W E B Griffin - BoW 04 - The Colonels Read online

  "That sounds too simple to be workable," Hanrahan said

  "Put the matter from your mind, mon Colonel," Jannie said. "It might be wise to have a word with Madame Hanrahan And perhaps leave the children somewhere while we are at cocktail." In the end, a generous bribe put the children in the billiard room while le cocktail was being held. And Paul's dirty coat was explained by a story of a flat tire. Kevin Hanrahan, looking at the door of the billiard roon saw his father making his way to the men's room. He came running in after him, wrapped his arms around his father's waste and hung on tightly. "I don't ever want to come back," Kevin said. Honolulu, Hawaii 27 December 1958 The Hanrahans were less than twenty-four hours out Saigon, but they had crossed the international date lin December 26 had forever vanished from their lives. They were not supposed to deplane at Honolulu, which v simply a fueling stop. Kevin and Rosemary slept through landing. The stewardess came down the aisle.

  "There is an urgent telephone call for you, Colonel," said.

  "I guess the Embassy heard about the attack," Paul, said evenly. "And now we'll have to go back for investigation." Hanrahan thought angrily that such a sophisticated analasys from a kid that age was less an indication of his intellect than proof that he had taken his kids where they shouldn't have gone. "

  "Never take counsel of your fears," "

  Hanrahan quote

  "General George S. Patton."

  "What are you going to do if they have?" "Tell the truth," Hanrahan said. "I didn't volunteer information, but I didn't withhold any, either."

  "That logic is invalid," Paul, Jr." said.

  "You spent too much time with the Jesuits," his father

  "The truth is the truth." "Truth is a perception," Hanrahan said to his son, as hulled up his necktie, and gave what he hoped was an enig smile to Patricia. does that mean?" Paul, Jr." asked.

  "Ask the Jesuits," Hanrahan said, and then he walked down aisle and down the ladder into the inhospitable atmosphere a deserted airport.

  There was a white telephone immediately inside the terminal aildinn. He picked it up. is Colonel Hanrahan," he said. "Have you a call for

  "I have a call for Lieutenant Colonel Paul. T. Hanrahan," rat or said.

  is he," he said. He felt like a fool, as if he'd been caught in a pretense. ecording to army regulations, the "lieutenant prefix is cusmanly not used in informal communication." He was right the book, but he felt like an ass. "One moment, please," the operator said. And after a se: "I have Lieutenant Colonel Hanrahan for you." male voice demanded: "Is this Lieutenant Colonel Paul T. -yes, sir."

  "This is Major Ford, sir. I'm the field-grade duty officer at Headquarters, USARPAC." If Headquarters, U.S. Army, Pacific, had bothered to stop him enroute home, his ass was obviously in a deeper crack then he had thought. "What can I do for you, Major?"

  "DA has advised by radio of a change in your orders, Lieutenant Colonel Hanrahan, and directed Headquarters, USARP to relay them to you." Hanrahan picked up on the "lieutenant colonel" business. Maybe ybe USARPAC had a local rule that lieutenant colonels be so identified. "I was afraid of that," Hanrahan said." May I read them to you, Lieutenant Colonel Hanrahan?" That's what it was, a local rule. Maybe it made sense. He would have to think about it. Please," Hanrahan said.

  "I'll just touch on the highlights, Lieutenant Colonel," the major said.

  "Go ahead," Hanrahan said, impatiently. What he was going to hear was that he was to interrupt his travel, and report to Hq USARPAC to await further orders.

  "So much of Paragraph 34, General Order 203, Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington 25, D. C." dated I November 1958," the major read, "as pertains to Lieutenant Colonel Paul T. Hanrahan, Signal Corps, is amended to read, "Colonel Paul T. Hanrahan, Signal Corps, detailed Infantry," and so much of subject paragraph as pertains to subject officer reporting for duty with USASWS is amended to read "to assume command of USASWS."

  " "I'll be god damned," Hanrahan said. "I wasn't even on the list."

