Hell, yes, we're old pals. How the hell are you. Beetle?
"No, sir," Capt. Harrison said.
"How do you do, Sir?"
General Smith smiled, and offered a firm handshake.
"Captain," Smith said. ""Harrison," is it?"
Bruce tore the envelope open carefully, glanced inside, then took the Eyes Only documents from it.
"I'm happy to meet you, Captain," General Smith said.
Harrison could not think of a reply.
Dear Harriet, You'll never guess who I met at lunch at the Savoy Hotel.
Smith, naturally curious, turned his attention to David Bruce.
"Important, David?
"General Smith asked.
"Not particularly," Bruce said. And then he corrected himself.
"I don't mean to suggest that you should not have brought this to my attention here, Harrison.
That was the correct thing to do."
"You said that Captain Fine has been sent for?"
"I don't think there's any point in involving Captain Fine in this, Captain," Bruce said.
"What I think you should do is see that Washington gets a copy of this as quickly as you can. And then get in touch with Colonel Stevens and ask him to be in my office at four. A little earlier, if he can make it. And I think it might be a good idea if you were to ask him to bring Lieutenant Hoche with him."
It. Hoche, Capt. Harrison recalled, was the newly arrived, absolutely splendiferous blonde who was supposed to be Helene Dancy's man... woman... at What the hell has she got to do with this?
Bruce returned the documents to the envelope and handed it back to Harrison.
"Thank you, Captain," he said.
Harrison was wondering whether or not the Customs of the Service required him to salute a three-star general in a hotel dining room, when General Smith solved the problem.
He gave Harrison his hand.
"Pleasure to have met you, Captain," he said.
"I look forward to seeing you again."
"Yes, Sir," Harrison said.
"Thank you, Sir."
[THREE]
National Institutes of Health Building
Chief Boatswain's Mate J. R. Ellis, USN, pushed open the plate-glass door, marched into the lobby of the building, and crossed to the elevator, his metal tapped heels making a ringing noise on the marble floor.