Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [232]
“Hello,” he rasped.
“General Hansen?”
“Speaking.”
“Sorry to disturb you at this hour, but the President would like to talk to you.”
Hansen looked out of the window again and drew an image of the Chief.
“General, how’s that cold of yours?”
“I’ll live, sir.”
“I’ve sent a couple bottles of Jack Daniels over to your hotel. Best thing in the world. Take a couple of stiff belts before you go back to sleep. I’ll send a doctor over to see you in the morning.”
He was about to spout that he didn’t want a doctor, but thought better of it
“General, I’m going to send you those Skymasters you want. You get back to Berlin and tell those people we intend to stick by our word.”
A long grateful silence followed.
“It is going to take a little time to convince everybody here, but you just leave that to me. You can depend on the first squadrons arriving within the week. Now, what else do you need?”
“I’d like General Stonebraker recalled.”
“It has my approval.”
“Good. I’ll leave for California in the morning to see him.”
“Give him my best and get over that cold.”
By the next morning Hansen had made a remarkable recovery. His aide had his plane stand by at the MATS terminal and as he flew out for Los Angeles to see Hiram Stonebraker, the Defense Department announced that Skymasters would be on the way to Germany shortly.
More B-29’s marked for less peaceful missions touched down on British airfields loaded with A-bombs as Operation Top Hat was put into effect.
And then the British Parliament was stunned by a couple of fiery speeches by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. In cold anger seldom heard in the ancient Commons, the British lion, minus a few of the old teeth but none the less still potent, said bluntly that tampering with British rights in Berlin meant war.
This powerful reaction from the West gave the Kremlin reason to re-evaluate. The Russian troops in Berlin suddenly melted away and with open-armed benevolence for the “sake of world peace,” they invited Western missions to come to Moscow and talk over a Berlin settlement.
Chapter Six
A STAFF CAR DROVE Hansen between a pair of whitewashed brick pillars, down a gravel-top road that was flanked by young hedge and bisected an orange grove, and continued to a bluff that hovered above the Pacific Ocean. Along the bluff rambled a California Spanish-style house.
When Hiram and Martha Jane Stonebraker greeted him, he thought how wonderful they both looked. Deep healthy tans had erased the signs of fatigue that came with the constant pressure of duty.
They showed him around the layout with obvious pride. The Stonebrakers had four acres which ran from the highway to the bluff and included a beach below. The land held an orchard, a small corral with horses for the general and visiting children and grandchildren, and an extensive garden for Martha Jane. It was located near the Ventura County line at the end of Malibu strip. The Malibu movie colony was fifteen miles away with only a few ranches between them and the nearest settlement.
Hansen saw it all with a twinge of envy. He and Agnes had never known this kind of peace and he wondered if such a place was ever in the cards for them. He had misgivings for his mission of taking Crusty away from it.
Hours were needed to fill each other in on old comrades and the situation in Germany. They sat the afternoon out on a patio which stood at the far edge of the bluff where it sloped gently to the shore and was covered with a wild array of multicolored pelargoniums. The tide was out and they could see the rock-filled surf surging ever so gently.
As the sun moved behind them, M.J. brought cocktails and sweaters so they could enjoy the last sharp contrast of sea and sky.
“How do the days go here?”
“I take a horseback ride on the beach every morning, summer and winter, check out the orchard and stable. And ... I’ve got a bit of correspondence and a lot of reading.”
“Ever get a yearning