The Assassination Option Part 60

Mrs. White was standing with her arm around Mrs. Likharev. The younger boy was standing beside them with a hot dog in one hand and a Hershey bar in the other. Captain Dunwiddie was holding Franz Josef.

Cronley felt his eyes water and his throat tighten.

"We have a problem with this one," Max Ostrowski said.

"What?"

"He c.r.a.pped his pants. He p.i.s.sed his pants and he c.r.a.pped his pants. I'm soaked with p.i.s.s from my navel to my knees."

Cronley failed to suppress a giggle. And the laughter that followed.

"f.u.c.k you," Ostrowski said, and then he chuckled, which turned into a giggle.

Cronley put his mouth to the open window and bellowed, "Captain Dunwiddie!"

When Captain Dunwiddie appeared beside the plane, so did Mrs. White and Mrs. Likharev.

"Is there a problem?" Mrs. White inquired.

"Yes, ma'am," Cronley said. "This young man has had an accident, as my mother used to call it."

"Big or little?"

"Both. And Captain Ostrowski has suffered collateral damage."

Mrs. White managed to suppress all but a small giggle.

Then she said, "Captain, I understand you speak Russian?"

"Yes, ma'am, I do."

"Then tell Mrs. Likharev of the problem, and tell her not to worry, Captain Dunwiddie will deal with it."

"Yes, ma'am."

"What am I supposed to do about it?" Dunwiddie asked.

"You're a Cavalry officer, Chauncey, you'll think of something," Mrs. White said.

Captain Dunwiddie stood beside the Storch and told Cronley what he had thought of as a solution to the problem.

"I'll have my guys form a human s.h.i.+eld around Max and the boy as they get out of the plane and then march them across the hangar to where we billeted the ASA guys. And while they're having a shower, I'll get them clothing from somewhere."

"Good thinking, Chauncey," Cronley said. "You're a credit to the U.S. Cavalry."

"f.u.c.k you."

Cronley stayed in the plane until Max and the boy, s.h.i.+elded by eight very large, very black soldiers, had been marched across the hangar and into the building at the rear.

Then he climbed out of the Storch.

Mrs. White, Mrs. Likharev, the younger boy, and the dachshund were standing near the ambulances. The boy was feeding Franz Josef a piece of his hot dog.

Cronley exhaled.

Well, it's over. Really, completely over.

Or will be as soon as we get those two some clean clothes.

I feel sorry for the kid. He has to be embarra.s.sed.

For himself.

And for what he did to Max.

And then his mind's eye was filled with the older kid's terror-frozen eyes in the airplane right after they'd taken off.

And then he felt a sudden chill.

And threw up. And then dropped to his knees and threw up again. And then once again.

Jesus H. Christ!

He got awkwardly to his feet.

He felt dizzy and another sudden chill.

Oh, no, not again!

He closed his eyes, put his hands on his hips, leaned his head back, and took a deep breath.

And was not nauseous again.

He opened his eyes and found himself looking at Major Harold Wallace.

"I must have eaten something . . ."

"You all right now, Jim?" Wallace asked.

"I'm fine. A little embarra.s.sed."

"Don't be. It happens to all of us."

"Yes, it does," Lieutenant Colonel William Wilson said. Cronley hadn't been aware of his presence until he spoke. "When I picked the colonel up outside Krlick Snnk, he didn't even wait until we got home. He puked all over the L-4 before we got to two hundred feet."

"Thank you for sharing that, Billy," Wallace said.

"I thought I should. I thought Tex here should hear that."

"And, for once, you're right," Wallace said. "Tex, Schrder made it to the latrine just now before he tossed his cookies. But then he has more experience with this sort of thing than you do."

That's "Tex" twice.

Have I just been christened?

"So what happens now?"

"Odd that you should ask, Tex," Wallace said. "As I was just about to tell you."

[NINE].

Suite 507 Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Maximilianstra.s.se 178 Munich, American Zone of Occupation, Germany 1645 20 January 1946 "I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow, at the earliest," Miss Claudette Colbert said to Captain James D. Cronley Jr. when he walked into the office.

"Nice to see you, too, Miss Colbert."

"Are you going to bring me up to speed, sir?"

"When no one's around, you can call me 'Tex,' Miss Colbert."

"Tex?"

"I have been so dubbed by Major Wallace. Where's Freddy?"

"At the bahnhof, meeting General Greene and party."

"Greene is here? What the h.e.l.l is that all about?"

"There was an unfortunate accident at the bahnhof yesterday afternoon."

"What kind of an accident?"

"Major Derwin apparently lost his balance and fell onto the tracks under a freight train as it was pa.s.sing through. He had just gotten off the Blue Danube from Frankfurt, and was walking down the platform when this happened."

"Is Major Wallace aware of this?"

"'Tell Captain Cronley not to even think a.s.sa.s.sination option,' end quote."

"Jesus Christ!" Cronley said, and then asked, "And that's why Greene is here?"

"'General Greene is going to meet with the Munich provost marshal to offer the CIC's a.s.sistance in the investigation of this unfortunate accident,' end quote."

"What the h.e.l.l was Derwin doing back here?"

"'He telephoned Lieutenant Colonel Parsons of the War Department's liaison mission to DCI-Europe and told him he had information regarding DCI-Europe that he felt Parsons should have' . . ."

"Jesus!"

". . . continuing the quote, 'which we of course do not know, as that was an ASA telephone intercept.' End quote."

"My G.o.d!"

"There was another intercept. General Greene called Colonel Parsons and asked him what he knew about what Derwin wanted to tell him. Parsons said he had no idea, that he had never even met Derwin."

"Is that another quote?"

"No."

"Then I won't ask where that came from."

"Thank you. Your turn, Tex."

"Okay. You know the Likharevs are in Sonthofen?"

"As guests of General and Mrs. White. And where they will remain until we can get them on the SAA flight to Buenos Aires the day after tomorrow."

"Right," Cronley said. "I didn't know about the day after tomorrow."

"Mrs. Likharev and the colonel have exchanged brief messages over the SIGABA."

"I didn't know that, either. I'm glad."

"Which resulted in this," Claudette said, and handed him a SIGABA printout.

PRIORITY.

TOP SECRET LINDBERGH.

DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN.

FROM POLO.

VIA VINT HILL TANGO NET.

2210 GREENWICH 18 JANUARY 1946.

EYES ONLY ALTARBOY.

QUOTE MAY ALL OF G.o.dS MANIFOLD BLESSINGS FALL ON YOUR SHOULDERS STOP I WILL FOREVER BE IN YOUR DEBT STOP YOUR LOVING FRIEND SERGEI ENDQUOTE.

POLO.