Patterson answered, "More than I expected, but not all of it."

"Not all of it?" Swainson didn't frown, but he lost most of his smile. "I haven't gone through everything. You brought back too much. But you're sure there's more? More important things?"

Patterson nodded.

"Well," the Reverend said, swiveling his chair away and around and leaning back. "Tell me what you think of what you've found so far, and then tell me what you think you might find."

<This is a new behavior for him . . . maybe something he picked up from that therapist? Got to look into that one sometime . . . soon.> Patterson freshened his coffee and added cream, giving him an excuse to be silent, to gather his thoughts, and to observe Swainson without being obvious about it.

"The Tenou family is old money, about as old as it gets in Japan. They used to be nobles. They managed to hold on to a lot more of their stuff than just about all the others at the end of World War II."

"That was a long time ago," said Swainson. "How did you find that out?"

"Most Japanese don't have real good memories about the war, but there are a few who've keep trying to tell the kids the real story. One of them gave me a lot on the Tenous. Nothing like ironclad proof, but a lot of stuff. They were connected with Unit 731, the biological warfare research unit. We hushed that all up after the war because we wanted to use the research. A lot of it is still classified, Reverend. So classified I never heard much about it when I was in the Agency."

Swanson nodded, beginning to rock a bit in his chair, but said nothing.

Patterson continued. "As I said, there's a lot of it, but I don't think enough of it would stand up even in one of our courts. You can ask young Fine for a more expert opinion, of course, but I think he would tell you the same thing."

"Would be embarrassing if it got in the media, though," said Swainson, still without looking back at Patterson.

"I suppose," said Patterson. "But my crusader has been trying to get exposure for this for a long time. Like I said, they don't remember things like Unit 731 in Japan too good, especially in the media."

Swainson nodded slowly, and after a bit said, "Still useful, I think. What else? Anything more about this Professor Tomoe's cult?"

"Not much about the cult itself. But I found another whistle blower. Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"She'll never testify, never be interviewed. She's scared right down to her geta and rightfully so, I think." Patterson paused to see if that would get Swainson's attention. He still didn't turn to face him, but his expression changed a bit. No one who didn't know him as well as Patterson would have seen it.

"Why is this woman so scared, Mr. Patterson?"

"She has children."

"And what does she think she knows?"

"She knows that there's a connection between the Tenou group and the Japanese government. Something secret, something involving lots of secret funding. And she thinks there's a connection between it and the cult."