story : MAC.ThePearlHarborMurders (part 13-14)

THIRTEEN 　War Games 　 　After the midnight closing of the Navy's new Bloch Recreation Center-where the Arizona's dance band had come in second to the Pennsylvania, a much-contested decision-and with the dimming of the clubs and bars of the city, garish Hotel Street included, the blush in the sky over Honolulu began to fade, until the heavens again belonged to the stars. Oahu itself seemed to slumber, with only the slowly turning hands of the Aloha Tower's quartet of clock faces to mark the passing of another tropical night. 　By three a.m., the darkness was broken chiefly by stoplights pulsing red, and mute, deserted streets twinkling with Christmas lights. A few pleasure palaces in Chinatown ignored the curfew, their entryways scarlet with the neon promise of sin, beckoning foolish tourists and fearless servicemen. And offshore, to the west, at the entrance to Pearl Harbor, red and green buoy lights winked in the dark, as if they and the night shared a secret. 　In these deceptively peaceful hours before dawn, out in the blackness beyond the reef, destiny was bearing down upon Oahu. Three hundred miles north of Honolulu, an armada charged through heavy seas at a clip of twenty knots-destroyers and cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers, bombers and torpedo planes- while, much closer to Oahu, a small fleet of submarines already had the island surrounded, and five midget submarines were even now gliding toward their targets. 　A little before four a.m., a minesweeper signaled the destroyer Ward of the sighting of a possible periscope three-quarters southwest of the harbor's blinking entrance buoys. General quarters were sounded by Lieutenant William Outerbridge, captain of the Ward- summoned to the bridge in his pajamas, over which he wore a kimono-and for half an hour, the destroyer searched the restricted waters outside the harbor, and saw nothing, their sonarmen hearing nothing. 　Then at 6:30 a.m., a Ward crewman spotted the half-submerged midget sub trailing the supply ship Antares toward the harbor entry, whose torpedo nets-usually blocking the channel-were wide open. Lieutenant Outerbridge sounded general quarters again, and took chase, quickly closing to within a hundred yards, firing and missing, then-with a point-blank hit-nailing the sub at the juncture of its conning tower, sinking the seaweed-shrouded sub, then pounding it with depth charges until the wounded ship bled oil. 　The Ward, little realizing it, had just fired the first shots of the Pacific War. 　Though this encounter had taken place within five miles of Battleship Row, Oahu continued to slumber- Lieutenant Outerbridge, who of course promptly radioed a coded message of the sinking to the commander of the Fourteenth Naval District at Pearl Harbor-did not receive a request for "additional details" until 7:37 A.M. 　Just before dawn, atop a ridge on the northern shore of Oahu, one of Colonel Teske's mobile radar stations was scheduled to be shut down at seven a.m. General Short had these half-dozen trailer-mounted units in operation only a few hours a day, primarily for training purposes. Private George Elliot and Private Joe Lock-ard were working a four-hour graveyard shift, three in the morning till seven; but the track that was supposed to pick them up for breakfast was late, and Private Elliot left the equipment on after seven, merely for the practice. 　And just as dawn was threatening to break, a notably strong wave pattern blipped on Elliot's five-inch-diameter oscilloscope, indicating dozens of aircraft, about 130 miles north, heading toward Oahu-at a speed, they soon estimated, of around 180 mph. 　Elliot called this in to the Air Warning Service at Fort Shafter, where Lieutenant Kermit Tyler-assuming these blips represented some B-17s expected in from the mainland-told the radarman, "Well, don't worry about it." 　Lockard suggested they shut down the radar set, but Elliot wanted some more practice: he watched until the swarm of planes was only twenty-two miles north of Oahu, at which point the patterns disappeared. Unaware that this meant the planes were lost in the dead zone of the hills, as they crossed the shoreline, Elliot switched off the set and logged his final report, at 0740... 　... content that he'd had enough practice for one day. 　The blips on his screen had been forty-three Zeros, forty torpedo bombers, and one hundred bombers, the first wave of planes launched at six a.m. by the Japanese battle fleet 275 miles due north of the radar station. Their shadows racing across the checkerboards of sugarcane and pineapple fields, the 183 silver planes streaked over the lushly tropical, dreamily peaceful island, where a harbor as still as a millpond awaited, part of a golden landscape basking in the tranquillity of a Sunday dawn. 　At around 7:30 a.m., Hully Burroughs and his father sat at a round wicker table on the Niumalu patio, having breakfast. Hully was in bis tennis whites, O. B. in a short-sleeved woven tan shirt and khaki slacks, an ensemble that looked vaguely military; both men were in sneakers. The plan was to play tennis after breakfast, so they again ate light-orange juice and coffee and muffins and fresh fruit. 　Their houseguest, Bill Fielder, was still on the pallet in the bungalow, sleeping it off, dead to the world. The chief topic of discussion between father and son was their frustration that the Sunday paper was late: Hully's brother Jack's comic strip, based on ERB's John Carter of Mars stories, was making its debut today. 　"Well, it's not like we haven't seen the proofs," Hully said, buttering a muffin. 　