"Anything interesting in here?" he asked as he began to sign the forms.
"Mostly routine," Vole said.
"The Philippines have been heard from again, but that's about all."
Ellis looked at him with a question on his face.
"Seventeen," the ASA warrant officer said.
When Ellis had finished signing the receipts and pushed the receipt forms away from him, he picked up file number seventeen and opened it. The first thing he saw was that it was an intercept, rather than a message intended for the OSS.
On his own authority, as "Special Assistant to the Director," he had sent a "Request for Intercept" to the ASA, asking that the OSS be furnished with whatever ASA intercept operators around the world heard on either American or enemy frequencies that had anything to do with American guerrilla activity in the Philippine Islands. Inasmuch as the ASA and every other military and naval organization knew that the alternative to not giving the OSS whatever it asked for was explaining to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff why thiN could not be done, the "request" had been in fact an order. ;
Ellis had decided that if Douglass or Donovan asked him why he had done' so, and he didn't think they would, he would tell them it was because of the?
Whittaker mission. That was logical, of course. But the truth was that Ellis ha put in the Request for Intercept long before it had been decided to send Whiti taker into the Philippines. He had suspected that the reason there had beeo| no reply to Fertig's original transmissions to MacArthur's headquarters in AuStralia was that some brass hats of MacArthur's palace guard, or perhaps eveqi MacArthur himself, considered the very existence of guerrillas embarrassing,!
MacArthur's liaison officer to Washington had flatly announced that "effectiv| guerrilla operations were impossible."
The ASA intercept operators were good. They had furnished Ellis with tbt radio message from MacArthur appointing Philippine Scout Major Marcarit Peralta "military guerrilla chief of temporarily occupied enemy territory," ant
with Fertig's response to that, a request for drugs to cure venereal disease--as much as telling MacArthur he considered himself nicked.
Today's message showed that Fertig had his temper under control and was thinking:
URGENT PROM WYZB FOR KSF
PASS TO SECRETARY 07 WAR WASHINGTON DC
AS SENIOR AMERICAN OFFICER IS THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS I
HAVE ASSUMED COMMAND OF MINDANAO AKD VISAYAS WITH RAMK OF
BRIGADIER GENERAL.
I HAVE REACTIVATED UNITED STATES FORCES IN THE
PHILIPPINES.
USFIP HAS REESTABLISHES PHILIPPINE CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE
HANDS OF ELECTED COMMONWEALTH OF PHILIPPINES OFFICIALS.
LAWFUL GOVERNMENT OF PHILIPPINES IN AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY
OF USFI-P IS PRINTING AND PLACING INTO CIRCULATION MONEY.
USFIP IS BORROWING NECESSARY OPERATIONAL FUNDS FROM
COMMONWEALTH OP PHILIPPINES GOVERNMENT.
USFIP URGENTLY REQUIRES MINIMUM ONE MILLION DOLLARS IN
GOLD.
USFIP URGENTLY REQUIRES FOR MORALE OF PHILIPPINE
POPULATION ANY SORT OF AID. MEDICINE FIREARMS AND
AMMUNITION PREFERABLE.
PERTIG BRIG GENERAL USA COMMANDING USFIP
Ellis frowned.
"What the hell is that all about?
"Vole asked.
"Fertig is being fucked by the system," Ellis said.
"But he's too mean to lie down and take it."
The telephone rang. Vole answered it, and then held his hand over the microphone.
"There's an Eyes Only Operational Immediate for either Donovan or Douglass," he said.
"They want to know if anybody's here that can take it."
"Decrypted?" Ellis asked.
"Yeah. Dispatched at 1207 London time."
"Would you run down there and get it?" Ellis asked.
Vole nodded, and took his hand away from the telephone microphone.
"Put it in a cover," he said.
"I'll be right down."
Vole was gone no more than five minutes. By the time he returned, Ellis had gone through the overnight messages and arranged those he felt Colonel Donovan should personally see in the order of their importance.
He took the two Eyes Onlys from Vole.
"I thought you said one Eyes Only," he said.
"They're related," Vole said.
He opened Dolan's message first, read it, and grunted. Then he opened the message Canidy had laboriously encrypted in the monks' cave on the Island of Vis.
OSS LONDON STATION OSS WASHINGTON
EYES ONLY COLONEL DONOVAM; CAPTAIN DOUGLASS
FOLLOWING PROM CAHIDY RECEIVED 1110 LONDON TIME
FORWARDED AUTHORITY DAMCY CAPT WAC.
BRUCE AMD/OR STEVENS WILL HAVE MESSAGE IS HANDS NO LATER |
THAN 1230 LONDON TIME. 3
QUOTE TOP SECRET OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE EYES ONLY BRUCB AND |
STEVENS I
1. ON SAFE ARRIVAL STATION VII INFORMED BY YACHTSMAN EX LAX I
AND TIN CAN ONE IN HANDS OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES STATION V. 'i
TIKCAN TWO SAFE WELL STATION VII.
