General Wallace waved them into seats, and two waiters appeared. One handed them menus while the other put a folding partition across the opening to the room to screen it off from the main mess.
Frade examined the menu.
When the Portuguese waiter looked to him for his order, Frade said in Spanish, “I’ll have grapefruit juice, please, a large glass of milk, a double stack of the buckwheat pancakes, a couple of fried eggs over easy, and a double order of the bacon on the side.”
The waiters’ eyes, and those of Delgano, widened.
“Mr. Stevens” smiled and asked, “Are pancakes common in Argentina, Señor Frade?”
Frade shook his head. “And, I am shamed to admit, we don’t have very good bacon, either.”
“I’ll have the same,” Dulles said to the waiter in Portuguese. “But just a regular order of pancakes and bacon, please.”
“What are pancakes?” Delgano asked.
“Bring him what Mr. Stevens is having,” Frade ordered in Spanish.
“My orders, Señor Frade,” General Wallace said when the table had been cleared of everything but coffee, “are to fully cooperate with the War Production Board in the movement of the Lodestar aircraft through Canoas Air Corps Base to Argentina. When we transfer title to you here, they will have been inspected by my maintenance people. They will be in tip-top shape, or as close thereto as we are able to get them.”
“That’s very kind of you, General.”
“Mr. Stevens didn’t seem to know if you or Señor Delgano will require any instruction in the operation of the Lodestar,” Wallace said. “The pilots who flew it here are available if you do.”
“Captain Delgano, who is chief pilot of South American Airways, has been checked out in the Lodestar,” Frade said with a straight face, “but I am one of those who believe there is no such thing as too much training. So we gratefully accept your kind offer, General.”
“Then why don’t I see if I can round up the pilots and have them come here to set that up?”
“And while you’re doing that, perhaps Mr. Stevens can let me know what has to be done about the documentation?”
“Good idea,” General Wallace said. “So if you will excuse me, gentlemen?”
Two middle-aged men, both wearing four-stripe epaulets identifying them as airline captains, appeared several minutes later.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” one of them said in Spanish. “I’m Captain McMurray of Lockheed. I understand someone needs a little time in the Lodestar?”
Delgano’s relief that Spanish was being spoken was evident.
Introductions were made and they left, taking Delgano with them.
Dulles waited until the folding partition screen had been replaced, then asked, “Is he a good pilot, Clete?”
“He’s a very good pilot, with far more multiengine time than I have. He’s also a better—”
He stopped, realizing he was about to say something that he shouldn’t: “intelligence officer.”
This earned him a small smile from Dulles.
“Let me make the proper introductions,” Dulles then said. “Major Frade, this is Lieutenant Fischer of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.”
“Sir,” Fischer said.
“How are you, Lieutenant?” Frade said.
“I think I should begin this by telling you Fischer has been cleared for Top-Secret Lindbergh,” Dulles said.
“He knows who Galahad is?” Frade blurted.
“Not yet,” Dulles said, “but if you think about it, he’s going to figure that out even if you and I don’t tell him. One of the problems no one talks about in this area is those people who encrypt and decrypt messages get to read them.”
Frade nodded.
“Colonel Graham found Lieutenant Fischer at Vint Hill Farms Station,” Dulles went on, and when he saw on Frade’s face that he had no idea what that was, he explained. “That’s the Army Security Agency base near Washington. The ASA does signal intelligence—intercepts, that sort of thing—and communications counterintelligence. And cryptography. That’s where Fischer primarily comes in; he’s an expert.”
Frade nodded.
“The original idea,” Dulles went on, “when Colonel Graham decided you needed better cryptographic equipment than you have was to get you something better from the ASA. They offered a SIGABA, and then the services of someone—Fischer here—to accompany the device to Argentina. The equipment is quite delicate, I understand.”
“So my commo man tells me,” Frade said.
