North Reich (3 page)

      
"I spent a few months of my misguided youth in a trench filled with mud, rats, and rotting body parts, so the answer is yes.
 
I'm still in the military.
 
I'm a major in the New York National Guard.
 
Now, how did you hurt your arm and get those nasty scars?"

      
Tom thought about not answering, but the scars on his body were hard to ignore.
 
"Nothing heroic, chief.
 
It was an automobile accident a year ago at Fort Benning, in Georgia.
 
Some idiot second lieutenant forgot to post road guards while a tank was crossing and my car was squashed by an M-3.
 
Thirty tons of armor will always win out over a jeep.
 
My driver was killed, burned to death.
 
I had a dislocated shoulder and got burned trying to pull him out."

      
Tom suppressed a shudder.
 
He could still hear the kid screaming while he died in the flames.
 
He explained that the lieutenant in charge of the crossing had been court-martialed for neglect and dishonorably discharged.
 
The army had wanted to give Tom a medical discharge, but there was a war on and it was felt that his skills could still be used.
 
Even mediocre Academy grads were needed, and he'd then been posted to an intelligence section in the Pentagon.

      
"I got a medal for trying to save the kid, but it wasn't worth it."

      
"They never are,” Canfield said sympathetically.
 
“I got a Purple Heart and was put in for the Silver Star in the last one. For some reason, I never got it, but what the hell.
 
Maybe I'll get a chance this time."

      
"Well you might just.
 
Don't be surprised, Chief Canfield, if your unit is activated fairly soon."

The next morning, a call to the Pentagon did confirm that Tom was who he said he was.
 
The officer at the Pentagon said that he was to report in as soon as possible and seemed surprised that he was without clothes, money, and in a far corner of New York state that was so isolated that it didn't have a telegraph office.
 
Tom was informed that if he could make it to Buffalo, money would be wired to him.

Chief Canfield thought the situation was hilarious – serious yes, also but downright funny.
 
"Tell you what I'm going to do, Colonel Tom.
 
You and I are going to my place and I'm going to give you some old clothes I was going to give to the local church.
 
Then I'm going to front you twenty bucks of the county’s money so you can hire one of the locals to drive you to Buffalo.
 
Niagara Falls would have been a little closer, but maybe you army people can't read maps.
 
I would also like the twenty back.
 
I wasn’t joking when I said we were short of money."

      
Tom assured Canfield he would get his money back if he had to use his own funds.
 
Shortly after lunch, Tom found himself in a pickup truck with a taciturn farmer who had clearly taken a vow of silence, which was fine by Tom.
 
He wanted to collect his thoughts.
 
Two hours later, he was dropped off in Buffalo in front of the Western Union office, across the street from the Greyhound Bus Station.
 
Working with Western Union proved a little difficult since he had no identification and they were understandably loath to give a hundred dollars of the government’s money to a stranger who looked like a derelict.
 
A quick telegram to the Pentagon solved that.
 
Tom got himself a bus ticket to New York City and, on checking the schedule, saw that he had enough time to buy himself some better clothes.
 
He also gave the farmer twenty to pay back Canfield.

After an eternity on a bus that made far too many stops, he made it to New York and the airport that was known as either the New York Municipal Airport or LaGuardia after the current mayor who'd had it built.
 
From there he took a flight on a DC-3 to the new Washington National Airport.
 

It took him two full days to get from upper New York to Washington, D.C.
 
So much for modern, high speed travel, he thought.
 
Worse, he had used up almost all the money he'd been fronted and barely had enough for cab fare to his apartment.
 
He had the miserable idea that the hundred dollars had been an advance on his pay, rather than a gift from Uncle Sam.

      
Tom's apartment was outside Fort Meade and close to his offices in the Pentagon.
 
As he walked up the two flights of stairs, his legs began to ache and he realized just how tired he was.
 
A note was pinned to his door.
 
He was ordered to report as soon as possible.
 
Obviously, none of the brass gave a shit about how tired he was.
 
He realized he didn't have a key to his apartment and swore.
 
He was about to head to the manager's office, hoping that the lush of a superintendent was sober enough to remember Tom to let him in, when he realized that the door was slightly ajar.
 
He was about to push it open when something hit him in the back of the head.
 
He fought unconsciousness for a moment, but a second blow finished him.

"Good morning, major.
 
The nurse said you were awake."

      
Tom blinked.
 
His head hurt like someone was digging in it with a shovel.
 
Worse was the throbbing between his eyes that was nauseating him.
 
The doctor understood and quickly gave him a bucket.
 
Tom emptied the contents of his stomach and then some additional stuff.
 
Finally, he got control and gratefully took a glass of water from the doctor.
 
He didn't have any military rank on him, so Tom presumed the man was a civilian.
 
The world started to spin, so he sagged back on his bed.

      
"Jesus, what happened to me?"

      
"My name is Crain, not Jesus, and you got mugged in the hallway of your apartment.
 
You were found by one of your neighbors who called the police and, when they realized you were military, brought you here.
 
They guy who attacked you apparently ran off."

      
"And where is here?"

      
"The base clinic at Fort Meade.
 
There are a number of very good hospitals in the area, but it was decided to keep you here where you'd be out of sight and in the warm bosom of the army, at least until someone figures out what happened to you.
 
