"And I have this for you, General," Goldberg said and handed Vandergrift an unsealed envelope.
Vandergrift took a sheet of paper from the envelope, glanced at it, and handed it to Pickering.
"I got my copy of this last night," he said. "I don't think you've seen it."
Pickering took it. It was a radio message, all typed in capital letters.
URGENT
SECRET
FROM: CINCPAC
TO: COMMANDER DESTROYER FORCE TWENTY INFORMATION: COMMANDING GENERAL FIRST MARINE DIVISION
1. BY DIRECTION OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY YOU WILL TRANSPORT FROM YOUR DESTINATION TO
SUCH PLACE AS WILL BE LATER DIRECTED CAPTAIN FLEMING PICKERING, USNR, PRESENTLY ATTACHED HQ FIRST MARDIV.
2. YOU WILL ADVISE CINCPAC, ATTENTION: IMMEDIATE AND PERSONAL ATTENTION OF CINCPAC, WHEN
YOU HAVE SAILED FROM YOUR DESTINATION WITH CAPTAIN PICKERING ABOARD.
BY DIRECTION: D.J. WAGAM, REARADM USN
Pickering looked at Vandergrift, who smiled.
"Lieutenant Goldberg, may I present Captain Pickering?" Vandergrift said.
"How do you do, Sir?" Goldberg said. His surprise was evident. He had not expected to see a Navy Captain in Marine Corps utilities, carrying a Springfield rifle like a hunter.
"I think I've just been sandbagged, as a matter of fact," Pickering said.
"That boat is about ready to go back out to the Gregory, Captain Pickering. Don't you think you had better get on it? I'm sure her captain wants to get underway as soon as possible."
Pickering didn't reply.
"Major Stecker was good enough to pack your gear, Captain," Vandergrift said, and pointed to the landing barge.
Pickering saw Jack NMI Stecker handing a bag to one of the Marines on the barge. It was the bag he brought with him from the command ship USS McCawley when he'd come ashore.
"I know I've been sandbagged," Pickering said. "I gather there is no room for discussion?"
"Thank you for your services, Captain Pickering," Vandergrift said. "They have been appreciated by all hands."
Vandergrift handed Pickering the Ernest Leitz binoculars.
"General, I would be honored if you would hang onto those," Pickering said.
Vandergrift looked at the binoculars and then met Pickering's eyes.
"That's very kind of you, Fleming, thank you," he said. He put out his hand to Pickering.
Pickering had to grab the Springfield rifle with his left hand in order to take Vandergrift's hand with his right.
Then he held the rifle up.
"I won't need this any more, will I?"
"Why don't you take it with you?" Vandergrift said. "If nothing else, you could hang it on your wall. Then for the rest of your life, you could command attention by pointing to it and beginning a sentence, 'when I was on the beach at Guadalcanal...' "
"Touch‚, again, General."
"Bon voyage, Fleming," Vandergrift said. "I look forward to seeing you again."
He touched Pickering's arm and then walked away.
(Five)
WATER LILY COTTAGE
MANCHESTER AVENUE
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
0815 HOURS 17 AUGUST 1942
Mrs. Ellen Feller had just about finished dressing when she heard the crunch of tires on the driveway. A few seconds later, the double slamming of the front doors told her that Sergeant John Marston Moore had returned to the cottage.
The slamming doors annoyed her. She was already annoyed. Lieutenant Pluto Hon had been summoned to Townesville by Major Ed Banning-for reasons Banning had not elected to tell her. And that meant she was going to have to spend all day in the dark, damp cell two floors underground at SHSWPA. And probably do the same thing all day tomorrow, too. Someone had to be available to deliver MAGIC intercepts to Generals MacArthur and Willoughby, and since Banning and Hon were in Townesville, and Moore was officially not supposed to know even what MAGIC meant, that left her.
When she looked at her watch and saw that it was only a quarter after eight, she was even more annoyed. She had told him to pick Hon up at the Commerce Hotel and deliver him to the airport; then to stop at the Cryptographic Facility, pick up what had come in, and run it through the machine; and then, 'about nine, Baby, come pick me up.' "
She decided she knew what was in his mind, the horny little devil, and while that was flattering, now was not the time. She had just spent an hour washing and doing her hair, and if that happened, as appealing as it was, she would have to go through the whole process again, starting with the shower.
The door to her bedroom was flung open.
"You ever think of knocking?"
"Sorry," he said, visibly unrepentant. "Take a look at these."
There was something important in the overnights, she thought. He doesn't have that delightfully shyly naughty look in his eyes.
She took the two sheets of onion skin from him, and read them.
URGENT SECRET