Part 21 (1/2)
”Who is he?” El Jefe asked.
”The Twenty-second's executive officer. But he really runs the outfit. 'Major, you're not going to believe this, but that wet-behind-the-ears second lieutenant you put on the road block? He's now a captain, and . . .'”
”That can't be helped,” Dunwiddie said. ”You are now a captain. And if this Major Connell is curious enough to ask Mattingly, Mattingly will either tell him how you got promoted or that it's none of his business.”
”Or tell him,” Hessinger said, ”just between them, that for reasons he doesn't understand, Jim was transferred to the DCI. Where . . . witness the black market goodies . . . he has already shown he's absolutely way over his head and a petty crook to boot.”
”You don't like Colonel Mattingly much, do you, Freddy?” El Jefe asked.
”He is a man of low principle,” Hessinger announced righteously.
Cronley laughed.
”Don't laugh,” Hessinger said. ”He's determined to get you out of chief, DCI-Europe, and himself in. You noticed he sent copies of that letter to the admiral and Ashton? Showing what a really nice guy he is and what an incompetent dummkopf black marketeer you are.”
”Where is Ashton, by the way?” Cronley asked.
”He asked for a car to take him into the PX in Munich,” Hessinger began.
”Christ, Freddy, we could have sent somebody shopping for him,” Cronley said. ”I don't want him breaking his other leg staggering around the PX on crutches.”
”I offered that,” Hessinger said. ”He refused. But don't worry.”
”Why the h.e.l.l not?”
”Because he really went to the orthopedic ward of the 98th General Hospital in Schwabing. I told Sergeant Miller-”
”Who?”
”Taddeus Miller. Staff sergeant. One of my guys,” Dunwiddie furnished.
”. . . to (a) not let him out of his sight, and (b) to call me and let me know where he really was.”
”You didn't think he was going to the PX?”
”He was lying when he told me that. I could see that.”
”You could see that he was lying?”
”I could see that he was lying. I always know.”
”You always know?”
”Just about all the time, I know. You and General Gehlen are the only ones I can't always tell.”
”Thank you very much,” Cronley said.
”I have to know why you think so,” El Jefe said.
”You don't want to know. He knows,” Hessinger said. ”It's not a criticism, it's a statement of fact.”
Which means he didn't suspect a thing about Rachel until I fessed up.
Which makes me wonder how low I've fallen in his estimation?
Or Tiny's?
How far is all the way down?
”Quickly changing the subject,” Dunwiddie said. ”What are you going to do with your black market goodies, Captain, sir?”
”I'm tempted to burn them, give them to the Red Cross . . .”
”But you can't, right, because of your mother?” Hessinger asked. ”Your parents?”
Cronley gave him an icy look, but didn't immediately reply. Finally he said, ”I don't have the time to just run off to Strasbourg to play the Good Samaritan, do I?”
”You might. You never know.”
”Freddy, you are aware that we're waiting to hear from Seven-K?” Cronley asked.
”Of course I am. What I am suggesting is that I don't think she's going to say 'Meet me at the Cafe Weitz tomorrow at noon.' There will probably be four or five days between her message and the meeting. Perhaps there will be time then. Or perhaps our trip to Vienna can be tied in with your trip to Strasbourg.”
”Got it all figured out, have you, Freddy?” El Jefe said.
”Not all figured out. I learned about Jim's family just now, when you did. But by the time we hear from Rahil, I will probably have a workable plan.”
”The thing I like about him is his immodesty,” El Jefe said.
”When one is a genius, one finds it hard to be modest,” Hessinger said solemnly.
”Jesus Christ, Freddy!” Cronley said, laughing.
”My own modesty compels me to admit that I didn't make that up,” Hessinger said. ”Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect, said it to a Chicago Tribune reporter.”
[TWO].
Quarters of the U.S. Military Government Liaison Officer The South German Industrial Development Organization Compound Pullach, Bavaria The American Zone of Occupied Germany 1625 8 January 1946 When the door closed on Lieutenant Colonel George H. Parsons and Major Warren W. Ashley, Cronley looked around the table at General Gehlen, Mannberg, El Jefe, Hessinger, and Tiny and said, ”Why does it worry me that they were so charming?”
Gehlen chuckled.
”I would say that it has something to do with a 'well done' message General Magruder sent Colonel Parsons,” Hessinger said. ”For the time being it is in their interest to be charming.”
”What are you talking about?” Dunwiddie asked.
”What 'well done' message?” Cronley asked.