He wasn’t likely to say no. He knew she was right about Wally and Joan, but that wasn’t the real reason. Always, much as he hated himself for it, the thought of Tokyo loomed larger in his mind. And Brenda.
*
They met at a reception at the Embassy within a week of his arrival. ‘Why, Lew,’ she said. ‘What a pleasant surprise.’
‘And for me,’ he agreed, kissing her cheek, for all the world as though neither of them had known it was going to happen; his hostess was at his elbow.
‘Lewis!’ Hashimoto Kurita hurried across the room to squeeze his hands. ‘I only heard a week ago that you were the new naval attaché, or I would have written my congratulations. My dear fellow, I cannot tell you how delighted I am to have you here. May will be joining you, of course?’
‘Of course,’ Lew said.
‘I look forward to seeing her again, after all this time. You must bring her to my house, to meet my parents. Mrs Lloyd.’ He smiled at Brenda. ‘How nice to see you again. Now, Lew, we must set up a golf date as well...’
It was several minutes before he left them alone.
‘May?’ Brenda asked, softly.
‘I thought you might have known, that we were back together.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘No, I didn’t know.’
‘Well...you weren’t there, and she turned over a new leaf. I mean really.’
‘I see.’
‘But...they still want you and me to work together.’
‘Of course,’ she said. ‘Work together.’
He decided not to take up the emphasis, for the moment. Because he didn’t know whether he wanted to or not. ‘When can we meet?’
‘Have you a place yet?’ she asked.
‘I think so. I’m looking at one tomorrow.’
‘Then I will wait until you’re settled.’
‘Can’t I call on you?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Under no circumstances. When you are settled, I will know of it, and I will call you. Can you be in your apartment at four minutes past six every afternoon?’
‘That sounds reasonable.’
‘Then I will call you at that time, as soon as you have a place of your own.’ She smiled at him. ‘Do make it soon, Lew.’
Then she was gone, and it was time for him to be polite to the other guests, while trying desperately to get his thoughts in order. And not only about Brenda. Hashimoto had been so charming, and so apparently genuinely pleased to see him.
‘Is he really an officer in the Kempai-tai, sir?’ he asked Ambassador Grew, when they had their first private chat.
‘I’m afraid he is, Captain. But that’s not surprising; nothing in Japan is quite as it seems. Your record indicates you know something about the country.’
‘I spent several weeks here, with Vermont, in 1923.’
‘Hell, yes, the earthquake. That must have been some experience. They say there is a quake every thirty seconds in Tokyo, but most of them are so small no one pays any attention. Well, Captain, remember I’m here if you have any problems. I’m not supposed to know what you’re after...’ his eyes twinkled. ‘But I guess we’re all after the same things, so I’ll just ask you not to rock the boat too much, and wish you all fortune. But remember...Kurita may be an old pal of yours, but I guess he’s as much a Japanese first and a friend after as you are an American first and his friend after. And he has a reputation of being a real toughie. Just keep it in mind.’
Lew had every intention of keeping it in mind, and especially as regards Brenda. But getting together with her was a priority. He did indeed take the apartment he had first been shown; it was spacious and airy and the building, two blocks west of Ginza, was solidly built. He was sure May would like it, and it had an office in which he could be entirely private, and in which he installed a private telephone. Two days later, at four minutes past six, it jangled.
‘Hi,’ she said. ‘You’re very efficient. But I knew that. I think, to begin with, we should meet casually. There can be no doubt the Kempai-tai will have you under observation, and it is also extremely likely that they know we have not seen each other for several years. So the romance has to be stirred, as it were. Will you make a note of the address?’
It was a department store, on Ginza itself, and Brenda was breathtakingly cool in a white linen dress, examining vacuum cleaners. ‘Washington has this lamentable habit of trying to play God,’ she murmured, as he stood at her elbow, casually. ‘But this is the pits.’