"Sure, but I'm anxious to see it in color," O. B. said, obviously disappointed that he couldn't read this latest Burroughs spin-off-helmed by his eldest son, a fact of which he was inordinately proud-over his morning coffee. 　Neither father nor son had mentioned anything about the murder investigation that had so consumed them the day before; this was a new day-witness the endless blue sky puffed with clouds, the surf rolling gentry to shore, hear and feel the wind whispering through the fronds, a strangely still morning, quiet, serene ... Sunday. 　When the first sounds of artillery fire interrupted that serenity, shattering it even, Burroughs, coffee cup in hand, looked at Hully with one arched eyebrow. 　"No," Hully said, to the unasked question. 　And O. B. nodded. 　After all, yesterday's papers had said that heavy guns would be fired from various parts of the island, over the next few days; and Oahu was a continual site of war games and realistic maneuvers. 　As the sounds of battle built, other patrons of the Niumalu, at other tables, were exchanging the same information: this was just a drill, some kind of Navy battle practice, or the Army having target practice.... 　A woman at a nearby table said in an English accent, 　"What a wonderfully realistic imitation of a European air raid." 　"Well, now I know how they sound," her male companion, an American, said matter-of-factly. 　Soon, as father and son wandered to the tennis court, rackets in hand, Burroughs was saying, "You get used to these damn maneuvers, living on a military island like this. But I have to admit, after what we learned yesterday, I'm damned nervous. You don't think this could be..." 　From the direction of the beach, the sky rumbled, and it wasn't thunder. 　Nonetheless, Hully shook his head. "Dad, we'd be hearing sirens-it'd be all over the radio, by now. We'd know if this were more than just gunnery practice." 　So they began to play tennis. Before long, many of the Niumalu guests had gathered on the sandy patch adjacent to the tennis court, that sunbathing area where, not so long ago, Pearl Har-ada had lounged in a pretty pink bathing suit. From there, the rubberneckers could enjoy-just past the stubby wooden fence-a clear view of the coast, from Diamond Head to beyond Pearl Harbor and Barbers Point, though a hill kept them from seeing the Naval base. 　Even from the court, Hully and his dad could quite plainly see-pausing between serves-bombs falling into the ocean not so far away, dense black smoke billowing up as if the water were on fire. 　"It's a practice smoke screen," somebody said. 　"Sure doesn't sound like practice," someone else said, rather idly. 　Antiaircraft shells were exploding in the sky, and ships at sea were firing, and the guests were oohing and ahhing, as if at a Fourth of July fireworks display, marveling at these "realistic maneuvers the Navy was staging." 　Hully had just returned a serve, and O. B. had swatted it back, when a bomb went off surprisingly nearby, and Hully's attention jerked toward the beach, the ball bouncing past him, unattended. The hotel guests were rearing back in horror and surprise. Gasps and screams intermingled as they began to back away, and gradually turned and walked, and ran, to their bungalows or the lodge or just somewhere else, anywhere else, as long as it was inland. 　At the sound of that nearby explosion, Hully had tossed his racket and his father had done the same, and as the guests rushed toward them, the Burroughs duo moved through the panicking crowd, swimming against the tide, running toward the beach. 　Fred Bivens, eyes wide and unbelieving, came up to them, gesturing numbly toward the waters. 　"A supply ship-it was standing just offshore, by Fort DeRussey.... A bomb blew the damn thing up! What kind of war games are these?" 　Hully and his father looked out and could see bombs bursting over Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field. 　"It's war, Fred," O. B. said gravely. "Not games." 　Hully grabbed his father by the arm and said to him pointedly, "Then let's go take a prisoner." 　O. B., understanding, nodded curtly, and they took off. 　Feeling like idiots-they if anyone should have known this was the real thing-Hully and O. B. ran toward the Kuhns' cottage. As they passed by an open window of another bungalow, a radio blasted out an announcer's call to action: "All men report to your post! Calling all nurses! Proceed to Pearl Harbor!" 　And as they jogged by another open window, on another tumed-up radio, a different announcer was saying, "Civilians-stay off the street! Stay home! Do not use the telephone! Oahu is being attacked-the sign of the Rising Sun is to be seen on the wings of the attacking planes!" 　No radio was on in the Kuhns' quarters, but they found the door open and, inside, Adam Sterling, who had a .38 revolver in his right hand. The place was a mess, almost as if it had been searched; but that wasn't exactly the case. 　The FBI agent, who might have been a tourist in his aloha shirt and chinos, looked at them and said, "Kuhn and his wife cleared out, sometime during the night." 　Hands on his hips, O. B. snorted a laugh and asked, "Where the hell do they think they're gonna hide, on this island?" 　Sterling stuck the gun in his waistband, shrugging. "Maybe with Jap sympathizers. Maybe they think that fifth column is going to rise up, or maybe an invasion is going to follow this goddamn air raid, and they're hiding till the outcome." Swallowing thickly, Sterling shook his head and his eyes locked with O. B.'s. "Jesus, Ed-did we have to be right?" 　Explosions, muffled, underscored the agent's statement. 　