After a moment's visible hesitation, Jack Portet saluted.
"Don't do that," Fullbright said. "You're a goddamned civilian. Remember that."
"Right now you're in limbo," Felter said. "Red, this is PFC Jack Portet. Before they drafted him, he flew in the Congo. Jack, this is General Hanrahan."
"How do you do, Sir?" Portet said politely.
"How did it go, Jack?" Hanrahan asked. "The flight?"
"Sir, it's one hell of an airplane. With another ten hours 1 would feel reasonably comfortable to be a copilot," Portet said.
"If it went that well, congratulations," Fullbright said. You are now an IP, Mr. Portet."
"Is this going to work, Dick?" Felter asked doubtfully.
"I'm wide open to suggestion, Sandy," Fullbright said. "Particularly in the area of where 1 could find some qualified' pilots."
"Then we'll have to go with what we have," Felter said. "The priority is to nip this Congo thing in the bud."
[THREE]
Aboard U.S. Army U-8D Tail Number 59-77606
Over Eufaula, Alabama
1745 Hours 13 July 1964
Major General Robert F. Bellmon, Sr., sitting in the copilot's seat, studied the lined pad in his lap for a moment, shrugged, and looked over at Captain John S. Oliver, who was flying.
He started to speak, then stopped when he saw Oliver reaching for the microphone.
"Lawson, Army Six Zero Six," Oliver said.
"Six Zero Six, Lawson."
"Six Zero Six is U-8 with a Code Eight aboard. I am at one zero thousand, forty miles south of your station. ETA about twelve minutes. Approach and landing, please. And my Code Eight will require ground transport." As Bellmon listened to the conversation between Johnny Oliver and the Lawson tower, he thought that Oliver sounded tired.
Hell, of course he's tired. Not only has he been flying all over the country, but Felter, Hanrahan, Fullbright, and Company have been throwing a hell of a lot of information at him.
And then, when he finally got back to Rucker, there 1 was waiting for him at Base Ops, to make him fly me up here. I have been pushing him too hard.
Bellmon waited until Oliver had begun his descent.
"I hate to do this to you now, Johnny," Bellmon said, "but it has to be done and I don't want anybody at Benning listening."
"Do what to me, Sir?" Oliver asked innocently.
Bellmon chuckled.
"I took notes during the first part of the lecture," he said. "Let me give it back to you, Johnny,'" he said, "to make sure I've got it right."
"Yes, Sir." "Felter believes the current situation in the Congo, known as the Simba uprising, is going to get a lot worse. Specifically, his scenario says that the rebels will manage to take Stanleyville, and probably within a matter of days. In the worst-case scenario it will be necessary to rescue the staff of the U.S. Consulate, and he presently has two Special Forces A-Teams training to do so. But in any event, there are pressdv a half dozen B-26Ks at Hurlburt, under Colonel Fullbright. Getting them to the Congo is at the head of the list." "Yes, Sir."
"Rucker's role in this, starting with the B-26s, is to provide whatever assistance, including and especially avionics support which is to come from SCATSA. The aircraft are in good mechanical shape, and the only thing that may. need some help is the avionics."
"Yes, Sir."
"-Plus ground-handling equipment, et cetera et cetera, as Colonel Fullbright may call for."
"Yes, Sir."
"And again in the worst-case scenario, we may need another U-8 with a crew in case something happens to the one Felter sent over there. "
"The one Pappy and Geoff took over there, yes, Sir."
"Felter is having one sent here from the First Division at Fort Riley, with a crew. It will have extra tanks installed, and the crew will be trained like the other one was except that they won't know why they're being trained."
" Yes Sir."
"And the whole operation is Top Secret," Bellmon said. "How does he think he's going to be able to fly unmarked B-26s in and out of Rucker and not have people ask questions?"
"Sir, Colonel Felter told me to suggest~actually he said, 'politely suggest' -that the best way to handle it is to act as if it's entirely routine, that SCATSA is simply doing the Air Force a favor because they have experience with the avionics that Elgin doesn't. . . . In other words, if anybody asks, they're Force aircraft being outfitted at Eglin by Supportaire, for service in Vietnam."
"Right now who's privy to all this? At Rucker, I mean? And what about STRIKE?"
