Though the tension ran out of King’s shoulders, as he slumped back into his own chair, he still looked worried. “So this plan,” he said, “I have a feeling you’re going to approve it.”

“Your intuition is correct. If we can destroy the Combined Fleet, we go a long way toward winning this war. And they say they can do it without losing a single man. I’d deserve to be impeached if I said no to that.

“As for this rescue mission, I admit, it looks shaky on paper. But having seen what happened to those men, the pictures of them in those prison camps, I couldn’t live with myself if I turned down a chance to save them. And I’d have their families coming over the fence to get me.”

“That’s why Kolhammer sent you those pictures, sir,” King said, unable to keep the disgust out of his voice. “To force your hand.”

Roosevelt smiled like an old wolf.

“I know. He’d make a good politician.”

The admiral tried another tack.

“They’re asking us to divert a hell of a lot of shipping capacity to their little adventure,” he pointed out. “MacArthur, for one, is going to have to wait for reinforcements in Australia. He’ll howl like a stuck pig.”

“He always does,” Roosevelt countered, waving away the point. MacArthur’s good opinion counted for little with him. “And anyway, he’s already assented. Not that he had any real say in the matter.”

King was unable to contain his surprise, and in turn his annoyance.

“I hadn’t been told that MacArthur knew anything of this,” he said.

“I only found out myself two hours ago, when he cabled me his approval of the operation.” Roosevelt shook his head in wonder at the man’s gall, dealing himself into the hand when he wasn’t even at the table.

King looked like he’d stepped in something nasty whenever the subject of MacArthur came up. “I suppose he got one look at those marines and their equipment and decided to put them in his back pocket,” he said.

“Possession is nine-tenths of the law, Admiral. They’re in his theater. And I’m surprised at you. You’re always trumpeting the case of Japan over Germany. If they can catch the Japs at Hashirajima they’ll cripple Tojo. After that, well, I thought you’d want to get your own hands on Kolhammer’s ships for the Pacific, too.”

King tried to look insulted, but failed. Roosevelt smiled again.

“I’m approving the operation, Admiral. Let Kolhammer run it his way. We’ll worry about the niceties afterward. This business in Honolulu with the murders and the riot, I fear it’s a taste of more to come. If these characters can pull this off, it will create a reservoir of goodwill, and I suspect we’re going to need every drop of it.”

Chapter 37

37

USS KANDAHAR, 1238 HOURS, 13 JUNE 1942