The Assassination Option Part 17

"He would not have been selected as Cletus Frade's replacement if he was not very good at what he does," Gehlen said.

So what's the truth there?

Ashton is very good. That's true.

But it's also true that he was selected as an expendable who can be thrown to the wolves.

"That's true, of course," Cronley began. "But there is another, frankly unpleasant, possib-"

"Freddy," El Jefe interrupted him, "I'm not feeling too well myself, so while you're getting the colonel's medicine, how about making a dose for me?"

He looked at Cronley. "How about you? A little medicine for you?"

El Jefe didn't want me to get into that subject-for that matter, any subject-with Gehlen while Ashton is out of the room.

And he's right.

And Gehlen and ol' Ludwig certainly picked up on that.

And Tiny did.

And, of course, Fat Freddy.

I just had my wrist slapped in public.

And deserved it.

"A splendid idea," Cronley said. "I wonder why I didn't think of that myself?"

Because I'm stupid, that's why.

Ashton hobbled, far from nimbly, across the room and again collapsed into the armchair.

Hessinger handed him a gla.s.s of whisky, straight, and then offered a bowl of ice cubes. Ashton waved them away and took a healthy swallow of the scotch.

"Gentlemen," he said, "I had an idea just now. That sometimes happens to me when I am in that circ.u.mstance and have nothing to read while waiting for Mother Nature to turn her attention to me. And since I am drunk with the power with which Admiral Souers has invested me, we're going to try it. I ask your indulgence.

"There will be no briefing of Lieutenant Schultz and myself in the usual sense. Instead of each of you, junior first, taking turns telling El Jefe and me what has happened in the past-which of course the others already know-we are going to reverse the procedure . . ."

Where the h.e.l.l is he going with this?

". . . specifically, General Gehlen is going to start by telling us of the most recent development in our n.o.ble crusade against the Red Menace-which not all of you, perhaps none of you, will know. Then, I will ask and all of you may ask, questions to fill in the blanks in our knowledge. This is known as 'reverse engineering.' General Gehlen, please tell us all what you would have told Captain Cronley had he walked in here just now, and Lieutenant Schultz and myself were nowhere around."

Gehlen, a slight smile on his lips, looked at Cronley, who shrugged.

"Very well," Gehlen said. "I would have said, 'Jim, we've heard again from Seven-K.'"

"Aha!" Ashton said. "We've already turned up something I know nothing about. What is Seven-K?"

"It's a her," Cronley said. "A/K/A Rahil."

"And who is Seven-K A/K/A Rahil?"

"An old acquaintance of the general's and Ludwig's," Cronley said, smiling at Gehlen.

Ashton picked up on the smile and, literally visibly, began to suspect that his leg was being pulled.

"Tell me about the lady," Ashton said.

"Tell you what about her?"

"Why was she sending you a message?"

"She wants fifty thousand dollars," Gehlen said. "Another fifty thousand dollars." He paused, and then, antic.i.p.ating Ashton's next question, added: "She'd probably say for expenses."

"You've already given this woman fifty thousand dollars? For what?"

"Expenses," Cronley said, smiling.

"What's so G.o.dd.a.m.n funny?"

"Funny?"

"You're smiling."

"With pleasure, because your idea seems to be working so well," Cronley said.

"I told you to tell me about this woman."

"Well, for one thing, she's Jewish," Cronley said.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"You ever heard of the Mossad?"

"This woman is Mossad? A Mossad agent?"

"And also a Podpolkovnik of the NKGB," Gehlen said.

"A what?" Ashton asked.

"More probably, General, by now a Polkovnik," Mannberg said. "That ma.s.sive wave of promotions right after the war?"

"You're probably right, Ludwig," Gehlen said, and then, to Ashton, added: "The NKGB jokes that one either gets promoted or eliminated."

"What's that you said, General, 'Pod-pol' something?" Ashton asked.

"A Podpolkovnik is a lieutenant colonel," Gehlen explained. "And a Polkovnik a colonel."

Ashton, visibly, thought something over and then made a decision.

"Okay," he said. "I find it hard to believe that you're pulling my leg. On the other hand, with Cronley anything is possible. If you have been pulling my chain, the joke's over. Enough."

"We have not been pulling either your chain or your leg, Colonel," Cronley said.

"You have just heard from a woman who is both a Mossad agent and an NKGB colonel. She wants fifty thousand dollars-in addition to the fifty thousand dollars you have already given her. Is that correct?"

Gehlen and Mannberg nodded. Cronley said, "Yes, sir."

"Where is this woman located?"

"The last we heard," Gehlen said, "in Leningrad. But there's a very good chance she's en route to Vienna."

