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

That meant they had reached the point where they would rendezvous with the patrols out in the Gobi.

He got out from behind the wheel of the weapons carrier and went back to the ambulance. «I think we're here,» he said to Zimmerman. «You go see Captain Whatsisname, and remind him that our deal was full tanks of gas and good tires all around. I'll go see that sergeant who seems to know where we're going and take another look at the so-called map.»

«We're moving on now?» Captain Sampson asked.

«We can make five, six hours before dark,» McCoy said.

«I can have the radio on the air in forty-five minutes, if I can get help to string the antenna,» Sampson said.

«We're not going to do that,» McCoy said simply.

«But they'll be expecting to hear from us,» Sampson protested.

«Tonight, when we stop, you can set up the receiver,» McCoy said. «I gave you the SOI. You can listen when they're scheduled to contact us and see if they have anything for us.»

«They'll expect us to respond,» Sampson said.

«We don't have anything to say,» McCoy said reasonably. «And if we don't go on the air, nobody can hear us and wonder what's going on.»

«But you were ordered to maintain communication,» Sampson persisted.

«Easy, Killer,» Zimmerman said, recognizing the look in McCoy's eyes.

«What you're going to do, Captain,» McCoy said, «is wake up two Chinese. Station one in the back of the ambulance and one in the back of the weapons carrier. Tell them if they fall asleep while on duty, you will shoot them. Any questions?»

Sampson looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. «Yes, sir,» he said.

«Then help Zimmerman make sure both gas tanks, and all the jerry cans, are full.»

«Yes, sir,» Sampson said. «Sir, may I ask a question?»

«Shoot.»

«Why does Sergeant Zimmerman call you 'Killer'?»

«Because he kills people who give him trouble,» Zimmerman replied, very seriously.

«Fuck you, Ernie!» McCoy flared.

Zimmerman growled in his chest. When he saw him smiling broadly, Sampson realized that this was a laugh. And then McCoy laughed.

«It's a long story, Sampson,» McCoy said. «Maybe I'll tell you sometime.» McCoy set off in search of the sergeant who was in effect the convoy's navigator.

Fifteen minutes later, the ambulance and the weapons carrier pulled out of the line of vehicles in the convoy and drove alongside it. McCoy stopped to exchange a handshake and a salute with the convoy commander, then got back in the weapons carrier, tapped «Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits» on the horn, and drove farther into the Gobi Desert.

note 90

The Oval Office

The White House

Washington, D.C.

1645 24 April 1943

When Colonel William J. Donovan was shown in, the President was sitting in his wheelchair looking out the window into the garden. «Good afternoon, Mr. President,» Donovan said.

Roosevelt spun the wheelchair around. «You don't look as if you've just learned the world is about to come to an end,» he said. «So what's so important that you asked to see me right away?»

Donovan set his briefcase on a coffee table, unlocked it, took from it an unsealed white business-size envelope, and handed it to him. «Neither Admiral Leahy nor General Marshall was available to bring these to you, Mr. President, and I thought you would like to see them right away.»

T O P S E C R E T – M A G I C

OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE

1005 GREENWICH 23 APRIL 1943

DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN

FROM COMMANDER IN CHIEF PACIFIC

PEARL HARBOR

TO CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS

WASHINGTON

EYES ONLY ADMIRAL WILLIAM D. LEjAilY

INFO SUPREME COMMANDER SOUTH WEST PACIFIC OCEAN AREAS BRISBANE

1. DURING THE PAST FIVE (5) DAYS, A TOTAL OF THIRTY-ONE (31) MESSAGES, SEVENTEEN (17) FROM THE JAPANESE HEADQUARTERS AT BOUGAINVILLE TO THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL GENERAL STAFF IN TOKYO, AND FOURTEEN (14) FROM JIGS TO BOUGAINVILLE USING THREE DIFFERENT HIGH LEVEL CODES, HAVE BEEN INTERCEPTED AND DECRYPTED, AND ANALYZED. ALL MESSAGES MADE REFERENCE TO THE SHOOTING DOWN OF ADMIRAL YAMAMOTO AS HIS TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT APPROACHED BOUGAINVILLE, AND TO THE RECOVERY OF HIS REMAINS AND PLANS TO HAVE THE REMAINS SENT TO JAPAN.

