“Four people know where I am at all times, and where I am expected to go from there,” Cronley said finally. “They are Mr. Hessinger, Miss Colbert, Mr. Ostrowski, and Lieutenant Moriarty. If you had declared this to be an emergency—or even a very important situation—and Mr. Hessinger didn’t know himself where I was, and Miss Colbert was not available, he’d have gone next to Mr. Ostrowski, and finally to Lieutenant Moriarty. Had it gone that far, the lieutenant would have told Mr. Hessinger, and he would have told you, that I was—and Miss Colbert was—in Lieutenant Moriarty’s quarters at the Compound, having a little champagne to celebrate the Moriartys having just moved into their quarters.”
Augie Ziegler thought: Well, Major, that should answer your question.
But what was Claudette doing drinking champagne with everybody?
Hammersmith thought: And with that answer he’s succeeded in pissing both Colonel Parsons and Major Ashley off.
Doesn’t he know that, or doesn’t he care?
Or, Christ, is he pissing them off on purpose?
Hessinger thought: Well, that’s what would have happened, but it’s not a standard in-place protocol.
He just made that up.
“What’s on your mind, Colonel?” Cronley asked.
“Odessa,” Colonel Parsons said.
“Odessa?”
“You have heard of Odessa?” Major Ashley asked sarcastically.
“You mean that place on the Black Sea?” Cronley asked. “Where Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill held that conference?”
“Major Ashley is asking about the organization,” Parsons said, “called Odessa, which is allegedly getting Nazi war criminals out of Germany to Argentina.”
Hammersmith thought: And you know that, you smart-ass!
“I thought that Odessa was—excuse the expression—bullshit, like the werewolves,” Cronley said.
“I can assure you, Captain Cronley, that it is not,” Colonel Parsons said.
“What’s Odessa got to do with me?” Cronley asked. “Or the DCI?”
“This afternoon we received a Priority message from the War Department,” Parsons said, “asking that we furnish, ASAP, whatever information we have, or can collect from any source, about Odessa.”
“They think it’s real?”
Ziegler thought: You know it is. You’ve got a briefcase stuffed with Odessa material.
Claudette thought: Jimmy, please be careful!
Hessinger thought: What are you up to now? You know very well Odessa is real!
“I would say that’s rather obvious, wouldn’t you, Captain Cronley?” Major Ashley said.
“Did they say why they’re interested?” Cronley asked.
“Is that any of your business?” Major Ashley asked.
“Yes, I think it is.”
“You don’t use the term ‘sir’ very much, do you, Captain?” Ashley snapped.
“No disrespect intended,
Major, sir,” Cronley said.