In Danger's Path
Page 57
“Jack, the first thing that comes to mind,” he said to Colonel Waterson, “is getting you back to Brisbane. Unless you go back on the B-17 that brought me here, God only knows how long it will take to get you there. So make sure that airplane doesn’t leave without you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Next question, Jack, how much did you tell Colonel Platt about what brought you here?”
“Almost nothing,” Platt answered for him.
“I told Colonel Platt, sir, that I was not at liberty to discuss why I was here, other than that I carried a letter to General Stillwell.”
“I should have known that, but I had to ask,” Pickering said. “You did the right thing. And what did you tell Colonel Banning?”
“I thought the Colonel should know you were on your way here, sir. And that the relief of Generals Dempsey and Newley had been ordered. And that General Albright was also en route. I told him all of that.”
“You spoke with General Albright, Ed. How much did he tell you?”
“Not much, sir, other than that you were en route, that Generals Dempsey and Newley were out of the Special Channel loop, that he had been appointed acting signal officer of USMMCHI, and, until further orders from you, we would be taking our orders from him—we being Easterbrook, Rutterman, and me.”
“Okay,” Pickering said. “Colonel Platt, there has been a possible breach of security. I’m afraid I can’t tell you more than that, except it was of such importance—potentially of such importance—that Generals Dempsey and Newley here have been relieved of their duties, and so have the Secretary of the JCS and the OSS’s Deputy Director for Administration.”
“Jesus Christ!” Colonel Platt said.
“I hope you understand, Colonel,” Pickering said, “that the fact that you cannot be given more information about this is in no way a reflection on you. You just don’t have the Need To Know.”
“I understand, sir.”
“You’ve said you were advised of Operation Gobi?”
“Yes, sir.”
“By the Deputy Director Administration?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That was something else he shouldn’t have done,” Pickering said. “Or at least shouldn’t have done without my knowledge and permission.”
“Sir…”
“That wasn’t your fault,” Pickering said. “And General Albright tells me you have some ideas of your own—a proposed Opplan—on how Operation Gobi should go forward?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that you sent this Opplan to Washington?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Addressed to whom?”
“The Director, sir.”
“I want to see that. I was about to say tonight, but I wouldn’t know what I was reading tonight. First thing in the morning.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You can give it to Colonel Banning tonight,” Pickering said. “I’ll want his opinion. Which brings us to Colonel Banning. Colonel Banning, and the people he brought with him, work for me. They are not part of the Chungking OSS station. Having said that, I want them housed here.”
“Yes, sir. May I ask why, sir?”
“Because they are engaged in work that can’t help but attract the curiosity of their fellow cryptographers. Banning knows how to say none of your goddamn business, but it’s a little harder for two junior officers and a warrant officer to say that to senior officers. If they’re not in the BOQ, no one can ask them questions.”
“I understand, sir.”
“Going off at a tangent. Ed. Did John Moore arrive?”
“Yes, sir. Two days after I did. It took him a long time to get here from Brisbane.”
“That’s probably my fault, General,” Colonel Waterson said. “I got him a triple A air priority. I didn’t think there was a rush, and I didn’t want to call attention to him.”
“He’s here, that’s all that matters,” Pickering said, and then asked, “Where’s he billeted, Ed?”
“In the company-grade BOQ, sir.”
“Among other things Moore does, Colonel Platt,” Pickering said, “he’s a special kind of intelligence analyst. I can’t go further into that. And I want him to do that, rather than what a headquarters company commander—who can’t be told what Moore really does—thinks are appropriate duties for a second lieutenant. I want him moved in here right away.”
“Yes, sir.”
“The next priority is to find McCoy,” Pickering said.
There was a knock at the door.
“With a little bit of luck,” Banning said. “That will be the Killer.”
Hart went to the door and opened it. It was Second Lieutenant Robert F. Easterbrook, USMCR.
“We just got a Special Channel for you, General Pickering,” he said. “I thought I’d better get it right to you, sir.”
“How are you, Easterbrook?” Pickering said, rising from his chair and walking over to him. “I was just talking to your cousin Slats.”
“Sir?”
“Colonel Easterbrook. General Stillwell’s son-in-law. Isn’t he kin?”
“Not so far as I know, sir,” Easterbrook said seriously.
“What have you got for me, Bobby?” Pickering asked.
Damn, I did it again. He’s a Marine officer, and you shouldn’t call a Marine officer Bobby. Unless he’s six feet three, weighs two hundred twenty pounds, and comes from Alabama.
I must be tired. Of course I’m tired.