2. IN THE OPINION OF THE ANALYSTS, THE MESSAGES REFLECT BOTH THE CHAOS WHICH WOULD BE EXPECTED TO RESULT IF ADMIRAL YAMAMOTO HAD INDEED BEEN KILLED, AND ALSO POSSESS A CERTAIN TONE OF RESPECT FOR THE DECEASED ENTIRELY CONSISTENT WITH WHAT THE ANALYSTS WOULD EXPECT TO FIND IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ANALYSTS DO NOT REPEAT DO NOT BELIEVE THE MESSAGES ARE CONSISTENT WITH AN ATTEMPT TO DISSEMINATE FALSE INFORMATION.

3. FURTHERMORE, THE JAPANESE CONTINUE TO USE THE CODES THEY HAVE BEEN USING, AND HAVE NOT INTRODUCED ANY NEW CODES AS THEY WOULD HAVE HAD THE YAMAMOTO FLIGHT BEEN A RUSE. THIS LEADS THE UNDERSIGNED TO BELIEVE THAT THE MAGIC CAPABILITY IS NOT AT THIS TIME IMPAIRED IN ANY WAY.

CHESTER W. NTMTTZ

ADMIRAL, US NAVY

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, PACIFIC

T O P S E C R E T – M A G I C

T O P S E C R E T

OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE

VIA SPECIAL CHANNEL

1005 GREENWICH 23 APRIL 1943

DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN

FROM SUPREME COMMANDER SOUTH WEST PACIFIC OCEAN AREAS BRISBANE

TO CHIEF OF STAFF US ARMY

WASHINGTON

EYES ONLY GENERAL GEORGE C. MARSHALL

FOLLOWING PERSONAL FROM SUPREME COMMANDER SWPOA TO CHIEF OF STAFF US ARMY

MY DEAR GEORGE:

I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED TO KNOW THAT I JUST DECORATED A FINE YOUNG ARMY ATRCORPS OFFICER NAMED LANDER FROM MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, WITH THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS. WHILE LEADING A ROUTINE PATROL OF FOUR OF MY P-38 AIRCRAFT NEAR BOUGAINVILLE HE SHOT DOWN A JAPANESE TRANSPORT OF THE TYPE NORMALLY RESERVED FOR THE USE OF SENIOR JAPANESE OFFICERS. HIS FELLOW PILOTS SHOT DOWN THREE OF THE TRANSPORT'S ESCORTS AS WELL.

THE TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT CRASHED IN FLAMES INTO THE JUNGLE, AND IN THE OPINION OF THE PILOT WHO SHOT IT DOWN, THERE IS NO CHANCE OF ANY SURVIVORS. ALL FOUR AIRCRAFT RETURNED SAFELY TO THEIR AIRFIELD IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.

I VERY MUCH APPRECIATE THE PRESIDENT'S AND YOUR CONFIDENCE IN ME,

WTTH BEST REGARDS,

DOUGLAS

END PERSONAL TO CHIEF OF STAFF, US ARMY FROM SUPREME COMMANDER SOUTH' WEST PACIFIC OCEAN AREAS

T O P S E C R E T

«Well, that is good news,» Roosevelt said, «if it can ever be called good news to learn that my orders to have someone assassinated have been carried out successfully.»

«You probably saved thousands of American lives, tens of thousands of American lives, more than that, by ordering the elimination of Admiral Yamamoto, Mr. President,» Donovan said.

«It's a bit different, isn't it, Bill, when you know the name of the man you're having 'eliminated»? When you know what he looks like? That 'kill or be killed' seems a little remote from this office, doesn't it?»

«You saved lives, Mr. President,» Donovan repeated.

«Do you think Fleming Pickering knows about this?»

«I don't think so,» Donovan said. «I don't think either Admiral Leahy or General Marshall saw any need to bring Stillwell in on any of the Yamamoto business.»

«You don't think Stillwell is going to be told?»

«I think that he'll be informed by a hand-delivered message, sir.»

«Pickering's with Stillwell, right?»

«Yes, sir.»

«How's his weather station operation coming?»

«It could be going a little better, Mr. President,» Donovan said.

«In other words, something went wrong,» Roosevelt said. «What went wrong, Bill?»

«I don't mean to suggest, sir, that the mission will fail,» Donovan said. «But, unfortunately, it's looking more and more like something happened to the two men Pickering sent into the Gobi from Chungking.»