2. SURPRISE BOARDING BY BLACKGUARD AND RIVER POLICE YACHT
STATION V RESULTED DISCOVERY EX LAX OPERATIONAL FUNDS.
HUNGARIANS PRESUMABLY BELIEVE FUNDS INTENDED FOR PURCHASE
BLACK MARKET FOOD. EX LAX AND TIN CAN ONE ARRESTED AS BLACK
MARKETEERS. SENTENCED NINE ZERO DAYS HARD LABOR COAL MINES
STATION V.
3. YACHTSMAN REPORTS DOCUMENTS NOT REPEAT NOT QUESTIONED.
4. YACHTSMAN STATES SITUATION FAIRLY COMMON. ABSENCE
PREPAYMENT GRAFT BLACKGUARD AND RIVER POLICE REGULARLY
ARREST BLACK MARKETEERS CONFISCATE GOODS OR MONEY CONFINE
LOCAL JAIL AT MINE HARD LABOR AS LESSON. YACHTSMAN
BELIEVES THEY WILL BE RELEASED WITHOUT FURTHER DIFFICULTY
PRIOR COMPLETION SENTENCE.
5. HAVE TAKEN FOLLOWING ACTION.
A. WILL REMAIN HERE PENDING DECISIONS ACTIONS ENUMERATED
LATER HEREIN.
B. TIN CAN TWO FLOWN CAIRO FOR ICING THERE. RECEIPT THIS
MESSAGE WILL CONFIRM SAFE ARRIVAL.
C. YACHTSMAN ORDERED TO STATION V TO PERSONALLY CONFIRM
LOCATION OF EX LAX AND TIN CAN ONE AND TO EXPLORE
POSSIBILITY ESCAPE OR RELEASE BY FORCE. EXPECTED TRAVEL
TIME FOUR REPEAT FOUR DAYS. STATION V TO STATION VII
COMMUNICATIONS SLOW AND UNRELIABLE REPEAT UNRELIABLE.
6. REQUEST PERMISSION EFFECT RELEASE EX LAX AND TIN CAN ONE
BEST MEANS AT MY DISCRETION. IF SO REQUIRE IMMEDIATE
DISPATCH VIA STATION VIII NEXT AVAILABLE HUNGARIAN
SPEAKING TEAM. STANDARD TEAM EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE AUGMENTED
WITH THIRTY POUNDS COMPOSITION C2 AMD EQUIVALENT TWENTY
THOUSAND US DOLLARS IN HUNGARIAN, GERMAN AND YUGOSLAVIAN
CURRENCY. TEAM SHOULD HAVE HUNGARIAN AND OR YUGOSLAVIAN
IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS.
7. IM VIEW NECESSARY ABSENCE EX LAX CONTROLLER SUGGEST FINE
AS TEMPORARY REPLACEMENT.
CftHIDY
"Oh, shitf" Chief Ellis said.
He picked up the telephone and dialed a number from memory.
Staley's familiar voice came on the line: "Capitol 31991."
"Is he up yet?" Ellis asked.
"I heard the crapper Hush," Staley reported.
"Well, don't say nothing unless he tells you to go anywhere but here," Ellis said.
"If he does, say I called and said I think he should come here straight from there."
"What's up, Ellis?" Colonel Wild Bill Donovan's voice asked.
"There's something I think you ought to see as soon as you can, Sir."
"Will it wait until after breakfast, would you say?"
"Yes, Sir, it'll keep that long."
"We'll be there inside of forty-five minutes,
" Donovan said, and the line went dead.
Ellis tapped the cutoff button on the telephone with his finger and dialed another number from memory.
"Capitol 3-2772,"a male voice answered.
"Captain Douglass?" Ellis asked.
"Who's calling, please?" the man asked.
"Marmon, goddamn you, is that you?"
"You don't have to bite my ass off, Chief," Marmon said righteously.
"I
thought I recognized your voice."
"Is the Captain there?"
"You want me to get him?"
"No. Shit! I'm taking a census."
In a moment. Captain Douglass came on the line.
"Good morning, Chief," he said.
"What's up?"
"I don't know what's going on where you're going, but if you can put it off, I think it would be a good idea if you came in."
"He ask for me?" i
"No, Sir, but I think he probably will."
"I'll be there in half an hour," Captain Douglass said.
"Thank you, Chief."
Ellis hung the telephone up.
"That important, huh?" Warrant Officer Vose asked.
Ellis looked at him.
"If you're fishing for an explanation," Ellis said, "don't."
"I read the decrypt,"Vose protested.
"That's only because we haven't figured out a way for you to decrypt stuff without reading it," Ellis said matter-of factly
He got up and walked to the safe and worked the combination. From a two-foot-high stack of folders piled precariously in the bottom, he pulled a thick one with a top secret cover sheet and EX LAX written on it with a thick pointed pen.
