“How long do you think it’s going to take for him to figure that out?”
“We can only hope, Captain Cronley, that the colonel is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.”
“I did what I thought I should. If that puts you on a spot, I’m really sorry.”
That didn’t put me on a spot, my young loose cannon.
The goddamn story in the goddamn Stars and Stripes is what put both of us on the fucking spot.
Wallace made a deprecating gesture and said, “He’s really going to be pissed when he reads Stars and Stripes and sees that what you wouldn’t tell him is all over the front page.”
“Really? On the first page?”
“Have a look,” Wallace said, and handed him a copy of the tabloid-sized newspaper. “Somebody’s been talking to this goddamn reporter. Even if she did, predictably, get most of the facts wrong, this is a fu . . . disaster.”
“I think I can plead guilty even before I read it. But let me have a look.”
“What do you mean, ‘plead guilty’? Don’t tell me you have been talking to this goddamned reporter!”
Cronley looked at Wallace, then past him.
“Speak of the devil—is there a feminine term for that? ‘Deviless,’ maybe?”
Cronley stood up as Janice Johansen approached the table.
“Good morning, Janice,” Cronley said. “You look bright and chipper. Sleep well?”
“You know I did.”
Wallace got to his feet.
Nice-looking. A little old for my tastes, but well preserved.
What did she do to get him to run at the mouth?
What women always do when they want something from a man?
That’s why the sonofabitch is so cheerful!
So what does that do to my suspicions that Loose Cannon and Sergeant Colbert have a closer relationship than is considered appropriate for a commanding officer and a female non-com?
“Major Wallace, may I introduce Miss Janice Johansen of the Associated Press?”
“Well, you’re not as good-looking as Jim said you were, Major, but I’m pleased to meet you anyhow.”
Janice pulled up a chair, then saw the Stars and Stripes and reached for it.
“Let’s see where those bastards buried my yarn,” she said. To which she immediately added, “I’ll be damned! Front page, above the fold! They do recognize a good story when they see one.”
“I don’t think Major Wallace thinks that’s such a good story,” Cronley said.
That’s the understatement of the fucking century!
“And you do?” Wallace challenged.
“Yes, I do,” Cronley said. “Thank you, Janice.”
“Anything I can do, within reason, of course, to help you Good Guys in your valiant battle with the Red Menace.”