“That, too, but right now I want her because she can take shorthand and type sixty words a minute. Colonel Ashton has told me our record-keeping, especially after-action reports, is unacceptably in arrears.”
“Meaning nonexistent?”
“That’s what the colonel alleges.”
“Welcome to the world of command,” McClung said, chuckling. “Okay, you can have her. Who do I transfer her to?”
I don’t have a fucking clue!
“Hold on,” Cronley said.
Hessinger scribbled furiously on his clipboard and then handed it to Cronley.
Cronley read aloud what Hessinger had written:
“Military Detachment, Directorate of Central Intelligence, Europe, APO 907.”
After a moment, McClung said, “Okay, who else?”
“Let me get back to you after I talk to them and ask if they want to come with us.”
“Okay. Makes sense. I don’t know what I would do if I were an ASA non-com and was asked to join the DCI.”
“Why would you not want to?”
“Your DCI is a dangerous place to be. People, powerful people, don’t like you. You ever hear of guilt by association?”
“How do you know that powerful people don’t like me? Us?”
“I’m chief of ASA Europe. I listen to everybody’s telephone calls and read all their messages.”
“Well, I’ll ask them anyway.”
“Do that. When you find out, let me know.”
“Will do.”
“That all, Cronley?”
“I guess so.”
“McClung out,” he said, and Cronley sensed that the line was no longer operating. He hung up the handset and then flipped the toggle switches off.
“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it, Jim?” El Jefe asked.
“When I called McClung, I had him in the Enemies Column,” Cronley said. “Now I don’t think so.”
“Why not? Something he said?”
“More the tone. Of the entire conversation, but especially in his voice.”
“So, what we should do now is, while staring into the eyes of people we’re talking to to see if they’re lying, listen to the tone of their voices to see if they like us, or not?”
“May I say something?” Ludwig Mannberg asked.
“You don’t have to ask permission to speak around here, Colonel,” Cronley said.
“I had the same feeling about this officer, listening to his tone,” Mannberg said. “I think Jim is right. But I also feel obliged to say that, in my experience, it is very dangerous to rely on intuition. And very easy to do so. Intuition can be often, perhaps most often, relied upon. But when you want to rely on intuition, don’t. That’s when it will fail you.”