«He told you, Dad,» the President's son said. «He's a Marine officer. He does what he's told to do. 'Get in the rubber boat and start paddling.' Right, Killer?»
«Yes, sir,» McCoy said.
» 'Killer'?» the President quoted. «I think I'd like to hear about that.»
«No, you wouldn't,» Major Roosevelt said.
But the President was already turning his attention to the Secretary of the Navy. «I'd like a few minutes of your time, Frank, please,» he said. «Of course, Mr. President,» the Secretary of the Navy replied. McCoy sensed that he was being dismissed. Confirmation came a second later as Major Roosevelt touched his arm and nodded toward the door of the upstairs sitting room. He saluted and marched out of the room. Major Roosevelt and Senator Fowler followed him.
As they entered the corridor, a Secret Service man closed the door after them. «Good job, McCoy,» Major Roosevelt said. «You really impressed the Old Man.»
McCoy blurted what he was thinking. «It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.»
Senator Fowler chuckled. «Jimmy's father can charm the socks off you, if he's so inclined,» he said. «You have to remember to ask for your shoes back. I didn't say that, Jimmy.»
Major Roosevelt laughed. «I won't tell him what you said, and I won't tell you what he says about you.»
«Fair enough,» Fowler said.
«Okay,» Roosevelt said. «Now we have to find a place where the Killer can rest his weary head.»
«I thought you weren't supposed to call him that,» Fowler said.
«Those rules don't apply to Raiders,» Roosevelt replied. «So what's your pleasure, Killer? I'm sure we can put you up here, but I'll tell you I don't stay here myself unless I'm forced to. And there aren't very many nubile young things prowling these historic corridors.»
«Ken's taken care of,» Fowler said.
«Oh, really?»
«Across the street,» Fowler said, «in General Pickering's apartment.»
«Well, I can't top that offer,» Roosevelt said. «But what about money? Have you been paid lately?»
«I'm all right for money,» McCoy said. «I drew a partial pay at Pearl Harbor.»
«Anything? Incidentally, my father meant it when he said to take some time off. Take at least two weeks off, and tell anybody who asks that it's administrative leave, not chargeable as ordinary leave. By direction of the President.»
«Can I get away with that?»
«Yes, you can,» Roosevelt said firmly. «The least I can do is get you a car to drive across the street.»
«I've got my car, but thank you just the same,» Fowler said. '
Roosevelt put out his hand to McCoy. «It was good to see you, Ken. And when you see Zimmerman, tell him I sent my best regards. He's still in Australia?»
«With this OSS business, there's no telling,» McCoy said. «It was good to see you again, too, Major.»
«I'll walk you downstairs,» Roosevelt said, putting an arm around his shoulders.
note 20
The Marquis de Lafayette Suite
The Foster Lafayette Hotel
Washington, D.C.
1445 17 February 1943
A soft chime sounded, announcing that someone was in the sixth-floor corridor seeking entrance. The three men in the sitting room of the six-room suite looked at the door. Major Edward J. Banning put his drink on the coffee table in front of the red leather armchair where he was sitting, walked to the door, and opened it. He was in uniform, but had removed his tunic, pulled his field scarf loose, and turned up the cuffs of his shirt.
«Good afternoon, Senator,» Banning said politely, and smiled at Captain McCoy.
«Hello, Banning,» Senator Fowler said. «I return this young man to your capable custody.»
«He looks to me as if he could use a drink,» Banning said.
«We both could,» Fowler said, and stepped into the room.
The other two men rose to their feet. One of them, Captain Edward Sessions, USMC, was a tall, lithely muscular, well-set-up Marine captain in his late twenties. He, too, had removed his uniform tunic. A ring on his finger identified him as a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. An intelligence officer assigned to the Office of Management Analysis, he had met McCoy during a covert operation staged by Banning in China before the war.
The other was a tall, slight, pale-skinned, unhealthy-looking man, wearing glasses and an ill-fitting gray suit.
«Good afternoon, Senator,» Colonel F. L. Rickabee, USMC, said.
«Good to see you, Colonel,» Fowler said. «And to quickly put your mind at rest, Ken did himself proud.»
«I expected nothing less,» Rickabee said, «but I think we can give him a drink nevertheless.»
«I'll even make them,» Captain Sessions said. «What's your pleasure, gentlemen?»
«I don't know about Ken,» Fowler said. «But I think I will dip once again into General Pickering's bottomless well of Famous Grouse.»
«Ken?» Sessions asked. McCoy nodded.
Sessions walked to a rolling cart on which sat a dozen or so bottles of whisky, glasses, a soda siphon, and the other paraphernalia of a bar.
«It went well?» Colonel Rickabee asked as he sat down again.
«I bear orders from the Commander in Chief,» Fowler said. «This 'remarkable young man, this fine Marine' is to get 'some well-deserved time off.' «
«Consider it done, Senator,» Colonel Rickabee said.
«I told you you'd live through it, Ken,» Major Banning said.
McCoy looked at him. «Specs was there,» McCoy said. «That helped a lot.»
«Specs?» Banning asked.
«Major Roosevelt,» McCoy said. «He was the only guy on the Makin Raid who wore glasses. We called him 'Specs' behind his back.»
Sessions handed McCoy a squat glass dark with whisky.
«You hungry, Ken?»
McCoy nodded. «Yeah, a little.»
«You didn't have any lunch,» Sessions said.
«Get on the horn, Sessions,» Colonel Rickabee ordered, «and order up a steak for this 'remarkable young man, this fine Marine.' «
«Aye, aye, sir,» Sessions said.
«A large steak, Ed,» Major Banning said, «big enough for two people, and a dozen oysters on the half shell.»
«I don't know about the oysters,» McCoy said.
«Don't let those brand-new railroad tracks go to your head, Captain McCoy,» Colonel Rickabee said. «When a superior officer tells you to eat oysters, it's because he thinks you need oysters. What you say is, 'Aye, aye, sir. Thank you, sir,' and eat them.»
For some reason, Colonel Rickabee, Major Banning, and Captain Sessions looked very pleased with themselves.
Sessions called room service and ordered a very large steak and a dozen oysters, the larger the better. Then he turned to Colonel Rickabee. «Can I fix you another drink, Colonel?»