W.E.B. Griffin - The Corps VII - Behind the Lines

"And I marked some stuff on a map," Everly said, reaching into his trou-sers pocket and handing it to Weston. "We didn't lose anybody-Zappo hurt his ankle, it's probably broken-and I am down to twenty-six rounds for my Thompson."

"Good job, Everly," Weston said.

"How about a three-day pass?" Everly said.

Weston chuckled.

"You'd just spend it on whiskey and wild women."

"You better believe it!"

"We had an interesting message from Australia," Weston said.

"What did they say this time? 'Your request under advisement'? For a change?"

"Do you remember the name of the first sergeant of Baker Company, 4th Marines, in China?"

"What?"

"The name of the First Sergeant of Baker Company of the 4th Marines in China. Do you remember it?"

"How could I forget it? That fat fucker was one mean sonofabitch."

"What was his name?"

"It was..." Everly began, and then drew a blank, even though he had a very clear mental image of First Sergeant Whatthefuckishisname? standing with his hands on his hips, his beer belly straining the buttons of his stiffly starched khakis.

"Shit, I can't remember. I can see the sonofabitch.... Why do you want to know?"

"Australia wants to use his name in a simple substitution code."

"What for?"

"I have no idea."

"Give me a minute, I'll think of it."

Thirty minutes later, he was still unable to call the name from memory. Although one of the other Marines vaguely remembered the first sergeant of Baker Company, Fourth Marines, no one could come up with his name.

By that time, Captain Weston and Lieutenant Everly had been joined by Lieutenant Ball, Captain Buchanan, and General Fertig.

"I'm sorry, General," Everly said. "Maybe if I stop trying so hard; maybe after I get some sleep..."

"The problem, Lieutenant, is that I promised Australia I would respond today," Fertig said.

"General, I'm sorry," Everly repeated.

"Those bastards are probably looking for an excuse to break off contact with us," Weston said, putting into words what was in the minds of everybody in the small room.

"Captain," Fertig said sharply. "Please keep thoughts like that to your-self."

"Sorry, Sir."

"Let's try another tack," Fertig said. "Who would want this information? Why?"

Everybody shrugged, but after a moment Lieutenant Ball said, "Maybe they want to know if Everly is really Everly. I mean, the one who served with the 4th Marines."

"What the hell is the difference?"

"Let's go with Ball's idea. Unless he had also served with the Fourth Ma-rines, who else would know about this first sergeant, and know that Everly would know."

"Anybody in the 4th Marines."

"But this chap is in Australia," Fertig said. "So it would be someone who served with the 4th Marines and did not come to the Philippines when they did."

"The Killer," Everly said.

"What?"

"And he would know about Zimmerman," Everly said, now excited. "It's got to be the Killer."

"Who's the Killer?" Fertig asked.

"Corporal Killer McCoy," Everly said. "He used to work for Captain Banning, who was the S-2 of the Fourth. Him and Zimmerman were pals."

Fertig looked at Buchanan.

"What have we got to lose, General?" Captain Buchanan said.

[ONE]

Radio Room

Supreme Headquarters SWPOA

0910 Hours 28 November 1942

"You've got something for me?" Major Hon Son Do asked, as he entered the crowded room.

"I can't imagine who else it would be for, Major," said Captain Edward D'Allesandro, the somewhat prissy Signal Corps Captain on duty. Captain D'Allesandro had not stopped smarting under the injustice of a system that had suddenly promoted to field grade the Asiatic lieutenant with the mysterious duties that kept him off the duty roster, while he himself had been a captain with outstanding efficiency reports for nearly eighteen months and was still waiting for his promotion.

He handed Hon the message.

"It came in in the clear," Captain D'Allesandro said as Hon read the brief message.

MFS TO GYB

CANNOT RECALL FAT BASTARDS NAME. THE KILLER SHOULD KNOW IT. REMEMBER THE KRAUTS NAME. DO YOU WANT IT IN THE CLEAR

FERTIG BRIG GEN

MFS STANDING BY

Hon smiled.

"Call them back, please, Captain," he said. "Message is 'Negative Krauts Name in Clear. Stand by.'

"I think I have the right to know what this is all about," Captain D'Al-lesandro said. " 'Highly irregular' doesn't begin to cover it."

"You don't have the right to know, Captain," Hon said evenly, and reached for the telephone on the Captain's desk.

"General, this is Pluto," he said, and interrupted himself. "Captain, reply to MFS now/"

"Yes, Sir," Captain D'Allesandro said.

"Sorry, I was interrupted. Sir, we've just heard from Fertig. Addressed to the Killer. I suggest, Sir, that you send him and Sessions, and the Model 94 here. I'm in the SWPOA radio room."

Captain D'Allessandro returned from responding to MFS.

"We have an acknowledgment of your message to MFS, Sir."

"Thank you. We will be communicating with MFS some more. I'm going to need either your desk or a table, a typewriter, and several chairs."

"I'm sure the Major is aware that he is disrupting my operation. I'm going to have to bring this to the attention of the SWPOA Signal Officer."

"That's Colonel... ?"

"Ungerer, Sir. Colonel Jason Ungerer."

"I suggest, Captain, that you hold off on calling Colonel Ungerer for ten or fifteen minutes. By then, General Pickering will be here, and your boss and my boss can sort this disruption out between them."

[TWO]

Headquarters, U.S. Forces in the Philippines

Oavao Oriental Province

Mindanao, Commonwealth of the Philippines

0940 Hours 28 November 1942

"Lieutenant," Sergeant Ignacio LaMadrid said, "Australia's calling."

"I'll go get the General," Lieutenant Ball replied. "He said he wanted to be here when they did."

LaMadrid turned to his key and tapped out: MFS TO GYB GA (Go Ahead). Then he put his fingers on his typewriter keyboard and took the incom-ing message. When he was finished, he tapped out MFS SB (Standing By), and then tore the carbon paper sandwich from the typewriter. He laid the bottom sheet, on which the message was legible, on his "desk," then placed a fresh sheet of blank paper under the carbon, arranged it neatly, and fed the fresh sandwich to his typewriter.

Then he read the message from Supreme Headquarters, South West Pacific Ocean Area.

GYB TO MFS

USE AS SIMPLESUB Z FIRST NAME BANNING WIFE Z SECOND NAME Z PERCYS HOMETOWN Z

20 19 18 03 13

09 08 02 09 20

18 17 04 19 20

RPT

20 19 18 03 13

09 08 02 09 20

18 17 04 19 20

MFS SB

He had absolutely no idea what it meant; and neither, he quickly learned, did General Fertig, Captain Buchanan, and Lieutenant Ball-except, of course, that Captain Buchanan knew Australia wanted them to use a simple substitu-tion code.

"Ball, go get Captain Weston and Lieutenant Everly," Buchanan ordered. They appeared within minutes, Everly's clean-shaven face and clean, if water-soaked, white cotton blouse and jacket indicating he had been summoned from his toilette in the stream that ran through the command post of United States Forces in the Philippines.

"I think this is intended for you, Lieutenant," Fertig said. "You have any idea what it means?"

"Banning's wife's name is Ludmilla Zhivkov," Everly said almost imme-diately. "There aren't many people who know that. Killer McCoy would be one of them."

"That sounds Russian," Fertig thought aloud.

"It is," Everly said. "She's a Russian refugee. She didn't get out of Shang-hai. Neither did my wife. They're together. That's how I know Milla's name."