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

"Don't let this go to your head, Major Frade," Graham added, "but Allen and I are ever so grateful to you for proving Donovan wrong. That rarely happens."

Graham and Dulles took another sip of the champagne.

" Semper Fidelis, Major," Graham said. "Which reminds me: I have something from our beloved Corps for you."

He handed Frade an envelope. Frade opened it and found a U.S. government check and a complicated form.

"Your back pay, Major. If you'll endorse it, I'll take it back to Washington and deposit it for you. It is suggested that you purchase War Bonds with twenty percent of the total as your personal contribution to the war effort."

Clete shook his head and took a closer look at the form.

"Surprising me not at all, this is fucked up," he said.

"How so?"

"No flight pay."

"But you weren't flying, were you? Not Marine aircraft . . ."

"Jesus! You're kidding!"

"Not at all. But I checked that form. You did receive that munificent two-dollars-a-month payment that comes with your Distinguished Service Cross. Don't be greedy, Major."

Frade shook his head.

"And you are being paid six dollars per diem in lieu of rations and quarters from the day you volunteered for the OSS. That's a nice chunk of change."

"From which the sonsofbitches deducted the price of my watch," Frade said, holding up his wrist, to which was strapped what the U.S. Navy described as Watch, Hamilton, Chronometer, Naval Aviators, w/strap, leather .

"The Corps didn't give you that watch, Major," Graham said. "They issued it to you for use while flying their airplanes. When you stopped doing that, the Corps naturally wanted it back, and when that didn't happen, they presumed you had 'lost' it and deducted the price from your pay."

Frade tossed the check and the accompanying forms on the table and then picked up one of the wine bottles. He grunted derisively as he expertly pulled the cork.

"And as I mentioned, Major Frade," Graham said, "just as soon as you can be spared from your present duties, you have been selected to attend the Naval Command and General Staff College."

Frade looked at him warily. "What is this? 'Remind Frade he's a serving officer'?"

"That's part of it. It started out when the Marine Corps liaison officer--from Eighth and Eye; he keeps track of Marines in the OSS--came to me and asked when you could be expected to return from Brisbane."

"From where?"

"Brisbane. It's in Australia. Some people say 'Down Under.' This chap somehow got the idea that you are in Brisbane evaluating Marine fighter pilots' after-action debriefings so that we may learn more about Japanese capabilities."

"'Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive,'" Dulles quoted cheerily. "Sir Walter Scott, 1771 to 1832."

"What the hell is that Brisbane nonsense all about?" Clete asked.

Graham ignored the question and went on:

"He told me about your selection for C&GSC, and that he was concerned that you hadn't been paid since September 1942. So I told him to have a pay-check cut and I would get it to you. And then, frankly, it did occur to me, Major Frade, that it was about time to remind you again that you are indeed a serving officer of the Marine Corps."

"That wasn't likely to slip my mind," Frade said.

"Really? I've noticed that you haven't used the word 'sir' very much--as a matter of fact, not once."

"You're giving the orders and I'm obeying them, but if you're waiting for me to stand at attention and salute, don't hold your breath." He paused, chuckled, then added, "Sir."

Dulles laughed.

Graham, after a pregnant pause, said, "Under the circumstances, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"Okay, now that I'm here, now what?" Frade asked. "I think it's time you finally tell me what the hell this is all about."

"You haven't guessed?" Dulles asked.

"I spent eight or nine hours just now watching the needles on the fuel gauges drop and guessing. The only answer I came up with is that it's about time somebody told me."

"That's all?" Graham asked.

"When I saw the both of you, I guessed it was important. How did you get here, anyway?"

"Howard flew me to Sidi Slimane--an Air Force base in Morocco--in a Constellation."

"Howard's here?"

"He's in Sidi Slimane. We brought some Lockheed people with us. Howard's passing on some techniques to extend the range of the P-38 he got from Colonel Lindbergh. And we brought some Collins people with us to maintain the radio-direction-finding equipment."

"Why is the U.S. government being so helpful to South American Airways? I seem to remember you telling me SAA wasn't going to be connected with the OSS."

"Maybe I should have said 'directly connected,' " Graham said.

"I want to know what's going on, Colonel," Frade said. "That's a statement, not a question."

"Two things, Major Frade," Graham said. "One, you're not in a position to make statements; and, two, you don't have the Need to Know."

"Oh, hell," Allen Dulles said. "Tell him, Alex."

"Excuse me?" Graham asked icily.

"He does have the Need to Know, and you know it," Dulles said.

"I don't think so," Graham said. "He already knows far more than he should."

"That's why, in my judgment, he has the Need to Know about what's going on here."

"I disagree," Graham said.

"If you don't tell him, I will," Dulles said softly.

"The hell you will!" Graham exploded. "I forbid it!"

"It would be better if you told him," Dulles said. "But if you don't, I will. If I have to say this, I'm not subject to your orders."

"Leave us alone for a moment, please, Major Frade," Graham said.

"It would save time, Major Frade, if you stayed where you are," Dulles said. "Because there is nothing Colonel Graham can say to me in private that would keep me from telling you what's happening--and your role in it--when you came back."

Graham's face went white.

"Goddamn you, Allen!" he said.

"Your call, Colonel," Frade said. "Do I leave or not?"

After a long moment, Graham said, "Put the cork back in that wine bottle and sit down."

Frade did so.

"This is your call, Allen," Graham said. "So tell him."

"I would rather you did, Alex. But if you insist . . ."

"What specifically do you want to know, Major Frade?" Graham asked.

"Tell me what's going on with SAA. Start there, please."

Graham began: "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely--"

"John Edward Dalberg-Acton, First Baron Acton, 1834 to 1902," Dulles offered.

Graham glowered at him for a moment, then chuckled.

"Princetonians, Major Frade," Graham said, "among other obnoxious habits, never lose an opportunity to show off their erudition. You may want to write that down."

Dulles chuckled.

Graham went on: "The case at hand being that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Not only does he believe himself incapable of making a mistake in judgment, but considers anyone who dares challenge him to be disloyal and therefore to be punished.

"You've heard this before, I'm sure, but let me quickly recap it. Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh made the mistake of challenging FDR in several ways. First, he was active in the America First movement, which organization--headed by Senator Robert A. Taft--held that our involvement in a war in Europe would be disastrous.

"Next, while in Europe, prewar, he made the mistake of accepting an award for his contributions to aviation from fellow aviator--the former commander of the Richthofen Squadron, now commander of the Luftwaffe--Hermann Goring. Lindbergh compounded this grievous error by saying that in his judgment--and he was, after all, an Air Corps reserve colonel--the Luftwaffe was the best air force in the world, and not only because it was the largest.