W E B Griffin - Men at War 2 - Secret Warriors

by Secret Warriors(Lit)

  "Whitby House?" Canidy asked. "The Dorchester?" Stevens asked simultaneously, obviously surprised. Canidy made a gesture, deferring to Colonel Stevens. "Colonel Donovan thought you would like that, Colonel," Captain Doug lass said. "What's the Dorchester?" Canidy asked. "It's arguably the best hotel in London," Stevens said.

  "What's behind this touching interest in our physical comfort?" Canidy asked. "We want to make sure that Admiral de Verbey is comfortable," Dound that his arrival in England is not missed by certain glass said, "a people."

  "And what's Whitby House?" Canidy asked. "for us to set up a "It's been considered necessary," Doug lass said, close working relationship with what the British call the Special Operations Executive, SOE being much like the OSS-except, as Colonel Donovan points out, they know what they're doing. search and Development Station "They operate what they call SOE Re IX on a requisitioned estate near London. it's sort of a combination of Summer Place and the estate; it houses their agent-training facilities and serves as a hotel or billet. It is our intention to set up a similar facility as soon as possible. Another estate-they call them country houses-has been made available to us.

  It's called Whitby House. It is the ancestral home of the dukes of Stan field."

  "And you're going to move the admiral there?" Can idy asked. "You're going to move him there, Dick," Doug lass said.

  "He remains a3a a W.R.B. antivirin your responsibility. You will report to Colonel Stevens. You know what is needed in the way of security and communications, and Colonel Stevens will arrange for you to get what you need, While you and Captain Whittaker are doing that, Lieutenants Martin and Fulmar win go through the SOE agent school at Station IX. SOE has also agreed to make available some of their staff to help us set up and operate our own training cour seat least for the time being."

  "Charity,' Doug lass said after dinner was over, "do you think you could amuse Captain Whittaker and Lieutenants Fulmar and Martin while Cynthia and I go over some details with Colonel Stevens and Major Canidy?" When they had gone, Doug lass said, "There are some things the others don't have the need to know."

  "No kidding?" Canidy asked in sarcastic innocence, Cynthia gave him a dirty look. Doug lass shook his head in resignation, but Stevens smiled.

  Canidy saw it and smiled conspiratorially at him. =mg "Are we going to let the admiral try to steal the Jean Bart?" Canidy asked.

  "There has been no decision about that," Doug lass said, taking Canidy's question at face value.

  "What we're up to is a little political blackmail. General de Gaulle is giving General Eisenhower fits, More than fits. Eisenhower believes that de Gaulle can cause enormous mischief during Operation Torch. If he gets away with that, Ike is certain he'll raise even more trouble when we are ready to invade the European landmass. And if we decide to make the landing in France... Jesus! Eisenhower, therefore, wants very badly to get de Gaulle off his back. He has recommended that we withdraw our support from him entirely. The British rather strongly object."

  "May I ask why? What do they recommend? Do they side with de Gaulle?"

  Colonel Stevens asked.

  "If that came up in the briefings, I'm afraid I missed it," "The British completely agree that de Gaulle spells more trouble than he is worth," Doug lass said evenly. "They suggested that it would be most convenient if de Gaulle were to have a fatal accident." 40 "My, my!"

  Canidy said.

  "Would they do it?"

  "Certainly," Doug lass said.

  "But neither Eisenhower nor the President is willing to go that far.

  At least not yet. Eisenhower has suggested and Roosevelt has approved-another tack, If General de Gaulle learns THE SECRET WARRIORS N a33 that we have 'secretly' brought the admiral to England, perhaps he win find it in himself to be a bit more cooperative. He just might realize that he is only the self-anointed head of the French government in exile."

  "Why bring in the admiral secretly?" Canidy asked. "If we officially imported the admiral, that would be a confrontation," Doug lass explained.

