Command Decision by William Wister Haines Read Free Book Online

disciplinary trouble, my boy? Some of those high-spirited young pilots of yours getting out of hand?”
    Jenks shuffled his foot through a perceptible silence.
    “Perhaps General Dennis will explain, sir.”
    “Captain Jenks is under arrest for refusal to fly the mission as ordered this morning, sir,” said Dennis.
    2
    Dennis had hoped to spare his visitors the pain of the preliminaries in the Jenks case. It would be bad enough for Kane if and when it got up to his level. To have it aired, prematurely, before the press and a visitor, especially a visitor of Garnett’s level, shocked his entire training. He could see that Kane, too late, felt the same way. The truth had hit him like a quirt. He reddened and removed his arm hastily from Jenks’s shoulder before regarding the Captain with reproachful appeal.
    “My boy… Captain Jenks… I don’t believe it.”
    Of all of them Jenks had had the most preparation. He had known it would have to come out, whether here or later. He spoke quietly, managing an air of patient grievance.
    “It’s true, sir, as far as the General went.” Then, boldly, he counterattacked. “Do you know what the target was, General Kane?”
    Kane palpably did not. Caught squarely he hesitated and then turned on Brockhurst, his voice weighted with gravity.
    “Brockie, I’m afraid there is a question of military security if you don’t mind…”
    Brockhurst did mind, acutely, but he knew that he could get what he wanted when he had Kane alone. He lingered just long enough to let Kane feel his displeasure and then walked out the anteroom door. As it closed behind him Dennis tried swiftly to cover for Kane, though he well knew that Garnett would not have missed the effect of the Captain’s question. The boy was shrewd; he was going to make the maximum trouble.
    “The target was Schweinhafen, sir,” said Dennis.
    “ Schweinhafen! You’ve begun Operation Stitch?”
    This was worse and worse. Inwardly Dennis now cursed Jenks for the first time. It was shocking to have Kane in such a position before Garnett, but there was no help for it.
    “Began yesterday with Posenleben, sir.”
    “POSENLEBEN!” This time they could all see Kane wilt a little under the third blow. “What happened?”
    “Excellent results, sir. Over three-quarters total destruction and…”
    “I mean what did you lose?”
    “Forty, sir.”
    “ Forty! Good God! Does the press know it?”
    “They haven’t released it, sir. I put a security blackout on the whole thing as we agreed.”
    “Well, that’s something.” He had completely forgotten the presence of Jenks and was slowly regaining some of his composure when the horror of the next thought struck him.
    “You didn’t signal Washington, did you?”
    This time Dennis had to check his own indignation before speaking.
    “Of course not, sir. Routine report to your headquarters only.”
    Kane knew they were all studying his agitation now but he had no energy to waste on appearances. As always in crisis he was sorting out the ramifications of the problem in the order of their urgency and importance. Washington was the thing that could not wait. Next he would have to prepare to handle the press. After that would be time enough to hush up the Jenks matter and make whatever explanations might be necessary to Garnett and Dennis.
    “Were the claims high, Casey?”
    “Very, sir. I was too busy with bomb damage assessment to count them myself but…”
    “Have them tabulated at once, by groups, on heavy board, ready to photograph.”
    While Dennis was transmitting the order into the Ops room Kane thought rapidly but he knew he was not thinking clearly. There were so many sides to this mess. Jenks, the operation, the press, Washington, Garnett—each place his mind touched seemed hotter. The difficulty fired in him a surging wrath at the injustice of it. No man alive worked harder than he did; this kind of luck haunted him, every stroke of it compounding every other one. He