Both Senator Fowler and General Pickering stood up when Fred opened the door. Pickering was in civilian clothing, an impeccably tailored double-breasted pin-striped suit.
«Hello, Bill,» Fowler said, approaching him with his hand extended.
«Senator,» Donovan said, and looked at Pickering. «General,» he said.
Well, so much for my not embarrassing Colonel Wild Bill by not rubbing my general's stars in his face.
«Good to see you, Bill,» Pickering said, and walked to him to shake hands.
«What can I fix you, Bill?» Fowler asked.
«A glass of sparkling water, with a little lime, if you have it, please,» Donovan said.
Is that because he doesn't want a drink, or to set the stage for our sober confrontation ?
«Coming right up, sir,» Fred said.
«We are at the bottomless well of Flem's supply of Famous Grouse,» Fowler said. «He made sure the liquor stocks were sent ashore before he turned his passenger ships over to the Navy.»
«I can also make you a deal on the silver from the first class dining rooms,» Pickering said.
Donovan laughed dutifully.
«You kept the merchant ships, didn't you?» Donovan said. «What was that all about? Not that it's any of my business.»
«There will always be a need for merchantmen,» Pickering said. «But when I came back from Hawaii, right after Pearl Harbor, we made port in Seattle, and I had a chance to see all the B-17s lined up at the Boeing plant. They can fly to Hawaii in hours. It seemed to me that after the war, people are not going to be willing to spend weeks on a ship—no matter how comfortable—when they can get where they have to go in hours.»
«In other words, buy Boeing stock?»
«I have. And Lockheed, after I saw drawings of a four-engine transport Howard Hughes wants to make that will carry fifty people across oceans at three hundred miles an hour.»
«And what do you think of his wooden airplane? That will carry two hundred and fifty people? Or is it three fifty? Or so he says.»
«I heard about that,» Pickering said. «I haven't seen it, but my gut reaction would be to bet on Howard Hughes. I would be surprised if it doesn't work as promised. But to answer your question, I was delighted to sell the government my passenger ships. I kept the merchantmen because I thought P&FE could operate them more efficiently than the Navy could.»
«And you're probably right,» Donovan said, then switched over to the real point of the meeting. «I have something to say to you, Pickering. And not because of the circumstances. I was wrong when I didn't offer you an assistant directorship when you came to see me.»
«We were not mutual admirers,» Pickering said. «If the shoe had been on my foot—«
«The matter is now out of our hands, isn't it?» Donovan said.
«It would seem that way,» Pickering said.
«Is this the appropriate time for me to say 'welcome'? Or maybe, if an old soldier can get away with saying this, 'welcome aboard'?»
«Thank you very much, sir,» Pickering said, and offered his hand again.
«You see?» Fowler said. «It's like going to the dentist. Once you sit down in the chair and open your mouth, it's not nearly as bad as you imagined.»
«Jesus, Dick!» Pickering said, but smiled.
«How's your health?» Donovan asked.
«Fine,» Pickering said. «I was pretty tired when I got off the airplane in San Diego, but then I spent four days at home, lifting nothing heavier than a fork.»
«You're ready to go to work?»
«Yes,» Pickering said simply.
«Good. There are things for you to do,» Donovan said. «But before I get into that, let me give you the lay of the land.»
Pickering nodded.
«Am I supposed to be privy to any of this?» Senator Fowler asked. «Legally, no,» Donovan said. «But on the other hand…«
«I'm a United States senator?»
«You were there, Dick, having dinner with the President, when he had—what was it he said? his 'divine revelation'—about naming Pickering OSS Deputy Director for Pacific Operations. I don't think that was a coincidence; he wanted you involved. It's difficult knowing what Roosevelt is really thinking about anything, but maybe he's hoping that if—when—Pickering becomes unhappy with something at the OSS, he'd rather have him talk it over with you before he takes it to him. I think it would be valuable if you heard this.»
He calls Fowler «Dick» and me «Pickering.» Did that just happen? Or is it to remind me that he's the boss?
Fowler nodded.
«Let's clear the air about that,» Pickering said. «I take my orders from you. If I decide that I cannot in good conscience obey my orders, I will tell you why, and resign.»
Donovan looked into Pickering's eyes. «Fair enough,» he said. «Then my orders to you are this: If you find yourself thinking of resignation, talk it over with the Senator before you come to me.»
«Yes, sir,» Pickering said. ' «And I will ask you, Senator, not to share anything with your colleagues.»
«Of course, not,» Fowler said.
«There is an organizational chart at the OSS,» Donovan said. «And like most organizational charts, it's primarily eyewash. The basic setup is this: the Deputy Director, Administration, functions as my chief of staff. If you don't like what you hear from him, come to me.»
Pickering nodded.
«There is a Deputy Director, Operations, and Deputy Directors, European, Western Hemisphere, and now Pacific… you. While you and the other area Deputy Directors are not subordinate to the Deputy Director, Administration, when he speaks, he's almost always speaking for me.»
Pickering nodded again. «Okay,» he said.
«Come by the office tomorrow. I'll introduce you to everybody.»
«Fine. What time?»
«Nine?»
«Fine.»
«How much do you know about the people—the Americans—who are supposed to be in the Gobi Desert?»
«One of Admiral Nimitz's intelligence officers briefed me in Pearl Harbor…«
«Nimitz had you briefed on the Gobi Desert operation?» Donovan asked.
To judge by his eyes
, Pickering decided,
he doesn't like that
.
«Yes, he did,» Pickering replied evenly.
«Did he give any reason for bringing you in on that problem?»
My conversation with Admiral Nimitz was obviously confidential. So what do I do? Break that confidence? Or start off my armistice with Donovan by lying to him ?
If I did that, he would sooner or later find out anxway.
And by now he probably has heard what Nimitz asked Admiral Leahy to do.
«He told me that he had recommended to Admiral Leahy that the OSS be given the responsibility for establishing contact with the people in the Gobi, and that it was his recommendation that I be given responsibility for the operation.»
Donovan looked at Pickering for a long moment without speaking.
The sonofabitch is trying to make up his mind whether I'm lying or telling the truth!