  "Eisenhower doesn't want that confrontation if it can be avoided. If we secretly import him, while taking pains to make sure de Gaulle knows, that's something else. And, of course, the threat to replace de Gaulle with Admiral de Verbey will not be entirely a bluff. If Roosevelt decides that de Gaulle has to go, we'll have de Verbey in place."

  "So we continue to let the admiral believ(! we're going along with his steal-the-battleship idea in order to make him behave in England?"

  "It really is still under consideration," Doug lass said.

  "It has gone from 'impossible' to 'possible, but probably not worth the effort."

  "What about the plane? Is that just to make sure de Gaulle doesn't miss the admiral? Or is there anything else?"

  "I'm impressed, Dick," Doug lass said.

  "You're learning that simply asking questions often gives things away.

  In this case, your concern is not necessary. Colonel Stevens knows all about the African flight. To answer your question, yes, the Navy plane is the backup aircraft for the African mission. As soon as you land in England, it will be taken to a guarded hangar and stripped of its seats, the way the Pan American plane has been. We hope that de Gaulle will believe the airplane has been reserved for the admiral's exclusive use and put in a hangar to await his pleasure. De Gaulle's been after Eisenhower to get him a personal C-47, and Eisenhower hasn't elected to give him one. We think de Gaulle's monstrous ego will be bruised."

  "You are a devious man, Captain Doug lass,' Canidy said, chuckling.

  "Somehow, that sounds like a compliment," Doug lass said.

  "I guess around here it really is."

  "Right up there with chicanery, fraud, and false pretense," Canidy said, "There's one thing," Doug lass said, "that I don't want you to think of as simply another stage prop in this scenario."

  "What's that?" "We have arranged for a battalion of infantry to guard Whitby House," Doug lass said. "There are twelve hundred men in a battalion!"

  --I thought a battalion was a bit excessive," Doug lass said. "But Eisenhower overruled me. He seems to feel that de Gaulle couldn't help but be impressed with the admiral's importance if we chose to guard him with that large a force."

  "I could use maybe a company," Canidy thought aloud.

  "The others could just be there and do what they normally do."

  "Rather than make an issue of it, I decided just about the same thing," Doug lass, said.

  "But I'd like to make the point that you're really going to have to guard him, Dick." Canidy looked at him curiously.

  "You're suggesting something," he said. "The admiral didn't pose a real and present danger to de Gaulle so long as he was in New jersey," Doug lass said.

  "He will at Whitby House. You'll have to keep that in mind. More important, you will have to impress it upon the commanding officer of the infantry battalion."

  "This Brigadier de Gaulle seems to be a charming fellow," Canidy said.

  "I think he really believes God appointed him to save France," Doug lass said.

  "People who take their orders directly from God are often difficult and dangerous."

  "How much of this can I tell Whittaker, Martin, and Fulmar?" Canidy asked. "When you think Whittaker should know, you are authorized to tell him there is a bona fide threat to Admiral de Verbey's life."

  "And the others?"

  "I'll leave it up to you, but I can think of no reason they have to know."

  "Then why are you sending them along in the first place?" Doug lass and Stevens exchanged glances. "Tomorrow morning Doug lass said, "Chief Ellis will deliver to Colonel Stevens a small suitcase. It will contain a little over one minion dollars in American, English, French, and Swiss currency. Most of it will be used for other purposes by the London station, but possibly two hundred fifty thousand dollars of it-Murphy is still negotiating with Sidi el Ferruch-will be sent to Morocco. Fulmar and Martin will take it in." Canidy looked at Doug lass for a
long moment considering that. The money didn't surprise him. Fine was carrying a hundred thousand dollars in cash. Something else bothered him.

  7V "And you're not going to tell me, are you," he asked, "why You just diplomatic pouch?" don't send it in the "Not in specifics," Doug lass said.

  "How about philosophically?" Canidy asked. it's often neces "Before you ask someone to do something important, sary to ask him to do something somewhat less important , to see how he handles it." can be trusted,' Canidy said, and then he un" You mean to see if he u're talking derstood.