  "You were on somebody's list, Colonel," the major said, with a chuckle.

  "Am I the first to be able to congratulate you?" "Yes," Hanrahan said.

  "My congratulations, sir." "Thank you," Hanrahan said.

  Actually stunned, Hanrahan hung the telephone up without even saying good-bye.

  He stood with his head bent looking at the telephone.

  "Bad, honey?" Patricia's voice said behind him.

  He turned and saw the concern in her eyes. It took him a moment to find his voice.

  "How would you like to kiss a bird fucking colonel?" he asked.

  Her eyebrows went up.

  "Failing that, how about the new commanding officer of the Special Warfare School?" he said.

  She ran to his arms.

  And then, after a moment, very softly, she whispered in his ear: "If I had my druthers, I'd rather fuck the full fucking colonel."

  Atlanta, Georgia Hours, 28 December 1958 There had not been time in San Francisco to get on the phome to Bob Bellmon, and there had not been time here in Atlanta to make any calls before Captain Jean-Philippe Jannier boarded his Southern Airlines DC-3 which would carry him to Ozark, Alabama, the nearest field to Fort Rucker. There was not going to be enough time now, before they had to board to fly to Fayetteville, N. C." the last leg of their journey but Hanrahan thought he should at least try. The attendant at the newsstand changed a ten dollar bill for him. After some difficulty in finding a telephone, rather than what looked like giant clam shells attached to the walls, he began to make his call. With a little luck, he could catch Bellmon and have him send someone to meet Jannier's plane.

  There was no answer at Bellmon's quarters. Next he callec Combat Developments, but a none-too-bright sergeant whc was in charge of quarters informed him that "the general his wife is at the funeral, probably."

  "I'm asking for Colonel Bellmon, Sergeant."

  "Yes, sir. They made him a general, as of this morning."

  "You say he's at a funeral?"

  "Yes, sir. Lieutenant Greer's."

  "Do you have any idea when he'll be back?"

  "No telling, sir. It's a great big funeral, with the band everything.

  The place is crawling with brass."

  Hanrahan was curious about that "great big funeral, with th band and everything" for a simple lieutenant, but he didn't have the time to pursue his curiosity.

  "Sergeant, have you got a pencil?" he asked. "Yes, sir." "My name is Hanrahan," he said. "I'll spell it for you. He did.

  "Will you please give General Bellmon a note sayl that I telephoned, that I extend my congratulations on he promotion, and that I will call again."

  "Yes, sir. Be happy to." "Thank you very much," Hanrahan said, and hung up. It wasn't the end of the world. He could call again, as soon as he got to Fayetteville, and still have someone call Jannier and welcome him to Rucker once he was actually there. Clearly someone official would meet him, and Captain Philippe Jannier was not an innocent second lieutenant. could make it from the airport to the post by himself. Then Hanrahan thought of Sandy Felter.

  Now that he was out of Vietnam, he knew he simply couldn't forget the ambush on the road. He had realized on the plane th he had erred in not reporting it. He should have stayed and delt with it, no matter what a pain in the ass that would have been.

  The attack itself was worthy of official note. The Vietmen if that's what they were, had made a daylight attempt on a Frenchman. Even more important, it followed is if they knew as much about Captain Jean-Philippe Jannieir movements as they obviously did, then they knew that the guests of the Janniers were an American MAG officer and his family: That had not stopped them. That was something Felter had told him the communists were going out of their way not to attack Americans.

  The very least he could do was tell Felter. Perhaps that id, in some small way, permit him to squirm out of his responsability to do in Saigon what he knew damned well was the thing to do. He got out his address book again and found a Washington
address that Felter had told him was sort of an answering service. The operator took what seemed like an endless amount of time and then put the call through. 7 1221," a pleasant female voice said.

  Felter, please," Hanrahan said.

  I ask who is calling, please?" tins is Colonel Paul Hanrahan."

