He had, he realized, shot down his third and fourth enemy aircraft, one of them a fighter. But then he had a follow-on, an unpleasant thought. As soon as it worked its way through the Japanese command structure that the Nakajima K1-27s were no match for the Curtiss P40-B s of the American Volunteer Group, the Japanese high command would send in something better. The destruction of the AVG was at least as important as the bombing of China. They would send the best aircraft they had to win that battle. The AVG was already playing its ace, and there was no hole card.
He realized he was far more frightened of that prospect than he had been when the KI-27 was on his tail.
Ed Bitter got drunk that night and, for the first time, took an interpreter to his quarters.
Right after Canidy had been sent home in disgrace, Doug Douglass had been given command of the squadron. Douglass had not, however, moved into the suite of rooms which were now his by ri lit of command, but stayed where he was. Bitter realized when he 9 saw the light under Douglass’s door that he had not changed his nightly habits. Since assuming command, he had rarely gone to the bar, and when he did, hadn’t taken liquor. Nor did he drink in his room.
It was therefore meet, right, and just, Ed Bitter decided, to annoy the sober sonofabitch. Bitter staggered into Douglass’s room with the girl under his arm.
Douglass was alone in his bed, writing on a clipboard propped against his knees.
“Why, Romeo, Romeo,” Douglass mocked him when he saw the giggling interpreter. “Wherefore goeth thou, Romeo?”
“If I can get a straight answer out of you,” Bitter said, carefully pronouncing each syllable, “I would like a straight answer to a straight question.”
He realized that he couldn’t think of a question, but that didn’t seem to be important.
“Both of your kills were confirmed,” Douglass said. “That makes four, right?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Bitter said. He was just sober enough to see that Douglass was smiling at his condition, which annoyed him. “I said, I wanted to ask you a straight question…”
“Generally speaking,” Douglass said, smiling, “the best technique for beginners is if the lady gets on her back and spreads her-2′ “Goddamn you, 19m serious.”
“Ask away,” Douglass replied. He laid down the clipboard he had been holding. Bitter saw that he was writing a letter. “Why did Canidy turn yellow?” Bitter asked. He was surprised to hear those words. “I thought we had agreed not to talk about him,” Douglass said. “I want to know why, goddamn it!”
“I don’t know, Ed,” Douglass said. “You were with him, goddamn it!”
“What brought this up all of a sudden?” Douglass asked. “Because I was scared out there today.”
You’re afraid it might get the best of you?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Bitter said.
“Well, you’re not alone,” Douglass said. “If that makes you feel any better.”
“Is that what happened? It got the better of Canidy?”
“I don’t know, Eddie,” Douglass said. “Probably.”
“But he was my friend Bitter said.
“For what it’s worth,” Douglass said, “he’s still my friend.”
“He’s a fucking coward, goddamn it!” Bitter said righteously, and then quickly walked out of Douglass’s room.
As he walked down the corridor, he realized he was crying. The Chinese girl looked at him, half concerned, half frightened.
: ELEVEN The Consulate Clenerul of the United Stutes Rabat, Morocco February 20, 1942
In the briefing he had received from Cynthia Chenowith in Washington, and later in Vichy at the hands of a mousy, schoolteacherish foreign service officer in the U.S. embassy, Canidy learned about the Alice in Wonderland diplomatic situation in France and in the French protectorate in Morocco.
Though the United States was at war with Germany, neither the United States nor Germany was now at war with France. That country, following the signing of the armistice agreement with the Germans at Compi&gne, was legally neutral. Consequently, the United States maintained an embassy at the French seat of government at Vichy and consulates and consulates general throughout the French colonial empire. The embassy in Paris stood empty, because that part of France was occupied by the Germans.