  "You're not talking about Fulmar," he said.

  "Yo about von Heurten-Mitnitz. You're going to put Fulmar on his plate like bone in front of a dog, and see if he can resist it."

  "That's your scenario," Doug lass said. "Oh, Christ!" Canidy said.

  But that was all he said. Donovan was right, Stevens decided. Canidy is, where it counts, a very good man.

  THREE I The House on a Street, NW Washington, D.C. 1130 Hours August 5, 19411 ang the bell. Takcharity Hoc he came to the door when the security man ring one look at Ann, she announced, "You're not supposed to be here, Ann, and you know it."

  "She's got a press card, and she said she had an appointment with Miss Chenowith,' the security man said. "Do you?"

  Charity challenged.

  "Yes," Ann said.

  "Ask Cynthia." a moment, I'll Charity knew Ann was lying, but she still said, "Just check," and closed the door. Cynthia Chenowith opened it two minutes later." I'll handle this," she said to the guard." Come in, Ann.

  She led her no farther into the house than the vestibule. "Now, what's all this?" Cynthia said.

  "I thought it was understood I was sort of an honorary Dilettante," Ann said. "What was understood was that you would write nothing and ask no questions. You should know better than to come here, "N%ere's Dick?"

  Ann said. "You thought he was here?" Cynthia asked.

  "What gave you that idea? " Ann didn't reply. To do so would have been an admission that Dick had called her from Deal and told her that he had been ordered to come to Washington with enough clothes for two weeks.

  He'd said he couldn't promise he would be in Washington, but if she could get away and wanted to take the chance... Cynthia took the meaning of the silence. "He's not here, Ann," she said.

  "And he won't be."

  "Where is he?" Ann asked. "I really don't know," Cynthia said. "You mean you won't tell me," Ann said. "I mean he's not here," Cynthia repeated, and then she took just a little pity on Ann.

  "And he won't be here, Ann, for some time."

  "You mean he went overseas," Ann ch ge The reporter in her saw she had hit home. "I said nothing of the kind," Cynthia said. "Well, thanks for nothing," Ann said, and turned around and started to leave. "Wait a minute," Cynthia said.

  "I'll have Charity take you back downtown."

  "Don't bother," Ann said. "Don't be any more of a fool than you already are," Cynthia said, then called Charity. Despite her best efforts-including what she hoped were credible sobs-Ann got nothing out of Charity in the station wagon on the way downtown. But then she thought that Dick's whereabouts weren't completely the mystery they at first seemed to be. He was almost certainly overseas. And he was involved in Europe and Africa, not the Far East. That French admiral was somehow connected, and so was that Fulmar character. The American headquarters for Europe was in London. It was going to be difficult finding him in London, but there was absolutely no way she was going to find him if she was in Memphis, Tennessee. Charity," she commanded," drop me at Woodward and Lathrop's. The landmark Washington department store was several blocks from the Washington bureau of the Chambers Publishing Company. Two could play at the Big Secret, she thought.

  She did not want Charity to report to that damned Cynthia Chenowith that she had gone directly from the Secret Mansion to a news bureau.

  "I'm really sorry," Charity said when she dropped her off. "I know," Ann said.

  There was a good omen at Chambers Publishing. When she went into the newsroom and called her father's office on the tie-line to Atlanta, his secretary told her he was in Washington. He was right there in the office-and torn between pleasure and annce when he saw her. noya "You're a little off your beat, aren't you, honey?" he asked.

  "Well, since you got me the job, Daddy," Ann said, "I thought it only fair that I hand my resignation to you."

  "May I ask why?"

  "Since you won't send me overseas, I'm going to get a job that will."

  "We've been over this before," he said. "I remember."

  "This has something to do with Dick Canidy?"

  "Yes, it does."

