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

«Perish the thought,» Weston said piously.

They were now in a well-furnished living room, standing before a sideboard turned into a bar.

«What would you like, Jim?» Caroline asked.

«I'd like one of each,» Weston said. «But I'll settle for a small scotch.»

«Janice?»

«Nothing, thank you.»

«Oh, come on,» Weston said. «Try to remember you're an officer of the Naval establishment.»

«If she doesn't want anything, don't push her,» Caroline said, coming to her aid.

«I'll have a light scotch, please,» Janice said.

«And afterward, I've got some steaks warming up in the kitchen.»

«Warming up?» Janice asked.

«One of the many things that Charley taught me is that meat tastes much better if you get it to room temperature before you cook it.»

«You have a lovely home, Mrs. McNamara,» Janice said politely.

«My husband, thank God, had the morals of an alley cat,» Caroline said.

«Excuse me?» Janice asked.

«If he had obeyed that promise he made to keep himself only to me until death did us part, I would still be married to him, I would still be supporting him, I wouldn't have gotten this house as part of the divorce settlement, and I wouldn't have met Charley,» Caroline said.

«I'll drink to that,» Weston said.

Janice looked at him and could not keep herself from smiling.

note 18

«The first reasonably deserted place I see,» Lieutenant (j.g.) Hardison said to Captain Weston, «I'm going to stop so you can climb in the trunk.»

«You're not serious.»

«I'm perfectly serious,» she said. «You're AWOL, goddamn it!»

«I like it when you talk dirty,» he said.

«That's profane, not obscene.»

«Say something obscene.»

«I will not,» she said, shaking her head.

«Just drop me a couple of blocks away, and I'll go back over the fence.»

«This would be easier.»

«Your trunk is probably greasy, and I will ruin my nearly brand new uniform.»

«You would probably tear your nearly brand-new uniform going back over the barbed wire,» she said. «And my trunk is spotless!»

«I am putty in your hands,» he said. «Now that I've considered that a dry cleaning job is much cheaper than a new pair of pants, anyway.»

Her trunk was clean, but it was small. Weston had to lie on his back, with his knees pulled up. Janice was just about to close the trunk lid on him when he motioned for her to come close. Then he grabbed her and kissed her on the forehead. «Nighty night, Mommy,» he said.

«You are insane,» she said, and slammed the trunk shut.

When she opened the trunk in the parking lot behind the Female Officers' Quarters, he had trouble climbing out. «God,» he said seriously. «That brought back a lot of memories. The last gate I sneaked through was guarded by Japanese soldiers.»

«Really?»

«Actually no,» he said. «But now that I know you're impressed with heroic efforts, I'll try to invent some more.»

«You're really terrible. I believed you.»

«It was a joke,» he said.

«I don't think I like your sense of humor,» Janice said.

That's not true. He's really a funny guy

.

«What did you think of Caroline?»

«I like her,» she said.

«She liked you. And I like you. That leaves the question, do you like me?»

«I don't think so,» she said.

That's not true, either. I really like him

.

«I suppose that means a goodnight kiss is out of the question?»

«Yes, it does,» she said firmly.

But then she looked into his eyes, and she kissed him.

«Jesus H. Christ!» he said. «That was not what I expected.»

«What did you expect?»

«Not that,» he said. «When do you want to get married?»

«Good night, Captain Weston,» Janice said. «Sleep well.»

«After that? Don't be absurd.»

«That was nothing special.»

«When can I expect special?»

«Never,» she said. «Go to bed.»

She marched toward the door of the Female Officers' Quarters. When she had pulled it open, she turned and looked back at the parking lot. He was still standing where she had left him, looking at her. She looked at him for a long moment before she went into the building.

Chapter Five

note 19

The White House

Washington, D.C.

1420 17 February 1943

«Jim was right about you, Captain,» the President of the United States said, gesturing toward a tall, slender, bald man in the uniform of a Marine major. «You are a remarkable young man, a fine Marine.»

«Hear, hear,» Senator Richardson K. Fowler (R.-Cal.) said. Fowler, sometimes described by President Roosevelt as «the chief of my more or less loyal opposition» and Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, USMCR, had been close friends for thirty years.

«He was a Raider, Dad,» Major James Roosevelt said. «What did you expect?»

«Well, in that case, I presume, as one Raider to another, you will make sure that Captain McCoy is well taken care of tonight? And that, by order of the Commander in Chief, he gets some well-deserved time off?»

«With pleasure,» Major Roosevelt said.

The President had a tangential thought. Looking first at Senator Fowler and Navy Secretary Frank Knox, and then at McCoy, he asked: «Tell me, Captain, how do you feel about your assignment to the OSS?»

«I'm a Marine, sir,» McCoy said.

«Does that mean you'd really prefer to go back to the Raiders?»

«Sir, I would like to go back to the Raiders, but what I meant was I'm a Marine officer, and I do what I'm ordered to do.»

«I wish there was some way I could make that splendid attitude contagious around here,» the President said. He leaned forward in his wheelchair and offered McCoy his hand. «Thank you very much, Captain,» he said, «not only for the briefing, but also for what you and the others did when you went into the Philippines to hook up with this Fertig chap.»

«He told you, Dad,» the President's son said. «He's a Marine officer. He does what he's told to do. 'Get in the rubber boat and start paddling.' Right, Killer?»

«Yes, sir,» McCoy said.

» 'Killer'?» the President quoted. «I think I'd like to hear about that.»

«No, you wouldn't,» Major Roosevelt said.

But the President was already turning his attention to the Secretary of the Navy. «I'd like a few minutes of your time, Frank, please,» he said. «Of course, Mr. President,» the Secretary of the Navy replied. McCoy sensed that he was being dismissed. Confirmation came a second later as Major Roosevelt touched his arm and nodded toward the door of the upstairs sitting room. He saluted and marched out of the room. Major Roosevelt and Senator Fowler followed him.

As they entered the corridor, a Secret Service man closed the door after them. «Good job, McCoy,» Major Roosevelt said. «You really impressed the Old Man.»

McCoy blurted what he was thinking. «It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.»

Senator Fowler chuckled. «Jimmy's father can charm the socks off you, if he's so inclined,» he said. «You have to remember to ask for your shoes back. I didn't say that, Jimmy.»

Major Roosevelt laughed. «I won't tell him what you said, and I won't tell you what he says about you.»

«Fair enough,» Fowler said.

«Okay,» Roosevelt said. «Now we have to find a place where the Killer can rest his weary head.»

«I thought you weren't supposed to call him that,» Fowler said.

«Those rules don't apply to Raiders,» Roosevelt replied. «So what's your pleasure, Killer? I'm sure we can put you up here, but I'll tell you I don't stay here myself unless I'm forced to. And there aren't very many nubile young things prowling these historic corridors.»