“What’s behind this touching interest in our physical comfort?” Canidy asked.
“We want to make sure that Admiral de Verbey is comfortable,” Douglass said, “and that his arrival in England is not missed by certain people.”
“And what’s Whitby House?” Canidy asked.
“It’s been considered necessary,” Douglass said, “for us to set up a close working relationship with what the British call the Special Operations Executive, SOE being much like the OSS—except, as Colonel Donovan points out, they know what they’re doing.
“They operate what they call SOE Research and Development Station IX on a requisitioned estate near London. It’s sort of a combination of Summer Place and the estate; it houses their agent-training facilities and serves as a hotel or billet. It is our intention to set up a similar facility as soon as possible. Another estate—they call them country houses—has been made available to us. It’s called Whitby House. It is the ancestral home of the dukes of Stanfield.”
“And you’re going to move the admiral there?” Canidy asked.
“You’re going to move him there, Dick,” Douglass said. “He remains your responsibility. You will report to Colonel Stevens. You know what is needed in the way of security and communications, and Colonel Stevens will arrange for you to get what you need. While you and Captain Whittaker are doing that, Lieutenants Martin and Fulmar will go through the SOE agent school at Station IX. SOE has also agreed to make available some of their staff to help us set up and operate our own training course—at least for the time being.”
“Charity,” Douglass said after dinner was over, “do you think you could amuse Captain Whittaker and Lieutenants Fulmar and Martin while Cynthia and I go over some details with Colonel Stevens and Major Canidy?”
When they had gone, Douglass said, “There are some things the others don’t have the need to know.”
“No kidding?” Canidy asked in sarcastic innocence.
Cynthia gave him a dirty look. Douglass shook his head in resignation, but Stevens smiled. Canidy saw it and smiled conspiratorially at him.
“Are we going to let the admiral try to steal the Jean Bart?” Canidy asked.
“There has been no decision about that,” Douglass said, taking Canidy’s question at face value. “What we’re up to is a little political blackmail. General de Gaulle is giving General Eisenhower fits. More than fits. Eisenhower believes that de Gaulle can cause enormous mischief during Operation Torch. If he gets away with that, Ike is certain he’ll raise even more trouble when we are ready to invade the European landmass. And if we decide to make the landing in France . . . Jesus! Eisenhower, therefore, wants very badly to get de Gaulle off his back. He has recommended that we withdraw our support from him entirely. The British rather strongly object.”
“May I ask why? What do they recommend? Do they side with de Gaulle?” Colonel Stevens asked. “If that came up in the briefings, I’m afraid I missed it.”
“The British completely agree that de Gaulle spells more trouble than he is worth,” Douglass said evenly. “They suggested that it would be most convenient if de Gaulle were to have a fatal accident.”
“My, my!” Canidy said. “Would they do it?”
“Certainly,” Douglass said. “But neither Eisenhower nor the President is willing to go that far. At least not yet. Eisenhower has suggested—and Roosevelt has approved—another tack. If General de Gaulle learns that we have ‘secretly’ brought the admiral to England, perhaps he will find it in himself to be a bit more cooperative. He just might realize that he is only the self-anointed head of the French government in exile.”
“Why bring in the admiral secretly?” Canidy asked.
“If we officially imported the admiral, that would be a confrontation,” Douglass explained. “Eisenhower doesn’t want that confrontation if it can be avoided. If we secretly import him, while taking pains to make sure de Gaulle knows, that’s something else. And, of course, the threat to replace de Gaulle with Admiral de Verbey will not be entirely a bluff. If Roosevelt decides that de Gaulle has to go, we’ll have de Verbey in place.”
“So we continue to let the admiral believe we’re going along with his steal-the-battleship idea in order to make him behave in England?”
“It really is still under consideration,” Douglass said. “It has gone from ‘impossible’ to ‘possible, but probably not worth the effort.’”
“What about the plane? Is that just to make sure de Gaulle doesn’t miss the admiral? Or is there anything else?”
“I’m impressed, Dick,” Douglass said. “You’re learning that simply asking questions often