"I understand, Captain. Chess in the midst of a war for survival must seem like a trivial enterprise. Now then, what solutions do you propose to my dilemma?"
Nomura took a deep breath. This was the moment he'd been both anticipating and dreading. To divulge anything would be to brand himself as either a traitor or a spy. If he had misunderstood what Hirohito wanted, or if Hirohito had changed his mind, he would place himself in mortal danger simply by opening his mouth. All or nothing, he decided.
"Sir. Arrangements that I would not wish to comment on are being made to free you. When that time occurs, you will be able to make any announcement you wish regarding your opposition to the war. Hopefully, the result will be the honorable surrender of Japan."
"Colonel Sakei and his soldiers will not surrender me to the opposition without a struggle."
"I know."
Hirohito looked saddened. He fully understood that men would die in the effort to free him. The blame was Anami's, and not his own. Anami, the man he had once thought of as a friend, had caused his imprisonment and continued the war, causing the deaths of so many tens of thousands. So what if a few more died? In a macabre way, it would be an investment, and the profit reaped would be the continuation of Japan. He accepted that.
"Captain, when I am, ah, freed from here, it cannot be to another prison cell, not even a highly gilded one."
"I understand." Nomura hoped the people in Washington understood that as well.
"Do you? Wherever I wind up, it must be as the emperor of Japan, the spiritual and constitutional leader of a sovereign nation that wishes an honorable peace with the United States. Any attempt to use me or to show me off as a trophy will backfire and result in my removal from the throne by the warlords. This could even occur in absentia."
Nomura nodded his understanding. He was almost too surprised to speak. Was the emperor signaling that he understood that the Americans would take him, and that he would not be rescued by another group of Japanese? Nomura did not think he had given any hint ofthat.
"Captain, would you do me a favor?"
"Certainly, Majesty."
"Please remove your tunic and shirt."
Confused, Nomura stood and did as requested.
"It is as I thought," Hirohito said. "You are an American."
"What?"
"Don't deny it, Captain. Look at your vaccination. You were vaccinated on the arm. Japanese are vaccinated on the hip."
Nomura's mind whirled. Should he try to deny it and say he had received his shots while in the United States or something like that? After all, he had already told Hirohito that he'd traveled widely. But if the emperor believed he was an American and voiced his opinion to Sakei, then Nomura was doomed. Who would take his word against that of an emperor, even an imprisoned one?
"Well?" the emperor asked. "Do you admit it?"
Nomura bowed his head. "Yes."
"When did you plan to tell me?"
"I had no idea, Your Majesty. Maybe not until the last minute, sir, when it would be too late to do anything about it."
Hirohito looked pained. "I suspected that would be the case. I understand your logic and I accept it. I have no idea how you will accomplish this and do not wish to know. You are an incredibly brave and resourceful man, Captain. You have fooled Colonel Sakei, who, however, sees what he wishes to see. Put on your clothing before someone comes in, and we shall play another game. It is well that we do something while we talk."
Nomura again did as requested. "How did you suspect, sir?"
"A number of small things, nothing significant taken individually, but collectively they become relevant. Most of the people I deal with are members of the extended royal family or the military hierarchy, and I am used to the manner in which they defer to me. You, however, portrayed yourself as an ordinary officer without Imperial connections. You were properly subservient, except at those times when your wish to win at chess overpowered your discretion. No ordinary Japanese would have behaved like you did. At first I put it down to my own ignorance of ordinary Japanese, but then I more closely watched the behavior of the others in Sakei's detachment. Prisoner or no, they think of me as a god, and your eyes tell me that you think otherwise.
"Then, on realizing that the so-called spy was still on the loose, I began to put two and two together. I also thought it unlikely that a true kempei officer would be so easily suborned. Tell me, did you kill the man whose uniform you wear?"
"He was dead already. A traffic accident."
"Amazing. In the midst of a war we still have traffic accidents."
"Sir, you said Sakei sees what he wishes. Are you confident ofthat?"
Hirohito pushed a few pieces around the board and Nomura did likewise. "Yes, Captain. Like his leader, Anami, he is blinded from the truth. You wear the uniform of a Japanese officer and say you are his ally. Therefore, he believes you. It is almost inconceivable to him that an officer could betray his nation. Continue acting as you have and keep telling him that Japan is winning, and the poor deluded man will think you are a staunch ally."
Hirohito sighed deeply and for a moment Nomura thought he was in pain. "When I became emperor in 1926, I named my reign showa, which means 'enlightened peace.' I never thought it would come to this. This war must be concluded."
Joe Nomura bowed in deepest respect. "It will end, sir."
"Captain," Hirohito said sternly, "I meant what I said about not being treated as a prisoner. If my people perceive that I am in shackles or held against my will, they will disown me, and all my efforts will come to naught. You must make your superiors understand that."
"I will, sir." Nomura had no idea if he could accomplish that. He only hoped that his superiors would figure it out for themselves.
"One other thing, Captain."
"Sir?"
Hirohito smiled briefly. "You gave in far too easily. I have no idea how or where the ordinary Japanese people are vaccinated."
Chapter 61
As he stepped out into the cold and damp December air, Truman waved to the onlookers and began his morning walk. The streets of Washington were busy with vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Dressed in suit, overcoat, and snap-brim hat, Truman made it an almost daily ritual that delighted spectators almost as much as it tickled him.
As he moved out briskly at a pace that would daunt a soldier, Secret Service agents took up their places around the president while a gaggle of reporters and the just plain curious trailed behind. In all, the ad hoc parade consisted of about fifty people. It amused Truman that so many of the older print and radio reporters had declined to even try to keep up with him. Now it was the young pups such as Brinkley, Sevareid, and Rooney who tried to keep pace with a man who knew he was in excellent physical condition and proved it with astonishing frequency. It tickled Truman that the heavy boozers and incessant smokers among the journalists had all been walked into the ground.
Today he had exited the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue. He would walk down Fifteenth Street to where it rejoined Pennsylvania and then to the Capitol, loop around to Independence Avenue, and finally back to the White House by way of Seventeenth Street. It was several solid miles of walking and it would feel good. Somehow life always became easier when he managed to get in some exercise.
"Mr. President, any further comment on the prisoner of war lists?"
One of the more unusual aspects of Truman's daily walks was that the reporters keeping up with him could ask him any questions they wished. Of course, he didn't have to answer, or, if he did, he could frame the answer any way he wished. Harry Truman had long ago figured out that the question-and-answer game could be worked both ways.
"As I've said, boys," he responded solemnly, "the list is a cruel delusion and only goes to show what a hard and unreasonable foe we're fighting. It sickened me when they listed as living so many young men we knew were dead. That it gave false hopes to people back home was a terrible thing for the Japanese to do."