W.E.B. Griffin - The Corps IV - Battleground

"Unless, of course, Pickering talked too much to Goettge."

"I think we can discount that, too, Sir. Colonel Goettge visited Captain Pickering in Australia. While he was there, he apparently picked up on the word. MAGIC, I mean. He sent a back channel communication to General Forrest-the Marine Corps G-2-"

"I know who he is," Knox said impatiently.

"Yes, Sir. He said that he had heard the word MAGIC and wanted to know what it was. He and General Forrest are old friends, Sir."

"I know how it works. Get on with it."

"Forrest is MAGIC cleared. He replied to Goettge that he had never heard of MAGIC, and then reported the message to the Chief of Naval Intelligence."

"What you're suggesting is that if Pickering had told Goettge, there would have been no back channel message to General Forrest?"

"Yes, Sir."

Knox considered that a moment.

"OK," he said finally. "But what the hell was Pickering driving at? If, indeed, he was suggesting anything at all?"

"Lieutenant Cory, Sir, was a civilian employee of Naval Communications Intelligence, here in Washington."

"So I am going to have to tell the President that MAGIC has been compromised?"

"I don't think so, Sir. What's happened, Sir, I think, is that if anything Naval Intelligence erred on the side of caution to preserve the integrity of MAGIC."

"I don't understand a thing you just said."

"Lieutenant Cory did not have a MAGIC clearance."

"Thank God!"

"But the crypto people, the intelligence people, the intelligence community, I guess is what I'm trying to say, being the way they are, it occurred to somebody that he might have heard the name at least, and possibly had guessed what it was all about."

"So?"

"So a special radio was sent to General Vandergrift directing him to make sure that Lieutenant Cory did not fall into enemy hands."

"How was he supposed to do that?" Knox asked.

"I didn't get into that, Sir."

"Well, he didn't, did he? Cory may well indeed be a prisoner of the Japanese?"

"I think we have to consider that possibility, Sir."

Knox snorted.

"You're suggesting that Vandergrift told Pickering about the message vis-…-vis Cory? And that's what Pickering was driving at?"

"Yes, Sir, that's what I think."

"This is not enough to take to the President," Knox decided aloud. "But I want Nimitz radioed tonight, Dave, telling him to get Pickering off Guadalcanal."

"I took care of that, Sir," Haughton said, and handed him an onion skin.

URGENT

WASHINGTON DC 1710 15AUG42 SECRET

FROM: NAVY DEPARTMENT TO: CINCPAC PEARL HARBOR TH

FOR THE PERSONAL, IMMEDIATE ATTENTION OF ADMIRAL NIMITZ

INASMUCH AS THE PRESENCE OF CAPTAIN FLEMING PICKERING USNR, PRESENTLY ATTACHED TO

HEADQUARTERS 1ST MARINE DIVISION, IS URGENTLY REQUIRED IN WASHINGTON, THE SECRETARY OF THE

NAVY DIRECTS THAT EXTRAORDINARY EFFORT CONSISTENT WITH CAPTAIN PICKERING PERSONAL SAFETY

BE MADE TO WITHDRAW THIS OFFICER FROM GUADALCANAL BY AIR OR SEA, AND THAT HE BE ADVISED OF

PROGRESS MADE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THIS ORDER.

DAVID HAUGHTON, CAPT USN, ADMIN ASST TO SECNAV

(Three)

TEMPORARY BUILDING T-2032

THE MALL

WASHINGTON, D.C.

1750 HOURS 15 AUGUST 1942

Lieutenant Colonel F.L. Rickabee, USMC, was in his shirtsleeves, his tie was pulled down, and he was visibly feeling the heat and humidity, when Brigadier General Horace W. T. Forrest, Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Headquarters, USMC, walked into his office.

"Good evening, Sir," he said, standing up. "I hope the General will pardon my appearance, Sir."

