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“Sir, I don’t understand,” Cronley confessed politely.

“Perhaps the captain hasn’t been brought into the Pullach operation,” Lieutenant Colonel Parsons said.

“Is Pullach what you’re talking about, sir?” Cronley asked. “You said Munich.”

“Is that where the permanent compound will be, Jimmy?” Frade asked.

Cronley nodded.

“Well, now that we’re all talking about the same thing,” Colonel Mullaney said, “can you point out the officer in charge of the Pullach operation for us, Captain?”

“I’m in charge of Pullach, sir,” Cronley said.

The three Pentagon intelligence officers were visibly surprised.

“Well, I will be when we get it open,” Cronley clarified. “It’s not quite finished.”

Major Ashley blurted what all three of them were obviously thinking: “But you’re only a captain!”

Frade chuckled and then took a bite of his doughnut.

“And a very junior captain at that,” he said, with a smile, when he had finished chewing and swallowing.

“I see we’re not all talking about the same thing,” Colonel Mullaney said. “Let me rephrase: Captain, who will be in command of the Pullach operation when it’s up and running? That’s to whom we wish to pay our respects. Would you point him out, please?”

Frade pointed to Cronley.

“Colonel, can I try to clear this up?” he asked.

“Please do, Colonel,” Mullaney said coldly.

“First, as to who will command Pullach. On the way over here, Admiral Souers said that Colonel Mattingly had told him that General Gehlen—who can be very difficult—and Oberst Mannberg—Gehlen’s Number Two—and Captain Cronley got along very well, and for that reason he had decided to give command of Pullach to Cronley. The admiral told me Mattingly thought that was a great idea.”

“How can the captain command the Pullach operation if he will be outranked by Colonel Parsons and Major Ashley, whom General Magruder has assigned to Pullach?”

“I was about to get to that, Colonel,” Frade said. “What I was going to say is that this new organization, the Central Intelligence Group, or whatever the hell it will be called, will inherit from the OSS its somewhat unorthodox philosophy of who does what. That is, the best qualified man gets the job, and his rank has nothing to do with it.”

“I’m afraid I can’t accept that,” Colonel Mullaney said. “I’ll discuss this with General Magruder and Admiral Souers.”

“Well, I see we’re off to a great start,” Frade said. “I should have known something like this would have to be dealt with.”

“Exactly what do you mean by that, Colonel?” Mullaney challenged more than a little nastily.

Frade looked around the tearoom.

“Admiral!” he called.

Cronley saw that Souers was talking to General Greene, Greene’s aide-de-camp, and Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs. Schumann.

“Admiral!” Frade called again, and this time he got Souers’s attention.

“Have you got a minute, Admiral?” Frade called.

Souers walked over to them, bringing everybody with him.

“Getting to know one another, are you?” the admiral smilingly inquired, and then asked, “Do we all know one another?” He looked around, decided that everyone did not know everyone, and began the introductions.

“This is General Greene, the Chief of EUCOM CIC,” he said. “Captain Hall, his aide, Colonel Schumann, his IG, and the charming Mrs. Schumann. This is Colonel Mullaney, through whom we’ll channel the analyses that Colonel Parsons and Major Ashley will develop at Pullach once Captain Cronley gets that up and running.”