Around nine o'clock in the morning, there was finally some popularity in the quartermaster building. John walked around the building and saw a group of junior and middle-level staff officers and members of the Army Women's Corps hurrying to and fro in the corridors of each floor, seemingly busy. However, from their looks and words, John did not feel the slightest tension.

However, there is one exception to this. This man was the Chief of the Far East Division of the Intelligence Directorate of the War Department - Colonel Rufus Bratton.

Because of Donovan, John's relationship with the top brass of Army Intelligence has been somewhat delicate. Although there has been no direct contradiction, it is not harmonious, and everyone does not interfere with the river water, and there is a posture of not getting along with each other.

Therefore, John and Colonel Bratton did not know each other, at best they had met a few times in meetings, and they were not even nodding acquaintances.

However, John had heard Taylor mention the Colonel Bratton once before. It seems that the two of them not only worked together at the Embassy in Japan for nearly three years, but also interned together in the Imperial Guards Artillery Regiment for 6 months.

According to Taylor, Bratton was the Army's premier Japan expert and had been engaged in intelligence work with Japan before serving as chief of the Far East Division. Not only is he excellent at listening, writing, and speaking Japanese, but he has also devoted himself to studying Japan's history, customs, and political ecology for a long time, and has a good understanding of the history of Japan's military and political circles.

A few years ago, Bratton also published several books dedicated to Japanese culture, which had some influence in the academic circles, and some universities even invited him to give lectures. In short, in Taylor's mouth, Colonel Bratton is a smart, wise, hardworking, and rigorous expert scholar.

But today, when John met him in the corridor at the door of the Marshall Chief of Staff office on the top floor, the "scholar" colonel walked up and down the corridor with an anxious look, and almost forgot to take the initiative to salute him, the chief.

However, John did not bother with such trifles. His attention was on the newspaper in Bratton's hand. He guessed that the briefcase at the moment should contain part 14 of message 902.

John was right, Colonel Bratton had received the same telegram from Major Kramer of the Translation Office of Naval Intelligence at 7:30 a.m.

The entire message is very long, and apart from the cumbersome diplomatic rhetoric and the defense of Japan's position, there are only two key sentences.

One sentence reads: "The Government of Japan is compelled to inform the Government of the United States that, in view of the attitude adopted by the Government of the United States, the Government of Japan cannot but believe that it will not be possible to reach a final agreement even if negotiations continue in the future, and hereby inform the Government of the United States and express its deep regret." ”

If that were the case, Colonel Bratton might not have been as anxious as he is now. It is just a declaration that the talks have broken down, and the United States is more or less mentally prepared.

The key point is that after the text of the telegram, Ambassador Nomura and the negotiators were separately instructed to come to Susu with another sentence: "Please formally submit our government's reply to the U.S. government at 13 p.m. on December 7, Washington time, and if possible, to Secretary of State Hull, and then destroy the remaining cipher machines in the embassy." ”

When Bratton, who has been engaged in intelligence work for many years, saw this sentence and immediately realized that something was wrong.

The destruction of the embassy's cipher machine means that communication between Japan and the embassy is severed. Under what circumstances will a government voluntarily cut off contact with its embassies abroad? Only war!

Moreover, the telegram specifically asked Nomura and Raisu to submit this reply at 13 o'clock on the afternoon of the 7th, which must be an unusual time, and it is likely to be the time when the Japanese will do it.

Bratton had even guessed the goal of the Japanese. At 13 p.m. Washington time, it was 7 a.m. in Hawaii, and the 7th was another Sunday, which was undoubtedly the time when the harbor's defenses were at its laxest.

Anxious, Bratton immediately called Marshall's apartment in Fort Myers, but Sergeant Agaia, an orderly, told him: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff is not at home, and has gone out for horseback riding." I can't find him right now, but he should be in the office at 10 a.m. ”

In desperation, Bratton could only "strictly order" Sergeant Agaia to go to the chief of staff immediately, while he himself could only pray outside the door of Marshall's office that the chief of staff would come back quickly.

Compared to Marshall, who didn't know where to go and rode a horse, Stark's situation was better. He was doing morning exercises in his garden when he received an urgent call from Naval Intelligence. So soon, he returned to the office of the Admiralty.

However, Stark, who was cautious by nature, did not make a decision immediately after reading the information, but asked the secretary to call Deputy Secretary of Operations Ingersoll, Director of Intelligence Wilkinson, Minister of Communications Noyce and others to the minister's office one by one, and everyone held a meeting to discuss it.

As a result, it was not until after 10 o'clock that everyone came to a unanimous opinion: "Japan will soon attack in the South China Sea (I really don't know how they came up with this conclusion)." ”

As for whether the time at 13 p.m. was a sign of danger at Pearl Harbor, Director of Intelligence Wilkinson suggested that Stark hang up the phone with Kimmel to remind him. Stark refused, though.

The reason is the same as Roosevelt's reluctance to disturb him last night. It's 10:30 a.m. Washington time and 4:30 a.m. Hawaii time, and Stark doesn't want to spoil Admiral Kimmel's dreams.

It must be said that the Navy is a gentleman than the Army. Historically, although Chief of Staff Marshall received the information later than Secretary Stark, he immediately sent telegrams to Army commanders in the Philippines, the Panama Canal Zone, Hawaii, and San Francisco to warn them to be on alert (the telegram to Hawaii was not sent because of a line failure, and Short did not receive the telegram until seven hours after the Japanese attack began), regardless of whether it was the middle of the night or whether the commander was sleeping or not

On the other hand, Admiral Stark, even if he may lose thousands of lives and a powerful fleet, he will never do such an impertinent act that does not conform to the code of conduct of a gentleman by disturbing other people's dreams.

Perhaps, this is the main reason why Stark finally fell into the abyss, and Marshall did not, and served as the Chief of Staff of the Army until the end of the war.

I wonder how Stark will feel when he finds out that he has lost his entire military career because he didn't make the call, and that he will be tormented by endless hearings?

Of course, that's all for later. All John had to do now was to take a document he had found in his filing cabinet about the near-term transportation of supplies to the Far East, and stand guard at the door of the chief of staff's office under the banner of reporting to Marshall. With such a wonderful historical drama, John couldn't find a better viewing position than Marshall's office.