26 November 1941
I found the perfect way. I’ve made a connection with the Navy lieutenant who picks up the classified telegrams and transports them to the Navy G-2 at Pearl who forwards a copy to Army G-2. I have let him in on what we are trying to do and he sees the wisdom of it and has agreed to help us. We’ll keep Admiral Kimmel in the dark, although, as agreed by the staff, I did brief Admiral Halsey, and he will keep the carrier fleet safe out at sea. Now we have the added bonus of getting rid of Kimmel and replacing him with one of our own after the Japaniese strike.
“Oh my God” Boomer said looking at Hooker’s handwriting.
“I can’t believe they knew about the attack and allowed it to happen”
Trace said.
“No,” Boomer said.
“That’s not it. This Navy lieutenant. I know who he is.” Boomer paused as a limousine pulled into the underground garage and came to a halt on the far side. The doors swung open and a man got out. he leaned over and talked to someone still in the car. through a lowered window.
It all came together for “Boomer then. Trace follwed his eyes.
“What’s the matter?”
“I correct my last statement,” Boomer said.
“I know who the lieutenant is now.” He pointed.
“Senator Jordan?” Trace asked incredulously.
“He’s the lieutenant who withheld the Magic intercepts?”
“Not only is he responsible for that,” Boomer said, “but he’s also the one who got you and I involved in this. He’s been running everyone.”
Boomer remember the abandoned ammo depot.
“The son of a bitch! He ordered me killed.”
“What?” Trace asked.
“What are you talking about?
How do you know he was that lieutenant, and why would he want us involved?”
“To get his hands on the diary,” Boomer replied. He watched as Jordan shut the limousine door and got onto the elevator. The large car swung around and headed for the exit. As the window Jordan had talked through powered up. Boomer was not all surprised to see Colonel Decker seated in the back of the limousine, smoking a large cigar.
CHAPTER 30
“It all makes sense now,” Boomer said as he swung onto Kalakau Avenue and headed west.
“The diary is the key to all this.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Trace replied.
“This whole thing was just to get that diary? Killing the Joint Chiefs? The plot against the President? All of it was a setup to get us to get Rison to give up the diary?”
Boomer shook his head.
“No. All that was real. The Line was real too. And they did have. a plot against the President.
But you and I. We were brought into it to get the diary.
That’s what made me feel uncomfortable down in that briefing room. I didn’t buy Decker’s explanation that I was involved just to go to the President with a warning. They could have picked anyone for that.”
“But how could they have found out about you and me?” Trace asked.
“They did it backwards,” Boomer said.
“Skibicki wasn’t in on it either. Not in the beginning. In fact, he was the key, and they used him too. Jordan must have known about the diary, and he knew it would destroy him if it was ever made public.”
Boomer tapped his pocket.
“Obviously, according to Hooker, Jordan also knew about The Line way back in 1941.”
“Back up,” Trace demanded.
“How do you know Jordan is this lieutenant?”
Boomer quickly related the story that Maggie had told him about her lover and the picture in her bedroom of a young Jimmie Jordan.
“I thought I recognized the face.
Now I know for sure.”
“So Jordan was the father of Skibicki’s half-brother?”
Trace asked.
“Right. And not only that,” Boomer said, “but he was directly responsible for the death of Ski’s sister.”
Boomer sorted it all out in his mind and spoke slowly, fitting the pieces together.
“Jordan knew the only way to get the diary was through Rison. Everyone who knew about the diary knew that. The Line was willing to have a truce with Rison as long as he kept quiet. But Jordan couldn’t.
Maybe Hooker was even blackmailing him about his previous collaboration with The Line in allowing the attack on Pearl to occur so long ago.
Trying to pressure Jordan to get to the President. In fact, if Jordan refused to accede to The Line, it could have precipitated the drastic action here in Hawaii.
“The diary was a huge threat to Jordan. And he knew about Rison. And the best way to get to Rison was through Skibicki. But Skibicki wouldn’t just let anyone go to Rison.
He had to have a reason. So Jordan must have had Skibicki checked, and they found out about my dad and then me.
And then when they checked me out, they found out about you.”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit much?” Trace asked.
“Not for a man with the power that Senator Jordan wields. I’ll bet you every dime I have that he had you set up with Mrs. Howard and the letter and interview. He was trying to kill two birds with one stone.
Flush out the diary through you and me, and also try to fight The Line, because now that he’s in the position he’s in, he’s on the other side, working with the President. Look at what The Line did to Eisenhower with the U-2 incident. I think Jordan was in bed with The Line until his close friend got elected President, then things got sticky for him, and he had to decide which side he was on.”
“So many people have died,” Trace said.
“I don’t know any more who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.
You’re telling me that The Line did plot to kill the President, right?”
Boomer remembered the struggle in the water just a few hours ago.
“Correct.”
“But you’re also saying that Senator Jordan, the President’s right-hand man, was working to get back evidence that he had collaborated with The Line in allowing the attack on Pearl Harbor fifty-four years ago.”
“Right.” Boomer took the turn off to head into Pacific Palisades.
“So what are you going to do about this?” Trace asked.
“I don’t know quite yet. But I do know someone who has some decisions to make and is entitled to this information right now.”
Skibicki looked at his mother.
“Is it true? You told me the man in the picture was just an old friend of dad’s.”
In reply, Maggie went to her bedroom and returned with the photo that Boomer had seen and handed it to her son.
“I let go of my memories of Jimmie Jordan until I saw his name in the paper years ago when he was first elected to the Senate. And then I simply avoided thinking about it.”
She looked at Boomer.
“Let me see those pages.” Maggie took the papers and read them, tears forming in her eyes.
“So Jimmie really did know about the attack?” she asked, handing them back.
“Yes.” Boomer said.
“And he allowed me to spend the night with him and leave my daughter home, knowing we were going to be attacked December seventh?”
Boomer didn’t answer. Trace took Maggie in her arms as she surrendered to the anguish of fifty-four years of lies.
Skibicki stood, putting the picture down on the coffee table and began pacing the room.
“That means they set me up too. When Falk told me about the planned attack on the President, right before you showed me the message about the drop,” he added, looking at Boomer.
“I thought that it was all above-board. At least from our end.”