The young naval lieutenant pushed open the red swinging doors to Shanghai Red’s, San Pedro’s most notorious bar of the thirties. Calling Shanghai Red’s the most notorious bar on Beacon Street was saying something on a waterfront street swarming with the likes of the Scuttle Butt Inn, Whispering Joe’s Joint, and the Bonanza. These were all classy dumps in a neighborhood of flophouses, bail bond offices, chop suey joints, and pawn shops.

Lt. Mathew Gaffey surveyed the dim, smoke-filled bar as he made his way through the crowd of drunken sailors, cannery workers, and fisherman. He also made his way through the heavy smells of tobacco, cheap whiskey, tuna fish, and body odor.

Finding his way to an open seat at the bar, Gaffey ordered two shots of whiskey, just as a half full bottle sailed by his head smashing into the head of a sailor sitting next to him. As the fight grew, with more sailors joining in, it headed down the bar away from him towards the middle of the room. The tall lieutenant, with the gun steel eyes, calmly finished the first shot.

Within minutes, a large burly woman, covered with tattoos, was knocking heads and throwing people through the swinging red doors. She was the infamous Cairo Mary, scourge of raging sailors and drunks in this part of California. As things started to quiet down, a large man, Charles Eisenberg aka Shanghai Red, yelled out, “I can lick any man in the joint! Now knock it off!”

The noisy din returned to the bar, but you had the sense that more fights, broken bottles, and broken noses, would soon return. It was the nature of Shanghai Red’s.

Mathew watched, as a beautiful Japanese girl picked up the toppled barstool next to him and sat very close beside him.

“Hello sailor,” she said, “do you wish to buy me a drink?”

“Sure doll,” Mathew grinned, as he motioned to the bartender for two more drinks.

“My name is Ai. What is your name?” she whispered over the racket of the place.

“It’s Matt. Ai is a beautiful name. What does it mean?” the lieutenant inquired.

“It means love,” Ai blushed. “We get many sailors in here with the fleet based in San Pedro, not so many officers. What brings you here?”

“I’ve heard a lot about Shanghai Red’s and wanted to see if any of it was true. So far, it is living up to its reputation.” Gaffey added, “You are very beautiful Ai.”

“How about another drink?” Ai asked.

The talk and cheap whiskey flowed freely over the next half hour until the pair was joined at the bar by a second girl. She, like Ai, had longer black hair, dark eyes, and a slender body.

“Lieutenant Gaffey, this is my friend, Airi,” Ai introduced.

“Jeepers, you're both real sweet patooties aren’t ya,” Matt slurred, the effects of the whiskey, becoming more obvious now. “You both sure look beautiful!”

Both girls giggled, as Airi started to slowly rub Matt’s upper thigh. “It is very pleasing to meet you Mathew,” Airi whispered into his ear, struggling a bit with her English.

Both girls now were softly massaging the crotch of Gaffey’s pants, feeling his stiffing penis. They whispered into his ears, “would you like to come back with us to our place?”

“Well ring-a-ding-ding,” the lieutenant said, as he struggled getting up from his barstool.

Giggling again, both girls helped Gaffey to his feet and across the room. Just before they pushed open the swinging doors to leave, Ai nodded to a young Japanese man sitting alone in a dark corner. He smiled and returned the nod. Mathew noted the man’s description.

Even now past midnight, the dark street was full of activity. Most of the revelry was from the drunken sailors off the U.S.S. Pennsylvania that had just returned to port after a week of gunnery practice off San Clemente Island. Ai and Airi were on either side of the drunken officer, helping him maneuver the sidewalk, when they were stopped by the Shore Patrol.

“Good evening, Sir,” both men saluted. “Is everything good this evening, Sir?”

“Aye-aye, sailor,” the lieutenant returned a sloppy salute, “couldn’t be better, just couldn’t be.”

“Very good, Sir,” one of the jimmy legs said, as he added, “you have a good evening.”

“Aye-aye sailor,” Gaffey tried to salute, but almost fell over.

The Shore Patrol moved on and the trio made their way to a small room in a seedy little flophouse. Ai turned on the light beside the bed while Airi poured Gaffey another drink.

As he sat on the bed, a little dazed and drinking the whiskey, Ai turned on the radio. As she waited for the tubes to warm up and get sound, she asked the officer what kind of music he liked.

Gaffey just smiled, as the radio warmed to life with the music of Richard Himber and his Orchestra now playing softly in the background.

Airi opened a small box and pulled out a large reefer. She used a lighter and drew in a big puff of smoke and handed it to Gaffey who took a big draw and started coughing. The girls giggled as they passed the marijuana around.

