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

«Does anyone?» Pickering asked.

Well, I'm off on the wrong foot with this character, aren't I? Well, screw him. I am not going to start off on the right foot, if that means I have to set the precedent of explaining my actions to this guy. Or did he really expect me to apologize to him?

After looking at Pickering long enough to understand Pickering was not going to offer an explanation for being late, the Deputy Director (Administration) picked up a red, dial-less telephone on his desk.

«General Pickering is here, sir,» he announced. After a brief pause while Donovan replied, he added, «Yes, sir,» and hung up.

He stood up and gestured to an unmarked door. «This way, please. General. If you wish, your aide may wait here.»

«George goes everywhere I go,» Pickering said. «Come with me, George.»

«Aye, aye, sir.»

Colonel Donovan was not alone in his office. Another well-tailored man in his fifties was with him, sitting slumped, his legs extended, his feet crossed, in one of two green leather armchairs arranged to face Donovan's desk. He rose to his feet when Pickering and Hart entered the room and looked at Pickering carefully.

«Hello, Bill,» Pickering said. «Sorry to be late.»

«First things first,» Donovan said, coming from behind his desk to offer Pickering his hand. Then he introduced the new Deputy Director (Pacific) to the Deputy Director (Operations). The two men shook hands.

The reaction of both men to each other was almost identical: I

think I'm going to like this guy

.

Once he had learned that Pickering was joining the OSS, the DDO had taken the trouble to make discreet inquiries about him. They had many mutual acquaintances, and even a few mutual friends, and they all reported essentially the same things about him and about his wife: that Fleming Pickering had done a better job running P&FE than his father, even from the beginning (he had taken over at twenty-six). In this he'd received no little help from his wife. The proof of Patricia Fleming's ability came when she stepped into her husband's shoes after he went to work for Frank Knox.

From the moment he took over, Pickering had preached efficiency (whichusually meant the fast turnaround of ships) and had spent a lot of money (quickly recovered) to acquire the most up-to-date technologies and have these installed in P&FE's major terminals throughout the Pacific.

His other crusade was to break the long-standing tradition that the officers of a particular ship «owned it.» That is, they stayed with a particular vessel for years. When it was out of service for any reason, so were they, meanwhile continuing to draw their union-guaranteed pay. Under Fleming Pickering, P&FE's officers (and many seamen, just about all of whom expected one day to be a P&FE officer) were expected to sail whichever ship needed their services, whenever those services were needed.

It was an obvious tribute to Pickering's leadership skills that he was able to carry that off, in the face of strong opposition from the Masters & Mates Union, the Maritime Engineer's Union, and the International Brotherhood of Seafarers.

Despite the sometimes strong pressure from these unions, his officers and sailors trusted him. They knew him well and that he had sailed with them, in every position from Seaman Apprentice to Master Mariner, Any Tonnage, Any Ocean. But, the DDO decided, after sixty seconds of examining Pickering face to face, they trusted him even more because he was that rare man whose character shows on his face and in his eyes, and whom people immediately trust.

Many sources had also pointed out to the DDO that Pickering's success with P&FE had not contributed much to his modesty. He was strong-willed, opinionated, and did not suffer fools.

It was therefore not surprising that Donovan and Pickering had clashed. They were two of a kind. Strong, very successful men who were used to giving—but not taking—orders, and who did not like to have their decisions questioned. He wondered what would happen now that they were in the same ring.

«I'm sure the delay was outside your control, Fleming,» Donovan said, and then indicated the empty green leather-upholstered armchair. «Sit down. Coffee?»

«No, thank you,» Pickering said, and sat down.

«It was a presidential summons,» he went on. «Roosevelt wanted to know what I thought about Frank Knox's objections to taking the Office of Management Analysis into the OSS.»

«Oh, really?» Donovan asked. His face whitened.

«I told George to call and tell you we would be late,» Pickering said. «I didn't know the protocol of talking about the President's plans on the telephone, so I decided to be careful and explain why we were late when we finally got here.»

I

think Wild Bill is about to erupt

, the DDO decided.

He and Charley thought that was a done deal

.

«And you told the President that you didn't think bringing Management Analysis in here was a very good idea? Is that about it?»

«Actually, I told him it would be a very bad idea,» Pickering said evenly.

«Certainly, General, you were aware that the Director thought it was a very good idea?» the Deputy Director (Administration) asked.

«The President didn't ask me that,» Pickering explained, as if to a small child. «He asked me what I thought.»

The DDO suddenly had a fit of coughing. The look the Deputy Director (Administration) gave him was not one of sympathy.

«I'm sure you considered that the assets of Management Analysis might have been very useful to you in Operation Gobi,» Donovan said.

«Frank Knox made a point of telling the President—and me—that the assets of Management Analysis would be available to the OSS for the weather station operation,» Pickering said. «And, as I told you over dinner, I am bringing some people from Management Analysis and elsewhere into the OSS. George has a list of their names.»

«Give it to Charley,» Donovan ordered. «I presume they're Marines?»

«Uh-huh.»

«Charley deals with the Marine Corps in personnel matters,» Donovan said.

«I wish I'd known that,» Pickering said. «It would have saved me a trip to Eighth and I this morning. They have the list George has. And I don't anticipate any trouble having the people I want transferred over here.»

«There's only so many training spaces available at the Country Club. Squeezing them in is going to cause some problems,» Donovan said thoughtfully. «Nothing that can't be sorted out, but it will be a problem.»

I

was again wrong about Wild Bill

, the DDO decided.

Wild Bill did not blow his cork. And I really shouldn't be surprised. He knows when erupting will be advantageous and when it won't

.

If Charley came in here with high hopes

—

and I'm damned sure he did

—

that General Fleming Pickering was going to come in here and be immediately and firmly put in his place, he's going to be very disappointed

.

«Did I detect at Dick Fowler's dinner,» Donovan went on, «some question about your people going through the Country Club training program?»

«Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm glad you brought that up,» Pickering said. «In the case of two of my officers it seems to me that it would be a waste of time and money. Particularly since, as you said, there's a shortage of training spaces.»

«And why would that be, General?» the DDA asked smoothly.

Be careful here, Pickering, the Country Club is Wild Bill's pride and joy. He really thinks it turns nice boys from the better families into the sort of cold-blooded killers the OSS needs

.

«Major Ed Banning—he's about to be a lieutenant colonel—and George here have magic clearances. They cannot go operational, so why train them?»