Though Will thought of himself as a strong swimmer, it was hard trying to get to the inflatable raft. He squinted as salty sea water stung his eyes. The raft bobbed tantalizingly near, but the waves, which were violently churning in the wake of G.o.dzilla's pa.s.sage, kept pushing him back, toward the hull of the sinking ferry.

Exhausted, Will had to rest. He flipped over on his back and tried floating in the rough waters. As he drifted, he could see Soonji, the Korean boy, and the boy's mother. They were huddled together in the water, clinging to a broken cable hanging over the side of the ferry.

Will noticed that the ship was sinking faster now. The sea had risen almost to the top of the hull. Soon the decks would be awash with water. If Will didn't get to the raft and rescue the others, they would be dragged to the bottom of the Sea of j.a.pan by the suction of the huge sinking ferryboat.

With renewed determination, Will struck out again. He'd swum about halfway to the raft when another wave knocked him backward. Sputtering and swallowing water, Will reached out and grabbed blindly for something to keep him afloat. At last, his hands connected and he held on.

With a gasp, Will realized he was clutching the corpse of an old man - one of the pa.s.sengers - who had already drowned. Will pulled back in horror and kicked the body away from him. He swam on frantically.

A few minutes later, gasping for breath, Will climbed aboard the empty raft. His arms and legs felt like lead, and he could barely lift himself to his elbows as he lay at the bottom of the bobbing rubber boat. Vaguely, he heard Soonji's voice in the distance. She was frantically screaming his name.

Will lifted himself up and saw the reason for her panic. The ferry was sinking very rapidly now. Waves were washing across its deck, and Soonji, Kim, and Kim's mother were barely able to hang on. The three of them were being battered by the sea.

Clambering up to a sitting position, Will searched the raft for oars. There were none, so he dropped to his belly on the side of the rubber raft and began using his tired arms as paddles. It seemed to take an eternity to move the raft close to the ferry, but Will managed it.

Weakly, he reached out for the others. Kim was the first aboard. The boy was able to swim the few feet to the raft and climb aboard. He helped Will and Soonji pull his mother onto the nearly swamped rubber boat. The woman was numb and paralyzed with fear - but thanks to Soonji and Kim, she was alive. Will cupped his hands and began bailing water out of the tiny, crowded raft.

Just then, an underwater explosion shook the ocean around them. The hull of the ferryboat shuddered. Smoke began pouring out of the windows and hatches as the ferry upended. The few pa.s.sengers who had stubbornly remained aboard now jumped over the side, or were thrown overboard by the violent explosion.

As Kim, Soonji, and Will paddled away from the ship, using their arms as oars, the stern of the Pusan ferry lifted out of the water, and then the entire ship slipped beneath the waves.

As it disappeared, the ferry left a powerful whirlpool in its wake. Some of the people swimming were caught up in the swirling waters. Most of them were too weak from trying to stay afloat to even scream as they were sucked under.

For a terrifying instant, it felt as if the lifeboat was going to be sucked into the vortex, too. Kim's mother screamed as the raft was turned around by the whirlpool once, then twice. Finally, the swirling movement slowed and the raft - incredibly - remained floating on the surface.

After the noise and violence of the sinking, the silence that followed the disappearance of the ferryboat was eerie. Will, exhausted, peeked over the edge of the raft. In the distance, he could see G.o.dzilla, still moving away from them. He watched for another minute, until the creature finally vanished into the haze and fog.

Then Will sank to the bottom of the raft, where he remained for the next half hour. He was tired, cold, sore, and dazed by his experience.

Will only looked up when, in the far distance, he heard the sound of rotors. Helicopters!

Will almost burst out laughing. He heard Soonji sob and whisper something in Korean to the little boy.

I can't believe it.... We're saved! Will said to himself. But he only half-believed it.

G.o.dzilla is still alive - and he's still out there.

CHAPTER 8.

SPECIAL a.s.sIGNMENT.

May 29, 1998, 2:29 P.M.

The newsroom, INN headquarters

Tokyo, j.a.pan

Brian Shimura was happy that Nick's dire predictions about his life at INN had not been realized.

True, he had toiled in the mailroom, but only for two days. And he had worked as a fact checker for three more days. But, finally, at the end of his first week, Brian had been moved up to the newsroom and given some real journalistic duties.

At the moment, those duties consisted of sitting in his cubicle, watching a television screen that was tuned to a rival network - in this case, CNN. Brian's job was to monitor the broadcasts on the Cable News Network. If a story broke on CNN that was not covered by INN, Brian was supposed to notify Mr. Takao, the newsroom chief. Other interns, mostly j.a.panese, monitored NHK and some of the other Asian news networks.

Occasionally, a reporter would a.s.sign Brian to other jobs. Some of those jobs were interesting, others were a pain. But mostly Brian just watched television.

"You've got that gla.s.sy-eyed stare again," Nick said, tapping Brian on the shoulder "Isn't it time for a break?"

Brian peeked at his watch and smiled. "That it is," he announced, pulling off his earphones.

"What's hot, news wise?" Nick asked as they headed to the break room together.

"Ohhh, well, the U.S. president is threatening trade sanctions against j.a.pan again," Brian said. "The dollar is falling against the j.a.panese yen, the British pound, and the German mark; another baseball strike is looming, and Kevin Costner's new movie is getting panned by the critics."

"In other words, nothing," Nick replied.

"You said it," Brian agreed. "Sometimes I wonder why we bother becoming journalists. There's no real news to report. Nothing ever really happens."

"So you want to go out tonight?" Nick asked, changing the subject. "Yoshi's back. I'm sure he'd like to join us. How about midnight karaoke?"

