Part 44 (1/2)

”In eight minutes, maybe ten,” he said, ”we should see a few lights. That'll be Pecs. Or maybe Athens. If you see something round, that'll be Rome.”

Darmstadter knew he was expected to laugh, and did.

”This has gone so well, I'm afraid to believe it,” Dolan said. ”I'll go back and tell our pa.s.sengers. Janos said he wanted fifteen minutes to suit up.”

Dolan was back in his seat before they came onto Pecs, and he was the first to see it.

”Go down on the deck,” Dolan now ordered. ”Put that line of hills between us and Pecs. It's d.a.m.ned near impossible to tell the direction of an airplane if you can't see it. And the more confused we can leave these people, the better. ”

Darmstadter concentrated on flying as close to the ground as he dared between lines of hills. It was light enough now to make out individual trees, and here and there a road and fields.

And then, surprising him, he flashed over a stream, then a cut-over section of hillside, then above that a meadow on a plateau.

”Christ, is that it?”

”It should be,” Dolan said, ”but I don't see any panels.”

Darmstadter glanced quickly at him. Dolan had a headset on and was working the controls of the radio.

”Not a G.o.dd.a.m.ned thing,” he said.

”What do I do?”

”Stay on the deck under the hill lines,” Dolan ordered. ”And make another pa.s.s over it. I'll go see what I can see from the door.”

Five minutes later, from the other direction, the C-47 approached the meadow.

There was no doubt now that they had found their destination. A pile of tree limbs was burning furiously at the near end of the meadow by the cut-over area, the wind blowing the smoke across the meadow and into the forest.

Dolan came into the c.o.c.kpit.

”It's up to you now, kid,” he said. ”The next pa.s.s is all we're going to get, or everybody will think we're having an air show up here.”

Darmstadter smiled uneasily.

Dolan went back into the fuselage. There he would strap himself into a harness and take up a position by the open door. When Darmstadter turned the red light on-there were supposed to be red and green lights, but the green wasn't working-and then off, he would push the first of the parachutists through the door. When they were all gone, he would throw the three equipment bags after them.

Darmstadter made his approach very carefully, slowing the C-47 down as much as he dared, coming in very low and shallow over the tips of the trees in the forest, one hand on the Gooney Bird's wheel, the other on the toggle switch for the light for the door.

And then he flicked the toggle switch.

He thought he could sense a slight change in the controls, which would mean that he had lost 1,000 pounds of weight-five parachutists-from his gross weight, and that the loss had changed the center of balance.

He had a strange, wild, arrogant thought.

I could have landed this sonofab.i.t.c.h in that meadow! The way the wind is blowing up from the stream, I was making maybe forty knots over the ground. I was going so slow I could see Canidy's face! And I could have stopped it in plenty of time.

He looked over his shoulder into the aisle for Dolan.

He couldn't see him at first, and then he did.

Dolan was on the cabin floor on his side, curled up. Darmstadter looked out the winds.h.i.+eld, then back. Dolan straightened, grew almost stiff, and then went limp.

4.

150 DEGREES 20 MINUTES WEST LONGITUDE 08 DEGREES 35 MINUTES NORTH LAt.i.tUDE 1725 HOURS 20 FEBRUARY 1943.

There were four people on the bridge of the conning tower of the USS Drum Drum as she made fifteen knots on a course of 275 degrees through oil-smooth, gently rolling seas. They were almost exactly halfway around the world from the Adriatic Sea and Budapest, Hungary, where at that moment it was 5:25 A.M., February 21, ”the next day.” as she made fifteen knots on a course of 275 degrees through oil-smooth, gently rolling seas. They were almost exactly halfway around the world from the Adriatic Sea and Budapest, Hungary, where at that moment it was 5:25 A.M., February 21, ”the next day.”

The Drum Drum's captain, Lt. Commander Edwin R. Lennox, USN, and Capt. James M. B. Whittaker, USAAC, were in clean and pressed but unstarched khakis. Commander Lennox wore a battered brimmed cap whose cover was once white, but was now nearly brown with oil stains. Captain Whittaker was hatless.