'This is it," O. B. said through clenched teeth. "This is the attack. But my question is-is this what Pearl Harada knew?" 　Sterling shook his head. "No-but close. Last night, after you and I struck out with General Short and Admiral Kimmel. .. and what a morning I bet they're having ... I couldn't sleep. So I went over to the dining room, where the Harbor Lights were dragging their be-hinds through a performance ... two of their members murdered, what a damn pall that cast." 　"I can imagine," Hully said. 　"Yeah," O. B. said to the FBI agent, "but what the hell does that-" 　Nodding, the FBI man picked up his train of thought. "I talked to a young man in the band who, as it turns out, was ... secretly... Terry Mizuha's other best friend." He grunted a humorless laugh. "Hell, why mince words at a time like this? Terry Mizuha's boyfriend-his lover." 　O. B.'s eyes narrowed to slits. "What did this 'lover' tell you?" 　Distant explosions continued to accentuate the FBI agent's words. 　'Terry had confided in him, Ed-just like Pearl had confided in Terry. Nonspies aren't much at keeping secrets, you know. Seems our esteemed Japanese vice consul, Tadashi Morimura, is not a diplomat at all- 　he's a spy named Takeo Yoshikawa. A top espionage agent... So much for 'legal' spying." 　O. B. and Hully exchanged glances; then O. B. asked, "Is that an act of war? Having a spy pose as a diplomat?" 　Sterling barked a hollow laugh. "Kind of a moot point right now, don't you think?" 　And an especially loud explosion seemed to agree. 　The FBI agent gestured to a telephone on a small table. "Listen, the hotel phones are out. Maybe some Jap plane snagged the phone lines. So I can't call the office, and anyway it's just a skeleton crew over there; and I can't contact anybody at home, obviously. I'm on my own-you and Hully want to help?" 　Hully was nodding, emphatically, as O. B. said, "Sure-how?" 　Sterling's smile had a sneer in it. "I want to get over to that Japanese embassy and arrest that son of a bitch, Morimura/Yoshikawa, plus I want to take all those other Nips into custody, right down to General Counsul Kita....You got a gun, Ed?" 　O. B. nodded. "I still have Otto's Lьger-in the bungalow." 　"Get it. That is, if you want to help out." 　"Oh, I want to help." Eyes so tight they seemed to be shut, O. B. stood almost nose to nose with the FBI agent (or would have if Sterling hadn't been so much taller) and said, "Listen, Adam-Pearl knew more than just Morimura's last name, I'm sure of it That bastard Morimura or Yoshi-something knew about this attack. This invasion got Pearl killed, and that Terry fella as well-they're the first casualties of this new war. Well, the Army and Navy have their hands full right now- you bet we'll be glad to help the FBI get that bastard." 　Sterling and Hully tagged along as O. B. headed back to the bungalow to get the German's gun. As they approached, Bill Fielder-in his bare feet, his green sportshirt unbuttoned, zipping his chinos-came tumbling out, bumping into Hully. 　The young ensign's face was unshaven, his eyes red, his dark hair sticking out here and there with sleep-induced cowlicks. 　"Christ, have you heard?" Bill asked. 　With bombs bursting in air-just like "The Star Spangled Banner"-this was a fairly absurd question. 　"It's no drill," O. B. said. 　"I gotta get to the Arizona," Bill said desperately, wheeling from Hully to O. B. to Sterling. "You gotta drive me there! I gotta get in this! I gotta help!" 　"Keys to the Pierce Arrow are on the coffee table," O. B. said, pointing to the nearby screen door. 'Take it-try not to get my buggy shot the hell up... or yourself." 　"Thank you, thank you," Bill murmured, and ran back inside the Burroughs cottage. 　Sterling paused for just a moment, watching Bill through the screen, and Hully was surprised to see that the FBI agent-this strong-jawed six-foot-two Tarzan type-had tears welling. 　"The men on those ships getting bombed," he said softly, voice catching, "they're all boys like that-average damn age is nineteen." 　O. B. whispered, "Dying out there, right now." 　Then Bill, clutching the car keys, came streaking past them, flashing a nod of thanks and a grimace of a smile. 　Burroughs went in and retrieved the Lьger, and followed after as the FBI man dashed toward the crushed-coral parking lot where the Ford waited, Hully right there at his father's side. 　"Didn't miss the fire this time, Dad," he said. 　"Wish to hell I had," O. B. said. 　There were tears in his father's eyes, as well; but- as was the case with the FBI man-Edgar Rice Burroughs's jaw was firmly set. 　 　 　FOURTEEN 　Under Fire 　 　At the same time as Edgar Rice Burroughs and his son Hulbert were sitting down for breakfast at the Niumalu, two barefoot young fishermen were settling in on the enlisted men's landing at Pearl City. Sitting on the pier in only their khaki trousers, having yanked their T-shirts off (once they'd slipped out of their mother's sight), the Morton boys-Don, eleven, and Jerry, thirteen-did not brandish poles: instead, they unfurled a simple ball of string out into the water. 　The boys were old hands at this, though they were resigned to slim pickings, even if on occasion they had managed to snag a hapless perch; and while the morning's fishing would certainly be on the dull side, Don and Jerry would no doubt be entertained by the harbor's always interesting parade of ships and sailors, planes and pilots.... 　Puffs of wind gently stirred the glassy surface of the water, and the sun peeked from behind cotton-candy clouds, promising a hot, lazy day-a typical Sunday for the two boys, although the fish did seem to be biting, for a change. 　