“Just put it down anywhere,” Gisella said. , , I’ll decide where to put it later. , He set the table down, went to the door, and motioned for the policemen to pick up the FEG combination bar, phonograph, and radio. It just barely cleared the door, and it was necessary to move Gisella’s bed out of the way before they could get the radio up against the wall.
“That will be all, thank you,” Peis said to the policemen. “Don’t forget to take the blanket with you.”
“And the boxes in the truck, Herr Hauptsturmfuhrer? What do we do with those? v “You bring them up here, of course,” he snapped.
When they had gone, Gisella said, “Very nice. Whose is it?”
“It is a small gift, a token of respect from Standartenfuhrer Muller,” Peis said. “He hopes you are free to spend the evening with him.”
“Just the evening? Or dinner, too?” Gisella asked, artificially innocent.
“Listen to me, you dumb bitch,” Peis snapped. , , The Standartenfuhrer is a very important man. He can be very useful as a friend.” “To both of us,” she said.
“And very dangerous if displeased. And if he is displeased, I will be displeased.” “What time?” Gisella asked.
“I will be back here at quarter after six,” he said. We are to join the Standartenfuhrer at half past six. we? XX , it will be a small party,” he said. And then he added, ii want you to think it over, and consider why it is important for the Standartenfuhrer to have a good time.” “I will,” she said.
“Be outside at six-fifteen, he said. , si will be driving the Standartenfuhrer’s personal car.” He paused, and then added, to prove how important that Standartenfuhrer was, , , An Opel Admiral. ss “An Admiral? va Gisella asked. The Standartenfuhrer must be an important man. The only other Admiral Fve seen in Marburg is the Gauleiter’s.”
“You should consider yourself fortunate, Lielvchen,” Peis said, “to have attracted such a man.”
“I attracted you,” she said, smiling sweetly. , , Why not a Standartenfuhrer? vx [THREE] Headquarter-, Eighth United Staten Sir Force High Wycosbe 15 January 1943 It. Colonel Edmund T. Stevens was waiting for Canidy just inside the front door of the former girls’ school.
“You and I are being honored,” Stevens said dryly. “We are to share a VIP suite.
I hadn’t planned to stay over,” Canidy said. iii can’t stay over. I have things to do. 4″Neither had I, Stevens said. “That wasn t mentioned. I’ll have to buy underwear and a shirt and shaving things in the PX. XX
“Fuck em,” Canidy said. Let’s just claim the press of other duties.
“‘ “We can’t do that, Dick,” Stevens said. , We can’t let them win this one by default. If we donxt nonconcug then, by default, we concur. You know how the system worksl’ “Oh, goddamn the Air Corps!” Canidy fumed. It earned him a strange look from an Air Corps major across the foyer.
What Canidy had thought would be a meeting lasting no more than three or four hours had turned out to be a full day (a twelve-hour full day), plus five hours of the following day, sitting on a hard-bottomed uncomfortable chair.
By then, there was a foul taste in his mouth from all the coffee, and his ass was sore not only from all the sitting but also from a rash on the soft skin of his inner thighs. There was apparently something in his new PX shorts that his skin didnxt like. His upper thighs felt like they were on fire. And when the fire let up, they itched.
He hadnxt wanted to participate in the meeting at all, correctly suspecting the worst, and had argued futilely when Stevens had is asked3 him to meet him at High Wycombe at 0800, “Bedell Smith told David Bruce, 72 Stevens said, , , that it was important for us to send’ someone senior’–by that he meant David–together with our best technical people. “‘ “Doesn’t that leave me out?” Canidy replied, even though he suspected that he was going to have to go, period.
“Richard,” Stevens said patiently, “there is always a point beyond which resistance is futile. Eight-thirty at High Wycombe. What they call the properly appointed place, at the prescribed time, in the proper uniform. And with that in mind, wear your ribbons.” As Canidy had suspected, the purpose of the meeting was to “persuade” the OSS and Naval Intelligence to agree that’ after evaluating new intelligence data,” it had been concluded that earlier worries over the effect of German jet aircraft on the strategic bombing of the European landmass had been “overstated” and now posed little threat.