"Why?" Ashton asked, and then interrupted himself. "First, tell me why you have given her fifty thousand dollars."

"Because she told us she would need at least that much money to get Polkovnik Likharev's wife and sons out of Russia," Gehlen said.

"Jesus Christ!" Ashton exclaimed, and then asked, "You think she can?"

"We're hoping she can," Gehlen said.

"Where the h.e.l.l did you get fifty thousand dollars to give to this woman?"

Gehlen didn't reply, but instead looked at Cronley.

"In Schultz's briefcase," Ashton said, "there is fifty thousand dollars. The admiral gave it to me just before we got on the plane. He called it 'start-up' money, and told me to tell you to use it sparingly because he didn't know how soon he could get you any more. That suggests to me that the admiral didn't think you had any money. Hence, my curiosity. Have you been concealing a.s.sets from the admiral? If not, where did this fifty thousand come from?"

"From me, Polo," Cronley said. "I came into some money when . . . my wife . . . pa.s.sed on. A substantial amount of cash. Cletus pulled some strings with the judge of probate in Midland to settle the estate right away. I gave a power of attorney to Karl Bolt.i.tz-he's going to marry Beth, the Squirt's sister-and he got the cash, gave it to Clete, Clete took it to Buenos Aires, and then when he sent Father Welner over here, got him to carry it to me."

"Fifty thousand dollars?" Ashton asked incredulously.

"Just for the record, I'm loaning that fifty thousand, repeat, loaning it, to the DCI. I expect it back."

"Cletus didn't tell me anything about this."

"Maybe he thought you didn't have to know," Cronley replied.

"And now this woman wants another fifty thousand. What are you going to do about that?"

"Whatever General Gehlen thinks I should."

"You've got another fifty thousand?"

"Father Welner brought me something over two hundred twenty thousand."

"Does Mattingly . . . does anybody else . . . know about this?"

Cronley shook his head.

"Do you realize how deep you're in here?"

Cronley nodded.

"I asked before," Ashton said. "Do you think this woman can get Likharev's family out?"

"Nothing is ever sure in our profession," Gehlen replied.

Ashton made a Come on gesture.

Gehlen took a short moment to collect his thoughts.

"I've learned, over the years, when evaluating a situation like this," he said, "to temper my enthusiasm for a project by carefully considering the unpleasant possibilities. The worst of these here is the possibility that we are not dealing with Rahil at all. One of the reasons there was that wave of promotions to which Ludwig referred a moment ago was because there were a large number of vacancies. Fedotov purged the NKGB-"

"Who?" Ashton interrupted.

"Pyotr Vasileevich Fedotov, chief of counterintelligence. He purged the NKGB of everyone about whose loyalty he had the slightest doubt. Rahil certainly was someone at whom he looked carefully.

"Now, if she was purged, we have to presume that Fedotov learned of her relations.h.i.+p with me."

"Even if she was not purged, General," Mannberg said.

"Even if she was not purged," Gehlen agreed, "it is logical to presume that Fedotov knows of our past relations.h.i.+p."

"Which was?" Polo asked.

"We got Russian Zionists out of Schutzstaffel concentration camps for her, and in turn she performed certain services for Abwehr Ost. I doubt that Rahil told Fedotov the exact nature of our relations.h.i.+p, certainly not during the war, or even in any postwar interrogations, if she was purged. But we have to presume he knows there was a relations.h.i.+p.

"What I'm leading up to here is that even before the NKGB found us at Kloster Grnau, they suspected we were in American hands, under American protection, in other words . . ."

"I think they knew that was your intention, General," Mannberg said. "To place us under American protection. All they had to do was find out where we were. And I believe von Plat and Boss gave them both. We don't know when either von Plat or Boss were turned."

"Who are they?" Ashton asked.

"We're getting off the subject," Gehlen said.

"Who are you talking about?" Ashton pursued.

"Polo, are you sure you want to go there?" Cronley asked.

Ashton nodded.

Cronley looked at Gehlen.

"Jim," Ashton said, "you don't need General Gehlen's permission to answer any question I put to you."

Cronley shrugged.

"Oberstleutnant Gunther von Plat and Major Kurt Boss of Abwehr Ost surrendered to the OSS when the general did," Cronley replied. "Boss was SS, a dedicated n.a.z.i. Von Plat was Wehrmacht. We were just about to load Boss on a plane for Buenos Aires when Cletus and Father Welner turned Polkovnik Likharev. Likharev told Cletus these were the guys who'd given him the rosters he had when Tedworth caught him sneaking out of Kloster Grnau. Clete told us."