* * * * *
Unlike most other first-generation operatives of the CIA, Bryce Paxton had not served in the O.S.S. during World War II. Rather, he had been stationed in South America as part of the FBI's semi-autonomous Special Intelligence Service! But, following the dissolution of the SIS, in January of 1946, he was transferred to the American embassy in Paris to serve as the Bureau's liason with Interpol.
It was an office job he quickly grew tired of, however. So, when the fledgling Central Intelligence Agency approached him for recruitment, in mid-1947, he jumped at the chance! Consequently, his first major assignment for them involved the resurrection of his old photojournalist cover. Thereby providing himself and a former Mexican fighter-pilot (named Pepe Garcia) a seemingly legitimate reason for taking aerial photographs of the Soviet blockade that was set up around Berlin in 1948.
Ironically, Paxton now sat across from someone he had not seen in nine years. A fellow veteran of WWII who had also been part of Operation: Beanstalk.* Major Robert Howard Phillips; G-2/CIA liason officer.
"How credible is this threat?" the latter now asked.
"Very! Stalin first heard about them from Anatoly Ivanovitch Berkov. An early agent-provocateur for the Communists, who spent most of World War I exiled in Ryojun. But, who's now a bigwig in the NKVD. Stalin subsequently employed their services to assassinate Trotsky...and the Nazis similarly used them against FDR!"
Major Phillips shook his head in near-total disbelief.
"The man is that desperate to end the Korean stalemate?"
Paxton nodded: "Even more than Ike."
The major rested his chin upon his steepled fingers, in deep thought, before finally replying.
"I see only one way out of this. We beat them to the punch."
"I beg your pardon?!" exclaimed Paxton.
"What I mean is; we hire these Heikegani-ryu away from Stalin...and turn them against him."
The CIA operative sighed with relief.
"I don't think I'll have any trouble selling the DCI on that idea. But, what about the Joint Chiefs?"
"You leave them to me."
* * * * *
PHILADELPHIA LODGE,
KNIGHTS OF MELION,
PHILADELPHIA, PENN.
(ONE WEEK LATER)
"How did Gramps finally get in touch with Chen Ying?"
Lodge President Ash Phillips looked at his son (briefly beaming, with fatherly pride, at how dashing the latter looked in his uniform), before answering.
"Boojum Vandersnatch III knew a guy named Joe Kennedy, who knew a certain businessman in Bostonian Chinatown, who had ties to a secret society called the Earth Tiger Tong. A letter-of-introduction from the latter is what finally achieved an audience between Warlord Chen and your grandfather."
"Do you happen to remember the name of this Chinatown 'businessman?' "
Ash's facial expression became deadly serious.
"This isn't just a social call, is it?"
The now thirty-something major shook his head.
"I need someone with heavyweight connections in the Orient to arrange a meeting between me and the head of some Japanese outfit called the Heikegani-ryu. It's a matter of life-and-death, Dad. And, I'm afraid I mean that literally!"
Ash sighed: "If he's still among the living? Ask for Fukien Yu."
* * * * *
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
(TWO MONTHS LATER)
Yu Chao Li offered his distinguished visitor some tea. And, Major Phillips graciously nodded in the affirmative. After a minute or two of sipping, the army intelligence officer (who, today, was wearing civilian garb) got right to the point.
"Have you heard anything, yet, from your affiliates in Japan?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," replied the elderly widower (most of whose fortune came from a chain of dry-cleaning stores up and down the Eastern Seaboard).
"Pro or con?" prompted Phillips.
"They will take the assignment," said Yu: "But, their price will be a steep one. And, it will not be a monetary one!"
"I don't understand," confessed the major.
"The jonin of the Heikegani-ryu...wishes the Hsia Jie-ji as payment."
tbc
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
WEST BERLIN, GERMANY
(JULY 4, 1952)
(JULY 4, 1952)
Chapter End Notes:
* Operation: Beanstalk (you can read about it in MORE THAN ONE CAN CHEW.)
Ryojun: Japanese name for what used to be the Imperial Russian naval base of Port Arthur.
NKVD: WWII forerunner of the KGB.
Ike: nickname for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
DCI: Director of Central Intelligence.
Ryojun: Japanese name for what used to be the Imperial Russian naval base of Port Arthur.
NKVD: WWII forerunner of the KGB.
Ike: nickname for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
DCI: Director of Central Intelligence.