“I think he should have drawn his own conclusions from his own sources and sent them directly to Admiral Hillencoetter without discussing them with—and certainly not allowing them to be censored by—anyone in the Dai Ichi Building.”
“What you’re saying, General, is that the Tokyo station chief was derelict in the performance of his duties?”
“Yes, sir, I guess I am.”
“Then why didn’t you relieve him when you went over there and came to this conclusion?”
“There were several reasons, sir,” Pickering said. “For one thing, McCoy told me he had developed his own sources—”
“I’m really looking forward to meeting Major ‘Killer’ McCoy,” Smith interrupted. “The President seems very taken with him. Where is he now?”
“Probably in North Korea—or China—looking for General Dean,” Pickering replied, and added, “and my son.”
Smith met Pickering’s eyes for a long moment but did not respond directly.
“You were saying McCoy said he had his own sources?”
“Which had proven to be more reliable than those of General Willoughby,” Pickering went on, “so I didn’t need the station chief’s intel . . . which, presumably, he was already furnishing to Willoughby and Hillencoetter anyway. I didn’t know if I had the authority to relieve him, or whether that had to be cleared with the CIA, and the moment I started to relieve him, Willoughby would learn of it, possibly cause trouble here, and certainly make him keep a closer eye on me than he already was.”
“The President’s right,” Smith said. “You do have a loose-cannon tendency, don’t you?”
“Is that what he said?” Pickering said.
This is not going well. If I were this man, I would not want me working for me.
So what do I do now?
Ask the Marine Corps to keep me on at least until we find out what happened to Pick?
Ask for immediate release from active duty and just stay in Tokyo? If I do that, I probably wouldn’t be able to get permission to go to Korea.
“That’s what he said,” Smith replied, evenly, with a little smile, then asked: “What do you want to do about the Tokyo station chief?” Smith asked.
“If I were to become your deputy for Asia . . .”
“Please don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts about that,” Smith said. “I need you over there.”
Jesus, I didn’t expect that!
“We don’t know how well we would work together,” Pickering said.
“I think I’ll be considerably easier for you to work with than General Donovan was,” Smith said. “I understand that your personal relationship with him . . .”
“Was about as bad as a relationship can be,” Pickering said.
“You are taking the job, right?”
“I’m surprised it’s still being offered,” Pickering said.
“What are you doing, General, fishing for a compliment? Yes, it’s still being offered, because both the President and I think you’re the best man to do what has to be done.”
They locked eyes for a moment.
“Yes, sir, I’ll take the job,” Pickering said. “Thank you.”
“Okay. Now, what do you want to do about the Tokyo station chief?”
“One of the reasons I didn’t relieve him when I first got to Tokyo was that I was afraid he’d go to Washington and spend all his time throwing monkey wrenches into my gears.”
“He’s gone,” Smith said. “Or will be as soon as I can order him home. And he will not be sniping at you from the rear. What about his replacement?”
“Off the top of my head, I have no idea,” Pickering admitted.
“I thought I was going to hear two names,” Smith said. "Major K. R. McCoy and Colonel Edward Banning. I don’t think McCoy has the experience, but what’s wrong with Banning?”
“Absolutely nothing is wrong with Colonel Banning,” Pickering said quickly and firmly.
“Why have you got him sitting around Camp Pendleton doing a job that could be done by a lot of far more junior people who don’t have a tenth of his experience as an intelligence officer?” When Pickering didn’t immediately reply, Smith added: “I know that he worked for you in the Second War, and what he did.”
“I guess the truth, General,“ Pickering said, “is that while I often thought how much I need Ed Banning in Tokyo, I didn’t have the balls to make waves. Either about getting rid of the Tokyo station chief or about asking Admiral Hillencoetter to name Banning in his place.”
“It usually helps, if you’re going to make waves, to be sure of your authority,” Smith said. “Now that that question has been resolved, I take it if I named Colonel Banning as Tokyo station chief, I would have your