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."' "Whittaker, James M.B., Captain, Army Air Corps," the public address speaker boomed."Yo!" Whittaker called out.He looked at Canidy and then at Captain the Duchess Stanfield."God go with you, Captain Whittaker," Captain the Duchess Stanfield said, offering her hand."Thank you for seeing me off," Captain Whittaker said as he shook her hand."Don't be silly, Captain," the Duchess Stanfield said."And let us hear fromyou.""Of course," Whittaker said, and finally let her hand go.Captain the DuchessStanfield came to almost a position of attention, her face rigid."Well, Dick--" Whittaker said.His voice sounded very strained.Canidy said, "Try not to fly into a rock-filled cloud," and then he put hisarms around Whittaker and hugged him, and whispered, "If anyone even lookscockeyed at her, I'll slice his balls of " Whittaker broke the embrace."You do that, Major, sir," he said.And then he picked up his bags andproceeded to board the aircraft.Canidy took Captain the Duchess Stanfield's arm, and they marched in almost amilitary manner out of the passenger terminal.Page 222ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlSergeant Agnes Draper, WRAC, when she saw them coming, opened the rear door ofthe Packard."I'll drive, Agnes," Canidy said, motioning with his head for her to move tothe back with the Duchess.He got behind the wheel and threw the lever thatraised the glass divider.Ann Chambers slipped in beside him."Rough?" she asked."There was an old buddy of the Duke's in there," Canidy said."What they got to do was shake hands.""Oh, God!"Ann said."Stiff upper lip and all that crap," Canidy said."Why don't we take her someplace? Would that help?""I have other plans," Canidy said."Oh, really?"Ann snapped.Canidy looked over at her."I'm now going to find Fulmar," he said, rand tell him what interesting thingswe have planned to keep him from getting bored.""Like what?"Ann asked.And then she understood.She reached over and took his hand."Iguess I'm a selfish bitch, after all," she said."I was just thinking, better him than you." XXLL [ONE] OSS Load on gstatioaBorholysquarq Z100 Soura David Bruce was forced to admit that Dick Canidy'sgrasp of problems and his imaginative solutions to them were on a par with hisown.Yet Canidy allowed emotion to enter into decisions, and he was prone tomake them on his own authority, almost impulsively.Canidy, for instance, had just now told Bruce that he had taken it uponhimself to tell Fulmar all the details of the Dyer operation.Fulmar should have been told no more than he had to know.What he needed toknow was that he was about to be put inside Germany.What he was to do therewas to be explained later.Bruce could only guess what Canidy had actually said to Fulmar, but accordingto Canidy himself, he had told Fulmar that for reasons he himself did notknow, it was important to bring Professor Friedrich Dyer out of Germany, viaHungary and Yugoslavia, that Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz and Muller wereinvolved, and that when they reached the island of Vis, he would be there withthe B-25 to pick them all up.In an operational sense, the worst thing Canidy had done was tell Fulmar thathe would be given a Q pill in case things went wrong.The Q pill was actuallyPage 223ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmla tiny glass vial containing cyanide.It caused almost instant death whencrushed between the teeth.The Q pill was absolutely the last thing on an agent's checklist.Agents wondered enough about getting caught without being reminded that theOSS was obligingly providing a Q pill just in case.Fulmar would now have afull ten days to dwell on the subject.And until he actually crossed the German border, Fulmar had the unspoken rightto change his mind.Someone else would be sent in, of course, but it wouldtake at least two weeks--and very probably much longer--to recruit and trainhim.And he would not be as qualified as Fulmar, obviously, and besides, theschedule of events in Germany, Budapest, and Yugoslavia could not be put onhold."For God's sake, Dick," Bruce asked, trying to keep his temper under control,"why did you get into the Q pill with him?""Maybe, David," Canidy said, unrepentant, "I was hoping he would tell us to gofuck ourselves," Canidy said."He still may," Bruce said."Presumably you've thought of that?""He'll go," Canidy said."Ol' Wild Bill is very good at recruiting people whowill put their head in the lion's mouth for God, Mother, and Apple Pie." Brucestilled his reply at the last moment.Canidy was one of those who'd had hishead in the lion's mouth."Where is he now?" Bruce asked."He went to see his mother," Canidy said."He did what?" Bruce asked, incredulously."He went to see his mother," Canidy repeated."I don't think that was a very good idea," Bruce said, aware that it was amarvel of understatement."Neither do I," Canidy said."But he decided that he wanted to see her, and Idecided that it wasn't any of my business, our business.""From his dossier," David Bruce said, "I would have thought--God, she hastreated him like dirt from the moment he was born--I would have thought hewould never want to see her.""You can kick dogs, David," Canidy said, "and a lot of the time they keepcoming back, hoping maybe this time you'll scratch their ears.""Where is this touching reunion to take place?" Bruce asked after a moment."Her troupe is doing a show at Wincanton.I sent him up there--with Fine--inthe Packard.Fine knows her.He'll be able to handle anything that might comeup.""You hope," Bruce said.""Hope springs eternal in the human breast, "' Canidy quoted."You ever hearthat, David?"Page 224ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"I think that will be all, Dick," David Bruce said."If anything unusual comesup, I'll expect you to let me know." Wincanton Air Corps Bane lseat, EAGLAND1330 Hours Captain Stanley S.Fine and Lieutenant Eric Fulmar got lost on theway to Wincanton, despite a map Fine had the OSS Motor officer make up forhim.So it was late, nearly half past eleven, when they finally made it to theWincanton Air Base Officers' Club, an old stone barn jammed full of thedrunken aviators who had come to be entertained by the fifteen or twenty youngwomen in Monica Sinclair's USO troupe.As they made their way to where Monica was whooping it up with a handful ofthe base's brass, Eric attracted her attention.His pink and green uniform,with the paratrooper patch sewn on his overseas cap, stood out from the waymost of the Air Corps men were dressed, in leather flight jackets.And then Fine saw in her eyes and in her smile that she was more than a littledrunk, and knew there was going to be trouble.Stanley S.Fine had never liked Monica Sinclair.Some of the dislike sprangfrom the way she had treated Eric--storing him out of sight like a piece offurniture that didn't fit in with her present decor but couldn't be thrown outwith the trash because it was a gift from someone important.But as Fine gazed at her now, and she looked at him with recognition dawningin her eyes, he realized that his dislike wasn't based just on principle, Hedespised her personally.The phrase in the industry was that she believed herown press releases.But that was too simple.She wasn't the only one guilty ofthat, certainly.But Monica Sinclair not only believed she was truly'America's Sweetheart," she was convinced that anyone who didn't believe it washer enemy.That belief meant that "America's Sweetheart" deserved to have her every wishindulged [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]