Seeking more bait, Don scrambled up to their house, only two hundred yards from the landing, while Jerry lounged in the golden sunlight, squinting as he took in a view any kid might relish, the ships of the Pacific Fleet strewn before him like so many toys in his tub. Groupings of destroyers convened about their tenders, to the north and east; and cruisers faced into the Navy Yard piers, at the southeast. Farther south lay the cruiser Helena, and-in dry dock with two destroyers- the battleship Pennsylvania. To the west were more destroyers, in and out of dry dock. 　Lording over it all, in the middle of the harbor, sat Ford Island, where even now the boys' stepfather was on duty at the seaplane hangars. Patrol planes and carriers were stationed there, carriers moored on the northwest side, battleships on the southeast. Only today, Jerry noted, the carriers were all out at sea. 　But there was still plenty for a kid to look at-the Utah, a battleship turned target ship; the seaplane tenders Swan and Tangier; the mine layer Ogala; cruisers like the Raleigh, Helena and Detroit; the old gunboat Sacramento with its thin, old-fashioned smokestack; and-on the far side of Ford Island-an exciting lineup of funnels and masts, the "trees" of Battleship Row, the Arizona, California, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia. What other kid's bathtub armada could compare to that? 　Still, all of this was old news to Jerry, who was glad the fish were biting. Otherwise, this had the makings of another really dull Sunday-that must have been why somebody was playing with firecrackers, off in the distance someplace. 　Twenty miles east of where Jerry and Don were fishing, on the windward coast of the island, Japanese fighter planes and dive-bombers were swooping down on Kaneohe Naval Air Station. 　One moment all was quiet, the next men were running after guns and ammunition, shouting, cursing, as the enemy planes made scrap metal out of the big PBY patrol planes at the station, moored to buoys in the bay and sitting unmanned on ramps. 　Thirty-three Army planes were either damaged or destroyed. 　All were in flames. 　Don Morton was halfway down to the pier from the house, bringing more bait, when an explosion pitched him onto his face. The eleven-year-old covered his ears, his head, as three more blasts rocked the world over and around him. 　Then, scared spitless, he scurried back up the slope and ran inside the house, just as his mother was coming out, her face white, her eyes wide. 　Standing there in the doorway, she leaned down, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Go down and fetch your brother-now! Hurry!" 　Don did as he was told, even as planes were gliding by overhead, housetop level. The boy heard gunfire and realized it was coming from above, and the dirt road nearby puffed up, making little dust clouds, as the pilot strafed the area. 　As dust danced on the road, Don-momentarily frozen-yelled, "Jerry!" 　And then the boy turned and ran back to the house, and his mommy. When he got there, Don saw their next-door neighbor, a Navy lieutenant, in his p.j.'s., out on his own front yard. 　The funny thing was, the grown man was crying too, crying for his mommy. 　FBI agent Sterling was at the wheel of the black Ford with Burroughs in front, and Hully was in the backseat, sitting forward, like a kid. 　As they headed for the Japanese Consulate, downtown, Burroughs was dismayed to see civilians failing to take cover, standing out in their yards and on the sidewalks, staring skyward, pointing at the plumes of black smoke, some laughing, convinced they were watching the military training exercise to end all such exercises. 　Perhaps they were, he thought. 　At first the traffic was nonexistent, the streets vacant, spookily, ominously so; and as the spectators began to get the point-as radios around the city informed them this was "the real McCoy!"-the citizens of Honolulu scrambled inside, leaving the sidewalks and front yards empty, as well. 　For several blocks, the emptiness-punctuated by the muffled sound of explosions-was eerie, almost as if the world had ended, leaving behind only brick and concrete. 　Suddenly, vehicles were everywhere, speeding, careening, civilian autos and taxicabs packed with sailors and soldiers desperate to get back to their ships and posts, delivery vans and ambulances and fire trucks, sirens screaming.... 　Soon the FBI agent's Ford was snarled in traffic. 　Sterling, pounding the wheel impatiently, turned to Burroughs. "You really think Yoshikawa alias Mori-mura knew today was the day?" 　Burroughs shrugged, sighed; the German's little automatic was in his hand. "Maybe not. Maybe he just knew that some Sunday soon, Oahu would be the target." 　Sterling's smile was bitter; he shook his head. "All I keep thinking is 'poinsettias and hibiscus.' " 　From the back, Hully said, "That radiophone call?" 　"Code," Burroughs said. 　Sterling nodded. "Code, all right-for certain kinds of ships." 　Burroughs glanced at his son. "Maybe that bastard did know-our esteemed vice consul." 　Traffic began to move again-as sirens wailed, and the sky roared. 　"If we can ever get to the Consulate," Sterling said, through tight teeth, "we'll just ask the son of a bitch." 　On a windy plain ten miles north of Pearl Harbor lay Wheeler Field, the Pacific's largest American fighter base. U-shaped barricades had been constructed to protect Wheeler's nearly one hundred fighter planes, Army Air Force P-40s and P-36s; this morning, however, the planes were clustered on the runways, wingtip to wing-tip-playing out General Short's antisabotage strategy, a policy the other Oahu bases were following, as well. Japanese planes pounced on the sitting ducks, dropping bombs, unleashing cannon fire and machine-gun blasts, chewing up the rows of parked fighters, fuel tanks igniting, leaving the hangars, enlisted men's barracks and PX in flames. 　