‘Is it?’ He drew a long breath; he was about to be a shit again. ‘There is no reason for May ever to find out. And I’m not sure that she would raise a fuss if she did.’ She wasn’t really in a position to.
‘Won’t she?’ She gave him a quick glance. ‘It may bother Tadatune.’
‘Tada-who?’
‘My friend,’ Brenda said, carefully.
‘Your what?’ His voice rose an octave.
‘Captain,’ Brenda said. ‘You are supposed to be an old hand at this business. It is necessary for me to have a friend, and fortunately Japanese men all have a yen for Western women, even Western women virtually old enough to be their mothers. Tadatune is a senior clerk in their Admiralty, and is enormously useful.’
‘Holy Jesus Christ,’ he muttered.
‘I’m sorry, Lew. Goes with the job.’
‘And always has done, I guess. I didn’t mean to lose my cool. It’s just...I don’t see how you can want to, after China.’
‘Perhaps that makes it easier.’
God, he thought, to be able to figure out what really goes on behind those deep dark eyes. ‘So...are we going to be able to get together?’
‘I hope so,’ she said. ‘Washington sent you here for that purpose, and I have to know what you want to find out.’
‘Yeah. When.’ He felt he was some kind of a pervert, but the thought that Brenda was sleeping with a Japanese made him want to hold her in his arms more urgently than ever.
‘Can you get away next Friday? Say nine o’clock? I think that’s the correct time for someone to visit his mistress.’
He could not be sure whether she was poking fun at him or not. She seemed glad to see him, but gave no indication that she wanted to go to bed with him. ‘Tadatune, eh?’ he asked.
She sat down and lit a cigarette, a recent habit, but one he could understand in her line of work. ‘Maybe. And May. I’m really not into sleeping with two men at the same time, or adultery in a big way. I told you that.’
‘And my feelings don’t come into it? God damn, to be cut out by a Japanese!’
‘Lew,’ she said, ‘I love you. When things change, I’ll be there. Right now...don’t we have business to discuss? Like what’s on the Navy’s mind?’
He told her, while she inhaled and then lit another. ‘Fifty thousand tons,’ she murmured. ‘I don’t see how they can keep something that big under wraps for too long.’
‘Maybe even a little while will be too long for us,’ he pointed out. ‘Think you can do it?’
‘I reckon. But I can’t hurry, Lew. Tadatune is a dedicated Japanese patriot. There is no way he will ever betray his country. But he has a weakness...’ she half smiled, ‘apart from me, I mean. He is so proud of Japan and what she is achieving that he likes to boast. So, with a little encouragement...’
‘Do you know, I hate this guy, even if I’ve never met him?’
She stubbed out the cigarette and kissed him. ‘Maybe I hate him too,’ she whispered.
*
But she still wouldn’t let him make love to her, and life had to be lived, and life as senior naval attaché was one long succession of parties, at the various embassies — where he compared notes with all his fellow attachés, Russian, French, German, Italian, Dutch and British, each busily trying to pick the other’s brains without revealing anything they felt was their secret alone — and at Japanese functions as well. The guessing game, and the guarded courtesies, only grew more intense as the long awaited war finally broke out in September.
To Lew’s relief, May had by then already left England and she arrived safely in the States with both Joan and Wally; there was nothing anyone could do about Clive, who disappeared entirely the week before England declared war on Germany; from his knowledge of the Royal Navy Lew concluded that he was at Scapa Flow with the fleet. But Wally was safely in a college in Connecticut, and in October May and Joan turned up in Tokyo, to Lew’s both relief and pleasure; he was seeing Brenda at least once a month and his frustration needed an outlet.
He knew he would never love May again, in the way he loved Brenda. But she was a marvellous feminine creation who just cried out to be loved, especially when she was so eager to reciprocate. His pleasure was increased by the way she seemed to adore both Tokyo and the Japanese. As did Joan, who, arriving in Tokyo as a quite beautiful nineteen-year-old, caused quite a stir, and did at home as well when she promptly fell in love with the British junior attaché, Lieutenant Grimmett. ‘For heaven’s sake,’ May complained. ‘What about college?’
