Mac wingate 1, p.20
Mac Wingate 1, page 20
“He did,” said Erikson. “He gave it three. He’d probably have kept trying if your slug hadn’t stopped him.”
Wingate groped with the information, trying to fit it into the picture of what had happened that he’d already formed. It didn’t fit at all. “I—I’m sorry, sir,” he said at last. “I don’t get it.”
“Captain Wingate,” said Erikson, quietly, “when are you going to get it into your head that you’re not fighting this war on your own? There’s a place for all of us—me, General Patton, General Eisenhower. Even the President and Mr. Churchill are trying to make some small contribution. There were no explosives behind the wall because Jacobi wasn’t important enough to be got rid of that way. It would have meant risking damage to the hotel and that was the last thing we wanted. The wires were left in position because we wanted to be certain that Jacobi intended to fire those charges. The important thing was to find out who was behind Jacobi. We’d suspected Timmermann for some time. Moreau had identified him, and that’s why Misuki cut his throat after he’d failed to suffocate him in that closet. Two things finally pinned Timmermann down. We agreed to give him the responsibility of removing the explosives from where you’d put it—and he didn’t. Even then, we needed to know that Timmermann really intended to detonate those charges when the time came. He’d brought in Hauptsturmführer Jacobi for just that purpose. My men removed the explosives. We stuck a galvanometer in the circuit in place of them. It registered three distinct charges from the blasting machine. That was good enough for me. Timmermann was the man we were after. I take it you took care of him?”
Wingate nodded. He’d never been more confused in his life. “I don’t get it, sir,” he said. “No disrespect—but where the hell did I fit in?”
Erikson got to his feet. “God Almighty, Captain!” he said, irritably. “There are times when I wonder if you know which way is up. You were asked by General Patton to do one thing: to see whether you could break our security arrangements. We thought they were tight enough: you showed us they weren’t. But you went further. You identified and killed the head of German intelligence in North Africa. Now if that isn’t enough for you, for Christ’s sake, tell me what more you want!”
Wingate thought for a moment. Finally he nodded. “I understand, sir,” he said. He felt better at last.
Erikson said, “I’ll be in touch again. Meantime, General Patton wants a word with you. Let me just check.” He picked up the phone and called Patton’s ADC. At last he turned to Wingate and said, “He’ll see you now.”
Patton was standing by a little cocktail cabinet that he had had fixed up. There were a couple of whiskey glasses on top of it and a quart bottle of Jack Daniel’s. He called across the room to where Mac Wingate was standing at attention, “You did a hell of a good job, boy. Hell of a good job. Let me fix you an ‘Armored Diesel.’”
He squeezed a couple of lemons into a mixer of ice and added sugar and two good jiggers of the bourbon. He gave the mixer a whirl and divided the concoction evenly between the two glasses. He handed one to Wingate, clinked glasses with him and said, “Nice work. Just had the President on the phone. Pleased as hell. From what I hear, that must have been some shot you hit that bastard with. How far d’you reckon you were from him?”
The drink had eased Wingate considerably. He said, “About a hundred yards, sir.”
“Jesus!” said Patton. “And you cut the bastard’s spinal cord at that range? Not bad. Not bad at all. Where d’you learn to shoot like that?”
“I’ve always hunted, sir,” said Wingate.
“Good, good!” Patton cried. He turned to Wingate and said, “Wanted to tell you in person that you’ve done a damn good job. That’s all.”
Patton finished his drink and went around to the other side of his desk. The interview was over. When Wingate didn’t move, Patton looked up at him suddenly and asked, “Something I can do for you, Captain?”
“Sir,” said Wingate. “Timmermann had a couple of kids. About nine and six. They were his eyes and ears in Casablanca. Now he’s dead, I was wondering ...”
“You think that maybe we ought to keep an eye on them? See they’ve somewhere to stay? Food—that kind of thing?”
“I’d feel better about it, sir. They did have a roof over their heads with him,” said Wingate.
“Quite right,” said Patton. “Give the details to Colonel Erikson. He’ll look after it.”
“I’m—very grateful, sir,” said Wingate. He took a couple of steps back from Patton’s desk, came to attention and threw a salute.
Patton responded briskly. He watched Wingate march quickly to the door and then he called, “And Captain—have a good war! We’ve got a lot more of it before these bastards get down on their knees. No doubt we’ll meet again.”
About the Author
Bryan Swift was a composite of Arthur Wise, Richard Meyers and Will C. Knott, who between them penned the entire series, which itself was created by Ejan Productions.
The series comprises:
Mission Code: Symbol (1981–Arthur Wise)
Mission Code: King's Pawn (1981–Will C. Knott)
Mission Code: Minotaur (1981–Will C. Knott)
Mission Code: Granite Island (1981–Richard Meyers)
Mission Code: Springboard (1981–Will C. Knott)
Mission Code: Snow Queen (1982–Richard Meyers)
Mission Code: Acropolis (1982–Arthur Wise)
Mission Code: Volcano (1982–Richard Meyers)
Mission Code: Track And Destroy (1982–Will C. Knott)
Mission Code: Survival (1982–Richard Meyers)
Mission Code: Scorpion (1982–Richard Meyers)
Arthur Wise (1923-1983) was a UK drama consultant and author, most of whose works were thrillers; he also wrote as by John McArthur.
Richard Meyers (born 1953) is an American author, ghostwriter, screenwriter, consultant, actor, editor, and teacher, who may be best known for his contributions to the martial arts film industry (Rim Films having called him "one of the men most responsible for the acceptance of Asian action movies and stars in America").
Will C.(Cecil) Knott (1927-2008) He was best known as a Western writer and contributed to three long-running series – Longarm, the Trailsman, and Slocum – as well as working on other series and writing stand-alone traditional Western novels under his own name. He also wrote several mystery novels, some house-name men's adventure yarns, and a number of mystery and sports books for the young adult market.
The Mac Wingate Series
by Bryan Swift
#1 Mission Code: Symbol
… And more to come every month!
Bryan Swift, Mac Wingate 1
