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

by Secret Warriors(Lit)

  "Yes," Whittaker said. "Would you mind telling me what you know about the COV' Whittaker shrugged.

  "It's a hush-hush outfit run by Bill Donovan," he said, "It's probably involved in very strange things, like espionage. Who knows what else?"

  "Dick tell you that?" Baker asked. "If he had, I wouldn't tell you and get him in trouble," Whittaker said.

  "I got some of it from that captain, Doug lass, and some of it from the President. The rest I put together myself, like Sherlock Holmes."

  Baker smiled.

  "Very good," he said. "You get two gold stars to take home to Mommy," Canidy said. Whittaker chuckled. Baker gave Canidy a dirty look.

  "Why don't we stop the bullshit?" Canidy said. "Why don't you?"

  Whittaker said. "You first," Canidy said.

  "Do you know what was in that letter from MacArthur to the President?"

  " No," Whittaker said." I know it made General Marshall mad. "That's one of the reasons you're down here," Canidy said.

  "They're worried you'll give the press the contents of the letter."

  "I have no idea what it said," Whittaker said. "And you'd take a polygraph, a lie-detector test, about that?" Baker asked.

  Bull's-eye!

  Canidy thought. I knew damned well they didn't lock him in a loony bin for pissing off the general. "It was that embarrassing, was it?"

  Whittaker asked.

  "Yeah, I'll take a lie-detector test. Why not? Anything that'll get me out of here."

  "The next question," Canidy said, "is, would you be willing to stick your neck out, mission unspecified?"

  AEEEW@

  "No," Whittaker said after a split second's hesitation.

  "I don't think I would."

  " Your move, Baker," Canidy said." He just proved he's sane. "You've had a chance to talk to Eric Fulmar?" Baker asked. "Of course, I have," Whittaker said. "Did he tell you what happened in Morocco?"

  Baker asked.

  "Why do I feel that no matter how I answer that, it will cost me?"

  Whittaker asked. "Answer that one, Jimmy," Canidy said.

  "It's important." Whittaker looked at Canidy, as if making up his mind whether or not to trust him. "Yeah," he said finally.

  "He told me all about Morocco."

  "Including him and me getting the shaft off the coast?" Canidy asked.

  "Yeah, that, and how he finally got out. Tied up in the bilge of an Arab chow, or whatever they call those little boats, and taken from Tangier to Gibraltar. He didn't like that much either."

  "I didn't think he would," Canidy said. "A betrayal, followed by a kidnapping," Whittaker said.

  "You guys play dirty."

  "Baker plays dirty," Canidy said.

  "I got left behind too. I'm one of the good guys, Jimmy."

  "You're doing fine, Canidy," Baker said angrily.

  "Keep it up."

  "Why not?" Canidy said.

  "This way you can tell Doug lass and Donovan that I was the one who told him all the secrets and you had nothing to do with it."

  "So tell me a secret," Whittaker said.

  "Things have been a little dull around here."

  "Eric Fulmar is close to an important man in Morocco," Canidy said.

  "We want to use that again.

  We used him once."

  "So he told me," Whittaker said.

  "And if you ask him to do the same thing again, being a reasonable man of average intelligence, he's going to tell you to go fuck yourselves."

  "If he does, then both of you stay here," Baker said. "You just can't do that," Whittaker flared. "We can, Jimmy," Canidy said.

  "And we will. Whittaker looked at him. "I notice you said 'we,' Dick," he said.

  "Yeah, I said 'we," Canidy said.

  "I'm part of this."

  "Otherwise you get locked up, too?"

  "Partly that," Canidy said.

  "And partly because I think that what we're doing is so important that the usual rules don't apply."

  "What's got me pissed off," Whittaker said, "is that just as soon as got home, they start treating me like the enemy."

  "You got between Marshall and MacArthur," Canidy said.

  "You were an innocent bystander who got caught in the line of fire.

  Nobody thinks you're the enemy."

