Top Secret Part 60

"Can I have Sergeant Lewis get you a beer, Konstantin?" Cronley asked.

"That would be kind of you."

"Get the major a beer, please, Sergeant Lewis. And then ask them to serve our lunch."

"Yes, sir."

"Before we get into any questions you might have about the SIGABA message, Konstantin, Ludwig-Colonel Mannberg-is curious why you changed your mind about breaking bread with us."

"I gave the matter some thought after I pa.s.sed on dinner last night," Orlovsky said. "I realized there was nothing I could do to get you to stop this . . . this childish theater of yours. And then it occurred to me that there was no reason I shouldn't eat while I was being forced to listen."

"That not eating was sort of cutting off your nose to spite your face?"

Orlovsky shook his head.

"If you like," he said.

"Good for you. And you're drinking beer, presumably, because of what Christ said according to Saint Timothy?"

"Excuse me?"

"'Take a little beer for thy stomach's sake and thine other infirmities'?"

"Wine, Jim," Gehlen said, chuckling. "Take a little wine . . ."

"Is that what He really said?" Cronley asked innocently.

"Actually, I think what He said was vodka," Orlovsky said.

"And, Ludwig, you didn't think that Konstantin had a sense of humor," Cronley said. "Sergeant Lewis, go to the bar and get a bottle of vodka. Major Orlovsky needs a little belt."

"That's going too far, Captain Cronley," Orlovsky said. "I will have one beer. One. But I'm not going to let you ply me with alcohol."

"Well, you can't blame me for trying. What was it Lenin said, 'All's fair in love and war'?"

"Lenin said nothing of the kind," Orlovsky said.

"If you say so," Cronley said. "So, what didn't you understand in the SIGABA message? Let's get that out of the way before the meat loaf arrives."

"You remember what I said about the last message? That you can't possibly believe I would believe you would show me a cla.s.sified message?"

"Yes, I do. And I remember what I replied. 'Why not? You're never going to be in a position to tell anyone about it.' So tell me what aroused your curiosity."

"The FBI is looking for you?"

"I can see where you might find that interesting. The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It's run by a man named J. Edgar Hoover. It's something like your organization, the NKGB, except they don't have cells in the bas.e.m.e.nt of their headquarters building where they torture people, and they can't send people they don't like to an American version of Siberia. We don't even have an American Siberia.

"All the FBI can do is ask questions. What they want to ask me is what I know about the rumor that we're sending some of General Gehlen's people and their families to Argentina to keep them out of the hands of your former a.s.sociates in the NKGB. As I don't want to be asked that question, I have been making myself scarce."

"You have succeeded in making me curious. Your FBI doesn't know what you've been doing?"

"We don't think they have the Need to Know, so we don't tell them."

"Well, what if they find you?"

"Then I will do one, or both, of the following: I will tell them I have no idea what they're talking about and claim the Fifth."

"What is 'the fifth'?"

Cronley held his right arm up as if swearing to an oath, and said, "I claim the protection provided by the Fifth Amendment of the Const.i.tution of the United States and decline to answer the question on the grounds that any answer I might give might tend to incriminate me.' That's called 'claiming the Fifth.'"

"You're admitting that what you're doing is illegal?" Orlovsky asked.

"I didn't say that. Is Operation Ost illegal? No. It's been approved at the highest levels of our government. It's clandestine, because we don't want it all over the front page of the Was.h.i.+ngton Star newspaper. Got it?"

"Let's say I heard what you said."

"Good. I would hate to feel you weren't listening," Cronley replied. "Now, the Argentine J. Edgar to whom Major Ashton-I did tell you, didn't I, that Polo is Major Maxwell Ashton? That he's the officer coming here to take the heavy burden of command from my inadequate shoulders?"

"I heard that, too," Orlovsky said.

"Where was I? Oh. The Argentine J. Edgar to whom Polo Slash Major Ashton refers is General Bernardo Martn, who heads the Argentine Bureau of Internal Security. He and Colonel Frade work closely together and have become friends."

"You're suggesting that Colonel Frade turned the head of the Argentine security agency?"

"No. I didn't say that. Colonel Frade's father, also known as Colonel Frade, did that. He turned Martn. Or General Martn turned himself."

"Turned himself?"

"At one time, the president of Argentina, who was not a very nice man, suspected there was a coup d'etat under way which would see him replaced as president by Colonel Frade the elder. He charged Martn, then a lieutenant colonel, with stopping it.

"Martn, realizing that Colonel Frade would be a much better president than the inc.u.mbent, decided that his duty as an officer whose primary allegiance should be to his country could not follow these orders. So he turned and allied himself with Colonel Frade. The coup d'etat was successful."

"You don't really expect me to believe that Colonel Frade's father is the Argentine president?"

"I didn't say he was. The n.a.z.is had Colonel Frade a.s.sa.s.sinated. They didn't want him to be the president. They are not nice people."

"And yet you are protecting n.a.z.is from justice," Orlovsky said.

"That's true. That was the price General Gehlen negotiated for his turning. He knew what the NKGB would do to his officers, and to their families, if they got their hands on them. And so do you, Konstantin. General Gehlen decided turning, and saving his officers and their families from the NKGB, was the honorable thing for him to do as an officer and a Christian. Even though he knew some of his officers were n.a.z.is and deserved to be hung."

