FORWARDED AUTHORITY DAMCY CAPT WAC.
BRUCE AMD/OR STEVENS WILL HAVE MESSAGE IS HANDS NO LATER |
THAN 1230 LONDON TIME. 3
QUOTE TOP SECRET OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE EYES ONLY BRUCB AND |
STEVENS I
1. ON SAFE ARRIVAL STATION VII INFORMED BY YACHTSMAN EX LAX I
AND TIN CAN ONE IN HANDS OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES STATION V. ‘i
TIKCAN TWO SAFE WELL STATION VII.
2. SURPRISE BOARDING BY BLACKGUARD AND RIVER POLICE YACHT
STATION V RESULTED DISCOVERY EX LAX OPERATIONAL FUNDS.
HUNGARIANS PRESUMABLY BELIEVE FUNDS INTENDED FOR PURCHASE
BLACK MARKET FOOD. EX LAX AND TIN CAN ONE ARRESTED AS BLACK
MARKETEERS. SENTENCED NINE ZERO DAYS HARD LABOR COAL MINES
STATION V.
3. YACHTSMAN REPORTS DOCUMENTS NOT REPEAT NOT QUESTIONED.
4. YACHTSMAN STATES SITUATION FAIRLY COMMON. ABSENCE
PREPAYMENT GRAFT BLACKGUARD AND RIVER POLICE REGULARLY
ARREST BLACK MARKETEERS CONFISCATE GOODS OR MONEY CONFINE
LOCAL JAIL AT MINE HARD LABOR AS LESSON. YACHTSMAN
BELIEVES THEY WILL BE RELEASED WITHOUT FURTHER DIFFICULTY
PRIOR COMPLETION SENTENCE.
5. HAVE TAKEN FOLLOWING ACTION.
A. WILL REMAIN HERE PENDING DECISIONS ACTIONS ENUMERATED
LATER HEREIN.
B. TIN CAN TWO FLOWN CAIRO FOR ICING THERE. RECEIPT THIS
MESSAGE WILL CONFIRM SAFE ARRIVAL.
C. YACHTSMAN ORDERED TO STATION V TO PERSONALLY CONFIRM
LOCATION OF EX LAX AND TIN CAN ONE AND TO EXPLORE
POSSIBILITY ESCAPE OR RELEASE BY FORCE. EXPECTED TRAVEL
TIME FOUR REPEAT FOUR DAYS. STATION V TO STATION VII
COMMUNICATIONS SLOW AND UNRELIABLE REPEAT UNRELIABLE.
6. REQUEST PERMISSION EFFECT RELEASE EX LAX AND TIN CAN ONE
BEST MEANS AT MY DISCRETION. IF SO REQUIRE IMMEDIATE
DISPATCH VIA STATION VIII NEXT AVAILABLE HUNGARIAN
SPEAKING TEAM. STANDARD TEAM EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE AUGMENTED
WITH THIRTY POUNDS COMPOSITION C2 AMD EQUIVALENT TWENTY
THOUSAND US DOLLARS IN HUNGARIAN, GERMAN AND YUGOSLAVIAN
CURRENCY. TEAM SHOULD HAVE HUNGARIAN AND OR YUGOSLAVIAN
IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS.
7. IM VIEW NECESSARY ABSENCE EX LAX CONTROLLER SUGGEST FINE
AS TEMPORARY REPLACEMENT.
CftHIDY
“Oh, shitf” Chief Ellis said.
He picked up the telephone and dialed a number from memory.
Staley’s familiar voice came on the line: “Capitol 31991.”
“Is he up yet?” Ellis asked.
“I heard the crapper Hush,” Staley reported.
“Well, don’t say nothing unless he tells you to go anywhere but here,” Ellis said.
“If he does, say I called and said I think he should come here straight from there.”
“What’s up, Ellis?” Colonel Wild Bill Donovan’s voice asked.
“There’s something I think you ought to see as soon as you can, Sir.”
“Will it wait until after breakfast, would you say?”
“Yes, Sir, it’ll keep that long.”
“We’ll be there inside of forty-five minutes,” Donovan said, and the line went dead.
Ellis tapped the cutoff button on the telephone with his finger and dialed another number from memory.
“Capitol 3-2772,”a male voice answered.
“Captain Douglass?” Ellis asked.
“Who’s calling, please?” the man asked.
“Marmon, goddamn you, is that you?”
“You don’t have to bite my ass off, Chief,” Marmon said righteously.
“I
thought I recognized your voice.”
“Is the Captain there?”
“You want me to get him?”
“No. Shit! I’m taking a census.”
In a moment. Captain Douglass came on the line.
“Good morning, Chief,” he said.
“What’s up?”
“I don’t know what’s going on where you’re going, but if you can put it off, I think it would be a good idea if you came in.”
“He ask for me?” i
“No, Sir, but I think he probably will.”
“I’ll be there in half an hour,” Captain Douglass said.
“Thank you, Chief.”
Ellis hung the telephone up.
“That important, huh?” Warrant Officer Vose asked.
Ellis looked at him.
“If you’re fishing for an explanation,” Ellis said, “don’t.”
“I read the decrypt,”Vose protested.
“That’s only because we haven’t figured out a way for you to decrypt stuff without reading it,” Ellis said matter-of factly
He got up and walked to the safe and worked the combination. From a two-foot-high stack of folders piled precariously in the bottom, he pulled a thick one with a top secret cover sheet and EX LAX written on it with a thick pointed pen.
He carried it to the desk and started going through it. There was no more of a question in his mind that the Colonel would want the paperwork in front of him than there was that he would want to talk Canidy’s Eyes Only Operational Immediate over with Captain Douglass. By the time either of them walked into the office, the paperwork would be ready for them.