Imperial Palace of Tokyo
Japan, Pan-Asian Empire
Monday, September 17th 1940
James Bond didn’t have to wait long for Fu’s plans to be set in motion. An hour after the end of the interrogation, one of the Military Police troopers that had dragged him before Fu Manchu opened the door to the cell carrying a small parcel wrapped in brown paper and a pair of well-polished black shoes.
‘Here you go Bond-Shōsa*. A Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander service uniform, tailored to your measures. Compliment of Emperor Fu’ the soldier explained in English. ‘As a POW, you’re apparently entitled to wear uniform. I will now take you to the showers were you can clean up and change. Men from the Tokketai will come to collect you soon. Colleagues of yours.’
‘Tokketai... the Naval Information Office, right?’ Bond asked. ‘So they remain as a separate branch?’
‘Apparently’, the talkative MP agreed.
Forty-five minutes later, clean, freshly shaved and clad in a perfectly fitting Royal Navy uniform, Bond felt better than he had in a long time, as he stood waiting in his cell for the Tokketai officers. He knew the Japanese instinct was to despise prisoners, so he assumed he owned the recent good treatment to orders emanating from Fu Manchu. The Devil Doctor often went to great lengths to show off his good will towards his victims – Nayland Smith had told him of one case in 1914 where, after ruthlessly forcing the man to perform a task for him, Fu had operated on a kidnapped engineer and cured him of a supposedly incurable debilitating malformation before setting him free again. Neither Nayland Smith nor Bond were absolutely certain why Fu Manchu did this, if to soothe a guilty conscience, or because he genuinely adhered to some sort of moral code, however exotic. In Bond’s opinion, the latter was more probable. Imagining Fu Manchu even had a conscience seemed ludicrous.
The cell door opened again and two men in blue Navy uniforms entered the room. One wore the wreath and three stripes of a “Navy Lieutenant Colonel” (which was the Japanese equivalent of a Royal Navy Commander) on his lapel. He carried a sword at his waist while the other, a private had a drum-magazine SMG hanging from a strap over his right shoulder.
The officer saluted, somewhat to Bond’s surprise. Japanese officers were always polite, at least in their dealings with fellow officers in the Royal Navy, their former allies. But Bond was a POW, and as such only worthy of contempt according to the tenets of Bushido. Of course, Naval officers were more often used to dealing with westerners than their army colleagues, so maybe the Tokketai man had simply decided Bushido was not applicable to Bond. He returned the salute – if he could keep matters collegial, his remaining stay in Pan-Asian captivity would become decidedly more comfortable.
‘I am Commander Kinoaki Matsuo, of the Information Office of the Imperial Navy’, the officer introduced himself in good English, and without waiting for Bond to do the same continued; ‘We are taking over custody from the Imperial Guard until such time you are released back to your own. Please come with me.’ To judge from his salt-and-pepper hair Matsuo was in his middle age, with flint-hard eyes set in a face that could be better described as weathered than wrinkled.
‘Very well’, Bond said and followed the men out through the door, down the corridor and up the stairs to emerge in a small court of the Imperial Palace. The private always walked ten steps behind the two officers, ready to gun Bond down at the slightest sign of him trying something funny, or so Bond assumed.
Outside the Palace garden a glossy black Rolls Royce waited with another Navy private behind the wheel. Matsuo indicated that Bond should share the back seat with him, while the submachine-gun armed private took the front seat – not an ideal arrangement for keeping him in check, Bond thought. They probably thought he wouldn’t consider escape given his imminent release. Matsuo probably wasn’t aware of how Fu Manchu planned to offer Bond up as bait to his estranged daughter.
It turned out Matsuo had a very different reason though. ‘Relax, Lieutenant Commander, you are among friends!’ he said as soon as the door closed. ‘As you no doubt know, many within the Navy oppose the Chinese invaders of our country. Only with our help could your Secret Service take Empress Nagako out of the country.’
‘If you say so’, Bond said, fearing a trap to make him reveal suspected enemies of Fu Manchu.
Matsuo smiled. ‘Very good, Mr Bond! I won’t ask you to confirm anything that we both know is true. I will however offer you an opportunity to bring home some invaluable information when you’re exchanged.’
‘Keep talking’, Bond said, wondering where the microphones were hidden.