Dive-bombers swooped so low, inflicting their damage, that phone lines got snagged, and men on the ground could see the gold teeth in the grins of Jap pilots as they flashed by. No time to fight back, unarmed airmen died in their beds, or running for their planes, or for safety, though the base had no air-raid shelters. Their ammunition-locked away to keep local saboteurs from getting it, courtesy of General Short- was out of reach, stored in one of the burning hangars, bullets popping like popcorn in the conflagration. 　Then the planes soared away, leaving thirty-nine men dead, and many more wounded. 　Just north of Wheeler, at the suburban sprawl that was Schofield Barracks, sounds resembling explosions roused the interest of soldiers, who-upon glancing outside the mess hall-saw a plane with a black canopy and fuselage marked with a red spot, circling the roof of the building housing HQ. Breakfast trays in hand, several soldiers were arguing over whether this was a Jap plane or some strange Navy craft, when buglers trumpeted an alert. The men tossed their trays and ran from the mess hall into the quadrangle; others sought out rifles, and two artillerymen ran to the rooftop and fired at planes with Browning Automatic Rifles, emptying clips at the dive-bombers. 　One of the Jap planes crashed. 　Cheers went up. 　Then a new topic of conversation took over among the frightened young soldiers: how much would it hurt to be shot by a Jap bullet? Was it true the Nips only used .25 caliber ammo? 　Admiral Kimmel had gotten up early on this fine Sunday morning; every other weekend, he would meet with General Short for eighteen holes of golf. Today, Lieutenant Colonel Throckmorton and Colonel Fielder would be joining them. 　He'd recently moved into this house at Makalapa Heights, about five minutes from HQ, and the place was underfurnished-severely lacking the touch his wife would have brought to it. On days off like this, he missed her dearly; but most of his time was so filled with work, he scarcely remembered he had any private life. 　This week had been filled with protracted discussions over whether the fleet should be kept in Pearl Harbor or sent to sea; and now this business was looming of the supposed espionage activities that Adam Sterling-a good man, if overeager-and the ever-imaginative Ed Burroughs had brought to his attention last night. 　He was still in his pajamas, and hadn't even shaved yet, when Commander Murphy, duty officer at HQ, called to say the Ward had ash-canned a sub near the harbor. 　"Sorry to bother you on Sunday morning, sir," Murphy said. 　Kimmel realized this was probably just another false alarm-incorrect reports of subs in the outlying area were common. 　But he said, "You acted correctly, Commander- all submerged sub contacts must be regarded as hostile....I'll be right down." 　Around five minutes later, freshly shaved and just getting into uniform, Kimmel again answered the phone and once more it was Murphy. 　But this time the businesslike commander's voice was strangely shrill: "Sir, we have a message from the signal tower saying the Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor-and this is no drill!" 　Kimmel slammed the phone down and ran outside, onto the front lawn, into the garden which overlooked the base, buttoning his white uniform jacket as he went. 　The sky was filled with the enemy-the Rising Sun on their wings. He knew at once this was no casual raid, by a few stray planes. 　 　"Unbelievable," he murmured. 　Aghast, he stood frozen among the flowers-poin-settias and hibiscus in bloom-watching Jap aircraft swoop down on the base, circling in figure eights, dropping bombs, turning and dropping more, machineguns chattering. Explosions rocked the sky-and ships, fires already burning fiercely on their decks. "Impossible," he whispered. 　Four miles west of Pearl Harbor, the Ewa Marine Corps Air Station was hit by two squadrons of silver planes bisecting the field at two hundred mph, fishtailing to better lash their bullets into broad patterns. 　Of the base's forty-nine fighters and scout planes, thirty were decimated on the ground. 　Four blocks from Beretania Street, the black Ford managed to crawl through the traffic jam and make it across Kuakini Street, bordering Pauoa Park, where on the left-hand corner squatted the two-story concrete compound of the Japanese Consulate. 　Sterling pulled up in front, into the no-parking zone, and Burroughs and his son hopped out, following the FBI agent up the stairs, where-oddly-Consul General Nagao Kita stood halfway down... in his dark blue silk pajamas. 　Burroughs had met the usually affable Kita before, socially, as had Sterling-the consul general was short, plump, with dark thick hair, and a broad, bushy-browed face that, with its flattened pug nose, gave him the appearance of a cheerful ex-prizefighter. 　"Good morning, gentlemen," Kita said, arms folded, smiling like a friendly genie. 　"Don't you know there's a war on?" Sterling demanded. 　Kita shrugged. "This is just another American exercise-an elaborate one, I admit." 　"Take a look at the color of that smoke," Sterling said, nodding toward the sky. "It's black, not white- fuel oil. Your planes are bombing Pearl Harbor." 　"Nonsense." 　