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

«Okay,» Mclnerney said. «I'll even have lunch with you and your ugly jarhead friend. If he buys.»

«That's better,» Stecker said.

«Give me a minute to lay some errands on Tony,» Mclnerney said. «And then I'll be with you. You've got a car?»

«We have Senator Fowler's car,» Stecker said.

«Bring it around. This won't take me a minute.»

He walked with them into his outer office, then waited for them to leave before speaking with his aide.

«I'm going to lunch with them,» he said. «By the time I get back, whenever that is, I want the three most experienced Catalina pilots on the base sitting here waiting for me. And I also want, waiting for me on my desk, the draft of a teletype to be sent to every stateside air station soliciting twin-engine—preferably Catalina—qualified volunteers for a mission outside the United States involving great personal risk.»

«Aye, aye, sir.»

Mclnerney saw the look in his eyes.

«Yeah, Tony, I am going to explain this to you. After lunch.»

«Yes, sir.»

Chapter Twelve

note 44

Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne, Advertising

698 Madison Avenue

New York City, New York

1145 9 March 1943

«There's a

Colonel

Banning on the line for you, Miss Sage,» Darlene, the secretary, announced. Ernie shared Darlene with H. Oswald Tinner, the account executive for the American Personal Pharmaceuticals account. Then curiosity got the better of her: «Was he promoted?»

«Yes, Darlene, he was,» Ernie Sage replied, forcing herself to smile, as she punched the button for the internal line on her telephone.

When Ed Banning called, she always answered the telephone expecting the worst. Even when it was good news, it generally took her several minutes to calm down.

«Hello, Ed,» she said.

«Ernie, as a favor to me, when you see Ken will you do something about his clothing?»

«Excuse me?»

«You'll know what I mean when you see him,» Banning said.

«Til see him late this afternoon,» she said. «I'm going to try to catch the 2:40 Congressional Limited. What about his clothes?»

«He's on his way to New York,» Banning said. «

We're

on our way to New York. I'm calling from the station. And I have to go, or I'll miss the train. Maybe we'll see you tonight. Do something, please, about his clothes. He'll pay attention to you.»

The line went dead, as the red light indicating a call on her private line lit up, and the bell began to ring. She pushed the red light.

«Hello?»

«Baby, I'm on my way to New York,» Captain Kenneth R. McCoy announced. «I'm at Union Station.»

Well, thank God. That means I won't have to catch the Congressional Limited again.

«Can you spend the night?»

«Yeah. Where should I meet you?»

She thought that over quickly.

If he's catching the train now, that's three hours and something. Call it three and a half. That means he would get into Pennsylvania Station at 3:15. Twenty minutes to catch a cab and come here. Say quarter to four

.

«Come to the office, baby,» she said.

«To the office?»

From the tone of his voice, he didn't like that.

«I can't get out of here any earlier,» she said. «Come here.»

«Jesus, Ernie!» he started to protest. «Christ, I have to go.»

«Six ninety-eight Madison, twenty-second floor,» she said.

There was no reply.

And then she saw the green light flashing, indicating an incoming call on the interior line. She punched the button.

«Ernestine Sage.»

«Your private line was busy,» Mr. Ernest Sage announced somewhat indignantly, as if he considered that a personal affront.

«Hi, Daddy! I'm fine. How are you?»

«Since you have a lamentable tendency to miss appointments, I thought it would be a good idea to remind you that we have one this afternoon.»

Oh, shit!

«I said I would meet you if I could, Daddy,» she said. «That's not quite the same thing as an appointment.»

«I gather you cannot? Aren't you getting a little tired of commuting to Washington daily?»

«I consider it my contribution to the war effort,» she said, and was immediately sorry. «And I didn't say I wasn't going to meet you. 1 said we didn't have an appointment.»

«Well, may I infer from that that you will meet me?» he asked. He sounded pleased.

«Ken and I will meet you,» Ernie said.

«Splendid,» he said, considerably less pleased. «Jack and Charley's at five-thirty?»

«We'd better make it six, or even six-thirty,» Ernie said. «Ken's coming up by train, and you never know if they're going to be on time.»

«Six, then,» he said, and hung up.

At half past three, Miss Ernestine Sage was notified by the BBD&O receptionist that a Mr. McCoy was in the lobby.

«Mr.

McCoy»? Doesn't she recognize a Marine officer when she sees one

?

BBD&O protocol dictated that when an executive-level employee had a visitor, the employee was to dispatch a secretary or other clerical employee from his or her office to the reception desk on the twentieth floor, to escort the visitor to the executive-level employee's office.

Miss Sage was well aware of this protocol, but decided to hell with it.

«I'll be right down,» she said, and hung up.

After a quick glance at her watch and her desk, she decided that doing any more work today was a lost cause, grabbed her hat and coat, and left the office.

«See you in the morning,» she said to Darlene.

«If someone calls?»

«Tell them I'll be in in the morning,» Ernie said, and went to the fire-exit stairwell. That was the quickest way down to the twentieth floor.

As soon as she pushed open the fire-exit stairwell door and entered the reception area, she saw Captain McCoy. What she saw immediately explained why the receptionist mistook him for a civilian and why Ed Banning asked her to do something about his clothes.

I

love him anyway

, Ernie thought.

But

my God.'

Where did he get those clothes? He looks like a coal miner all dressed up for a night out on payday

.

McCoy was wearing a two-tone sport jacket with a plaid body and blue sleeves. It had four pockets, with flaps, made of the same material as the sleeves. The open collar of a yellow shirt was neatly folded over the collar of the jacket. He had on a pair of light brown trousers, and was wearing his Marine Corps uniform shoes.

Ernie kissed him on the lips, not the cheek, which obviously made him uncomfortable.

«What are you doing dressed like that?» she asked.

«You don't like it, huh? Neither did Banning. I could see it on his face.»

«I meant, baby, what are you doing in civilian clothing?»

«It's sort of a long story,» he said. «Can we get out of here? I want to go to Brooks Brothers before they close.»

«You mean the clothing store?» she asked.

«Yeah. Sure. The clothing store.»

«You're going to buy some other clothes?»

«With you and Banning looking at me like I escaped from the circus, yes, I'm going to buy some other clothes.»

«Well, Brooks Brothers has nice things,» Ernie said. «That's a good idea.»

But, unless they're having a fire sale, nothing a Marine captain can afford. Doesn't he know that?

As if he had been reading her mind, he answered the question. «I finally paid off what I owed for my uniforms,» he said. «So I suppose my credit is good. And I've got a two-hundred-fifty-dollar civilian clothes allowance check.»

«You bought your uniforms at Brooks Brothers?» Ernie asked, as she led him onto the elevator.