‘You never went to college,’ Joan pointed out, devastatingly.
May looked at Lew for support, but Lew was just too pleased to have his lovely daughter in his house again to object. ‘So what the hell?’ he asked. ‘He’s one of Clive’s brother officers.’
John Grimmett was in fact a personable young man, who definitely returned Joan’s feelings. Only a month later the engagement was celebrated with a huge party, and preparations went ahead for the wedding, in Tokyo, almost immediately, as no one knew when he was going to be posted elsewhere, for if the war on land had come to a sudden stop following the German conquest of Poland, it continued unabated at sea, a fact which caused May a good deal of worry for Clive.
He wrote to congratulate his sister, which reassured everyone he was alive and well, while Wally came over for the wedding, a huge hunk of a sixteen-year-old who was very definitely a McGann, and in more than just appearance. ‘We are gonna get into the action in Europe, aren’t we, Pop?’ he asked.
‘You mean you don’t want to find yourself in the wrong navy,’ Lew suggested.
‘Well, hell...do I?’
‘I have an idea you may not be, if you’re prepared to be patient,’ Lew told him.
But it was something he had been sent to Tokyo to find out, and he could not rely entirely on Brenda. He and Hashimoto had set up a regular golf game, even if he lost every time. ‘The situation in Europe looks kind of grim,’ he remarked, after they had finished their match one day soon after Christmas, and were seated in the bar of the Officers’ Club.
‘Hitler represents the future, over there,’ Hashimoto said, seriously. ‘I do not think there is any statesman with the courage to oppose him.’
‘What do you think of these big battleships he’s just launched?’ For both Bismarck and Tirpitz were now afloat, if not yet commissioned.
Hashimoto’s eyes gleamed. ‘I have seen the designs. They are magnificent ships.’
‘Wouldn’t you like to command one,’ Lew remarked.
‘Me? I have sidestepped the regular service, as you know, Lew.’
‘But Japan is still going to have ships of that size, isn’t she?’ Lew asked.
Hashimoto’s face was bland. ‘What makes you say that?’
‘Well...’ Lewis called for more drinks. ‘You told me she would match the best, way back in 1922, remember?’
‘So I did,’ Hashimoto said. ‘I remember. One should always match the best.’
‘So?’
Hashimoto smiled at him. ‘Is that your mission, to discover what plans we have for our navy?’
Lew returned his gaze. ‘Of course, Hash. I would never lie to you. And you know something? A straight answer in reply would do relations between our two countries one hell of a lot of good.’
‘Which would be no bad thing,’ Hashimoto mused. ‘Very well, Lew, ask me a direct question, and I will give you a direct answer. I promise that I will not lie to you.’
Lew studied him. Could it be this simple? And yet, Hashimoto was his oldest living friend, a man he would have trusted in anything, despite Brenda’s words of warning in China. Brenda was dealing from files; she did not understand the personalities involved. Then what of Grew’s warning? But Grew did not know Hashimoto personally either. Hash would never lie. So...
‘You have seen the designs for our North Carolinas and our South Dakotas,’ he said.
‘Of course. I understand you were involved in them.’
‘Briefly.’
‘Nonetheless, they are fine ships.’
‘Designed as far as possible to be within the old treaty limits. Now, we can build bigger ships, Hash.’
Hashimoto smiled. ‘I think you are already planning to, Lew. Am I not correct?’
So he had heard of the Iowas. But the first of those had not even been laid down yet.
‘We don’t want to, believe me. Yet of course, if another country, a country with whom we could one day have a conflict of interest...’ he paused to see what effects his words were having.
Hashimoto inclined his head, gravely. ‘It is certainly possible, while your government opposes our legitimate aspirations in China.’
‘Yes. That’s something we must talk about, some time. But returning to ships, if such a country were to start building ships like the Germans...’
Hashimoto nodded. ‘It would be a serious matter. It would be possible to consider it a challenge.’
