Secret Warriors (Men at War 2)

"George Marshall's going to can at five this afternoon. I'll tell him then."

"Thank you," Donovan said. "Anything else?"

There was a just-detectable hesitation before Donovan said, "No, Sir."

Roosevelt picked up on it.

"Yes, there is," he said.

"Let's have it." Donovan shrugged.

"I'd like to know what's happened to Jim Whittaker," he said.

"Would you, now?" the President said coldly. "Cbesly and I were friends for as long as I can remember," Donovan said. "As you, and he, and a certain lady are old friends," Roosevelt's head snapped toward him.

There was fire in his eyes again.

Oh, God! He thinks I'm talking about Whatsername, his lady friend! I simply forgot about her. "And what lady would that be, Bill?"

Roosevelt asked. "Barbara Whittaker," Donovan said quickly, "Oh, yes," Roosevelt said.

"How is Barbara?" Now he thinks that the famous glower has made me hack down! "She's probably more than a little upset," Donovan said.

"She hasn't heard a word from Jimmy since he called her from San Francisco," "If you think I should," Roosevelt said, "I will call Barbara and assure her that we're doing everything possible for Jimmy," "I've already told her that. What she wants to know is where he is, so that she can go see him."

"That's going to be impossible, I'm afraid."

"Because of his condition?" Roosevelt nodded. "What exactly is his condition?" Donovan asked." Somehow, Bill, I think you know," the President said.

"I know he's being held virtually a prisoner at George Marshall's personal order in the Army hospital at Fort Knox, Kentucky. And I would like to know why."

"Where did you get the notion he's a prisoner?"

"When Barbara told me she couldn't get any information out of the hospital there, I told her that it was probably just the military system at work, and that I would call down and have Jimmy telephone her. But I couldn't get through to him. They denied all knowledge of him. So I called Georgie Patton, since He's in command there and an old friend of mine, and at first he wouldn't tell me anything either.

I pushed him hard, and he finally told me he had specific orders from @ very close to heaven' and that he simply couldn't tell me anything more."

"The orders came from me," Roosevelt said.

"Not George Marshall." Donovan's surprise registered on his face.

"Jimmy Whittaker is being given every comfort and the best of medical attention.

He was a very sick young man on the edge of physical collapse. He was forty-five pounds underweight. His teeth were about to fall out of his mouth, and he had, I have been informed, three kinds of intestinal parasites."

"Why can't he talk to Barbara-or me, for that matter-on the telephone?"

"You know what happened in the apartment, Bill," the President said.

"Canidy told me," Donovan said.

"I think Douglas MacArthur might have done the same thing. It doesn't mean that he's crazy."

"I'm the President," Roosevelt said. "And you were playing the role of Uncle Franklin," Donovan said. "In Jimmy's condition, I can see where the two roles might be blurred in his mind."

"That's Eleanor's argument," Roosevelt said.

"George Marshall argues-after taking into consideration that Jimmy probably knows what MacArthur wrote-that keeping him at Knox is the prudent thing to do."