The Quest for the Fuji Cipher (A Richard Halliburton Adventure Book 4)

by Garrett Drake

  Yutaka glared at Richard before making another run at him.

  Richard stood pat against the railing as he fingered the loose end of a rope that was tied to a lifeboat suspended above the deck. The moment Yutaka drew close enough, Richard held tight to the cord and jumped over the side. He swung below, intending to return to the deck with a weapon—and the captain. But in an instant, that plan changed.

  “Richard, are you up here?” a woman called from the third deck.

  “Mabel, no,” Richard shouted. “Go back to the ballroom.”

  Seconds later, he heard her scream followed by Yutaka’s laugh. “New deal, Mr. Halliburton. Bring me the cipher now or the girl dies.”

  Richard scrambled up the rope to the top deck and found Yutaka holding Mabel, his knife to her throat.

  “You have two minutes to bring it to me or else your little friend here is going to take a late night plunge into the ocean,” Yutaka said. “Do you understand?”

  Richard nodded and darted toward the stairwell. With Mabel dragged into the standoff, he needed to give Yutaka something to let her go. But the pressing question was what. Richard certainly wasn’t about to part willingly with the cipher. He needed to improvise.

  Richard hustled past the dining room, where the ship’s staff were already preparing tables for the meal in the morning. He spotted a line of wooden pepper grinders and slipped inside to take one. Rushing back to the top deck, he found a small crowd had gathered, all pleading with Yutaka to release Mabel. Among the group was the captain.

  “If you don’t release her this instant, you’ll be dealt with severely upon arriving at port,” the captain said.

  “I don’t care about reaching port.”

  “Then what do you care about?” the captain asked.

  Yutaka nodded at Richard. “Ask him.”

  The captain shot a glance at Richard, who held his hand up. “I’ll handle this.”

  With the deck lighting so dim, Richard was betting that Yutaka would fall for the ruse, at least long enough to release Mabel. He held up the object.

  “Is this what you’re looking for?” Richard asked.

  Yutaka grunted. “I need to inspect it first.”

  Richard shook his head. “You let Mabel go first.”

  “Not until I see the cipher.”

  Richard walked to the center of the deck and placed the object on the ground. “Come see for yourself.”

  Yutaka grabbed some nearby rope and used it to quickly secure his hostage to the railing. Then he strode to the middle before kneeling and picking up the pepper grinder.

  “Do you think this is funny?” Yutaka asked. “This isn’t a cipher.”

  “That’s the genius of it,” Richard said. “It’s a functioning pepper grinder but also serves as a cipher.”

  “Your attempts to take me for an idiot will cost your friend her life.”

  He spun and marched toward Mabel, turning his back on Richard and the other onlookers. Richard didn’t hesitate, breaking into a sprint to catch Yutaka. Mabel screamed, pleading for Yutaka to spare her life. But he didn’t break his stride.

  Richard closed in on Yutaka, who spun around and was bracing for impact and clutching his dagger.

  At the moment before collision, Richard slid feet first, catching Yutaka by surprise. The resulting contact knocked him to the ground, sending him tumbling several feet before coming to rest against the railing. Richard jumped up and worked furiously to free Mabel.

  Yutaka growled as he staggered to his feet, just in time to watch his hostage run across the deck to join the crowd, which had doubled since Richard’s return from the dining room.

  “You think you’re going to get away with this?” Richard asked.

  Yutaka narrowed his eyes. “Give me the cipher.”

  “You’re never going to get it because I don’t have it.”

  “Your lies are getting tiresome.”

  “Not nearly as much as your pursuit of something that doesn’t exist on this ship.”

  Richard eyed Yutaka as he paced around the deck.

  “I’m going to kill you,” he said with a growl.

  “And you’ll still have no cipher. You’ll just be a murderer, shamed for being unable to complete your assignment, a mission that was always going to fail because I never took a cipher.”

  Yutaka let out an exasperated breath before suddenly turning toward Richard and charging him. However, Richard had been moving slowly to place his back against the railing, getting in just the right position. As Yutaka closed in, he drew his knife back and prepared to thrust it into Richard. But just as the blade was on a course for Richard’s chest, he dropped to the deck before exploding upward, catching Yutaka in the waist and bending him over.

  Richard yelled as he muscled the Japanese man off the floor and over the railing. Yutaka screamed as he fell, flailing into the ocean and splashing down. The crowd rushed over to see what had happened. One man shouted about a passenger being overboard, but the captain held up his hand.

  “Justice has been served,” the captain said. “We won’t attempt to rescue him.”

  Richard nodded knowingly at the captain.

  Mabel rushed over and nearly tackled Richard with a hug. “Thank you. I’ve never been more scared in my life.”

  “Me either,” he said.

  As the crowd dispersed, the captain grabbed Richard by the arm. “We need to talk.”

  Chapter 26

  Seattle, Washington

  WHEN RICHARD ARRIVED in Seattle, he took a deep breath as he stepped onto the ramp. After all the time he’d spent at sea, he could hardly smell the salty air swirling around him. He took off his winter coat, tucking it underneath his arm, happy to bask in Seattle’s mild temperatures.