"Yourself, Sir; Colonel Augustus; Colonel McNair; and me. At STRIKE Command, Sir, only the C-in-C Commander in Chief- the Chief of Staff, and Colonel Lowell, Sir."
"I'd like to keep it that way," Bellmon said. "Can you stay on top of this by yourself or do you think it would be better if I brought the Chief of Staff, or the G-3, or both of them, in on this?"
That was dumb, Bellmon thought. You know he's overworked. And you know what he will reply.
"Sir, Colonel Augustus came down to Hurlburt. He anticipates no problems doing what has to be done. All Colonel McNair has to do is incorporate the standby U-8 and its crew in his flight operations. I don't see where we need the Chief of Staff or the G-3."
That's exactly what I thought you would say, General Bellmon thought.
And Captain Oliver realized what he had just said.
Jesus Christ! You arrogant sonofabitch! Railroad tracks on your shoulders, and you're telling a two-star general that "we" don't need two full colonels.
Bellmon looked at him thoughtfully.
"OK, Johnny, so be it," Bellmon said finally. "Tell Augustus I want any B-26s landing at Cairns to be taken immediately inside the SCATSA hangar."
"Yes, Sir."
"And tell the Cairns operations officer that I want to be notified immediately. whenever a B-26 does come to Rucker and when it leaves. And if he can't get me, have him notify you or Sergeant Major James."
"Yes, Sir."
"Anything else?"
"I can't think of anything, Sir."
"The general rule of thumb, Johnny, in situations like this, is that you don't ask questions. If they want you to know something, they'll tell you. Having said that, the Portet boy is involved somehow, isn't he?"
"Yes, Sir. He's checking out the CI-the Supportaire pilots in the B-26Ks."
"Fullbright has him flying?" Bellmon asked, surprised.
"Yes, Sir. Colonel Felter doesn't like it much, but Colonel Fullbright explained there was no other way. "
"I'll be damned," Bellmon said. "You like him, don't you, Johnny?"
"Yes, Sir, I do."
"Well, I suppose that's something," Bellmon said resignedly. "That leaves me and Bobby against all-around popular opinion."
Oliver didn't reply. Instead, he reached for the microphone and told Lawson that he was passing through five thousand and estimated Lawson in five minutes.
What I should do, Bellmon thought, is just get out of the airplane and tell him to go home and get some rest. But then how would I get home? Well, the least I can do is drive this wing home. And try to remember tomorrow to make him take some time off.
[FOUR]
Room Seven,
Building T-124
Fort Rucker, Alabama
2005 Hours 25 July 1964
Johnny Oliver walked into his room, took off his blouse, took a bottle of beer from the cooler, and looked again at the just-arrived copy of Playboy.
The centerspread was missing. A half hour before, while checking Liza's house to make sure everything was all right, he had thumbtacked it inside Allan's bedroom closet. At the time that had seemed to be a splendid idea: when Liza opened the door after she came back from visiting her parents, it would give her cause for thought. That no longer seemed like such a splendid idea.
It's done. To hell with it.
He propped a pillow against the headboard of his bed, stretched out on the bed, took a swig of beer, and started flippi
ng through the magazine.
There was a knock at the bathroom door.
"Come!" Oliver called, and Second Lieutenant Robert F. Bellmon came into the room.
"I thought we were having dinner with Mommy and Daddy," Oliver said.
"Do you always have to be such a wiseass?"
"Why do I suspect that all is not right with your world, Lieutenant Bellmon?"
"How much do you know about what Jack Portet's doing?"
"That falls under a security classification to which you are not authorized access, Lieutenant," Oliver said. "Not to mention that what I know about Jack is none of your fucking business."
"I know."
"I rather doubt that, Bobby," Oliver said. "Knock it off, will you?"
"But you do know?"
"Yeah, I know. OK? And it's none of your business, personally or otherwise, so drop the subject, huh?"
"He just took off for Africa," Bobby said. "Did you know that?"
"What are you talking about?"
"He just took off from Cairns in a B-26, and he's going to Africa."
"How do you know that?"
"He came by the house while we were having supper, in his Jaguar. And he asked Marjorie to take care of it for him, and then Cairns called and said that a 'Florida airplane' had just landed, and. . . it ,all came out. My father was furious. "
"Jesus Christ!" Oliver said, and jumped off the bed and went to the three telephones.
