August 1, 1990, late night.
Baghdad, Iraq, Presidential Palace.
The dry, scorching monsoon blowing in from the Euphrates battered the bulletproof glass outside.
In the center of the office stood an enormous military sand table made of solid wood, spanning more than a dozen square meters. Overhead, vertical beams from distributed spotlights cut down and threw the terrain of the Persian Gulf coastline into sharp relief.
Saddam Hussein stood at the southern edge of the table.
He wore a dark green military uniform stripped of all rank insignia. Between the rough fingers of his right hand, he held a handmade cigar that had been flown in from Havana through private channels.
The tip glowed dark red. Gray-white smoke spiraled upward into the air conditioning and blurred the hard line of his jaw.
His gaze moved across the Tigris River on the table and settled on the red markings along the Kuwaiti border.
The treasury was empty.
The eight year Iran-Iraq War had incinerated the country's foreign reserves and left a fiscal crater tens of billions of dollars deep. Most of that debt was owed to Kuwait, the tiny nation to the south.
Now Kuwait was demanding repayment at every regional summit. Worse, they were overproducing oil from the Gulf fields. Crude flooded the market and forced the international benchmark down to fourteen dollars a barrel. At the Rumaila field along the border, they were even using slant drilling to siphon oil from beneath Iraqi soil.
For a country with a weak industrial base that survived on crude exports, the halving of oil prices was a death sentence. The government could not pay its bills. The million man army could not be fed.
This was a slow strangulation.
If it continued, the country would be bled dry.
He took a deep drag from the cigar. The harsh, spicy smoke burned his throat.
His eyes traced the terrain south.
If he ordered the army to cross that fragile border and seize the land, its high yield oil fields, and its deep water ports, the politicians in Washington would erupt. The White House would never stand by while one fifth of the world's oil reserves changed hands. American military intervention was almost guaranteed.
Saddam studied the red markers on the table that represented Iraq's million man army. He noted the dense clusters of armor: thousands of T-72 main battle tanks and batteries of heavy artillery.
He had clawed his way through eight years of blood in the Iran-Iraq War. He was not some desk-bound bureaucrat.
Those men might understand politics or finance, but they did not understand war.
War was trenches and attrition. It was armored columns charging headlong. It was flesh and blood consumed by artillery fire.
Would the Americans really dare to fight that kind of war?
The quagmire of Vietnam still haunted that superpower. The politicians in the Oval Office spent their days calculating midterm votes. They could not afford the political cost of ten thousand body bags, or even five thousand, being shipped home.
If he deployed a million men into the Kuwaiti desert, he could turn the entire expanse into a meat grinder that would terrify any invader.
Washington's resolve would crack under a rising casualty count. They would be forced to the negotiating table and compelled to recognize Baghdad's control of the territory.
The key was speed. Seize the critical areas fast, then hold long enough to bleed the Americans. Once the body count rose, their offensive would collapse on its own.
He had done the math.
With a flick of his fingers, Saddam crushed the half-smoked cigar into the pure copper ashtray on the table.
He looked up. His gaze crossed the sand table and landed on the supreme frontline commander of the Republican Guard, who stood waiting in the shadows.
"Cross the border."
His voice was low.
"Take back our outlet to the sea."
Snap.
Snap.
The crisp sound of ice shattering echoed through the empty courtyard.
Karuizawa, Chosho Sanso Villa.
The afternoon of August 2nd. The sunlight was bright.
Summer cicadas droned across the mountains, their constant chorus hanging in the warm air.
Shuichi had returned to Tokyo yesterday to oversee the settlement of semiconductor debt stripped from City Bank.
In the sprawling backyard, only Saionji Satsuki remained.
She wore a loose, pure white cotton T-shirt and stood barefoot on the veranda, knees bent as she sat at the edge.
On the low rosewood table in front of her sat an old hand cranked cast iron shaved ice machine from the early Showa era. The heavy brass wheel caught the sunlight and gleamed with a soft metallic sheen.
Satsuki steadied the base with her left hand and gripped the wooden handle with her right, turning it with effort.
The steel blade scraped the ice block. Fine, snowflake like shavings drifted from the spout and piled into a miniature white mountain in the glass bowl below.
From the corner of the corridor, steady and nearly silent footsteps approached.
Fujita Tsuyoshi crossed the floor and stopped three paces from the low table.
In his hand he held a bulky black satellite phone. The encryption light at the top blinked red, once per second.
"Young Lady."
Fujita bowed slightly. His voice was kept low.
"Top secret communication just in from the Middle East branch of the Saionji Information System. Multiple sources have cross verified."
He offered the phone with both hands.
"At 2:00 AM Middle East time, the armored vanguard of the Iraqi Republican Guard breached Kuwait's border checkpoints. They have pushed into Kuwaiti territory across the entire front."
"The war has begun."
The cicadas rose and fell in the courtyard.
Satsuki's right hand never paused. The handle kept turning at a steady pace.
Snap. Snap.
Fine ice continued to fall, building the mound in the glass bowl higher and rounder.
When the last shard dropped, she let go of the brass handle.
She reached for a small white porcelain jar beside the table.
"Hmm. So it has started."
She dipped a porcelain spoon into the jar and lifted a spoonful of thick Shizuoka Uji matcha syrup.
Tilting her wrist, she let the dark green syrup run from the spoon and drizzle evenly over the peak of the shaved ice. The dense syrup sank slowly, threading through the tiny gaps between the crystals.
"Notify New York."
Satsuki set the spoon down and picked up the long handled wooden spoon next to her. She pressed it gently into the ice.
She scooped a small bite of matcha covered shaved ice and put it in her mouth.
"Mm."
The icy sweetness and the faint bitterness of matcha melted on her tongue. She narrowed her eyes in pleasure and swung her legs at the edge of the veranda. A tiny drop of emerald syrup clung to the corner of her mouth.
