W E B Griffin - Men at War 3 - The Soldier Spies

by The Soldier Spies(Lit)

  "Have you got a first name, Eric?"

  "Herr Hauptsturmfuhrer," Fulmar said. "He's not too bright, but he's a real prick. Think of a stupid Eldon Baker in a black uniform." Canidy laughed.

  "You haven't told me what you want me to do," Fulmar said. "That would be nice to know before I tell you to go fuck yourself."

  "What we want to do right now is prove to Gisella (a) that you're in England, and (b) in a position to send messages over the BBC."

  " Pigeons are pissing in the Seine, that kind of message?" Canidy nodded.

  "And something only I could know, right?" Fulmar asked, and when Canidy nodded again, asked, as if he had just thought of this, "And what makes you think she'll be listening to the BBC? That's a sure way to get sent to a Konzentrationslager."

  "We're taking care of that," Fine said.

  Fulmar looked at him curiously.

  "Muller's going to get her a radio," Canidy said.

  Fulmar's look turned incredulous. Then Canidy nodded.

  "Jesus," Fulmar said, impressed.

  "Think of something, Eric," Canidy said gently. "Something intimate, something she would remember, something they would not, of course, connect with her."

  "In other words, something happened in bed, right?

  " Fulmar snapped.

  "Anything that will do the job," Canidy said. "Sex is intimate and private.

  That's why I got into that. And for obvious reasons, we're going to need more than one message. But we need one now." Fulmar shrugged.

  "I don't really know why I'm going along with this shit at all," he said.

  He had thought of something. Just before he'd left Marburg, they'd had a picnic on the Lahn. They'd rented a canoe, floated downriver with the current, and stopped and picnicked on the riverbank.

  He had been debating that day whether to tell her he was going. In the end, he decided it would be better if she didn't know.

  He closed his eyes and exhaled.

  "Eric wants to paddle Gisella's canoe again," he said.

  "What?"

  ""Eric wants to paddle Gisella's canoe again, "' Fulmar said.

  "With your filthy imagination, you figure out what it means. She'll know."

  "Don't be too clever. You're sure she'll know?"

  "I said, she'll know it's me." "What's it mean?" Canidy asked.

  "None of your fucking business, Richard," Fulmar said.

  "What about a pet name?" Fine asked. "Something that would at once further identify you, and not use your real name. Or hers." Fulmar gave him a withering look.

  "Bubchen," he said finally.

  " Boobchin'?" Canidy quoted. "What the hell is that?"

  "Liale boy, " Fine made the translation. "With overtones of affection that don't come across in English."

  "And what did you call her?"

  "Fuck you, Dick!" Fulmar said. And then, a moment later, a'bubchen would like to paddle Gisella's canoe again. And that's it, Dick. If that doesn't satisfy you, stick the whole thing up your ass." Canidy stood up.

  "Let's get the hell out of here," he said. "Let's go get something to drink."

  "Are you sure that's all, Dick?" Fine asked.

  His eyes moved, just perceptibly, to the Stars's Stripes.

  "Christ, I for got about that," Canidy said.

  Fulmar misunderstood him.

  "Whatever it is, it's going to have to wait," he said. "I need a bath and a drink. I have had enough of this shit for one day." Canidy unfolded the newspaper and handed it to Fulmar.

  Fulmar read the story about America's Sweetheart's arrival in England.

  L.

  "What do you want to do about it, Eric?" Canidy asked gently.

  "You weren't listening, Major," Fulmar said.

  "Huh?"

  "I just said, I need a bath and a drink. I have had enough shit for one day. "' "Captain Fine," Canidy said. "If anyone should inquire, Lieutenant Fulmar and I will be in the bar at the Dorchester.

  When the press of your duties permits, feel free to join us."

  "Give me three minutes," Fine said, "and I'll go with you." [FOUR] As Canidy, Fulmar, and Fine walked up from the direction of Tilney Street and crossed Deanery Street, there were half a dozen official limousines and staff cars parked in the small lot between Park Lane and the door to the Dorchester. Their drivers stood, smoking, in a knot by the front fender of a Rolls Royce.

  "Excuse me," Canidy said, and walked toward them.

  They all came to attention, and one of them stamped her foot, saluted, and barked,

  "Sir!"

  "Would you come with me, please, Sergeant?" Canidy said as he crisply returned the salute.

  "Sir!" Sergeant Agnes Draper barked and stamped her foot again.

  When Canidy marched in a military manner toward the sandbags around the door, she marched in a military manner after him.

  Making him more than a liale uncomfortable, Sergeant Draper relieved Lieutenant Fulmar of his luggage. Staggering a little under the weight, she followed the three officers across the lobby into the elevator.

  They rode to the fourth floor. At the entrance to one of the corridors there, a man wearing an American uniform with civilian technician insignia dropped his Stars's Stripes to the carpet beside his upholstered chair and rose at their approach.

  "This is Lieutenant Fulmar," Fine said. "He'll be staying here on and off." "Yes, sir," the man said as he pulled his olive-drab jacket over the snub nosed Colt Detective Special on his belt.

