SPIES AT WORK!' "

He gave Sessions a moment to let that sink in, and then went on.

"But you and I are Marine officers, Lieutenant," he said. "And when we are given an order, we carry it out."

"Aye, aye, sir," Sessions said, uncomfortably.

"There is one small loophole in the Japanese perception of Americans," Banning said, "that I have had some success in exploiting. The Japanese believe-and I'm not sure if this is their code of Bushido or whether they picked it up from the British-that enlisted men come from the peasant class, and therefore can be presumed to be too stupid to have anything to do with intelligence."

"I'm not sure I follow you, sir," Sessions said.

"Bear with me," Banning replied. "What I'm going to do is inform Major Akkaido, who is the Japanese liaison officer, that I have been directed by higher authority to provide an escort for the Christian Missionary Alliance vehicles. I am going to try very hard to convince Major Akkaido, as one soldier to another, that I am annoyed by this, and that, whether or not it is convenient for the missionaries, I am going to send the missionaries along with one of our regular Peking truck convoys."

"I think I'm beginning to see," Sessions said.

"The regular supply convoy consists of four Studebaker trucks and a GMC pickup that we've rigged up as sort of a half-assed wrecker. It can drag a broken-down truck, presuming it hasn't lost a wheel or broken an axle. If the motor officer can spare another Studebaker, we'll send that too, empty, to take the load if one of the other trucks breaks down."

"Presumably, there will be mechanics along?" Sessions asked.

"Each truck carries two people," Banning said, "one of whom is allegedly a mechanic. They give the trucks a pretty good going-over before they leave. But most of the difficulty we experience is with tires. There's nothing that can be done about them until they go flat or blow out. We carry spare tires and wheels, as well as an air pump, on the pickup and hope they will cover whatever trouble we have on the road."

"You're thinking the Japanese will pay less attention to the missionary vehicles and me, if we are part of a regular convoy?" Sessions asked.

"The picture I hope to paint for the Japanese," Banning said, "one I devoutly hope they buy, is that the regular, routine, no-longer-very-auspicious supply convoy is carrying with it this time a handful of missionaries and their supplies."

"I think that's a good idea," Sessions said.

"The convoy is under the command of an officer. These we rotate, both to give them a chance to see the landscape between here and Peking and to keep the Japanese from becoming suspicious of any particular man."

"I understand," Sessions said. "And whoever this officer is, you intend to make him aware of the mission?"

"No, I don't think that will be necessary," Banning said. "But I will tell him what I'm now going to tell you. There will be a Corporal McCoy along on the convoy. They call him 'Killer.' And Killer McCoy works for me. And when Killer McCoy makes a suggestion about what route the convoy is to take or not to take, or what the personnel on the convoy are or are not to do, that suggestion is to be interpreted as being an order from me."

" 'Killer' McCoy? Why do they call him 'Killer'?"

"They call him 'Killer,' " Banning said, matter-of-factly, "because four Italian marines attacked him. He killed two of them with a Baby Fairbairn."

"Excuse me? With a what?"

"There's a rather interesting Englishman, Captain Bruce Fairbairn, on the Shanghai Municipal Police," Banning explained. "He knows more about hand-to-hand combat, ju-jitsu, and the other martial disciplines than anybody else. He invented a knife, a long, narrow, sharp-as-a-razor dagger- which incidentally General Butler tried to get the Corps to buy and issue. Anyway, there is a smaller, more concealable version. The big knife is called the 'Fairbairn,' and the smaller one the 'Baby Fairbairn.' "

"And your noncom killed two people with it?"

"Two Italian marines," Banning said.

"And there was no court-martial?" Sessions asked. Banning shook his head no. "He knifed two people to death, and that's it?"

"It was self-defense," Banning said. "There were witnesses, two plainclothes Chinese policemen. That was the end of it. The Italians are still-this happened right after the New Year- pretty upset about it. And McCoy is something of a celebrity among the troops. Including the Japanese, who admire that sort of thing. The Japanese don't know that he works for me, of course. Only a few people do. On paper, he's assigned to the motor pool."

"I can hardly wait to meet this man," Sessions said.

"I think, Lieutenant Sessions, that you will find Corporal McCoy very interesting, and perhaps even educational," Banning said. "He speaks Chinese and Japanese, and even reads a little bit of it. And he's been making this run twice a month for six months. He's a good man. He uncovered the whole motorization business; and he took the photographs I presume you've seen."

"I've seen the photographs," Sessions said.

"I'm a little worried about the reaction of the missionaries to Corporal McCoy," Banning said.

"Why do you say that?"

"As a general rule of thumb, Lieutenant Sessions," Banning said, "I have found that most missionaries consider the Marines the tools of Satan. Our enlisted men fornicate with Chinese women, and our officers support the sinful repression of the natives. Now the Japanese enlisted men rape the Chinese women, and Japanese officers order the heads sliced from Chinese they judge unenthusiastic about the Greater Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere. But that doesn't bother the missionaries, for the Japanese are heathens, and that sort of thing is to be expected of them."

"The Reverend Feller does not quite fit that picture, Captain," Lieutenant Sessions said. "He really hates the Japanese."

"Oh?"

"During his previous service here, he saw enough of the Japanese to see them for what they are. He was present at the rape of Nanking, for example, and believes that the promise of China can only be realized after the Japanese are expelled. He recognizes that can only happen with our assistance."

"I presume he knows that we're neutral in this war?" Banning asked, dryly.

"Apparently, he believes we're going to get in it sooner or later," Sessions said. "And in the meantime is anxious to help, even when that means a personal sacrifice."

"What does that mean?"

"It would have been far more convenient for him to remain in the United States and simply send for Mrs. Feller."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Banning said.

"The Reverend Feller was summoned home for conferences with his superiors. While he was there, his church decided that he would not be returning to China."

"You mean he got fired?"

"No. He was given a bigger job. His wife remained in China when he went to the United States. She could have returned to the United States by herself, which would have been far more convenient for all concerned. But he elected instead to make the voyage over here 'to settle his replacement in his job,' to help me in my mission, and to take Mrs. Feller back with him. This was all really unnecessary, but he did it anyway."

"A real self-sacrificing patriot, huh?" Banning said, wondering what the Reverend's real purpose was. There were stories of missionaries accumulating chests of valuable Chinese antiques, so many stories that all of them could not be discounted. And what better way to carry valuable antiques out of China than under protection of the U.S. Marine Corps?

"I don't think that's quite fair, sir," Sessions said.

Banning didn't want to get into a discussion of missionary antiques, and changed the subject.