Griffin W.E.B. - The Corps 09 - Under Fire

'Top Secret/White House," Howe answered for him. "And we have our own communications with the White House."

"You understand, I had to ask," Ridgway said. "Well, that means we can get right down to business, doesn't it?"

"Give me a moment alone with General Pickering first, please," Harriman said.

"Certainly," Ridgway said.

"We can use my bedroom," Pickering said, and pointed to that door.

Harriman opened the door and went through it, and Pickering followed him.

"I saw Patricia in the Foster Lafayette literally on my way to the airport," Harriman said. "She asked me to give you her love-and this."

He handed a small jewelry box to Pickering, who opened it.

The box had been designed for a ring. In it, stuck into the small slot designed to hold a ring, was a small silver object on a thin silver chain. There was also a sheet of jew-eler's tissue.

"My God, I thought this thing was long lost," Pickering said, taking the object in his hands. "It's an Episcopal ser-viceman's cross. Patricia gave it to me when I went off to World War Two."

"There's two more in the tissue," Harriman said. "I am under orders to tell you they are to be delivered to your son and a Captain McCoy."

"That may prove a little difficult," Pickering said.

"Excuse me?"

"Captain McCoy is now somewhere behind enemy lines," McCoy said. "And my son-our son-was shot down just after noon August second."

"Good God! My dear fellow, I didn't know!"

"There is some hope, some faint hope, that he is still alive. He went down behind the enemy's lines near Taegu. Another Marine flew over the site shortly afterward, and reported the cockpit was empty."

"You think he may have been captured?"

Pickering shrugged.

"Capture is better than the alternative," Pickering said. "The enemy has shot a lot of American prisoners-at least a thousand, almost certainly more-out of hand."

"If he is a prisoner... will that compromise you, Pick-ering?"

Pickering didn't reply.

"Forgive me, I should not have asked that."

"No, Averell, you shouldn't have asked that," Pickering said. "Thank you for bringing this to me."

He held up the serviceman's cross, then draped it around his neck. He closed the jewelry box and slipped it into his pocket, and then he walked back into the sitting room.

Harriman followed him a moment later.

"It has always been my experience when faced with a difficult situation to deal with it as quickly as possible," Harriman said.

Everyone looked at him curiously.

"General Ridgway," Harriman said. "General Pickering has just told me his son is missing in action."

"Oh, God!" Ridgway said. "General, I'm so sorry."

"Thank you," Pickering said.

"The President, in my judgment, under the circum-stances, will have to be informed," Harriman said.

"The President knows," Howe said.

"Indeed?" Harriman asked. "You're sure of that?"

"I called him myself and told him," Howe said.

"And his reaction?"

"He asked me how General Pickering was taking it, and I told him, and he said to use my judgment whether or not to express his deep personal regret. I decided that General Pickering didn't need any more expressions of sympathy."

"That's all?" Harriman asked.

"What Harry said to me, Mr. Ambassador," Howe said, coldly, "was `use your judgment, Ralph. If telling him I'm really goddamn sorry will help, tell him. If not, don't.' That's practically verbatim. And that's all he had to say. Is that clear enough?"

"Yes, of course," Harriman said. "I meant no offense."

There was a moment's awkward silence, and then Gen-eral Ridgway said, "The ambassador and I will be meeting with General MacArthur in the morning. There are some things that I think you should know, and may not, and there are some things I know you know that we don't know, and should, before that meeting. May I suggest we get on with this?"

There was a knock at the door. Hart opened it, and a waiter rolled in a cart on which an enormous display of hors d'oeuvres was arranged.

"Is this place secure?" Ridgway asked.

"Charley found some microphones," Howe said. "They may have been Japanese leftovers, or not. Anyway, both Charley and Sergeant Keller, our cryptographer, have gone over it-and keep going over it, and Charley's and my suite-and as far as we know, it's secure."

" `Or not'?" Ridgway quoted.

"I don't think the KGB has bugged this place, General," Howe said. "And I also don't think the KGB would be the only people interested in what might be said in this room."

"You don't have a safe house, Fleming?" Harriman asked.

"There doesn't seem to be any way to say this deli-cately," Pickering said. "So: The station chief here thinks of himself as a member of MacArthur's staff. I think any-thing said in the CIA safe house would be in the Dai Ichi Building within an hour."

"And there's no other place?"

"Ernie McCoy-Ernie Sage McCoy-has a place here," Pickering said. "Ralph and I have been using that."

"That's Ernest's daughter, right? She's married to a Ma-rine?"

Pickering nodded.

"And she's cleared for Top Secret/White House," Howe said. "I cleared her."

"And we could go there?" Harriman asked.

"George, call Ernie and tell her to expect guests," Pick-ering ordered. "And tell her not to worry about hors d'oeu-vres. We'll be bringing our own."

"They'll know we went there, Flem," Howe said.

"Perhaps the ambassador can casually mention he went to see the daughter of an old friend when he's with MacArthur," Pickering said.

[FOUR]

NO. 7 SAKU-TUN DENENCHOFU,

TOKYO, JAPAN

1905 6 AUGUST 1950

"I thought it might be you, Mr. Ambassador," Ernie Sage McCoy said when they walked up to her door. "It's nice to see you again, sir."

"Forgive the intrusion, Ernestine," Harriman said. "But we needed someplace to talk, and General Pickering sug-gested your home."

"There's coffee in the dining room, and I understand you've brought hors d'oeuvres?"

"George is getting them out of the trunk," Pickering said.

"... and I sent the help out. And now I'll get out of your way."

"You're very gracious, Ernestine," Harriman said.

"My name is Ridgway, Mrs. McCoy," Ridgway said. "Thank you for letting us intrude."

"No intrusion at all," she said. "My husband is-what should I say, `Out of town on business'?-and it's good to have something to do."

She led them into the dining room, then left them alone. Hart and Rogers carried in the hors d'oeuvres, and looked at Pickering and Howe for directions.

"Go keep Ernie company, George," Pickering ordered.

`Take some of the hors d'oeuvres with you, Charley," Howe ordered.

When they had left, Harriman picked up a shrimp, took a bite, and then said: "That's what the President was wor-ried about-that you two would get along too well, and that therefore it might be best to talk to you separately. He said you were two of a kind."

"We haven't had anything to disagree about," Howe said. "We see the same things-from our different perspec-tives-the same way. But we can make ourselves available to be interrogated separately, can't we, Flem?"

"Interrogation is not the word, General," Harriman said.

"That's what it sounded like you had in mind on the tele-phone," Howe said, bluntly.

"From my perspective," Ridgway said, quickly, as if to keep the exchange from getting more unpleasant, "given that both General Howe and General Pickering enjoy the confidence of the President, we could save a lot of time by just sitting down at the table and talking this out together."

"That's fine with me," Harriman said, sat down, and reached across the table for another shrimp.

The others sat down.

`This place is secure?" Ridgway asked.