Towers took a refreshing sip of wine to clear his mouth before outlining the contents of the intelligence folder.
MacArthur and Whitehead had both finished their main courses before Towers took another bite from his.
Going as far as he could without resorting to opening the folder, Towers returned to the contents of his dinner plate, leaving the two others to pose questions.
Whitehead got in first.
“So, in summary, we may or may not have one or two special nip subs still at large. It’s possible that they sank one of their own off Kannonzaki, but that’s not confirmed. We know a submarine was sunk by aircraft from the Oriskany, thirty miles off Kholmsk on Sakhalin, which somehow we appear to know was one of the big AM class subs?”
“Yep. Sorry… should have explained. When it was sunk it briefly broached and our aviators took a photo. Intelligence has confirmed it as one of the AMs.”
“Which leaves two of them unaccounted for.”
“Yep, but possibly not, as we have the reports from the Hibiki’s attack near Kannonzaki, carried out on an extremely large underwater target. Could be they sunk whatever it was, and it was an AM, or something else entirely.”
The two men permitted Towers to finish his lunch before they posed more questions.
Dessert was waved off as the Admiral opened the folder and showed them the modest evidence that Naval Intelligence had built up, evidence of the presence of some underwater leviathans built in secret.
“Special Type Submarine?”
“Yes, Sir. There was some confusion early on about that name, but that’s the designation officially used by the Combined Fleet, from what we can establish.”
“And they’re bigger than the AMs?”
“From the evidence we have, they’re twin hulled monsters, with a hangar that can take three seaplanes. Probably the Seiran type they designed for such subs.”
He pulled the transcript of a conversation that took place in a Nagasaki hospital.
“We have a Japanese naval officer who confirms the armament installed, talks of rumours that dignitaries went aboard before two of these subs sailed from Sasebo on the June10th.”
“June 10th? Where did they sail to and where are the bastards?”
“That, Ennis, is the problem. We don’t know. My staff are unanimous. These are a problem, and I agree. So much secrecy involved, even now. The nip Admiral in charge is saying absolutely nothing. We’re still working on him but he simply won’t even acknowledge their existence. We need to find out. Two of my boys has come up with a theory, and… well…”
He fished in the folder for the submission from a Lieutenant Waynes and Lieutenant j.g. Takeo and passed it to MacArthur.
The silence of concentration fell over the table, sufficient to discourage the waiting steward from approaching with coffee.
After a while, MacArthur passed the document to Whitehead, beckoned the coffee forward, and started to load his favourite pipe.
Both men watched as the Air Force man read the ‘theory’ in front of him.
“Shit.”
MacArthur nodded.
“Your opinion on that, John?”
“Sir, I’m not sold, but I’m not rubbishing it either. They make a good case for it. Lotta stuff has to be surmised, coincidences…but it’s not impossible, that’s for sure.”
Whitehead tapped the paper with the tip of his finger as MacArthur lit up.
“So their time line works out?”
“Sure does.”
“This suggestion of a special task force of five submarines?”
“Dockyard gossip, nothing more. Some slight evidence in signal evidence from Sixth Fleet correspondence that was not fully destroyed.”
“And their suggestion about the missing stocks from Okunoshima fits obviously… the Hibiki attack… the Oriskany attack which sunk an AM… if this was a five boat force…well…”
“Force 731? You gotta be shitting me. They’re reaching too far.”
Towers shrugged.
“I thought so, but you can see it’s possible. Key personnel from Units 731 and 516 are missing from Manchuria. We believed the Commies didn’t have them, but that’s being re-evaluated right now, in the light of a report from Kharbarovsk. A review of photo recce information is also being undertaken as we speak, particularly from around a place called Sovetskaya Gavan.”
Another piece of paper was produced.
“A Chinese agent in Kharbarovsk reports seeing Japanese personnel accompanying a heavily guarded convoy that was loading aboard a special NKVD train on 23rd June. Again, that fits in the possible timeline.”
Yet more evidence was laid out.
“We had a report of some strange Soviet ships hiding there under a temporary shelter around 21st June, which fits in with my men’s time line.”
“Ships?”
“That’s all we know. Our informant was at distance apparently.”
MacArthur’s pipe was smoking heavily and he waved his hand through the air to clear his view.
“One moment.”
He beckoned to his aide, Francisco Salveron, and whispered in his ear.
The Filipino Sergeant disappeared and reappeared almost in the same moment, and handed MacArthur the file he had asked for.
“Thank you, Francisco.”
MacArthur opened the file and took out the top sheet, handing it to the naval officer.
“List of academics and such presently missing without trace.”
Towers scanned the list, beside which was the area of expertise of each individual.
“Holy crap!”
‘…Riken Institute… Scientific and Research Group…Weapons Research Group… Institute of Chemical and Physical Research… Imperial Institute of Sacred Knowledge…Kyoto University Special Research Projects Team…’
“Sir, this list seems to be a who’s who of their top researchers.”
“Sure is, John.”
Towers passed it across to Whitehead who whistled as he took in the specialities involved.
“I can tell you both, in strictest confidence, that the names on that list have drawn attention from some very important folk.”
MacArthur sipped his coffee and accepted the list back, which he swiftly returned to the file.
Whitehead asked the question.
“Such as, Sir?”
“Hoover, Secretary Stimson, the President… even had one of Leslie Groves’ men on the horn.”
“Groves? Leslie Groves? Oh fuck.”
Whilst General Leslie R. Groves was not well-known, the three men sat round the dining table were sufficiently high up the food chain to know who he was, and which project he was involved with.
‘Manhattan’
“Oh fuck indeed, Ennis.”
MacArthur beckoned the steward forward, and their coffee was refreshed before he continued.
“So… it now all takes on a more sinister aspect and bumps this way up the list of priorities. Let me be clear on that. Finding these subs is now our number one job. Raise the level of alert… let the boys know what we’re looking for. There’s no room for territorial disputes, inter-service rivalries, or pissing competitions. Understood, gentlemen?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Make sure Europe gets to see this information too, ok?”
He took a deep draught of the hot coffee and relaxed back into the dining chair.
“Ok, John. So, based on what we know, where could these bastards be holding up?”
“In short, Sir, by now… with enough supplies… anywhere on the planet where there’s enough water to put under their keel.”
When the two senior officers departed, MacArthur spent an uncomfortable hour on the phone with the interested parties, all of whom were extremely unhappy to find a possible link between the existence of two huge Japanese submarines and the disappearance of much of the Empire’s biological and nuclear research talent.