days.”
Alexa took a deep breath. The trap had been sprung and she was helpless. “All right,” she said sadly. “I’ll sign the statements.”
Omori led her back to his office, where she quickly signed all the papers he put in front of her. She didn’t reread them. There was no point. “We could have forged your signature,” he said, “but this is so much better. We will get back to you when we’re ready to record your speeches. As an added benefit for your cooperating with us, you will immediately start getting better rations, and you will no longer be required to work in the rice fields.”
Alexa mumbled her thanks. She would share her additional food with Melissa and the child. Perhaps some good would come of her humiliation.
When Alexa left to be driven back home, Omori turned to Goto, who had been watching the proceedings with interest. “Did you see how easy that was? Had I tortured her, she might have resisted out of a sense of outrage and courage, and made herself a useless martyr. But, by my threatening someone else and making her responsible for that other person’s fate, she folded immediately. Americans are very predictable like that. This is an extremely effective technique you can use in your own future interrogations.”
Goto nodded politely. He understood that Omori had gotten his desired result, but to Goto it had been an empty result because Mrs. Sanderson did not yet truly fear Omori and the kempetei. He preferred the more direct and painful approach. Not only was it equally effective, but it was so much more satisfying.
Omori laughed. “Besides, I have further plans for Mrs. Sanderson. I had no idea she was so attractive. American women are so tall and arrogant, and it is so marvelous to reduce them to a more primitive level. The next time she’s here, it’ll be far more interesting for both of us.”
Goto smiled. He did not think Mrs. Sanderson was attractive at all. Not only was she so much taller than both he and Omori but she was older than he was. Goto preferred his women to be both smaller and younger. Much younger.
CHAPTER 13
Dear Joe,
By the time you read this, you should be well on your way to safety. I wish you the best and hope that your efforts against the Japs will be successful and end this war so we can all go home. I also want you to know that your friendship and companionship were appreciated, and I look forward to renewing them at a more congenial time and place.
Now for the hard part. I concluded fairly early on that there was more to what you were doing on Oahu than simply monitoring radio messages you couldn’t understand. Like a good soldier, I didn’t go searching for answers, but you and Lt. Holmes accidentally provided them. You navy guys seem to forget that other people have brains, and you totally ignored the possibility that I spoke Japanese. I do, although not that fluently, and it was impossible not to listen in when you and Holmes discussed your problems in what you thought was secrecy.
That means I know you’ve broken at least some of the Jap codes and are reading their mail. I believe you called the program Wizard, or Magic, or something along that line. Great work. Keep it up and we’ll nail the little yellow bastards.
You’re a good man, Joe, and I know you’ll show this letter to the right people even though it means you’ve got some egg on your face. Let the military know that Jake Novacek and his little army are alive and well on Hawaii and that I know a real important secret.
I don’t want to blackmail anybody, but these are desperate times and I don’t wish to be left out to dry. I believe that I can do important things here on the Big Island, and I believe it is equally important that I’m not captured. (Note: Joe, I have no intention of being taken alive, but things can go wrong, can’t they?)
I don’t want to leave here for the comforts of California while so many of my friends are suffering in prisons and from hunger and other privations. Pass this note on and get me some help for them.
Thanks,
Jake Novacek, Lieutenant Col., U.S. Army
General George C. Marshall placed the letter on his desk. Then he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had a terrible headache, and this piece of news wasn’t helping at all.
Across the room, Admiral King grinned sardonically. “Helluva note, isn’t it?”
“Rochefort’s a man of honor,” Marshall said. “A lesser man might have just destroyed the letter. After all, it makes him look just a little foolish, doesn’t it?”
“True, but you’re right. Rochefort is honorable. A little embarrassed perhaps, but honorable. Fortunately, he’s damned brilliant, so he’s forgiven his sin. Holmes’s punishment for having a big mouth is that he has to continue working with Rochefort. Now, what do we do about it? We jumped through hoops to get Rochefort out because of his knowledge of Magic, and now we have your man Novacek wandering around Hawaii with it. Should I send another sub to pick him up?”
The general thought about it. It had taken several weeks for the sub carrying Rochefort to make harbor and for the offending letter to get by courier to Washington. During that time, there had been intermittent contacts with Novacek on Hawaii as he and others, like Fertig on Mindanao in the Philippines, began resistance movements. Novacek had already formed cells of sympathetic civilians and located a handful of other stray military personnel on the islands. Right now, all they were doing was observing and reporting, but who knew what their potential might be.
“No,” said Marshall. “Novacek is in too deep. If we ordered him to leave, he’d think of some reason to evade the order and stay. What Novacek appears to want is involvement in the war. What we have to do is figure out how to give him that without causing the whole Jap army to try to catch him.”
King nodded. “I was hoping you’d say that. The president wants the islands retaken, and it struck me that we may have a forward base already in place.”
“What do you want him to do?”
King stood and stretched. “I haven’t the foggiest idea yet. All it is right now is an intriguing possibility. Hell, our torpedoes are beginning to work, which means the Jap navy is looking over its shoulder at us, and now we’ve got a bunch of GIs an hour’s flying time from Pearl. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but Nimitz is working on the problem, and he’s got some bright boys on his staff. I want to know if I can work with Novacek. After all, he’s army, and that means he’s yours.”
Marshall laughed softly. “Maybe we can work with him and Doolittle. That man still wants to launch army bombers from your carriers and bomb Tokyo.”
“That,” King said thoughtfully, “is just not going to happen. There will be no carriers cruising west of Hawaii until Hawaii is retaken. However, maybe we can find a new target for the ambitious and imaginative Colonel Doolittle.”
Alexa’s second summons to Colonel Omori’s office came only a week after the first. As before, she dressed very conservatively, even shabbily, and wondered why she’d been called. After all, she had more than lived up to her part of the bargain. She had signed all the news releases they’d asked her to, and even seen drafts of what she was to record. To protect Father Monroe, she would make them and hope for the best later on.
On the positive side, the increased rations enabled her to feed herself better and get some more food to Melissa and her son. Alexa thought of asking for favored treatment for Melissa but decided against it. Why draw unneeded attention to her friend, who continued to work the fields while Alexa watched the child? Father Monroe had left Honolulu and was reportedly recuperating north of the city from his injuries, both physical and psychological. In short, the man had been broken.
When Alexa was seated in Omori’s office, she saw that the door to his room was fully open and the cover on the large American-style bed was pulled down. She knew through the grapevine that he also had a residence in a Honolulu hotel suite. The kempetei colonel did not want for creature comforts.
Omori entered, gestured for her to remain seated, sat down himself, and smiled. “As before, I’m glad you’re here.”
Alexa nodded and muttered something polite.
“Your work on amending the script drafts is very thoughtful. The changes will be accepted, of course.”
