Along with the report from Mukden, the Chinese had sent the spy's right arm. And it was mildly radioactive.
The second report — which came from Europe — was a detailed description of plans for a secret underground city. The Russian who turned it in was a Soviet deserter, an officer. No one knew why he deserted. He knew all about the "Atom-gorod" plans as of December, 1945; he had not been allowed to know anything of the project after that date. American military authorities took him into the American Embassy for safekeeping and a special guard was put around the building.
The precautions were useless. A sniper's shot hit the renegade Russian deserter in the face when he carelessly looked out of an Embassy window. A stray shot, said the local Russians. A good rifle with telescopic sights and a fine rifleman behind it, said the local Americans. But the stranger was dead. He had given a location in latitude and longitude — in the wooded hills not far from Vladivostok.
But, after only one long interview, he had died.
The third report came in from Japan, through U.S. Navy channels. An American LST had run northeast from Hokkaido, up into the Sea of Okhotsk. The radioman happened to understand the Russian wireless code; he had been trained for liaison during the war, but had never had a chance to use his skill. By another coincidence, he happened to be playing with the wireless receiving unit. He caught the distress signal of a Russian aircraft, signaling weakly in open code. It was calling, "Atomsk, Atomsk." There was no answer to the call. The signal stopped suddenly.
Either the plane had crashed or the Red Air Force had shot it into silence.
That was all — these three reports. The Chinese report had reached Washington on November 28. The deserter's story had been brought in by courier on December 10. While these two were still being discussed and threshed out, the report from Japan had come in on January 22.
The official reaction was violent. A majority of the people concerned — fifteen or eighteen in number — said: "Leave it alone. What if they do have a place called Atomsk? Can we do anything about it? We have no authority under the United Nations Charter."
But a vigorous minority fought against inactivity. From American headquarters in Tokyo, a top intelligence expert — General Frederick Coppersmith — was sent to Washington to urge action. Eastern Siberia was a lot closer to Tokyo than it was to Washington or Frankfurt; American authorities in Japan threatened to take independent action to look into Atomsk if they did not get a definite policy out of Washington.
Nothing happened.