"Goddamn Marine Corps," Patricia Pickering confirmed. "He's too old-he's fifty, for God's sake-to go rushing off..."
She stopped, looked at Ernie, and started for the door. "I know him and Richardson Fowler. And he's already had enough to drink. You coming?"
Ernie considered this a moment, then shook her head, "no."
"Suit yourself," Patricia Pickering said, and walked into the corridor. After a moment, Ernie followed her.
"We'll be right back," she said.
"'Goddamn Marine Corps'?" Ernie Zimmerman quoted. "She sounds just like Mae-Su."
"If the Marine Corps wanted you to have a wife, Gunner Zimmerman," Banning replied, delighted at his own wit, "they would have issued you one."
"Luddy's not pissed?"
"Actually, she's not. She would really like me to go over there and start killing Communists," Banning said.
A muscular man in a gray suit stepped in front of Patri-cia Pickering.
"Excuse me, ma'am," he said. "May I ask where you're going?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm going to see Senator Fowler."
"I'm afraid that's not possible just now, ma'am," he said. "Could you come back in, say, thirty minutes?"
"Not possible? What do you mean not possible? Get out of my way!"
"I'm afraid I can't let you pass."
"You can't let me pass?" Mrs. Pickering asked in outrage. "I own this hotel-no one tells me I can't pass.'"
Another muscular man walked quickly up as the first Secret Service agent was taking his credentials from his suit jacket pocket, and then the door of Senator Fowler's suite opened.
"Oh, Jesus Christ, Patricia," Fleming Pickering said to her, then turned to someone in the room. "It's my wife."
"Let her in," a voice came from inside the room, and then President Truman appeared in the open door. "Let the lady pass."
"Ladies," Ernie said from behind the second Secret Ser-vice agent. "I'm with her."
"Ladies," the President agreed, smiling.
"Good evening, Mr. President," Patricia Pickering said.
"Good evening, Mrs. Pickering," Truman said. "I apolo-gize for this. Won't you come in for a minute?"
He offered his hand to Ernie McCoy.
"Admiral Hillenkoetter told me Captain McCoy was married to a very beautiful young woman. How do you do? You are Mrs. McCoy?"
"Yes, sir, Mr. President," Ernie said.
"Hello, Patricia," Senator Fowler said.
"I suspected that my overage adolescent was going to crawl into a bottle with you, Dick, and I see I was right."
"Mrs. Pickering, Mrs. McCoy," the President said, "this is Major General Ralph Howe, an old friend of mine."
"How do you do, ladies?" General Howe said, in a twangy Maine accent. He seemed to be amused.
"How do you do, General?" Patricia said, as she shook his hand.
"I think what we have here, Harry," General Howe said, smiling broadly, "is proof of the adage that behind every great man there really is a beautiful woman."
Truman chuckled.
"Mrs. Pickering," the President said. "I wanted a few min-utes with General Howe, your husband, and Captain Mc-Coy. A few private minutes that no one would know about. That's why I imposed on Senator Fowler's hospitality...."
"No imposition at all, Mr. President," Fowler said.
"Can I have them for ten minutes, ladies?" the President asked. "They'll tell you what this is all about later."
"Of course, Mr. President," Patricia Pickering said. "I suppose I have made a flaming ass of myself, haven't I?"
"I suspect my wife would have done exactly what you did," the President said. "Bess suspects that all my friends are always plying me with liquor."
She found herself at the door.
"Again, my apologies, ladies," the President said, and they went through the door.
"And my apologies, Mr. President," Pickering said when the door was closed. "The main reason she's on a tear is that she thinks I volunteered to go back in the Corps, and that Dick Fowler arranged it as a favor."
"If you'd like, I can straighten her out on that," the Pres-ident said.
"I would be grateful, Mr. President."
"Formidable lady, General," General Howe said.
"I don't think a shrinking violet could run the Foster Ho-tel chain the way she runs it," the President said. "Now, where were we?"
"I was about to offer Fleming a drink," Fowler said. "Now I'm not so sure that's a good idea."
"I think it is," Pickering said.
"I'll make them," Fowler said. "The usual?"
"Yes."
"For you, too, Ken?" Fowler asked.
"Yes, sir, please," McCoy said.
"To get right to the heart of this," the President said. "When Admiral Hillenkoetter first brought your name up, General, he said that you had first gone to the Pacific as the private eyes of Navy Secretary Knox, and that that had evolved into your being the private eyes of President Roo-sevelt."
"Yes, sir, that accurately describes what happened."
"I found that fascinating," Truman said. "Although I didn't say anything to the admiral."
"Sir?"
"Until that moment, I thought I had the bright idea all on my own," Truman said. "That if you really want to know what's going on around the military, send someone who considers his primary loyalty is to the President, not the military establishment. General Howe and I go back to France-we were both captains in France. Then we saw one another over the years in the National Guard. In War Two, when I was in the Senate, he went back into the Army, and rose to major general. When this Korean thing broke, he was about the first person I knew I was going to need, and I called him to active duty-to be my eyes in this war."
"I see," Pickering said.
"And when he came down from Maine, I told him about you, about Captain McCoy's assessment, and the trouble he had with it, and we are agreed that your talents in this sort of thing should not be allowed to lay fallow."
"Mr. President, I'm afraid you're overestimating my tal-ents," Pickering said.
"You can do one thing I can't, General," Howe said. "You can talk to MacArthur, maybe even ask him ques-tions no one else would dare ask him."
"Wow!" Pickering said, as Fowler handed him a drink.
"Would you be willing to take on such an assignment?"
"Sir, I'm at your orders," Pickering said.
`Take a look at this," the President said, handing Picker-ing a squarish envelope. "And tell me if it's all right."
THE WHIT E HOUS E
WASHINGTON , D.C.
JULY 1, 1950
GENERAL OF THE ARMY DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
THE DAI ICHI BUILDING
TOKYO, JAPAN
BY OFFICER COURIER
DEAR GENERAL MACARTHUR:
THERE IS ONE SMALL PIECE OF GOOD NEWS IN WHAT FRANKLY LOOKS TO ME LIKE A DARK SITUATION, AND WHICH I WANTED TO GET IN YOUR HANDS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
ADMIRAL HILLENKOETTER, THE DIRECTOR OF THE CIA, HAS ASKED ME TO RECALL TO ACTIVE DUTY YOUR FRIEND BRIGADIER GEN-ERAL FLEMING PICKERING, USMCR, AND I HAVE DONE SO. AT ADMIRAL HILLENKOET-TER `S RECOMMENDATION, I HAVE NAMED GENERAL PICKERING ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE CIA FOR ASIA, A POSITION MUCH LIKE THE ONE HE HELD DURING WORLD WAR II, WHERE HE WAS SO VALUABLE TO YOUR-SELF, OSS DIRECTOR DONOVAN, AND PRESI-DENT ROOSEVELT.