Ernie gave her cheek to Carolyn to be kissed.
They're two of a kind, really. Banning thought somewhat unkindly. Two very nice young women sleeping with Marines they aren't married to and don't give much of a damn who knows it.
"I hope we're not intruding," Banning said.
"Not at all," Ernest Sage said, snapped his fingers to attract a waiter's attention, and signaled for him to bring two chairs to the table.
"Mr. Sage, this is Colonel Banning and Mrs. Howell," McCoy said.
"How do you do?" Sage said.
He picked up on that "Mrs. Howell," Banning thought. Confirmation came when Ernie's father's eyes dropped to Carolyn's hand, looking for a wedding ring. There was none.
Would I put a wedding ring on that finger if there wasn''t already a Mrs. Edward J. Banning? Of course I would. Do I regret marrying Milla? I do not. So what does that make me, a would-be bigamist? Or just a no-good sonofabitch for getting involved with Carolyn, getting her involved with me?
"You look very elegant tonight, Ken," Carolyn said. "How's your face?"
"Excuse me?"
"Ed told me about the rash," Carolyn said. "I hope I didn't embarrass you?"
"No," McCoy answered after a pause that wasn't quite awkward. "Of course not. The medics said as long as I don't shave, it will clear up."
Ernest Sage looked carefully at McCoy's face. He could see nothing remotely resembling a rash.
I wonder what that's all about? Ernest Sage wondered. That rash on his face is obviously hogwash. He had to think quick when she asked him about it; he didn't know what she was talking about.
But she's right. He does look good in civilian clothes.
Why the hell couldn't Ernie fall in love with some nice young man who is 4-F and doesn't have to concoct stories about why he's wearing civilian clothing.
"I called your office," Banning said to Ernie. "Your secretary told me she thought you were coming here."
"Darlene talks too much," Ernie replied, and then: "Oh, hell, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I'm glad to see you."
"And I'm very happy to meet you, Colonel," Ernest Sage said. "I understand you're Ken's commanding officer?"
"In a manner of speaking, sir," Banning said.
"He and Ken are old friends, Daddy," Ernie said. "They were in Shanghai together."
We weren't exactly friends in Shanghai, Banning thought. The Corps frowns on captains getting friendly with corporals. But we're friends now, and obviously McCoy thought of himself as my friend when he was Corporal McCoy in Shanghai. Otherwise he wouldn't have leaned on Zimmerman and his
Chinese woman to help Milla. Zimmerman didn't do that out of the goodness of his heart.
"We're working together on a project, Mr. Sage," Banning said. "Since I'm senior to Ken, that makes me sort of his commanding officer."
"For General Pickering, right?" Ernest Sage said. "Now of the OSS, whatever the hell that is."
"Yes, sir," Banning said.
"What kind of a project? Or is that an impolite question?"
"Well, tomorrow morning Ken and I are going to Fort Monmouth to look at some new shortwave radios," Banning said. Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, was the "Home of the Army Signal Corps"; the U.S. Army Signal Corps Laboratories were located on the base.
"Really? What kind of radios?"
"Daddy, stop!" Ernie said firmly. "You're putting him on a spot."
"I'm sorry, Colonel," Ernest Sage said. "I didn't mean to."
"We're really not supposed to talk about what we're doing," Banning said. "I personally don't think this place is crawling with Japanese spies-or any other kind-but orders are orders."
"I'm not asking when he would be going, or where," Sage pursued, "but is whatever you're doing going to take Ken away anytime soon?"
Banning looked at McCoy, who shrugged, and then at Carolyn.
"I'm afraid so," Banning said. "Both of us."
Banning saw the pained look in Carolyn's eyes, but saw too that she wasn't surprised.
"And for how long?" Ernie asked brightly.
"We don't know that, Ernie," Banning said.
"In other words, for a long time," she said bitterly. "My God, he just got back!"
"There's a whole division of Marines in Australia, Ernie," McCoy said, "who went over there a year ago, took Guadalcanal, and are now training to take some other island. They haven't been back home since they left, and they have no idea when they will get back."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?" she challenged. "It doesn't."
"We have tonight," Carolyn said. "Let's be grateful for what we have."
"Live today, for tomorrow they die, right?" Ernie said.
"Knock it off, Ernie," McCoy said.