  "That's why there)s a fence over the window and an MP outside, right?

  "We've come with the authority to take you out of here, Captain Whittaker," Baker said. "What's the price?" 44you heard it," Canidy said.

  "You volunteer for the classic dangerous, secret mission, like Errol Flynn."

  "I couldn't just go back to flying fighters?" Whittaker asked.

  "Not any more than I can," Canidy said. "Okay," Whittaker said after a moment's thought.

  "What the hell." He saluted Canidy, crisply but mockingly.

  "I await my orders, Sir, and stand prepared to give my all for our noble cause. Whatever the hell that might be."

  "This really isn't a joking matter, Whittaker," Baker said. "I didn't think it was," Whittaker said coldly. "You are now a member, more or less in good standing," Canidy said, 94 of Donovan's Dilettantes."

  "What the hell is that?"

  "I'll tell you later," Canidy said. And what's the 'more or less in good standing' mean?"

  "Now we have to get Fulmar to cooperate," Canidy said. "My getting out of here really depends on that?" Whittaker asked.

  "I'm afraid so," Baker said. "No," Canidy said firmly.

  "No, it doesn't, Jimmy. Baker, I'll go to Donovan himself about that.

  Jimmy's coming with us no matter what happens with Eric Fulmar." Baker didn't reply "Well, Mr, Baker?" Whittaker asked after a moment.

  AMMER can see no point in keeping you here any longer, Captain Whittaker," Baker said finally.

  "Okay," Whittaker said. "You guys are going to have a problem with Fulmar. He's really pissed. He's tried to escape four times." I didn't hear about that," Baker said.

  "Are you sure @ " "Yeah, I'm sure, The only reason he hasn't escaped is that every time he was about to go, I squealed on him." He know about that?" Canidy asked. Whittaker shook his head no.

  "It wasn't time to try something like that," Whittaker said. "It was getting close, but it wasn't time yet, I sort of thought there was a reason my childhood chum just 'coincidentally' wound up in the adjacent cell."

  "You are very perceptive, Captain," Baker said approvingly.

  "Lucky for you I am," Whittaker said.

  "I could have gotten out of here."

  "How could you have done thao" Baker said scoffingly. "Would you like to watch me take that forty-five away from that kid?" Whittaker said, nodding at the MP sitting on a folding chair in the fence din yard.

  "I'm surprised at you, Mr. Baker. I thought that surely Major Canidy had regaled you with tales of my exploits on Bataan."

  "I'm well aware that you were decorated for valor, Captain Whittaker," Baker said condescendingly, "I didn't get any medals for what I did," Whittaker said.

  "You could call my medals political medals. It pleased the people who gave them to me. It had nothing to do with what I did."

  "What exactly did you do?" Baker asked. "I blew a lot of things up," Whittaker said. "Sometimes after the Japs had captured them. I'm awfully good at explosions. "Really?"

  "That meant we had to take out sentries," Whittaker said conversationally. "Indeed?" Baker said impatiently. The next thing Baker knew, he was on the floor. Whittaker's knee against his back held him immobile. Whittaker's left hand was on his chin, twisting his neck so that it was exposed. Whittaker drew the index finger of his right hand across Baker's Adam's apple. "I don't think," Whittaker said, still conversationally, "that I would have to cut that kid's throat to get his gun. All I would have to do is say "Boo! "' "Let him up, Jimmy," Canidy said, laughing.

  "I think you've made your point." Baker rose awkwardly to his feet and straightened his clothing. Then he surprised Canidy. "You're very goo
d," Baker said.

  "I don't think I've ever seen anyone that fast." That surprised Whittaker, too, and seemed to embarrass him. "You figured out how to handle Fulmar?" Whittaker asked.

  "Or are you open to suggestion?"

  "Let's hear it," Canidy said quickly. "If you go in there and give him the business about volunteering, he's going to tell you to go fuck yourselves. "What do you suggest?"

