Top Secret Part 31

"You and Pelosi used the explosives on the s.h.i.+p?"

Clete shook his head. "On the boat on the way back from Montevideo to Buenos Aires that night, Tony told me there wasn't enough explosive in the wooden slats to blow a hole in a medium-sized rowboat, but not to worry, he'd bought all the TNT we would need in a hardware store in downtown Buenos Aires."

"Incredible!"

"It gets worse. The OSS geniuses who had come up with their blow-up-the-Spanish-s.h.i.+p plan hadn't considered that the s.h.i.+p might have floodlights and machine guns in place to keep people from paddling up to her and attaching an explosive charge to her hull. When Tony and I finally found the s.h.i.+p, we knew we couldn't get closer to her than five hundred yards."

"So the s.h.i.+p didn't get sunk?"

"Oh, it got sunk all right, but by a U.S. Navy submarine. Tony and I flew over it in my father's Staggerwing Beechcraft, lit it up with flares, and the sub put two torpedoes in her. Which is, come to think of it, how come you were able to fly up here in my red Lodestar."

"Why red? This I have to hear."

"We heroes love nothing more than being able to tell of our exploits to appreciative and impressionable young men, so I'll tell you." He paused. "I'll start with the night I came back from Uruguay . . .

"When I walked into Grand-uncle Guillermo's house, I saw lights in the library and heard music-Beethoven-playing on the phonograph. I thought that it was probably my father, so I walked in. A young blond guy was sitting in an armchair, staring thoughtfully into a brandy snifter and waving his hand to the music.

"In my best Texican Spanish, I courteously asked who the h.e.l.l he was.

"He jumped to his feet, bobbed his head, clicked his heels, and formally replied, 'Major Hans-Peter Ritter von Wachtstein of the Luftwaffe.'

"To which I naturally replied, 'First Lieutenant Cletus H. Frade of the United States Marine Corps at your service, sir.'"

"The enemy was in the library? You're pulling my leg . . ."

"Absolutely not. Hansel said, in Spanish, 'It would seem we are enemy officers who've met on neutral territory.'

"So I cleverly replied, 'That's sure what it looks like.'

"Hansel said, 'I have no idea what we should do.'

"To which I replied, 'Why don't you start by telling me what you're doing sitting in my father's chair, drinking his cognac?'

"That got his attention. He said, 'Herr Leutnant, please permit me to extend my condolences on the loss of your loved one, the late Hauptman Jorge Frade Duarte, whose remains I had the honor of escorting from Germany.'

"I suavely replied, 'Before we get into that, Major, is there any more of that cognac? I've had a trying day.'"

"So that's how you met Hansel!" Jimmy said, laughing.

Clete nodded. "An hour and a bottle and a half of cognac later, we were pals. What had happened was that my loony tune Aunt Beatrice, either not knowing or not caring that I was in the family guesthouse, sent Hansel there after he delivered Cousin Jorge's lead-lined casket."

"What was that all about? Sending the body home to Argentina?"

"Hansel told me the idea came from Josef Goebbels himself. Pure propaganda. The son of a prominent-very prominent-Argentine family gets killed in the holy war against the G.o.dless Communists. Germany and Argentina fight the holy war together."

"And how did Hansel get involved?"

"He's a legitimate German hero. He got the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross from Hitler himself. And-an important 'and'-his father, one of the German generals in from the beginning of the plot to a.s.sa.s.sinate Adolf, wanted to get the last of the von Wachtstein line out of Germany alive. Hansel's two brothers had already died in the war."

"And he told you all this the night you met him?"

"No, of course not. It came out later. That first night we just got smashed and agreed on a couple of things. For example, that fighter pilots are superior human beings and, unkindly, that Cousin Jorge not only didn't deserve the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Hansel was going to pin on his casket but was a G.o.dd.a.m.ned fool for going to a war he didn't have to go to.

"The next morning, they sent people from the German emba.s.sy to get Hansel out of the house. We had decided we wouldn't mention to anyone that we'd met.

"The next time I saw him was the day of the funeral. He came to me at the Alvear hotel and told me to watch my back-the SS guy in the emba.s.sy had told him they were going to whack me."

"What?"

Clete nodded and went on, "And sure enough the next night, three Paraguayan hit men showed up at Uncle Guillermo's house and tried to do just that."

"Tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate you?"

"Obviously they failed. But they slit the throat of Enrico's sister before they came upstairs after me. Miserable b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. She was a really good woman. She had known my mother-and me, too, when I was an infant-and told me a h.e.l.l of a lot about my mother that n.o.body had ever told me before."

"'They failed'?"

"I was waiting for them," Clete said simply. "I shot them."

"I never heard any of this."

"What was I supposed to do, Jimmy, write home? 'Dear Mom: Well, the news from the Paris of Latin America is that n.a.z.is sent some Paraguayan a.s.sa.s.sins to my house last night. I had to kill all three. There's blood and brains all over my bedroom. PS-Tell Jimmy'?"

