Nishin knew that was the name for the old industrial research arm of the government.
Nakanga paused, then continued. “As I said, there is much information that has been lost. Suffice it to say that the project was a difficult one and work proceeded very slowly. It took the Americans, with more resources and expertise, until 1945 to complete their Manhattan Project. Kuzumi worked miracles with what he had, but as the war turned against us, he was forced by the American B-29 bombings to move from the home islands. He lost much time in making this move. Perhaps a fatal amount for our country.”
Nakanga’s dark eyes focused on Nishin. “Seeking a more secure place that could also supply him with the necessary amount of power he would need to complete the work, Kuzumi moved the project, named Genzai Bakudan, to Hungnam.”
Nishin bowed his head. He now had some of the answers he’d never thought he’d get.
“We had much industry there. Most of it owned by the Genoysha who had seen the potential of the valley and its resources early in the nineteen-thirties. It was out of the way of the American bombers. Kuzumi continued working even as the Americans came closer and closer to the homeland, island by island.
“At the end…” Nakanga’s shoulders moved under his robe in what might have been a shrug. “I do not know exactly what happened. The Genoysha told me that he was informed that Kuzumi succeeded. That he and those who worked with him actually made a prototype bomb. But it was too late. The Russians were close to the project, perhaps even trying to capture it for their own purposes. They were like scavengers invading Manchuria and Korea as they saw the end of the Empire coming. As you know, they still hold the Kuril Islands as a result of the war.
“The cave you were sent to close housed the assembly portion of the Genzai Bakudan project. It was sealed before the Russians arrived. It was reported that the prototype, Genzai Bakudan was taken out into the harbor of Hungnam by the ranking naval officer and detonated, destroying the last evidence. There is no way to verify this. In fact, it is not something we ever wish to have verified.”
Nakanga fell silent.
“Sensei?” Nishin prompted.
“Yes?”
“What happened to Kuzumi?”
Nakanga glanced toward the figure in the wheelchair, then sighed. “I was told he was in Hiroshima with his family when the American bomb came down. He died there.”
Nishin frowned. Why had Kuzumi not been in Hungnam working on the bomb until the very end? That was his duty, and as Black Ocean, duty would have come first. But this was not the time to ponder that question of the past. There were more immediate concerns in the present. “You say we still have a problem, Sensei. Did the Koreans recover something out of the cave before we were able to close it again?”
“I believe so,” Nakanga said. “At the very least they are pursuing a new direction. Our sources tell us that four days ago North Korean agents left their country by ship. They are going to San Francisco.”
“San Francisco, Sensei?” Nishin frowned. Four days ago? That was when Nagoya and he had been at Hungnam.
Obviously they had been too late. “What is in America that they seek?”
“As I told you, all documents about Genzai Bakudan were destroyed here in the Society. The site in Hungnam was destroyed, or at least we thought it was. But remember I also told you that the Imperial Navy was involved in the project. They had their own records. We thought they too had been destroyed. But that thinking is being reevaluated in light of this new development.
“When the Americans occupied us after the war, their intelligence services seized much information in the form of documents and they also debriefed many officers and men of the Imperial Navy. That information was returned to the United States. We believe that the North Koreans learned something from the cave. Perhaps they recovered a radio message log. That would point to other documents that the Americans might have in their possession.”
“But surely, Sensei,” Nishin said, “the Americans would have made public any information they had about our having had an atomic bomb program if they had it in 1945!” Nishin could now well imagine what Nakanga had meant earlier about the importance of what they were discussing. Such a disclosure would have been fantastic back then and would most certainly have changed the course of the next half a century. It would be just as disastrous now, especially with tensions between Tokyo and Washington so strained over the trade imbalance. Such a discovery would give the Americans a moral club almost as powerful as the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor had so many years previously. It would be devastating to the national psyche of the Japanese people.”
“If they knew what they had,” Nakanga agreed, “I believe they would have made it public. But the Americans seized so much material. It is very possible they simply placed such documents in boxes that have never been looked into. Or, if looked into, the significance of the material was not recognized because little word of the Genzai
Bakudan program has ever been made public before.
“There was a newspaper report in a minor American newspaper after the war about Hungnam and a Japanese atomic bomb project. But since the Russians occupied North Korea, little was made of the report and the Genoysha also worked then to ensure nothing more was said. As we must work now,” Sensei Nakanga concluded. He turned and looked out over the valley for a few moments.
Nishin waited for his orders. He was acutely aware of the presence in the darkened room. He could feel the Genoysha as if the man were a shadow looming over the sunlit porch. A thrill of dedication ran down Nishin’s spine as he realized he was part of perhaps the most important thing happening right now in the Black Ocean. Something so important that the Genoysha himself would listen in. There was only one being on the planet higher than the Genoysha in Nishin’s mind and that was the Emperor.
Nakanga turned back. The North Koreans are amateurs at overseas operations. However, we suspect that they might pose as South Korean agents and recruit assistance from the large population of South Koreans in the San Francisco area. In the same manner, you will be able to operate there. We have contacts among the Yakuza in San Francisco. I have already made contact with the local Oyabun.”
The Yakuza was the Japanese equivalent of the American Mafia. It operated here in Japan and had branches overseas, wherever there was a Japanese subculture. Nishin knew that the secret societies and the Yakuza were not unaware of each other’s presence and on occasion worked together when the objectives met both organizations’ goals. They also clashed on occasion when the objectives did not concur. Nishin had blooded himself several times in such clashes. The thought of rubbing shoulders with Yakuza, especially American Yakuza, bothered him, but he dared not let it show in front of Nakanga and the Genoysha.
“The government,” Nakanga continued, “is also_ on alert. Ever since those fools gassed the Tokyo subway every organization, even one as old and venerable as ours, has been under constant surveillance by Central Political Intelligence. You must be careful not to be tracked by CPI to the United States.”
Nishin was glad he had had a good night’s sleep and had recovered as far as he had from his injuries. The information he had just been given and the task assigned seemed overwhelming. CPI was a secret arm of the Japanese government that battled the secret societies and the Yakuza by any means possible. Nishin had run into CPI agents while on mission and he respected their dedication and most especially their technical expertise. Given that they had access to the best electronic equipment in the world, CPI agents were masters of surveillance. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for Nishin, CPI agents usually lacked the ruthlessness needed to complete missions. They were limited by the laws and regulations placed on them by the government.