“He’s headed to the Schlosshotel to play golf?”
“Either that, or he’s going to your meeting. I’d bet on the golf.”
“And he needs that armored column to get to the golf course?”
“Ike didn’t think he needed it either. He hates it. Actually, he said it was preposterous. But he finally deferred to the professional judgment of General Greene.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Can you keep a secret?”
“Sometimes.”
“Those MPs are really CIC agents.”
“Really?” His surprise was evident.
“You didn’t know that CIC is in charge of protecting Ike and Patton and people like that?”
“Not until just now.”
“And running those security details is an additional duty for Tony. My husband.”
“Fascinating. And you know what else is fascinating? There’s nobody coming either way on the road.”
“So?”
“So if I kissed you nobody would see.”
She caught his hands and held them against the seat between them.
“Tony heard rumors that die-hard Nazis or Communists were going to try to assassinate Ike and General Patton. He didn’t think they were all that credible, but you don’t take chances. He went to General Greene, and General Greene went to Ike and Patton and told them he thought the threat was credible. Ike finally gave in and accepted. General Patton said he could protect himself, thank you just the same. So, now you know.”
“Did you hear what I just said?”
“I’m surprised you’re not riding around in one of those M-8s. You’re CIC and an Armor second lieutenant.”
“Actually, I’m Cavalry and a captain…”
“Only since last week,” she interrupted.
“… and they pulled me out of the Basic Officer Course at Fort Knox when I wasn’t quite halfway through it.”
“Why’d they do that?”
“They needed someone to run the CIC. What do I have to do to get you to kiss me?”
“Put your hands behind your back and promise to keep them there.”
“Deal.”
She looked in his eyes. “Oh, Jimmy, what are we going to do?”
“Stop talking.”
Approximately forty-five seconds later, Rachel pushed him away, said, “You better get that lipstick off,” and then set about repairing her own.
When they were moving up the road again, Rachel said, “I’m really sorry we did that.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“I won’t be able to think of anything else for the next twenty-four hours.”
And then she groped him.
PART VI
[ONE]
A captain wearing the aiguillette and lapel insignia of an aide-de-camp to a brigadier general got out of an armchair in the lobby as Rachel and Jimmy entered. He walked up to them.
“Paul,” Rachel said.
“Rachel, the general said if you don’t have time to wait for the colonel in the tearoom, we can take him into Frankfurt when this is over.”
“I’ll wait,” Rachel said. “Paul, this is Captain Cronley.”
The captain smiled and put out his hand. “Who I will now take off your hands. If you’ll come with me, Captain?”
“Thank you for everything, Mrs. Schumann,” Cronley said.
“My pleasure, Captain. Perhaps we’ll see one another again.”
The captain led Cronley across the lobby to a corridor, and then down the corridor to a door. There were two men standing by the door. They were wearing blue triangle insignia; Cronley guessed they were CIC agents. One of them opened the door and the other waved Cronley through it.
He found himself in what he decided was a private dining room. Three tables had been put together end-to-end at the far side of the room. There were more than a dozen officers at them. One of them, in the center, was Rear Admiral Souers. There were two brigadier generals — one of whom was General Greene. And Colonel Mattingly with three other full colonels. And a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel—
Jesus, that’s Clete! What the hell is he doing here?
—then several other lieutenant colonels, including Lieutenant Colonel Schumann, whom Cronley had not seen since the incident at Kloster Grünau, and then several majors.
Some were wearing SHAEF shoulder insignia and a few had the new EUCOM shoulder insignia, a variation of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force flaming sword insignia, made necessary when SHAEF had become European Command. The rest had what looked like a striped ball on their shoulders. This was the insignia of Army Ground Forces, which adorned the shoulders of many warriors assigned to the Pentagon.
“I’m glad you could finally find time for us, Cronley,” Admiral Souers said. His tone was amused, not sarcastic. Several of the officers at the tables chuckled. “Take a seat, son.”
Souers indicated a row of a dozen straight-backed chairs against the wall behind Cronley. He had just settled into one when Souers stood and barked, “Attention on deck!”
Three men entered the room.
“Keep your seats, please, gentlemen,” the tallest among them said, and then, smiling at Cronley, took the straight-backed chair next to him.
He took a pack of Chesterfields from the pocket of a linen golf jacket. By the time he got a cigarette to his lips, one of the officers with him, a full colonel wearing the aiguillette and lapel insignia of an aide-de-camp to a general of the Army, had a flaming Zippo waiting.
“Good morning, sir,” Souers said.
“Admiral. It’s good to see you,” General of the Army Dwight David Eisenhower said.
“With your permission, sir?” Souers asked.
Ike gave permission with a wave of the cigarette in his hand.
Jimmy saw the general’s fingers were deeply yellow tobacco-stained.
“I think, with a couple of exceptions,” Souers said, “we all know one another. The exceptions are my Marine aide-de-camp. While Lieutenant Colonel Frade is a Marine — a distinguished one, he has the Navy Cross — he’s not really my aide. That’s to keep people from asking questions. Colonel Frade has been running OSS operations in the Southern Cone of South America.
“The other officer who needs introduction is sitting next to General Eisenhower. Not one of the colonels, the captain. Captain Cronley is the officer charged with protecting Gehlen and Company.”
Cronley saw Cletus Frade looking at him. Frade’s face was expressionless.
What did I expect? That he’d wave at me, or wink, with General Eisenhower sitting next to me?
Frade nodded his head, just perceptibly. Cronley, deciding Eisenhower couldn’t see him, winked.
“I sort of thought that’s who you probably were,” General Eisenhower said, turning to Cronley. “The President told me what you did in South America. Well done, son. I’m glad I’ve had this chance to meet you.”
He gave Cronley his hand.
Cronley said, “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
“How do I get this started?” Souers asked rhetorically. “First things first is usually a good idea.
“Everyone knows that the OSS is now history. When that happened, as you all know, the Research and Analysis Branch of the OSS was transferred to the State Department and everything else to the War Department, with orders to shut everything down as quickly as possible.
“There was an exception to this otherwise blanket order. The President ordered the War Department to continue certain OSS operations which he considered necessary in the national interest.