Easterbrook opened his buttoned-to-the-collar overcoat, reached inside, and produced a manila envelope. He handed it to General Pickering, who tore the envelope open and read it.
* * *
TOPSECRET
FROM ACTING STACHIEF OSS HAWAII
1210 GREENWICH 7 APRIL 1943
VIA SPECIAL CHANNEL
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
TO BRIGGEN FLEMING PICKERING USMCR
OSS DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR PACIFIC OPERATIONS
THRU: US MILITARY MISSION TO CHINA
CHUNGKING
SUBJECT: PROGRESS REPORT
1. SIMULATED RENDEZVOUS REFUELINGOPERATION USING PT BOAT AND ONE AIRCRAFT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED 6 APR 43.
2. PROBLEMS REVEALED BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN RESOLVED. A SECOND SIMULATION USING PT BOAT AND BOTH AIRCRAFT WILL TAKE PLACE 10 APR. THE VOLUNTEER PILOTS ARE NOT REPEAT NOT YET AVAILABLE, BUT IT IS BELIEVED THEY WILL BE AVAILABLE IN TIME FOR THE DRY RUN WHICH WILL INVOLVE THE SUNFISH.
3. POTENTIAL PROBLEMS BEYOND OUR CONTROL FOLLOW:
(A) THE POSSIBILITY OF INABILITY OF AIRCRAFT TO EFFECT RENDEZVOUS WITH SUNFISH BECAUSE OF RADIO NAVIGATION AND OR WEATHER PROBLEMS.
(B) POSSIBLE ROUGH SEAS AT RENDEZVOUS POINT WHICH MAY MAKE LANDING AND ESPECIALLY TAKE OFF OF HEAVY LADEN AIRCRAFT IMPOSSIBLE.
(C) ADMIRAL WAGAM POINTS OUT THAT IF CONDITION OF SEAS PROHIBITS LANDING, AIRCRAFT WILL NOT, REPEAT, NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT FUEL REMAINING TO DIVERT. THE NECESSARY ABANDONMENT OF AIRCRAFT AT RENDEZVOUS SITE WILL POSE GREAT HAZARDS TO AIRCREWS, AS WATER TEMPERATURE WILL LIKELY CAUSE DEATH BY HYPOTHERMIA WITHIN MINUTES OF PERSONNEL ENTERING WATER.
(D) AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM OF FORTY FIVE (45) MINUTES WILL BE REQUIRED TO TRANSFER FUEL, PERSONNEL AND CARGO. THIS PRESUMES SMOOTH SEAS. CONDITION OF SEAS MAY DOUBLE THE TIME REQUIRED. THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF DETECTION BY ENEMY VESSELS OR AIRCRAFT. ADMIRAL WAGAM HAS DIRECTED THE CAPTAIN OF THE SUNFISH, IN SUCH AN EVENT, TO DESTROY THE AIRCRAFT, MAKE EVERY REASONABLE EFFORT TO TAKE THE AIRCREWS ABOARD BEFORE SUBMERGING, THEN RETURN TO PEARL HARBOR.
(E) A SECOND RENDEZVOUS ATTEMPT WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE UNTIL TWO REPLACEMENT CATALINAS CAN BE MODIFIED (MINIMUM ESTIMATED WORK TIME SIX DAYS), REPLACEMENT METEOROLOGICAL EQUIPMENT CAN BE OBTAINED AND TRANSPORTED FROM MAINLAND US TO PEARL HARBOR, AND SUNFISH CAN RETURN TO PEARL HARBOR TO TAKE METEOROLOGICAL EQUIPMENT ABOARD AND RETURN TO RENDEZVOUS SITE.
HOMER C. DILLON
MAJOR, USMCR
TOPSECRET
* * *
Pickering handed it to Colonel
Waterson.
“Pass it around, please, Jack,” he said, “when you’ve finished.”
“To Colonel Platt, too, sir?”
“Uh-huh,” Pickering said. “Platt, that message deals with refueling a Catalina at sea, from a submarine. Did Washington get into that with you?”
“Only in a general sense, sir.”
“Well, until we come up with a better idea, that’s how we’re going to go. This was good news. The first dry run they had, with a submarine, was a disaster. They’ve apparently got it working now. Jake Dillon recruited a Seabee chief petty officer he knew in the movie business to help, and he’s apparently fixed the problems.”
Colonel Richard C. Platt looked mystified at the reference to a Seabee and the movie business.
Banning chuckled.
“I don’t believe, General,” he said, “that Colonel Platt knows Major Dillon.”