  "And you know Major Canidy and the sergeant?" Fine said.

  "Oh, yes, sir," the American said.

  "They also serve who sit in hotel corridors reading the Stripes," Canidy said.

  "Better this, Major," the CIC agent said, smiling, "than standing around in the snow guarding the castle."

  "Virtue, doubtless," Canidy said, "is its own reward." Fine unlocked a door. As he pushed it open, the CIC agent called, ZTHE Signal Corps swept it this morning, Captain."

  "Thank you," Fine said, and motioned the others into the suite ahead of them.

  "I wondered where the hell you were," Canidy said to Agnes.

  "Commander Whathisname dismissed me," Agnes said. "I think he suspected I was going to carry Commander Bitter off before he got to cocktails with Ike. And you told me not to take the Packard to Berkeley Square. I knew you would show up here eventually, so I came here." "Good thinking, Sergeant," Canidy said, "you are a credit to the noncommissioned officer corps."

  "Oh, I'm so pleased you think so, "Agnes said. "Do you think I've earned a drink of your whisky?"

  "Fix us all one while the Sheikh of Araby has his bath," Canidy said.

  "No one," Fulmar said, beaming at Agnes, zhas seen fit to introduce us, Sergeant. My name is Fulmar."

  "Rein it in, Lone Ranger," Canidy said. "The lady is spoken for." Agnes Draper blushed. Both Fine and Fulmar looked at Canidy in surprise.

  "I thought Ann was here," Fulmar blurted.

  "Indeed she is," Canidy said. "She'll be here, with Eddie Bieer, about five thirty or six. That's one of the reasons I am being so. indelicate."

  "Dolan told you?" Agnes said. Canidy nodded. "Damn him!"

  "I'm sure you're a big girl, Agnes," Canidy said. "I'm not so sure about Bitter."

  "You make me sound... predatory, Dick," Agnes said.

  "I didn't mean to, honey," Canidy said gently. "I don't think that. I just wanted to be sure you understand what you're into. Eddie is liable to erupt in paroxysms of regret. He's an Annapolis man, you know. And officers and gentlemen_ n

  "Particularly married officers and gentlemen," Agnes interrupted.

  "Are you being oblique, Dick? Is this in the nature of a reprimand?"

  "Ann is Eddie's cousin," Canidy went on. "She went to college with Mrs. Bitter."

  "I didn't know that, "Agnes said.

  "Forewarned, to coin a phrase, is forearmed," Canidy said.

  "Having done my paternal duty as your commanding officer, my dear child,
I consider the matter closed."

  "Now that you have managed to let Captain Fine know? And Lieutenant Fulmar?"

  "Don't be a bitch, Agnes," Canidy flared. "Fine has the need-to-know, and I didn't want Eric and Eddie getting into anything over the prize of your charms." He glared at her, then warmed to his subject, "I have enough on my mind without worrying about the impact of your geting the hots for one of my officers." She glared at him, tight-lipped.

  "Now that I think of it, Agnes," Canidy said, "and now that we've exhausted the subject, Lawrence of Arabia can wash behind his ears without supervision. Put a couple of bottles in bags, and we'll go downstairs to the bar. There was a moment's hesitation before she smiled.

  The bar off the Dorchester lobby was full, already on the edge of being crowded. As they stood just inside the doorway looking for a place to sit, there was the snap of fingers and a man's voice calling, "Over here!" Canidy saw two Englishmen at one of the few six-seat tables. One was a private in a mussed and ill-fitting uniform, and the other a very naty, mustachioed, vaguely familiar, major. British majors, especially ones like this one, who looked as if he had just marched in from Sandhurst, simply did not drink with private soldiers.

  Except, of course, he thought, if they were in SOE, where service customs were ignored whenever they got in the way. Clearly, these two were SOE, and he'd probably met the major while he was "liaising'with SOE at

  "Station X" Well, they have a table. Getting a table was worth whatever liquor they would drink. And rm already on shaky ground for not being as friendly as expected to my British counterparts.

  Canidy put a smile on, took Agnes's arm, and propelled her across the room.

  "Good to see you again," he said. "Have you room for us?"

  "By all means," the major said.

  "Do you remember Sergeant Draper?" Canidy asked.

  "No, I'm afraid I don't," the major said. He offered his hand to Agnes. "My name is Niven," he said. "And this is Private Ustinov." Fine caught up with them.

  "Stan, I'd like you to meet Major Niven," Canidy said.

  Fine was smiling strangely.

  "I have the privilege of the major's acquaintance," he said. "But where the hell did you meet each other?"

  "At... that place in the country," Canidy said.

  "What place in the country would that be?" Major Niven said.

  "That place in the country, of course," Private Ustinov said.

  "Oh, of course," the major said. He smiled benignly at Canidy.

  "That place in the country."

  "Why do I feel I'm making an ass of myself?" Canidy asked.

  "David and I are friends from Los Angeles," Fine said. "Peter, too."

  "By Los Angeles, you mean Hollywood'?" Canidy asked. He turned to the major. "You're in the movie business?"