‘The reason why the Tokketai hasn’t been merged into the new amalgamated Military Intelligence, “The Eyes of the Dragon”, is very simply that the usurper Fu Manchu doesn’t trust us – and rightly so. The Tokketai, like much of the Navy, is controlled by members of the venerated society of the Black Dragons, to which I have the honour of belonging, and we have only the best of Japan and our true Emperor at heart. We do not recognise the authority of Fu Manchu, nor do we accept any part of the Chinese encroachement of our Empire. We would sever our ties with China and sign an equitable peace with our old friends in the west.’
‘Equitable?’ Bond asked with a frown. He had heard of the ultra-nationalistic Black Dragons before the war. ‘How equitable?’
‘Oh, we would keep a co-prosperity zone in East Asia, to be sure, but we would absolutely surrender all American conquests without condition, including Hawaii, and pull out of India as well. And I suppose we would be ready to pay some reparations to the Americans as well, not that we consider Japan responsible for this criminal war, but doubtlessly Japanese forces have taken part in it.’
‘Farewell Philippines, farewell Singapore, farewell French Indochina and Dutch East Indies?’ Bond asked with a sardonic smile. ‘I can see how some would think of this as less than perfectly equitable.’
Matsuo glossed over the disagreement. ‘Well, fortunately none of us is a politician or a diplomat and so we can concentrate on defeating our common enemy, eh? Now, to the matter at hand; as you might or might not know, our forces used a new kind of flying bomb in the opening of our great offensive in America, to devastating effect.’
‘I’ve heard nothing of this, it must have happened after I was captured.’
‘Indeed. Well, it caused great damage to the Americans and they’re now on the run beyond the Mississippi. How the flying bombs were guided is not known with certainty by the Navy, although we have had some indications that an automated system of radio beam navigation was used.’
‘Radio beam...’ Bond mused. ‘I believe the Germans used navigation by radio beam when they launched their Blitz on London last year. So you people have automated it somehow?’
Matsuo frowned. ‘Fu Manchu and Yokosuka company have, apparently. But some targets were hit far beyond the horizon, so this can’t be the entire explanation. A radio beam can’t bend with the curvature of the Earth. And furthermore, even if they could guide a flying bomb over the horizon, the problem remains of finding good targets for it, far beyond the range of aerial reconnaissance.’
‘And you know how this problem was solved?’
‘No, but we have likely culprit. Just as damaging as the flying bomb strikes, was the fact that our Army had nearly perfect information about American troop deployments and troop movements, even while they were still taking place. We know that this information came from an ultra-secret source of intelligence code-named “Choten gan” – Celestial Eye. We’re fairly certain that Choten gan info was also used to provide targeting to the Yokosuka flying bombs. But we have no idea what kind of intelligence source Choten gan is. The Navy, any more than the Army, has never been trusted with any raw Choten gan data, just reports distilled from it, lately some on British Naval movements in the Yellow Sea. We assume it must be a spy network deep within the US and/or the British High Command, but we’d like to know more, and most especially, we’d like Choten gan shut down. Only Fu Manchu’s continued military success appeases some sectors of the Japanese military to continue supporting him. Should the usurper start suffering defeats, well... Japan must come first.’
‘So what do you want from me?’ Bond asked, still suspecting a trap but beginning to hope Matsuo was earnest.
‘Choten gan reports always emanate from the Central HQ of the Eyes of the Dragon. There’s nothing but Si Fan thugs there, but we’re allowed a liaison officer. We intend to bring you there to offer the Eyes to take part in further interrogation of you. After the interrogation, we will help you escape – momentarily. Our liaison officer will help you break into their archives, to search for and photograph raw Choten gan information. You will then hand over the material to him and be recaptured, and hopefully returned to us. If the plan works, we will provide you with a microfilmed copy of any information you can bring us, to take back to your country when you’re released. How does this sound.’
‘It sounds bloody dangerous, that’s what!’ Bond retorted hotly. ‘What’s to say the Si Fan blokes will not shoot first at an escaped enemy spy within their headquarters? And what’s to say YOU won’t shoot me to cover your tracks, once you have the material?’
‘I can give you no guarantees you would trust, Mr Bond. All I can say is that the Black Dragons realise Japan needs the help of the West to free ourselves from the oppression of the Usurper. We’re trying to show good faith and gain the trust you do not yet have in us. I ask you to give us the opportunity. Also, I ask you, nay I beg you to consider the importance this information could have for your cause. Choten gan is potentially a war-winning weapon in the hands of Fu Manchu. It must be wrested from him. Isn’t this worth a great deal of personal risk?’
Bond sighed. ‘It’s hard to argue against you when you put it like that, Matsuo old chap. Very well, let’s do some spying then!’
