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Yeah, I guess it does.

“I don’t have much choice, do I?”

“Well, in that case, Harold, I’ll call you Harold.”

“I was about to say I hope you really understand my uneasiness about—”

“Me hearing things I shouldn’t be hearing?”

“Yeah.”

“Not to worry, Harold. As there are very few Army officers who can actually find their own rear ends with one hand, there are a very few journalists who can be trusted. I’m one of them. I’m not going to blow what you guys are doing for the sake of a byline. Okay? Do we understand each other, Harold?”

“I really hope so,” Wallace said. “So when are you going to drive to Pfungstadt?”

“Just as soon as Jim and I get back from the monastery.”

My God, he’s not going to take her out there!

“What’s your interest in Kloster Grünau?”

“I want to have a look at the guy Colbert popped—the one who was dead on arrival at the 98th Hospital. Resurrection is always a good story.”

“Jesus Christ!”

“Even if I can’t write it right now. What are the Brits always saying, Harold? ‘In for a penny, in for a pound’?”

After a perceptible pause, Wallace said, “That’s what they’re always saying.”

Two waiters appeared carrying their breakfasts.

[ TWO ]

Suite 507

Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten

Maximilianstrasse 178

Munich, American Zone of Occupation,

Germany

1025 26 January 1946

Captain Chauncey L. Dunwiddie, Miss Claudette Colbert, Mr. Friedrich Hessinger, Mr. August Ziegler, and Mr. John D. Hammersmith were in the office when Major Harold Wallace, Captain James D. Cronley, and Miss Janice Johansen walked in.

“Surprise, surprise,” Wallace greeted them. “The enemy is at the gates.”

“You can close your mouth now, Captain Dunwiddie,” Cronley said.

“Good morning,” Janice said.

“Change in the Order of Battle,” Wallace said. “Johansen, Janice, from Enemy to Ally.”

“Thank you, Harold,” Janice said.

“Don’t make me regret it,” Wallace said.