“Are you two really best friends?” Mathew slurred his words.

“We are, can’t you tell Mathew?” Airi said.

“We are very close,” cooed Ai, as she pulled her friend to her and passionately kissed her, as the lieutenant watched from the edge of the bed.

Ai unzipped her friend's dress as Airi returned the favor. Both girls quickly slid off their slips and undid their little bras. Smiling at the girls, with a drink in hand, Mathew enjoyed the erotic entertainment.

Ai slipped her hand into Airi’s panties and sensually began rubbing her. Gaffey could see through the fabric that she had inserted fingers inside Airi’s pussy and was slowly fucking her as she continued putting on a show, specifically for their guest.

Ai slid her finger out of Airi’s panties and showed Mathew how it was dripping with the moisture from her friend's pussy. She licked her finger and then put it to Airi’s lips. After a minute she offered it to Mathew, who sucked it clean with gusto.

The girls stepped back from Gaffey and slowly rubbed themselves as they erotically slid off their panties. Both women stood naked, smiling in front of Gaffey. He watched them softly kissing each other’s small breasts as they teased each other’s nipples.

Mathew drifted through this whole scene while feeling the effects of the cannabis and whiskey. He kept thinking to himself that it was like a girl was making love to a mirror right in front of him. He liked it.

The women moved to either side of the lieutenant and leaned into his face as their breasts rubbed against him. Their erect nipples danced in front of his eyes.

“Don’t we look like friends to you now lieutenant?” Ai teased.

Gaffey just sat there smiling, his glassy eyes taking it all in as the girls pulled chairs a few feet from the bed and sat down. Both women sat naked in front of him and, as if choreographed by Busby Berkeley himself, they both slowly spread their legs open. The wider they spread, the more swollen glistening pink flesh was revealed.

As Airi and Ai used their fingers to spread themselves even more open to the man in their web, Airi said in her broken English, “Don’t we look good to you lieutenant?"

The girls stood and moved inches away from the seated navy man. As these two beautiful girls stood naked before Gaffey, Airi whispered, “Do you wish to fakku? Have sekkusu?”

Airi’s hand moved down to her friend's pussy and she stroked Ai’s swollen lips.

Mathew reached out and grabbed their asses with both hands and pulled them closer. He started licking Airi’s finger as it slid in and out of Ai’s pussy. Soon his tongue too, found its way into Ai’s slit as she put one foot on the bed giving them both better access to her womanhood.

Both women stopped and went after Mathew, pulling off his shirt and sliding off his pants. His erection was already popping out through his boxers as the girls pulled off his shoes and socks and stripped him nude.

Airi quickly wrapped her legs around Mathew’s waist and pressed her tiny breasts into his chest as she slid his cock inside her. She furiously fucked him as he sat there, their arms around each other in passion. The room filled with the sounds of the screams and moans of unrestrained fucking as Ai fingered herself as she watched them both.

Before the lieutenant could cum, Airi pulled herself away and lit up another reefer as Ai knelt between Mathew’s legs. She gently took his balls in her hands and playfully massaged them as she licked up and down on his erection. As Mathew’s hips responded, pushing his cock to Ai, she teased him. She licked the head and using her spit as a lubricant, slid her hand up and down the length of his hard cock.

Gaffey grabbed her by the hair and pressed her face down on his shaft, forcefully inserting himself into the silky warmth of Ai’s mouth. She took him deep into her throat with an expertise Mathew had never experienced.

The lieutenant’s hips pushed and pulled his hard cock in and out of Ai’s throat with desperate urgency. Gaffey was beyond the point of any self control as he exploded in ecstasy, pumping ropes of cum in Ai’s mouth and all over her face and hair. As he groaned, giving up his last few spurts on Ai’s breasts, Airi put a reefer in his mouth.

Mathew hadn’t noticed the two men who had entered the room with cameras, but the girls sure did. Just as the two men shot the pictures, Ai turned and posed with Mathew’s cock in her hand and his cum all over her. Airi’s breasts were on his shoulder as she reached out for the reefer.

Two loud “pops” from the flash bulbs and flashes of light. If Mathew saw or heard them, it wasn’t for long, he had passed out, lying naked on the bed.

The girls quickly slipped on Kimonos and started going through Gaffey’s pockets. They pulled out eighteen dollars from his wallet and then flipped the wallet to the man from Shanghai Red’s.

“Lieutenant Mathew L. Gaffey,” he read, “United States Navy. Gaffey is with the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) assigned to the Pennsylvania. Excellent.”

