Delta Green - страница 43

“Like security?” Cross said.

“Like security. He approached Merlin as if it were Homestead or Randolph. It isn’t.”

“Where do I send him?” Mays asked.

“Frankly, Scarlett—”

“Who do we put in there?” Cross interrupted.

“Milt Avery. He’s got two years aboard Themis, and I should rotate him Earth-side. He’s also on next month’s brigadier list, though he doesn’t yet know that.”

Mays looked to Cross, who nodded. “Ah, hell. Okay, Marvin. Do it”

“What’s your new item?” Cross asked.

“Now I’ve just created a vacancy for deputy commander of USSC-1.”

“And you know who you want to put in it, naturally?” Mays said.

“Amy Pearson.”

“Ahhh,” Mays said.

“She’s just a little light on rank, isn’t she?” Admiral Cross said.

“We, that is, the Air Force, moved her up on both the major list and the light colonel list because of her demonstrated abilities. She’s already ahead of her peers. That’s because she can do the jobs we give her and do them damned well.”

“I don’t know her file that well…” Mays started to say.

“She’s at least two years away from consideration for full bird,” Brackman said. “I’d like to have the SecDef recommend her to the President.”

“Now, damn, Marv…”

“We’ve never recognized her for her role in the New Germany crisis,” Brackman argued. “She saved us a hundred billion dollars’ worth of satellite, gentlemen. On her own initiative.”

“If we promote her on the basis of initiative, we’ll have to make McKenna a general,” Cross said. “That wouldn’t go over well with some people.”

“McKenna would turn it down, I’m afraid,” Brackman said. “He won’t risk losing a seat in a fighter aircraft. We gave him and his squadron Distinguished Flying Crosses (DFCs), which is about all any of them would accept.”

“You’ve worked this out, Marv. Do you have someone in mind for her current job?” Mays asked.

“No. She can handle both for the time being.”

“She reports to Jim Overton,” Cross said. “Do you have a recommendation from him?”

“I can have it in twenty minutes. Avery and McKenna will sign off on it also.”

“Get it,” the Air Force chief said, “and I’ll forward it to the Chairman.”

“Get it,” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said, “and I’ll hand-carry it to the guys across the hall.”

Overton wrote the recommendation for promotion himself, keying it into the console in his tiny office. McKenna and Avery hung on to the hatchway jamb and watched him do it.

“Keep an eye on the hatch,” the general said. “We wouldn’t want her coming back and catching us.”

“You’re a pretty decent typist, Jim,” McKenna said. “You’ll be able to land any job you want once you leave here.”

“I wouldn’t want anything with a high stress-level.” Overton said as he finished his entry. “Okay, Milt, your turn.”

Avery switched places with the commander and added his comments, then McKenna keyed in his own. He wasn’t directly in line-of-command over Pearson, but he was happy that Brackman had asked for his input. He had gained a lot of respect for her in the last year, even though she could be humorless much of the time and didn’t take his teasing well.

“Anything else?” he asked Overton as he typed in his name and rank.

“That should do it.”

McKenna hit the “F-7” button which stored the document in station records and forwarded copies to all of the right offices. Independently, he sent a copy directly to the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force as they had been directed.

“Brackman surprises the hell out of me sometimes.” McKenna said.

“You can’t say she doesn’t deserve it,” Overton said. “No, you can’t say that.”

McKenna hung around the Command Center the rest of the afternoon and evening, monitoring Delta Red’s and Delta Yellow’s search, but by nine o’clock, they hadn’t detected a reentry burn anywhere, even though they were utilizing many of the National Security Agency’s surveillance satellites. He ordered Conover and Haggar to put down at Wet Country for the night.

He checked with Dimatta at Hot Country. Delta Orange had taken her second flight, and the technicians were working overtime to correct a series of minor malfunctions and to complete fine-tuning.