  "One moment, please, Colonel," the woman said. The woman wore the five stripes of a sergeant first class on khaki shirt, and she was sitting with three other soldiers a switchboard in a small room with eight-foot-thick ins fifty feet under the White House. the raised her hand over her head and snapped her fingers to m't the attention of a young Signal Corps captain who was arac. He walked quickly over to her. Paul Hanrahan for Felter," she said. "There's a Lieutenant Colonel Hanrahan, Paul T." on the list." She pointed iname in a loose-leaf notebook in front of her. These were names and telephone numbers of those that the fifty-odd were on what was known as "the A List" (those with unlimited access to the White House communications system) who he wish to talk to. "But the number here is in Saigon."

  the same guy," the captain decided. "Put him through. Yes, sir," she said. "One moment, please, Colonel Hanrahan," she said, pleas sir "We're trying to locate Major Felter for you." She pushed a button on her control console. ijo," a male voice said. He was speaking from a underground room in the Defense Communications a large, featureless building across Washington. One for Mouse," she said. "Ok," he said.

  There was another voice on the line a moment later, another tie, this one in a temporary communications link in the telephone building at Fort Rucker, Alabama. verifies scrambler."

  "Mouse, please," the White House operator said. "Mouse is 60 to 120 seconds from scrambler," the operata at Fort Rucker replied. "Advise Mouse call is from Colonel Hanrahan." There was the sound of a telephone ringing. "Captain Parker."

  "Major Sanford Felter, please," the Fort Rucker operate said.

  "Just a second," the man who answered the phone said, then, more faintly, as if the telephone was away from mouth, "Mouse, it's for you."

  The White House operator restrained a giggle. Obviow the people who had given Major Sanford T. Felter his co name weren't the only ones who thought him mouselike.

  "Major Felter."

  "Major, this is not scrambled," the Fort Rucker op erat said. "You have a call from a Colonel Paul Hanrahan." "Put it through," Felter said.

  "Colonel Hanrahan," the White House operator said, "we have Major Felter for you." "Yes, sir?" Major Felter said, happily. "How are you, sir?"

  "Exhausted, Felter. I just got off a plane from Saigon."

  "Welcome home, sir. I'll look forward to seeing you ye soon."

  "Mouse, there's something I've got to tell you."

  "This is not a secure line, Colonel. Is it classified?"

  "You tell me. Is an attack by the Vietminh on America classified?" "Why should it be?" Felter said in a moment. "I guess t Vietminh already know about it. Anybody we know?"

  "Pat, the kids, and me," Hanrahan said. "I think they were after a Frenchman named Jannier..

  "Father or son?"

  "Son. We were on our way from the plantation to the airport."

  "Any damage?"

  "Not to us. I think he expected it."

  "Forgive me, Colonel. I didn't think to ask about Pat ai the kids."

  "They're all right. Scared, but all right." "Thank God," Felter said. "I'm glad you told me, Colonel It may have some significance." Yes, Mouse. I didn't say anything over there. I wanted to get out of the country, and I knew.. If there was no damage to you, that was the smart thing to do. I'd have done the same." I hate to admit how relieved I am to hear you say that, Hanrahan said. Forget the whole incident, Colonel," Felter said. I didn't ask about Sharon and the kids, either." They are just fine," Felter said. "And trying to take the phone from me this very moment is another familiar face." m Duke," Felter said. what outrage has he been up to lately?"

  Hanrahan major Craig W. Lowell had earned his nickname, "the "as a second lieutenant -under Hanrahan in Greece. two this afternoon, Colonel, there were ten T34s in the inv. At two fifteen, Duke blew half of them up." chuckled. He didn't know what was going on, but major Craig W. Lowell did would surprise him. him on, Mouse," Hanrahan said. "I want to hear at." ansi, sir," Lowell's happy voice came on the line. saw Patricia gesturing frantically at him, pointing inn. , Duke. Call me at Bragg. Good-bye, Duke," Hanad, and hung up. hell," Lowell said.

