“Eisenhower doesn’t want that confrontation if it can be avoided. If we secretly import him, while taking pains to make sure de Gaulle knows, that’s something else. And, of course, the threat to replace de Gaulle with Admiral de Verbey will not be entirely a bluff. If Roosevelt decides that de Gaulle has to go, we’ll have de Verbey in place.”
“So we continue to let the admiral believ(! we’re going along with his steal-the-battleship idea in order to make him behave in England?”
“It really is still under consideration,” Doug lass said.
“It has gone from ‘impossible’ to ‘possible, but probably not worth the effort.”
“What about the plane? Is that just to make sure de Gaulle doesn’t miss the admiral? Or is there anything else?”
“I’m impressed, Dick,” Doug lass said.
“You’re learning that simply asking questions often gives things away.
In this case, your concern is not necessary. Colonel Stevens knows all about the African flight. To answer your question, yes, the Navy plane is the backup aircraft for the African mission. As soon as you land in England, it will be taken to a guarded hangar and stripped of its seats, the way the Pan American plane has been. We hope that de Gaulle will believe the airplane has been reserved for the admiral’s exclusive use and put in a hangar to await his pleasure. De Gaulle’s been after Eisenhower to get him a personal C-47, and Eisenhower hasn’t elected to give him one. We think de Gaulle’s monstrous ego will be bruised.”
“You are a devious man, Captain Doug lass,’ Canidy said, chuckling.
“Somehow, that sounds like a compliment,” Doug lass said.
“I guess around here it really is.”
“Right up there with chicanery, fraud, and false pretense,” Canidy said, “There’s one thing,” Doug lass said, “that I don’t want you to think of as simply another stage prop in this scenario.”
“What’s that?” “We have arranged for a battalion of infantry to guard Whitby House,” Doug lass said. “There are twelve hundred men in a battalion!”
–I thought a battalion was a bit excessive,” Doug lass said. “But Eisenhower overruled me. He seems to feel that de Gaulle couldn’t help but be impressed with the admiral’s importance if we chose to guard him with that large a force.”
“I could use maybe a company,” Canidy thought aloud.
“The others could just be there and do what they normally do.”
“Rather than make an issue of it, I decided just about the same thing,” Doug lass, said.
“But I’d like to make the point that you’re really going to have to guard him, Dick.” Canidy looked at him curiously.
“You’re suggesting something,” he said. “The admiral didn’t pose a real and present danger to de Gaulle so long as he was in New jersey,” Doug lass said.
“He will at Whitby House. You’ll have to keep that in mind. More important, you will have to impress it upon the commanding officer of the infantry battalion.”
“This Brigadier de Gaulle seems to be a charming fellow,” Canidy said.
“I think he really believes God appointed him to save France,” Doug lass said.
“People who take their orders directly from God are often difficult and dangerous.”
“How much of this can I tell Whittaker, Martin, and Fulmar?” Canidy asked. “When you think Whittaker should know, you are authorized to tell him there is a bona fide threat to Admiral de Verbey’s life.”
“And the others?”
“I’ll leave it up to you, but I can think of no reason they have to know.”
“Then why are you sending them along in the first place?” Doug lass and Stevens exchanged glances. “Tomorrow morning Doug lass said, “Chief Ellis will deliver to Colonel Stevens a small suitcase. It will contain a little over one minion dollars in American, English, French, and Swiss currency. Most of it will be used for other purposes by the London station, but possibly two hundred fifty thousand dollars of it-Murphy is still negotiating with Sidi el Ferruch-will be sent to Morocco. Fulmar and Martin will take it in.” Canidy looked at Doug lass for a long moment considering that. The money didn’t surprise him. Fine was carrying a hundred thousand dollars in cash. Something else bothered him.