  "He went overseas and you want to follow him, is that it?"

  "I didn't say that," she said. "You didn't have to," he said, "But the point is, I simply cannot send you overseas. The War Department allocates the spaces. Every war correspondent has to be housed and fed.

  I've got good men I'd love to have over there, and I cannot justify sending you in place of one of them."

  "I thought that's what you would say," she said.

  "Which is Why I'm resigning."

  "And you think you can get someone else to send you?" he asked. His clear implication was that she was dreaming. "I'll send you a postcard from London," she said.

  "Who's going to send you to Europe?"

  "Lots of people," Ann said. "Hey, for every guy you might charm into giving you a job," he said, "I know two senior editors who will be happy to do me a favor by not giving you a job. Don't get too big for your britches, missy."

  "How about Gar diner Cowles?" she said immediately.

  "You think he'd do you that kind of favor?" She saw from his look that the lie could not possibly have been a better choice. The Cowles Publishing Company published, among others, a Life-like photo magazine called Look. Since her father and Gar diner Cowles had been warring for years, he apparently immediately concluded that Gar diner Cowles had offered her a job just to make him angry. Now that I think about it, the sonofabitch is perfectly capable of doing just that! "Just for the sake of argument, what would Gar diner Cowles have you doing?"

  Brandon Chambers asked, making a valiant effort to sound only mildly curious.

  "Women's-interest things, the WACS, the WAVES, and whatever it is they're going to call the lady Marines," Ann said. "And you would really work for Gar diner Cowles?" he asked. "I would work for the Daily Worker if they agreed to send me to Europe," Ann said. "You don't mean that," he said. "I'll try to get home before I go," Ann said. They locked eyes for a moment, and then Brandon Chambers said, "Greg Lohmer, who runs our radio stations, is sending a news announcer, a man named Meachurn Hope, over to London from WI(KL in New Orleans.

  He'll make a nightly broadcast via shortwave which all the stations will carry. Greg Lohmer says the fellow has a splendid voice but some difficulty with basic journalism. He'll need somebody to write his scripts. If I could somehow arrange to send you over there to write his scripts-call you a technician or something, maybe administrative assistant-would you be interested?"

  "Gar diner Cowles," Ann said, "is arranging for my correspondent's accreditation right now. How can he do that if you can't?"

  "Why don't I call him and ask?" he said. "Why don't you?" Ann said.

  "It would have to be clearly understood between us, Ann," her father said, in conditional surrender, "that you would be going over there to write Meachurn Hope's scripts."

  "Until other arrangements can be made," Ann said.

  "Thank you, Daddy."

  "I don't know how I'm going to explain this to your mother," he said.

  "You're a very clever man, Daddy. You'll think of something."

  AK ONE I Croydon Airfield London, England August 7, 1942

  It was raining softly but steadily when the Curtiss Commando with Naval Air Transport Command lettered along its fuselage landed. When they stopped on a taxiway and just sat there, Canidy went forward to the cockpit to see what was g
oing on. Making it plain he resented being questioned, the pilot told Canidy he had been ordered by the tower, without explanation, to hold where he was. This wasn't the first trouble the pilot had given them. He was a regular navy full commander who Canidy suspected had put in a lot of time flying long, slow Catalina patrols before the war had promoted him to pilot in command of transoceanic NATC aircraft. The pep talk ONI had given the man in Washington hadn't taken very well, Even before they left Washington he had made it plain that so far as he was concerned, this flight to carry some foreign admiral, his tiny staff, and a handful of relatively junior American officers to London was a typical Washington boondoggle diverting an important aviator like himself and his important aircraft from making an important contribution to the important war being fought in the Pacific. Between Gander, Newfoundland, and Prest wick, Scotland, their European landfall, Canidy had gone forward to offer to relieve one of the pilots at the controls. "Do you have any time in the C-46, Major?" the pilot had asked. "About twenty hours," Canidy said.