“Gentlemen,” he said, “I think I can sum this up in a few words. The exigencies of the current political situation vis-à-vis the Soviets have laid on your shoulders one hell of a burden. I have every confidence that you will successfully deal with it, because I have, as the President does, absolute confidence in Admiral Souers and every officer in this room.” He paused. “Right down to the young captain beside me.” That earned him the chuckles he expected. “And now I hear the summons of the links. Thank you for coming.”
Eisenhower touched Cronley’s shoulder, smiled at him, and then walked out of the room. His aides followed.
The only reason he was here was to make sure everybody knows that what we’re doing has his and Truman’s approval.
Souers waited until the door had closed after Eisenhower, and then said: “A break is in order. There’s coffee and doughnuts in the tearoom, out the door, down the corridor, and turn right. And while you’re drinking your coffee, if you happened to introduce one another, that’d kill two birds with one stone. We’ll reconvene back here in half an hour.” He looked at his watch. “Say at eleven-thirty.”
Cronley saw that both Mattingly and Frade were walking toward him.
Jimmy thought that Frade looked just about as impressive in his uniform as Mattingly did in his.
Jesus, he really is a lieutenant colonel. I don’t think I took that in until just now, when I saw him in his Marine Corps uniform.
On the other hand, I really am a captain, and who would have believed that?
I have a hard time believing it, even looking in a mirror.
But Eisenhower called me “captain” and who am I to argue with a five-star?
Mattingly got to him first.
“Be very careful, Captain Cronley, about what you say, and remember the less you say about anything, the better.”
Clete arrived as Jimmy was saying, “Yes, sir.”
Mattingly left, but Clete had either heard what he said or seen the looks on their faces.
“What was that all about?”
“I’m fine, Clete. How about you?”
“Are you? How are you doing?”
Cronley shrugged.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about, but it will have to wait until this is over. Let’s go find the tearoom.”
Fine. That’ll give me a chance to introduce you to my new girlfriend. She’s waiting for her husband in there.
[TWO]
In the tearoom, Cronley headed straight for the doughnut table. He wolfed down two of the enormous white sugar-coated cakes, and reached for a third.
“They don’t feed you at your monastery?” Frade asked.
“I didn’t have any breakfast. I had to get up in the middle of the night… and then had to take off as soon as I could see the far end of the runway.”
“You flew here? I mean you flew here?”
Jimmy nodded.
“In a Piper Cub? What does the Army call them? L-4s?”
“In a Storch.”
“Whose Storch?”
“I guess you could say mine. I have two of them.”
“Mattingly didn’t say anything about you having a Storch. Or Storches. Or about you flying.”
“He was probably hoping that on my way here I would fly into one of the many rock-filled clouds we have in scenic Germany and he wouldn’t have to talk about me at all.”
“Why do I suspect that everything is not peachy-keen between you and Mattingly? What’s that all about?”
“I’m sure he’ll tell you in detail just as soon as he has the chance.”
“I’m shocked. The way you talked about him in Argentina, I thought you were convinced he could walk on water and make the blind see with a gentle touch of his hand.”
Cronley was about to reply when three officers — a full colonel, a lieutenant colonel, and a major — walked up to them. All three had Army Ground Forces shoulder insignia.
“Colonel Frade, I’m Jack Mullaney,” the colonel said. “From General Magruder’s shop? We met, very briefly, earlier.”
Shop? What the hell does “shop” mean?
“How are you, Colonel?” Frade asked as he shook Mullaney’s hand.
“And this is Lieutenant Colonel Parsons and Major Ashley.”
Frade shook their hands.
“This is Captain Cronley,” Frade said.
Everybody shook hands.
“Actually, Colonel Frade, we were hoping Captain Cronley could point us toward the officer who will be running Mattingly’s shop in Munich. Parsons and Ashley will be joining it, and would like to make their manners.”
What the hell is he talking about?
Mattingly’s shop in Munich?
“Make their manners”? What the hell does that mean?
“Sir, I don’t understand,” Cronley confessed politely.
“Perhaps the captain hasn’t been brought into the Pullach operation,” Lieutenant Colonel Parsons said.
“Is Pullach what you’re talking about, sir?” Cronley asked. “You said Munich.”
“Is that where the permanent compound will be, Jimmy?” Frade asked.
Cronley nodded.
“Well, now that we’re all talking about the same thing,” Colonel Mullaney said, “can you point out the officer in charge of the Pullach operation for us, Captain?”
“I’m in charge of Pullach, sir,” Cronley said.
The three Pentagon intelligence officers were visibly surprised.
“Well, I will be when we get it open,” Cronley clarified. “It’s not quite finished.”
Major Ashley blurted what all three of them were obviously thinking: “But you’re only a captain!”
Frade chuckled and then took a bite of his doughnut.
“And a very junior captain at that,” he said, with a smile, when he had finished chewing and swallowing.
“I see we’re not all talking about the same thing,” Colonel Mullaney said. “Let me rephrase: Captain, who will be in command of the Pullach operation when it’s up and running? That’s to whom we wish to pay our respects. Would you point him out, please?”
Frade pointed to Cronley.
“Colonel, can I try to clear this up?” he asked.
“Please do, Colonel,” Mullaney said coldly.
“First, as to who will command Pullach. On the way over here, Admiral Souers said that Colonel Mattingly had told him that General Gehlen — who can be very difficult — and Oberst Mannberg — Gehlen’s Number Two — and Captain Cronley got along very well, and for that reason he had decided to give command of Pullach to Cronley. The admiral told me Mattingly thought that was a great idea.”
“How can the captain command the Pullach operation if he will be outranked by Colonel Parsons and Major Ashley, whom General Magruder has assigned to Pullach?”
“I was about to get to that, Colonel,” Frade said. “What I was going to say is that this new organization, the Central Intelligence Group, or whatever the hell it will be called, will inherit from the OSS its somewhat unorthodox philosophy of who does what. That is, the best qualified man gets the job, and his rank has nothing to do with it.”
“I’m afraid I can’t accept that,” Colonel Mullaney said. “I’ll discuss this with General Magruder and Admiral Souers.”
“Well, I see we’re off to a great start,” Frade said. “I should have known something like this would have to be dealt with.”
“Exactly what do you mean by that, Colonel?” Mullaney challenged more than a little nastily.