Griffin W.E.B. - Honor Bound 02 - Blood and Honor

"You were saying, Graham?" he challenged.

"You understand, I'm sure, Mrs. Howell, Mr. Howell, that we are dealing here with highly classified material affecting national security—"

"Get to the point, Colonel," Martha interrupted. "I sit on the National Oil Production Board. I have a TOP SECRET security clearance."

"Yes, I know, Mrs. Howell," Graham said. "But you are not cleared for OSS information. May I continue?"

"Go ahead," she said.

"I want both you and Mr. Howell to understand that severe penalties, including the death penalty, are provided for the unauthorized disclosure of material classified by the OSS as TOP SECRET. Do you both understand that?"

"I'll take that as a recitation of some bureaucratic drivel you feel compelled to make," the Old Man said, "rather than a threat. If I thought you were threatening me—or my daughter-in-law—I would have to do something about it."

"Grandfather . . ." Clete said.

"It's all right, Clete," Graham said. "Actually, Mr. Howell, in this case I was referring to Director Donovan and myself when I said 'we.'"

Colonel William J. Donovan, a Wall Street lawyer, and winner of the Medal of Honor in World War I, had been named Director of the OSS by his longtime friend, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

"I'm tempted to call Bill Donovan right now and tell him you're down here threatening me," the Old Man said.

"Go ahead," Graham said. "I'm sure you have his number—"

"Damned right I do," the Old Man interrupted.

"And equally sure that he would tell you what I have just told you."

He pointed to the telephone.

The Old Man looked at him.

"Get on with what you have to say," he said. "I reserve the right to call Donovan at my convenience."

"Of course," Graham said.

Clete could see in Delojo's and Quinn's eyes—their faces remained impassive—their surprise at encountering people who were not awed either by the Director of the OSS or by his Deputy.

"OK. Let's start at the beginning," Graham said. "When Clete went to Argentina the first time, his cover was that he had recently been medically discharged from the Marine Corps, and that his purpose in visiting Argentina was to see that the petroleum products shipped by Howell Petroleum down there were not diverted to the Axis."

"And I went along with including—what's his name? Pelosi— Pelosiand Ettinger in that little charade," the Old Man said. "Let's not forget that."

Graham stared at him for a moment, looked as if he was going to reply, and then changed his mind.

"The idea of sending Clete back to Argentina as the Naval Attach? came after the Reine de la Mer incident," Graham said. "There were two justifications for that—"

"The Reine de la Mer is the name of the ship Clete was responsible for sinking?" Martha interrupted.

"I'm disappointed, but not surprised, Major Frade, that you saw fit to discuss this with Mrs. Howell," Graham said, looking into Clete's eyes.

"Colonel," Clete said, coldly angry, "I don't regard either my aunt or my grandfather as threats to national security."

"Neither do I," Graham said. "But that's not the point, is it? They did not have, do not have, the right to know."

"When do we get to the point?" the Old Man snapped.

"The death of el Coronel Frade makes Clete's continued presence in Argentina even more important," Graham said. "Will you grant that point, or should I elaborate?"

"If I didn't think that my grandson's presence down there was important to the war effort, I would never have gone along with any of this," the Old Man said.

"There are a number of people in Argentina who are distinctly unhappy with Clete's presence there. Starting—I don't know if you are aware of this, Mr. Howell—with Admiral Montoya, who is Chief of the Argentina Bureau of Internal Security. Montoya did not expel Clete from Argentina only because el Coronel Frade went to him and exerted the pressure necessary to dissuade him."

"Cletus did not tell me that," the Old Man said. "I wondered why they didn't throw him out of the country."

"To get back to the Naval Attach? business," Graham said. "As Naval Attach?, Clete would have had the protection of diplomatic status. While he could have been declared persona non grata, this could not have been done without his father's knowledge, and, furthermore, would have caused the usual diplomatic response: We would have expelled an Argentine diplomat of equal, or superior, rank. Under those circumstances, there was, we believed, little chance that he would be expelled. Those circumstances have changed. Coronel Frade is dead. Those who don't want Clete in Argentina will be perfectly happy to have their Naval Attach? here—for that matter, any Argentine diplomat—expelled tit for tat."

"Meaning, the minute Clete gets down there, he'll be shipped out on the next plane?" Martha asked. "While I suppose this will open my patriotism to some question, that really wouldn't bother me at all. It seems to me that he's already done more than one young man can reasonably be expected to do. Let somebody else take his chances down there."

"Martha, come on!" Clete said.

"It would bother us a great deal. We would be losing the most important intelligence asset we have in Argentina."

"The way you're talking, it's a done deal," the Old Man said.

"There is an option," Graham said. "Argentine citizens cannot be expelled from Argentina. And Clete is an Argentine citizen."

"He's an American citizen. He just had the misfortune of being born down there," the Old Man said.

"Under Argentine law, he's an Argentine," Graham said flatly.

"What are you suggesting, Colonel?" Martha asked.

Graham did not reply directly.

"Furthermore, under Argentine law, on the death of his father, as the sole heir, he comes into possession of everything his father owned."

"He doesn't need his father's money," the Old Man said. "He's got enough money in his own right."

"It would be perfectly natural for Clete to go down there to claim his patrimony," Graham said.

"If he claims he's an Argentine," the Old Man said, "and they catch him doing work for you, there's a word for that: treason. What do they do to traitors in Argentina, Colonel?"

"Am I permitted to join this conversation?" Clete asked. "Since it concerns me?"

"What?" Graham asked.

"What's this business about me being—what did you say?—'the most important intelligence asset' you have in Argentina? How do you figure that?"

"There's going to be an attempted coup d'?tat. You know that. The G.O.U. is behind it. You know that."

"The what?" Martha asked.

"It stands for Grupo de Oficiales Unidos," Clete said. "Group of United Officers."

"Colonel Frade was the President of the G.O.U., and the source of most of its money," Graham said.

"What's that got to do with Cletus?" Martha asked.

"We think he will be in a position to get close to whoever will replace his father. The G.O.U. officers were all close friends of his father. He will be in a position to influence—"

"And if this coup d'?tat fails," the Old Man interrupted. "Then what happens to Clete? They stand him against a wall?"

"If things go wrong, we'll get him out of Argentina," Graham said.

"How are you going to do that?" Martha asked.

Graham pointed at Commander Delojo.

"He'll get you out. He'll take your place as Naval Attach? . . . and that will still be cover for the OSS Station Chief in Buenos Aires."

"How?" Clete asked, looking at Delojo.

"Whatever it takes, Major," Delojo said. "Hopefully, we can still get that airplane into Argentina. That would make things easier, of course. But if necessary, I'll get you out, airplane or no airplane. Into Paraguay, Uruguay, or most likely Brazil. If anything goes sour, Colonel Graham has made getting you and your team out my first priority."