  Felter, please," the White House operator said. want to talk to you again, Mouse."

  t, your party disconnected. He was calling from a pay the airfield in Atlanta." very much." sir. was a click when Felter hung up. Shutdown Scrambler One for Mouse."

  Dr. Antoinette Parker had never been quite able to cover her feelings that military courtesy was an amusing aberition One man calling another "sir" went back to the meideval "sire," with its implication that the senior was the father of the junior. Her husband had pointed out to her that military courtesy wasn't very much different from the protocol of academia or medicine. Her father, he pointed out with infuriating logic was more than a little sensitive about his prerogatives as professor. None of his subordinates dared fail to call him' "doctor"

  (or, preferably, "professor"). He added somewhat smugly that she herself was outraged if a nurse called anything besides "doctor."

  Intellectually, she had to agree with him. Emotionally, still thought it was absurd. But when Major General Jiggs appeared at the scree the porch at the end of the World War II hospital ward that been converted to quarters, what she said, without about it, was, "Good evening, sir."

  "I'm sorry to intrude, Doctor," General Jiggs said. had an idea Major Lowell might be here. I suppose I sac have called first..."

  "They're celebrating his reprieve," she said, stepping from the door, gesturing with an inclination of her head ai smile for him to come in.

  "I suspected they might be," he said. Then he looke4 her. "They're?" he asked.

  "At the moment, General," she said, "it's the brotherh I felt out of place." "Oh," he said, and smiled at her.

  "That will change," she said. "Barbara Bellmon's on way over here with Roxy Macmillan and Sharon Felter." "I thought," General Jiggs said, "that it was bad news was supposed to travel fast."

  There was the sound of tires on gravel, and they both looked toward the street. A Buick convertible, Barbara Bellmon's had pulled in beside General Jiggs's staff car. There were women in the front seat, Barbara Bellmon, tall, lithe, attract (who looked, Toni Parker often thought, as if she- had i stepped from an advertisement in Town & Country); Macmillan, buxom, redheaded, with prominent teeth (" Toni thought); and Sharon Felter, a small, dark-haired woir mtoni thought was probably the most gentle, understandm she had ever known). s sisterhood seems to have arrived," Jiggs said dryly. women spilled out of the car and walked onto the porch. where is Jane?" Barbara Bellmon said to General Jiggs, Jane was Jiggs's wife. Last I heard, Barbara," Jiggs said, "she was at the cerimony with you and Melody Greer." We dropped her at your quarters," Barbara Bellmon said. She was going to the club to get you and bring you here. I don't know where Bob is." He and Mac Macmillan are on their way to Washington," "How did you find out there is cause for celebration?" Sandy Felter called Sharon at the Duttons," Barbara said. What's Bob doing in Washington?" Black sent for him," Jiggs said. "He didn't say my guess is that Bob's due for a new job." are they coming back?" Roxy Macmillan asked. they will be back in time for New Year's Eve," Black said probably tonight or in the morning." We'll see you and Jane at the club," Barbara said. See you," Jiggs said. Fine, a gesture halfway between a nod and a bow and he went into the apartment. When he got to the living room, there were officers sprawled on the Danish modern chairs and and two others leaning on a bar. Each clutched a glass of whiskey. Sanford T. Felter was the first to see Jiggs when he came in the room. Felter had been leaning on the bar, and when he saw Jiggs he straightened up, almost coming to attention. The Warrant officer he was talking to, "Dutch" Cramer, the old-time
, Ordnance Corps chief warrant officer whose rockets blew up the five Russian T-34s, glanced over at Jiggs; and straightened up. his movement caught the eyes of the others, and the four shifted on the chairs and couches and started to stand up. Stay in your seats," General Jiggs said. Philip Sheridan Parker IV walked over to General st can I get you, sir?" he asked. rat a drink of that scotch," Jiggs said. "And then I want a minute of Major Felter's time." "Yes, sir," Parker said, walking to the bar.