"Who are you calling?"
"Your father."
"Johnny, if you do that, he'll know I told you!"
"You should have thought of that when you told me," Oliver said, and dialed the number. But when Bellmon came on the line, he did not speak the truth, the whole truth ,and nothing but the truth.
"Sir, I just heard there was one of the Florida aircraft in here, and I wondered if you had heard."
"I'd heard, Johnny," Bellmon said. "It was that friend of yours. He just left on a rather long trip."
"Sir, Colonel Felter told Colonel Fullbright in my hearing that-my friend-was restricted to the post."
"Yes, I know," Bellmon said. "I just put in a call to Colonel Felter, Johnny, to tell him. And to tell him that some of the more interesting parts of OPERATION EAGLE are known to my wife, my daughter, and Bobby."
"I was afraid that might be the case, Sir."
"I just read Bobby the riot act," Bellmon said. "When you see him, Johnny, it might be a good idea if you did the same. I get the feeling sometimes that he pays more attention to you than he does to me."
"When I see him, Sir, if you think I should, I'll speak to him."
"Do that, please," Bellmon said. "There's the other line, that's probably Felter." The phone went dead.
Oliver turned to Bobby.
"Thank you," Bobby said, "for not telling him I told you."
"I should have," Oliver said. "You've got to learn to keep your fucking mouth shut. Goddammit, Bobby, this isn't West Point, this is for real."
Bobby looked crushed. Oliver took pity on him:
"As I suppose dear old Dad has already pointed out to you?"
Bobby nodded, and then managed a weak smile.
"Yeah, and that's not all he told me," he said.
"Really? "
"He said that Marjorie is going to marry Jack, and I had better get used to it." "Well, then, that leaves you alone against the world, doesn't it?"
"My head is bloody but unbowed," Bobby said. "I just donn't like that sonofabitch."
Oliver smiled at him.
"Let's go over to the annex," he said, "where I will tell you all about the birds and the bees."
[FIVE]
Room Seven,
Building T-124
Fort Rucker, Alabama
1645 Hours 4 August 1964
Captain John S. Oliver, fresh from the shower, had just pulled on a pair of Levi's when there was a knock at the door.
Bare-chested, barefoot, still buttoning his fly, he walked to it and pulled it open.
"Hi, there," Marjorie Bellmon said. "I'm the Ding-Dong lady and we're running a special. Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," he said. "Come on. "
"This won't take long. I'm just glad I caught you. Daddy said he'd ordered you to take a seventy-two-hour pass. What was that all about?"
"Leave the door open!" he said sharply.
"Worried about your reputation or mine?" Marjorie asked.
"Come on. You're an Army brat. You know what kind of dame hangs around BOQs. "
"My reputation is already compromised," Marjorie said.
"I am the General's daughter who's fooling around with the PFC. You mean you haven't heard?"
"Come on, Marjorie," Oliver said uncomfortably.
"What's with the seventy-two-hour pass?" she asked.
"I fell asleep in the airplane on the way home," he said, a touch of embarrassment in his voice.
"You were flying?" she asked, horrified.
"He was," Oliver said. "But he now is convinced he's been overworking me."
"And he has," Marjorie said. "Mother- even said so."
"He works more hours than I do."
"He told Mother he added it up, and you had flown twenty six hours in four days," she said." 'In addition to your other duties.' "
"Your father likes to move around a lot," he said. "I'm the guy who drives the airplane."
"And what if you had been flying when you fell asleep?" Marjorie challenged.
"Your father was too much of a gentleman to mention that.
He just told me not to show my face for seventy-two hours."
"I don't know what was going on up there," she said. "Why did you have to fly so much? Where did you go?"
"From one farmer's field to another. It was Exercise HAWKE, which was the dress rehearsal for AIR ASSAULT II."
"What did Daddy have to do with that?"
"Officially, nothing. But General Wendall knows he needs all the help he can get, so. he put your father to work as another pair of eyes. We went around looking for things that had gone wrong, or were about to. It was important. If the 11th Air Assault blows AIR ASSAULT II, which is a real possibility, your father and I can go back to driving tanks. There won't be an airmobile division. "Isn't that a little strong?" she asked.
The Aviators Page 49