She looked at him, then at Carolyn.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that," she said.
"Let's talk about where we're going to have dinner," Carolyn said.
[FOUR]
Apartment 7B
705 Park Avenue
New York City, New York
2305 9 March 1943
Carolyn Spencer Howell, fresh from the shower and wearing a pink negligee, stood in the door of her bathroom and brushed her hair, waiting for Lieutenant Colonel Ed Banning to notice her.
He was sitting in his pajamas, propped up in the bed, reading the Daily News. A bottle of Remy Martin cognac and two balloon glasses sat on the bedside table.
After she had had time to consider once again that he was a really handsome man, and that she loved him very much, he sensed her eyes on him and let the Daily News drop onto his lap.
"I have a profound philosophical insight to share with you," she said.
"And what would that profound philosophical insight be?"
"I hate this goddamned war, and by extension, the goddamned United States Marine Corps, and the goddamned OSS."
"Did this great truth suddenly appear to you, or did something trigger it?"
"Ken," she said.
"I don't think Ken can be blamed for the war, the Marine Corps, or the OSS," Banning said.
"He looked so nice in Jack and Charley's," Carolyn said. "They looked so nice."
"Jack and Charley's?" Banning asked, confused.
"Jack and Charley Kriendler own the 21 Club," she said.
"I didn't know that," Banning said. "I'm just a simple Marine from South Carolina. But yeah, the Killer looked fine. Thanks to Ernie. I didn't know he even knew what Brooks Brothers was."
"You know what I thought? In Jack and Charley's 21 Club?" she asked.
"I think you're about to tell me."
"There we were, the nice young man and the nice young woman, in love, and the slightly older female and her gentleman friend, all dressed up-ignoring for the moment your goddamned uniform-and wouldn't it be nice if we could all go home to our respective apartments after agreeing to have the same kind of a night out, say, next week? Or maybe decide to go to the shore for the weekend."
Banning didn't reply.
"Instead of pretending that everything was hunky-dory," Carolyn went on, "and that the two of you are not going God only knows where, and God only knows when, to do God only knows what, except that either or both or you are liable to be killed doing it."
"To coin a phrase," Banning said, "there's a war on, you may have heard."
"I think I did hear something about that," she said.
"I don't know what you want me to say, sweetheart," he said.
"I don't expect you to say anything," Carolyn said. "I just wanted you to know how I feel."
"I wish things were different," Banning said, and then added: "As soon as we finish what we have to do here-which will probably take a couple of weeks- I'm going to Chungking, China, where I will assume the duties of staff officer on the staff of the U.S. Mission to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek."
"You're serious?" she asked, but it was more of a statement. Banning nodded. "Ken, too?"
"Ken, too."
"Why do I s
uspect-feminine intuition?-that that's not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I like Ken, you know that, but I can't see him passing a tray of canapes around. Or you either, for that matter."
"It's all I can tell you," Banning said. "I probably-probably hell-shouldn't have told you that much. What I did tell you was the truth."
Carolyn went off at a tangent: "What's going to happen to them, after the war?"
"I suppose they'll get married and live more or less happily ever after."
"They're from different worlds," Carolyn said.
"How about iove conquers all'?"
"You think that will apply to you and me, after the war?"
"I have a wife, Carolyn," Banning said.
"Maybe the Mormons have the right idea. I'd be willing to share you, if that was the only alternative to not having you at all." He shrugged helplessly but didn't reply. "You think she's still alive?"
He raised his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "I don't know," he said. "And if she is still alive, will she be the same woman you married? I suppose what I'm asking is will you still be in love with her?"
" 'In sickness and in health,' " he quoted, " 'until death doth you part.' "
"You left out 'forsaking all others,' " Carolyn said, a little too brightly. He didn't like what he heard in her voice.
"Would you rather I left, Carolyn?" Banning asked. "Maybe that would be the best-"
"It's midnight," she said practically, interrupting him. "Where would you go? You'd never find a hotel room this time of night. And besides, I meant what I said about maybe the Mormons have the right idea."
"You're getting the short end of this stick," he said.
"I know," she said. "But I knew that when we started, didn't I?"
"If you want me to say I feel guilty as hell."
"I know that," Carolyn said. "If you didn't feel guilty, I don't think I'd love you. Or at least love you as much." She turned and went back into the bathroom.
