Weston searched his mind for a face to go with "Captain Banning," but failed. Yet he judged from the tone of Everly's voice that he was being told the truth.
"Doing what?"
"Keeping an eye on the Japs. Troop strength. Locations of units. Counting artillery pieces and trucks, that kind of stuff."
"Espionage," Weston said without thinking.
"No. More like reconnaissance. I never took off my uniform or anything like that. I never thought I could get away with trying to pass myself off as a Jap."
"I'm surprised," Weston thought aloud, "that they didn't have you work-ing in Intelligence on The Rock."
"I don't think anybody but maybe the Colonel and the exec knew I ever worked for Captain Banning."
"What about Captain Banning?" Weston asked, confused, adding, "I don't remember seeing him on The Rock."
"The first time we came under fire, when the Japs first landed, long before we pulled back to The Rock, Captain Banning got hit. Artillery. He took enough shrapnel so they didn't dare move him right away. So he found himself behind the Jap lines. Then the Army started shelling where he was hiding. Didn't hurt him much, but the concussion got his eyes. Or maybe his brain. Anyway, it made him blind. When they finally got him through the Jap lines and to the hospital on The Rock, he was in pretty bad shape. Finally, they evac-uated him on one of the submarines that came to The Rock to take the gold off."
"Christ!" Weston said.
"And I guess he never said anything about me to anybody," Everly said, adding, "He was a hell of a good Marine officer."
From you, that's quite a compliment. I wonder what you think of me?
"I wish I knew more about Intelligence than I do," Weston said. "What I really know is nothing. I'm an airplane driver."
"You'll do all right, Mr. Weston," Everly said. "You learn fast."
I'll be damned. I've been complimented. And I don't think Everly would say that unless he meant it.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to the General," Weston said.
"I never talked to a general before," Everly said as he bent over to pick up his Thompson.
[FOUR]
Headquarters, U.S. Forces in the Philippines
Davao Oriental Province
Mindanao, Commonwealth of the Philippines
0625 Hours 9 October 1942
Breakfast in the Officers' Mess of United States Forces in the Philippines con-sisted of freshly squeezed pineapple juice, fresh pineapple chunks, and bana-nas.
Brigadier General Wendell Fertig, sitting at the head of the table, apolo-gized to the members of the mess for not having coffee, bread, eggs, bacon, or ham, but as soon as he acquired a G-4 (Supply) Officer, providing such neces-sities would be high on his list of priorities.
Present at the table were Captain James B. Weston, Second Lieutenant Percy L. Everly, and Second Lieutenant Robert Ball.
Weston noted that Everly and Ball had also acquired broad-brimmed cam-paign hats, onto which were pinned brass second lieutenant's bars. And Ev-erly's had a USMC insignia pinned to it. Like Weston himself, Everly had obviously kept his insignia even when it made no sense at all to keep his tat-tered, worn-beyond-any-utility uniform.
Why is that little piece of metal so important to us? God knows, there are no impressionable blondes around to dazzle with our membership in The Corps. So why is it important to us, in these circumstances, that no one mistake us for soldiers?
Two additional officers appeared at the mess; that is to say, the porch of General Fertig's quarters trembled as someone started up the ladderlike stairs. When they looked, two men appeared. One was dressed like General Fertig, in baggy white cotton shirt and trousers and a crude straw hat. He had a Thomp-son.45 caliber submachine gun slung from his shoulder.
The second was wearing a battered khaki uniform. The sleeves of his khaki shirt-onto the collar points of which were pinned the railroad tracks of a cap-tain and the crossed flags of the Signal Corps-had been torn off above the elbows, and his khaki trousers had been torn off above the knees. He wore a pith helmet and a web belt, from which hung a.1911A1.45 automatic in a leather holster green with mildew. He had a 1917 Enfield.30-06 rifle slung from his shoulder. He carried a rucksack-obviously heavy-in his hand.
"Introductions are apparently in order," he said. "Gentlemen, my chief of staff, Captain Charles Hedges. Hedges, this is Captain Weston, a Marine offi-cer who has placed himself and his men-including Lieutenant Everly-under our command. You know Lieutenant Ball."
Hedges wordlessly shook Weston's and Everly's hands.
"General, this is Captain Buchanan," Hedges said. "Late of General Sharp's headquarters."
"I believe I met the Captain," Fertig said.
"Yes, Sir," Buchanan said. "You were a colonel at the time."
"A lieutenant colonel, to be precise," Fertig said, ignoring what could have been an accusation. "How are you, Buchanan?"
"Very well, Sir, thank you."
"Can I offer you some breakfast?"
"Yes, Sir. Thank you."
"Sergeant!" Fertig called, raising his voice. The Filipino sergeant ap-peared. "Will you get these gentlemen some breakfast, please?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Sit down, please, gentlemen," Fertig said, and then looked intently at Buchanan. "You're aware, of course, that General Sharp was ordered by Gen-eral Wainwright to surrender his command to the Japanese?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Do I correctly infer by your presence here that you saw it as your duty not to enter into Japanese captivity?"
"Yes, Sir."
"And you are willing to place yourself... Are you alone, Captain?"
"No, Sir. I have eight men, Americans, with me."
"Are you willing to place yourself and your men under my command?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Welcome to United States Forces in the Philippines," Fertig said, lean-ing across the table to shake Buchanan's hand. "After you've had your break-fast, we'll have a private chat."
"Yes, Sir."
"In the meantime-curiosity overwhelms me-what does that bag con-tain? It seems unusually heavy."
"It's an M94, Sir," Buchanan said. "Device, Cryptographic, M94."
"Enlighten me," Fertig said.
Buchanan put the bag on the table, unfastened the straps, and took from it a small metal box. On the top was a small brass plate.
=SECRET=
DEVICE, CRYPTOGRAPHIC, MODEL 94
SERIAL NUMBER 145
IT IS ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN TO REMOVE THIS DEVICE
FROM ITS ASSIGNED CRYPTOGRAPHIC FACILITY
=SECRET=
"Things... collapsed... so quickly, Sir, that I didn't have a chance to destroy this," Buchanan said. "I didn't want the Japs to have the chance to see how it works. They could have, if I had only rendered it inoperable-by shoot-ing it up, or burning it-so I took it with me. With the idea of throwing it into the sea. If I buried it somewhere, and was subsequently captured, the Japanese are very good at interrogation...."
"This thing works?" Fertig asked.
"Yes, Sir."
"Frankly, Captain, I was hoping your heavy bag was laden with twenty-dollar gold coins," Fertig said. "But now... this device is literally worth more to USFIP than its weight in gold. Ball, how far away are we from having an operating radio station?"