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Show Flying - 117 Tovar continues, "is to train his subordinates to replace him at a moment's notice, should he become a casualty or," and he smiles a hungry smile, "become promoted." What an imagination O'Connell has. A power-mad Russian. A hysterical emigrant fleeing the Communist Menace, running from the Bolsheviks. Too young. But his father would have trained him. It must be O'Connell. "The lieutenant said you know how to operate a teletype?" "You need a teletype operator?" says John Henry, feeling happier. "During the actual exercise you will for the teletype be entirely responsible," says Specialist Tovar sternly. "For now you will help me make charts and keep the van clean at all times." All the rest of the day they make charts full of neatly drawn boxes and columns and cover them with the transparent plastic. Every contingency is envisaged and coped with in advance, from minor hangup to complete disaster. It can all, should it come to pass, be put down on the charts. No matter what. Any good man can see at a glance how things stand with the Fifty-third. "Tovar, you're a regular Napoleon," says John Henry. "He was a very great man," says Tovar. "He had a very logical mind. When he started out, he was only a corporal." That night in the mess-hall, O'Connell firmly denies |