“Yes, sir. That’s right.”
“The Lodestar was flown by Cletus?”
“No, sir. If Cletus had left Buenos Aires to fly the Lodestar, the wrong people would have asked questions. So Clete didn’t go down south.”
“Getting to the heart of our little chat, Captain Cronley: If Colonel Frade didn’t fly the Lodestar during this exercise, who did?”
&nbs
p; After a long moment, Cronley said, “I did.”
“And you were flying what when you found U-234? It was you who found her. Correct?”
“Yes, sir. I was flying the Cub.”
“I wasn’t aware that you were a pilot.”
Cronley didn’t reply.
“You want to explain this?” Mattingly said.
Again Cronley didn’t reply.
“That was more in the nature of an order for an explanation, Captain, than an idle question.”
“Yes, sir. Clete is like my big brother, Colonel.”
“Would it surprise you to hear I have already come to that conclusion? And . . . ?”
“I followed him all my life. Into the Cub Scouts. Into the Boy Scouts. Into Texas A&M. I was about to follow him into the Marine Corps when I decided I had had enough of following him.”
“Was this before or after you became a pilot?”
“I’ve been flying since Clete taught me when I was fourteen.”
“So, passing up the glory of becoming a Marine fighter pilot, you joined the Army instead? On behalf of the officer corps of the U.S. Army, let me say how pleased we are that you’re slumming amongst us.”
Jimmy didn’t reply.
“I gather you did not qualify for the Army’s aviator training program? Why not?”
“I never applied for it.”
“Why not?”
“I didn’t want to spend four years as an aerial taxi driver.”
“Had you applied, would you have been qualified? What sort of a license to fly do you hold? How experienced a pilot are you?”
When Jimmy hesitated, Mattingly said, “That, too, was not a question born of idle curiosity as we wait for your aerial taxi driver to appear, Captain Cronley.”
“I’ve got eleven hundred hours, sir, and hold a commercial ticket, with instrument and multi-engine ratings.”
“This secret talent of yours comes as something of a surprise. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Life is just full of surprises, isn’t it, Colonel?”
Mattingly looked at him for a moment.