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“I had a little help frohost” Austin reached into his jacket pocket and produced a small spiral-bound notebook The brown cover orn, but it was still possible to read the words “US Army Air Force” and the name inked just below He handed the notebook to Zavala “This is the diary of Buzz Martin’s father, the pilot who flew the wing on its last mission”

Zavala laughed with delight “You should have been aa rabbit out of a hat”

“This rabbit jumped into my lap After Sandecker met with LeGrand, the CIA poked around and came up with Martin’s personal effects Theyevidence and didn’t vet the stuff thoroughly Buzz found the notebook tucked into his father’s uniforave it to ton”

Zavala thues “I don’t see a detailed map to follow”

“You didn’t think this was going to be easy, did you?” Austin took the book back and opened to a page where he had placed a yellow sticky tab “Martin was a good soldier He knew that loose lips sink ships Most of the diary is devoted to how he s sneak in Here, let raph:

“To my dear wife Phyllis and son Buzz Maybe someday you will read this I had a lot of time on my hands and started this diary on the way to No-Na notes, I’d be in hot water This thing is even more secret than the Manhattan Project As the spooks frequently reminded me, I’m just a dumb sky jockey who’s supposed to follow orders and not ask questions Sometimes I feel more like a prisoner I’m kept under close supervision with the rest of the crew So I guess this journal is a way of saying, hey, I’ us well, Phyllis, I kno you worry about the way I eat Lots of good fresh meat and fish The Quonset hut was not made for the frozen north The snow slides off the roof, butday and night We’d be better off in an igloo The plane gets the first-class accommodations in its hidey-hole Sorry to co this baby! I can’t believe an aircraft as big as this can hter plane It’s definitely the aviation wave of the future”

Austin stopped reading “He goes on to say how hoet back”

“Too bad Martin didn’t get to enjoy that future He had no idea he was not only a prisoner but a condemned man as well”

“Martin wasn’t the first or last patriot thrown to the dogs in the interests of what the higher-ups said was the greater good Unfortunately he can’t have the satisfaction of knowing his little diary will show us the way to No-Name”

“That’s eventhe war: ‘Somewhere in the Pacific’ ”

“I thought so, too, until I reo See off Alaska in the 1850s saw land that wasn’t on the chart so he wrote in ‘?Naht the question mark was a C and that the a in Name was an o No na else:

“Uneventful trip from Seattle Plane handles like a dream Touched down thirty minutes past No-Name”

“What was the cruising speed of the wing?” Zavala asked

“About four hundred to five hundred miles per hour”

“That would put them two hundred to two hundred fifty miles beyond Nome”