Death and Honor полностью

“Then you’re familiar with good cop/bad cop?”

Stein nodded.

“I have just been the bad cop,” Frade said. “I don’t know how convincing I was, but that’s what I was trying. I threatened to kill and burn them—”

“I don’t think they have buzzards down here, Major.”

“I don’t know if they do or not. But I don’t think that they know either.”

Stein smiled at him.

“You’re about to become the good cop, Major Stein. The way you do that is to confirm their suspicions that Colonel Frade is an unmitigated sonofabitch who hates Nazis because they killed his father—that’s not far from the truth, incidentally, but I have people like that sonofabitch Cranz in mind, the SS, not a miserable little shit like this guy. Anyway, being the good guy, tell them you may—just may—be able to talk me out of killing them if they have something to offer . . .”

“Like what?”

“He says he never heard of Operation Phoenix, and I don’t know if he’s lying or not. But work on that. Start—unless he starts on Operation Phoenix, or the ransoming operation, which I think is unlikely—by getting him to give us the manning chart of the embassy. We can have von Wachtstein check that, see if he’s lying.”

“Major, I’ve never done anything like this in my life.”

“Welcome to the club, Sergeant Stein. Neither have I.”

Stein shrugged.

“When will you be back?”

“In a couple of days. I want to talk to Leibermann. It’s going to be tough. Martín showed up as I was about to take off from Campo de Mayo. He suspects we’re involved in this. BIS agents are going to be all over everybody.”

Stein nodded, then shrugged, but didn’t reply directly.

“You better get going, Major. You’re about to lose daylight.”

Frade thought aloud: “Jesus, I wish I could get von Wachtstein out here. He’d know how to deal with them.”

“But then they would know he’s Galahad.”

“What makes you think he hasn’t already figured that out?”

“Or her,” Stein said. “Can you get him out here?”

“I don’t know. I’ll work on it. But in the meantime . . .”

“Yes, sir.”

[SEVEN]

Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo Near Pila Buenos Aires Province, Argentina 1905 14 July 1943

When Clete dropped the nose of the Piper Cub on his final approach to the landing strip, he saw that the Horch and Dorotea’s Buick were parked side by side at the end of the runway. A dozen other vehicles were parked on either side of the strip, positioned so their headlights would illuminate the strip.

The “emergency lighting system” wasn’t needed yet, but in another fifteen minutes it would have been.

Dorotea set that up.

Jesus Christ, what a great woman!

And then he saw her, standing up in the front seat of the Horch, waving a welcome to him.

You sonofabitch, how did you wind up with a woman like that?

Because God takes care of fools and drunks, and you qualify on both counts?

The Horch and the Buick came up as he and Enrico were tying down the Piper Cub. Chief Schultz was driving the Buick.

“We was about to send out a search party,” he said, then added, “And we just got word that Delgano just came onto the estancia.”

“Then you better get the hell out of here,” Frade said.

Schultz nodded but held out a piece of paper.

“You better read this and see if you want to answer right away,” he said, handing him a message typed on an all-caps typewriter that had once been in the communications room of the USS Alfred Thomas, DD-107. “It took me forever to decrypt the goddamn thing, but I was glad I did.”

Clete didn’t know what that meant. Schultz offered no explanation beyond a smile.

URGENT

TOP SECRET LINDBERGH

DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN

FROM AGGIE

TO TEX

ARRANGE TRANSFER SOONEST OF TWO MILLION DOLLARS ($2,000,000.00) ACCOUNT LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT COMPANY FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF BURBANK, BURBANK CALIFORNIA, AS INITIAL PAYMENT FOR FOURTEEN (14) LOCKHEED MODEL 18B AIRCRAFT AND APPROPRIATE SPARES.

FIRST TWO (2) AIRCRAFT WILL DEPART US FOR BIRDCAGE WITHIN 48 HOURS.

ETA BIRDCAGE DEPARTURE TIME PLUS SEVENTY-TWO (72) HOURS. LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT WILL NOT REPEAT NOT AUTHORIZE RELEASE OF REMAINING TWELVE (12) AIRCRAFT UNTIL AFOREMENTIONED PAYMENT IS RECEIVED.

ESSENTIAL YOU BE PRESENT BIRDCAGE TO RECEIVE AIRCRAFT AS SIX (6) COLLINS MODEL 295 TRANSCEIVERS PLUS APPROPRIATE SPARES WILL BE ABOARD FIRST DEPARTING AIRCRAFT IN CARE OF MR. LEONARD FISCHER OF COLLINS RADIO CORPORATION WHO WILL ASSIST IN SETTING UP SUBJECT RADIOS.

ADDITIONALLY, IN RESPONSE TO REQUEST OF LT SCHULTZ, MR. FISCHER IS BRINGING WITH HIM, TOGETHER WITH APPROPRIATE SPARES, AN ELECTRICAL TYPEWRITER OF THE TYPE LT SCHULTZ OPERATED ABOARD USS ALFRED THOMAS AND WILL ASSIST IN SETTING IT UP.

ADVISE YOUR ETA BIRDCAGE

AGGIE

Frade looked at Schultz and said, “Why are you smiling, Jefe? Because we’re getting six radios? Or because you’re now apparently a goddamned officer and gentleman, Lieutenant?”