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

She met his eyes.

"I don't mind, Colonel. I thought I'd see that everybody had breakfast," Dorotea said.

"I'm sure Clete's—"

"I don't mind, Colonel," Dorotea repeated, smiling sweetly. "In fact, I insist."

Clete Frade looked amused.

"How much does Dorotea know?" Graham asked.

"We had a long talk last night," Clete said.

"That wasn't wise, Major," Graham said.

"Well, it occurred to me that since Goltz and Gr?ner might try to kill her, I thought she had the right to know why."

He didn't say "Sir" or "Colonel." Obviously, he has been thinking about the same things Milt Leibermann talked about. He may already have made up his mind—certainly, that pregnant young woman has not spent the night encouraging him to go out and do something that may get the father of their unborn child killed—and the worst thing I can try to do right now is order either one of them around. Or even order her out of the room. This is his house, and she's, for all practical purposes, his wife. All I can do is hope that when 1 tell him what I want him to do, he's willing to do it.

"On the strength of your assurance that your information about German activities this morning is accurate, Major, I've developed our plan of action," Graham said.

"My information is good," Clete said.

"In addition to the radar Captain Ashton brought with him, there is an aerial camera," Graham said. "The latest word in aerial cameras, and in high-resolution film."

Clete didn't reply.

Suboficial Mayor Enrico Rodriguez entered the library.

What took you so long, Sergeant Major?Graham wondered. You usually appear no longer than sixty seconds after your master. Oh, I see now, you stopped for a quick shave.

"Good morning, Suboficial Mayor," Graham said.

"Buenos dias, mi Coronel," Enrico replied, and took up what Graham had come to expect as his usual stance, leaning against the wall.

"If at all possible," Graham went on, "the United States government does not wish to again violate Argentine neutral waters by sending in a submarine to sink a ship flying a neutral flag," Graham said. "Even a ship like Comerciante del Oceano Pacifico that is itself violating Argentine neutrality."

Clete nodded.

"If I have to say this, this operation was decided upon before we learned about Lindbergh, and about your source's information that the Germans intend to bring into Argentina an enormous sum of money."

"One hundred million dollars, according to my source," Clete said.

Captain Maxwell Ashton III and First Lieutenant Anthony J. Pelosi of the Army of the United States entered the room, both in civilian clothing.

"Have a seat, gentlemen," Graham said. "Se?orita Mall?n’s arranging for breakfast."

Dorotea smiled sweetly at him again.

"I asked the housekeeper to lay a buffet," she said. "I hope that will be all right?"

"That will be perfect, thank you," Graham said. "I was just telling Major Frade about the camera," Graham said. "You've checked it out, I hope?"

"Seems to be working perfectly, Sir," Pelosi said.

"When did you become an expert?" Clete asked.

"I don't know about being an expert, but I know how to operate it," Tony said. "I told you I went to photo school in Washington."

"Let's talk about the camera a moment," Graham said. "The problems with aerial photography are threefold. First, the vibration of the aircraft causes obvious problems, in proportion to the distance between the camera and the subject being photographed. Second, the instability of the camera is magnified by aircraft movement, again in proportion to the distance between the camera and the subject being photographed. The third problem is enlargement of the negative. The more enlargement necessary, the more the granules of silver on the film become apparent. The term used is 'grainy.'" He paused and looked at Dorotea.

"I'm afraid I'm boring you with this, Dorotea."

"Not at all. I'm fascinated."

"Nice try, Colonel," Clete said. "But you might as well give up, she's not going to leave."

"That was the furthest thought from my mind. Major," Graham said.

Clete chuckled. "Yes, Sir," he said. "I'm sure it was."

"As I was saying," Graham went on. "Eastman Kodak's experimental laboratory has come up with two kinds of new film. Both considerably reduce the granularity problem in enlargement. The slower film we have is really extraordinary in that regard. But that's daylight film. The second film is much more sensitive; it can record an image in very little light, in almost total darkness. It works well, for example, in moonlight. But the price paid for that is higher granularity. You understand all this, Major?"

"I get the general idea."

"Now, the Signal Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, working with Sperry-Rand, the gyroscope people, have come up with a platform for the camera which is both heavily damped against aircraft vibration and gyroscopically stabilized. The camera platform is designed to mount on a standard U.S. Army Air Corps fuselage floor."

"I remember that," Clete said. "But the floor we were talking about was a C-45 floor. What about the floor in the C-56?"

"Captain Ashton checked the floor in the Lockheed," Graham said. "There is no problem there. A window will have to be removed, however. Will that be a problem?"

"I don't know," Clete said after a moment. "Can it be unscrewed?"

"We can cut a hole, I suppose, if it won't," Tony said.

"What this gives us, then, is the capability to photograph the Oceano Pacifico from a considerable distance."

"How do you define 'considerable distance'?" Clete asked.

"Two miles," Ashton replied. "Maybe a little more."

"The idea was to keep the aircraft far enough away from the Oceano Pacifico so it won't appear to be a threat," Graham sand.

"But not beyond the range of its antiaircraft, right?" Clete challenged.

"If they don't consider the airplane a threat, they won't fire on it," Graham said.

Clete said nothing, but shook his head in either resignation or, possibly, contempt.

"To continue," Graham went on. "From a two-mile distance, using telephoto lenses and the new film, we have the capability of making photographs, which, when enlarged, will permit us to see a man's mustache."

"Where do you plan to develop and enlarge this super film of somebody's mustache?" Clete asked. "Did anybody think of that?"

"The original idea was to have it developed at Porto Alegre," Graham said. "The Navy has a photo lab there. Ashton brought a supply of the special chemicals with him. The original idea, of course, was to have photographic evidence that we were aware of the location of the Comerciante del Oceano Pacifico. This would be presented to the Argentine government in the hope that they would then order the Oceano Pacifico to leave its waters."

"Simply for anchoring in Samboromb?n Bay?" Dorotea asked. "Why would we do that?"

"Why wouldwe do that" is what she said.

"Because, Dorotea," Graham said, desperately trying to keep his annoyance at her question out of his voice, "because they would correctly infer that it was a subtle warning that unless they ordered the ship from their waters, the United States would take other action."

"'Other action' meaning what you did—as Cletus did—with the first ship?"

"Yes."

"That might work," Dorotea said.

Thank you very much. It warms the cockles of my heart to know that a nineteen-year-old girl approves of the best idea the Assistant Director for Western Hemisphere Operations of the OSS— and a half-dozen other people all old enough to be your father— could come up with after a hell of a lot of thought. And your beloved, Little Lady, didn't sink theReine de la Mer all by himself. There was a destroyer and a submarine who made a little contribution to sending the Reine de la Mer down.