DeWitt was angry. He’d been an officer in the army for more than forty years and didn’t like the bullshit that was being shoveled in his direction.
“And just how the hell am I supposed to forestall raids without an army? And how also am I supposed to recover Alaska, or do we let the Japs keep on beheading people?”
Hopkins glared at him. He wasn’t used to people arguing with him. “General, it has been noted over and over again that your Fourth Army cannot ever be large enough to defend literally thousands of miles of coastline. We have to depend on air and naval patrols along with coastal radar to identify the Jap fleet’s location and plan accordingly. Yes, I understand that the enemy can cruise up and down the coast causing the army to run up and down as well. Nor can we stop the Japs from shelling small towns like they’ve been doing with impunity since we don’t yet have enough ships to stop them. It can’t be helped. The president is under extreme pressure from the Russians to open up a second front against the Nazis and support Stalin.”
DeWitt was not impressed. “The Russians are a long ways away, while the Japs are here on our soil. Even worse, the shelling of small towns has resulted in hundreds of thousands of refugees heading inland. We can’t handle all that. We need more help here and to hell with the Russians.”
Hopkins seethed. He felt his stomach aching, but he chose to continue, ignoring DeWitt’s outburst. “It is also imperative that we prevent Rommel from defeating the British in North Africa. If that happens, fascist Spain is likely to decide that allying with Nazi Germany is the better good bet and scrap its neutrality. Don’t forget that Hitler supported Franco in Spain’s civil war and has been pushing for that debt to be repaid. We believe Spain is wavering and, if the British are defeated by Rommel, they will either attack Gibraltar directly or permit German troops to cross Spain and take it. If Gibraltar falls, the Mediterranean almost automatically becomes a German lake, which could cost us a fortune in blood to retrieve. Therefore, the forces arrayed against Japan must be reduced.”
“What do you suggest I do about the Japs?” DeWitt snarled.
“You can do whatever the hell you want, General,” Hopkins snapped back. “I’m not going to strip your cupboard bare. You’ll still have more than a half million soldiers and Marines along with more than a thousand planes. I expect you’ll move your troops in detachments large enough to defend the major cities from an attack that isn’t going to come in the first place. The Japs simply do not have an army tagging along with their fleet and they don’t have the ability to bring one across the Pacific and supply it. And as to the shelling of our cities, until and if we get radar all up and down the coast, they will have to be endured.”
“What do I tell Governor Olson?” DeWitt asked. Culbert Olson was the Democratic governor of California and a long time supporter of Franklin Roosevelt. It was a clear implication that Olson would complain to the president, who might then change his mind.
Hopkins smiled. “Tell Olson he’s fucked up so badly he’s going to lose to the Republican candidate, Earl Warren, in November. Olson once described hell as being governor of California. He’ll be glad to be able to blame someone else for his screwups.”
Nimitz leaned forward to Hopkins. “In all fairness to the general and me, we still don’t have a radar wall in place and the Japs will be able to strike heavily at certain points without our knowing it until the last minute. You’re right, though. We could have millions more men and there would still be gaps in the coverage. When will the North African invasion take place?”
“Mid-November is the target,” Hopkins said and fished in his jacket pocket for a cigarette. People with stomach cancer weren’t supposed to smoke, but he didn’t care.
“Which is why we have to move as many troops as we can back to the East Coast as soon as possible. And when we do win in Africa, don’t expect the troops to return. North Africa will be only the first step in the reconquest of Europe.”
“Do you have any good news for us poor souls in the Pacific?” Nimitz asked.
“Yes. The Panama Canal will be back in business very shortly and we’ll be sending some new submarines out to you.”
“What about carriers?” Nimitz asked, even though he was certain he knew the answer.
“None until we have enough on line to make a difference, and that includes the merchant ships we are converting to smaller carriers,” Hopkins responded. “The same holds with your getting new battleships, although additional cruisers and destroyers can be expected. Until then, the Saratoga will have to cruise alone. By the way, where the devil is the carrier?”
Nimitz smiled. “Truthfully, I don’t know.”
CHAPTER 10
DANE STEPPED OUT OF HIS STAFF CAR AND WALKED ACROSS THE field to the ruins of what had once been a very long freight train. Now it was little more then piles of charred wood and metal. Blackened train wheels stuck out of the debris, incongruous and looking totally and pathetically out of place. So too did a number of tanks, their guns pointing uselessly in all directions.
FBI agent Roy Harris waved him over to a section of track. Dane had to walk past a locomotive that lay on its side like some mortally wounded animal, an iron whale that had washed up on an unfriendly shore. He could see where the boiler had exploded, ripping the guts out of it.
“This is where it happened,” Harris said. “Right here is where the son of a bitch placed the charge that blew the track and sent the train down the hill. Along with destroying all that material and equipment, he also killed four people and injured two others. The engineer and fireman in that locomotive you walked by were killed, scalded to death when the boiler exploded. I hope to hell they died quickly because their bodies were pretty damn awful to look at. The other engineer and fireman got out although they were injured.”
Dane looked up and down the tracks which had been ripped up for quite a ways. “And you’re certain this is the place?”
“Never doubt the FBI, Dane, we know everything. Seriously, kindly note that while other rails are damaged, none are twisted quite as sharply as this one, and that none of the rails ahead of the train are in any way disturbed. Ergo, this is the spot. We also found dynamite traces and pieces of what he used as a detonator.”
Dane looked down the tracks at the chaos. A number of small fires continued to smolder and there was the smell of ash in the air. Four dead wasn’t a large number in the middle of a war, but they were civilians who were supposed to be alive, even protected by the military. It was like the execution of the customs agents.
“Well,” said Dane, “we were waiting for him or them to do something and now he has. You’re going to tell me this is only the beginning, aren’t you?”
“Yep. And it also means we’re going to have to expend manpower to try to prevent it from happening again. The army is going to start patrolling the train lines as well as looking under bridges and along roads. Sad part is, we have no idea who or what we’re looking for. Some people saw vehicles leaving the area, but nothing of note, just the usual litany of Fords and Chevrolets, with the odd Hudson or Packard thrown in. Assuming the obvious, that he or they drove here, and I think it’s likely more than one man, they’re using a nondescript vehicle.”
“Like a Ford or a Chevy.”