"I'm going to have to take you in custody, Mr. Kita. We're at war, and I have evidence of espionage on the part of your vice consul." 　The smile disappeared into an impassive mask. "I'm a diplomat, Mr. Sterling. Even if we are at war-I have certain rights." 　"You have no rights-American boys are dying right now in this vicious underhanded attack. Where is your vice consul? Where is Yoshikawa?" 　Kita's eyes tightened. "I know no one by that name." 　"I'll settle for Morimura, then." 　A siren screamed and tires squealed as a police car came to a halt next to the black Ford. Three uniformed police officers-two Hawaiians and a Chinese- jumped out, shotguns in hand, and so did a plainclothes officer... Detective John Jardine, a .45 automatic in his fist. 　Jardine took the steps two at a time and joined the little discussion group, nodding to Burroughs and Hully, then saying to Sterling and Kita, "We're putting this building under armed guard." 　"Why?" Kita said, his impassive face finally offering up a frown. 　"For the protection of the consul general," the Portuguese detective said, "and the members of your staff." 　Kita lifted a bushy eyebrow. "And if I don't want your protection?" 　Jardine's wide thin mouth made a faint smile. "Well, we could wait an hour or so, for a nice mob to build, and then throw your ass to it." 　That seemed to sober Kita, who said, "Shall we step inside?" 　"What a good idea," Jardine said, then turned to the FBI man, who was already holding open the door. "Agent Sterling, we intend to fully cooperate with your office. If I might ask, why are Mr. Burroughs and his son with you?" 　"I had to press them into service," Sterling said, as they allowed Kita to lead the way into the vestibule. "I've been cut off from my office." 　"Glad to have your help," Jardine said, nodding at both Burroughs and Hully. "But why do I have the feeling we're still working the Pearl Harada murder case?" 　"Help us find Vice Consul 'Morimura,' " Burroughs said, "and you'll find out." 　A guard fence separated Pearl Harbor from the two thousand acres of Hickam Field, biggest Army base on Oahu, home of the Army's bomber squadrons. Here, a quarter mile of neatly arranged A-20s, B-17s and B-18s served themselves up to the hungry waves of silver planes. The incessant bombing and strafing-not only of the sitting-duck aircraft but barracks, support facilities and hangars-did not dissuade the men of Hickam from working fiercely to disperse their aircraft, or from fighting back. 　Two Japanese-American civilians-laborers employed at the field-helped set up a machine gun and fed it with ammo belts while a boy from Michigan fired away at the diving planes. 　Standing near a hangar, Corporal Jack Stanton-one eye slightly swollen, even blackened, from his Hotel Street brawl of the night before-saw the friend standing next to him strafed into explosive splashes of blood, bone and flesh. Horrified, then energized into action, Stanton ran across the tarmac-not even pausing when another bomb blew a khaki-clad soldier in two-and managed to climb up into a bomber. 　Stanton began firing the machine gun in the nose of the bomber, its deadly chatter knocking one of the silver planes out of the sky. 　But when a Zero swooped down, delivering its own machine-gun fire, the fuel tank ignited and Stanton was trapped in the cockpit, flames all around him, caged in a crackling hell. 　Stanton didn't bother trying to get out. As the flames slowly consumed him, he kept firing up at the sons of bitches, and witnesses said his red tracer bullets could be seen zinging skyward, long after flames had encompassed the nose of the plane. 　Winging eastward in groups of three, past the Pearl Harbor entry, cutting inland at an altitude of a mere sixty feet, twenty-four torpedo planes threw their supple blue shadows across the Navy Yard and the Southeast Loch, closing in on Battleship Row-where those gray behemoths, the Arizona, California, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia, pride of the Navy, slumbered in the sunlight. In groups of two, coming from the west, sixteen more torpedo planes took a direct route across the island, their targets the ships docked on the far side of Ford Island, as well as those at the Navy Yard piers over the east channel. 　Aboard the battleships, barely awake sailors perceived the approaching attack planes as nothing more than specks-but those specks grew ever larger as they zeroed in on the harbor, crisscrossing. Swabbies-like civilians-at first dismissed the planes... crazy Army pilots, damn Navy fliers showboating, ain't that a hell of a drill.... 　"That's no star on the wing!" a sailor or two, on every ship, would finally say, more or less. "That's a red ball!" 　And sailors, scattering like naughty kids caught in some act, yelled, "It's the Japs! It's for real! It's war!" 　PA systems barked orders, bugles blared, ships' alarms trilled, and on every vessel in the harbor-130 of them-all hell broke loose, from the startled sailors on deck who had seen the planes "dropping fish" (torpedoes) to the poor bastards sleeping in on Sunday who had to tumble out of their racks, and scurry to then-battle stations, pulling on their clothes as they went. 　Five torpedoes, in rapid succession, blasted the Oklahoma, sending the battleship rolling slowly, inevitably to port. Breakfast dishes went flying, shattering, mess tables upended, lockers spilled open, and in the belowdeck barbettes, massive gun turrets tore free from their housings and tumbled grindingly down the slanting platforms, crushing crewmen. 　