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

"And if not?" Pickering asked, handing Stecker Message Two. "If you don't get acknowledgment?"

"We'll keep trying-the stations at Pearl Harbor and here, not the Sunfish-on an hourly basis, until midnight," Pluto said. "I really think we'll get through."

"And if you do?" Pickering asked.

"Two hours after we get acknowledgment, we send Message Two. That gives them two hours to figure out what the Marine Hymn substitution is."

"Speaking of which," Stecker said. "Will somebody please translate this for me?"

"This is where it really gets far out, Colonel," McCoy said.

"Who is 'Lille'? What is this?" Stecker asked.

"The Marine Hymn substitution code doesn't have a 'K' or an 'O,' Colo-nel," Moore said. "We are using an 'L' when a 'K' is needed-it's the next letter, and a consonant. Where an 'O' is required, we are using a 'U' We think the substitution will be self-evident."

"Right," McCoy said sarcastically. "The substitution will be self-evident. These guys are hiding out in the boondocks, and we want to play word games with them."

"If you can't handle the whiskey, McCoy, leave it alone," Pickering snapped. "What we're trying to do here is keep you alive."

He was immediately sorry, not because of his own words (they needed to be said), but because of the look of approval on Captain Macklin's face.

"Message Two, Colonel," Moore said, "reads 'Killer And Erny Will Eat Beans Thirty Miles South This Morning.' "

" 'Eat Beans'? What does that mean? South of what?" Stecker asked. "This doesn't make any sense to me."

"You weren't here, Jack, when Lewis and I went over the charts," Picker-ing said. "Where's that chart, Pluto?"

"Right here, Sir," Pluto said, and pushed the chart across the table.

"Show him, Lewis," Pickering said.

"Aye, aye, Sir," Lewis said. "Colonel, I suggested to General Pickering that the best place to try to land McCoy and party would be on the east coast of Mindanao."

"I've sailed those interior waters, Jack," Pickering said. "They are not among the best-charted waters in the world. We don't want the Sunfish run-ning-submerged-into an uncharted reef or shoal. The waters to the east of Mindanao are safest."

"You'll notice, Colonel," Lewis said, pointing, "the subsurface terrain here. The Philippine Trench, with depths to about 9,000 fathoms, is only about seventy-five miles offshore. The 6,000-fathom curve is sixty miles offshore; the 4,000 curve thirty-five miles offshore; the 2,000 twenty miles offshore; and the 200-fathom curve runs almost along the shoreline."

"I don't know what that means," Stecker said.

"According to Lewis, Jack, a submarine skipper is perfectly happy when he has a hundred fathoms under his keel," Pickering said. "That's six hundred feet. In my experience, and from what Lewis tells me, in the Navy's, when you have fathom curve lines like these, there is little chance of encountering an underwater obstacle."

"Even in a submerged submarine?" Stecker asked.

"We have a two-hundred-fathom depth all along here," Pickering replied. "Twelve hundred feet. If a sub runs at three hundred feet, he's got nine hun-dred feet under his keel."

"OK," Stecker said.

"Sir, if you will look here," Lewis said, pointing at the chart again, "you will see the two-hundred-fathom curve just about touches the shore at this point, which is thirty miles south of a village fortunately called 'Boston.' "

"Boston? Beans, right?" Stecker asked.

"That's the idea, Sir," Lewis said. "The Sunfish can sail, submerged, to within a couple of hundred yards of the coastline and still have at least a hun-dred fathoms under her keel."

"A couple of hundred yards?" Stecker asked doubtfully. "How are you going to keep from running into the shoreline?"

"SONAR, Sir," Lewis said. "It stands for Sound Navigation and Rang-ing. The Sunfish has it aboard, Sir. She'll know when she's getting in close."

"And you think Fertig will understand this Boston-beans connection?" Stecker asked dubiously.

"We tested that, too, Sir," Pluto replied.

"How?" Pickering asked.

"McCoy and I went to the SWPOA Officers' Club," Sessions said. "We asked ten officers at the bar the first thing that came to mind when they heard the word 'beans.' We got six 'Boston' or 'Boston baked'; and one each 'lima,' 'snap,' and 'navy.' "

"You really did your research, didn't you?" Pickering said, chuckling.

"That's nine," Stecker said. "You said you asked ten officers."

"Now that you mention it, Colonel," McCoy said, "we also got one 'fart.' "

"Six out often responses with a Boston connection, Sir," Pluto said, very quickly, "seems more than reasonable. I mean, I think we can presume Fertig will immediately discount `lima,' `snap,' and 'navy.' "

"One fart, huh?" Pickering said, and laughed.

"What if you can't get an acknowledgment from Fertig?" Stecker asked.

"There's some argument about that, Sir," Pluto said. "One being that the Sunfish should repeat the operation the next day, and the day after that, if nec-essary. The other argument is to put McCoy and party ashore just before day-light anyway, and attempt to contact Fertig by other means."

"Argument Two came from McCoy, right?" Pickering said.

"Yes, Sir," McCoy said.

"All right, McCoy," Pickering said. "Tell us why you're not happy with this."

"The more complicated something is, the more things can go wrong," McCoy said. "There's too much 'if, `if,' and 'if' in this for me. I'd much prefer to do this simply. The four of us go ashore without doing anything to make the Japanese nervous. We find Fertig..."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Zimmerman says that the Filipinos will know where he is, and I agree with him. And they will know we've come ashore."

Pickering nodded. "Where is he, by the way?"

"He kept falling asleep, so I sent him home," McCoy replied, and went on. "We'll have good radios and a real code with us. So, as soon as we find Fertig, we get in direct touch with the submarine. It's likely we can do it in five days. I think the sub can hang around that long, surfacing only for a few min-utes to listen to the radio. Then we tell the sub where and when to meet us."

Pickering shrugged.

"This is not a democracy, and this is not going to be decided by a vote, but I'd like to hear what everybody thinks about this," he said, and pointed at Koffler. "Starting with you, Steve. We'll work our way up the ranks."

"General, I'm with McCoy," Koffler said. "I don't want a bunch of ex-cited Japs running around looking for us, particularly since we won't know where to hide. And these messages are-no offense, Major, or you either, Mr. Moore-a little screwy."

He is just a boy, not old enough to vote. But on the other hand, he knows more about keeping alive on a Japanese-occupied island than anybody in the room.

"I guess you're next, John, aren't you?" Pickering said.

"I disagree with Steve, about the messages being screwy," Moore said. "Fertig, and the people with him, are desperate. Their minds will be at a high pitch. They're intelligent. I think they will almost immediately comprehend the messages. The great unknown, which worries me, is how quickly the Japanese will be able to decipher both messages. And what that will mean. Steve's 'a bunch of excited Japanese running around' worries me, even if they can't make the Boston bean connection."

That worries me, too.

"Which of you is senior?" Pickering asked, pointing to Lewis and Macklin.

"I believe I am, Sir," Lewis said.

"That makes you next, Captain Macklin," Pickering said.

"Sir, when I'm out of my depth, I try not to offer an opinion," Macklin said in a flat voice.

"Let me put it this way, then. How do you feel about going ashore without our having made contact with Fertig?"