In Danger's Path (43 page)

As Special Channel users proliferated, Albright grew increasingly worried that the necessary close control of the Special Channel would be lost. Brass worldwide would inevitably become aware of its existence, and come up with arguments why they, too, should be authorized access to
MAGIC
material and the Special Channel. Experience had taught him that the more people with access to a secret, the greater its chances of being compromised.

But once Eisenhower and Bedell Smith were included on the
MAGIC
list, Admiral Leahy had drawn the line and refused all further requests for
MAGIC
access. After that, few other
MAGIC
devices were actually needed. The ones operating in CINCPAC headquarters in Hawaii, Supreme Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Ocean Area in Brisbane, and in the Navy Communications facility in Washington all had backup devices in case of equipment failure. So did the one recently sent to London. There were also four other devices. Two of these were under constant evaluation at the Signal Laboratories, and two were used for training, one at a secret Signal facility on a farm in Virginia, and the other now at the OSS training base in Maryland.

With the drying up of demand, Albright had been able to shut down the production line at the Factory at Fort Monmouth. He had six
MAGIC
devices “on the shelf” (actually, in a bank-type vault in the Pentagon), and that was going to be enough.

Or so he thought until the President overrode Admiral Leahy: Generalissimmo Chiang Kai-shek, the Nationalist Chinese leader, and Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Allied Commander for China, Burma, and India, were to be brought into the
MAGIC
loop. That meant that a
MAGIC
device, with a necessary backup, had to be transported to them and set in operation.

Giving a device to the Chinese and the Brits, in Colonel Albright's view, was tantamount to taking out a full-page advertisement in the
Washington Star
to announce to the world that some of the most secret Japanese messages were being read in Washington, Pearl Harbor, and Brisbane. But he was fully aware that it wasn't his responsibility to decide who received a
MAGIC
device, it was the President's. His responsibility was limited to making sure that the devices reached Chungking and New Delhi, and were set up and put into operation without problems.

The immediate priority was to get devices to Chungking—under, of course, the close supervision of Major General Charles M. Adamson, USA, Secretary to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Colonel Albright was not at all surprised to pick up his telephone and hear ol' Cover My Ass Adamson's familiar voice on the line.

“Can you step in here a minute, Augie? I think we need to talk about China Clipper.”

“Be right there, sir.”

“Bring the China Clipper Opplan with you, please, Augie.”

“Yes, sir.”

Two minutes later, Colonel Albright walked into General Adamson's office and saluted. “Good morning, sir,” he said.

“Help yourself to some coffee,” the General said, holding up his own mug to show that he already had his, “and then tell me how it's going.”

Colonel Albright laid Opplan China Clipper on General Adamson's desk, then helped himself to a cup of coffee.

“Where would you like me to start, General?”

“At the beginning. I want every
t
crossed, and every
i
dotted.”

“Opplan China Clipper is sort of a carbon copy of Opplan London Fog,” Albright began, “suitably modified.”

Adamson nodded. London Fog, the plan to transport two of the
MAGIC
devices to London, had gone off without any problems.

“I had people come up from Monmouth,” Colonel Albright went on. “They checked out two of the devices in the vault. When they were finished, I checked them out personally. They are now in crates marked “Personnel Records, Not To Be Opened Without The Specific Written Permission of the Adjutant General.”

“And the thermite grenades?”

“They will be put in place once the crates are loaded aboard the C-46 at Newark Airport. Same system that we used to send the devices to London, except that the airplane will be a C-46 instead of a B-17.”

“By whom?”

“I offered General Pickering four CIC agents to handle that.” The Counterintelligence Corps. “They'd go all the way to Chungking with the devices. Though Pickering initially seemed willing to go along with that, Colonel Banning thought that would unnecessarily complicate things, and Pickering went along with him.”

“Colonel Banning's giving you trouble?”

“I didn't mean to imply that, sir.”

Albright really liked Ed Banning. For one thing, he was a professional, just as Albright was. For another, he had checked Banning out when his name had been ordered onto the
MAGIC
list. According to Fritz Rickabee, Banning was as good as they came, and Hon Song Do in Australia had said the same thing.

He had been happy to be of service to Banning when Rickabee had called to tell him that Banning was going to Monmouth to find suitable shortwave radios for his current operation and to ask if he had anyone there who could help Banning with that. He himself had arranged to be at Monmouth when Banning got there.

“That's what it sounds like, Augie,” General Adamson said. “What does Banning have against CIC agents?”

“Sir, Colonel Banning made the point that you don't have to be a CIC agent to pull the pin on a thermite grenade, and I couldn't argue with that.”

“I want CIC agents to put the devices aboard the airplane at Newark,” General Adamson said. “Pickering can sign for them there.”

“General Pickering's not going with the devices,” Albright said. “He's going the long way around, via Pearl Harbor and Brisbane.”

“He tell you why?”

Albright shook his head, “no.”

“Who will sign for the devices?”

“Colonel Banning, sir. And he will have responsibility for them in Chungking.”

