Part 41 (1/2)
”Say 'good night' to the nice people, Captain Cronley. We have to get up with the birds to go flying.”
- Cronley showed Frade to his room, two doors down from his, and asked, ”What did you tell Mattingly about Orlovsky?”
”I told him that I had made it perfectly clear to you that you were going to let General Gehlen handle it.”
”You're devious, Colonel.”
”Thank you,” Clete said.
Then he punched Jimmy affectionately on the shoulder and went into his room.
- Ten minutes later, as Cronley came out of the shower, there was a knock at the door.
That has to be Rachel. Is she out of her mind?
A moment later, she pushed past him into the room.
”What about your husband?”
”He, the general, and Iron Lung are having a nightcap. We have thirty minutes, maybe a little more.”
”And if we don't and he goes to your room and you're not there?”
”I'll tell him I took a walk.”
By then she was sitting on the bed, removing her shoes.
Their mating didn't take long, which Cronley decided was probably because of what she had done to him going to Pullach and back.
As she dressed, she asked, ”What was that serious problem you dealt with to everybody's satisfaction, and Colonel Frade didn't want to talk about?”
”If he doesn't want to talk about it, that means I can't.”
She didn't press the question, and three minutes later she was gone.
But something about her asking it bothered him.
He couldn't define what bothered him, and decided it was just feminine curiosity.
He took another shower and fell into bed.
IX.
[ ONE ].
Schleissheim U.S. Army Airfield Munich, American Zone of Occupation, Germany 0645 3 November 1945 Cletus Frade followed Jim Cronley into the Weather/Flight Planning room at Base Operations and watched as a sergeant gave Cronley a weather briefing.
Then he followed Cronley to a row of what looked like lecterns, or headwaiter's tables, where pilots, standing up, prepared their flight plans.
”What do you think of the weather, Jimmy?”
”It's a little dicey. And since I will be transporting a senior officer, I thought I'd file IFR.”
”Could you make it to Kloster Grnau VFR?”
”In this kind of weather, the only way to get into Kloster Grnau International is by following CC Flight Rules. But, yeah, I could. I will, after I drop you off in Frankfurt, if that's what you're asking. Not a problem.”
”CC for Chasing Cows?” Clete asked, smiling.
Jimmy smiled back and nodded.
”What would happen if you took off from here on a Local VFR, closed it out in the air, and then went CC to Kloster Grnau?”
”You want to go to Kloster Grnau? What about Frankfurt?”
”Answer the question.”
”Why are we going to sneak into Kloster Grnau?”
”Because General Gehlen called last night and said he would really like a word with me before I go to Argentina. And I don't want Mattingly to know I had a final word with General Gehlen before I went to Argentina. Which means that after I have a final word with General Gehlen, before you fly me to Frankfurt so that I can go to Argentina you should avoid telling Colonel Mattingly-”
”That you had a final word with General Gehlen before you went to Argentina?”
”My, you are clever for a young Army officer.”
They were smiling at each other.
”Don't let this go to your head, Colonel, sir, but after you go to Argentina, I will miss you.”
”Yeah. Me, too, Jimmy.”
Jimmy folded the aerial chart on which he had been about to prepare his flight plan and stuffed it in his jacket.
Then the two of them walked out of the Weather/Flight Planning room and the Base Operations building and started looking for the Storch.
[ TWO ].
Kloster Grnau Schollbrunn, Bavaria American Zone of Occupation, Germany 0740 3 November 1945 As the Storch made the final approach to Kloster Grnau, Clete saw an ambulance parked just off the end of the runway and of course felt compelled to comment: ”Oh, an ambulance is on station. I guess they've seen you try to land here before.”
Jimmy didn't reply.