Brian groaned as he yawned. "You know, Nick," he said earnestly, "you got to sleep in this morning - the third morning in a row."

"My job stinks," Nick replied defensively. "Lacks Pulse is a real pain to work for - and he doesn't get in until noon!"

"Mr. Hulse is management," Brian explained. "You are not."

"That'll change when my talent is finally recognized." Nick stated. "Now what about midnight karaoke?"

"No way," Brian insisted.

"Come on!" Nick urged him. "It'll be fun. You haven't lived until you've seen a middle-aged j.a.panese businessman singing 'Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves' just like Cher."

"Don't be so sure," Brian replied. "I've already seen my parents dance the hokey-pokey at my sister's wedding."

"The horror... the horror," Nick replied, pretending to shudder.

"Shimura-san! Gordon-san!" a voice cried from behind them. Both youths turned. One of the j.a.panese interns was running down the hall, calling them.

"Come quick! To the newsroom. Big news!" he cried.

Brian and Nick took off in a run back toward the INN newsroom. The whole place was jammed with people - and it had been practically empty only a few moments ago. Now all eyes were on the overhead television screens, which usually monitored the INN network satellite feeds from dozens of remote locations.

All the screens showed the same image - j.a.panese military helicopters circling over a section of ocean, plucking people out of the water.

Brian tapped Yoshi. "What's going on?" he asked.

"The Pusan ferry, which runs from j.a.pan to Korea, has sunk," he said, his eyes never leaving the television screens.

"So these are live shots?" Nick asked.

"Hai," Yoshi replied, nodding his head. Nick turned to peek at the television monitors at the desks - the ones tuned to the other news networks. On CNN there was a commercial for deodorant. NHK had a j.a.panese game show.

"Pretty dramatic stuff," Nick said. "And it looks like we've got an exclusive." He pointed to the other monitors.

Yoshi shook his head. "This not going out over the satellite feeds," he replied. "The live footage we are seeing is being recorded, but it is not being broadcast on the air."

Nick and Brian were shocked. "Why not?" Nick cried. His journalistic sensibilities were outraged.

"Because the j.a.panese government doesn't want it to be broadcast, that's why!" a voice announced behind them.

Nick, Yoshi, and Brian turned. Other reporters and INN staffers turned, too. Some even began to protest with indignant voices.

Everett P. Endicott raised his pudgy arms and silenced them all. May McGovern was at his side, looking grim. "An official news blackout is in effect," Endicott said in a voice loud enough to be heard over the commotion.

"No live footage of this disaster is to be broadcast at the present time. This is a request from the j.a.panese government that INN officials have decided to grant."

People began shouting questions, drowning each other out.

"We're not going to be scooped," Endicott rea.s.sured them. "The other networks got the message, too."

"What's really going on, Everett?" Blackthorn Adams shouted from his office doorway.

"I don't know yet," Endicott replied. "Everything is on a need-to-know basis - and right now, we don't need to know!"

There were more moans and groans. Endicott's voice cut through the newsroom protests. "The j.a.panese government has promised to hold a press conference later this afternoon at the Diet Building, outside of the parliament's chambers. INN will be sending some of you to cover that event.

"That is all we know for now."

With that, Endicott turned his wide behind on the room and ponderously waddled toward the elevators. He left a shocked and mostly speechless newsroom staff behind him.

"It must be something really big to get that tub of lard out of his office and down here with the peons," Nick said to Brian.

"That's enough out of you. Nick Gordon!" May spat angrily. Yoshi suddenly walked away, embarra.s.sed by May's emotional outburst. Brian didn't know what to make of her hostile reaction whenever Nick was around. She seemed nice enough to everyone else.

To Brian's surprise, Nick said nothing to her in reply. He just headed toward his cubicle in silence.

When Nick was gone, May approached Brian and waved Yoshi over to her side, too. "This is for you," she said, handing Brian an envelope. He looked at her and she put her finger to her lips. "Keep your mouth shut," she whispered. Then she handed an identical envelope to Yoshi.

"I'll see you both later," she said over her shoulder as she departed.

Brian and Yoshi watched May head for the elevators. Then Brian turned to the j.a.panese youth. "What was that all about?" he asked.

"These?" Yoshi asked, holding up his envelope.

"No," Brian replied. "I mean her reaction to Nick!"

Yoshi looked puzzled for a second. Then he nodded his head in understanding. "Ah, you mean the way Ms. McGovern speaks to Nick - always angry, always rude?" he replied.

"Yeah," Brian nodded.

"You did not know that they used to - what is the word? - step out together?" Yoshi replied.

"You mean they used to date?" Brian asked, stunned. Nick had never mentioned it.

"Hai." Yoshi nodded rapidly. "They used to date. Big romance!"

Brian smiled and shook his head. "I should have known," he said aloud. "May is about the only woman at INN that Nick doesn't talk about."

"Just so." Yoshi nodded. "Deep feelings between them have caused much unseemly anger and hostility."

"What happened?" Brian asked. "Why did they stop seeing each other?"

"Nick broke it off. He said she became a big sellout," Yoshi replied. "She went to work for Boss Gaijin. Nick didn't like that too much."

Brian nodded again. "That sounds like Nick," he said. Then Brian remembered the envelope in his hand. "Excuse me," he said to Yoshi. "I have to read my mail."

"So must I," Yoshi said.

Brian rushed back to his cubicle. When no one else was looking, he examined the envelope. On the outside, next to his name, were bold red letters: CONFIDENTIAL - FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. Brian ripped it Open. There was a single page inside, with a terse message.

Mr. Shimura: