Top Secret Part 62

DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN.

FROM TEX.

VIA VINT HILL TANGO NET.

1115 GREENWICH 6 NOVEMBER 1945.

TO VATICAN ATTENTION ALTARBOY.

INFO COPY TO BEERMUG.

1-ON ARRIVAL OF UNDERSIGNED BUENOS AIRES 1005 GMT 6 NOVEMBER GENERAL MARTIN AND FATHER WELNER INFORMED UNDERSIGNED MAJOR ASHTON HAD BEEN STRUCK BY HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER AS HE EXITED TAXI OUTSIDE AVENIDA LIBERTADOR HOUSE 1605 GMT 5 NOVEMBER.

2-ASHTON CURRENTLY IN SERIOUS BUT STABLE CONDITION GERMAN HOSPITAL SUFFERING BROKEN RIGHT LEG, LEFT ARM, SEVERAL RIBS, CONCUSSION AND INTERNAL INJURIES. WHEN CONDITION PERMITS HE WILL BE FLOWN TO UNITED STATES.

3-GENERAL MARTIN THEORIZES, UNDERSIGNED CONCURS, MOST CREDIBLE SCENARIO IS THAT HIT-AND-RUN WAS ATTEMPTED a.s.sa.s.sINATION BY PARTIES UNKNOWN WHO FOLLOWED ASHTON FROM JORGE FRADE ON HIS ARRIVAL FROM MENDOZA.

4-GENERAL MARTIN THEORIZES, UNDERSIGNED CONCURS, PARTIES UNKNOWN MOST LIKELY ARE NON-GEHLEN n.a.z.iS, OR CONTRACT EMPLOYEES THEREOF, WHO WISHED TO USE ASHTON'S a.s.sa.s.sINATION AS PROOF TO OTHER NON-GEHLEN GERMANS THAT SS IS STILL FUNCTIONING IN ARGENTINA.

5-THESE THEORIES DO NOT REPEAT DO NOT EXCLUDE THE POSSIBILITY THAT ATTEMPTED a.s.sa.s.sINATION IS IN SOME WAY CONNECTED WITH OUR FRIEND KONSTANTIN. MARTIN CONCURS.

6-CRITICALLY EXAMINE AND REINFORCE AS NECESSARY ALL SECURITY MEASURES IN PLACE REGARDING KONSTANTIN, PAYING PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO ABSOLUTELY DENYING HIM OPPORTUNITY TO COMMUNICATE WITH HIS SUPERIORS OR THOSE GERMANS WHO HAVE OR MAY HAVE REPEAT MAY HAVE BEEN TURNED.

7-WELNER DEPARTING BUENOS AIRES ABOARD SAA FLIGHT 707 2000 GMT 6 NOVEMBER. ETA RHINE-MAIN WILL BE SENT FROM LISBON.

8-UNDERSIGNED HAS FULL CONFIDENCE IN YOUR ABILITY TO HANDLE CHANGED SITUATION.

TEX.

END.

TOP SECRET LINDBERGH.

- "I wish I did," Cronley said.

"What?" Tiny asked.

"Have full confidence in my ability to handle the changed situation."

Tiny said, "I doubled the guard on das Gasthaus and barred all Germans but the general from getting anywhere near it or Orlovsky. It was all I could think of to do."

"That's good, but the downside is that we just told a bunch of Good Germans we don't trust them."

"The Good Germans, as you call them," Gehlen said, "they will understand. Those who have sold their comrades out will be frustrated."

"Let me throw some more ice water on our unhappy situation," Tiny said. "If the general is right, and of course he usually is, and Orlovsky is more important than we thought, and the NKGB is as good as we know they are, aren't they likely to try to get to Orlovsky through my guys? Money talks."

"You think that is likely?" Gehlen asked.

"Unlikely, but possible. So what I'm going to do is make snap judgments about who might be tempted, which will probably be wrong, and make sure the guys who can't be tempted-Martin, Abraham, Clark, Tedworth, and Loudmouth Lewis-keep an eye on them."

"You going to tell the guys why?" Cronley asked.

"I don't see how I can't tell them."

"Then do it," Cronley said.

"If Father Welner leaves Buenos Aires at . . ." Gehlen began.

"Twenty-hundred," Tiny furnished. "That's midnight here."

". . . midnight tonight, when will he get to Frankfurt?"

"At midnight tomorrow," Cronley said. "They'll fly Buenos AiresDakarLisbonFrankfurt. With fuel stops, that adds up to almost exactly twenty-four hours. And f.u.c.ks up my idea of flying Welner here in a Storch. I can't get in here in the dark. Which means I couldn't leave Eschborn until three hours before daybreak, or four in the morning. What would I do with a Jesuit priest for the time between when I pick him up at Rhine-Main and can take off from Eschborn?"

"Let him sleep in one of the ambulances," Tiny said.

"Or," General Gehlen said, "can we contact the plane en route?"

"Why?"

"To tell them not to arrive in Frankfurt before daylight the day after tomorrow."

"That would do it," Cronley said.

"Better yet, since the plane hasn't left Buenos Aires yet," Tiny said, "we can get on the SIGABA now and tell them not to arrive in Frankfurt until ten hundred the day after tomorrow."

"Driver," Cronley commanded regally, "take me to the SIGABA device."

"Your wish is my command, sir," Tiny replied.

[ FIVE ].

Room 506 Park Hotel Wiesenhttenplatz 28-38 Frankfurt am Main American Zone, Occupied Germany 0955 8 November 1945 Captain James D. Cronley Jr.-who was not wearing the insignia of his rank, having decided the persona of a das.h.i.+ng agent of the Counterintelligence Corps was more appropriate for the situation-examined himself in the mirror on the wall.

What the h.e.l.l. I'll try it again.

"It" was establis.h.i.+ng contact with Mrs. Rachel Schumann by telephone. The ostensible purpose of the call would be to tell her he knew nothing of the Leica camera she had told Freddy Hessinger she had left in the Opel Kapitn.

The actual purpose of the call was twofold. First, to keep their affair from blowing up in his face right now. And second, to gracefully ease his way completely out of the affair as soon as possible.

That he didn't have a clue how to accomplish either of these objectives was beside the point. He knew he had to try.

- He had flown into Eschborn late the previous afternoon, with a more than reluctant-actually terrified, as it was his first flight ever-Staff Sergeant Harold Lewis Jr. Cronley brought Lewis in the belief that it would be useful for Father Welner, when he got off South American Airways Flight 707 from Buenos Aires, to have a little time with Lewis to discuss Major-or Colonel or whatever the h.e.l.l he really was-Konstantin Orlovsky before he met him.

Lewis had not only spent more time with the Russian than anybody else, but had interesting insights about what made him tick. And Cronley suspected Lewis had been kind to Orlovsky behind Bischoff's back when the German had been tormenting him. That might be useful.

When the ambulances had met them at Eschborn, it had been Cronley's intention to spend the night at the ASA Relay Station. The ASA sergeant who had come with the ambulances said that his presence there as either a captain or a CIC agent would draw unwanted attention to the ambulances. He suggested Cronley get a room at the Park Hotel.

Cronley knew the Army-run hotel, which was very near to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. It provided Army of Occupation officers and their families a waypoint to spend a night when they arrived from-or were going to depart from-the Rhine-Main Airfield.

Second Lieutenant Cronley had spent his first night in Germany there, en route from Camp Holabird to the XXIInd CIC Detachment in Marburg an der Lahn. It was in the lobby of the hotel the next morning that the commanding officer of the XXIInd-on hearing of Cronley's sole qualification to be a CIC officer, his fluent German-had told him he would find an a.s.signment for him where he could cause the least amount of damage.

So Cronley went in one of the ambulances to the Park Hotel, and Sergeant Lewis went in the other to the ASA Relay Station with orders to pick him up at the hotel at ten o'clock in the morning.

Once Cronley had checked in, he went to the bar and had two drinks of Haig & Haig to give him the courage to call Rachel. That worked as far as his going to his room and dialing the number. But when, on the third ring, the phone was answered-"Colonel Schumann"-the liquid courage evaporated and he hastily hung up.

- Cronley went to the telephone and dialed the number of the quarters of Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs. Schumann. This time, there was no answer at all, even after he let it ring ten times.

He hung up, picked up his overnight bag, and went down to stand in front of the hotel to wait for Sergeant Lewis.

[ SIX ].

Incoming Pa.s.senger Terminal Rhine-Main USAF Base Frankfurt am Main American Zone, Occupied Germany 1010 8 November 1945 Cronley saluted the Reverend Kurt Welner as the Jesuit priest came out of the building.

"Welcome to Germany, Father Welner," he said. "Sergeant Lewis will take your bag, sir, and the ambulance is right over there in the parking lot."

"Thank you, Jim. How are you?"

"Fine, sir. You want to give your bag to Sergeant Lewis?"

"There are certain valuables in the bag."

"Yes, sir. We know, Father. That's why Sergeant Lewis has that Thompson hanging from his shoulder."

Welner somewhat reluctantly handed over the bag and allowed himself to be led to the parking lot and installed in the front seat of the ambulance. Lewis got behind the wheel and Cronley got in the back.

"We're going to drive from here to Kloster Grnau in a vehicle like this?" Welner asked. "It's in Bavaria, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir. It's in Bavaria. But, no, sir. We're going to fly to Kloster Grnau. Where we're headed now is to a little airport not far from here, where my Storch is parked."

"I'll take what comfort I can from knowing I am in the hands of G.o.d," Welner said. "I do not share-and you know I don't-the affection that you and Cletus and Hansel have for that ugly and dangerous little airplane."

"You and me both, Reverend," Sergeant Lewis said.

"If you don't mind, Sergeant, you may refer to me as 'Father,'" Welner said.

"I'm a Born Again by Total Immersion Abyssinian Baptist," Lewis said. "Can I do that?"

"I think it will be all right with G.o.d, Sergeant," Welner said.

"Father, to clear the air a little, you can say anything you want to, personal or business, to Sergeant Lewis. Actually, that's the reason I brought him along with me. He's as close to Konstantin as anybody. Closer."

"Konstantin is the NKGB officer?"

"Konstantin Orlovsky. Yes, sir."

"I'll be delighted to hear what the sergeant has to say about him. But let me get this out of the way, first."

"Sir?"

"First, I was very sorry to hear about your loss of your wife."

"Thank you, sir."

"It was impossible for me to go to the United States with Cletus and the others. If I could have gone, I would have. I hope you understand."

"Yes, sir. I do."

"What I did do, Jim, was celebrate a ma.s.s for Marjorie in the Church of Our Lady of Pilar."

"That's the church by that cemetery downtown, in Recoleta?"

"Right. In which Cletus's father and others of his family have their last resting place."

"That was very kind of you."

"Not at all. How are you doing?"

"I don't know how to answer that."

"I had a thought on the airplane," the priest said. "Cletus told me how busy you have been here. I wondered if perhaps that's been a gift from G.o.d, a blessing in disguise, so to speak, taking your mind off your loss."

What took my mind off my loss, Father, was f.u.c.king a married woman.

And speaking of G.o.d, how the h.e.l.l am I going to explain that despicable, inexcusable behavior to Saint Peter when I get to those pearly gates?

"That's an interesting thought, Father."

"We'll have more time to talk, I'm sure," the Jesuit said. "But right now, Sergeant Lewis, why don't we talk about the Russian?"