Cyclone and Forest. Kuzumi had the intercepted and decrypted North Korean message on his desk, probably before the North Koreans did. The Black Ocean had access to better technology than even the Japanese government did since most of it was invented by companies that the Society had a hand in controlling or developing. Anything they gave to the government to use, they first had to insure that they had something better made that could defeat it.
Kuzumi stared at the text of the old messages. When the second message had been sent, he had already been taken prisoner by the Russians. He did not know the destinations those two words were the code for. Since the Navy had sent the message, it was likely that the codes were originated by the Navy. He would have to check on that.
What he did know was the atmosphere in Hungnam leading up to that message being sent. In March 1945 there had been little hope that they could make one bomb, never mind two. What little uranium they had scraped together had been used in experiments or lost to American submarines in shipment from Japan to Korea. It was the Germans who had come to their aid.
In early April the Germans decided to mount a special mission to Japan, one that showed the desperate straits the Third Reich was in at the time. Two specially modified submarines, the U-234 and the U-235, were’ assigned the mission. Kuzumi had found the numbers most interesting and considered it at the time to be a fortuitous stroke.
The two U-boats were modified mine-layers and among the largest submarines constructed in the world. Almost three hundred feet long and weighing in at 22,000 tons, they were ideally suited for their role as underwater cargo vessels. And into those two submarines, the Third Reich packed some of its greatest secrets and assets to be sent to Japan to continue the fight as the Russian juggernaut rolled down on Berlin.
The Germans loaded the plans for their two jet aircraft, the Messerschmitt 262, which made an appearance in the skies over Europe just before the end of the war, and the 163 Komet, which never became operational. They also added in samples of jet fuel and directions for making more. There were various other items, but of special significance to the Genzai Bakudan project was the twelve hundred pounds of uranium that was packed into special metal containers and put on board the U-235. A Japanese liaison officer from their embassy in Berlin was on board each submarine.
The two submarines departed Germany on the twelfth of April, paused briefly in Norway, then headed for the Atlantic to begin their long journey. Their route would be through the English Channel, south through the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope, into the Indian Ocean and then to Japan. The odds of both ships making it that far were very low.
The two subs were not in communication with each other, but did have contact back with Germany. By the time they made it out into the middle of the Atlantic, Hitler was dead and the war in Europe was over. In Hungnam, Kuzumi remembered hearing the news and believing it spelled the death knoll for Japan also. Now the Allies could focus all their destructive energy on Japan.
On the tenth of May, Admiral Doenitz sent a broadcast to all U-boats, ordering them to surrender and giving directions about where to go. The captain of the U-234 complied, sailing west to the United States. The Japanese officer on board committed ritual suicide. The ship was boarded by an American crew and brought into Portsmouth, New Hampshire, under heavy guard and tight security.
U-235, however, did not surrender. No one knew what had happened to it. That is until it showed up in Hungnam Harbor on the eighth of June. Kuzumi could clearly see in his mind that day as the strange submarine surfaced and was challenged by a patrol boat. The excitement as the flag was unfurled from the conning tower. The uranium was taken off and immediately put into production. The U-235 took on food and fuel, then turned back to sea, disappearing forever, most likely destroyed by the Americans who thought it was a Japanese submarine.
The Genzai Bakudan team worked nonstop, Kuzumi remembered, toiling over the parts of the project, trying to bring it all together in the cave on the hillside overlooking the valley where most of the components were produced.
The intelligence forwarded by TO from Nira and other agents in the United States indicated that the Americans were progressing on their Manhattan Project. In early May it was reported that the Americans had exploded a small batch of uranium with TNT as a preliminary test. Kuzumi had been glad to get the results of the American test since Genzai Bakudan could not afford that luxury; there simply wasn’t enough uranium to be spent in such a manner, even with what the Germans had brought.
Then in July there was the rumor that the Americans had actually detonated an atomic bomb in the middle of one of their vast deserts. Security had been so tight that no Japanese or TO agent had been able to confirm or deny the rumor. Even Nira did not know. Kuzumi believed it was true and told the Genoysha that. By that time Genzai Ba kudan was in its final stages. They had one bomb assembled. Kuzumi wanted to test it. He was overruled by the Navy. They only had enough uranium to make two bombs. They could not waste one on a test. He was ordered to complete the second one.
Kuzumi had recommended that they use the one bomb anyway. Attack an American carrier task force off the coast with it. Again he was ignored. There were fears the bomb would not work and would be captured. There were also fears that the bomb would work and that the retaliation unleashed upon Japan would be even more devastating than the current state of affairs. There was concern that if the Americans had successfully tested a bomb in July, that they then might have a stockpile of atomic weapons and detonating the one Genzai Bakudan had could bring a rain of American-made atomic bombs onto Japan.
So Kuzumi was frozen out of the decision-making process on how the bombs were to be used and spent his time putting together the second one. And that was why he had no idea where Cyclone or Forest was and where 1-24 was now. But now as Genoysha he could find out. Of that he was sure.
CHAPTER 10
Lake waited in the small foyer outside Dr. Harmon’s office. Araki had had both of them dropped off from the stealth ship at a deserted pier several miles south of San Francisco along the rough coastline there that he obviously had scouted out at some earlier time. A van was parked at a shopping center a mile inland and Araki had the keys. Lake had had Araki drop him at one of his bolt-holes in a motel where he’d caught a couple of hours sleep before taking the BART to the campus.
Lake could only continue to marvel at the extent of the CPI’s operation. If nothing else came of this, Lake decided, he would have to alert Feliks to the capabilities of their Japanese counterparts and the ease with which they moved in the United States and the waters just off the coast. At the very least, Lake mused, as he heard the click-click of a lady’s heels come down the hallway, he might get a Gold MasterCard.
Dr. Harmon graced Lake with a smile as she opened the door. “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” she said. “You don’t look like you had the most restful night.”
“I didn’t,” Lake said. He pointed. “I” found your box and brought it back.”
“Where did you find it?” Harmon asked as she unlocked the door to her office.
Lake followed her in. “I don’t suppose you have any coffee?” he asked.
“I can make a pot,” she replied, turning to one of the bookcases and uncovering an old coffeemaker from behind a pile of books.