Coming to Andrews Air Force Base again, John clearly felt that the atmosphere here was very different from the previous few times. Originally, he recalled, only one air transport group of the Army Aviation Corps was stationed here. But now, just by what he saw with the naked eye, these planes far exceeded the size of a brigade. Even a short distance away on the runway, John saw two transport planes spray-painted with naval aviation logos.

Whether this was just a sign of the proximity of war, or whether something big was going to happen in Washington recently, John was a little unsure. He was about to talk to the base guard he knew before, but was stopped by a blank second lieutenant officer.

"Colonel John Vanderbilt?"

"Yes, I'm Vanderbilt."

"Hello, General Strong asked me to pick you up. Please come with me. With that, the lieutenant turned and walked towards the exit.

John was annoyed by the cold, poker-faced lieutenant. A little ensign, if he doesn't take the initiative to help him with his luggage, he doesn't even report his name, when did the 2nd department recruit such a stunned young man. However, considering that it was a bit too disrespectful to deal with a young lieutenant who had obviously just graduated, John had no intention of dwelling on these details.

But when he was about to follow with his suitcase, the second lieutenant walked a few steps, looked back and saw that he was still in place, and actually urged: "Hurry up, Minister Strong is already waiting, the general's time is precious, please don't waste time." ”

Even if John has always had a good temper, he is on fire now. This kid kicked his nose in the face, and dared to use General Strong to press him. John snorted coldly: "Help me carry my luggage." With that, he walked to the exit of the airport.

On the way to the U.S. National Mall (where the Ministry of Intelligence office is not located in the Quartermaster Building), neither John nor the second lieutenant spoke. John had a feeling that the second lieutenant didn't seem to be unsophisticated, and that it was as simple as putting up a fight with him as a staff member of a superior agency. He could faintly feel that the other party had a hint of hostility towards him.

But where does this hostility come from? John was pretty sure he had never met each other, and he didn't even know their names until now. When did you offend Army Intelligence? No, when McClure was still in G2, John had dealt with a lot of people in their department, and he had a good relationship.

With a hint of confusion, John pushed the door open and walked into General Strong's office. This was the fourth time he had walked into the office. The first three times, once after he completed the "torpedo program" and once before a business trip to England. On another occasion, it was General Strong who approached him and asked him for details about the formation of a psychological warfare unit.

"Come on, sit down." Seeing John push the door in, General Strong lukewarmly beckoned him to sit down. After briefly asking a few questions about his expedition to England last year, he was given a stack of materials.

"You should hurry up and take a look at these materials, and come with me to see Chief of Staff Marshall at 11 o'clock." After saying that, General Strong instructed the second lieutenant guarding the door: "Second Lieutenant Diesel, take Colonel Vanderbilt to the outer room." ”

Sitting in his outer office, John flipped through the materials at a glance. The information is about recent military cooperation and exchanges between the governments of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, Free France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Greece, and Norway. It's very informative, but because John has memories from his past life, it's not too difficult to understand.

However, one of the pieces of information about the Declaration of St. James's Palace caught his attention. Just two months ago, representatives of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Commonwealth of South Africa, together with representatives of the Governments in exile of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia, as well as representatives of General Charles de Gaulle of Free France, met at St. James's Palace in London and signed an inter-Union declaration.

In his previous life, John did not know much about the St. James's Palace Declaration, and did not know that historians regarded it as the earliest prototype of the Charter of the United Nations. However, a sentence in the manifesto reminded him of a major historical event that he had overlooked.

"The only true basis for lasting peace is the voluntary cooperation of free peoples in a world free from the threat of aggression and in which everyone has access to economic and social security; To that end, we cooperate with free peoples of other countries in time of war and peacetime. John whispered the words from the Declaration. Obviously, this sentence is not just about wartime cooperation, Churchill has already begun to design the post-war world pattern. So what's next for this British fat man?

Anyone with a modicum of historical knowledge knows that of course it was the signing of the Atlantic Charter and the formation of the United Nations. John already remembered that just this month, Roosevelt and Churchill were going to hold an Atlantic meeting aboard the American heavy cruiser "Augusta" in the Agin Xia Bay of Newfoundland. And on the 13th, he signed the Atlantic Charter on the aft deck of the British battleship "Prince of Wales".

Counting the days, it would be almost time for Churchill to secretly leave Great Britain and go to Canada. John vaguely felt that Marshall had summoned him urgently to Washington this time, most likely to have him join the negotiating team of the Atlantic Conference. After all, he had a good track record of carrying out such missions, and was one of the few military figures who could be recognized by high-level officials in both the United States and Britain, such as Roosevelt and Churchill.

But what about the change in attitude towards General Strong and the Ministry of Intelligence? John was still a little confused. General Strong was still very affectionate to him before, why did he suddenly become a love and ignore him?

At this time, the small talk between several intelligence department clerks reached John's ears.

"I heard that the special budget for the Middle East has been called back?"

"yes, I don't know what the big boss in the White House thinks. How can intelligence work be handed over to those laymen. ”

"Who's to say it isn't. I heard that the old man (General Strong) had asked the chief of staff several times, but to no avail. Who let that old classmate of the president over there? I really don't know what we'll be like in the future by those laymen. ”

A classmate of a layman, intelligence, and the president. Those people are talking about Donovan. John knew why General Strong didn't want to see him. With Hoover's abrupt ouster, Donovan's influence in the intelligence community began to swell rapidly. His U.S. Intelligence Coordination Agency (reorganized from the Office of the Press Coordinator on June 22) was tasked with unifying domestic and foreign intelligence networks.

The Army and Navy intelligence departments clearly felt threatened by Donovan. Historically, they not only refused to provide Donovan with intelligence, but also resisted the Intelligence Coordination Bureau's involvement in the military field at one time. In short, they didn't do less to drag Donovan back.

And John's relationship with Donovan is certainly not a secret to intelligence chiefs like Strong. If he really wants to participate in the Atlantic Conference as a representative of the Army this time, it can be regarded as meddling in the affairs of the intelligence field to a certain extent. Strong probably thought John was also here to "grab food".