She flicked out her tongue and licked it away.
"Fujita, speak to Frank later."
She kept stirring the ice in the bowl with the wooden spoon. Her tone was casual, mixed with the soft crunch of crushed ice.
"Tell Frank not to touch the public NYMEX board. Make sure we avoid any position limit flags with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission."
"Now that shots have been fired, the Pentagon will flood the Persian Gulf with infantry and carrier groups. The gentlemen in Congress need to make money too. Washington's politicians will blow this war up to whatever scale they need, and oil prices are nowhere near their ceiling yet."
Satsuki took another large spoonful of shaved ice, then winced and shrank her neck as the cold hit her.
She frowned, pressed a hand to her temple, and waited two or three seconds for the chill to pass before continuing.
"Hoo. Execute the over the counter betting plan."
"Keep a close watch on Soros's Quantum Fund and Paul Tudor Jones's channels. They need to profit from this war more than we do."
"Activate the ISDA master agreement we signed earlier. Follow the positions of those American giants and buy total return swaps for forward crude oil call options."
"Break the funds into the smallest retail units possible. Use dark pool gateways to spread the agreements evenly across the proprietary desks at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers. Ride the peak of Soros's capital inflows. Don't leave regulators a single independent data spike."
Fujita bowed slightly.
"Yes, Young Lady. I will relay everything to Mr. Frank."
"Also."
Satsuki watched the tree shadows swaying in the courtyard and took another bite of shaved ice.
"Notify Dojima to enter the market."
Outside Yokota Air Base, U.S. Forces Japan. S.A. Group's exclusive air logistics dispatch center.
Under the towering steel dome, hundreds of industrial grade metal halide lamps lit the storage area to a stark white. The space covered tens of thousands of square meters.
Yellow heavy duty electric forklifts glided across the smooth epoxy floor. Their tines lifted massive resin protective cases and aviation aluminum crates over two meters long, then loaded them into container trucks.
Sprayed on each crate in black was the logo of "S.A. Global Engineering & Rescue." More prominently, each bore a "Priority Military Cargo" barcode and customs exemption seals stamped with the Pentagon's emblem.
Thanks to K Street lobbyists in Washington and backing from the Carlyle Group, this shipment was classified by the U.S. Department of Defense as "necessary defensive equipment for high value corporate assets stationed abroad." With that legal outsourcing approval, the cargo would bypass Japanese customs entirely and ship out through the U.S. base's military flight paths.
Dojima Gen stood in the open area before the loading zone.
He wore a dark gray waterproof tactical soft shell and khaki cargo pants. Sand colored tactical boots planted firmly on the ground.
In front of him, hundreds of elites from S.A. Security's Special Task Force stood in formation. Each man wore a nylon lanyard around his neck with a retractable clip attached to an S.A. Group ID card, complete with photo and chip.
Dojima Gen's gaze swept the formation.
"Everyone, check your inside pockets."
His voice was steady and cut through the nearby whine of forklift motors.
"Japanese passport, and the blue theater pass. When we land at Dhahran port in Saudi Arabia, Pentagon compliance officers will want to see the originals."
Fabric rustled as the men quickly checked their pockets.
Dojima Gen looked to the team leaders in the front row.
"I won't repeat the cover identities. You are civilian engineers under commercial contract, sent to maintain Japanese corporate assets in the desert."
He paused. His expression hardened.
"Now for the real briefing."
"In the Middle East, war is about to break out."
Dojima Gen slowed his speech. "According to intel from upper management, the U.S. military is committing massive forces to the battlefield. As the most advanced armed force on the planet, they are about to showcase the most cutting edge three dimensional combat of this era."
He took a half step forward.
"We are not the main attack force. But you will operate on the outskirts of the war zone and in chaotic areas."
"The Young Lady spent a fortune to send you in. The real purpose is for this team to experience modern three dimensional combat firsthand."
"In that environment, we will conduct armed rescue of high value targets, execute special operations in complex urban ruins, and respond to sudden street fights and firefights."
Dojima Gen's eyes moved across the solemn young faces.
"For years you have burned through tons of ammunition in underground ranges and run countless tactical drills. Now you will see blood on a real battlefield. Hone your coordination under fire."
"When you arrive, the rules stay the same. Until you reach the designated defensive line, no one touches the equipment in the crates."
"If you face an uncontrollable armed attack, you may return fire. But everyone will follow the rules of engagement and formation strictly. Our priority is defense and rescue. Anyone who breaks tactical order or pursues without authorization…"
He looked at the formation. His voice turned cold and hard.
"I will deal with him personally. Understood?"
"Understood."
A low, unified response rolled under the dome.
Dojima Gen raised his left hand and checked his watch.
"Good. Now. Everyone, attention."
"Board the plane."
Dojima Gen turned and strode toward an off road vehicle parked at the head of the convoy.
The special task force turned as one. The formation of hundreds broke apart silently.
They were not a conventional national army. They did not fight for sovereignty. They did not care about passion or faith.
What drove them was the high salary from the Group, the housing the Group provided, the exclusive medical access within the Group, and the Group's comprehensive protection for their families.
This was a private armed force motivated by profit. Their interests were bound to the Group's interests. Fighting for company property was fighting for their own.
The formation split into six man tactical squads and rushed toward their assigned transport trucks. Doors opened and slammed shut.
The diesel engines of ten heavy container trucks roared to life one after another. The convoy linked up and rolled into the rainy night.
Two kilometers ahead, the runway lights of Yokota Air Base flashed red and blue through the rain. A dark C-5 Galaxy heavy military transport sat on the tarmac.
This private army of capital, operating outside national sovereignty, had officially set foot toward the desert that was about to reshape the world order.