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

She looked at him and nodded.

She did not swallow that whole.

Well, I never thought I had it in me to become a really good used-car salesman.

"What Germany is going to need after the war is leaders," Clete went on. "What we are afraid of is that the Nazis realize that those we feel are the ones who should lead Germany after the war are the same people who oppose Hitler. Or whom they suspect oppose him. And we fear that they will be punished--executed--in the last days of the war. The very suspicion that someone does not fully support Hitler or Nazism--"

"Sister," Welner interrupted. "I know you've been to Rome. Did you perhaps have the chance to see the Ardeatine Caves, near Via Ardeatina?"

What the hell is this? Frade thought.

"Yes, I did," the nun said.

"To support what Don Cletus is saying, Sister, let me repeat what the Papal Nuncio to Portugal told me privately when I was in Lisbon," Welner said. "On March twenty-third, Italian partisans attacked a German formation on the Via Rasella, in the center of Rome. Thirty-three German soldiers were killed.

"When Hitler heard about this--and mind you, Sister, this is what the Papal Nuncio told me, not English or American propaganda--Hitler lost his temper and ordered that Rome--including Vatican City--be razed to the ground and that the entire population of the city be arrested and taken to Germany."

Sister Maria Isabel inhaled audibly.

Clete thought, Is Welner making this up?

Is Hitler actually that nuts?

He saw on Schultz's and O'Sullivan's faces that they were asking themselves the same thing.

No. Jesuits don't lie. They bend the truth a little, but they don't lie.

He looked at Strubel and Niedermeyer and the wives. Their faces were absolutely inscrutable.

As if they--all of them, wives, too--have trained themselves not to let their faces show anything.

"The order was actually issued," Welner went on. "The German commander in Rome--General Albert Kesselring, a Luftwaffe officer who fortunately is a devout Catholic--defied it as well as he could."

How the hell do you defy an order from Hitler "as well as you can"?

"I don't think I understand, Father," Sister Maria Isabel said. "'As well as he could'?"

Neither do I. Thank you, Sister Maria Isabel.

"What General Kesselring did was order the execution of ten Romans for each German soldier killed."

Sister Maria Isabel inhaled audibly again, and this time crossed herself.

"As unspeakable as that sounds, Sister, it was the lesser of two evils. Rome--the Vatican City--was not razed. The Holy Father was not arrested and taken to Germany . . ."

Would they actually have been crazy enough to do that?

Well, yeah. If Hitler was crazy enough to order Rome destroyed, why not arrest the Pope?

". . . but three hundred thirty-five innocent people, Sister," Welner went on, "were taken to the Ardeatine Cave, each shot in the back of the head, and then the mouth of the cave was dynamited."

Sister Maria Isabel again crossed herself and sucked in her breath.

After a moment, Welner went on: "I'm sorry to have interrupted you, Don Cletus, but I thought it was important that Sister Maria Isabel really understand what kind of evil people you're dealing with, and why secrecy is so important."

She nodded.

"As I was saying, Sister," Clete continued, "we decided to get these future leaders out of Germany while they're still alive. And their families. The Germans find nothing wrong with punishing--executing--entire families for what they consider the treason of a father, a brother, or a son."

I know that to be true.

And the sonsofbitches murdered my father and tried twice to kill me.

So why does it sound like a lie? Almost as unbelievable as Hitler ordering them to blow up Saint Peter's?

"And the Church is involved in helping these people, Father?" Sister Maria Isabel asked.

"Our guests have Vatican passports, Sister," Welner said.

She nodded.

I'm not the only liar here, you slick sonofabitch!

Sister Maria Isabel thinks you just told her the Vatican--maybe even the Pope--knows all about this.

Of course, you didn't lie. You just told her they have Vatican passports. That's not a lie.

But you and I know the only reason they have Vatican passports is that you--or maybe some cardinal--made some kind of a deal I haven't been told about with Allen Dulles or Colonel Graham or both to do I don't know what.

What was it General Nervo said about the Pope moving the larger diamonds from the Vatican's safe to here? "Nuns and Jesuit priests aren't often strip-searched by Customs"?

"Well," Claudia Carzino-Cormano said, "that explains those airplanes, doesn't it? I wondered what the real story was about them."

"Well, you'll understand why Cletus couldn't tell you before, Claudia," Welner said.

God, you are good!

That wasn't a lie either. It was just making a wholly decent woman believe something that's not true.

"Of course," Claudia said.

"And why this can't go any further than this room," Welner pursued.

"I understand," Claudia said. "Would you and Cletus like me to leave, Father?"

"As far as I'm concerned, Claudia, you're welcome to stay. But that decision is really Cletus's to make; he has the responsibility on his shoulders."

And again: You really are good!

What did Nervo say? "Holy Mother Church--and especially Jesuits like Welner--has been in our business much longer than we have and is much better at it than we are."

What Welner's saying indirectly is: "Since Cletus has the responsibility on his shoulders, that makes me nothing more than a simple priest trying to do God's work.

"Smuggling people out of Europe and into Argentina is handled by people with dirty hands, like Cletus.

"Who, although pretty stupid by comparison, is smart enough to know he can't ask you to leave. That would hurt you, piss you off, and he knows he can't do that."

Well, Clete, it's back to "When in doubt, tell the truth."

Frade said: "Claudia, I would have preferred not to involve you in this. But the cow seems to have gotten out of the barn. However, if you leave now, everyone in this room will forget you were ever here."

"Are you telling me to leave?" Claudia challenged, then before he had a chance to reply, went on: "Like your father, you can at times be truly stupid. Of course I'm staying. I want to help."

"Thank you, Claudia," Father Welner said.

"You didn't really think I was going to leave, did you?" Claudia asked. "You know me better than that, Father!"

Frade said: "The fewer people who know about this, Claudia, the better."

"You didn't have to tell me that," she snapped. "My God!"

"Sorry," Clete said.

"So, what happens now?" Claudia asked. "How can I help?"

"Well, as soon as Sister Whatshername and Enrico get back with the clothes, we're going to fly to Casa Montagna."

"Sister Maria Encarnacion," Sister Maria Isabel corrected him icily.

Welner began: "Cletus, I'm certainly not trying to tell you what to do, or how to do it . . ."

"But?"

"Wouldn't it be better to wait until after we get your guests' papers in order?" He turned to Claudia and explained, "Father Pedro has an understanding and discreet friend in the Interior Ministry who's going to provide National Identity booklets for Cletus's guests."

"You better wait until that's done," Claudia agreed, "before you go to Mendoza."

Was that an order, Claudia? It sure sounded like one.

Claudia looked at Father Silva. "How long is that going to take, Father Pedro?"