“Of course, he doesn’t,” Pickering said. “How could he? Well, I’ll leave that to you, Ed. I’m too bushed to tell Jake Dillon stories tonight, much less to get into the implications of that Special Channel, or listening to Platt’s ideas on Operation Gobi. We can have all of it first thing in the morning. What I need now is some sleep.”
He got up and walked to the door. Everyone stood up.
Pickering turned.
“Make sure Colonel Platt has a good idea of everything, Ed.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
Colonel Platt looked pleased.
As if, Pickering thought, he was just told he can play with the big boys after all.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” Pickering said and, with Hart trailing him, left the bar.
[TWO]
OSS Station
Chungking, China
0715 8 April 1943
Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, USMCR, lay in his bed and wondered if he was about to become sick. He would not be at all surprised. He was wide awake—had been for fifteen minutes—but did not seem able to muster enough energy to sit up and drag himself out of the bed. Simply being awake was itself surprising. He’d barely been able to keep his eyes open before he went to bed, and would have bet he’d sleep for at least twelve hours.
“There are obviously some drawbacks to the miracle of faster-than-a-speeding-bullet transoceanic flights,” he said aloud, and then added, “Okay, stop feeling sorry for yourself, you old bastard, haul your ass out of bed and get to work.”
“Sir?” Second Lieutenant George F. Hart, USMCR, asked. A moment later, his face appeared from behind a screen in one corner of the room.
I didn’t know that he was in there.
“I was talking to myself, George, something that old men tend to do,” Pickering said. “Sorry to wake you.”
“I thought I’d sleep into next week when I went to bed last night,” Hart said. “But I’ve been wide awake for thirty minutes.” He walked into the room, wearing his uniform, except for the tunic.
Pickering pushed himself up and swung his legs out of the bed. Then he pushed himself to his feet and reached for his trousers. “And you are presumably bursting with energy, eager to face the challenges of the new day?” he asked.
“Actually, sir, my ass is really dragging. I really didn’t want to get out of bed.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that, George,” Pickering said. “I feel exactly the same way. I thought maybe I was getting sick.”
“We spent a lot of time on those airplanes, General.”
“Where did you sleep, George?”
“There’s a little alcove behind the screen, General. I had them get me a cot.”
“Have we got a phone number for Banning?” Pickering asked. “I want to know if he’s located McCoy.”
“We do, sir,” Hart said. “But he said, last night, that he would be here about seven. He’s probably on his way by now.”
“I want to talk to Albright, too,” Pickering said, as much to himself as to Hart. “Let’s find ourselves some breakfast. I need a cup of coffee. Give me a minute to finish dressing.”
“Yes, sir.”
Captain Jerry Sampson, the one who’d been at Harvard with “Malcolm,” was standing by a double sliding door off the foyer of the house. He was wearing what Pickering thought of as “a white hunter’s jacket.”
He came to attention. “Good morning, General,” he said.
“Good morning,” Pickering said, smiling at him.
“Ah-ten-HUT!” Sampson bellowed in Pickering’s ear, startling him.
There was the sound of scraping chairs and six officers sitting around a large table got to their feet and came to attention.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Pickering said. “Please take your seats.” He turned to Sampson. “That was very nice, Captain, but we’ll dispense with that in the future. And we will also dispense with anybody waiting for me to show up to eat.”
“Yes, sir,” Captain Sampson said.
The table was set for breakfast. There was even a rack of toast before an empty place—where Pickering knew he was expected to sit—at the head of the table. Colonel John J. Waterson remained standing at the position to the right, Lieutenant Colonel Richard C. Platt remained standing to the left.
“May I introduce my officers, sir?” Platt asked.
“Of course,” Pickering said.
Platt led him around the table and introduced him to the officers of OSS station Chungking.
They all look like they were stamped from the same mold as Sampson, Pickering thought. Nice-looking, intelligent-looking, young men.
“I’ll gratefully eat whatever is put before me,” Pickering announced when he had taken his seat.
Lieutenant Colonel Platt rang a small silver bell, and a line of houseboys marched into the room and began serving breakfast.
Lieutenant Colonel Ed Banning came through the door, noticing as he did an empty place beside Colonel Waterson. He wondered if it was left empty by coincidence or was reserved for him. He slipped into it. “Good morning, General,” he said.
“Any word on McCoy, Ed?” Pickering asked.
Banning, looking uncomfortable, shook his head, “no.” “I did talk to the B-17 pilot, sir. He’d like to take off at four, if that fits in with Colonel Waterson’s schedule.”
