The Leper Spy Read Online Free Page B

chance of defending the islands, the Japanese could not be allowed access to Manila Harbor, and all that was protecting the harbor was Corregidor. The Rock would be the most important real estate in the archipelago.
    Defense of the island fell to a Texan, Maj. Gen. George F. Moore, and he was in constant fear of a surprise attack before the Japanese declared war. He often stood Topside at night and peered out overthe black water toward the lights of Manila. And every night, about a mile away from Corregidor, drifted a fleet of one hundred or more Japanese fishing boats, each one capable of carrying one hundred men. He thought about what might happen if the boats made a coordinated dash in the darkness for the island while his men were quietly sleeping.
    For nearly the past year, Moore had been rushing to prepare the island for attack. He started by evacuating the families of American service personnel back to the United States. Then he doubled training time for the men involved with the harbor defense, subjecting them over and over to simulated Japanese attacks. He trained more radio operators and held practice air-raid tests. He ordered the construction of new barracks, new tunnels, and new roads, which snaked to nine new antiaircraft machine gun towers. He increased the number of men on twenty-four-hour alert. He leased an auxiliary mine planter, a ship called
Neptune,
and covered the Manila Bay passes with underwater mines.
    In late November 1941, Moore received a message from MacArthur saying talks were breaking down with Japan and telling Moore to “take such measures as [you see] fit to insure the readiness of the command to meet any eventuality.” Moore called his staff and ordered them to head for their battle stations. By the time the sun came up, they were as ready as they could be.
    The surge of American weapons to the islands, the installation of new antiaircraft guns, and the fortification of Corregidor and Bataan, brought a sense of safety. People talked of the thousands of new planes parked on landing strips up and down the islands and of the brigade of tanks that regularly raced up and down the beaches. This was American military might on full display. It was hard to imagine Japan would attack.
    * * *
    Moore’s phone rang at 3:40 AM on December 8. It was 8:40 AM on December 7 in Hawaii, more than five thousand miles away, on theother side of the International Date Line. The caller was manning the navy radio intercept installation on Corregidor. He told Moore he had just received two messages.
    â€œHostilities commenced with air raids on Pearl,” he said.
    â€œAnd the second?” Moore said.
    â€œAir raids on Pearl Harbor. This is not drill.”
    Both had been signed by the naval commander in chief.
    Moore sprang from his bed, dressed quickly, and hustled to the harbor defense command post, H Station, where his staff officers were gathering. He started rattling off orders. Alert the seaward defense commander, antiaircraft defense commander, and beach defense commander, he said. Tell them to ready sea and air surveillance against a surprise dawn attack. He told them to transmit the text of his orders to MacArthur at the headquarters of the US Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), in Manila. He suspended all passes and canceled the morning boat to Manila. He ordered the ordinance officer to establish munitions dumps and the surgeon to set up aid stations. He prepared them to put the war plan in place.
    At 6:02 AM , a message came from USAFFE: “A state of war exists between the United States and Japan. Govern yourself accordingly.”
    The first air-raid siren blared at 10:26 AM when a flight of seventeen enemy bombers was spotted flying toward the island from the east. The fleet turned away before it was within range. But now there was no doubt.

 5 
SAFEGUARDS
    F irst came the headaches, pounding and pulsing behind her temples, worming into the backs of her brown eyes,