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and the McDonald brothers understood that!" he had concluded.
"A Psalm of Life," a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, had reentered his thoughts as it often did whenever Hank had faced a challenge or problem or maybe had started to doubt himself and his mission. He had loved the poem when he had read it as child for the first time but had never truly understood it until he got to Vietnam when through a twist of fate had had found himself the only one left alive of his platoon in that rabbit hole after a grenade landed in it during the Battle of Khe Sanh.
The memories of that seventy-seven-day siege during which he had been merely one of the outnumbered marines who had fought off and killed between 15,000 North Vietnam Army regulars still haunted his thoughts at night.
Lives of great m
en all remind us we can make our lives sublime, and, departing,
Leave behind us footprints on the sands of time
"You seize the moments that you have before you," Hank had thought. "Become a role model for people who have yet to live their lives, and leave your footprints on the sands of time and become important!"
That's what really drove men like Hank and that was why he had stopped hating his wildcatter of a father and instead joined him at the oil head on his return to Texas and turned his company into one the largest in the world of natural resources.
"Money indeed!" Hank had thought with further look of utter contempt at the politician as he took another sip of the fine bourbon. Men like Young were instruments or pawns, it was men like him that left their footprints on the sands of time.
Hank had stopped listening to the Secretary of State's ongoing lecture for the moment and instead reflected on the events of the last month. Initially he had to confess when the plan had been presented by his Japanese partner in Mexico after they had signed the deal to build two new power stations together it had drawn a lukewarm response from him, for he knew it would draw an immediate reaction from the Koreans.
They would nationalize his newly operational LNG Plants as punishment and cause him to piss down the drain a billion dollar investment. The response however by Shota Oshima that his friends in Japan would finance and then allow him to operate the new LNG