Part 35 (1/2)
OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE.
OSS LONDON STATION OSS WAs.h.i.+NGTON.
EYES ONLY COLONEL DONOVAN; CAPTAIN DOUGLa.s.sFOLLOWING FROM CANIDY RECEIVED 1110 LONDON TIME FORWARDED AUTHORITY DANCY CAPT WAC.BRUCE AND/OR STEVENS WILL HAVE MESSAGE IN HANDS NO LATER THAN 1230 LONDON TIME.QUOTE TOP SECRET OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE EYES ONLY BRUCE AND STEVENS1. ON SAFE ARRIVAL STATION VII INFORMED BY YACHTSMAN EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE IN HANDS OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES STATION V. TINCAN TWO SAFE WELL STATION VII.2. SURPRISE BOARDING BY BLACK GUARD AND RIVER POLICE YACHT STATION V RESULTED DISCOVERY EXLAX OPERATIONAL FUNDS. HUNGARIANS PRESUMABLY BELIEVE FUNDS INTENDED FOR PURCHASE BLACK MARKET FOOD. EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE ARRESTED AS BLACK MARKETEERS. SENTENCED NINE ZERO DAYS HARD LABOR COAL MINES STATION V.3. YACHTSMAN REPORTS DOc.u.mENTS NOT REPEAT NOT QUESTIONED.4. YACHTSMAN STATES SITUATION FAIRLY COMMON. ABSENCE PREPAYMENT GRAFT BLACK GUARD AND RIVER POLICE REGULARLY ARREST BLACK MARKETEERS CONFISCATE GOODS OR MONEY CONFINE LOCAL JAIL AT MINE HARD LABOR AS LESSON. YACHTSMAN BELIEVES THEY WILL BE RELEASED WITHOUT FURTHER DIFFICULTY PRIOR COMPLETION SENTENCE.5. HAVE TAKEN FOLLOWING ACTION.A. WILL REMAIN HERE PENDING DECISIONS ACTIONS ENUMERATED LATER HEREIN.B. TINCAN TWO FLOWN CAIRO FOR ICING THERE. RECEIPT THIS MESSAGE WILL CONFIRM SAFE ARRIVAL.C. YACHTSMAN ORDERED TO STATION V TO PERSONALLY CONFIRM LOCATION OF EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE AND TO EXPLORE POSSIBILITY ESCAPE OR RELEASE BY FORCE. EXPECTED TRAVEL TIME FOUR REPEAT FOUR DAYS. STATION V TO STATION VII COMMUNICATIONS SLOW AND UNRELIABLE REPEAT UNRELIABLE.6. REQUEST PERMISSION EFFECT RELEASE EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE BEST MEANS AT MY DISCRETION. IF SO REQUIRE IMMEDIATE DISPATCH VIA STATION VIII NEXT AVAILABLE HUNGARIAN SPEAKING TEAM. STANDARDTEAM EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE AUGMENTED WITH THIRTY POUNDS COMPOSITION C2 AND EQUIVALENT TWENTY THOUSAND US DOLLARS IN HUNGARIAN, GERMAN AND YUGOSLAVIAN CURRENCY. TEAM SHOULD HAVE HUNGARIAN AND OR YUGOSLAVIAN IDENTIFICATION DOc.u.mENTS.7. IN VIEW NECESSARY ABSENCE EXLAX CONTROLLER SUGGEST FINE AS TEMPORARY REPLACEMENT.
CANIDY.
END QUOTE.
TOP SECRET.
”Oh, s.h.i.+t! s.h.i.+t!” Chief Ellis said.
He picked up the telephone and dialed a number from memory.
Staley's familiar voice came on the line: ”Capitol 3-1991.”
”Is he up yet?” Ellis asked.
”I heard the c.r.a.pper flush,” Staley reported.
”Well, don't say nothing unless he tells you to go anywhere but here,” Ellis said. ”If he does, say I called and said I think he should come here straight from there.”
”What's up, Ellis?” Colonel Wild Bill Donovan's voice asked.
”There's something I think you ought to see as soon as you can, Sir.”
”Will it wait until after breakfast, would you say?”
”Yes, Sir, it'll keep that long.”
”We'll be there inside of forty-five minutes,” Donovan said, and the line went dead.
Ellis tapped the cutoff b.u.t.ton on the telephone with his finger and dialed another number from memory.
”Capitol 3-2772,” a male voice answered.
”Captain Dougla.s.s?” Ellis asked.
”Who's calling, please?” the man asked.
”Marmon, G.o.dd.a.m.n you, is that you?”
”You don't have to bite my a.s.s off, Chief,” Marmon said righteously. ”I thought I recognized your voice.”
”Is the Captain there?”
”You want me to get him?”
”No. s.h.i.+t! I'm taking a census.”
In a moment, Captain Dougla.s.s came on the line.
”Good morning, Chief,” he said. ”What's up?”
”I don't know what's going on where you're going, but if you can put it off, I think it would be a good idea if you came in.”
”He ask for me?”
”No, Sir, but I think he probably will.”
”I'll be there in half an hour,” Captain Dougla.s.s said. ”Thank you, Chief.”
Ellis hung the telephone up.
”That important, huh?” Warrant Officer Vole asked.
Ellis looked at him.
”If you're fis.h.i.+ng for an explanation,” Ellis said, ”don't.”
”I read the decrypt,” Vole protested.
”That's only because we haven't figured out a way for you to decrypt stuff without reading it,” Ellis said matter-of-factly.
He got up and walked to the safe and worked the combination. From a two-foot-high stack of folders piled precariously in the bottom, he pulled a thick one with a TOP SECRET cover sheet and EXLAX written on it with a thick pointed pen.
He carried it to the desk and started going through it. There was no more of a question in his mind that the Colonel would want the paperwork in front of him than there was that he would want to talk Canidy's Eyes Only Operational Immediate over with Captain Dougla.s.s. By the time either of them walked into the office, the paperwork would be ready for them.
Ellis's eye fell on the overnight traffic. He should get that out of the way before he laid this stuff out.
Then he had another thought. He opened a drawer and took out a lined pad and a pencil and wrote quickly on it.
”You want to make yourself useful,” he said to Vole. ”Get this encoded and out right away. And then stick around. I think there will be a reply to the Eyes Onlys.”
Vole took the sheet of lined paper from Ellis and read it.
Urgent via K S F for W Y Z B For Hq US Forces in Philippines Attention Brigadier General Fertig Keep your s.h.i.+rt on stop J. R. Ellis Chief USN Stop End ”You really want me to send this?” Vole asked.
”Just that way,” Chief Ellis said.
4.
OFFICE OF THE STATION CHIEF OSS LONDON STATION BERKELEY SQUARE, LONDON 1600 HOURS 17 FEBRUARY 1943.
”Is something wrong, David?” Lt. Colonel Edmund T. Stevens asked.