  The customs agent eyed Richard as he approached the kiosk. “Sir, it’s a bit chilly outside. You might want to put that back on when you leave.”

  Richard placed his document on the counter. “If I could get away with taking my shirt off, I would. You have no idea how cold I’ve been for the past few months.”

  The man shrugged. “To each his own, I guess,” he said as he scanned the papers. He handed them back to Richard and directed him where to go. However, Richard never reached the door.

  Hank Foster blocked the way.

  “You sure do get around,” he said, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Come with me,” Foster said. “We have much to discuss.”

  Foster led Richard to a car waiting outside. The driver hopped out of the front and opened the trunk for Richard, helping him with his luggage. Once they were all inside, Foster directed the man to take them to the U.S. Army’s intelligence offices overlooking the Puget Sound.

  Richard rubbed his hands together as he stared out the window. He was relieved to be home after nearly getting murdered on the President Madison, but he also held Foster suspect after using strong-arm tactics to get Richard to go along with the cipher mission in Japan.

  “So, did you get it?” Foster asked in a hushed tone.

  Richard nodded, keeping his gaze locked on the passing scenery outside.

  “That’s great news. I was a little worried after I heard that you ran into some trouble.”

  Richard forced a laugh. “Trouble? That’s what you call getting hunted by the Kenpetai?”

  “There are other words I could use for it, I guess,” Foster said. “I just realize what you did wasn’t easy.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” Richard snapped.

  Foster grabbed Richard’s arm and tugged on it. Richard turned to find Foster with his head cocked to one side.

  “Are you all right?” Foster asked.

  Richard ripped his arm away from the Army Intelligence officer. “I’m fine.”

  “You look about like my wife does when she tells me she’s fine. And I know it’s all a big lie.”

  “I’m beginning to wonder if the big lie was you saying you would help me secure a publisher if I did what you asked,” Richard said. �
�Which I’ve done, by the way.”

  “I’m sorry if you felt I was manipulating you,” Foster said. “We really needed your assistance in the matter.”

  “And how many more times are you going to need my assistance before you actually give me all the contact information you promised you would? Ten? Fifteen? Twenty? Fifty? A hundred? This is a slippery slope, Foster, and you know it.”

  “I know how this must look to you, but in our business, you oftentimes have small windows to secure pertinent information. And if you don’t do it, it could cost the lives of very good people who would be unsuspectingly thrown into harm’s way. Do you want that to happen?”

  Richard shook his head. “There you go again.”

  “Go again? What are you talking about?”

  “You’re trying to manipulate me with this story of yours, a blatant attempt to play on my sympathies to get me to do what you want.”

  “I’m simply explaining why I did what I did.”

  “And you’re about to ask me to do something else for you, aren’t you?”

  Foster remained quiet. He took a deep breath and then put his hands on his knees. It was his turn to stare outside the window and brood.

  After a few minutes, Richard broke the awkward silence. “You know I love my country, don’t you?”

  Foster managed a slight nod.

  “So just ask me next time. Don’t try to hold something over my head. Keep your word and shoot me straight. We’ll get along famously if you’ll remember those things.”

  “I think I can do that,” Foster said before reaching into his pocket and handing Richard an envelope. “This is yours. You’ve earned it.”

  Richard opened it up and scanned the letter from William Feakins, president of the Feakins Agency. Mr. Feakins stated that he would be interested in meeting to discuss the terms of a deal to schedule Richard to speak about his worldwide travel. He also said with fiction sales flagging, his publisher friend at Bobbs-Merrill recently told him that the company would be going in a new direction toward non-fiction books. And according to the letter, the tales of Richard’s exploits were just what the company was looking for.

  He smiled as he looked up at Foster. “Is this real?”

  Foster nodded. “In fact, I didn’t even really have to call on any favors to get it done. Mr. Feakins has been a friend of the military’s for a long time. And before I’d even finished telling him about you, he was inquiring about where he could view some of your work. Less than a week after I first spoke with him, I received a call that he was interested and would be sending me that letter.”

  Richard was unable to remove the grin on his face. “You have no idea how happy this makes me. I was either going to be helping my father sell real estate or slumming at a newspaper somewhere while writing obituaries. I’m quite sure either one of those would’ve sucked the life right out of me.”

  When they arrived at the office, Richard handed over the film for development while he debriefed Foster on what happened in Japan and Yutaka’s attempted assassination. The fact that the Japanese tried to kill Richard angered Foster, who said he’d be speaking with his liaison at the White House about it. After they finished, an officer handed Foster a folder.

  “The pictures you requested, sir,” the man said.

  Foster flipped through the images before ordering the man to return. “Get these to the cryptology department and have them compare that with the cable we intercepted yesterday.”

  Richard furrowed his brow. “You think they’ve already deployed these ciphers?”

  Foster nodded. “Even though we lost the old cipher, we started noticing a couple of days ago that the notes had a different rhythm to them. Something changed, and we believe it started with the launch of a new decoding system.”

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING, Richard made one final visit to the Army Intelligence offices to speak with Foster. When Richard walked into the building, he immediately noticed the lines creasing Foster’s forehead.

  “What is it?” Richard asked.

