Top Secret Part 59

VIA VINT HILL TANGO NET.

1000 GREENWICH 5 NOVEMBER 1945.

TO POLO.

URGENT Pa.s.s FOLLOWING TO TEX IMMEDIATELY ON HIS ARRIVAL.

1-AT LEAST SIX FBI APPEARED VIER JAHRESZEITEN 0800 THIS DATE LOOKING FOR ME. FAILED TO DO SO.

2-BELIEVE WALLACE HEADED TO TELL MATTINGLY.

3-DEPARTING NOW FOR VATICAN WITH GEHLEN.

4-ELEMENTS 10TH CAV HAVE TAKEN OVER SECURITY OF COMPOUND.

5-URGENTLY REQUEST QUICKEST DISPATCH OF HELP.

ALTARBOY.

END.

TOP SECRET LINDBERGH.

XIII.

[ ONE ].

Kloster Grnau Schollbrunn, Bavaria American Zone of Occupation, Germany 1205 5 November 1945 Staff Sergeant Harold Lewis Jr.'s jeep followed Cronley's Storch down the runway when it landed. Lewis was waiting for him when he climbed out of it.

The first question Cronley put to him was had Lewis seen or heard from Major Harold Wallace.

Lewis said he had not.

"How's our friend in das Gasthaus?"

"He's still not talking to us, sir. He did, though, really wolf down his breakfast."

"Well, he didn't eat much for dinner last night."

Jesus, was that only last night?

"And this just in, sir," Lewis said, handing him a SIGABA printout.

Cronley read as far as the first paragraph before deciding that Major Ashton was not good at following-or more likely didn't want to follow-the prescribed literary rules for messages, which called for the messages to say what had to be said formally and in as few words as possible.

PRIORITY.

TOP SECRET LINDBERGH.

DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN.

FROM POLO.

VIA VINT HILL TANGO NET.

1000 GREENWICH 5 NOVEMBER 1945.

TO VATICAN ATTENTION ALTARBOY.

BEERMUG ATTENTION ALTARBOY.

1-FBI LOOKING FOR YOU HERE TOO. OUR FRIEND THE ARGENTINE J. EDGAR TOLD THEM NOTHING BUT ASKED ME IF YOU HAVE BEEN ROBBING BANKS.

2-LEAVING MOUNTAINTOP VERY SHORTLY TO WELCOME TEX ON HIS ARRIVAL.

3-OUR JESUIT FRIEND WILL ALSO BE IN THE WELCOMING CROWD.

POLO.

END.

TOP SECRET LINDBERGH.

- Cronley handed the printout to General Gehlen.

"The Argentine J. Edgar?" Gehlen asked.

"J. Edgar Hoover heads the FBI. The Argentine version of that is the BIS. He's talking about General Martn, who heads the BIS."

"I should have thought of that," Gehlen said. "Mountaintop, I a.s.sume, is the establishment in the Andes?"

"The foothills of the Andes. Mendoza."

"And the Jesuit will be in Buenos Aires when Colonel Frade arrives. I hope he'll do what Frade asks."

"I think the problem was in finding him. I'm sure he'll do what we want him to do, it's in his interest as well as ours."

"And a final question. Why is the FBI so interested in finding you?"

"I've thought about that," Cronley said. "The best scenario I can come up with is that J. Edgar himself, probably because someone told him there was a young second lieutenant on Clete's grandfather's airplane, said, 'Get to him.'

"That makes sense. If you're going to break someone, it makes more sense to go after a twenty-two-year-old second lieutenant than it does someone like Colonel Mattingly or Colonel Frade or Major Wallace. If he knew about Dunwiddie, Hoover would have sent his people after him, for the same reasons.

"So Hoover is waiting to hear what the young second lieutenant said after they broke him, and all that these guys can report is they haven't been able to break him because they can't even find him. They're embarra.s.sed and under a h.e.l.l of a lot of pressure."

"And, if somehow they do find you, can they break you?"