  "Take him someplace now, without conditions. Maybe the house on Q Street, or better, Summer Place. Dangle the carrot in front of his nose.

  Sugar catches more flies than vinegar. Right now you've got him trapped in a corner. Even Pekingese dogs will fight when you get them in a corner, "I'm not sure I'm authorized to do that, give him his freedom without conditions," Baker said uncomfortably. But Canidy saw that he had not rejected Whittaker's reasoning out of hand. "And you stay the hell out of sight," Whittaker said.

  "He really hates you. Let Canidy go in there and tell him he's been sent to get us out of here."

  "Would he believe that?" Baker asked. "Why not? The last time he saw Canidy was after they'd both been left behind in Morocco. And he would probably take his cue from me."

  "And what if he tries to escape?"

  "Canidy and I can handle him until we get where we're going," Whittaker said. "I'll have to have permission," Baker said. "No," Canidy said.

  "If you ask for permission, Doug lass is going to say no. You get on the telephone after we're airborne and call Washington, and tell them we're on the way Whittaker's right, and you know he is. Your coming here was stupid." Baker thought that over for a moment, then walked to the door and knocked. When the MP opened it, he asked him to fetch the provost marshal. When the provost marshal came, Baker told him that he was serving the court order which directed that Whittaker and Fulmar be placed in his custody. He handed a copy of the court order to the provost marshal. "You have been served, Sir," Baker said, formally.

  "Before two witnesses." The provost marshal read the court order and then put it in a pocket of his tunic. "Would you have Captain Whittaker's uniforms brought here, please?" Canidy said.

  "I won't be going with them," Baker said.

  "Can you provide transportation for me to post headquarters? And Major Canidy and the two gentlemen will require transportation to God man Field."

  "Yes, Sir," the provost marshal said.

  "I'll telephone for another car." Baker turned and spoke to Canidy.

  "Unless you hear to the contrary while you're en route," he said, "go to Lakehurst. I'll have someone meet your plane.

  "Jesus Christ!" Eric Fulmar said when Dick Canidy and Jim Whittaker walked into his room.

  "What the hell is all this?"

  "Mr. Fulmar, Major Canidy," Whittaker said.

  "Otherwise known as the knight in shining armor riding up on his white horse to rescue Prince Charming-the Princes, plural, Charming-from the evil king's dungeon."

  "No shit? "Let's go, Eric," Canidy said.

  "We're getting out of here."

  " Where are we going?"

  "Do you really care?"

  "I don't know where my clothes are," Fulmar said. Before going for Fulmar, Whittaker had suggested that keeping Fulmar in his pajamas and bathrobe-people in bathrobes are less prone to try something foolish, like running away-might be a very good idea.

  "We don't have time for that now," Canidy said. "Jimmy's got his clothes," Fulmar challenged.

  "His uniform." Then he realized that Canidy was in uniform, too.

  "You're an Air Corps major, Dick?"

  "He's an Air Corps major, complete to airplane," Whittaker said. "On which he's going to fly us both out of here, presuming we can get you out of here before somebody around here changes his mind, and all three of us are locked up again. Let's go, Eric."

  "What the hell are they?" Whittaker asked as a Military Police start car drove them onto the ramp at God man Field. "P-38s," Canidy said.

  "New fighter. Fast as bell. High altitude. Long range. Eight 50-caliber machine guns."

  "That's what I want for Christmas, Daddy," Whittaker said. "Me too,' Canidy said.

  "But I don't think there's much chance of that. We're both on Santa Claus's shithst."

  "Could you guys fly something like that?" Fulmar asked. "We're fighter pilots," Whittaker said.

  "Of course we could."

  "And if you're a very good fighter pilot,' Canidy said as the MP staff car stopped beside the Beech C-45, 'you get promoted and they let you fly something like this."

  "That's a Navy airplane?" Fulmar said. "My God, it can read, too.

  The next thing you know, it'll be able to tie its own shoes," Canidy said.