"Don't be silly, Rickabee," Forrest said. "Christ, I hate Washington in the summer."

"I don't put any modifiers on the basic sentiment, Sir," Rickabee said dryly.

Forrest looked at him and chuckled.

"There's ice tea, Sir, and lemonade, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone defied my strict orders and hid a bottle of spirits or two in one of these filing cabinets."

"I'd like a beer, if that's possible."

"Aye, aye, Sir," Rickabee said. "Excuse me."

He went through a wooden door and came back in a moment with two bottles of beer and a glass.

"Keep the glass, thank you," General Forrest said. He raised the beer bottle.

"Frank Goettge," he said and took a pull.

"Frank Goettge," Rickabee parroted and took a sip. "Was there any special reason for that, Sir?"

"Frank's dead. Or at least missing and presumed dead."

"Jesus Christ! What happened, Sir?"

"I don't know. I know only that. I got it from the Commandant thirty minutes ago. He got it from the Secretary of the Navy. There have been no after-action reports, casualty reports, anything else. I can only presume that Frank Knox got it directly from that commissioned civilian he sent over there... what's his name?"

"Pickering, Sir."

"... as his personal snoop. Pickering is on Guadalcanal. Did you know that?"

"No, Sir. I did not."

"The Secretary of the Navy has directed the Commandant to replace Colonel Goettge immediately with a suitably qualified officer. Don't waste our time suggesting yourself. You're cleared for MAGIC. You can't go."

"Yes, Sir."

"What about Major Ed Banning? He was S-2 of the Fourth Marines. He could handle it, and he's in Australia."

"Banning's cleared for MAGIC, too, Sir."

"I didn't know that."

"Captain Pickering had him added to the list." "Damn that man!"

"I don't think the Secretary would want us to send Banning in any event, Sir. He sent him over there." "That's right, isn't it? I'd forgotten." "Sir, isn't there someone in the First Division who could take over?"

"I asked the same question. Do you know Captain Ringer,

Bill Ringer?"

"Yes. That's right. He's there, too, isn't he? S-2 of the 5th."

"He's dead, or missing, too. And a Lieutenant named Cory. You know Cory?"

"He was a civilian here. Navy communications. He was commissioned only a couple of months ago."

"Knox's aide-Haughton. He's not his aide. What do they call him?"

"Administrative Assistant, Sir."

"Haughton was all exercised that Cory might have had access to MAGIC."

"Did he?"

"No. What I would really like to know is what the hell went on over there to take out the Division Two, the 5th Marines Two, and a Japanese linguist all at once. The last after-action report I saw didn't show a hell of a lot going on over there."

"And the Commandant didn't know?"

"You mean did he know and wouldn't say? I don't think he knew a thing more than he told me. We were talking about Major Banning."

"Banning is out, Sir."

"Yes, of course," Forrest said. "I must be getting senile.

Suggestions, Rickabee?"

"We have a man in Brisbane. His name is Dailey. Lieutenant Colonel. Ex-aviator. He was in Berlin before the war as an assistant Naval attach‚."

"What's he doing in Brisbane?"

"He's liaison officer between MacArthur and Nimitz."

"How do you know about him?" Forrest asked, and when: Rickabee hesitated, snapped, "Come on. I've got to get back to the Commandant tonight with a name."

"Sir, I sort of stashed him over there."

"Stashed?"

"As a replacement, Sir, a supernumerary, in place. In case anything happened to Ed Banning. Or some other people. He has gone through the FBI background check."

"MAGIC?"

"No, Sir. I would be surprised if he ever heard the term. But, if it came to that, I would feel easy about clearing him for access to MAGIC."

"Could he handle being a division two?"

"I think so, Sir. He wouldn't be a Frank Goettge..."

"You just lost your supernumerary, Rickabee. Now, what about a regimental two to replace Captain Ringer?"

"Sir, I have no idea what to do about that."

"Don't try to tell me you don't have any linguists you can spare."