Whittaker nodded.
“Poor bastards!”
“Thank you for your assistance, Commander,” Whittaker said formally.
“Let’s get out of here, Ellis.”
When they got in the Buick Roadmaster, Ellis reached into the glove compartment and came out with a pint bottle of Old Overholt. He handed it to Whittaker.
“Good for the sinuses,” he said.
“I wish I had gone with you to Warm Springs, Ellis,” Whittaker said tensely.
“It would have given me a chance to ask Uncle Franklin why the hell we have abandoned those guys.”
“I suppose that’s why the Colonel wanted you to run around in the woods in Virginia,” Ellis said.
“Every time you tell off your uncle Franklin, he has to pick up the pieces.”
“And what, exactly, he plans to do about it,” Whittaker said.
“You might as well hear this now,” Ellis said.
“They asked for money. There is Army brass, both here and in Australia, who are against it, because they think the Japs are using those people… what the Colonel calls ‘turned agents.”” “How much did they ask for?” Whittaker asked.
Ellis thought it was a strange question, but told him.
“A million, in gold, gold coins, for openers.”
“They say what for?”
“We’re talking in the clear, Captain,” Ellis said.
“You can’t expect them to offer details.”
“When can I get to see the Colonel?
“Whittaker asked.
“He said that I should go to Virginia and pick you up and see if we could raise MFS,” Ellis said.
“I think he wanted to see if you thought they were being controlled by the Japs. To answer your question, Captain, that’s where we’re going now”
[THREE]
Colonel William J. Donovan was in civilian clothing: a well-cut, doublebreasted Glen plaid suit, a crisp white shirt, and a red-and-blue finely patterned necktie. He looked, Whittaker thought, like a successful lawyer about to sue Chrysler or DuPont for a lot of money.
When Whittaker entered the office, Donovan walked around his desk with his hand extended, and then the handshake gave way to a quick embrace.
“Good to see you’Jimmy,”he said.
“How did you find the place in Virginia?”
“I’d been there before,” Jimmy said.
“And Staley drew a map. No problem.”
“Why do I suspect you purposely misunderstood me?” Donovan asked.
“You mean ‘what did I think of the place’?”
Donovan nodded.
“Baker and I crossed swords again,” Whittaker said.
“He seems to feel I ‘manifested a belligerent and uncooperative attitude.” I also ‘subjected a trainee to public humiliation.”” “Oh, Jimmy,” Donovan said, both angry and resigned.
“What the hell was that all about?”
“Well, the belligerent and uncooperative attitude is something that seems to happen when I get in the same room with Baker,” Whittaker said.
“It seems to be contagious. Canidy has the same thing happen to him.”
“We’re talking about you, not Dick Canidy,” Donovan said.
“What happened with the trainee? What was he doing so wrong you felt you had to humiliate him?”
“Her,” Whittaker corrected him.
“I kissed her.”
“Cynthia?” Donovan asked. Whittaker nodded.
“I don’t know why I’m smiling,” Donovan added.
“I’m sure she didn’t think it was funny. You’ll notice that I am assuming she didn’t want to be kissed.”
“That girl doesn’t know what she wants,” Whittaker said.
“For example, she has some absurd notion that she wants to go operational. When I saw her, she was all dressed up in fatigues and carrying a Springfield at port arms. I found her irresistible. I wonder what a psychiatrist would make of that?”
“You made your peace with Baker?” Donovan asked.
“I left,” Whittaker said.
“He’s probably still mad.”
“You left?” Donovan asked, confused.
“You mean, when Ellis came for you?”
“I left about thirty minutes after I got there,” Whittaker said.
“I’ve been at the house.”
“I left orders that you were to be taken out there,” Donovan said coldly.
“Staley told me,” Whittaker said.
“He was pretty insistent.”
Donovan looked at him coldly, waiting for a further explanation.
“I could offer some excuse, like I would probably have broken Baker’s arms if I stayed, but the real reason I left was that Baker was acting as if he was controlling me.”
“That’s what he’s paid to do,” Donovan said sharply.