“No, we don’t need him for that. We want him for several other reasons: He’s half German, knows Germany like a native, knows Morocco, and can pass for an Arab. He’s also very well connected in the United States. These together make him uniquely valuable.”
“To me as well.”
“I can well understand that.”
“Go on.”
“In conclusion, I would like Eric and Dick Canidy to effect a rendezvous with our agent, while you transport the French officer to Safi. Eric, Dick, and the agent will meet you there and proceed to the submarine.”
El Ferruch took a long look at Fulmar. “Eric,” he said at last, “do you want to go?”
“I think, my friend,” Fulmar said with unusual seriousness for him, “that I’m less immune to the German infection than you are. I better go.”
“All right,” el Ferruch said. “Then let’s return to the question of recompense. Make me a better offer.”
“One hundred thousand dollars strikes me as quite handsome,” Baker said.
“Mr. Baker, I think you should understand that for me the issue now is not money. There’s much more money for me in French gold and paintings. The issue is dignity-what the Chinese call face. I’ll have to take your proposals to Thami el Glaoui for approval. My approach must be dignified.”
“How dignified?”
“More than one hundred thousand dollars.”
“OK, one hundred ten thousand dollars.”
“All right, I agree. But this could take time,” he said, raising himself from his cross-legged sitting position. “Perhaps a week or two. Meanwhile, all of us need to relax. What do you have in mind to do next?”
“Canidy and I will return to the consulate in Rabat tomorrow. We’ll wait there for your word.”
“Very good,” el Ferruch said. “By the way, Mr. Baker, do you play chess?”
“Why, yes, Your Excellency, in fact I do.”
“I thought so. Eric, Mr. Canidy,” he said, looking at them, “I imagine you’d like to spend time together. Come, Mr. Baker, we’ll play chess.”
Headquarters, U.S. Armed Forces, Far East Corregidor Commonwealth of the Philippines 23 February 1942
The Signal Message Center received the message (PRIORITY FROM CHIEF OF STAFF PERSONAL ATTENTION COMMANDING GENERAL US ARMY FORCES FAR EAST) in two parts, radio reception having been interrupted when a shard of Japanese artillery fire sliced through the long copper wire antenna mounted on the hill over Malinta Tunnel. When it was restrung, and USAFFE reported itself back on the air, the balance of the message was retransmitted, decoded, and sent by messenger to General Douglas MacArthur.
By direction of the President, General Douglas MacArthur was to proceed at the earliest possible time to Mindanao Island, where he would determine the feasibility of the lengthy defense of that island in the event it became possible to defend successfully the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor. After no more than seven days on Mindanao, General MacArthur would proceed by means of his own choosing to Brisbane, Australia, where he would assume command E of all U.S. military forces in the western Pacific. He was authorized to designate whichever general officer he considered best qualified to assume command of U.S. Forces in the Philippine Islands.
MacArthur was being ordered out of the Philippines at a time when his troops in Bataan were singing, with ever-increasing bitterness:
“We are the battling bastards of Bataan, No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam;
No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces;
No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces;
And nobody gives a damn.”
His forces were being whipped, not because of a lack of valor, and certainly not because of a lack of highly skilled leadership, but because they had been left high and dry, without resupply worth mentioning of food, personnel, medicine, aircraft, or munitions. As constitutional Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, the President bore the ultimate responsibility for the decision not to resupply the Philippines.
And now Franklin Roosevelt was ordering him out, ordering him to desert his men just when they needed him most.
MacArthur’s face whitened when he read the cable, and he sharply demanded that his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Huff, locate Mrs. MacArthur. That told Huff that whatever the cable said was really bad news. MacArthur always turned to his wife when he was deeply emotional, She could often temper his responses, and he seemed to understand that was often desirable.