  “Come with me to my office,” Foster said. “We need to talk right away.”

  Richard waited until Foster shut the door. “What is it?”

  Foster gestured toward the chair across from his desk. “Have a seat.”

  “Is everything all right?” Richard asked as he leaned forward.

  “First of all, I can’t begin to tell you how valuable the fruit of your mission was in obtaining those pictures of the cipher,” Foster began. “Last night, our team here was able to build a similar one and started decoding some of the messages.”

  “And?”

  “We’ve suspected that there’s a Japanese agent in San Francisco who’s been funneling secrets back to Tokyo for the past year or so. Now we know who he is.”

  “What’s that got to do with me?” Richard asked.

  Foster handed Richard a folder. “The person who’s been passing along this information is someone you might know, a Miss Mabel Johnson.”

  “Mabel Johnson? I know several women named Mabel.”

  “This one was on your voyage from Tokyo to Seattle. She is a telegraph operator at one of our units in San Francisco, working directly for the commander of that outfit.”

  “Mabel, the woman whose life I saved on the ship?”

  Foster shrugged. “In light of what we know now about her, I doubt her life was ever in danger.”

  Richard clenched his jaw as he slowly shook his head. “She was playing me the whole time. She actually pointed out that Yutaka was watching me. I should’ve known.”

  “Don’t get too down on yourself,” Foster said. “It happens to the best of us. Just be glad it wasn’t the kind of mistake that cost you your life.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Richard asked.

  “I know I told you getting that cipher was your last assignment,” Foster said, “so, you don’t have to do anything. I just—”

  “You said it was the last assignment you were giving me, but I never said it was the last mission I’d take. Tell me what you want me to do because I’ll do whatever you ask.”

  Foster leaned forward, handing Richard another stack of documents. “Here’s the briefing. But in short, we want you to earn her trust so she can help you capture the Japanese spy.”

  “Sounds easy enough.”

  “Don’t be so sure. She’s trained in interrogation techniques and knows how to resist. You’re going to have to work hard to get her to trust you, but if you can do it, it’ll help us secure our dissemination chain.”

  “Whatever it takes.”

  Chapter 27

  One week later

  San Francisco, California

  RICHARD HUSTLED up the steps of the St. Francis Hotel and strolled through the lobby. After a quick scan of the room, he went over to the elevator and stepped inside.

  The employee operating it was dressed in a dark-blue suit with a maroon bowtie, his silver hair leaking beneath his cap.

  “What floor, sir?” he asked.

  “I’m here for the splendor,” Richard said.

  The man smiled and winked as he pushed a button. Moments later they were drifting downward. When they reached the basement, the doors slid open, revealing a grand party, complete with a stocked bar and a lively orchestra. Couples whirled around the dance floor, while the city’s more prominent citizens chatted at the bar over drinks that were supposedly prohibited.

  Richard took his hat off and soaked in the scene. He didn’t move from his spot for about a minute before an unsuspected slap in the back made him stumble forward.

  “Don’t look so scared, kid,” an elderly man said. “The mayor is here drinking with us.”

  Richard wasn’t sure what the man meant. He pointed toward the far corner, where a balding man in a suit and tie laughed heartily while pouring another round of shots from his bottle for the trio of men seated at his table.

  “That’s Mayor Rolph?” Richard asked.

  “Sun
ny Jim himself,” the man said. “Relax. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  Richard found an empty seat on the corner and ordered a gin and tonic. He engaged in some small talk with the man on the adjacent stool before starting to look in earnest for Mabel. Another half-hour passed before he checked his watch and glanced at the front door. He shifted his weight on the stool and ordered another drink.

  According to the intelligence briefing Richard received, Mabel visited the St. Francis Hotel speakeasy every other Thursday when she wasn’t away on official Army business. She allegedly slipped a treasure trove of information to her Japanese spy at this location. However, that was merely speculation as the officers assigned to determine who she was passing the intel to couldn’t determine anything definitively.

  Richard took a walk around the ballroom, keeping an eye out for Mabel. At a stroke before 8:00 p.m., she finally darkened the doors of the hidden establishment.

  She checked her coat and then said hello to a few acquaintances before making her way to the bar.

  “Mabel? Is that you?” Richard asked, feigning surprise at her appearance.

  “Richard Halliburton, as I live and breathe,” she said as she threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug.

  She patted one of the gentlemen at the bar on the back. He turned around, and his demeanor instantly transformed once he locked eyes with Mabel.

  “Christopher, I want you to meet the man who saved my life on my most recent trip,” she said.

  The man offered his hand to Richard. “I understand you’re a real American hero.”

  Richard shrugged. “Just doing what any man would do in a situation like that.”

  Christopher chuckled and shook his head. “I’d let Mabel twist in the wind because then I could dance without getting my toes stepped on.”

  Mabel swatted him playfully with her clutch. “Watch yourself or else you might end up dancing all alone in the corner like a deranged lunatic.”

  “Who’s crazier? The man who dances alone to save his toes? Or the man who allows his feet to get trampled by elephant foot over there?”

  Mabel shoved him gently in the back. “Maybe it’s not me. Maybe it’s my partner.”