Apparently a number of people don't think the attack was a simple attempted robbery.
 
Your injuries are painful, but you're an army officer so you have an extremely thick noggin.
 
X-rays did confirm that you don't have a fractured skull and the bruise on the side of your face will clear up in a matter of years."

      
"Doctor Crain, when was the last time you were told to go screw yourself?"

      
Crain smiled.
 
"I believe it was my last patient.
 
And a very nice little old nun she was.
 
Now, I want you to eat something, take a few aspirins, and get some sleep.
 
Somebody from General Marshall's staff will take charge of you in a while, but not until I release you."

      
Tom did as told and woke up a few hours later significantly refreshed.
 
He got up, found his clothes, and a nurse brought him some toast and eggs which he devoured.

      
He was wiping the grease from his chin when a man wearing civilian clothes came in and identified himself as Captain Art Baldwin of the Fort Meade Provost Marshal's office.

      
"When you're up to it, major, we'll take you to your apartment so you can check it out, tell us what's missing, and pick up your stuff.
 
General Truscott is now on Marshall's staff and wants you residing here at Meade until we can figure out what happened.
 
And no, we don't think it was just a robbery gone bad."

      
"Doctor Crain said that already.
 
By the way, I had no idea Truscott was anywhere around," Grant said.
 
He was pleased.
 
Truscott was one of his favorite senior officers.

Major General Lucian Truscott was about fifty years old, a career soldier, and was considered one of those in whom Chief of Staff George C. Marshall had great confidence.
 
The gravelly voiced Texan was noted for training his men beyond hard.
 
A lot of people hated that, but most admitted they'd rather go to war prepared and trained by someone like Truscott.
 
Well trained troops had a much better chance of surviving than those who weren’t.
 
That he was now on General Marshall's staff was intriguing.

An hour later, they were at Tom's apartment.
 
As suspected, the door was broken and Tom's possessions, such as they were, had been strewn about the floor.
 
Furniture had been smashed and even the mattress had been ripped open.
 
Pictures on the wall had been ripped apart.
 
Someone was clearly looking for something and robbery was not a factor.

Baldwin shook his head.
 
"Apparently they thought you were rich and spent a lot of time looking for valuables.
 
Whoever it was didn't know what the army pays."

Grant smiled and thanked the gods for his foresight in not bringing his notes back from Canada with him.
 
Of course, how could he have since he'd swum across damn near naked?

He found a duffel bag and filled it with his clothing, both civilian and military, along with underwear and important things like that.
 
He wasn't coming back.
 
Being assaulted and robbed was a good reason for telling his grouchy landlord to shove it.
 
Baldwin got some paper bags and the two men filled them with more personal possessions, which made Tom realize that he really didn't have much in the way of an existence.
 
He was thirty-five and been married to the army since being admitted to West Point at the age of eighteen.
 
To the surprise of almost everyone, he'd found that he could handle the academics, graduating in the middle of his class, and the physical part of the training had come easily.

After graduation, he'd bounced around a number of boring peace-time garrisons.
 
He'd contemplated resigning, but there was a Great Depression devouring the country, and the army at least provided him with a job.
 
“Three hots and a cot” was the phrase and that worked for officers as well as enlisted men without clear futures in the civilian world.
 
That was followed by the nation's decision to re-institute the draft as war clouds loomed. He'd been promoted to major shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
 
Once, he'd thought it more likely that pigs would fly than that he would achieve field grade rank, but it had happened. Of course, the expansion meant tons more majors, colonels and generals than you could shake a stick at, so he wasn't unique and promotions weren't necessarily based on merit.

His orders were to report to Truscott, so he did as soon as he was able to change into a reasonably un-mussed uniform.
 
As usual, Truscott was blunt.

"Grant, what flaming jackass sent you into Canada on such a fool's errand?"

"Sir, it was General Marshall."

Truscott blinked in momentary confusion.
 
"And a wise choice it was," he finally said with a disarming grin.
 
"But tell me, why you?"

Truscott gestured him to take a seat and Grant relaxed.
 
"There were several reasons, sir.
 
First, watching over Canada is my job here.
 
I review newspapers, radio programs, look at papers sent by diplomats, and anything else that will help us find out what the Nazis are up to.
 
Since we were and still are having trouble getting good info, I decided to nominate myself to take the trip.
 
I do speak a passable version of German, and, second, I have relatives in the Toronto area.
 
That and the fact that I was present when the decision was made kind of tipped things in my favor."

"How did you get around, major?"

"Easily, sir.
 
I got some Canadian money, crossed into Canada at Sarnia, Ontario, bought a used car and just started driving.
 
Getting gas wasn’t a problem.
 
Like here, there are shortages and the prices are high, but there is no rationing.
 
I even used my own name and driver's license.
 
I went from Sarnia to Windsor and east through a number of Canadian cities until I finally got to Toronto, which I made my base.
 
I made a bunch of short trips and looked for a major German presence, which I found, along with evidence of SS or Gestapo activity, which I also found.
 
I also found a strange group called the Canadian Legion.
 
They are a bunch of pro-Nazi thugs who wear black shirts and act like they run the place.