The Asshole App

26. ATSUO 竜夫 / 龍雄 dragon man / imperial man

The Japanese see dragons as benefactors and protectors of mankind. - www.chronicinktattoo.com

At the abandoned Onifre Power Plant command center, Satoshi watched multiple computer screens with mounting concern. On the first screen, the rescue team comprising Evie and Vince were holed up in Lear's disorganized corporate office with the crazed DARPA dog pounding at the door. She leaned forward. Her brain, working like a computer, calculated how fast Vince was solving the Rubik cube. She grimly analyzed this would be a losing end game. As a chess master, the outcome was evident. The ETA on the second screen showed Thanatos and his team arriving to help in fifteen minutes, but they would be too late. They'd be rushing to their deaths. Impulsively, she did something she swore she would never do. She called her father.

~~~~~~~~~

Casper Winterman climbed several flights of stone stairs to reach Atsuo Nakamoto's mountaintop lair, a majestic three-story log home graced with stone gardens and heated koi ponds. Unconcerned by his visitor's noisy helicopter arrival, the imperial businessman strolled through his zen garden, a meditative calm on his face. Here he was free from distractions, enjoying the sense of infinity and emptiness. Calmly watching Winterman's approach, he answered an incoming call on his cell. "Father, it's Satoshi." Atsuo's face remained immobile, but his eyes flashed with emotion. He had not spoken to his daughter in over three years. Not since the argument that resulted from her marriage to Thanatos.

"I'm glad to hear from you, Satoshi." Atsuo had been thinking about his youngest daughter when she called. He looked at her beloved face on the screen, controlling the rolling waves of remorse that crashed through his heart. "It's been too long, Ohimesama."

Hearing the affectionate childhood nickname, Satoshi fought her own emotions, which were threatening to surface. Her father had always called her his princess. "Father, I know we've taken separate paths, but I need your help." From the brief summary she relayed, her father, a grand chess master, knew the desperate rescue mission was calculated suicide. With his business partner fast approaching, Nakamoto made his daughter a solemn promise. He ended the call, putting his phone away as Casper reached the top of the stairs and walked towards him.

Nakamoto's serenity was assaulted by Winterman's harsh voice. "I don't know why you stay holed up in this damned mountain fortress, Atsu. The least you could do is install a lift. My knees are killing me." Nakamoto greeted Casper with a respectful bow. "If we didn't need your expertise in digital currencies, computer science, and cryptography, I'd fire you for not relocating to Silicon Valley. I hate hauling my ass up here." Casper looked at a texted update from Jamison. "Unlike you, Raymond Sinclair is a fool for not partnering with us. He's about to pay the ultimate price for his unyielding stupidity."

Atsuo didn't answer. He was studying a grasshopper balanced on his finger. In his youth, "grasshopper" had been his nickname, given to him by his Zen master. Without speaking, he gently placed the insect on a branch where Winterman wouldn't step on it.

"We don't need Sinclair or Lear. Once they're both out of the way, I want you to take over CENTIEN'S software design department. Within the year, we'll have everyone under our financial control with crypto." He paused, interrupted by a hacking cough. "I should have done this years ago."

Atsuo looked at the last golden rays of the sunset, fading behind the mountains. To him, it appeared as if God was drawing an evening shade. "It's a shame you broke with Raymond Sinclair because he disagreed about the implementation of CENTRIXS' surveillance software."

Casper lost his patience. "Who gives a shit. He made his choice. I told you, we don't need him. Come on, Astu. Leave the bug." Disgusted, he flicked the grasshopper off the branch. "Jamison's overseeing CENTIEN's takedown as we speak. I want to watch Sinclair get his ass handed to him in real time. Let's stop fucking around on this mountain, get to your control room, and open a live satellite feed."