"Jesus!"

"They do a lot of that, a.s.sa.s.sinations or attempted a.s.sa.s.sinations, down here. Just before they shot at To Juan, somebody showed up at Martn's house to take him out. He had to kill three, too-and they were Argentine officers."

Cronley was silent for a moment, then asked, "You didn't get hurt? What did you do with the bodies? Did the cops come?"

"There was a water pitcher by my bedside. It got hit, exploded, and I had fifty or so crystal fragments in my face and neck. It wasn't serious but at the time I thought I was going to bleed to death right there.

"Yeah, the cops came. But so did Bernardo Martn. He got rid of the cops, then put me in an ambulance and hid me in the military hospital. A dozen BIS agents stood watch as they patched me up.

"The next day, Enrico showed up at the hospital with that shotgun you've seen him with. The newspapers reported a robbery in the Frade mansion and the police had been forced to shoot the robbers.

"Then my father showed up. Thoroughly p.i.s.sed. Enrico would stay with me, he announced, until I could be loaded on the Panagra Clipper to Miami. I told him thanks but no thanks. I had been sent to Argentina to blow up a s.h.i.+p, and that's what I intended to do-it was my duty as an officer.

"He gave me a funny look, then he wrapped his arms around me. 'I should have known better. The blood of Pueyrredon flows in your veins as it flows in mine! You must do your duty! And it is clearly my duty to help you.'

"Whose blood?"

"Juan Martn de Pueyrredon's. It seems he's my great-great-grandfather. He ran the English out of Buenos Aires in 1806 using gauchos from his estancia as cavalry. Big hero down here. Think Nathan Bedford Forrest.

"I didn't know that then. All I knew was that my father was emotional about our bloodline and trying to be a nice guy. I said something like, 'Thanks but unless you know where I can borrow an airplane to look for this Spanish s.h.i.+p . . .'

"To which he replied, 'There's half a dozen Piper Cubs and a Staggerwing Beechcraft at Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo. Or I can come up with something else.'

"He then told me the estancia was one of the family's little ranches, eighty-four thousand two hundred and five hectares. A hectare is two point five acres."

Jimmy whistled.

"He said the Cubs were useful to keep track of the cattle. The Staggerwing Beechcraft he'd bought to fly back and forth between Santo Tome and Buenos Aires when he was commanding the Hsares de Pueyrredon Cavalry Regiment. He had a pilot, Gonzalo Delgano-"

"The SAA pilot?"

"The SAA chief pilot. My father told me I could use the Staggerwing to find the Reine de la Mer, the Spanish s.h.i.+p supplying German subs, if I gave my word of honor as an officer and gentleman that I'd leave Argentina immediately after I blew it up. I didn't think the Argentines were going to like a Yankee blowing up a s.h.i.+p in their waters and would put me in jail if they didn't shoot me. I agreed to his terms.

"So that's what happened. Tony and I found the Reine de la Mer. An American sub sneaked into the River Plate. Tony and I lit up the Reine de la Mer with flares from the Staggerwing and the sub put two torpedoes into her. A spectacular sight that Tony and I watched swimming around in the water into which I had dumped the Staggerwing after the machine guns on the Reine de la Mer had knocked out the engine."

"You got shot down?"

Frade nodded.

"Enrico picked us up in a speedboat. We hid in Buenos Aires for two days, then took the Panagra Flying Clipper to Miami. My father saw us off. He said"-Frade's voice started to break-"that he loved me and was proud of me and that we would see each other after the war."

"And?"

"And that was the last time I ever saw him."

Clete met Jimmy's eyes, cleared his throat, and went on: "Then my education in this business really began. You may find this hard to believe, but at that point in my life, I was as innocent and nave as you are now."

"What the h.e.l.l is that supposed to mean?"

"In Miami, I called Colonel Graham-"

"Who?"

"Colonel A. J. Graham, USMCR, OSS deputy director for Western Hemisphere Operations. The guy who I met in Hollywood and sent me to Buenos Aires. I was going to tell him Tony and I were in Miami and why. He said he already knew. Then he told me to go to New Orleans, to the Old Man's house, and take Tony with me. We were not only not to go home, we weren't even allowed to call home.

"Two days later, he showed up at the Old Man's house and announced the President was very pleased-"

"Roosevelt?"

Frade nodded.

"As proof thereof, I was now a captain, and Tony a first lieutenant. As soon as the paperwork caught up, I would get the Navy Cross and Tony the Silver Star.

"For a few wonderful seconds I saw a bright future. I'd go to Pensacola for the rest of the war and very, very carefully teach young men to fly. After the war, I'd get out of the Corps, fly to BA, marry Dorotea, and we'd spend the rest of our lives in a vine-covered cottage by the side of a road somewhere.

"Graham said, 'We now need to talk about you going back to Buenos Aires.'

"I replied, 'If I go back, two things will happen. Right after I shoot Commander a.s.shole, the Argentines will put me in jail or in front of a firing squad or both.'