"No," Cronley said. "I've thought about that, too."

"You sound very confident."

"I'm not going to let them break me. What we're doing is important. I'm not going to let them hold Operation Ost over the President. I know I'm expendable, so what happens to me, if they catch me-es wird sein Wille."

Gehlen laughed.

"I think that's que ser ser in Spanish, am I correct?"

"Yes, sir. At least that's what it is in Texican, which I speak."

"Do you plan to show this message to Major Orlovsky?"

"I will, if you agree it's the smart thing to do."

"He's liable to ask questions about the FBI."

"Which we will answer truthfully."

"He's liable to wonder that, if they find you, you might break, and he would be left hanging in the wind."

"But he will also know-I hope-that we're telling him the truth."

After a just perceptible pause, Gehlen nodded.

Cronley turned to Sergeant Lewis.

"Are you going to remember to keep your mouth shut, or should I continue to call you Sergeant Loudmouth?"

"My mouth is shut, sir."

"Okay. Sergeant Lewis, go to Major Orlovsky . . . No, first things first."

He reached in his pocket and handed him a slip of paper.

"Those are the names of the three men Dunwiddie has picked to drive two ambulances to the Pullach compound. They will first pack them with as much stuff from here as will fit. They will take with them enough clothing to last a week. I am telling you, but you are not to tell them, that they'll be in Frankfurt for about a week. Sergeant Dunwiddie will tell them the rest when he sees them. Get them on the road as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir."

"When you have done that, go to das Gasthaus and show Major Orlovsky this last message. Tell him if he has any questions, General Gehlen and I will be happy to answer them if he can find time in his busy schedule to take lunch with us."

"In other words, sir, go get the Russian?"

"No. Do exactly what I just told you to do."

"Yes, sir."

"And, Sergeant Lewis, round up Colonel Mannberg and tell him that General Gehlen and I request the pleasure of his presence at lunch."

"Yes, sir."

"Sergeant Lewis sounds better than Sergeant Loudmouth, wouldn't you agree, Sergeant Lewis?"

"Yes, sir."

"Christians, such as myself and General Gehlen, Sergeant Lewis, believe to err is human, to forgive divine. You may wish to write that down."

"Yes, sir. Will that be all, sir?"

"Carry on, Sergeant Lewis."

[ TWO ].

Commanding Officer's Quarters Kloster Grnau, Schollbrunn, Bavaria American Zone of Occupation, Germany 1235 5 November 1945 Preceded by Staff Sergeant Harold Lewis Jr., two of Tiny's Troopers led Major Konstantin Orlovsky into the room. The Russian was shackled, his arms strapped to his sides, his hands cuffed behind him, and he had a duffel bag over his head.

Cronley gestured for Lewis to take off the bag.

"Konstantin," Cronley said as Orlovsky squinted in the sudden light, "I asked Sergeant Lewis to tell you that General Gehlen, Colonel Mannberg, and myself would be pleased to have you join us for lunch, over which we will answer any questions you might have about the latest SIGABA message. And if you just came to ask questions about the latest SIGABA message, I will understand that is a matter of principle. But I hate to ask my men to go through the inconvenience of getting you out of what you're wearing and into something more appropriate for lunch if it is your intention to sit there with your arms folded self-righteously across your chest while you watch the three of us eat. Which is it to be?"

"I accept your kind invitation to lunch," Orlovsky said.

"Please a.s.sist the major in changing, Sergeant Lewis," Cronley ordered.

- When they had gone into Cronley's bedroom and the door had been closed, General Gehlen very quietly said, "An unorthodox interrogation technique, but I'm starting to think an effective one. Wouldn't you agree, Ludwig?"

"Captain Cronley has the advantage of a Strasburgerin mother. Everyone knows Strasbourgers can charm wild beasts."

Does he mean that? Or does he realize I've won the interrogation technique argument with the general?

- Orlovsky came back into the room, now dressed in olive drab trousers and a s.h.i.+rt from Cronley's closet.