The talker, with a headset and microphone device over his head, was also hatless. He wore a light blue denim s.h.i.+rt and a darker-shade pair of denim trousers, as did the lookout, who also wore a blue sailor's cap, the brim of which he had turned down all around.

The lookout, Commander Lennox, and Capt. Whittaker all had identical Navy-issue Bausch & Lomb ten-power binoculars on leather straps around their necks.

Commander Lennox looked at his wrist.w.a.tch, and then, with a sailor's eye, at the darkening sky.

”Anytime you're ready, Jim,” Commander Lennox said, ”you can go below.”

Whittaker smiled.

”Aye, aye, Sir,” he said. ”Permission to leave the bridge?”

”Granted,” the Drum Drum's captain replied, smiling back.

They had grown to like each other on the voyage from Pearl Harbor. Lennox had thought about the growing friends.h.i.+p a good deal during that time-remembering what he had been told by a full lieutenant when he'd been an ensign aboard the Kingfisher: Kingfisher: He'd been told that her skipper wasn't really such a hard-nosed sonofab.i.t.c.h as he seemed, but that a skipper couldn't afford to have friends, that command was indeed a lonely thing. He'd been told that her skipper wasn't really such a hard-nosed sonofab.i.t.c.h as he seemed, but that a skipper couldn't afford to have friends, that command was indeed a lonely thing.

He had accepted that then because he was an ensign, and ensigns believe what they are told by full lieutenants. But it was only after they had given him the Drum, Drum, his first command, that he'd really understood it. The master of a man-of -war could his first command, that he'd really understood it. The master of a man-of -war could not not have friends. He could be civil and courteous, but there had to be a wall between the skipper and everybody else aboard. It had a little to do with ”familiarity breeds contempt,” but there was more to it than that. The captain had to appear omniscient to his crew, and one of the best ways to do that, especially if you were convinced that at least two of your officers were far smarter than you were and better leaders of men, was to be aloof, to be somewhat mysterious, to share no opinion or confidences with anybody. have friends. He could be civil and courteous, but there had to be a wall between the skipper and everybody else aboard. It had a little to do with ”familiarity breeds contempt,” but there was more to it than that. The captain had to appear omniscient to his crew, and one of the best ways to do that, especially if you were convinced that at least two of your officers were far smarter than you were and better leaders of men, was to be aloof, to be somewhat mysterious, to share no opinion or confidences with anybody.

Lennox had seen in Whittaker somebody much like himself in character, and with similar command responsibilities, and with an understanding understanding of command. Very early on, Lennox had decided that having Whittaker aboard was very much what it must be like to be captain of a cruiser flying an admiral's flag. Where the cruiser and the accompanying task force went, and what it would do, was the admiral's responsibility. But the operation of the cruiser was the cruiser captain's responsibility. of command. Very early on, Lennox had decided that having Whittaker aboard was very much what it must be like to be captain of a cruiser flying an admiral's flag. Where the cruiser and the accompanying task force went, and what it would do, was the admiral's responsibility. But the operation of the cruiser was the cruiser captain's responsibility.

And Whittaker had acted as Lennox believed a good admiral would behave. Despite the authority the orders from COMSUBFORPAC had given Whittaker-which had in effect made the Drum Drum his personal taxicab-he had leaned over backward to avoid even the suggestion of giving Lennox orders. his personal taxicab-he had leaned over backward to avoid even the suggestion of giving Lennox orders.

He had asked questions, and ”wondered if it would be possible to” do what he had the clear authority to order done. He had always scrupulously referred to Lennox as ”Captain” or ”Skipper,” even long after Lennox had started calling him ”Jim.”

And the night before, when they were alone with the talker on the bridge, Whittaker had asked ”if it would be possible to” have a dry run of what would take place when they were off Mindanao.

”They a.s.sure me, Skipper,” Whittaker said, ”that the outboards have been tuned by an expert. But cynical sonofab.i.t.c.h that I am, and with no reflection intended, Sir, on the U.S. Navy, I'd like to check that out.”

”What you would really like, Jim, right, is a dry run?”

”Yes, Sir,” Whittaker asked. ”Is that going to be possible? ”

”Does the Army use the phrase 'SOP'?” Lennox asked.

”Yes, Sir,” Whittaker said.