"Unless, of course, Pickering talked too much to Goettge."
"I think we can discount that, too, Sir. Colonel Goettge visited Captain Pickering in Australia. While he was there, he apparently picked up on the word. MAGIC, I mean. He sent a back channel communication to General Forrest-the Marine Corps G-2-"
"I know who he is," Knox said impatiently.
"Yes, Sir. He said that he had heard the word MAGIC and wanted to know what it was. He and General Forrest are old friends, Sir."
"I know how it works. Get on with it."
"Forrest is MAGIC cleared. He replied to Goettge that he had never heard of MAGIC, and then reported the message to the Chief of Naval Intelligence."
"What you're suggesting is that if Pickering had told Goettge, there would have been no back channel message to General Forrest?"
"Yes, Sir."
Knox considered that a moment.
"OK," he said finally. "But what the hell was Pickering driving at? If, indeed, he was suggesting anything at all?"
"Lieutenant Cory, Sir, was a civilian employee of Naval Communications Intelligence, here in Washington."
"So I am going to have to tell the President that MAGIC has been compromised?"
"I don't think so, Sir. What's happened, Sir, I think, is that if anything Naval Intelligence erred on the side of caution to preserve the integrity of MAGIC."
"I don't understand a thing you just said."
"Lieutenant Cory did not have a MAGIC clearance."
"Thank God!"
"But the crypto people, the intelligence people, the intelligence community, I guess is what I'm trying to say, being the way they are, it occurred to somebody that he might have heard the name at least, and possibly had guessed what it was all about."
"So?"
"So a special radio was sent to General Vandergrift directing him to make sure that Lieutenant Cory did not fall into enemy hands."
"How was he supposed to do that?" Knox asked.
"I didn't get into that, Sir."
"Well, he didn't, did he? Cory may well indeed be a prisoner of the Japanese?"
"I think we have to consider that possibility, Sir."
Knox snorted.
"You're suggesting that Vandergrift told Pickering about the message vis-…-vis Cory? And that's what Pickering was driving at?"
"Yes, Sir, that's what I think."
"This is not enough to take to the President," Knox decided aloud. "But I want Nimitz radioed tonight, Dave, telling him to get Pickering off Guadalcanal."
"I took care of that, Sir," Haughton said, and handed him an onion skin.
URGENT
WASHINGTON DC 1710 15AUG42 SECRET
FROM: NAVY DEPARTMENT TO: CINCPAC PEARL HARBOR TH
FOR THE PERSONAL, IMMEDIATE ATTENTION OF ADMIRAL NIMITZ
INASMUCH AS THE PRESENCE OF CAPTAIN FLEMING PICKERING USNR, PRESENTLY ATTACHED TO
HEADQUARTERS 1ST MARINE DIVISION, IS URGENTLY REQUIRED IN WASHINGTON, THE SECRETARY OF THE
NAVY DIRECTS THAT EXTRAORDINARY EFFORT CONSISTENT WITH CAPTAIN PICKERING PERSONAL SAFETY
BE MADE TO WITHDRAW THIS OFFICER FROM GUADALCANAL BY AIR OR SEA, AND THAT HE BE ADVISED OF
PROGRESS MADE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THIS ORDER.
DAVID HAUGHTON, CAPT USN, ADMIN ASST TO SECNAV
(Three)
TEMPORARY BUILDING T-2032
THE MALL
WASHINGTON, D.C.
1750 HOURS 15 AUGUST 1942
Lieutenant Colonel F.L. Rickabee, USMC, was in his shirtsleeves, his tie was pulled down, and he was visibly feeling the heat and humidity, when Brigadier General Horace W. T. Forrest, Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Headquarters, USMC, walked into his office.
"Good evening, Sir," he said, standing up. "I hope the General will pardon my appearance, Sir."
"Don't be silly, Rickabee," Forrest said. "Christ, I hate Washington in the summer."
"I don't put any modifiers on the basic sentiment, Sir," Rickabee said dryly.
Forrest looked at him and chuckled.
"There's ice tea, Sir, and lemonade, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone defied my strict orders and hid a bottle of spirits or two in one of these filing cabinets."