«Sir, Colonel Banning made the point that you don't have to be a CIC agent to pull the pin on a thermite grenade, and I couldn't argue with that.»
«I want CIC agents to put the devices aboard the airplane at Newark,» General Adamson said. «Pickering can sign for them there.»
«General Pickering's not going with the devices,» Albright said. «He's going the long way around, via Pearl Harbor and Brisbane.»
«He tell you why?»
Albright shook his head, «no.»
«Who will sign for the devices?»
«Colonel Banning, sir. And he will have responsibility for them in Chungking.»
«Then
Banning
can sign for the devices
after
the CIC puts them on the airplane.»
«Yes, sir.»
«Your Opplan, Augie…« General Adamson opened the Opplan and found the applicable paragraph before proceeding. «… says that the devices, when not in a secure vault, will never be out of the sight of at least one person with a magic clearance. Colonel Banning apparently enjoys the confidence of General Pickering, but what about these other two? Lieutenant Easterbrook and Master Gunner Rutterman?»
Meaning, of course, that you have learned that you don't want to fuck with Pickering. You may outrank him, but the President doesn't call you by your first name.
«I'm sure they also enjoy General Pickering's confidence, sir.»
«That's not what I mean, Augie. For one thing, I happen to know that until very recently, Rutterman was an enlisted man who guarded the door at Colonel Rickabee's place of business.»
«He comes highly recommended by General Rickabee, sir, and he's been an alternate magic cryptographer for some time.»
General Adamson grunted. «I happened to be out at the OSS training with the OSS Deputy Director for Administration, Augie, and he pointed out Lieutenant Easterbrook to me.»
«Yes, sir.»
«You've seen him, of course?»
«Yes, sir.»
«Then wouldn't you agree that he's about nineteen years old, and looks like he belongs in high school?»
«Yes, sir, he looks very young. But on the other hand, he won the Silver Star on Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal with the Second Raider Battalion.»
«That sort of service really doesn't have much relevance, wouldn't you say, Augie, with protection of a magic device?»
«I suppose not, sir. But may I point out, sir, there is nothing we can do about it?»
«I'd really like to know where the hell Pickering got Lieutenant Easterbrook.» General Adamson said. «Presumably, he has been satisfactorily trained in magic device operation?»
«I checked him out myself, sir.»
And he's a nice, really bright, kid. Unfortunately, ol' Cover My Ass is right. He is just a kid.
«Colonel Banning told me, sir, that General Pickering is flying another man, Lieutenant Moore, John M., who is a magic cryptographer slash analyst, from Australia to Chungking. I am not concerned, sir, about operation of the Special Channel once it's in place.»
«The operative words in that sentence, Augie, are 'once it's in place.' Our responsibility, your responsibility, is transporting the magic devices to Chungking.»
«Yes, sir.»
General Adamson checked the Opplan again.
«Frankly, I'm concerned about these two,» he said, pointing to a list of names. «Captain McCoy, Kenneth R., and Gunnery Sergeant Zimmerman, Ernest W. What do we know about them?»
«They both enjoy the confidence of General Pickering and Colonel Banning, sir, and neither of them has a magic clearance.»
«The Deputy Director tells me that McCoy was commissioned from the ranks, where he was known as 'Killer McCoy' for his proclivity for stabbing people in drunken brawls. And the sergeant has a room-temperature IQ.»
He also speaks four or five languages, including two kinds of Chinese and Russian, but I don't think you want to hear about that.
«They're an interesting pair, sir,» Albright said.
«In other words, you would judge that, if necessary, either of them could pull the pin on a thermite grenade?»
And if it was a dud, Gunnery Sergeant Zimmerman could chew both devices up and spit out tacks
. «Yes, sir,» Albright said.
General Adamson paused thoughtfully before asking, «What are you going to tell them about the «personnel records' crates?»
«Nothing, sir, of course.»
«You don't think they'll be curious?»
Frankly, I would be surprised if McCoy doesn't have a damned good idea of what's in them. He's very tight with Banning, and he's a very bright young fellow.
«No, sir.»
«You don't think Colonel Banning has told him?» General Adamson asked. «Or perhaps even General Pickering?»
«I think that is highly unlikely, sir.»
«I have a reason for asking this question, Augie,» General Adamson said. «So let me paraphrase. You think it over before answering. If it should come to pass that Captain McCoy or Sergeant Zimmerman were to fall into the hands of the enemy, do you think either of them knows, or has guessed, enough about magic to compromise it?»
«I don't
know
, sir,» Albright said. «But I think it's highly unlikely.»
That's not true. McCoy probably knows damned well what's in those crates, and if he does, Zimmerman probably does too. But what he's after from me is some reason he can get either McCoy or Zimmerman kicked off this operation. I don't know what that's all about, but I'll have no part of it.
Am I endangering magic because of my contempt for this man? I hope not. I don't think so. What I
do
know is if I could have anybody I wanted to guard the devices, I'd pick this Marine mustang captain and his room-temperature-IQ sergeant.
General Adamson grunted, and thought the matter over for a full thirty seconds before going on: «I'm sure Pickering and Banning have asked themselves the same question,» he said, «and decided that he doesn't know enough about magic to pose a risk to it in case of capture. But I don't want you, Augie, to even hint about what those crates contain.»
«No, sir,» Colonel Albright replied, very formally. «Is there any reason, in the General's opinion, why I should know why the General raised that question?»
General Adamson thought the question over before deciding to tell him, finally concluding that he might as well, because he was going to find out anyway. Albright spent a good deal of time in the Navy Communications facility where the magic device was in operation. No one there would—or should— question his right to read anything being encrypted or decrypted, including Special Channel material that would be coming to and from General Pickering. Albright might not have paid attention to it before, but now that he was curious about this whole business, he would be looking for something, and would find it.
«As you know, I've become rather friendly with the Deputy Director for Administration at the OSS,» General Adamson said.
Colonel Albright had first met the OSS Deputy Director (Administration)— whom he had immediately disliked—when he had been ordered to make magic material available to OSS Director Donovan. He had dealt with him again—and learned to like him even less—when he had been ordered to provide a magic device, for training purposes, to the OSS training camp in Maryland.