McCoy, embarrassed, raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.
"That wasn't..."
"Steve thinks he's in the company of friends," Daphne went on firmly, again reminding McCoy of Ernie, "who have the appropriate security clear-ances. And while his wife no longer has the appropriate clearances, he believes she can nevertheless be trusted to keep her mouth shut."
McCoy looked at her but didn't reply.
"Especially since Steve wants very desperately to go with you," she added.
What did she say? He "wants desperately to go"?
"I don't think that's likely," McCoy said.
"You must know, Lieutenant," Daphne said, "that my husband is a rather determined man."
"You need a radio operator," Koffler argued. "So far the General hasn't come up with anybody. And Pluto already showed me how to operate the crypto machine."
"For Christ's sake, why would you want to go with us?" McCoy asked.
The question obviously discomfited Koffler.
"You just got off of Buka. You just got out of the hospital," McCoy said, warming to his subject. "You just got married, for Christ's sake!"
"That's why," Koffler said softly.
"What?"
"I have obligations now. Daphne. And... a family."
"And so you want to go running around in the Philippines, hiding from the Japs?"
"I want to be an officer," Koffler said.
McCoy looked at him long enough to see that he was serious, then breathed, "Oh, Jesus!"
"Lieutenant Moore was a sergeant when he came here," Koffler said rea-sonably. "He went to Guadalcanal, came back, and they made him an officer."
"Moore is a college graduate; he's a Japanese linguist, a cryptographer; and he's twenty-three years old."
Koffler didn't choose to hear the reply.
"Lieutenant Hart came here as a sergeant," he went on. "He went to Buka with you; and when you came back, they made him a lieutenant," he argued.
"Hart is older than Moore," McCoy replied. "Before he came in The Corps, he was a detective. They made him an officer because it makes things easier for the General, not because..." The absurdity of Koffler's reasoning, and the determined look on his boyish face, triggered something close to hilar-ity in McCoy's mind. "... not because he fell heroically out of his little rubber boat trying to paddle ashore on Buka Island."
"How did you get your commission?" Koffler asked. It was a challenge.
"I went to Officer Candidate School at Quantico, as a matter of fact. With General Pickering's son, incidentally. We spent six months busting our asses-excuse the language, Mrs. Koffler-to get that damned gold bar." Koffler now looked hurt and embarrassed.
"You want to be an officer, apply for OCS," McCoy said reasonably. "I'm sure the General would recommend you for it. Hell, Koffler, I'll write you a letter of recommendation myself."
"I already looked into that. I can't even apply until I'm twenty-one, for Christ's sake."
"Is that what the regulation says?" McCoy asked.
"Nobody asked me how old I was when I jumped onto Buka," Koffler said.
McCoy could think of no reply to make, and made none.
"Oh, hell," Koffler said, as if finally accepting the logic of McCoy's argu-ment. "But I still want to go with you."
Not if I have anything to say about it, McCoy thought.
"Koffler, give yourself a chance to get your health back. Enjoy your fam-ily. Remember that sacred Marine Corps saying, 'Never volunteer for any-thing.' "
"You volunteered to get Howard and me off Buka," Koffler argued.
"Jesus Christ, you don't know when to quit, do you?" McCoy snapped. "For Christ's sake, Koffler, drop it!"
Koffler shrugged.
McCoy looked at Daphne Koffler in time to see that she didn't like at all the words or the tone of voice he had used on her husband.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Maybe it would be best if I left."
"That would just make things worse," she said. "And you didn't say any-thing to him I haven't already said. Please stay."
"Fix me another drink, Koffler," Lieutenant Hart said. "And then tell Lieutenant McCoy about plastic."
"Sure," Koffler said.
McCoy met Daphne Koffler's eyes.
"Fix me one, too, while you're at it, please," he said.
She nodded her head, just perceptibly, in approval.
When her husband went into the kitchen, she walked to the couch and sat down beside McCoy.
