In Danger's Path (95 page)

“Aye, aye, sir.”

“And as far as the Killer's—excuse me,
Captain McCoy's
—lack of education is concerned, is there any reason he could not be sent to the Command and General Staff College when he returns?”

“No, sir,” Colonel Stecker said.

“See that it happens, Colonel,” the President said.

“Aye, aye, sir.”

“Finally, will someone translate…” The President paused and picked up the Special Channel message and found what he was looking for before going on. “Captain McCoy's reference to Captain Weston's having earned an excuse from this—what a lovely, succinct phrase—'shit detail' because he served a year in the Philippines?”

“Sir,” Colonel Stecker replied, “Captain Weston refused to surrender when the Philippines fell. He was serving as General Fertig's intelligence officer on Mindanao until he was ordered out.”

“And the minute he was back here he volunteered for this ‘shit detail'?” the President asked incredulously.

“That's about it, Mr. President,” Colonel Stecker replied. “He's an experienced Catalina pilot, and felt it was his duty to volunteer.”

“Is he married?”

“No, sir.”

“Where was he stationed?”

“Pensacola, sir.”

“Colonel Donovan,” the President said, “immediately Special Channel General Pickering that as soon as a replacement for Captain Weston can be sent in, he is to be brought out of the Gobi Desert and returned to Pensacola.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

The President put his cigarette holder in his mouth at a rakish angle and smiled mischievously.

“As I recall, the beaches of Pensacola abound with healthy young women clad in bathing costumes Eleanor finds scandalous. Perhaps Captain Weston can, so to speak, cast a line into the water and reel one—or more—of them in.”