  Fifteen minutes later, with Jimmy Whittaker in the right seat, Canidy lifted the C-45 off from God man Field.

  THREE I Pope Army Air Corps Field Fort Bragg, North Carolina 2005 Hours June LIS, 1942

  The D18S was an hour out of God man Field at Fort Knox when, very faintly, Canidy heard Cincinnati calling him. "This is Navy Six-one-one.

  Go ahead, Cincinnati."

  "Navy Six-one-one,' Cincinnati replied so faintly that they had to re THE SECRET WARRIORS 0 IST peat it four times before Canidy could understand, "this is a Navy Department priority in-flight advisory.

  You are directed to divert to Pope Field, North Carolina.

  Acknowledge."

  Canidy acknowledged the message. But it took him several minutes to find the place on his aerial navigation chart. It was on the Fort Bragg reservation, just about as far on another heading as Washington.

  He turned the plane in the general direction of North Carolina, gave the controls over to Jim Whittaker with an admonition to keep it as straight and level as his limited ability would permit, and went back in the cabin to plot the course. Eric Fulmar, in hospital pajamas, robe, and slippers, was sitting in the leather-upholstered chair intended for the admiral whose plane the Beech was to have been.

  There's something about Fulmar, Canidy thought, that makes the purple U.S. Army hospital robe look like a Silk dressing gown. "Change of plans," Canidy announced.

  "We're going to North Carolina." Why?" Fulmar asked, concern in his voice. "I really don't know, Eric," Canidy said.

  "But I wouldn't worry about it." Fulmar raised himself out of the leather chair and, fascinated, watched over Canidy's shoulder as Canidy went through the business of plotting their new course. "As closely as I can figure it," Canidy said when he had finished, "we will either make Pope Field with an hour-thirty's fuel aboard, or we will run out of fuel and crash-land somewhere along around here in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains." Fulmar laughed dutifully.

  "You really know what you're doing, don't You?" he asked.

  "Whittaker know how to do this, too?"

  "Yes, he does." When Canidy went back to the cockpit and handed Whittaker the marked chart, he saw that Fulmar had followed. "Is it all right if I stand here?" he asked. "Sure," Canidy said quickly.

  "Just don't touch anything," Whittaker snapped. That surprised Canidy, until he realized that Fulmar was being reminded he was a non flier, an outsider, that there was a Brotherhood he was possibly, probably, not worthy of joining.

  Whittaker, Canidy thought, seems to have a Baker-like talent for manipulating other people. Between that point and Pope Field, Navy Six-one-one received three more of the priority in-flight advisories ordering diversion to Pope. Whatever's going on at Pope, Canidy thought, someone considers it important enough to make one hell of an effort to make sure we get there.

  As they approached Pope Field, Canidy took the controls and made the landing, wondering whether he had done so because Whittaker had never landed a C-45 before, or whether it was because he wanted to establish his superior position in the pecking order. A Follow Me jeep met them at the threshold of the runway and led them to the transient parking ramp in front of base operations. When Canidy opened the door, a captain and a second lieutenant of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd
Airborne Division were standing there. They were wearing gabardine jumpsuits, glistening jump boots, and steel helmets covered with netting. Over their jumpsuit tunics they wore an arrangement of straps and web belting from which hung canteens and pouches for first-aid kits, spare magazines for their.45 Colt pistols, compasses, and leather holsters for the pistols. The second lieutenant had a Thompson submachine gun dangling from his shoulder, and at his feet was a stuffed canvas Val-Pak. "Major Canidy, Sir?" the paratroop captain asked, saluting crisply and holding it until Canidy made a vague gesture in the general direction of his forehead. "I'm Canidy," Canidy said. "I have a classified message for you, Sir," the captain said, "if you'll be good enough to show me your AGO' card." Canidy found the card and passed it to him, and the captain said, "Thank you, Sir," and handed him an envelope. Canidy tore it open and read it.