Free The frogmen by 1909-1990 Robb White Page A

I looked. But it's got to be here somewhere."
    "A board? The whole boat's a board."
    "Amos, not a plank. A coding board. Without one of those, that radio's just a piece of handsome junk."
    "What does it look like?"
    "About the size of a book. It has little windows in rows with the code cylinders behind them. You turn them with knobs. But before you can do ant/thing you have to have the right key code for that day and that time. When you have the key code and do it right, people can take what you send and put it through their coding board and it comes out in plain English. Or plain Japanese."
    John looked under the table and then under both the benches. "They always keep it in a case with lead weights built into it so it'll sink if you throw it overboard or your ship goes down."
    "If you found it, would you know which language it was made to use?"
    "I couldn't prove it was Japanese," John said. "They don't use the Morse code, so I wouldn't know. But if we used it to send a message to Pearl and Pearl didn't acknowledge receiving it we'd know we were in deep trouble."

    "We're in trouble period," Amos said.
    John walked over to the radio. "I can fix this thing so it can't talk to Pearl Harbor or Tokyo or anyplace else."
    "Yeah," Amos said vaguely, thinking.
    "Only, if he's who he says he is, that would just buy us a lot more trouble. We ought to find the coding board first, Amos. Then at least we'd know who he's listening to."
    "It could be anywhere. In any one of those sacks. Under a plank. In the walls."
    John slumped down on one of the benches. "What if it turns out that Reeder's been right all the time?"
    Amos looked at the radio, then swung the wall shut so that it disappeared. "Very clever," he said, opening the wall again. "John, I think Tanaka's got to explain this to us. Right now. I'm going topside and tell Max and Reeder to stand by until I get him down here. You wait over on the starboard side of the engine, where he can't see you."
    "What if he jumps you?" John asked.
    "Then we'll know," Amos said.
    The voice from the doorway startled them. "What would you like to know?" Tanaka asked. He came on into the room, stopping at the end of the table. He had nothing in his hands.
    "You went to a lot of trouble to hide this thing from us," Amos said, motioning at the radio.
    "Not from you. This has got to be nothing but a little boat going around picking up copra from the beaches. It doesn't need a radio like that."

    "Then why's it got one?"
    "Sit down. Both of you," Tanaka said.
    "I'm all right," Amos said, standing where he was.
    "Suit yourself, Amos."
    John didn't sit down either, but Tanaka sat on the edge of the table and pushed his straw hat back. "Now John, I'm no expert on these things. That's why I need you. Isn't it a beauty?"
    "Lot of radio," John said. "What for?"
    "I'll check you out on it," Tanaka told him. "When we need it, it's got to work."
    "I can't check out on it without a coding board."
    "You won't need one," Tanaka said. "We're under strict radio silence. All we do is listen."
    "How'll I know what I'm hearing?"
    "I'll give you the key code."
    John looked straight at him. "Then you've got a coding board?"
    "Of course."
    "Commander," Amos said, his voice unsteady, "if you want us to believe you, all you have to do is show us the coding board. Let John see what language it uses. It would help a lot." 1 know," Tanaka said, "but I won't." 'Why not?"
    "Because I don't trust you. Not all of you." 'Since it's somewhere in this boat, we can find it."
    "I doubt it."
    "We don't even have to see it," John pointed out. "If you'll send a message to Pearl, with me listening, and Pearl acknowledges it, then we'd believe you."

    "I won't do that," Tanaka said flatly. "There're enemy planes, submarines, ships, and shore stations taking bearings on every transmission in this area. It's vital that the enemy never suspects there's a radio in this boat."
    "Maybe it's just as important for us to know who you are," Amos said.