W. IV - Honor Bound 05 - The Honor of Spies

"I don't know what you mean," von und zu Waching said.

"Okay, a couple of givens in here. Germany doesn't want the Russians to get their hands on the atomic bomb, or the details of how one makes an atom bomb."

"I would suggest, Colonel, that keeping the Russians from getting the atomic bomb is also in the interests of the United States."

"Well, we've found something to agree on," Graham said sarcastically. "Let's see if we can build on that. So you know there are Russian spies at Oak Ridge. Why didn't you just give their names to the FBI?"

Von und zu Waching did not reply.

Graham went off on a tangent: "As Admiral Canaris's Number Two, I presume that you are privy to most of his communications with others?"

The question surprised both Dulles and von und zu Waching.

"I would say that I am privy to just about all," von und zu Waching said, more than a little arrogantly.

"If I wasn't clear about this, Colonel Graham," Allen Dulles said, "I have it on good authority--from the admiral himself--that the fregattenkapitan is indeed Vice Admiral Canaris's deputy."

I don't really know , Graham thought, if that remark was intended for von und zu Waching or me.

Is he trying to convince von und zu Waching that he has a friend?

No!

What he's doing is more or less politely suggesting that he doesn't approve of the way I'm dealing with von und zu Waching.

Allen, you're wrong!

Von und zu Waching is a sailor, a navy officer, and I know how to deal with navy officers.

You think like a diplomat, Allen, and a diplomat is the last thing I need right now!

"I'm going to show you one of those communications, Captain," Graham said, "and ask you to explain what it means. If I like your answers, that means you have told me the truth. That will be another step in our blossoming relationship. Fair enough?"

Von und zu Waching nodded.

Graham went into his briefcase, pulled out a manila envelope, and took from it two photographs of a message--obviously pages one and two of the message--which he handed to von und zu Waching.

"May I ask what that is?" Dulles asked.

"You may, but I'm frankly shocked that you would ask. Have you forgotten what Secretary of State Stimson said?"

Dulles shook his head in disbelief.

"'Gentlemen do not read each other's mail,'" von und zu Waching said, smiling after he quoted Henry Stimson's 1931 justification for shutting down the government's small--and only--cryptographic office.

"Listen to the Captain, Allen," Graham said.

"Would that we were all still living in such an age of innocence," von und zu Waching said.

"Amen, brother!" Graham said.

"Actually, I wrote this," von und zu Waching said, holding up the message. "And frankly, I'm amazed . . ."

He stopped in midsentence.

"That it was compromised so quickly?" Graham finished for him.

Von und zu Waching nodded.

"Show it to Mr. Dulles, Captain. Curiosity is about to consume him." He gave him just enough time to do so before asking, "So who's the senior officer?"

Von und zu Waching looked into Graham's eyes for a long moment.

"SS-Brigadefuhrer Ritter Manfred von Deitzberg," von und zu Waching said. "He is de facto, if not de jure, Himmler's deputy."

"But he was just in Argentina--wearing the uniform of a Wehrmacht general."

Von und zu Waching knew it was more of a question than a statement. He began: "There are three reasons why he's going to Argentina--"

"On U-405?"

"You even know the number?"

"And the name of her skipper," Graham said. "Kapitanleutnant Wilhelm von Dattenberg."

"Yes, on the U-405. For three reasons. The Bavarian corporal inquired of Himmler if the 'mechanism for the transport of senior officers' to South America was in place. The admiral told me Hitler had a half-formed idea that Il Duce, once he's freed, might be the first senior officer to seek asylum under Operation Phoenix."

"My God! Really?" Dulles asked incredulously.

"According to the admiral, Himmler said he had disabused the Fuhrer of that notion. But Hitler wanted to know, as I said, if the mechanism is in place."

"I want to hear about freeing Mussolini," Graham said. "But first, let's get to the other two reasons von Deitzberg is being sent to Argentina."

Von und zu Waching looked at him, nodded, and went on: "Himmler told Hitler that he had turned over control of U-405 to Admiral Canaris--this was not true--and that Canaris was in the process of seeing if 'the mechanism was in place'; that von Deitzberg was en route to Argentina is the test of the mechanism."

"So von Deitzberg had to go," Graham said. "Reason Two?"

"Himmler wants your man there, Frade, eliminated. Apparently, Cranz has been unable to accomplish this. Von Deitzberg is very good at that sort of thing. And he's close to Colonel Peron."

"And Three?"

"That--his connection with Peron--may be Three. But it could be something else. I just know, and the admiral agrees, that there's more to Himmler's sending von Deitzberg to Argentina than checking to see if the 'transport mechanism' works and eliminating Frade."

"You said when Il Duce has been freed?" Dulles asked.

"By now the Carabinieri, in whose hands the king placed him, should have moved him to a ski resort--the Campo Imperatore Hotel on the Gran Sasso--" He paused and looked between Dulles and Graham to make sure they understood him, and after they nodded he went on: "From which, in the next few days, a task force of paratroops augmented by some special SS troops will try to rescue him."

"You're suggesting that you're not sure the operation will work?" Graham asked.

"The admiral isn't sure, either. On one hand, the paratroops are very good, and the SS are special troops. On the other, there's a battalion of Carabinieri who are also very good."

"Why is rescuing Mussolini so important?" Dulles wondered aloud. "There is no way he could resume power."

"Because the Bavarian corporal thinks it is," von und zu Waching said. "Case closed."

Dulles nodded a sad agreement.

"Okay," Graham said. "What is it you want from me in Argentina? And what do you offer in return?"

"Money is the primary thing I want from you," von und zu Waching said.

"Money is usually the last thing mentioned," Graham said. "After you convince the other fellow that he really wants what you're selling, then you tell him how much it costs. What are you going to give me for my money?"

"Abwehr Ost," von und zu Waching said. "Files, dossiers, analyses, even agents in place. How much would you like to have that?"

"We have a saying, Captain, that when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is," Graham said. "The first thing that comes to mind is: 'How could he possibly deliver on that?' And the second is: 'Why would he want to?' "

"Oberstleutnant Gehlen . . . you know of whom I speak?"

Graham nodded. "He runs Abwehr Ost for Admiral Canaris. I've always wondered why he's only a lieutenant colonel."

"To keep him from Hitler's attention," von und zu Waching said. "He met the Fuhrer for the first time a week or so ago."

"Okay," Graham said. "I can understand that."

"Oberstleutnant Gehlen wants three things," von und zu Waching went on carefully. "In the following order: To protect the families of his officers and men. To protect, insofar as this may be possible, the lives of his officers and men and agents and assets in place in the Soviet Union."

Graham nodded, grunted, and said, "That's two things."

"You very possibly won't like his third."

"We won't know until you tell me, will we?"

"Gehlen feels it would be a shame--worse, criminal, even sinful--if all the knowledge of Abwehr Ost, acquired at such great effort and the cost of so many lives, should be flushed down the toilet when Soviet tanks roll down the Unter den Linden."