When eleven-year-old Don Morton-frightened by the low-flying, strafing planes-came scooting back home without his brother Jerry, his mom wasn't mad. She just hustled him into their car and they drove down to the landing, where Don and Jerry had been fishing. 　No other cars were around, but she honked her horn all the way, and Don thought maybe she was scared, too-they were driving right toward where all the explosions were coming from. 　Suddenly Jerry came bursting out from some algar-roba bushes, calling, "Mom! Mom!" 　She stopped the car, let Jerry in, and hugged him. 　"A man helped me," Jerry said. "He pushed me into the bushes when a plane was coming." 　"What man?" his mother asked. 　"That man," Jerry said, and pointed to the body of a Marine corporal alongside the dirt road. 　Don's mom turned their car around and headed for Honolulu, as explosions shook the world all around them. 　Bill Fielder, in the borrowed Pierce Arrow convertible, had a hell of a time trying to get to Pearl. He was crazy with desperation-all he could think of was getting back to his ship! 　But it was a slow go. At first the streets were empty, but quickly they became clogged with cars and taxis, as well as emergency vehicles. Bill would whip his car around the jams, whenever possible, riding on the sidewalk if he had to. The sky boiled with black oil smoke, and it seemed like the end of the world-he passed by several water mains that had broken, shooting geysers fifty feet in the air, and people had loaded their cars up with toys and clothes, sometimes with baby buggies or bicycles strapped on the roof, like European war refugees, heading for the hills. 　The rolling lanes of the Kamehameha Highway were choked with civiUan cars and taxis piled with servicemen scrambling to get to their posts. It seemed to take forever, crawling toward Pearl Harbor. Finally, when he came over a rise, at the highway's highest point, he got a panoramic view: silver planes skimming over the sea toward battleships, bombs whistling down, dive-bombers howling in on their targets, shells exploding in midair, machine guns chattering, low-flying fighters strafing anything and everything, the harbor a mass of fuel oil, smoke and flames. Even from this distance, the acrid smell of burning and battle seemed to singe his nostrils. 　The worst of it was the battleships getting hit so hard-the Oklahoma had already capsized, and the Arizona could be next. 　He felt sick-at heart, to his stomach. 　"Come on, come on, come on!" Bill yelled, and he laid on his horn-not that honking would do any good. Everyone caught in this jam wanted it to move along just as badly as Bill did. But he was frustrated, knowing that time was running out. 　He just wasn't aware how soon. 　A bomb hit the Pierce Arrow, obliterating it, and Bill, leaving a charred, flaming husk of an automobile and very little of its driver. 　Bill Fielder had just become the first Arizona fatality. 　Moored aft of the Tennessee, a massive 608 feet long, the Arizona carried a main armament of twelve fourteen-inch guns, her hull shielded at the waterline by a thirteen-inch thickness of steel, with twenty inches of armor housing her four turrets. No more formidable weapon of war-at-sea was known to man than a battleship such as this. 　An armor-piercing bomb hit the ship between its number-two gun turret and bow, punching a hundred-foot hole in the deck, then exploding in a fuel tank below. Within seconds, almost two million pounds of explosives detonated, forming a fireball of red, yellow and black, the ship lifting twenty feet in the air, tossing men like rag dolls, ship's steel opening like a blossoming flower to spread petals of huge red flame. 　The halves of the ship tumbled into the water, where her skewed decks were walked by burning men, a ghostly, ghastly crew staggering out of the flames, one by one, dropping dead. 　Seaman First Class Dan Pressman-whose previous battle had been on Hotel Street, last night-had been manning a gun-director unit above the bridge, when he sustained burns over most of his body; still, he managed to make use of a line that had been made fast to the mast of a repair ship moored alongside the Arizona. 　Pressman and five other badly burned sailors-suffering shock, but wanting to live-swung high above the water on the line, going hand over hand to safety, even as their ears were filled with the screams of fellow crew members on the burning, dying halves of the ship, or in the water beneath, which, surrealistically, was on fire, too. 　Her superstructure enfolded in flame, the Arizona- her shattered foremast tipping forward-settled to the bottom of the harbor, three-quarters of her crew.... some 1,177 officers and enlisted men ... dead in the most devastating of all the blows delivered by Japan in the surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor. 　In his quarters at Fort Shafter, General Short had just gotten into his golfing gear, for the planned eighteen holes with Kimmel, Fielder and Throckmorton, when he heard explosions-which he recognized at once as bombs going off. 　He didn't think anything of it-the Navy was obviously having some sort of battle practice, and he was mildly annoyed that no one on Kimmel's team had warned him about it... unless they had told him, and he'd forgotten it. 　But the explosions seemed to build, grow nearer, and that got the general's curiosity up. He wandered out onto his lanai-the very porch where the evening before an FBI agent had told him about a possible coded message-and he could see smoke to the west, a lot of it... and black. 　Shrugging, he was heading back in to have some coffee before he left for the golf course, when he heard a loud knock at the front door. His wife was not up yet, so he went to answer it quickly, in case she had somehow managed to sleep through the Navy's infernal racket. 　