"Thank you," she said.
"Excuse me?"
"You're wrong about me, Lieutenant," she said. "I married Steve be-cause I love him, not because I'm carrying his child."
"Believe it or not, Mrs. Koffler, I'd already figured that out."
She looked into his eyes again.
"You had, hadn't you?" she said, as if surprised.
He nodded.
"Now that we're all pals," George Hart said, "do you think you two could stop calling each other 'Mrs. Koffler' and 'Lieutenant McCoy'?"
McCoy looked at him.
"Mr. Hart," McCoy said, "second lieutenants should be seen and not heard. Isn't that so, Daphne?"
"I believe that's true, Ken," she replied.
T O P S E C R E T
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS SWPOA NAVY DEPT WASH DC
VIA SPECIAL CHANNEL
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
ORIGINAL TO BE DESTROYED AFTER ENCRYPTION AND TRANSMTTTAL
EYES ONLY-THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
SATURDAY 14 NOVEMBER 1942
DEAR FRANK:
WORD JUST REACHED HERE THAT THE BATTLESHIPS WASHINGTON AND SOUTH DAKOTA HAVE SUNK THE JAPANESE BATTLESHIP KIHISHIMA, EVEN THOUGH THE SOUTH DAKOTA APPARENTLY WAS PRETTY BADLY HIT IN THE PROCESS. I'D LIKE TO THINK THAT ADMIRAL DAN CALLAHAN SOMEHOW KNOWS ABOUT THIS. I WAS PRETTY UPSET WHEN I HEARD HE WAS KILLED THE DAY BEFORE. REVENGE IS SWEET.
THE MORE I GET INTO THIS FERTIG IN THE PHILIPPINES BUSINESS-SPECIFICALLY, THE MORE I HAVE LEARNED FROM LT COL JACK NMI STECKER ABOUT THE EFFICACY OF A WELL-RUN GUERRILLA OPERATION-THE MORE I BECOME CONVINCED THAT IT'S WORTH A GOOD DEAL OF EFFORT AND EXPENSE.
WHERE IT STANDS RIGHT NOW IS THAT A YOUNG MARINE OFFICER, LIEUTENANT KENNETH MCCOY, WHOM THEY CALL "KILLER," BY THE WAY, JUST ARRIVED HERE. HE HAS ALREADY MADE THE MAKIN ISLAND MARINE RAIDER OPERATION, AND WENT ASHORE ON BUKA FROM ANOTHER SUBMARINE WHEN WE REPLACED THE MARINES THERE. HE IS AS EXPERT IN RUBBER BOAT OPERATIONS AS THEY COME, IN OTHER WORDS. HE SEES NO PROBLEM IN GETTING ASHORE FROM A SUBMARINE OFF MINDANAO.
HE AND STECKER HAVE COME UP WITH A LIST OF MATERIEL THEY FEEL SHOULD GO TO FERTIG, ESSENTIALLY, AND IN THIS ORDER, GOLD, RADIOS, MEDICINE, AND SMALL ARMS AND AMMUNITION. BECAUSE OF THE SMALL STATURE OF THE AVERAGE FILIPINO, BOTH FEEL THAT THE US CARBINE IS THE PROPER WEAPON. I HAVE THE RADIOS AND THE CARBINES AND AMMUNITION FOR THEM, AND HAVE BEEN PROMISED AN ARRAY OF MEDICINES WHENEVER I WANT THEM. I HAVE ALSO BEEN PROMISED A SUBMARINE, PROBABLY THE USS NARWHAL, WHICH IS A CARGO SUBMARINE. THE PROMISE CAME FROM CINCPAC HIMSELF, WHO SHARES MY BELIEF THAT ANY GUERRILLA OPERATION IN THE PHILIPPINES SHOULD BE SUPPORTED ON STRATEGIC, TACTICAL, AND MORAL GROUNDS.