Orlovsky didn't reply as his eyes met Gehlen's, and Gehlen nodded once.

Cronley went on: "Saving innocent wives and children from unpleasantness, even death, is the honorable thing to do if one has the choice, wouldn't you agree, Major Orlovsky?"

"Treason is never honorable," Orlovsky said, looking at Cronley.

"Sometimes treason is the only alternative to doing something truly dishonorable," Gehlen said.

"Nothing is ever black or white," Cronley said. "Do they say that in Russia, Konstantin?"

"Would you be offended if I told you I'm more than tired of hearing your perverse philosophy? You sound like nineteen-year-olds in the first year of university."

"We used to say," Mannberg offered, "when I was in the first year of university, that 'perversion, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.'"

"When I was in my first year at my university," Cronley said with a straight face, "I didn't know what perversion was. We don't have much of that sort of thing in Texas."

All three shook their heads in disbelief.

"Moving right along," Cronley said after a moment, "in the next two paragraphs Major Ashton tells us that he is leaving Mendoza-our operation there is literally on a mountaintop-to meet Colonel Frade when he arrives in Buenos Aires.

"The Jesuit priest is Father Welner. Although he didn't say so, I suspect that General Martn will also be at the airfield when Colonel Frade arrives. He'll have to be brought into this eventually, and sooner is usually better than later."

No one said anything.

"So, I think in the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours, the Good Jesuit should be here to offer his wise counsel. He and Major Ashton. I hope."

Again there was no response.

"So unless you have further questions, Konstantin?"

"None, thank you."

Cronley raised his voice. "Sergeant Lewis! Have lunch served! And don't forget the vodka for Major Orlovsky."

Lunch was served. A bottle of beer and a bottle of vodka were placed before the Russian.

He ate his lunch.

He did not touch the vodka.

In the course of conversation, General Gehlen asked Orlovsky if he was familiar with the theory of Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke that no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Orlovsky said he was.

Gehlen said: "A friend of mine recently suggested that the roots of that theory can be found in von Moltke's The Russo-Turkish Campaign in Europe, 18281829. Are you familiar with that, Major Orlovsky?"

Orlovsky said he was.

"What do you think of my friend's theory that in that book was the first time von Moltke said what he said so often later."

Orlovsky told him he'd never considered that before, but now that he thought about it, the general's friend was obviously right.

The Russo-Turkish campaign of 18281829 was then discussed at some length by General Gehlen and Major Orlovsky. Captain Cronley and Colonel Mannberg, who knew next to nothing about the campaign, sat and listened and said nothing. Both were deeply impressed with the erudition of the general and the major, and both wondered privately if they should make an effort to get their hands on a copy.

When lunch was over, Orlovsky refused a brandy to top the meal off, but had two cups of coffee.

Then Captain Cronley summoned Staff Sergeant Harold Lewis Jr., and Orlovsky was taken into Cronley's bedroom, changed back into his prisoner's clothing, re-shackled and re-handcuffed, covered again with a blanket and a duffel bag, and returned to das Gasthaus.

After he had gone, Cronley asked, "How do you think that went?"

After a moment, Gehlen said, "I don't know. Either he's coming around, or he's smarter than both of us."

Cronley had a number of immediate thoughts.

The first was, Is it possible that Orlovsky is smarter than Gehlen? G.o.d knows he's smarter than I am. Not to mention more experienced.

The second was, If Gehlen doesn't know how that went, how can I be expected to know?

The third was, He left Mannberg out of that. "Both of us" is not "we."

The fourth was, I'm going to have to do something about Rachel before that blows up in my face.

[ THREE ].

Kloster Grnau Schollbrunn, Bavaria American Zone of Occupation, Germany 1505 5 November 1945 Cronley watched as the three GMC 66 trucks that had carried the First Platoon of Company C, 203rd Tank Destroyer Battalion to the Pullach compound approached Kloster Grnau. The jeeps that had been with them had apparently stayed at the compound. That meant the jeeps-more specifically their pedestal-mounted .50 caliber Browning machine guns-were already guarding the compound, and that in turn meant the compound was up and running. And, finally, that in turn meant that the sooner everybody going to the compound got there, the better.

As the first truck rolled slowly past Cronley, Technical Sergeant James L. Martin jumped nimbly to the ground with what Cronley considered amazing agility for someone of his bulk.

Martin saluted.

"How'd it go, Sergeant?" Cronley asked as he returned the salute.

"Dunwiddie said he'd give you a full report when he gets here, sir, but it went well. Clark and Abraham should be halfway to Frankfurt with the ambulances about now. That ASA lieutenant . . . ?"

"Stratford?"

"Yes, sir. Lieutenant Stratford sent one of his non-coms with them to make sure there's no problems stas.h.i.+ng the vehicles. He, the sergeant, is going to get on his radio net and tell the lieutenant when they're there, and that info will be relayed here to you on the SIGABA."

"Good thinking."

"Tiny said he's going to stay as long as he can before he gets that Kraut to fly him home, so he should be here just before it gets dark."

"Good," Cronley said, and decided this was not the time to suggest, politely or otherwise, that Germans normally do not like to be called Krauts.

He had an off-the-wall thought: I guess if you're as large as Martin, you get used to saying just about anything you please, because only someone larger than you can call you on it, and there aren't very many people larger than Martin.

General Gehlen walked up to them.

Martin saluted.