‘So?’
‘What is your question?’
Lew took a long breath. ‘Can you assure me that your government is not building, or contemplating building, a battleship on the lines of Bismarck, of fifty thousand tons.’
Hashimoto considered for a moment, then said, ‘Yes. I can give you that assurance, Lew. I will give you my solemn word, as an officer and a gentleman, that Japan is not at this time building, and is not at this time contemplating building, any warship in the fifty thousand ton class. The concept is absurd.’
Lew clasped his hand. ‘That is the best news I have heard in one hell of a long time, old friend.’
‘Now, may I ask you a direct and possibly impertinent, question in reply?’
‘Shoot,’ Lew said, mind alert.
‘Is Mrs Lloyd still your mistress?’
‘Well, heck, Hash...’
‘I warned you it would be impertinent. But it is important.’
Lew had gained the time to think. As he went to Brenda’s apartment fairly regularly, it would be stupid to deny it, however true such a denial might be. Besides, that was the cover Washington had set up for them. ‘Well, she and I have always had a thing for each other. You know we were engaged once?’
‘Of course. And I remember how you steamed up the Yangste to rescue her,’ Hashimoto said thoughtfully. ‘But then you were separated from May.’
‘Yeah,’ Lew admitted. ‘Okay, so I’m all kinds of a heel. We split, back in the States. But when I saw her again here...I guess I just flipped again.’
‘Lew,’ Hashimoto said. ‘Every man is entitled to have a mistress, and you are fortunate to have two such very beautiful women with whom to alternate. I just thought you should know that Mrs Lloyd has also a Japanese lover.’
Lew frowned at him. ‘How do you know that?’
Hashimoto shrugged. ‘It is my business to know things. He is a clerk in the Admiralty. Really, a low born fellow. I am sorry to have to tell you this.’
‘Yeah,’ Lew said. But I’m damned glad you did, he thought; although Brenda had to know her affair with Tadatune would not have gone unnoticed. ‘I’ll have to think about that.’ But at the moment it seemed irrelevant compared with the assurance his friend had just given him. Joseph Grew thought so too. ‘Well done, Captain,’ he said. ‘It’s good to know these characters have some sense of perspective. That’s going to make a few heads rest easier in Washington.’
It certainly made Lew’s head rest easier. Because it surely made the second part of his mission irrelevant. Even wi
th their carriers, the Japanese, with only a fleet of ancient or ‘conventional’ battleships, were never going to challenge the might of the United States at sea. And even if they were to have a change of heart and actually soon to lay down some fifty thousand tonners of their own, they would be well behind American construction. It seemed that cautious good sense, for whatever reason — he presumed mainly financial — was going to win out after all.
He was totally relaxed, and decided that he could even call Brenda off the chase, and at the same time warn her that Hashimoto had his eye on her. But he could not immediately contact her, as the original rule she had made, that she would call him at four minutes past six on his private line, whenever she had any news to impart, still held. And she did not call for over a month after his talk with Hashimoto. Then they met at a reception at the German Embassy in April, to celebrate the invasion of Norway. It was an embarrassing occasion for the Americans, but almost every European in Tokyo had been invited, and he and May attended. He had not expected to see Brenda there, and was even more surprised when she actually sought him out, something she had not done in public since their first meeting. ‘Lew,’ she murmured ‘I have simply got to see you. Quickly.’
He frowned at her. Much as he loved her, he did not really want May to get suspicious about them; she had given no indication of remembering who the tall, dark woman was, and was at the moment out of earshot, but it was still unusual for him to be tête-à-tête with any woman. ‘I have something for you too,’ he replied. ‘Why not give me a ring tomorrow.’ He made to pass on.
‘Lew.’ She caught his sleeve. ‘It is urgent.’
His frown deepened. ‘So?’
‘Not here. Can we go outside?’
‘That urgent?’
‘Yes.’
‘Okay, go to the toilet. I’ll be up in five minutes.’
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