He smiled at the girls and said, “You two get dressed and go back to Red’s with the cameras and have Goro get the pictures back here as soon as he develops them. Tell him to bring his gun. The lieutenant and his boss will die tomorrow for the glory of the Emperor!”

Mathew wished he could smile, but that would ruin the plan.

******

“Good morning lieutenant, you should get dressed now,” said the man from Red’s as he offered Gaffey a cup of Joe. His other hand pointed a revolver at the hungover officer.

As he dressed, he saw his wallet had been emptied. As he slipped it into his pocket he said, “I see you have my money, what more do you want?”

“Information lieutenant, just information,” the man with the gun smiled.

“I don’t have any information,” Gaffey insisted.

“Yes you do,” the gunman corrected. “Now, this is how it’s going to go, I know you are with the ONI, I know that you are married, and I know that you don’t want these pictures ruining your life,” he said as he handed Gaffey the pictures from the night before.

“Please, I don’t have any money... " Mathew pleaded.

“I don’t want your money! I want information. If you tell me what I want to know, you can have the negatives and all the copies,” he calmly explained. “If you don’t, these go to your wife and the Navy.”

“What do you want to know?” the trapped officer asked.

“What is your office investigating regarding the Japanese community here in San Pedro?” the gunman inquired.

“I don’t know,” Mathew insisted. “I swear to you, I am just a glorified clerk.”

“One last time lieutenant, I am not a fool,” he said menacingly, “if you don’t tell me the truth... "

“Japanese fishing fleet activity on Terminal Island. We are monitoring all radio traffic offshore,” Mathew offered.

“I know that! There is something else.”

“My boss is talking about some guy sneaking on our ships dressed as a petty officer,” Mathew explained, “he is trying to figure out what is going on.”

“Excellent lieutenant, I know that is the truth,” the man smiled at his success. “For the last few days, I had feared as much. Does anyone else have these suspicions?”

“No, just the old man. He wants proof before he goes to the Captain,” Gaffey answered.

“Do you know if anyone else is involved with this petty officer?” the man continued grilling.

“No, not that I know,” the lieutenant responded earnestly with fear. Gaffey now knew who the spy’s accomplice was.

“I need you to point out who this boss of yours is to me and we are finished,” the obvious accomplice promised.

“Why? What are you going to do?” Mathew resisted.

“What I am going to do? I am going to send these pictures to the Navy and to your wife. She is pregnant isn’t she?” the Japanese man calmly threatened.

“He is going to the Warner Grand Theater tonight to watch “The 39 Steps” with the Admiral,” Mathew, defeated, confessed.

“So you will be my Lady in Red, lieutenant. You will point him out to us, just like she pointed out Dillinger last year to the cops,” he laughed.

******

In a sea of sailors and their officers, Goro and the lieutenant waited across the street from the theater. Gaffey had not been alone with Goro yet, and time was running out.

“There he is, that’s my boss, Lieutenant Commander Joe Rochefort,” Mathew pointed out. “He is the one smoking the pipe, see him? Can I go now?”

“You must wait,” Goro snarled, “until the streets are less crowded.”

Their argument moved a few feet into the mouth of an alleyway where Mathew, quickly and efficiently, snapped Goro’s neck and left him dumped in the alley. It was just another body dump on Beacon Street.

The next day, the ONI arrested an ex-yeoman who had been slipping onboard Navy ships dressed as a chief petty officer and stealing secret materials from the gunnery office. He was charged and convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917.

His handler, a lieutenant commander in the Japanese Navy, under the cover of being a “language student” at Stanford University, fled before he could be arrested. Lieutenant Commander Rochefort’s life was now safe from an attack that never happened.

That night, Mathew was back at Shanghai Red’s having a drink with Ai and Airi. “Where is your friend from the other night girls?” Gaffey inquired.

“He must have flunked out of Stanford,” Ai explained with fear and nervousness in her voice. “He packed up and left this morning! No hard feelings then, Sailor?” Ai said as she smiled a worried smile.

“Just the one here girls,” he said as he placed their hands on his cock. “Just the one here.”




Author’s Note: Seven years after smashing the San Pedro Spy Ring, LtCmdr Joseph Rochefort was in charge of Station HYPO, one of the Navy’s top cryptanalytic centers in May of 1942. Rochefort and his team cracked the top Japanese code that directly led to the American victory at Midway Island. Most historians today view Midway as the turning point of the War in the Pacific. Admiral Chester Nimitz gave “a major share of the credit for the victory” to Rochefort.