“Who’s that?” General Clay demanded.
“Cletus Frade. Who you?”
“Lucius Clay.”
“I’d say, ‘Good morning, General,’ but that somehow doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?”
“I had hoped to speak with Admiral Souers.”
“He should be here in a couple of minutes,” Frade said. “Jimmy, what about Ginger’s baby?”
“I’ve got him on my lap. He’s the only survivor.”
“Well, thank God for that.”
“I’m a little confused, Mr. Frade,” Clay said. “What, exactly, is your role within the DCI?”
“Well, at the moment, with the admiral out strolling with the President, and Oscar Schultz looking for them, I suppose I’m the DCI.”
Makamson snapped: “Even for a Marine colonel, Colonel, isn’t that a bit presumptuous?”
“Who you?”
“I am General Makamson.”
“Be advised, General, that having just been told that two people very dear to me have been murdered, I’m in no mood for any of your chickenshit observations.”
General Clay slapped his hand on the table.
“Enough!” he barked. “Both of you, say ‘Yes, sir.’”
Both officers said, “Yes, sir.”
“What we’re going to do now,” Clay went on, “is lay out this incident chronologically and then try to fill in the blanks. Understood?”
[THREE]
Fifteen minutes later, Admiral Souers’s voice came over the SIGABA speakers. “This is Souers. Frade just told me we have nine KIA?”
“Odessa hit the safe house, sir,” Cronley said. “The nine KIA include Mrs. Moriarty and Father McGrath.”
“How do you know it was Odessa?” Souers asked.
“What we’ve been doing, Admiral,” General Clay said, “is trying to lay out a time line and then come back and fill in the blanks.”
“That hasn’t been going well,” Mr. Justice Jackson said. “What I was about to suggest to General Clay, Sid, is that when you came online, we start over, with Cronley telling us what happened. How does that sound?”
“So far as I’m concerned,” Clay said, “the floor is yours, Captain Cronley.”
“Begin, Cronley,” Souers said.
“Yes, sir. I’d say it began when General Serov determined that the Odessa money we’ve been looking for was in the Vatican Bank.”
“In where?” Souers asked.
“May I suggest,” Clay said, “that we hold our questions until Cronley finishes?”