Griffin W.E.B. - The Corps 08 - In Dangers Path

«Are you carrying orders for me about what I am to do with Generals Dempsey and Newley? Or are you relaying a 'recommendation' like the one I got to name General Albright as my signal officer, a man I never saw before in my life?»

«No, sir.»

«Isn't that a little odd?»

«I suspect that General Marshall is waiting to hear how badly—if at all— magic has been compromised. But I would expect, General, as a minimum, that both officers will be reduced to their permanent grade and ordered home.»

«To encourage the others?»

«Yes, sir.»

«Not court-martialed?»

«A court-martial couldn't be held without getting into magic,» Pickering said. «Something, sir—I feel obliged to bring this up to you—that has apparently occurred to General Dempsey.»

«Excuse me?»

«Sir, I spoke very briefly with General Albright before I came here. He met me at the airport. He told me that when he tried to speak with General Dempsey, to determine how many other people might have been told about magic, General Dempsey invoked his right to decline to answer any questions that might tend to incriminate him.»

«And General Newley?»

«I don't know, sir,» Pickering said. «My suspicion would be that he would follow General Dempsey's lead.»

«Well, I certainly can understand how they feel,» Stillwell said. «If I found myself under arrest for nothing more than having somebody tell me something I wasn't supposed to know, I wouldn't be in much of a mood to cooperate with the people who'd put me there either.»

«Sir, the importance of magic—«

«But we can't have that, can we?» Stillwell interrupted. «I'll speak to both of them. Despite their—wholly justified—feeling they have been handed the short end of a very dirty stick, they have the obligation, the duty, to tell General Albright everything he wants to know. Or you. Do you want to talk to them?»

«I think General Albright would be better at that than I am, sir. I was also going to suggest that Colonel Banning talk to them. He is an intelligence officer, and has a magic clearance.»

«I'll see that he does,» Stillwell said immediately. «Tell them to come see me before they see Generals Dempsey and Newley.»

«Thank you, sir.»

«Was this little chat of ours the sole reason you came to Chungking, General?»

«I think it has become the primary reason I'm here, sir.»

«You want to explain that?»

«I was coming here anyway, sir, in connection with Operation Gobi.» Pickering hesitated, and then asked, «General, did either General Albright or Colonel Waterson discuss Operation Gobi with you?»

Stillwell shook his head negatively.

«They both tried,» he said. «I wasn't in the mood to listen. Waterson got here first, carrying Admiral Leahy's not very comprehensive letter of explanation. It said, as you probably know, that you were coming to explain everything in person. I told Colonel Waterson that I didn't at all like having a secret operation running in my zone of responsibility that I don't know anything about, and that I would discuss that operation with you when you arrived. General Albright arrived the next day. I told him that in compliance with my orders, I was appointing him

acting

signal officer until such time as I could discuss that appointment, and this secret operation, with you.»

«I understand how you felt, sir.»

Stillwell looked at him closely again. «Oddly enough, General, I think maybe you do,» he said. «You were saying something about the primary reason you're here?»

«I have come to believe, sir, that General Marshall—or perhaps Admiral Leahy—decided I was the only senior officer with a magic clearance available to come here and see how badly—if at all—magic has been compromised. Andas the letter said, to answer your questions. I can think of no other reason why I was flown here so quickly from Pearl Harbor.»

Stillwell grunted.

«And I think—repeat, think, sir—that is Admiral Nimitz's belief as well.»

«And Douglas MacArthur's?»

«That seems to me to be a reasonable presumption, sir.»

Stillwell grunted thoughtfully. «It would explain Douglas's parting with one of his precious B-17s, wouldn't it?» he said. «Okay. Tell me about your secret operation.»

Pickering took ten minutes to explain Operation Gobi.

Stillwell listened without responding until he was finished. «For what it's worth, Pickering,» he said, «I think you're going to have a hell of a time contacting those people in the Gobi. That's bandit country, and so is the country between here and there.»

«Sir?»

«Bandits. Warlords, fighting for the Japanese or the Nationalist Chinese or the Communists, depending on who is paying the most money today. Have you heard from these people lately?»

«No, sir.»

«That raises the very strong possibility that they encountered the bandits, and the bandits killed everybody,» Stillwell said. «That's their standing operating procedure.»

«That's not very good news, sir.»

«I suppose there is a reason you could not just air-drop a weather station in there? Together with the necessary operating personnel?»

«We wouldn't know where to drop them, sir. And one of the considerations is concealing the weather station from the Japanese.»

«Of course,» Stillwell said thoughtfully. «Let me ask some questions, Pickering,» he added. «Maybe one of my Chinese can come up with something.»

«I would very much appreciate that, General.»

«I owe you,» Stillwell said. «That wasn't much of a welcome you got from me.»

Pickering sensed that he was being dismissed. «By your leave, sir?» he asked.

«Granted,» Stillwell said.

Pickering came to attention and saluted. Stillwell returned it casually. Pickering did an about-face movement and walked to the door.

Chapter Twenty

note 75

OSS Station

Chungking, China

1920 7 April 1943

Brigadier General Fleming Pickering got out of the Studebaker President and walked to the wooden door and tried it. It was locked. He rapped on it with his knuckles. There was still no reply.

«I guess the doorbell doesn't work,» Second Lieutenant Hart observed, then politely nudged General Pickering aside and hammered on the door with the butt of his .45 automatic.

A young Army lieutenant whom Pickering did not remember from his first visit to the house opened the door. As he was pulling the door fully open. Lieutenant Colonel Ed Banning appeared in the corridor behind him. The two men shook hands. «I'm glad you're here, Ed,» Pickering said.

«I'm sorry I wasn't at the airport. General.» Banning said. «I was in the cryptographic room. They call it 'the dungeon' here, too.»

«1 understand,» Pickering said.

«I came as soon as General Albright told me you were here, sir.»

«No time lost,» Pickering said. «I was 'received' by General Stillwell.»

«General Albright told me. How did that go?»

«I may be kidding myself, but I think I have calmed him down to the point where he no longer wants to cut me in small pieces with a dull saw and will settle for something like crucifixion. He's one tough cookie.» And then he added what he was thinking: «But I like him. I understand why he was sore.»

«You were the bearer of bad tidings, sir,» Banning said. «Didn't that kill-the-messenger business start over here?»

Pickering chuckled, then asked, «Where's McCoy, Ed?»

«I don't know, sir,» Banning said.

«How did that happen?» Pickering asked.

«Right after I had my initial run-in with General Dempsey, I told him to make himself scarce. He's good at that.»

«I got that much from your Special Channel. McCoy has made no attempt to contact you at all?»