Wooch Fielder, in blue sport shirt and blue slacks, was standing on the front porch. Fielder had the startled expression of a deer perked by the sound of a hunter, and his face was fish-belly white. 　"What's wrong, Wooch? Am I late?" The general looked at his wristwatch. "Didn't think we were playing till-" 　"Sir, we're under attack-it's the real thing." 　More explosions. 　The general leaned out the door, asked, "What's going on out there?" 　"Bicknell says he saw two battleships sunk." 　"Why, that's ridiculous...." 　"Sir, both Hickam and Wheeler have phoned- they've been hit." 　Short drew in a sharp breath; then, crisply, he said, "Put into effect Alert Number Three. Everybody to battle position." 　"Yes, sir." 　"Do it, Wooch-I'll be right with you." 　And he shut the door, reeling, knowing that if the Japs would mount a damn-fool sneak air raid, they might even risk landing troops; there was no telling how seriously this attack might develop. 　General Short knew only one thing for certain: he had to get out of these damn golf togs. 　Don and Jerry Morton's mother, terrified by the explosions around them, stopped the car, and led her boys into a sugarcane field, where they all sat with hands on their ears, heads between their knees. 　Now and then, Don's mother would ask either him or Jerry to peek up and see if the airplanes swooping overhead were American. 　And, for the next two hours, they never were. Shivering, Don wondered if his stepfather was okay on Ford Island. 　(He was not: the boys' stepfather had been among the first to die today, hit by a bomb on the Ford Island seaplane ramp.) 　The U.S. Pacific Fleet was a family of sorts-big, and yet small enough that most men knew anyone else in their specialized line of work; a man might enlist and stay on one ship until retirement, twenty or thirty years later. Officers had ties, as well, often going back to Annapolis days. Admiral Kimmel knew thousands of his men by sight, and hundreds by name, and dozens were his personal Mends. 　From his office window at fleet HQ, Kimmel could do little more than stand and watch his ships... and his men... die-the admiral helplessly bearing the thunder of exploding bombs, and the anvil clangs of torpedoes ravaging his ships, bleeding rolling clouds of smoke. 　His people tried to establish communications with the areas under attack, and sent messages to ships at sea, advising them of what was happening at Pearl. They could hear explosions and see waterspouts and, of course, the funnels of black smoke. 　"I must say," Kimmel said quietly to the officers around him, "it's a beautifully executed military maneuver ... leaving aside the unspeakable treachery of it." 　As he stood there, a bullet came crashing through the window and struck him on the chest-leaving a sooty splotch on his otherwise immaculate white uniform. He bent to pick up what turned out to be a spent .50-caliber machine-gun slug. 　Softly, he said, "I wish it had killed me-that would've been merciful." 　Then he reached up and, with both hands, tore loose the four-star boards on bis shoulders; he went into his office and came back wearing two-star boards, having demoted himself. 　At the Japanese Consulate, Jardine and Sterling-with Burroughs and Hully tagging after-searched the compound. General Consul Kita was along, as well, a bored fat man in his pajamas; and when Jardine came to a locked door, toward the rear of the main building, he demanded that Kita open it. "I have no key," Kita said, unflappable. 　The acrid smell of smoke was leaching out from around the door. 　"They're burning papers again," Sterling said. "Kita, tell them to open up!" 　Sighing, seemingly blase, Kita began to knock, but no one answered; Burroughs yanked the man aside, and Sterling crashed his shoulder into the wood, several times, until the door finally splintered open. 　Four Japanese men in sport shirts and slacks were standing around a washtub in which they had been burning papers and codebooks. Around them in the small nondescript room were file cabinets whose drawers yawned open. 　Hully snatched a brown, accordion-style folder out of one of the men's hands, before he could dump its contents into the tub of flames. Jardine hopped into the tub and stamped out the fire, like he was mashing grapes into wine. 　Sterling had Burroughs train his gun on the four men while the FBI agent patted them down for weapons- they had none. One of the men was the Consulate's treasurer-they were all officials of the consulate. 　"Look at this," Hully said, holding up a sheet of typing paper taken from the brown folder. The white sheet bore a detailed sketch of ship locations at Pearl Harbor. 　"Where's Morimura?" Burroughs demanded of their prisoners. 　"Or should we say 'Yoshikawa'?" Sterling said. "Where is he?" 　None of them replied. 　But Kita, suddenly helpful, volunteered, "He had a golf match this morning." 　Sterling glanced at Burroughs. "Well, he's not in the building." 　"Nor is his driver," Kita said. 　Jardine took charge of Kita and the others, and Sterling, Burroughs and Hully checked out the Consulate's garage: the Lincoln was gone. 　"So we head for the golf course," Sterling said. 　"He won't be there," Burroughs said. "He's in hiding." 　"Where the hell 　Burroughs twitched a smile; Hully was nodding as his father said, "I think I know." 　And-under a sky momentarily quiet, but still thick with black smoke-they dashed out to the black Ford just as three more carloads of uniformed police, heavily armed, were forming a cordon around the consulate.