Banning stared at the bathroom door for a moment, then angrily picked up the newspaper and threw it across the room.
[FIVE]
Office of the Commander in Chief, Pacific
U.S. Navy Base
Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii
1405 11 March 1943
Commander J. Howard Young, USN, Flag Secretary to Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, stood in CINCPAC's door and waited until the Admiral noticed him. "Admiral Wagam is here, Admiral," he said. "With his aide."
Nimitz's face grew pensive: Lewis knows more about submarines, he was thinking, has more nuts-and-bolts knowledge, than Dan Wagam or I do. In a moment he replied, "Ask them both to come in."
Rear Admiral (Upper Half) Daniel J. Wagam, USN, and his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Chambers D. Lewis III, USN, marched into the room, stopped, and stood at attention.
"At ease, gentlemen," Nimitz replied. "Good afternoon."
"Good afternoon, Admiral," the two replied in unison.
"Sit down," Nimitz said, gesturing to a pair of upholstered chairs facing his desk. "I'm about to have some coffee. Would you like some?"
Moments later, when they all had coffee, he said, "We have heard from General Pickering."
He opened the center drawer of his desk, took out a large manila envelope stamped top secret and handed it to Wagam.
"Three possibilities, Dan," Nimitz said with a smile. "The General either has a limited knowledge of correct military form, or none, or he does, and doesn't give a damn."
"I see what you mean, sir," Admiral Wagam said, chuckling.
Lewis had to wait to satisfy his own curiosity about that until Admiral Wagam had finished reading the communication. Then Nimitz said, "I think Lewis better have a look at that, too."
Brigadier General Pickering's proposed Operations Plan was in the form of a personal letter to Admiral Nimitz:
T O P S E C R E T
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES WASHINGTON
0905 GREENWICH 11 MARCH 1943
VIA SPECIAL CHANNEL
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
CINCPAC HAWAII
EYES ONLY ADMIRAL CHESTER W. NIMITZ
FOLLOWING PERSONAL FROM DDPACIFIC TO ADMIRAL NIMITZ
DEAR ADMIRAL NIMITZ:
GETTING WHAT SOMEBODY DECIDED TO CALL 'OPERATION GOBI' UNDERWAY HAS TAKEN LONGER THAN I HOPED IT WOULD, BUT WE ARE FINALLY AT A POINT WHERE I CAN BRING YOU UP TO DATE, AND EXPLAIN THE PROBLEMS WE ARE HAVING.
WE TURNED UP AN EX-4TH MARINES GUNNERY SERGEANT WHO BEFORE THE WAR APPARENTLY AUGMENTED HIS INCOME SMUGGLING GOLD AND ART WORK INTO AND OUT OF INDIA AND THE SOVIET UNION USING CAMEL CARAVANS. WE ARE ABOUT TO SEND HIM TO CHINA WHERE HE THINKS, AND I BELIEVE, HE CAN USE HIS FORMER BUSINESS ASSOCIATES TO GET DECENT RADIOS INTO THE HANDS OF THE AMERICANS NOW IN THE GOBI DESERT.
LT COLONEL ED BANNING, ALSO EX 4TH MARINES, WHO I BROUGHT INTO THE OSS WITH ME, TELEPHONED ME AN HOUR OR SO AGO FROM FORT MONMOUTH TO TELL ME HE HAS HALF A DOZEN CAMEL TRANSPORTABLE RADIOS. BANNING, WHO HAS SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS, IF YOU TAKE MY MEANING, WILL SHORTLY DEPART FOR CHUNGKING TO TAKE UP DUTY AS A STAFF OFFICER ON THE STAFF OF THE US MILITARY MISSION TO CHIANG KAI-SHEK. AND WILL OVERSEE THE RADIO DELIVERY FROM THERE. ONCE HE IS PHYSICALLY PRESENT IN CHUNGKING, WE WILL HAVE SPECIAL CHANNEL CAPABILITY.
THESE RADIOS WILL NOT, REPEAT NOT, BE OF MUCH USE BEYOND GIVING US MORE OR LESS RELIABLE COMMUNICATION WITH THE PEOPLE IN THE DESERT, AND, OF COURSE, TO GIVE US A POSITIVE POSITION FOR THEM.