He carried it to the desk and started going through it. There was no more of a question in his mind that the Colonel would want the paperwork in front of him than there was that he would want to talk Canidy's Eyes Only Operational Immediate over with Captain Douglass. By the time either of them walked into the office, the paperwork would be ready for them.
Ellis's eye fell on the overnight traffic. He should get that out of the way before he laid this stuff out.
Then he had another thought. He opened a drawer and took out a lined pad and a pencil and wrote quickly on it.
"You want to make yourself useful," he said to Vose.
"Get this encoded and out right away. And then stick around. I think there will be a reply to the Eyes Onlys."
Vose took the sheet of lined paper from Ellis and read it.
Ui4 iKSFwyzg rw. Hj US f to4 iA Pife&AW ftWu4* - ?t**M C,tMt evKf
Kit yew iiwt en 4teA
4. K, WA.
QtU iw Suf. eu
"You really want me to send this?" Vose asked.
"Just that way," Chief Ellis said.
[FOUR]
Office of the Station Chief OSS London Station Berkeley Square, London
"Is something wrong, David?" It. Colonel Edmund T. Stevens asked.
Bruce looked at him with his eyebrows raised.
"I would say so, wouldn't you?" he replied dryly.
"I mean, right now, here," Stevens said.
"You were frowning."
"Oh," Bruce said, and then managed a faint smile. He gestured vaguely around his office.
"Actually, I was thinking, paraphrasing Churchill, that 'never have so few been commanded by so many."" The three visitors' chairs in the office were occupied by Colonel Stevens, Capt. Helene Dancy, and It. Charity Hoche. Capt. Stanley S. Fine was leaning against the wall.
"I don't see that it could be avoided," Stevens said.
"No," Bruce agreed, then: "I presume this is one of those things in which Miss Hoche has a special interest?"
Stevens nodded.
"Well, let's get on with it, then," Bruce said.
"You first, Charity, please."
She didn't seem surprised, but neither did she say anything.
"The way we do this, Charity," Bruce explained, "is 'in the military manner."
That is to say, the junior member of this panel is asked for his... her... opinion first, so that it will not be influenced by that of more senior members."
Charity nodded.
"I don't see that we have any choice but to give Dick Canidy what he's asked for," she said, and then quickly added, "at least until we hear to the contrary from Washington."
"That doesn't address the question of authorizing him to try to get Fulmar and Professor Dyer out of the jail in Pecs," Bruce said.
"I think we'll be told what to do about that," Charity said. Bruce looked at Stevens, who just perceptibly nodded his head in agreement.
"What he's asked for, specifically, is the next available Hungarian-speaking team, thirty pounds of C-2, and twenty thousand dollars in mixed currency," Bruce said.
"That's what you mean?"
Charity nodded.
"That, and Captain Fine to step in as control."
"We'll start with that, then," Bruce said.
"Unless I hear an objection, I will ask Fine if there is some reason he cannot, or thinks he should not, take over as control."
He looked at Stevens, then at Helene Dancy, and finally at Fine.
"No, Sir," Fine said.
"So ordered," Bruce said.
"One thing, Stanley," Stevens said.
"Charity is cleared for this. All the way."
"Yes, Sir," Fine said.
"I want to clarify that, Stan," Bruce said.
"Charity is to be brought into anything connected with this that Colonel Stevens and myself are."
"Yes, Sir," Fine repeated.
"Well, why don't you sit here," Bruce said, "and take over this meeting?"
"I don't mind standing, Sir," Fine said.
"I'd rather walk around," Bruce said, and gestured for Fine to sit down.
Fine sat down at Bruce's desk, put a lined pad on the green blotter in front of him, and took a pencil from a dozen sitting, point up, in a gray pottery orange marmalade jar.
"Helene," he said.
"You'll take care of the money? Is that going to pose any problem?"
"We don't have that much," Capt. Dancy said.
"But I can have it by, say, nine in the morning."
"And the C-2?"
"I'm sure there's at least that much at Whifbey House," Colonel Stevens said.
"There should be," Helene Dancy agreed.
"But I'll check."
"That, then, brings us to the team," Fine said.
"First," Charity Hoche said.
"To the question of their documents. Canidy said Hungarian and/or Yugoslavian. If we can, I think we should give them both."
Fine's face was expressionless, but Colonel Stevens thought he saw in his eyes a hint of surprise, even annoyance.
"Helene?" Fine asked.
"Documents Section can handle that," Capt. Dancy said.
"They'll need four hours."
"Why so long?
"Charity asked.
"They don't have very much of the proper paper for the photographs," Dancy explained.
"We have to use their paper; it produces a characteristic grain, and image flatness. The Hungarian is different from the Yugoslavian.
And the only place we can get it is on the local black markets. It is also lousy paper, and it takes that much time to be sure. In case they have to print the photographs twice, or even three times."
"But they will be able to come up with what we need?" David Bruce asked.
W E B Griffin - Men at War 4 - The Fighting Agents Page 33
