Andy dropped his haggard face into his hands. His voice came through muffled. “I can sit here and cry.” For an eternity he sat there, futility piling on helplessness, aware of Bettijean’s hand on his arm. He heard the colonel try to speak and sensed the general’s movement that silenced him.
Suddenly he sat upright and slapped a palm down on the desk. “We’ll find your answers, sir. All we ask is co-operation.”
The general gave both Andy and Bettijean a long, sober look, then launched himself from the chair. Pivoting, he said, “Colonel, you and your captains will be stationed by that switchboard out there. For the duration of this emergency, you will take orders only from the sergeant and the corporal here.”
“But, general,” the colonel wailed, “a noncom? I’m assigned—”
The general snorte
