pushed the Boeing away from the jetway. It was driven by a native, and the
gesture he flashed to the cockpit on decoupling from their aircraft was not
exactly a friendly one. But the final insult came as he waited for clearance to
take off. A fighter came in to land, not a blue Eagle, it was a haze-gray air-
craft with NAVY painted on the engine nacelles.
“Nice touch, Bud. Grease job,” Jackson said as the canopy came up.
“We aim to please, sir,” Sanchez replied nervously. As he taxied off to
the right, the welcoming committee, such as it was, all wore green fatigues
and carried rifles. When the aircraft stopped, an aluminum extension ladder
was laid alongside the aircraft. Jackson climbed out first, and at the bottom
of the ladder a field-grade officer saluted him correctly.
“That’s a Tomcat,” Oreza said, handing over the binoculars. “And that of-
ficer ain’t no Jap.”
“Sure as hell,” Clark confirmed, watching the black officer get into a
jeep. What effect would this have on his tentative orders? Attractive as it
might be to put the arm on Rai/o Yamata, even getting close enough to eval-
uate the possibility-his current instructions-was not a promising under-
taking. He had also reported on conditions on Saipan, and that word, he
thought, was good. The Japanese troops he’d seen earlier in the day were not
the least bit jaunty, though some officers, especially the junior ones, seemed
very enthusiastic about their mission, whatever that was right now. It was
about what you expected of lieutenants in any army.
The Governor’s house, set on the local Capitol Hill next to the convention
center, seemed a pleasant enough structure. Jackson was sweating now. The
tropical sun was hot enough, and his nomex flight suit was just too good an
insulator. Here a colonel saluted him and led him inside.
Robby knew General Arima on sight, remembering the intelligence file
he’d seen in the Pentagon. They were of about the same height and build, he
saw. The General saluted. Jackson, bareheaded and under cover, was not
allowed to do so under naval regulations. It seemed I he pro|>cr response n<*to, anyway. He nodded his head politely, and left it ul ihul"General, can we speak in private?"Arima nodded and led Jackson into what looked like a combination