  "Not anymore," the major said. "But yes, I was."

  "He was an elocution coach," Private Ustinov said. "I was a ballet instructor." "Oh," Canidy said.

  "I taught them, you see, to walk, and then David took over and taught them how to talk," Private Ustinov said.

  "Well, I've obviously made a mistake," Canidy said. "You looked like a British off ficer I met. San&urst type."

  "Well, I'm guilty of that," the major said. "I went to Sandhurst."

  "Oh," Canidy said, "no offense intended, of course."

  "And certainly none taken," the major said.

  "You have seen Major Niven before, Dick," Fine said.

  "I knew I had," Canidy said.

  "On the great silver screen," Fine said. "This is the actor."

  "Actors, if you please," Private Ustinov said. "Currently not on the boards, of course, but actors, plural, nonetheless." Only at that moment did Canidy recognize David Niven.

  "I know what I'm going to do," he said. "I'm going to go back to the lobby, and then come in again, and walk over and ask for an autograph.

  "I would much prefer a taste, if you don't mind," Niven said, "of what I suspect Lady Agnes has in the bags."

  "There is no booze," Private Ustinov said. "David and I came here in the hope that Stanley, who has some mysterious but steady source of intoxicants, would show up sooner rather than later."

  "Booze, Sergeant!" Canidy said.

  "Sir!" she said, and produced a bottle of Scotch.

  "Have we met, Major?" Agnes asked when she had poured everyone a "Your father is the Earl of Hayme, isn't he?" Niven asked. Agnes nodded.

  "I thought so. I've been privileged to shoot over your estate in Scotland several times. The last time I saw you, you were a liale girl. A spectacular little girl, obviously, you stuck in my mind."

  "I didn't know you were a blue blood, Agnes," Canidy said.

  Agnes flashed him a brilliant smile.

  "Begging the major's pardon, sir, there is a good deal about me the major doesn't know," she said sweetly.

  FIVE] It was nearer to seven than six when Commander Edwin W. Bitter and Miss Ann Chambers reached the bar at the Dorchester. Once they had left Admiral Foster's Connaught Hotel suite, they sent Mr. Meachum Hope, It Commander Dolan, and Lieutenant Kennedy on ahead of them to the Dorchester.

  Then they went to the London bureau of Chambers News Service.

  There Biter wrote a short, awkward letter to his wife. The gist of the letter was that Sarah, despite what she was going to read in the newspapers tomorrow, or what she was liable to hear on Meachum Hope's "Report from London" broadcast, was not to worry. What he had done was neither as heroic nor as difficult as they were making it sound.

  She should, he wrote, think of it as an automobile accident. He had been a passenger in a wrecked car, so to speak, and when the driver couldn't drive it himself, he simply took the wheel and drove it to the garage for him.

  He was not making regular bombing missions. He had thought, howeveg that he should make one mission as a passenger, so that he would understand what was involved. As far as he knew, he would never make another.

  He gave it to Ann, who sat down at a teletype machine and retyped it, sending it to the SHAEF press center for censorship, then transmitting it by radio to Brandon Chambers, editor-in-chief of Chambers News Service, as a service message. He would see that it got to Sarah in Palm Beach.

  "I don't think she'll believe you, Eddie," Ann said. "But I will write her and tell her that Canidy told me he's grounded you."

  "Where did you hear that?" he asked.

  "I didn't," Ann said. "I just made it up. But now that I think about it, it seems like a good idea."

  "Just mind your own business, please, Ann."

  "Just how long do you think you can--What is it you say? Harm's way'?

  Just how long do you think you can go in harm's way without getting harmed?"

  "Isn't that a moot point? We're in a war, and I'm a naval officer." "You're a horse's ass," Ann said. "Worse, you're a horse's ass with courage. That can get you killed. It will get you killed." They locked eyes for a moment, and then Ann broke the silence, "Come on, let's get to the Dorchester before someone starts making eyes at Dick."

  "Does that happen often?" he asked. "How is the great romance?"

  "I don't know if you'll believe this or not, "Ann said. "But if I can ever get him out of this war and up in front of an altar, I really believe he will be the perfect husband. His eye doesn't wander when I'm around."

  "Why don't you marry him now?" Bitter asked.

  "The way that works is that the boy asks the girl, Eddie," Ann said, "and Dick hates having to tell me that over and over."

  "Aren't you worried about... "

  "About what?"

  "Getting in the family way."

  "Eddie, that's in the category of none of your goddamned business!

  "Ann snapped. "God, I can't believe you asked me that!" She gestured impatiently toward the door.

  When he saw Canidy's Packard in front of the Dorchester, he knew he would have to face Agnes. And do so in front of the others. He hadn't had a chance to speak to her at all after Do
lan came to his room at Fersfield and told him that Commander Korman had arrived from London.

  Dolan, of course, knew that Agnes had been in his bed. He wondered if Dolan had decided that Canidy would be interested in that little bit of IN_LL teresting information. And he wondered what Canidy's reaction would be if he knew. Canidy might tell Ann, certainly would tell Ann, unless he went to him and expressly asked him not to.