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General Gehlen walked up to them.
Martin saluted.
He’s not supposed to do that, either. But this isn’t the time or place to get into that, either.
“How are you, Sergeant Martin?” Gehlen asked. He did not return the salute.
Martin picked up on it.
“Sorry, sir. Captain. It’s just that I’m an old soldier and I know the general was a general . . .”
“Try a little harder, and all will be forgiven,” Cronley said.
“Yes, sir.”
“I was wondering when you planned to start moving my people,” Gehlen said.
Martin looked at Cronley. “Tiny . . . First Sergeant Dunwiddie said to tell you, sir, Captain, that you can start sending them anytime.”
“I was going to suggest, Captain Cronley, that we send Herr Mannberg to the Pullach compound early on,” Gehlen said.
“You’re going to go back as soon as you load up, right?” Cronley asked Martin.
“Yes, sir. Taking three more jeeps.”
“General Gehlen, please tell Herr Mannberg to pack his bags and that he has a choice between riding in the cab of a truck or in a jeep.”
“Which will leave how soon, would you say?”
“Forty-five minutes,” Martin furnished.
“And what are your plans to move the families?” Gehlen asked.
“We’re down to two ambulances—personnel transport vehicles—now that we sent two to Frankfurt, right?” Cronley asked.
“Six,” Martin corrected him. “Tiny had them paint over the red crosses and the bumpers on four more ambulances a couple of days ago.”
Proving once again that First Sergeant Dunwiddie, who knows how to plan ahead, should be in command here, not me.
“I didn’t know that,” Cronley confessed. “Now that I do, what about setting up a convoy to leave in, say, an hour and a half, all the trucks, and all the ambulances and three jeeps? Can your people handle that, General?”
“They’ll be ready,” Gehlen said. “And I have one more suggestion to make, if I may?”
Cronley nodded.
“I don’t think any of my people should leave the Pullach compound until further notice. Mannberg could ensure that they don’t.”
Gehlen saw the confusion on Cronley’s face.
“Leaving the compound,” Gehlen clarified, “would afford those of my people who have turned the opportunity to communicate with the NKGB.”
“I should have thought about that,” Cronley said.
“You’ve had a lot on your mind,” Gehlen said.
That was kind of him.
He knows almost as well as I do, though, that Little Jimmy Cronley is way over his head in running this operation.
