Shooting Schedule

The novel opens with a retrospective account of three days of Occupied Arizona and then moves back to the film project that brings Bronzini to Yuma. Remo kills Henry, a delusional child killer dressed as Santa, and is sent by Smith to guard Bronzini as a stunt extra. Nishitsu’s employees arrange real tanks and weapons under the production cover; after fatal attacks on union negotiators, Marines and servicemen, the force occupies Yuma. Nishitsu’s plan combines revenge for the atomic bombing of Nagasaki with the expectation that the United States will destroy Yuma rather than allow a prolonged occupation. The parachute drop kills hundreds, and Remo is believed dead after falling.

The President is briefed and first chooses quiet diplomacy; after Nishitsu’s broadcast and execution plans, a B-52 carrying a nuclear bomb is launched toward Yuma. Bronzini, Chiun, Sheryl and Roam reach the television station while the bomber approaches. Bronzini broadcasts that the emergency is over and Yuma is in American hands; the bomber’s sound recedes, and the public-history frame later credits the broadcast with saving the city. The narrative does not stage a presidential rescission at that moment. Chiun and Roam lead resistance, Bronzini escapes and arms residents, and a figure identifying itself as Shiva uses Remo’s body to kill Jiro Isuzu before returning Remo to Chiun. The aftermath says the President’s atomic-bomb order was omitted from the public record. Remo wakes at Folcroft, and Chiun’s Christmas gift—an empty box—becomes a symbol of the love between them.