The Last Heroes (Men at War 1)

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE (HOMER HUNGERFORD, M.D., CHIEF OF PSYCHIATRI

C SERVICES, GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER [AND OTHER]):‘‘BASED ON THE INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE IT IS NOT OF COURSE POSSIBLE TO PREPARE A THOROUGH EVALUATION, MUCH LESS A PROFILE, BUT SEVERAL THINGS SEEM PROBABLE, AND WHAT FOLLOWS IS THE CONSENSUS OF THOSE CONSULTED.

PATIENT WOULD INESCAPABLY HAVE EXPERIENCED REJECTION AS THE RESULT OF HIS FATHERLESS CHILDHOOD, AND THESE FEELINGS WOULD HAVE BEEN EXACERBATED BY THE EXTRAORDINARY REJECTION BEHAVIOR OF PATIENT’S MOTHER. PATIENT HAS APPARENTLY TRANSFERRED (JUDGING BY LETTERS SEEKING APPROVAL) PARENTAL FEELINGS TO THE REV. DR. CANIDY, AND PATIENT STILL APPARENTLY FEELS A STRONG SIBLING BOND WITH CANIDY AND WHITTAKER. (IN OTHER WORDS, HAVING BEEN DEPRIVED OF A FAMILY, PATIENT HAS FORMED HIS OWN FROM THOSE PERSONS WHO HAVE BEEN CLOSE TO HIM.)

PATIENT, WHOSE ACADEMIC RECORDS INDICATE HIGH INTELLIGENCE, HAS NECESSARILY DEVELOPED SELF-RELIANCE TO AN UNUSUAL DEGREE. THIS WOULD LIKELY

MANIFEST ITSELF THROUGH DISTRUST OF THOSE WHO HAVE NOT PROVEN THEIR TRUSTWORTHINESS; A HIGH LEVEL OF DETERMINATION; A RELUCTANCE TO SEEK, OR HEED, ADVICE FROM OTHERS; AND A LACK OF CONCERN FOR THE APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL OF HIS PEER GROUP.

PATIENT IS PROBABLY VERY STABLE, ANY INSTABILITY HAVING BEEN RESOLVED IN PATIENT’S FORMATIVE (IMMEDIATE PRE- AND POSTPUBERTY) PERIOD. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE HERE THAT THIS STABILITY WILL PROBABLY TEND TO MAKE PATIENT IMMUNE TO MOST NORMAL SOCIAL PRESSURES, AND DISRESPECTFUL OF NORMAL AUTHORITY FIGURES. PATIENT’S PSYCHOLOGICAL MAKEUP IS PROBABLY FIRMLY ESTABLISHED, AND PROBABLY RELATIVELY IMMUNE TO CHANGE. IF, HOWEVER, THERE WERE TO BE A FURTHER PROFOUND EMOTIONAL TRAUMA (FOR EXAMPLE, IF ONE OF HIS ‘‘FAMILY’’ BETRAYED HIM), THERE WOULD PROBABLY BE SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFICULTY.’’

COMMENTS:INASMUCH AS SUBJECT HAS BEEN ABROAD FOR SO LONG AND UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED HEREIN, IT IS BELIEVED LIKELY THAT HE WILL CONTINUE TO REFUSE OVERTURES FROM OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVES OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT.

TWO (CANIDY, RICHARD; WHITTAKER, JAMES M.C.) OF THE THREE INDIVIDUALS WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO APPEAL TO HIM ON PERSONAL GROUNDS ARE OBVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE. FINE IS NOT CONNECTED WITH THE GOVERNMENT.

SHOULD IT BE DECIDED ADVANTAGEOUS TO ESTABLISH A WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH SUBJECT, HIS FNCB FUNDS MAY PROVE USEFUL. THEY ARE MOST LIKELY SUBJECT’S PROCEEDS FROM HIS ACTIVITIES IN MOVING CASH AND NEGOTIABLES, IN CONCERN WITH HIS FRIEND SIDI EL FERRUCH (A MOROCCAN NOBLEMAN), FROM OCCUPIED FRANCE, AND ARE HIS ONLY ASSETS. INASMUCH AS THE DEATH PENALTY HAS BEEN PRESCRIBED FOR ILLEGAL TRANSFERS OF MONIES AND VALUABLES, AND INASMUCH AS SUBJECT WAS SO ENGAGED WITH SIDI EL FERRUCH, IT CAN THEREFORE BE LOGICALLY PRESUMED THAT SUBJECT ENJOYS TRUST AND CONFIDENCE OF EL FERRUCH, AND WOULD HAVE A CORRESPONDING DEGREE OF INFLUENCE WITH HIM.

HANSEN

SECRET

‘‘If I thought I could get an answer,’’ Canidy said, ‘‘I’d ask, why all the interest in Eric Fulmar?’’

Douglass didn’t reply directly. ‘‘Fulmar is so important that a radio over General Marshall’s signature was sent to the Philippines ordering Lieutenant Whittaker home at the first opportunity. There has been no reply.’’

‘‘Meaning what? That he’s dead?’’ Canidy asked.

"That he can’t be located, or that Douglas MacArthur is once again expressing his contempt for George Marshall— or for the President,’’ Douglass said. ‘‘The point is that you’re the only person we have we feel can deal with Fulmar. ’’

‘‘Deal with him how?’’

Again, Douglass avoided a direct response. ‘‘Baker tells me that in China he put it to you that we’re asking you to volunteer for a mission of great importance to the war effort and that the mission involves a considerable risk. If you don’t mind, I’d like to put the same question to you now, Canidy.’’

‘‘Baker wouldn’t tell me what this mission is all about,’’ Canidy said. ‘‘Will you?’’

‘‘The question you were asked,’’ Douglass said, ‘‘is whether or not you are willing to go into it under the conditions outlined.’’

‘‘What are my options?’’ Canidy said. ‘‘What if I say no?’’

‘‘Yes or no, Canidy.’’

He’s acting like a character in a bad spy movie, Canidy thought. In every dangerous-mission thriller I have ever seen, there was a scene where the commanding officer gave the hero one last chance to change his mind: ‘‘Are you sure you want to go through with this?’’ The hero always wanted to go through with it. That doesn’t mean I will have to go through with it. I know how to say, ‘‘I quit.’’

‘‘OK,’’ Canidy said.

‘‘All right,’’ Captain Douglass said. ‘‘Thank you. But you mentioned options a moment ago. I think I should tell you that if you had declined the offer, you would have been sent to some very secure psychiatric institution for examination. That examination would take a very long time. In the Civil War, Lincoln suspended the rules of habeas corpus. President Roosevelt isn’t going to do that. The attorney general has told him that under existing law, persons suspected of being non compos mentis don’t fall under the rule of habeas corpus. They are being examined, not incarcerated.’’

Canidy and Douglass locked eyes for a long moment.

‘‘Canidy,’’ Douglass said, ‘‘if I could tell you what’s behind all this, that threat would not have been necessary. But I can’t tell you, and it was.’’

He’s dead serious, Canidy thought. Maybe truth really is stranger than fiction.

‘‘Yes, sir,’’ he said.

‘‘There is a Frenchman now in Morocco,’’ Douglass began, ‘‘whom we absolutely have to bring to the United States. It is critically important that when we bring him out, the Germans will not connect his disappearance with us. Otherwise they would doubtless realize why we want him. What we desperately hope they will believe is that he escaped by his own means to join General de Gaulle in London. ’’

‘‘And you want Fulmar to smuggle him out,’’ Canidy said. ‘‘And think I can talk him into it.’’