"Aye, aye, Sir," Rickabee said. "Excuse me."
He went through a wooden door and came back in a moment with two bottles of beer and a glass.
"Keep the glass, thank you," General Forrest said. He raised the beer bottle.
"Frank Goettge," he said and took a pull.
"Frank Goettge," Rickabee parroted and took a sip. "Was there any special reason for that, Sir?"
"Frank's dead. Or at least missing and presumed dead."
"Jesus Christ! What happened, Sir?"
"I don't know. I know only that. I got it from the Commandant thirty minutes ago. He got it from the Secretary of the Navy. There have been no after-action reports, casualty reports, anything else. I can only presume that Frank Knox got it directly from that commissioned civilian he sent over there... what's his name?"
"Pickering, Sir."
"... as his personal snoop. Pickering is on Guadalcanal. Did you know that?"
"No, Sir. I did not."
"The Secretary of the Navy has directed the Commandant to replace Colonel Goettge immediately with a suitably qualified officer. Don't waste our time suggesting yourself. You're cleared for MAGIC. You can't go."
"Yes, Sir."
"What about Major Ed Banning? He was S-2 of the Fourth Marines. He could handle it, and he's in Australia."
"Banning's cleared for MAGIC, too, Sir."
"I didn't know that."
"Captain Pickering had him added to the list." "Damn that man!"
"I don't think the Secretary would want us to send Banning in any event, Sir. He sent him over there." "That's right, isn't it? I'd forgotten." "Sir, isn't there someone in the First Division who could take over?"
"I asked the same question. Do you know Captain Ringer,
Bill Ringer?"
"Yes. That's right. He's there, too, isn't he? S-2 of the 5th."
"He's dead, or missing, too. And a Lieutenant named Cory. You know Cory?"
"He was a civilian here. Navy communications. He was commissioned only a couple of months ago."
"Knox's aide-Haughton. He's not his aide. What do they call him?"
"Administrative Assistant, Sir."
"Haughton was all exercised that Cory might have had access to MAGIC."
"Did he?"
"No. What I would really like to know is what the hell went on over there to take out the Division Two, the 5th Marines Two, and a Japanese linguist all at once. The last after-action report I saw didn't show a hell of a lot going on over there."
"And the Commandant didn't know?"
"You mean did he know and wouldn't say? I don't think he knew a thing more than he told me. We were talking about Major Banning."
"Banning is out, Sir."
"Yes, of course," Forrest said. "I must be getting senile.
Suggestions, Rickabee?"
"We have a man in Brisbane. His name is Dailey. Lieutenant Colonel. Ex-aviator. He was in Berlin before the war as an assistant Naval attach‚."
"What's he doing in Brisbane?"
"He's liaison officer between MacArthur and Nimitz."
"How do you know about him?" Forrest asked, and when: Rickabee hesitated, snapped, "Come on. I've got to get back to the Commandant tonight with a name."
"Sir, I sort of stashed him over there."
"Stashed?"
"As a replacement, Sir, a supernumerary, in place. In case anything happened to Ed Banning. Or some other people. He has gone through the FBI background check."
"MAGIC?"
"No, Sir. I would be surprised if he ever heard the term. But, if it came to that, I would feel easy about clearing him for access to MAGIC."
"Could he handle being a division two?"
"I think so, Sir. He wouldn't be a Frank Goettge..."
"You just lost your supernumerary, Rickabee. Now, what about a regimental two to replace Captain Ringer?"
"Sir, I have no idea what to do about that."
"Don't try to tell me you don't have any linguists you can spare."
"I don't have any linguists I can spare, General," Rickabee said. "Wait a minute..."
"Well?"