“Then
Banning
can sign for the devices
after
the CIC puts them on the airplane.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Your Opplan, Augie…” General Adamson opened the Opplan and found the applicable paragraph before proceeding. “…says that the devices, when not in a secure vault, will never be out of the sight of at least one person with a
MAGIC
clearance. Colonel Banning apparently enjoys the confidence of General Pickering, but what about these other two? Lieutenant Easterbrook and Master Gunner Rutterman?”

Meaning, of course, that you have learned that you don't want to fuck with Pickering. You may outrank him, but the President doesn't call you by your first name
.

“I'm sure they also enjoy General Pickering's confidence, sir.”

“That's not what I mean, Augie. For one thing, I happen to know that until very recently, Rutterman was an enlisted man who guarded the door at Colonel Rickabee's place of business.”

“He comes highly recommended by General Rickabee, sir, and he's been an alternate
MAGIC
cryptographer for some time.”

General Adamson grunted. “I happened to be out at the OSS training with the OSS Deputy Director for Administration, Augie, and he pointed out Lieutenant Easterbrook to me.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You've seen him, of course?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then wouldn't you agree that he's about nineteen years old, and looks like he belongs in high school?”

“Yes, sir, he looks very young. But on the other hand, he won the Silver Star on Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal with the Second Raider Battalion.”

“That sort of service really doesn't have much relevance, wouldn't you say, Augie, with protection of a
MAGIC
device?”

“I suppose not, sir. But may I point out, sir, there is nothing we can do about it?”

“I'd really like to know where the hell Pickering got Lieutenant Easterbrook,” General Adamson said. “Presumably, he has been satisfactorily trained in
MAGIC
device operation?”

“I checked him out myself, sir.”

And he's a nice, really bright, kid. Unfortunately, ol' Cover My Ass is right. He is just a kid
.

“Colonel Banning told me, sir, that General Pickering is flying another man, Lieutenant Moore, John M., who is a
MAGIC
cryptographer slash analyst, from Australia to Chungking. I am not concerned, sir, about operation of the Special Channel once it's in place.”

“The operative words in that sentence, Augie, are ‘once it's in place.' Our responsibility, your responsibility, is transporting the
MAGIC
devices to Chungking.”

“Yes, sir.”

General Adamson checked the Opplan again.

“Frankly, I'm concerned about these two,” he said, pointing to a list of names. “Captain McCoy, Kenneth R., and Gunnery Sergeant Zimmerman, Ernest W. What do we know about them?”

“They both enjoy the confidence of General Pickering and Colonel Banning, sir, and neither of them has a
MAGIC
clearance.”

“The Deputy Director tells me that McCoy was commissioned from the ranks, where he was known as ‘Killer McCoy' for his proclivity for stabbing people in drunken brawls. And the sergeant has a room-temperature IQ.”

He also speaks four or five languages, including two kinds of Chinese and Russian, but I don't think you want to hear about that
.

“They're an interesting pair, sir,” Albright said.

“In other words, you would judge that, if necessary, either of them could pull the pin on a thermite grenade?”

And if it was a dud, Gunnery Sergeant Zimmerman could chew both devices up and spit out tacks
.

“Yes, sir,” Albright said.

General Adamson paused thoughtfully before asking, “What are you going to tell them about the ‘personnel records' crates?”

“Nothing, sir, of course.”

“You don't think they'll be curious?”

Frankly, I would be surprised if McCoy doesn't have a damned good idea of what's in them. He's very tight with Banning, and he's a very bright young fellow
.

“No, sir.”

“You don't think Colonel Banning has told them?” General Adamson asked. “Or perhaps even General Pickering?”

“I think that is highly unlikely, sir.”

“I have a reason for asking this question, Augie,” General Adamson said. “So let me paraphrase. You think it over before answering. If it should come to pass that Captain McCoy or Sergeant Zimmerman were to fall into the hands of the enemy, do you think either of them knows, or has guessed, enough about
MAGIC
to compromise it?”

“I don't know, sir,” Albright said. “But I think it's highly unlikely.”

That's not true. McCoy probably knows damned well what's in those crates, and if he does, Zimmerman probably does, too. But what he's after from me is some reason he can get either McCoy or Zimmerman kicked off this operation. I don't know what that's all about, but I'll have no part of it
.

Am I endangering
MAGIC
because of my contempt for this man? I hope not. I don't think so. What I do know is if I could have anybody I wanted to guard the devices, I'd pick this Marine mustang captain and his “room-temperature-IQ” sergeant
.

General Adamson grunted, and thought the matter over for a full thirty seconds before going on: “I'm sure Pickering and Banning have asked themselves the same question,” he said, “and decided that they don't know enough about
MAGIC
to pose a risk to it in case of capture. But I don't want you, Augie, to even hint about what those crates contain.”

“No, sir,” Colonel Albright replied, very formally. “Is there any reason, in the General's opinion, why I should know why the General raised that question?”

General Adamson thought the question over before deciding to tell him, finally concluding that he might as well, because he was going to find out anyway. Albright spent a good deal of time in the Navy Communications facility where the
MAGIC
device was in operation. No one there would—or should—question his right to read anything being encrypted or decrypted, including Special Channel material that would be coming to and from General Pickering. Albright might not have paid attention to it before, but now that he was curious about this whole business, he would be looking for something, and would find it.