"He said, 'You're replacing Commander a.s.shole as the naval attache. You will have diplomatic immunity and can't be arrested for anything. Ditto for Pelosi-he's now an a.s.sistant military attache.'

"'You don't understand, Colonel, sir,' I said. 'The Argentines know I used my father's Staggerwing to light up the Reine de la Mer. They won't accept me as naval attache.'

"Graham shook his head. 'The only way they could turn you down would be by accusing you of being involved in that. How could you possibly light up a s.h.i.+p the Argentine Foreign Ministry insists has never been in neutral Argentine waters?'

"He let me figure that out, then said, 'So far as your father's Staggerwing is concerned, the President decided it would be a nice gesture on his part, a token of the admiration of the American people for the man we think will be the next president of the Argentine Republic, to send him another. He's issued the necessary orders to see that's done immediately. You can tell him that when you get back down there, which will be as soon as the State Department gets off its bureaucratic a.s.s and delivers your diplomatic pa.s.sports and you get on a Clipper.'"

"And?"

"And . . . next day came the news that my father had been a.s.sa.s.sinated. The word Graham got was that the people involved with my father in Outline Blue, the coup d'etat, were convinced the Germans were behind it, and were furious. Graham suggested I go back as an Argentine-since I was born here-and cozy up to whoever was the new president."

"Wasn't that risky?"

"Graham knew d.a.m.ned well how risky. But he saw how angry I was. It didn't occur to me that he was thinking, What the h.e.l.l, Frade's expendable."

"You're bitter?"

"I was for a while. But when I grew up, I realized that not being told you're considered expendable is one of the rules in this game we're playing. You should write that down."

"Would you believe I've already figured that out? That I'm considered expendable and n.o.body told me?"

"I think you're referring to Mattingly," Clete said. "I want to talk about that, but let me finish this first."

Cronley gestured Go on.

"Tony and I came back here on the next Clipper-Tony on a diplomatic pa.s.sport, me as an Argentine citizen coming home to bury his father. The funeral was spectacular."

"Spectacular?"

"A delegation of Argentine Army bra.s.s met the Clipper. After stopping at the military hospital to pick up Enrico-"

"What was Enrico doing in the hospital?"

"Still bleeding from the multiple double-aught buckshot when they murdered my father. The only reason he was alive was that the guys with the shotguns apparently decided that anybody bleeding from so many holes wasn't worth shooting a third time.

"So we pushed Enrico's wheelchair out of the hospital and loaded him into an open Army Mercedes . . . I should mention he was wearing his dress uniform over nine miles of b.l.o.o.d.y bandages . . . and then drove to the Edificio Liberator, Argentina's Pentagon, where my father had been lying in state. In a closed coffin. There wasn't much left of his head.

"That afternoon they moved him to the family mausoleum in the Recoleta Cemetery. In a parade through downtown Buenos Aires. He was escorted by the entire Hsares de Pueyrredon regiment in their dress uniforms. I had never seen some twenty-two hundred men on horses in one place. The Argentine Army band marched along, playing appropriate music. Like I said, spectacular.

"Sometime during the funeral, Martn approached me and without coming right out and saying it-they call that obfuscation, and he's good at it-let me know that he was going to be the liaison officer between me and the Argentine bra.s.s-Army and Navy-and that as my father's son I was welcome in the land of my birth. I was not going to be stood against a wall for being a spy-as long as I didn't do anything stupid, like blow up neutral s.h.i.+ps or shoot the SS officer at the German emba.s.sy who I suspected of having ordered the murder of my father.

"My Uncle Humberto, who is a good guy, came to me right after the funeral. He said we had to talk about my inheritance and thought it best done at Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo. So we went out there, primarily because it was the only way I could get Enrico if not back in bed then at least off his feet."

"Explain that?"

Clete nodded. "Enrico told me that G.o.d had spared him so that he could protect me, and that he would be with me from that moment on. He wasn't kidding. I figured if I went to the estancia, Enrico could sit in an armchair and not bleed while I watched the gra.s.s grow, heard about my inheritance, and figured out how I could cozy up to whoever was going to be the new president.

"At the estancia was Gonzo Delgano. My father had told me that he knew-and Gonzo knew he knew, but both pretended they didn't-that his Staggerwing pilot was really a BIS agent keeping an eye on my father. I figured Martn was keeping him there to watch me, so I pretended I thought he was an airplane pilot, period.

"About the time Enrico stopped bleeding all over the carpets while following me around, maybe a week later, Tony showed up in his Army attache's uniform to deliver a message. The U.S. Air Force base at Puerto Alegre had an aircraft they were ordered to deliver to el Coronel Jorge Frade as a gift from the President of the United States. They had learned that he had pa.s.sed, so who got the airplane?

"That was a no-brainer for me. I did. Uncle Humberto had explained that I had inherited everything my father owned. So I told Gonzo that we were about to get a Staggerwing to replace the one I had landed in the water and did he want to go to Brazil with me and check it out before I flew it back?

"He told me he would have to check with his wife.