“You have any problem with that, Jack?”
“No, sir.”
“Okay, Ed, confirm that.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Banning said. “And there’s been another Special Channel for you.” He reached into his tunic pocket and handed Pickering a sealed envelope.
“‘Special Channel’?” Captain Sampson quoted curiously. “May I ask—”
“No, you may not,” Colonel Platt said.
Well, at least Platt learns quick, Pickering thought, suppressing a smile at the look on Captain Sampson’s face. He tore open the envelope and read the Special Channel.
* * *
TOPSECRET
CINCPAC HAWAII
VIA SPECIAL CHANNEL
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
0905 GREENWICH 8 APRIL 1943
US MILITARY MISSION TO CHINA
EYES ONLY BRIGGEN FLEMING PICKERING,
USMC
BEGIN PERSONAL FROM ADM NIMITZ TO BRIG
GEN PICKERING
DEAR FLEMING:
REFERENCE REPORT FROM YOUR MAJOR DILLON
DATED 7 APR 43:
FOR YOUR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, I HAVE BEEN ADVISED BY MAJGEN MCINERNEY THAT FULLY QUALIFIED VOLUNTEER PILOTS WILL BE ON STATION HERE WITHIN NO MORE THAN FORTY-EIGHT (48) HOURS.
SUBMARINE SUNFISH WILL BE AVAILABLE TO OPERATION GOBI AS OF 1600 GREENWICH 8 APRIL AND DRY RUN IN HAWAIIAN WATERS INVOLVING BOTH AIRCRAFT WILL BE CONDUCTED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE THEREAFTER.
INASMUCH AS ESTIMATED BEST POSSIBLE SAILING TIME TO RENDEZVOUS POINT FOURTEEN (14) DAYS TWELVE (12) HOURS AND ACTUAL SAILING TIME WILL LIKELY TAKE AS MUCH AS FOUR (4) DAYS LONGER, REARADM WAGAM RECOMMENDS THAT SUNFISH SAIL FOR RENDEZVOUS POINT IMMEDIATELY AFTER CONCLUSION OF SUCCESSFUL DRY RUN AND RE
MAIN ON STATION UNTIL RENDEZVOUS IS MADE OR MISSION ABORTED. IN ABSENCE OF OBJECTION FROM YOU THIS WILL BE ORDERED.
AGAINST THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE FIRST RENDEZVOUS ATTEMPT MAY FAIL, WITH THE LOSS OF AIRCRAFT, AND MAY TAKE PLACE AFTER SUNFISH HAS BEEN ON STATION FOR SOME TIME WITH RESULTANT EXHAUSTION OF FUEL AND FOOD, I HAVE DIRECTED REARADM WAGAM TO HAVE TWO ADDITIONAL PBY-5A AIRCRAFT MODIFIED AT EWA IMMEDIATELY, AND TO BE PREPARED IMMEDIATELY UPON NOTIFICATION THAT THE FIRST RENDEZVOUS ATTEMPT HAS BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL AND SUNFISH IS RETURNING TO PEARL HARBOR TO DISPATCH A SECOND SUBMARINE FROM PEARL HARBOR TO EFFECT AN AT-SEA RENDEZVOUS WITH SUNFISH. REARADM WAGAM ESTIMATES PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT ABOARD SUNFISH CAN BE TRANSFERRED TO SECOND SUBMARINE IN ONE HOUR.
I HAVE EVERY CONFIDENCE YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO EXPLAIN TO GENERAL STILLWELL THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE SECURITY PROBLEMS THAT HAVE OCCURRED.
BEST PERSONAL REGARDS
CHESTER W. NIMITZ
ADMIRAL, US NAVY
CINCPAC
END PERSONAL FROM ADM NIMITZ TO BRIGGEN
PICKERING
TOPSECRET
* * *
Pickering handed the message to Colonel Platt. “Give this to Colonel Waterson when you’ve read it,” Pickering ordered. “Then it goes to Hart.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ed, several questions. Are you familiar with Platt’s proposed Opplan?”
“Yes, sir. General Albright showed it to me.”
There was a look of surprise on Platt’s face.
“Among Ed’s other responsibilities, Colonel,” Pickering said, “is keeping me up to speed on whatever’s going on. To do that, he gets to read everything.”
“Yes, sir, of course,” Platt said.
“Same thing applies to Hart,” Pickering said.
“Yes, sir.”
Pickering turned back to Banning. “Was Moore up all night, Ed?”
“No, sir, the Easterbunny had the duty.”