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

"You weren't listening, General, when I said I wasn't going to let Captain Bligh and Jean Lafitte out of my sight until this operation is over. That means when they go to Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do, the Chicago Tribune is go-ing to be there."

"Which one is Captain Bligh?" Pickering asked, smiling.

She pointed at Taylor.

"And it fits, too," she said. `Taylor told me Bligh was re-ally the good guy, and Fletcher Christian a mutineer who should have been hung."

Pickering chuckled.

"That's true," he said. "Bligh was also a hell of a sailor. He sailed the longboat from the Bounty a hell of a long way, after they put him over the side. Okay, Captain Bligh, tell me about the boats."

"She said it, sir," Taylor said. "We're going to need a couple of boats. Maybe small lifeboats. Just large enough to carry eight, ten, men and their equipment. It would be better if they had small engines, maybe even outboards- it's a long row from Tokchok-kundo to either Taemuui-do or Yonghung-do. But in a pinch we can make do with just oars."

"The first thing I thought was `no problem,'" Pickering said. "We'll see if PandFE here can't come up with a couple of boats. But that doesn't answer the question of how to get them to Tokchok-kundo, and quickly and quietly, does it?"

"No, sir," McCoy said. "And if we go to the Navy, they'd want to know what we want them for."

"And even if we could talk our way around that, we still would have to get them to Tokchok-kundo," Pickering said.

"Yes, sir."

"I just thought of a long shot," Pickering said. `Taylor, do you know who Admiral Matthews is?"

"The Englishman?"

Pickering nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Is there anybody you could call at the Dai-Ichi Build-ing and get his number, without it getting around that you asked for it?"

"Is he in town, sir?"

"He was at the meeting this morning," Pickering said.

"Who is he?" McCoy asked.

"He commands the UN fleet blockading the west coast of Korea," Pickering said.

Five minutes later, Taylor had the telephone number of Ad-miral William G. Matthews, and three minutes after that, the Admiral came on the line.

"Yes, of course, I remember you, Pickering. You were one of the very few people in that room this morning who seemed to understand that tides rise as well as fall."

"Admiral, could I have a few minutes of your time?"

"I was about to leave for Sasebo, but yes, certainly, if you could come here right away. You know where I am?"

"Yes, sir. And I will leave right away."

"I'll even buy you a drink. God knows we earned one in that bloody roomful of fools this morning."

"Thank you, sir," Pickering said, and hung up.

He turned to the others.

"We may just have gotten lucky," he said. "And no, Miss Priestly, you may not go. But you have my word that I will bring Captain Bligh and... who was it, Bluebeard the Pi-rate?... back to you."

"Jean Lafitte, sir," McCoy said.

[FOUR]

THE OFFICE OF THE NAVAL ATTACHE

HM DELEGATION TO THE SUPREME COMMAND,

ALLIED POWERS IN JAPAN

TOKYO, JAPAN

1605 10 AUGUST 1950

"Ah, Pickering!" Admiral Sir William G. Matthews, RN, said, getting to his feet as Pickering was shown in. Then he saw Taylor and McCoy, and added: "I didn't know you were bringing these gentlemen with you. Now I will have to mind my manners. And my mouth."

"I apologize, sir."

"It doesn't matter," Matthews said. "I am so glad to be out of that bloody room that I'll give them a drink, too."

"Very kind of you, sir," Pickering said. "And please feel free to say anything you like. Both Captain McCoy and Lieutenant Taylor know how I feel about that bloody meet-ing, too."

Matthews growled.

A Japanese in a white coat appeared and took drink or-ders. Matthews waited until he had finished, then ordered another double for himself.

"I was just telling Fitzwater here," he said, pointing to a very slim, very tall Royal Navy captain, "that I'd finally found a Marine who'd actually been to sea. God, I had trouble keeping my temper when that Army general started lecturing me on the hazards of tides."

"Actually, sir," Pickering said, "I'm more of a seaman than a Marine."

"How's that?"

"I was about to tell Sir William, sir," Captain Fitzwater said, "that unless I was mistaken, you are connected with Pacific and Far East Shipping. Was I correct?"

"So far as I know," Pickering said, "I am the only PandFE master who has run his vessel aground on the Inchon mud-flats."

"Really?" Admiral Matthews asked. "How did that hap-pen?"

"I was a little younger at the time," Pickering said. "And thus far more impressed with myself as a mariner than the facts warranted."

"So what the hell were you doing dressed up in a Ma-rine's uniform in that bloody room?"

"Admiral, I'm the Assistant Director of the CIA for Asia," Pickering said.

"Ah!!" the admiral said.

"I was hoping you would offer that information, Gen-eral," Captain Fitzwater said. "Otherwise, I would have had to whisper it in Sir William's ear."

"And are these two spies as well?" the admiral asked. "That one looks like a sailor."

"Lieutenant Taylor, sir," Taylor said.

"Actually, he's a hell of a sailor," Pickering said. "He just returned from sailing a junk in the Yellow Sea."

"Really? What was that about? A junk, you say?"

"I'd love to tell you, Sir William," Pickering said, stop-ping when the steward handed him his drink.

"Cheers!" Admiral Matthews said when he had raised his fresh drink. "And you would love to tell me, but?"

"I would hate to have it get back to anyone in that bloody room. For that matter, to leave this room."

"Ah, the plot darkens," the admiral said, and thought over what Pickering was clearly asking. "You have my word, sir."

"Would you prefer that I..." Captain Fitzwater asked.

"No," Pickering said, "but if you could give me your word?"

"Of course," Fitzwater said.

Pickering had decided it made more sense to have Fitzwater on his honor not to repeat what he heard than to really arouse his curiosity by asking him to leave. Picker-ing thought he was obviously some sort of intelligence of-ficer-he had known about PandFE and the CIA-and he would go snooping, with no restrictions on disseminating what he found out. And Pickering was pleased when he saw approval on McCoy's face.

"Lieutenant Taylor just sailed the junk Wind of Good Fortune to Tokchok-kundo Island," Pickering said. "Aboard were four Marines, in addition to Captain McCoy, and eight South Korean national policemen."

"How interesting," the admiral said.

"With which Captain McCoy and Lieutenant Taylor plan, just as soon as they can, to occupy Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do Islands, and thus deny the North Koreans a platform from which to fire upon vessels navigating the Flying Fish Channel."

"You know the plan calls for the neutralization of those islands on D Minus One?"

"Yes, I do."

"You got them to change their minds about that?"

"No, sir. They do not know about this operation."

"Ah!" Admiral Sir William Matthews said.

"And what about the lighthouse?" Captain Fitzwater asked.

"On the night of 13-14 September," Taylor said. "Pre-suming we can take Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do without attracting too much North Korean attention, we'll take that, too."

"And why is it, if I may ask, you don't want this operation of yours to come to the attention of the fools in the Dai-Ichi Building?"

"Because I know they would object to it," Pickering said. "Probably forbid me to go on with it."

"They almost certainly would object, and object rather strenuously, for the very good reason that it makes a bloody hell of a lot more sense than what they're propos-ing. Your intention is to present them with a fait accom-pli?"