«Give me five minutes, Dick,» Pickering said.
«Anything special?»
«Something simple. How about a breakfast steak, and a couple of eggs, sunny-side up?»
«Five minutes, Flem,» Fowler said, and hung up.
Pickering, tieless and in his shirtsleeves, arrived at Fowler's down-the-corridor door just as the floor waiter was rolling in a food cart.
«That wasn't five minutes, Flem,» Fowler greeted him. «I have a full day ahead of me.»
«More than you know,» Pickering said, as he followed Fowler into his dining room. The table was set for three.
«Good morning, Commodore,» Fred said.
«Call me General today, Fred,» Pickering said, touching his shoulder. «I have been up most of the night thinking General-type thoughts.»
«I need some of that coffee,» Fowler said, snatching a silver coffeepot from the floor waiter's cart. He sat down at the table and poured himself a cup. Then he remembered Pickering's recent words.
» 'More than I know'? What's that supposed to mean?»
«Put a little something in your stomach,» Pickering said. «It'll put you in a better mood.»
«Just put the plates on the table please,» Fowler said to the floor waiter, «and then, thank you, that'll be all. I have a terrible suspicion that the breakfast-table conversation will concern topics that nice people shouldn't have to hear.»
Pickering waited until the waiter transferred the plates, uncovered them, and left. Fred saw him through the door, locked it, and then sat down at the table with Pickering and Fowler.
«I thought you would be beside yourself with curiosity about my conversation,» he began.
«Your conversation with who?»
«Take a wild guess. He smiles a lot—lots of teeth—and smokes his cigarettes in a long ivory holder.»
Fowler shook his head.
«And what did our beloved leader have to say?» Fowler asked, and then, before Pickering could begin to answer, added: «Flem, who called who?»
«'He called me,» Pickering said. «On my unlisted line.»
«He
is
the President. What did he have to say?»
«Because he and Colonel Donovan are old friends, he told me, he knows better than most people how obdurate… I love that word; I thought I knew what it meant, but when we hung up, to be sure, I looked it up in the dictionary—«
«Hardened in wrongdoing,» Fowler said.
«Or wickedness,» Pickering said. «According to Mr. Webster, 'wrongdoing
or wickedness
.' 1 told you I looked it up.»
»
And
, Flem?» Fowler said, smiling.
«And because he knows how
obdurate
the good Colonel can be, his door is always open to me.»
«That's nice,» Fowler said. «You remember our conversation last night about J. Edgar Hoover?»
«How could I forget?» Pickering said.
«Interesting,» Fowler said, and stared at his breakfast steak with disdain. «I don't know why I ordered this. If I eat this, I'll fall asleep before lunch.»
«I will, of course, take the President at his word, and go knocking at his door. Today, if I have to. Unless you can fix it so that I won't have to.»
«What are you talking about?»
«You remember what Donovan said last night? 'I'd like to have the Office of Management Analysis. Lock, stock, and barrel'?
«And I remember that you told him no.»
«And I remember he took my 'no' too easily, as if he expected that reaction and was going to ignore it.»
«Yeah,» Fowler said, remembering. «Frank Knox wouldn't at all like losing Management Analysis,» he added. «He is very fond of his private, personal OSS.»
«Which performs a number of valuable functions, and which should not be swallowed up by the OSS.»
«1 agree,» Fowler said.
«I suspect that Donovan has tried to get it before, failed, and sees a new opportunity. He can tell the President I want it. Or, more likely, that he naturally presumed I would want to bring it into the OSS with me. Since the President has told me I can have anybody I want, he will see nothing wrong with this, and will tell Admiral Leahy to take care of it. Once it's in the OSS, he takes it away from me.»
«You don't trust Donovan, do you?»
«He's a lawyer, Dick, of course I don't trust him.»
«So am I a lawyer,» Fowler said, not amused.
«Yeah, but Donovan is a
Democratic
lawyer.»
«That's a little better,» Fowler said.
Fred chuckled.
«So what do you propose to do? Or propose that I do for you?» Fowler asked.
«Get to Frank Knox, immediately, this morning, and tell him I'll make a deal with him. If he's willing to go along, I'll go to the President with him and tell him I think Management Analysis should remain under Knox. If we both go to the President and tell him no, I think we can prevail over Bill Donovan, done deal or not.»
«You understand how quickly Roosevelt's open door is going to slam in your face if you go over Donovan's head your first day on the job?»
«I couldn't do it alone, and I don't think Frank Knox could,» Pickering said. «We'll have to do it together. I'll worry about the door slamming in my face later.»
«You said 'deal,' « Fowler said. «What kind of a deal? Frank Knox is not well-known for making deals. What do you want from Knox?»
«I want Fritz Rickabee promoted to brigadier general,» Pickering said. «And Ed Banning promoted to lieutenant colonel. Incidentally, I've decided I need Banning more than Rickabee does.»
«Why is this important to you?» Fowler asked.
«Fritz needs a star to run Management Analysis. If I have to point this out, he is far more entitled to a star than I am. And when I have to ask him for help, I would like him, frankly, to remember where his star came from.»
Fowler grunted.
«And Banning?»
«Several reasons. Some practical, some political. Banning knows China. He was an intelligence officer there for years. God, he had to leave his wife behind him in Shanghai—«
«I didn't know that,» Fowler interrupted. «She's a prisoner?»
«Nobody knows.»
Fowler shook his head.
«Anyway, I need Banning's brains and expertise. He has a magic clearance, which will be useful.»
«Why should he be promoted? That might be difficult. The Marine Corps likes to decide who gets promoted, and when.»
«First of all, he's deserving of promotion,» Pickering said. «Secondly, I suspect there are a lot of majors in the OSS—the guy Donovan sent to replace Killer McCoy in the Philippines was a major—and I want my deputy to outrank them. As far as that goes, I'm bringing Jake Dillon into the OSS, and I think it's a good idea for him to be calling Ed Banning 'sir' and 'Colonel' «
«Dillon?» Fowler asked doubtfully. «Your movie press agent friend?»
«Not only is Jake an old China Marine, but he did a hell of a job for me on several occasions,» Pickering said, «and he's loyal to me.»
Fowler shrugged.
«Don't tell me it can't be done, Dick,» Pickering said.
«It can be done. I think Frank Knox will go along with you. And the price will be antagonizing both Donovan and the entire OSS—and the Marine Corps.»