ONCE WE LOCATE THESE PEOPLE AND ESTABLISH COMMUNICATIONS WITH THEM, WE COME TO THE NEXT PROBLEM, WHICH IS HOW TO SEND THE NECESSARY METEOROLOGICAL EQUIPMENT, AND THE PEOPLE TO OPERATE IT IN THERE.
AFTER CONSULATTON WITH GENERAL MAC MCINERNEY I HAVE DECIDED THE BEST, AS A MATTER OF FACT ONLY, WAY TO DO THIS IS BY SPECIALLY EQUIPPED AIRCRAFT, SPECIFICALLY AMPHIBIOUS CATALINAS. THEY ARE THE ONLY AIRCRAFT WITH BOTH THE RANGE AND WEIGHT CARRYING CAPABILITY WE HAVE TO HAVE. FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS, USE OF LARGER NAVY AND AIR CORPS AIRCRAFT HAS BEEN DECIDED AGAINST.
THE IDEA IS TO REFUEL THE CATALINAS BY HAVING THEM RENDEZVOUS AT SEA WITH A SUBMARINE IN THE YELLOW SEA, A HUNDRED MILES OR SO NORTHEAST OF TIENTSIN.
THERE ARE SOME OBVIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THIS, INCLUDING THE HAZARDS OF TRANSPORTING AVIATION FUEL ABOARD A SUB, GETTING THE FUEL OFF THE SUBMARINE AND INTO THE AIRCRAFT ON THE HIGH SEAS, AND OF COURSE MAKING SURE THE SUBMARINE WILL BE WHERE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE WHEN THE CATALINAS GET THERE.
ANOTHER OF THE PROBLEMS IS THAT NOT ONLY WILL THE AIRCRAFT ALMOST CERTAINLY BE UNABLE TO FLY OUT OF THE GOBI, BUT THEY ARE SOMEHOW GOING TO HAVE TO BE CONCEALED FROM AERIAL AND OTHER OBSERVATION ONCE THEY GET THERE.
MCINERNEY FEELS THAT FAIRING OVER THE FUSELAGE BUBBLES AND THE FORWARD GUN TURRET WILL APPRECIABLY INCREASE BOTH RANGE AND SPEED, THE FORMER POSSIBLY, JUST POSSIBLY TO THE POINT WHERE BY DRAINING FUEL FROM ONE OF THE CATALINAS INTO THE OTHER, ONE OF THE AIRCRAFT MIGHT BE ABLE TO FLY OUT, EITHER BACK TO THE YELLOW SEA OR POSSIBLY INTO CHINA.
THE COLLINS RADIO COMPANY OF CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA IS DEVELOPING, OR PERHAPS MORE ACCURATELY MODIFYING, ON AN EMERGENCY PRIORITY BASIS, THE MORE POWERFUL RADIO TRANSMITTERS WHICH WILL BE REQUIRED FOR THE WEATHER STATION ITSELF. THE METEOROLOGICAL EQUIPMENT IS AT HAND. WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF RECRUITING VOLUNTEER WEATHER PEOPLE, AND MCINERNEY HAS PUT OUT A CALL FOR CATALINA OR OTHER MULTI-ENGINE PILOTS WITH LONG DISTANCE NAVIGATION EXPERIENCE.
SO WHAT I NEED RIGHT NOW IS TWO AMPHIBIOUS CATALINAS, WHICH WILL HAVE TO HAVE THE NECESSARY MODIFICATIONS MADE TO THEM, THE FAIRING OVER OF THE BUBBLES, AND THE INSTALLATION OF AUXILIARY FUEL TANKS. PLUS OF COURSE A SUBMARINE SPECIALLY EQUIPPED TO HANDLE THE REFUELING ON THE HIGH SEAS.
I AM OF COURSE WIDE OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS OF ANY KIND.
WITH BEST PERSONAL REGARDS, I AM, RESPECTFULLY,
FLEMING PICKERING, BRIG GEN USMCR
END PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM DDPACIFIC TO ADMIRAL NTMITZ
T O P S E C R E T
"Just a few minor problems," Wagam said. "Like transporting several thousand gallons of
avgas on a submarine; making a rendezvous at sea without any navigation aids to speak of, and then refueling a Catalina on the high seas in winter."
W E B Griffin - Corp 08 - In Dangers Path Page 33