The Soldier Spies (Men at War 3)

“Anything the Navy can do to help, Ken,” he said. “And you remember that, too, Commander. Anything at all. Keep in touch.”

“I’ll walk you to your car, G.G.,” General Lorimer said.

“I’ll find it, thank you,”Admiral Foster said, and shook their hands and left.

When the door had closed after him, Lorimer turned to Bitter and waved him into a chair.

“So what can I do for the OSS, Commander?”

“General,” Bitter said. “I am somewhat embarrassed to confess that I think I have just been made a pawn in a game of some sort between Major Canidy and the Navy. I just got here. It was Admiral Foster’s idea to bring me, to introduce me to you. I have no idea what I am supposed to do here.”

Lorimer looked at him for a moment and then smiled.

“Let me clear the air between us, Commander,” General Lorimer said. “I don’t really give a damn one way or the other who runs this sub-pen-busting operation. I want to see it done right for selfish reasons. Eighth Air Force has lost a lot of airplanes and men with no apparent results. We’re already starting to feel the pinch of short supplies because of the shipping those subs are sending to the bottom. I want the submarines gone, and if helping the OSS get them gone is what it takes, you just tell me what the OSS wants.”

He paused, then went on: “And with Canidy running this, I am at least satisfied he’s acting as I think an officer should.”

“Sir?”

“I was taught as a second lieutenant that an officer should not ask anyone to do anything he is not willing to do himself. Canidy showed up at Horsham St. Faith yesterday, before daylight, all ready to fly a photo recon mission of the sub pens. We were ready for him. Colonel Stevens had called me and told him he was likely to try something like that, so, at my orders, he wasn’t allowed on the plane.”

“I wasn’t informed—” Bitter said.

General Lorimer shut him off by raising his hand.

“Canidy called me this morning and told me I owed him one, and I could pay it back if I got the admiral off your back and sent you on to Fersfield. That’s where the drones are. I did what I could.”

“May I ask why Canidy believed you ‘owed him one’?”

“Because when Colonel Stevens said he thought Canidy was planning to go on the mission and that was not a very good idea, I made sure that he didn’t go,” General Lorimer said. “But what I had in mind, Commander, was that when the B-26 that made it back crashed and burned on landing at Horsham St. Faith, Canidy damned near got himself blown up pulling the crew out of it.”

“He didn’t say anything about that to me, sir,” Bitter said.

“Nor to me,” Lorimer said. “He painted a pretty glowing picture of you, however. He said you’re quite a fighter pilot. And he said he thinks you just might be able to carry off the sub pen project.”

“I don’t know what to say, sir,” Bitter said.

"Well, I took him at his word, Commander. I don’t know Canidy well, but well enough to know that he approves of few people. And I think we both know that he’s in a business where he can’t use ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as a personnel selection criterion.”

Bitter looked into Lorimer’s face but didn’t reply.

“They’ve had you flying a desk, I understand?” Lorimer said.

“I came here from BUAIR, General.”

“You want to get back to flying?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, a worn-out seventeen isn’t a P-38, of course,” General Lorimer said. “But it’s better than flying a desk. Have you got any multi-engine time?”

“A few hours in a twin-Beechcraft,” Bitter replied. He realized that General Lorimer had, perhaps naturally, concluded that he was to fly in this operation. He really hadn’t considered that before, but now that it had come up, he was excited.

“I was thinking, this morning as a matter of fact,” General Lorimer said, “that the most dangerous part of the whole thing will be bailing out of the aircraft. You ever use a parachute?”

“No, sir,” Bitter said.

“You were in the lucky half, huh?”