"For example, she has some absurd notion that she wants to go operational. When I saw her, she was all dressed up in fatigues and carrying a Springfield at port arms. I found her irresistible. I wonder what a psychiatrist would make of that?"
"You made your peace with Baker?" Donovan asked.
"I left," Whittaker said.
"He's probably still mad."
"You left?" Donovan asked, confused.
"You mean, when Ellis came for you?"
"I left about thirty minutes after I got there," Whittaker said.
"I've been at the house."
"I left orders that you were to be taken out there," Donovan said coldly.
"Staley told me," Whittaker said.
"He was pretty insistent."
Donovan looked at him coldly, waiting for a further explanation.
"I could offer some excuse, like I would probably have broken Baker's arms if I stayed, but the real reason I left was that Baker was acting as if he was controlling me."
"That's what he's paid to do," Donovan said sharply.
"I don't know what you've got planned for me, why I'm here and not in Australia, but if it means that Baker is my control, you're going to have to get yourself another boy."
"You can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, Jim," Donovan said.
"And this is one of them. Just who the hell do you think you're talking to?"
Whittaker's reply came a long moment later.
"I know I'm talking to the head of the OSS," he said.
"Not Uncle Bill, who used to bounce me on his knee. I'm not asking for any special treatment. I don't know what my alternatives are, but whatever they are, I'll take them, rather than go anywhere with him as my control."
Donovan glared at him.
"You have a reason for feeling that way, I presume?"
"There are two kinds of controls," Whittaker said.
"Both profess great sadness when somebody gets bagged. One kind means it. Baker is the other kind.
Baker is too willing to accept risks with somebody else's life. He sees 'the big picture' much too clearly."
They locked eyes for a moment, and then Donovan asked, "Did Ellis mention anything about dinner tonight?"
The question surprised Whittaker.
"No," he said.
"He didn't. "Then he thought a moment.
"Don't tell me I'm to have dinner with Baker?"