The Mystery of the American Raid

Written by Moe Zilla, Published on 12/10/2008, Re-published on 12/6/2010

"It's impossible," shouted the emperor. "No airplane could fly around the world. There's not enough fuel!"

"That's 25,000 miles," argued Ren. "But America's planes wouldn't have to fly all the way around the world. Hawaii is just 4,000 miles east of us!"

The emperor's forehead was creased with worry. A war raged between Japan and America. Five months ago, the Japanese flew their planes across the Pacific Ocean to attack American ships anchored in Hawaii. But despite their success, the Japanese emperor remained cautious. Could America's planes fly east across the Pacific and counter-attack Japan?

Their safety depended on answering the question correctly.

"It's possible," argued Ren impulsively. Fifteen years ago, Charles Lindbergh surprised the world by flying from New York to France. It was apparent that Ren was anxious to impress the emperor. He was one of the emperor's youngest advisors – making him also the most nervous advisor.

"Charles Lindbergh only flew 3600 miles," interrupted Admiral Taro, whose military uniform intimidated Ren with its formal authority. "And you're forgetting something else … an attacking plane has to carry heavy military supplies, so the planes can't fly as far. America's planes could only fly 2,400 miles, which wouldn't get them all the way to Japan!"

Ren felt his anger rising. Not wanting to give up on his idea, he pointed out that a ship could carry the plane's closer to Japan's coast.

"Preposterous," interrupted Admiral Taro. "Your young imagination only wastes the emperor's time. How could these airplanes return to America? Fly by magic yet another 1,600 miles, to return to your imaginary ship?"

Ren's face burned with embarrassment, even though the emperor sternly ordered that sentinel ships begin monitoring the skies for signs of airplanes. The emperor had been facing a growing criticism that he wasn't doing enough to succeed. There were even reports that traitors were infiltrating government positions.

"These are unsettled times," the emperor said sadly.

Suddenly Ren spotted Kira. He'd met her at school, but now she had the important duty of delivering messages to the emperor's admiral. He looked over at her shyly, but she didn't return his gaze. Ren felt self-conscious, knowing she'd seen his ideas rejected by the admiral.

The next day, to their horror, they discovered that Ren was right, when 16 American B-25s bombed Tokyo.

American newspapers cheered the surprise victory of "Doolittle's Raiders". It was April 18, 1942, and the famous American aviator had assembled 80 flying volunteers, who in teams of five had successfully piloted their mission.

But how?

Ren searched desperately for an answer in the newspaper reports. Even America's reporters wanted to know where the attacking airplanes had been hidden. America's President, Franklin Roosevelt, laughed and gave them the name of an imaginary island.

"They came from Shangri-La."

Ren read the newspapers frantically, hoping no one spotted him in the library of the emperor's palace. Eight American pilots had been seen parachuting into the sea 1,000 miles west of Japan, near the coast of China. But Ren was genuinely frightened that the admiral would now assume that he'd been a spy helping them. Each echo seemed like it might be the steps of soldiers coming to arrest him. The admiral hated being wrong, and would assume that Ren knew about the attack in advance. And that would be treason. There'd be a trial, followed by a sad lifetime in prison.

Suddenly, Ren felt a hand on his shoulder.

It was Kira, looking strangely at her former schoolmate. "You were right," she said, looking into his eyes sternly.

"And I'm in trouble," Ren sighed.

"We are all in trouble," Kira said, ignoring Ren's concern for himself. She took her duty to the emperor seriously, and had made a disturbing discovery.

Kira unfolded a piece of paper marked "urgent" that was tucked in her pocket. "Six hours before the attack, we received this transmission," Kira said quickly. The message warned that a sentinel ship in the ocean had spotted an American Navy carrier, just 650 miles away.

"But the admiral said the ship was mistaken, handed the message back to me, and said he'd wait for confirmation from a second vessel."

Ren stared silently at the walls of the palace. So much had depended on whether that second message arrived.

"But it did arrive," Kira answered. "I handed it to the evening messenger, Gina, telling her to rush it to the admiral! But the admiral said he never received it."

Just then, the police arrived. The two officers grabbed Ren silently, while their commander said only that Ren was under arrest for treason. Kira held the transmission in her hands, and the suspicious commander said she'd be held for questioning too. "Someone is sabotaging our military," he said fiercely.

Locked in a jail cell, Ren pondered their predicament. He stared at the walls for hours, silent and lonely, realizing the surprise American attack was only the beginning of his problems.

That night he had a visitor, Gina, the night messenger. "I can only stay a minute," Gina whispered, "but I'm in as much trouble as you." She explained desperately that the admiral believed the second warning was deliberately withheld. "He's investigating all the messengers. Not only your schoolmate, Kira, but also me!"

“Did you deliver the second warning?”

"Yes!" Gina insisted. "It was during dinner, so I lifted his teapot to clear a place on the table. I was embarrassed because I'd burned my fingers, causing me to drop the pot and spilling tea on the message."

“Did you see him read the message?”

"He dried it with a towel, and said it was still legible," Gina explained. "But I was anxious to leave the room, and left before he'd read it." She heard voices approaching down the hallway, and whispered "I must go!" Then Ren was left to his lonely jail cell.

The next day he was delivered in handcuffs to the military court. It was humiliating to be suspected as a criminal in front of people he admired. The courtroom was crowded with dignitaries like the emperor and Admiral Taro, as well as Ren's schoolmate, Kira, and her co-worker, Gina. Admiral Taro himself would conduct the cross examination, wearing his intimidating military uniform.

Admiral Taro took important strides to where Ren sat nervously, then announced his first question to the courtroom. "Isn't it true that you predicted, just one day before, that the American airplanes would attack Japan?"

"And you were warned," Ren shouted defensively, "not just once, but a second time by Gina the messenger!"

The crowd murmured as the admiral bellowed that the second message never arrived. "We studied the first message diligently. We even tried following the American planes east to their ship in the Pacific. Perhaps it was the emperor himself who intercepted the message, determined to lose this war more quickly!"

The controversial message lay on the evidence table, still stained with tea.

Suddenly, Ren put the clues together. "I can prove I'm innocent," he told the courtroom. "And I know who intercepted the message."