Andrews Air Force Base serves as the crucial logistical hinge in Andy McGee’s proposed escape to Hawaii: it is where he and Charlie McGee are to board an Army transport, where two Shop agents are to join them, and the point from which John Rainbird awaits information. In the plan, the base is both a route to apparent safety and a tightly managed intersection of people whose interests are opposed.

Role in the Escape Plan

Andy directs Cap Hollister to tell the two Shop agents assigned to the Hawaii trip to meet them at Andrews. He and Charlie are to travel there with Cap, while the agents converge separately. The arrangement makes the base the place where a concealed change in Andy’s plans must pass through the Shop’s own travel procedures without arousing suspicion.

The trip is brought forward from Saturday to Wednesday. Cap is to arrange the change through Major Victor Puckeridge, whom he identifies as Puck, at Andrews. Andy has Cap repeat the plan back in detail: the Army transport will carry Andy, Charlie, and Cap; the two agents will meet them at the base; Cap will learn the plane’s refueling point when he calls Puckeridge; and Cap will give Charlie a note after speaking with him, doing so in a way that will not attract undue notice. Cap is also to arrange for Rainbird to be in San Diego the following Wednesday. Andrews thus figures not merely as a location on the itinerary but as the administrative channel through which several parts of the deception are to be coordinated.

The Scheduled Route

A carbon copy of the Wednesday schedule gives the intended departure a precise sequence. Cap is to collect Andy from his quarters at 12:30. They will drive toward the eastern checkpoint, pass Parking Area C, and pick up an escort of two cars before continuing to Andrews. They are expected to board the plane at approximately 15:00. The transport is scheduled to stop for refueling at Durban Air Force Base, near Chicago, on its way to Hawaii.

These details establish a planned itinerary, not a completed journey. At the point described, Andy is packing the two suitcases provided for him and moving with deliberate slowness, as if dulled by medication; the schedule remains something he must follow rather than an escape already secured. His assent to the arrangements comes amid uncertainty about whether the scheme can work. He knows the Shop has already witnessed Charlie’s power, and fears that failure could mean death for both of them aboard the transport.

Communications and Surveillance

Andrews also connects the escape plan to Rainbird’s efforts to monitor it. After returning from Washington, Rainbird waits through the night for a call from the base. He considers it possible that Cap might have discovered what he had done with the computer, and refuses to underestimate the danger Andy poses to Cap’s judgment. At about 6:45 in the morning, a call arrives; the caller identifies himself as Dick Folsom, an aide to Major Puckeridge at Andrews.

The call’s appearance underscores how exposed the plan is to institutional channels. Cap’s contact with Puckeridge is meant to alter the flight and obtain its refueling information, while Rainbird is separately waiting for news from Andrews. The same base that offers Andy a route out is therefore also a source of information for the man trying to anticipate the escape. The narrative leaves the outcome of the scheduled departure unresolved in these passages, making Andrews a point of suspense: a carefully timed meeting place whose practical usefulness depends on whether Andy and Cap can keep the plan concealed.