The Assassination Option (Clandestine Operations 2)

“Those captain’s bars look good on you, Top,” he said.

Dunwiddie returned the salute.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” he said. “Thanks, Eustis.”

“And these stripes?” Tedworth asked, pointing to his chevrons. “How do they look on me?”

“Every once in a while, the Army makes a really big mistake,” the sergeant said.

“That will cost you, Eustis. Sooner or later that will really cost you,” Tedworth replied. “Now, get over to the motor pool and tell them to have an ambulance, with a couch, ready in ten minutes. We’re going into Munich.”

“And then come back here?”

“Wait there until I send for you.”

“You got it, Top.”

When he had gone, Cronley said, “Good man.”

“Yes, he is,” Dunwiddie agreed. “When he’s told to do something, he does it. Not like some fat Kraut-Americans, like the one I’m looking at.”

Hessinger held up both hands, a gesture that meant both that he didn’t understand and that he surrendered.

“Captain Cronley, did you, or did you not, tell Fat Freddy to arm himself before driving out here?”

“I recall saying something along those lines to Special Agent Hessinger, yes,” Cronley said.

“‘Sorry, sir. No excuse, sir’ will not be a satisfactory excuse, Sergeant Hessinger,” Dunwiddie said.

Hessinger hoisted the skirt of his tunic. The butt of a Model 1911A1 .45 ACP pistol became visible above his hip.

“Say ‘I apologize’ to Freddy,” Cronley said, laughing. And then he added, “Come here, Freddy, I want to see that holster.”

Hessinger complied.

“Where the hell did you get that?”

“I had a shoemaker make half a dozen of them,” Hessinger replied. “They call them ‘Secret Service High Rise Cross Draw Holsters.’ There was a schematic in one of the books on General Greene’s sergeant major’s shelf.”

“Colonel Ashton, Lieutenant Schultz, meet Special Agent Hessinger, sometimes known as ‘One Surprise After Another Hessinger,’” Cronley said.

They shook hands.

“Your funny accent,” El Jefe said. “What are you, German?”

“I was. Now I am an American.”

“Can I have a look at that holster?” Ashton asked.

Hessinger hoisted the skirt of his tunic again and said, “They also work under an Ike jacket, Colonel.”

Schultz took a good look, and then asked, “Who would I have to kill to get one of them?”

Hessinger didn’t say anything, but he looked at Dunwiddie.

Cronley laughed.

“I have enough for everybody,” Hessinger said. “I thought we would need more than one, so I had the extras made for us.”