Robert Doherty - Section 8

"What was this secret organization?" Fatima asked.

"Why do you use the past tense?" Abayon asked, but did not wait for a reply.

"I've only heard rumors of it. And never a name."

Fatima frowned.

"How can something not have a name?"

Abayon shrugged.

"Surround yourself with enough layers of protection and cutouts and you can do anything. This group is very secretive. Which makes me wonder if they are really part of any government, because governments – especially democracies – are sieves when it comes to keeping secrets. But let me continue my story.

"Lansale was taken from the Kempetai headquarters to a meeting with Hirohito's brother, Prince Chichibu, to coordinate the Golden Lily project. Also present at the meeting was Admiral Yamamoto, who carried out the Pearl Harbor attack. You see, this organization knew what the Japanese were doing, the systematic looting of all the lands they conquered."

"How did they know this?" Fatima asked.

"That is a good question," Abayon said.

"And I don't know the answer. But I talked to a senior Japanese officer who was Yamamoto's adjutant. He was on trial in the Philippines for war crimes. He'd been sentenced to death, and perhaps that made his lips a little looser. He told me that at this meeting a verbal agreement was made: the Americans would allow the Japanese to continue the Golden Lily. But none of it was to be shipped back to Japan. It was to be hidden in the Philippines."

"Why?"

"As every Filipino is taught in school, Douglas MacArthur had vowed to return to the islands. Essentially, the Americans were allowing the Japanese to do their dirty work for them."

"But why would the Japanese agree to this?"

"Because Lansale pointed out something that most smart Japanese knew, even back in those dark early days of World War Two when they seemed unstoppable: that the end of the war, with Japan losing, was inevitable. Yamamoto was particularly aware of this, having spent considerable time in the United States prior to the start of the war. Even though he planned the Pearl Harbor attack, up to the last moment he had argued vehemently against implementing it.

"Do you think the amazing recovery Japan made after the war was a coincidence? Plain good luck? From this meeting forward, elements in both the United States and Japan were already planning the economic recovery of the defeated nation."

"But…" Fatima drew the word out.

"I still don't see why the Japanese would agree to this. What did they get in return – beyond this plan for economic recovery?"

"The emperor was assured that he – and his family – would not be tried for war crimes. Not only that, but that he would be allowed to keep his position after the end of the war. Think about it: why was the leader of a nation that had blatantly and so dishonestly ordered a surprise attack on the United States not only pardoned, but allowed to remain in power?

"Of course, there were some other angles to the whole deal," Abayon continued.

"Chichibu had to give Lansale assurances that the Japanese would not try to develop atomic weapons. So in a way, the cover story for the OSS mission was true, just not in the way the other two unfortunate souls who accompanied Lansale anticipated."

"So Chichibu and Yamamoto sold out their own country," Fatima said.

"Is that the way you see it?" Abayon asked, staring at her hard. She'd seen that look before, and turned over what she had just learned in her mind, examining the various angles as Abayon had taught her.

"They knew they could not win the war so they looked to the future and the higher good."

"That is what they believed."

"Do you agree with what they did?" Fatima asked. Abayon smiled grimly. She had thrown the gauntlet back at him.

"It was an interesting moral dilemma: betraying your own country in the present to serve its future prosperity. Most would not agree with betrayal."

"And you?" she pressed.

"No. I do not agree with betrayal. I think they admitted defeat before they were defeated. But…"

"But what?"

"Who is to say whose allegiance Chichibu's lay with? What if this secret organization is something more than just an American group? What if it is international? And Chichibu had a higher allegiance?"

"But Yamamoto – " Fatima protested.

"He was a soldier. A man, supposedly of great honor. He – "

"Ah," Abayon said, cutting her off, "there is more to this. Remember, the Americans killed Yamamoto.

The story written in history books is that they broke the Japanese code and knew where he would be flying. So they sent long-range fighters to shoot him down over Bougainville on the eighteenth of April in 1943. But what if the Americans were meant to get that message? It was a mightily convenient intelligence coup otherwise."

"Plots within plots," Fatima said.

"So if Chichibu was part of this secret organization, then Yamamoto might not have been, and they arranged for him to be killed."

"Yes."

Fatima mulled this over.

"So you believe there is a secret organization that crosses – indeed supersedes – national interests and manipulates events?"

"Yes."

"To what end?"

"To further their own end," Abayon said simply.

"I don't know exactly what that is, but from what I've gathered it seems to be the accumulation of wealth for the very few who are members of this group. And the controlling of economies, governments, the military – people, essentially – to maintain their status quo."

"The auction. And my father's mission – which he told me nothing of, of course. Those are designed to draw this group out."

Once more she made it a statement, not a question.

"Yes. Remember, this organization wants what we have in these tunnels. They've wanted it for sixty years."

"That is why you've never used any of it before," Fatima said. Abayon nodded.

"Not only do they want it, but I think they put it here, if the meeting between Lansale and Chichibu is true. Golden Lily was designed from the very beginning by this group. They used the cover of the war to gather their riches."

Fatima mulled that over.

"But…"

"Go ahead," Abayon prompted.

"Why now?"

"Two reasons. One is that I will not be here much longer."

"You look fine – " Fatima began to protest, but Abayon held up a hand, silencing her.

"You have been very observant and wise up until now. Please do not change. I have less than a year to live. So, perhaps it is selfish of me, but I want to find out who I've been shadow-boxing with all these years."

"And the second reason?"

"It's time," Abayon said simply.

"Since 9/11 the gloves have come off. We are entering an age of a new type of conflict, and this group is probably quite aware of that. The Americans came after us the other night and many people died. We can sit and let them come to us or we can go after them. I prefer action over reaction."

Fatima nodded.

"All right. What happened to this Lansale?"

"He managed to make his way back to the United States via diplomatic channels. He then became a career spook, as near as I have been able to find out. Strangely, though, he was photographed in Dallas on the twenty-second of November, 1963, but he always claimed he was never there."

"What is so important about that?"

"Something very significant happened that day."

"What?"

"President Kennedy was assassinated."

Vaughn lay on his back staring up at the stars, savoring the cool night breeze blowing across his soaked clothes and the feel of sand beneath him. They were on the shore of a small, deserted cove on the north side of Jolo Island. As soon as they made landfall, they conducted a quick box reconnaissance of the immediate area, and both were confident they were on an isolated part of the island.