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nodded.
"Ellen Feller's liable to pose problems," Banning said. "The way Dillon ran her off was stupid. He didn't
have to tell her to butt out; he didn't have to get her ego involved. She'll be on the back channel to
Pickering by morning. If she hasn't already radioed to tell him to tell us to let her in on this."
"He won't," McCoy said. "He doesn't want her to get splattered if the shit hits the fan. "
"Did you know that your sainted General Pickering was fucking her?"
"No," McCoy admitted, visibly surprised. "You're sure'?" Banning nodded.
"And Lieutenant Moore has enjoyed the privilege of her bed.
"No kidding?"
"Everybody, apparently, but you and me," Banning said, and smiled.
"Everybody but you and Dillon," McCoy said. "But that was as of an hour ago."
"You, too?" McCoy didn't respond to the question.
"Dillon's quite a swordsman," he said admiringly. "Hart told me he had Veronica Wood in the sack in
Washington. He saw them."
"Veronica Wood?" Banning said. "Maybe there is more to Dillon than meets the eye." Their eyes met for
a moment, long enough for them both to understand that they'd resolved the problem between them.
"Speaking of women," McCoy said, "do you happen to know if our Lieutenant Howard had a girlfriend
over here""
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, he did. Does. Why?"
"Well, he's like me. No family. His home address is care of USMC, Washington, D.C. We need some
really personal details about this girlfriend."
"What for?"
"Radio code, before we go in. Where is this girl? Who is she?"
"She's a Navy nurse, assigned to the 4th General Hospital in Melbourne."
"I want to talk to her," McCoy said. "Right away."
"She knows where he is, incidentally. And so does Steve Koffler's girl. She's in the RAN. I can have
both of them here by tomorrow afternoon.
I'll have to find a phone."
"It'll wait until after I eat," McCoy said. "You're sure you don't want some of this?"
"If you insist, Ken," Banning said, reaching for a french fry.
"I'm glad we're back to `Ken,"' McCoy said. "Let's keep it that way."
Banning met his eyes and nodded.
[Four]
WATER LILY COTTAGE
MANCHESTER AVENUE
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
1530 HOURS 30 SEPTEMBER 1942
Lieutenant John Marston Moore was lying on the couch with his legs elevated on two pillows.
"It says here," he said, lowering The Brisbane Dispatch and reaching for a bottle of beer on the coffee
table, "that they made 488 cargo ships last year."
"Who's `they'?" Lieutenant K. R. McCoy asked. He was sitting at a table with Lieutenant Hon Song Do,
having just taught General MacArthur's favorite bridge partner the favorite game of Marine enlisted men,
Acey-Deucy.
"Us, for Christ's sake!" Moore said.
"I wonder how many they sank?" McCoy asked innocently.
"They' meaning the Japs and the Germans."
"You mean despite the Air Raid Warning lady's best efforts?" Moore asked.
McCoy laughed. When he saw the look of confusion on Hon's face, he said, "Private joke, Pluto. And
you go easy on the suds, Moore."
"Aye, aye, Sir," Moore said, raising the bottle to his lips.
There was the sound of gravel crunching beneath tire wheels.
A minute later the door opened and two Navy nurses walked into the room.
They were followed by Major Jake Dillon.
"Ladies, these gentlemen-using the word loosely-are Lieutenants Hon, McCoy, and Moore," Dillon said.
"Banning told me one of them was Australian," McCoy said.
"And these ladies, gentlemen," Dillon said, are Lieutenant Barbara Cotter and her friend Lieutenant
Joanne Miller. They came together from Melbourne."
"Whose stupid idea was that?" McCoy said unpleasantly.
"There was only supposed to be Howard's girl."
"Jesus, McCoy!" Moore said.
"It was mine, Lieutenant," Barbara said. "I thought they were bringing me here to get some bad news,
and I asked her to come with me."
"I don't see any problem, McCoy," Dillon said. They locked eyes for a moment, and then Dillon said, "I
was able to tell Barbara that we heard from Joe Howard at eight this morning."
"My name is Hon," Hon said, getting up from the table.
"They call me Pluto."
"Barbara," Lieutenant Cotter said.
"Barbara, " McCoy said, still unpleasantly, "how much does the other one-"
"Joanne," Lieutenant Miller furnished just as unpleasantly.
"-know about your boyfriend?"
"She knows he's off somewhere I can't tell her, doing something I can't tell her. I am not a fool,
Lieutenant." McCoy looked at Joanne Miller.
"Lieutenant... oh shit!"
"Actually, it's Miller," Joanne said.
"What the hell is your problem, McCoy?" Dillon asked.
"They call it `military security,' Major," McCoy said. "Lieutenant, take this as an order. Everything you
know about anything your friend has told you, anything you hear here, anything you might guess here, is
TOP SECRET."
"It may come as a big surprise to you, Lieutenant," Joanne Miller said, "but I had actually figured that out
myself."
"I didn't mean to jump on you," McCoy said.
`Really?" Joanne Miller asked.
"You come sit by me, Joanne," Moore said, "and I'll be nice to you." She looked at him and smiled. And
then she walked to the couch and sat on the edge of it.
"Jake didn't say what all this was about," Barbara said.
"We need some details," Pluto said. "Personal details, that only you and Lieutenant Howard would know,
about your personal relationship."
"Why?" Barbara asked.
"We need a new code," Pluto said. "We have to assume that the code Howard's using now has been
broken by the Japanese."
"I don't understand," Barbara said.
"Does he have a private name for you? Or do you have one for him?"
"You mean something like `Baby' or `Darling'?"
"Yes, but not those words. They're too general. How about `Cutesy-poo'? `Precious Doll'? Something
like that?"
"Joe doesn't talk like that," Barbara said.
"I'm surprised," Moore said. "I can think of a dozen unusual terms of endearment I would use if you were
my girl."
"That's the end of your beer," McCoy said. "If you can't handle the sauce, leave it alone!"
"Aye, aye, Sir," Moore said and smiled at Joanne Miller.
She surprised him by laying her hand on his forehead.
"How long have you had malaria?" she asked.
"I don't have malaria," he said.
"The hell you don't," she said. "Glassy eyes, high temperature." She looked at Major Dillon. "He has
malaria and he belongs in a hospital! Doesn't anybody give a damn?"
"Shit," McCoy said.
"I'm sorry you find that inconvenient, Lieutenant," Joanne Miller said icily.
"Putting him in a hospital right now would be inconvenient."
"People die of malaria, you damned fool!"
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